Philippians 2:3 - 4

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:3 – 4 ESV). Our verses are from a section titled, “Christ’s Example of Humility” in the ESV translation. The Son of God came to earth, taking on human flesh through a virgin birth, and became the man we know as Jesus. He did not take pride in the fact that he was the Son of God, but instead he took on the form of a servant and humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. From that context, our verses have significant application for us.

The two verses form a parallel in which each begins with what we are not to do and ends with what we are to do. Verse 3 begins with “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit” and verse 4 begins with “Let each of you look not only to his own interests. In verse 3 we are “in humility count others more significant than yourselves” and in verse 4 we are “to [also] look out for the interests of others. Jesus did not come simply to have fellowship with us and teach us about God, but came to suffer and die to purchase our salvation. Likewise, we are to be on the lookout for the needs of others and if possible help meet those needs, even if it requires sacrifice on our part.

Prayer

Father, the western culture has become very self-centered where life is all about us. This self-centeredness has even infected the church to where we fail to meet the needs of others as we should, especially our brothers and sisters in countries of persecution and poverty. If we really embraced these verses, we would not have a credit card debt, would have a few less things, probably a smaller home and a less expensive car, and would give at least 10% of our gross income to the Lord’s work. We would probably spend much more time studying the word and living out “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21 NIV). Father, forgive us for we fall short in living out these verses as we should.