Thirdly, a humble Christian is not self-centered. Verse 3 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit; but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”
Paul gives us here the antidote to selfishness. He mentions a negative and a positive. Don’t do this, and, do this. First the negative: Do nothing. That means not one single thing. Not an action, not a thought, not a word. Not a service, not a work, not a deed is to be done out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Paul is saying “Don’t let there be a trace or a hint or a glimmer of any selfishness or any conceitedness in your behavior.”
Selfish ambition means someone who is seeking their own. It conveys someone who is advancing and promoting themselves with no regard to the disturbance in the body they are creating. All that matters is they are getting what they want. Paul uses this word in verse 17 of chapter 1 when he was talking about the insincere preachers. He said that because of his chains men were rising up in courage to speak the word of God with more boldness. But there were 2 types – sincere men who preached from goodwill, and, then there were insincere men who preached from selfish ambition. They were doctrinally sound – Paul doesn’t rebuke their message. Instead he criticizes their motives. They were selfishly seeking to gain prominence because in their pride they saw Paul as a rival to their own advancement in the church.
Vain conceit is the word kenodoxia, and it means empty, or hollow glory. A person who does things for vain conceit is striving for empty glory – that is glory for self. I like how John MacArthur draws a contrast between selfish ambition and vain conceit: “Whereas selfish ambition pursues personal goals, empty conceit seeks personal glory and acclaim. The former pertains to personal accomplishments; the latter to an over inflated self-image. Understandably, a person with such conceit considers himself always to be right and expects others to agree with him. The only unity he seeks or values is centered on himself.”
This vain conceit and selfish ambition are self-seeking traits that come from the sinful nature, and not the Spirit of God. In Galatians 5 Paul lists 15 acts that he says come from the sinful nature. Three of them have to do with immorality, 2 of them with idolatry, 2 of them with intoxication, but, EIGHT of them are direct causes of disunity in the church: hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, faction, and envy. He finishes the chapter with this command: “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” Where there is disunity in the church the acts of the sinful nature are at work. Those acts include selfish ambition and vain conceit. That is the negative command: do not one thing from selfish ambition, rivalry or for self glory.
The second part of verse 3 this morning is the positive. He says to do this: to consider others better than yourself. Consider others to be better than you.
This is an interesting Greek word was used as a mathematical term meaning “To think about it and carefully come to a conclusion.” When we consider others it is not from our emotions or sentiment towards them. It is instead from using our minds and determining to regard others as more important. It’s not that we degrade our opinion of ourselves, but, instead we upgrade our opinion of each other. Henry Morris in his Defenders Bible Study says this, “A modern psychological ploy is to attribute many personal and social problems to individual lack of self-esteem. The Scriptures, however, urge each of us to have other-esteem, not self-esteem. Our real problem is self-centeredness and too much self-esteem. However, Paul urges us to be lowly-minded, not high-minded, seeking the good of others, not concerned with ourselves.”
Although George Whitefield disagreed with John Wesley on some theological matters, he was careful not to create problems in public that could be used to hinder the preaching of the gospel. When someone asked Whitefield if he thought he would see Wesley in heaven, Whitefield replied, "I fear not, for he will be so near the eternal throne and we at such a distance, we shall hardly get sight of him."
Look at the person on your left. Say to them you are better than me. Look at the person on the right. Say to them “you are better than me.” It’s embarrassing to say not because were in the middle of a sermon with a bunch of people around. It’s embarrassing because it goes against the very nature of our flesh. Our sinful nature says, “I’m the best. My way is better. I’m going to one up you.” But we have to determine in our minds to place more value on others.
I’ll tell you this, one of the ways to know that you have forgiven someone, I mean genuinely and sincerely forgiven them, is when you can consider them better than you. When you no longer see yourself as superior, or, when you no longer look down on them, but, instead you view them with a renewed honor. When we hold a grudge we usually hold our opinion of the other person pretty low. True forgiveness will result in high thoughts of them again.
So, a humble Christian is one who does not seek his own divisive goals or glory in the church, but, who does think of his brothers and sisters in the Lord as more important and more often than himself. A humble Christian is not self-centered.
Fourthly, a humble Christian puts the interest of others first. Look at verse 4, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Now where verse 3 had to do with the attitude of our minds, verse 4 has to do with our actions. Paul now says that the humble attitude of our minds should create action that shows we look out for each other. I have had several people say to me over the past years that I should look out for myself because nobody else will. You gotta take care of you because nobody else is going to. People will step all over you to get ahead of you.” We might say it’s a dog-eat-dog world. But this is the world’s value system – not the Church’s – and it is born out of a selfish and sinful nature.
