Philippians 2

One of the sins that always frightens me most is the sin of pride. It’s slippery and hard to recognize because one of the symptoms of this particular sin is the inability to see a fault in ourselves. I’ve seen many people who claim humility – they are quick to point out their easily recognized flaws and will readily acknowledge when someone else is better than them at something that they are terrible at. I think of that as easy humility. It’s a quick reassurance to ourselves that we are not guilty of the terrible sin of pride. It makes us feel better about ourselves and our attitudes.

But pride doesn’t have to show up in every aspect of our lives. You can be humble about your skills playing an instrument, while still being enmeshed in pride in some other area. Sometimes pride disguises itself. For example, not seeking counsel because you believe you already have the answers? Pride. Insisting on things being done a certain way because you think it is the RIGHT way, when really it’s just the way you PREFER? Pride.

Philippians 2:3-4 says:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

It’s an easy thing to say. I bet most of us think we already place others before us. We serve others, we give of our time and resources, we pray over their needs. But Paul calls us to do more than this. He says do NOTHING out of selfish ambition or conceit.

We all have agendas. We all have goals. Do every single one of our agendas and goals look out for the interest of others? I know mine don’t always. I struggle with shopping for gifts for others because I keep seeing things I would like to get myself! We are trained by the world to look out for ourselves! We must do what is best for ourselves!

Let’s be clear – God wants you to take care of yourself and do good things for yourself as well. But in this letter Paul is talking to the church as a whole and to the people working within that church. We, as a body of Christ, are to be working together in complete humility, putting others before ourselves. I’ve had to say many times, both to myself and to others, “This isn’t about you.”

Because it’s not. None of this is about you. The types of songs we sing in worship. How we conduct meetings. How the furniture is arranged. How we do prayer requests or announcements. What type of public events we hold. I could go on. None of those things are about you.

We have one mission as a church. We are to live and serve like Christ. We are to go and make disciples, baptize, teach, serve, and love. We are to do Christ’s work, and not once did Jesus ever put his own agenda before God’s agenda. He was the ultimate example of what it looks like to put God’s will before our own.

Reflection Questions:

Where are you guilty of pride? Don’t stop at the easy answers either. Look deep. Do you find yourself getting frustrated over people in church doing things “the wrong way” when really it’s just not the way you would do them? Do you find yourself not asking for counsel in an issue because you think you already have the answer? Do you find yourself not praying over decisions?

What areas of your life would look different if you put others before yourself? What areas of your church would look different if you put others before yourself? (Note that I didn’t ask what areas would look different if OTHERS were more humble or selfless. We are looking just at ourselves, so don’t start down that dangerous path.)

Prayer:

My prayer for you is that our church bodies be united in humility to do Jesus’ work. I pray that we are able to keep the slippery sin of pride far away from us. I pray that others are able to see Jesus Christ in us because we are continually showing them love and putting them first above ourselves.

SGL.2025.DecemberFullPage Download

Together in Christ

Old Testament: 2 Kings 24-25

Poetry: Psalm 89

New Testament: Philippians 2

The second chapter of Philippians is a lesson in unity and behavior.

Conflict happens. Any time there are people gathered, there will be a difference in thinking. God gave us beautiful brains and the ability to reason and rationalize in different ways. He blessed us with the ability to form opinions. And those opinions are bound to differ.

Too often, though, we give our own opinions too much power. We allow them to shoulder their way into our relationships with great force and little apology and we let them overshadow the important things like love, compassion, tenderness, and humility.

Humility. It’s such an underrated quality in society. But which is more important: having your way, or being more Christ-like? Sounds like an easy answer, but it’s SO DIFFICULT to practice.

Have you ever allowed your opinions too much power? Have they ever kept you from displaying the humility of Christ? Is there a current relationship that could be improved if you showed more humility in the name of Jesus?

Verses 1-4 lay out such a heartfelt plea from Paul to the believers in Philippi. He begs them to be united.

He tells them, and now us, that if we have any blessings from being united with Christ, from his grace and his salvation, then we must be united with each other as believers. Value others above ourselves. We must lay our opinions to the side and focus on our job as Christians: to show others Christ and further his message.

In verses 5-11 he lays out the mindset of Jesus Christ – the one who had the ability to ask anything of God and have it granted to him, but instead chose to make himself a servant to others. Because Jesus loved that hard.

I lay aside my own opinions and preferences for my family all the time. It’s easy because I love them more than I love myself. I frequently do the same for my friends. But what about the church member or coworker or acquaintance or family member that I find “difficult”? Am I so willing to lay aside my opinions or preferences on how things “should be done” for them? Are you?

And yet that is what Christ asks of us. As a church body we are called to unite. And so many churches and Christians struggle with this. I struggle. I struggle so hard. When I should be loving hard. Like Jesus.

Do you get distracted by doing things your way? Does your method really matter in the grand scheme of spreading the gospel message? What relationships could be improved if you showed more humility? How could your faith and relationships be better if you placed Furthering the Kingdom over Getting Your Way?

Verses 12-30 sting a little bit for me. “Do everything without grumbling or arguing.” I like to call it “venting” but it’s really complaining. And I’m told not to. We are called to be united as Christ followers so that when we are out in this wicked world we can “shine among them like stars in the sky.”

