Godly Fear Humbles
Philippians 2:1-2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
Is there any comfort from love? Absolutely.
There is eternal comfort from the love of God. Paul is helping the Philippians
connect the dots between what they received
and what they owe.
I remember Paul said in Romans 13:8, “Owe no
one anything, except to love each other."
If you are encouraged by
Christ salvation, if you have received any comfort from the father’s love, if
the Spirit's empowering presence dwells in you, than we are to go all the way in the Christian
experience.
Paul is urging them to hold nothing back this
is what he means by “complete my joy” all this is done by living in unity with
each other, loving each other, and working together to exalt Christ.
Paul is encouraging the
believers that if the Gospel is true, your life should look like it is true. If
you have been united with Christ this unity should be exemplified in your
lives.
The enemy of Christian unity is
self-interest and self pride. { I will say more on the idea of pride later}
Paul knows this that is why he writes verse three. Philippians 2:3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
Listen again to those words: "Do nothing from." No matter what you do, no matter where you
go, the matter what you are ever a part of, what he says after those three words we should avoid. Always and at al times.
The first forbidden motivation is selfish
ambition. Have nothing to do with
it. Some translations translate this
rivalry. Selfish ambition is thinking
to yourself, “I’ve got to beat them.” It is the idea of keeping up with the pace of the Jones.
The second forbidden motivation is conceit. Conceit has to do with your
appearances, it has to do with how you are seen in the eyes of others. Conceit is an overblown pride that connects our feelings to our image. We live in a very image driven culture don't we. Image in America is everything. Image in the Scripture is nothing. It is a rare moment if at all if you could find in the scriptures that your image matters.
Paul is giving us a stern warning not to compare ourselves to others. The warning is both we should not think of our selves to high or to low, It has been said that we should not think of ourselves at all!
Do you struggle with envy, jealousy, or anger
because you keep seeing the successes of others when you compare yourself with
them perceived or actual successes or failures? If you do you are hindering your walk with God
