Philippians 2: 1-4

• By: ckroboth
• On: 03/30/2009 20:12:28
• In: Philippians

In the second chapter of Philippians, Paul turns his attention to the church as a whole, and begins to address the division he sees happening in Philippi.

 ¹If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,

Fairly simple and straight forward.  Christ is to be the uniting factor of the church.  By being united we will be comforted in love and fellowship because we share His spirit.   We will then act as the church should with tenderness and compassion. 

²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

Being like-minded, is followed by 2 qualifiers. The first "having the same love", and I think that it goes a lot to what I wrote about in my post the other day. That we must approach everything in regards to the love of Christ. He did nothing without love. Healed, cast out demons, turned over tables, taught, prayed and died all for Love. Becoming likeminded starts with everyone loving as Christ loved.

³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  

Don’t think this can be said any different or added two.  Christ said it the best though:

Matthew 19:29-30 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother^[a] or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. ³⁰But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

Luke 13:30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."

⁴Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Verse 4 though shows that Paul reverses a bit in saying "not only to your own interest". He is saying that we must take care of our own faith as we minister to others as well. If we don't grow our faith with Christ and keep our discipline in check we can't effectively minister to others.

Over all the spirit of the Church of Christ must be united in a humility that provided for the needs of others.

Click here to join the study of Philippians.