The out-workings of the Holy Spirit are attitudes and actions that benefit others; they work against the factions, rivalries and discord of our sinful nature. Selfish ambition says I’m going to look out for my agenda and vain conceit cries my award. But, in verse 4 we find the opposite: selflessness that says my brother’s agenda and humility that says his award. Paul wants his brothers in Philippi to be actively involved in the caring for each other – don’t be so consumed with your own interests that you neglect and ignore those of others. Here, remember, Christ was an active agent in looking out for our interests – and Paul describes in verse 1 some of what Christ has done in looking out for us. How then can we live verse 1 to others? This will bring us full circle very nicely.
Let me say it this way: Who can you bring encouragement to that you have been united with in Christ? Who can you bring comfort to by bringing them the love of Christ that you have received? Who can you fellowship with in the Spirit? Who can you bring tenderness and compassion to? Who do you need to consider better than you that you have looked down on? What personal agenda in the church do you need to let go of for the greater unity of the church? Who’s interests are you ignoring? A humble Christian puts others first.
To tie this all up, I just want to say that God highly values a humble heart. When we consistently compare ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, we see we have no grounds for pride or selfishness. It is only when we lower our eyes from the things above, and set them on the world here below, that we begin to have a worldly mind. Remember Christ’s love for you. Seek the unity of the Church. Be selfless and not selfish. And, put others first. And remember also, “He who exalts himself will be humbled, but, ….. but, he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Most all of this message is for believers today. But, I want to close with a word to unbelievers. You may be visiting, you may be a regular attender here, you may even be a member. Church attendance and membership don’t qualify us for salvation. Do you realize how humble Jesus Christ became for you? He has the name that is above all names, the name that someday every knee will bow to and every tongue will confess. He has the name that makes the demons quake with terror. He came down from heaven to become a man, and as we will see next week he became a servant to God for you. He was perfectly obedient to God the Father – all the way to the cross. It was there that he gave the one thing you could not give – His life – for you. And so, because of his death for you, He also has the only name by which you must be saved. God so loves you that He humbly came down to you, that you might receive Him by faith, which results in salvation. Paul gave an appeal in verse 1 today to believers, and, now I want to appeal to you to consider the love of God, in His Son Jesus Christ, who humbly went to the cross on your behalf. If you hear this today place your trust in Him and you will have life.
Paul gives us here the antidote to selfishness. He mentions a negative and a positive. Don’t do this, and, do this. First the negative: Do nothing. That means not one single thing. Not an action, not a thought, not a word. Not a service, not a work, not a deed is to be done out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Paul is saying “Don’t let there be a trace or a hint or a glimmer of any selfishness or any conceitedness in your behavior.”
Selfish ambition means someone who is seeking their own. It conveys someone who is advancing and promoting themselves with no regard to the disturbance in the body they are creating. All that matters is they are getting what they want. Paul uses this word in verse 17 of chapter 1 when he was talking about the insincere preachers. He said that because of his chains men were rising up in courage to speak the word of God with more boldness. But there were 2 types – sincere men who preached from goodwill, and, then there were insincere men who preached from selfish ambition. They were doctrinally sound – Paul doesn’t rebuke their message. Instead he criticizes their motives. They were selfishly seeking to gain prominence because in their pride they saw Paul as a rival to their own advancement in the church.
Vain conceit is the word kenodoxia, and it means empty, or hollow glory. A person who does things for vain conceit is striving for empty glory – that is glory for self. I like how John MacArthur draws a contrast between selfish ambition and vain conceit: “Whereas selfish ambition pursues personal goals, empty conceit seeks personal glory and acclaim. The former pertains to personal accomplishments; the latter to an over inflated self-image. Understandably, a person with such conceit considers himself always to be right and expects others to agree with him. The only unity he seeks or values is centered on himself.”
This vain conceit and selfish ambition are self-seeking traits that come from the sinful nature, and not the Spirit of God. In Galatians 5 Paul lists 15 acts that he says come from the sinful nature. Three of them have to do with immorality, 2 of them with idolatry, 2 of them with intoxication, but, EIGHT of them are direct causes of disunity in the church: hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, faction, and envy. He finishes the chapter with this command: “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” Where there is disunity in the church the acts of the sinful nature are at work. Those acts include selfish ambition and vain conceit. That is the negative command: do not one thing from selfish ambition, rivalry or for self glory.
The second part of verse 3 this morning is the positive. He says to do this: to consider others better than yourself. Consider others to be better than you.
