Growing up in a household with siblings, EVERYTHING was a rivalry! Who could finish their food the fastest, who could carry in the most bags of groceries on one arm, who could run the fastest or jump their dirt bike the farthest, we turned everything into a competition! One of the “games” we played, was what we called the “I got last” game. It wasn’t much of a game I suppose but more of a senseless annoyance to one another that we turned into a rivalry somehow. Whoever got the last word of a conversation or the last shot (hitting or touching the other person), was the winner of the game. Of course, there were rules that we would make up on the spot to give oneself the upper hand. If you think that seems like a pointless and conceited sibling rivalry, you’d be correct… but just to be safe, if any of my siblings (Michelle, Thomas, or Rocky) are reading this, I GOT LAST! Game over. I win, you lose. Good day, sir! I said, good day, sir!
All fun and games aside, Philippians 2 calls us to a selfless deference that sets rivalries aside, and places others before ourselves. It calls us to lay down our instinctual need to make everything about ourselves and look out for the needs and interests of others. It turns the worlds’ view of “me – me – me” upside down. We don’t naturally fall into second place or into the back seat, instead it is something we must work hard at. D.A. Carson writes, “It takes more grace than I can tell - To play the second fiddle well.”[1] The most difficult musician to find for your band, is not the lead guitarist, pianist, or vocalist, but the backup! Without the second, there is that beautiful thing a band will never have – harmony. It seems like such a simple instruction, but it’s oh so difficult to follow when our humanity gets in the way. “Not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Perhaps looking out for the good of others is more highly respected than it was when Paul wrote Philippians, “In the secular Greek literature of Jesus’ day the words humility and lowliness were rarely used, and if they were used, it was in a derogatory sense of servile weakness or obsequious groveling or shameful lowliness.”[2] There is no doubt that our society has come a long way from what we say we value as a whole, but how far have we come as individuals? As Christians? Are we seen as marked apart from the rest of the world in this respect? Or, are we seen as an exclusive country-club bunch of people that are “above” certain types of people or ideals.
This calling to place others above ourselves, to set aside selfish ambition or vein conceit, and to put on a mind of humility is undoubtedly a difficult command as Christians. It prods at us to go against the desires of our flesh and against the currents and grains of the world. However, the wonderful thing is that we are not called to do this needlessly, or on our own strength. We are called by and with the strength of Christ in us, and the example of Christ for us. Not only did Jesus give us the perfect example of humility, but the strength to carry it out - through the Holy Spirit in us. So as long as we… “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
[1] D. A. Carson, Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1996), p. 60.[1]
[2] R. Kent Hughes, Philippians: The Fellowship of the Gospel, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007), 77.
All fun and games aside, Philippians 2 calls us to a selfless deference that sets rivalries aside, and places others before ourselves. It calls us to lay down our instinctual need to make everything about ourselves and look out for the needs and interests of others. It turns the worlds’ view of “me – me – me” upside down. We don’t naturally fall into second place or into the back seat, instead it is something we must work hard at. D.A. Carson writes, “It takes more grace than I can tell - To play the second fiddle well.”[1] The most difficult musician to find for your band, is not the lead guitarist, pianist, or vocalist, but the backup! Without the second, there is that beautiful thing a band will never have – harmony. It seems like such a simple instruction, but it’s oh so difficult to follow when our humanity gets in the way. “Not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Perhaps looking out for the good of others is more highly respected than it was when Paul wrote Philippians, “In the secular Greek literature of Jesus’ day the words humility and lowliness were rarely used, and if they were used, it was in a derogatory sense of servile weakness or obsequious groveling or shameful lowliness.”[2] There is no doubt that our society has come a long way from what we say we value as a whole, but how far have we come as individuals? As Christians? Are we seen as marked apart from the rest of the world in this respect? Or, are we seen as an exclusive country-club bunch of people that are “above” certain types of people or ideals.
This calling to place others above ourselves, to set aside selfish ambition or vein conceit, and to put on a mind of humility is undoubtedly a difficult command as Christians. It prods at us to go against the desires of our flesh and against the currents and grains of the world. However, the wonderful thing is that we are not called to do this needlessly, or on our own strength. We are called by and with the strength of Christ in us, and the example of Christ for us. Not only did Jesus give us the perfect example of humility, but the strength to carry it out - through the Holy Spirit in us. So as long as we… “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
[1] D. A. Carson, Basics for Believers: An Exposition of Philippians (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1996), p. 60.[1]
[2] R. Kent Hughes, Philippians: The Fellowship of the Gospel, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007), 77.