Let Each One of You Look to the Interests of Others

 

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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4).

Easier said than done, right? Consider these scenarios.

Grandpa takes his two grandchildren, ages three and four, to the park. They just love the playground equipment! It starts out well. There are so many different swings and slides to try that they stay out of each other’s way. Having evaluated all the equipment, Kendra decides that the airplane is her favorite and she heads back to it, intent on spending the rest of the afternoon in the pilot’s seat. That’s when the trouble begins. Jake decides that the airplane is so superior to all the other swings and slides that he’s willing to scream and holler to get his turn immediately. Having witnessed this scene countless times with different casts of characters, Grandpa decides it’s time to go home.

It’s lunch time at Vacation Bible School. Today the congregation has provided pizza, the favorite lunch of the week. The students line up quickly, jostling for the best position. June, a volunteer, says calmly but clearly, “There’s no need to push. There’s enough pizza for everybody!” But then she notices the first children take three slices each. She’s seen this happen before. Some can certainly eat that much, but too often she’s seen those plates filled with food carried to the trash a few minutes later with half the food still uneaten. As the saying goes, “the eyes are often bigger than the stomach.” “Let’s have each of you just start with two slices of pizza,” June says, “If you’re still hungry after everyone else has gone through the line, then you can come back for more.”

At every opportunity that arose, the Hanson and Olson families proudly reminded the congregation that their families had been members of Grace Lutheran Church since its incorporation over 125 years ago. Ole Hanson had donated the five acres on which the church and parsonage still stood. Hans Olson donated the land for the cemetery. At one time more than half of Grace’s membership was descended from one or both families. So, they always had considerable influence at voters’ meetings and the inevitable meetings after the meetings in the church parking lot. Over the years, many of the Olson and Hanson family members had grown up and moved to the big cities. New families moved into the area for affordable housing and the intangible perks of small-town country living.

At the last voters meeting it had become apparent that power had shifted. The more recent members, believing they should have a larger voice in the congregation’s decisions had expressed their frustration with how long it took to implement even a few simple changes. Some of the lifelong members felt that too many changes were already being pushed on them and they worried about losing control. Their pastor felt caught in the middle as he tried to lead the congregation through healthy debate and productive discussion about the mission of the church, while avoiding the dangers of selfish partisanship, anger, and apathy.

From the beginning of life, we are by nature self-centered. As time goes on, the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature stir up more of the same: “You have to look out for yourself because nobody else is going to look out for you.”

This sinful inclination is hard on families, tears down communities, and destroys Christian congregations. This is why St. Paul urges the Philippians and us, “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). If we are to stand firm against the enemies of the Gospel that threaten from without, we must first be united within our own fellowship.

Earlier in his letter, Paul had spoken of “standing firm in one spirit” (Philippians 1:27). In today’s Epistle he expands on that thought, turning his encouragement inward to the matter of our relationship with other believers. The apostle’s appeal here is thoroughly evangelical. He reminds the Philippians (and us!) of the Gospel blessings that are ours in Christ, and then makes his appeal based on those blessings. With four short, powerful conditional clauses, Paul reminds the congregation that we have indeed been encouraged by Christ, comforted by His love, made spiritually new and alive by the Spirit’s work in our hearts, and blessed with the gifts of tenderness and compassion.

The Philippians’ partnership in the Gospel, their faith and love, their generosity all brought Paul joy every time he thought about them or prayed for them. But there was one more thing the Philippians could do that would make his joy complete. They could seek a greater measure of harmony in their dealings and relationships with one another.

Paul’s words have led some Bible scholars to conclude that pride and internal strife were problems for the Philippians. Later, in chapter 4, the apostle mentions a specific personal rivalry between two of the congregation’s prominent women. Whether more such problems existed in the congregation or not, Paul felt that the Philippians needed encouragement in this area of their Christian lives.

And what congregation doesn’t? Where sinners are living and working together with other sinners, pride and selfishness are always rearing their ugly heads. The devil works particularly through disharmony and strife. In declining congregations there is the temptation to point fingers of blame, to become too concerned about preserving the status quo or limited resources rather than risk trying new things or reaching out to others. In flourishing congregations, where many members are knowledgeable and gifted, there is always the danger of the more gifted members looking down upon the less gifted and the less gifted envying the more gifted. And it is the tendency of sinful human nature to minimize one’s own weaknesses and to exaggerate one’s own strengths, while doing just the opposite when observing the strengths and weaknesses of others.

