Paul stresses the importance of unity among believers. Unity can't be achieved if we have self-seeking attitudes, so he urges us to be like Christ who had the nature of a servant. Christ had the right to come to earth and be served by man, but instead He came with a love and a humility of spirit that compelled Him to serve man.
"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." (Philippians 2:1-2) He says, "Have you found encouragement in your relationship with Christ? Encourage others. Are you comforted by the love of Christ? Love others. Are you indwelt by the same Spirit as your brothers and sisters in Christ? Of course you are, so treat them as members of your family. Have you experienced tenderness and compassion from Christ? Show tenderness and compassion to those around you. Don't allow anything to divide you. Don't argue over minor points of doctrine. You are saved by the same gospel. You are the children of God. Put your differences aside and be a loving family."
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit." (Philippians 2:3a) There is a difference between normal ambition and selfish ambition. It's not a sin to further our education or to perform honest hard work in order to provide a better living for ourselves and our families. Paul is talking about the kind of ambition that makes us jealous and covetous. It's the type of ambition that causes us to think, "I'm better-looking and funnier than Mary Jo. I deserve to be more popular than she is. I'm going to try to make everyone at church like me more than they like her." It's the type of ambition that makes us enviously say to ourselves, "I'm smarter than Rick. Why should he have a nicer house and newer car than I do? I'm going to do everything I can to get more than he has, even if I have to backstab him at work." Is this how we would treat one of our biological siblings that we love? I have a biological brother and sister, and I'm happy when things go well for them. I'm not jealous of them. I love them and want the best for them. Paul is saying we should feel the same for our brothers and sisters in Christ. When our fellow Christian gets a promotion at work, we should rejoice with him, not compare our income with his. When our fellow Christian is considered the most popular Sunday school teacher at church, we ought to thank God for giving us such a gifted teacher, not be envious. If some of our fellow Christians have happier marriages or better behaved children than we do, we shouldn't feel resentful and jealous, but we should rejoice that they aren't enduring struggles at home.
"Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others." (Philippians 2:3b-4) Self-centered people aren't happy people. Sometimes we wrongly assume that "looking out for number one" is the only way to get what we want and be satisfied with life. But just the opposite is true. Loving others and caring about their welfare will make us more satisfied with life. God created us with a need for relationships with our fellow man, and we can't have happy relationships with others if we are interested only in ourselves. We won't be healthy mentally or emotionally if we don't maintain good relationships with other people. I would venture to say we will even be healthier physically if we engage with others in godly and loving ways.
Was Christ happy? I think He was. I think when He was serving others and interacting with them in loving ways He was very happy. He loved us enough to die for us so we could be in His presence forever. He wouldn't have given all He had to make this possible if it didn't please Him to interact with us. So Paul urges us to be like Him. "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." (Philippians 2:5-7) If Christ didn't consider Himself too good to serve human beings, then certainly we can't consider ourselves too good to serve our fellow man.
"And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death---even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:8) Because Christ came to earth as a man, as a man He submitted Himself to the will of God. He agreed to do His part in God's plan of salvation. He was willing to give anything it took to save us. If Christ was willing to give Himself in this way, can we not give our love and our time and our encouragement to those around us?
"Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:9-11) God the Father rewarded the willing sacrifice of God the Son. When the clock winds down on this old fallen world, and each person who has ever lived has to stand before God, even those who have rejected Christ will have to bow their knees to Him and admit that He is Lord.
God will also reward our sacrifices. "God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them." (Hebrews 6:10) We show our love for God by loving our fellow man. If we say we love someone, but are unwilling to sacrifice anything for them, we are deceiving ourselves. Love that isn't sacrificial isn't love at all.
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