The world is full of darkness and we are called to be stars. Paul asks us to show others love and humility, like Timothy and Epaphroditus. He asks that rather than look after our own interests, we look after the interests of Jesus Christ.

That’s so powerful: look after the interests of Jesus Christ.

My prayer for you today is that you are able to examine your relationships with others in full humility and see how you can place others before yourselves. I pray that we, as believers, can interact with one another in a way that will show the world Jesus Christ. I pray that we can all stop letting our differences get in the way of our purpose, and that we would instead focus on furthering the gospel message in unity. Blessings and love from your sister in Christ!

-Jenn Haynes

Reflection Questions Given aBove

sglcalendar2024 Download

Walk in Humility

Sunday, August 21, 2022

For many of us, the last few weeks we have been reestablishing our school time routines. The lackadaisical jazz of summer has transitioned into the tight structure of a concert march. Alarms begin to sound once more and the the score begins. Many times, my day begins with a morning run. I pride myself in the ability to time this run in such a way that I squeeze in all my other to-dos before the school day (like shower, pack, dress, eat breakfast) and be in the school building with a minute to spare. Everything was again like clockwork – run, shower, pack, breakfast – until I had an important realization as I crossed the threshold of the school door and met the flow of air streaming from the vent: I had not stopped sweating since my run. My body still thought it was summer. My shirt was now mostly covered in sweat, and it didn’t show signs of slowing. I walked down the hallway, was questioned multiple times about the appearance of showering in my shirt, but I was committed to going about my day with a sweat-filled shirt and a pride-filled attitude. Fortunately, through the insistence of an administrator, I took up the offer of a sweat-free replacement. I finally humbled myself, and let my pride go.

Humility comes easier when you are sweating through your shirt with nothing else to wear, but it is more difficult to be humble when you’re on top. You’re in charge. You’re the boss. You’re the expert. You’re the best. When you have a history of achieving or exceeding large and meaningful goals. We beam with pride because we feel we “are” or “have” something. When our ego wins, we make a case for why we are better than others. We expect God to acknowledge us more, and when he doesn’t, oftentimes, we deny Him completely, becoming our own god, roleplaying as the savior, the judge, and the ultimate source of “being” in our own life. Pride becomes our sweat-filled shirt – it’s not a good look.

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit [vainglory]. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:3-5

If there was anyone to ever walk upon this earth with pride, it should have been Jesus Christ. He is the closest to God a human will ever get, yet “being in the form of God, he didn’t see equality with God as something to be grasped.” (Philippians 2:6) Here is the deepest of theologies about the nature and relationship of Jesus Christ to his Father. Jesus Christ serves God Almighty alone, and we should do the same (see: the greatest commandment, Matt 22:37,38) Jesus didn’t care he was viewed as an amatuer by many of the Pharisees. Who cares? He didn’t identify himself in the status in the company he kept. Not on his radar All he could lay his eyes upon was in his grasp. (Matt 4:8,9) He flatly refused. He had a critical role to play for our Heavenly Father. He chose humility, a life of service, knowing that His Father exalts those who humble themselves to His will, and also humbles those who choose to lift themselves higher than others (Luke 14:11; Phil 2:9-11)

Likewise, we are called and mandated to be humble. Less of me and less of you until only Jesus remains. How do we do this? In all our ways acknowledge Him (Prov 3:6), but are ready to give up time, effort, energy (life) for someone else (Matt 20:28) so they may know the Kingdom of God. We can still be ambitious, but it must be driven by God, not simply a feather in the cap or degree on the wall. We can look for glory, but it is bestowed upon our heavenly Father, not to us. We must be on our knees, known more for the top of our head than the self-satisfaction of our face. We must minister to those who can give us no status or possessions in return, only a life given over to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We are to walk in humility, no longer run away with our pride.

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Philippians 2:12,13

-Aaron Winner

Questions for Reflection

When does your pride and ego prevent you from being Christ-like?
Would you rather humble yourself before God or be humbled by God?
How can you fix prideful attitudes?

2022 SeekGrowLove Bible Reading Plan Download

Moving a Mountain

Philippians 2

Philippians 2 14

One of the most difficult things I have done in my life was move rocks. Last year at UP: PROJECT we moved, what seemed to be, a mountain at Timber Oaks Retreat center. During this time the majority of us had a hard time not complaining after the 4^th day of “Rock Duty”.

Paul writes in Philippians 2:14 “Do all things without grumbling and disputing.” In this passage of Philippians 2 he is referring to the idea of being selfless. When we saw that giant hillside of rocks it made us grumble about how little we think we did, but in a selfless mindset we should understand that we did more than we think we did. There were at least 30 of us on that trip and it took around 5 days to get the hillside to look even remotely like we did something, and we even had a tractor! Paul, and I assume Christ, would call us to not grumble when we serve others but focus on what we are doing to help the ones we serve. Just imagine if 4 or 5 people had to do the work of 30! Next time you serve remember why you are serving and put a smile on your face.

Jesse Allen

Tag: Philippians 2

A Slippery Sin