This is an interesting Greek word was used as a mathematical term meaning “To think about it and carefully come to a conclusion.” When we consider others it is not from our emotions or sentiment towards them. It is instead from using our minds and determining to regard others as more important. It’s not that we degrade our opinion of ourselves, but, instead we upgrade our opinion of each other. Henry Morris in his Defenders Bible Study says this, “A modern psychological ploy is to attribute many personal and social problems to individual lack of self-esteem. The Scriptures, however, urge each of us to have other-esteem, not self-esteem. Our real problem is self-centeredness and too much self-esteem. However, Paul urges us to be lowly-minded, not high-minded, seeking the good of others, not concerned with ourselves.”
Although George Whitefield disagreed with John Wesley on some theological matters, he was careful not to create problems in public that could be used to hinder the preaching of the gospel. When someone asked Whitefield if he thought he would see Wesley in heaven, Whitefield replied, "I fear not, for he will be so near the eternal throne and we at such a distance, we shall hardly get sight of him."
Look at the person on your left. Say to them you are better than me. Look at the person on the right. Say to them “you are better than me.” It’s embarrassing to say not because were in the middle of a sermon with a bunch of people around. It’s embarrassing because it goes against the very nature of our flesh. Our sinful nature says, “I’m the best. My way is better. I’m going to one up you.” But we have to determine in our minds to place more value on others.
I’ll tell you this, one of the ways to know that you have forgiven someone, I mean genuinely and sincerely forgiven them, is when you can consider them better than you. When you no longer see yourself as superior, or, when you no longer look down on them, but, instead you view them with a renewed honor. When we hold a grudge we usually hold our opinion of the other person pretty low. True forgiveness will result in high thoughts of them again.
So, a humble Christian is one who does not seek his own divisive goals or glory in the church, but, who does think of his brothers and sisters in the Lord as more important and more often than himself. A humble Christian is not self-centered.
Fourthly, a humble Christian puts the interest of others first. Look at verse 4, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Now where verse 3 had to do with the attitude of our minds, verse 4 has to do with our actions. Paul now says that the humble attitude of our minds should create action that shows we look out for each other. I have had several people say to me over the past years that I should look out for myself because nobody else will. You gotta take care of you because nobody else is going to. People will step all over you to get ahead of you.” We might say it’s a dog-eat-dog world. But this is the world’s value system – not the Church’s – and it is born out of a selfish and sinful nature.
The out-workings of the Holy Spirit are attitudes and actions that benefit others; they work against the factions, rivalries and discord of our sinful nature. Selfish ambition says I’m going to look out for my agenda and vain conceit cries my award. But, in verse 4 we find the opposite: selflessness that says my brother’s agenda and humility that says his award. Paul wants his brothers in Philippi to be actively involved in the caring for each other – don’t be so consumed with your own interests that you neglect and ignore those of others. Here, remember, Christ was an active agent in looking out for our interests – and Paul describes in verse 1 some of what Christ has done in looking out for us. How then can we live verse 1 to others? This will bring us full circle very nicely.
Let me say it this way: Who can you bring encouragement to that you have been united with in Christ? Who can you bring comfort to by bringing them the love of Christ that you have received? Who can you fellowship with in the Spirit? Who can you bring tenderness and compassion to? Who do you need to consider better than you that you have looked down on? What personal agenda in the church do you need to let go of for the greater unity of the church? Who’s interests are you ignoring? A humble Christian puts others first.
To tie this all up, I just want to say that God highly values a humble heart. When we consistently compare ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, we see we have no grounds for pride or selfishness. It is only when we lower our eyes from the things above, and set them on the world here below, that we begin to have a worldly mind. Remember Christ’s love for you. Seek the unity of the Church. Be selfless and not selfish. And, put others first. And remember also, “He who exalts himself will be humbled, but, ….. but, he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Most all of this message is for believers today. But, I want to close with a word to unbelievers. You may be visiting, you may be a regular attender here, you may even be a member. Church attendance and membership don’t qualify us for salvation. Do you realize how humble Jesus Christ became for you? He has the name that is above all names, the name that someday every knee will bow to and every tongue will confess. He has the name that makes the demons quake with terror. He came down from heaven to become a man, and as we will see next week he became a servant to God for you. He was perfectly obedient to God the Father – all the way to the cross. It was there that he gave the one thing you could not give – His life – for you. And so, because of his death for you, He also has the only name by which you must be saved. God so loves you that He humbly came down to you, that you might receive Him by faith, which results in salvation. Paul gave an appeal in verse 1 today to believers, and, now I want to appeal to you to consider the love of God, in His Son Jesus Christ, who humbly went to the cross on your behalf. If you hear this today place your trust in Him and you will have life.
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