While any of these things can severely stunt the spiritual growth of any congregation or parish, selfishness and pride are particularly troublesome and dangerous sins. To guard against such sins, Paul urges the Philippians to strive for unity, humility, and helpfulness. Unity is the common view of life that believers ought to share because we have been united by the Spirit in a common faith in the Lord Jesus. “Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, our comforts and our cares,” as one hymnwriter puts it (LSB 649:2).

Believers who are like-minded judge all things by the Word of God. We love one another with unselfish  love that gives without expecting anything in return and finds motive and example in the love of Christ. And like-minded Christians agree on the great common goal of promoting Christ’s kingdom in the world. Though we may be different in many other respects, believers are of the same mind and heart spiritually. And we work and pray for such unity.

Humility is also a distinctive mark of Christians. Humility is the opposite of the selfishness and pride of our corrupt sinful natures. The secular culture of Paul’s day placed little value on humility. In fact, it regarded humility as the equivalent of cowardice and equated pride and self-assertiveness with success. The non-Christian world today thinks much the same way. Books and classes offering assertiveness training and effective methods of exercising power and “looking out for number one” are tremendously popular and profitable. But the attitude of a heart changed by God’s grace is no longer “me first and everyone else after me.” Rather, it is an attitude that humbly places the interests of others before one’s own.

When he urges believers to “count others more significant than yourselves,” Paul is not advocating a false modesty. He doesn’t want talented believers to deny their unique gifts or to hide or neglect them. He is laying down a general principle that should govern believers’ relationships with one another. A humble child of God, no matter how many or how few his gifts may be, will strive to put the best construction on everything his neighbor does. He will happily acknowledge and respect whatever gifts the neighbor has and encourage him or her to use them to the glory of God. In everything, the humble Christian will strive to look not just to his own interests, but the interests of others as well.

When each person in a Christian community considers others as better than himself in this way, a marvelous harmony results. No one in that community is looked down upon; rather, everyone is looked up to, as all willingly give of themselves to show kindness to others.

Can the same be said of us? Or does our self-assertiveness show that our lives are not as Spirit-directed as they should be? It is difficult for Christians to put our faith into practice when it means adopting attitudes and actions that are radically different from those of the society in which they live. But right there is where true Christians show their colors and sham Christians are exposed. Only the Gospel can give us, who are at the same time both saints and sinners, the spiritual strength we need to live lives of humility that will clearly distinguish us as genuine followers of our humble Lord.

The Scriptures tell us that God Himself put this matter at hand, for only God could do it. They tell how God accomplished this great purpose. In the verses not included in the middle of our Epistle for today, it is disclosed how Christ Jesus, the Son who was truly God, … though He was in the form of God … emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:6-7).

Jesus the Son really took on Himself all that was lost to us with sin. He took on human frailty and mortality. He exposed Himself to temptation and to the agonies of our existence. In only one respect was He different from us: He never strayed to choose what is wrong (2 Corinthians 5:23). Yet, He shared our sin because He carried our sin. He carried it to death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). There He dealt with the results of sin. So, the likeness of God can be ours in Him. As Irenaeus would put it, “He became what we are, so that we might become what He is.”

Jesus emptied Himself, took upon Himself our nature, obeyed in our place, and died in our place. God has lifted Him from the depths in which we have languished to the highest place of honor, with that name about every name, the name of “Lord.” Therefore, it is fitting that every creature should bow before Him, confessing Jesus is Lord (Philippians 2:8-10).

Even so, our risen and ascended Lord, deigns to come to us in His humble means of grace. In Holy, Christ cleanses us from our sin, gives us His Holy Spirit, clothes us in His righteousness, and prepares us for the Day of Resurrection. In the Word preached and the absolution, Christ proclaims the Gospel of forgiveness through His called and ordained servant. In addition, God’s inspired Word is also “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). In Holy Communion, the Lord Jesus gives us His very body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins and to strengthen our faith unto life everlasting.

 Our life as the children of God from start through eternity is a pure and beautiful gift. Christ has loved us by dying on the cross for our sins, putting our interests above His own. Because of Christ, we also are free to put the interests of others before our own. In turn, the Lord has placed the beautiful gifts of love and service into our hands so we can share them with our neighbors.

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). Go in the peace of the Lord. Serve your neighbor with joy. You are forgiven for all your sins. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.