Paul wrote a letter of encouragement to the early Philippian church, while he was a prisoner jailed for his faith. Despite his challenging circumstances, in chapter 2 Paul provided positive teaching that still speaks to us today on how to discover joy.
Human nature seeks joy by focusing on self. Christ’s attitude provides real joy by focusing on others. He challenges us to Avoid Selfish Ambition— 3” Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,” What Paul means is that our consideration for others must precede concern for ourselves.
One of the biggest tasks faced by parents is getting their children to overcome selfishness and become concerned about others. Schools are opening soon. We can be like the little boy who came home dejected from his first day at school. “I’m not going tomorrow,” he announced. “Why not?” asked his mother “Well, I can’t read and I can’t write and they won’t let me talk—so what’s the use?!”
The second principle this passage presents is–Attend to Others’ Needs. When there is going to be a solar eclipse, we’ve all been warned not to look directly at the sun’s eclipse or it could do serious damage to our eyesight. Sometimes, a preoccupation with our wants, our way, our preferences, can “eclipse” the feelings of others, the needs of others, our responsibility to others. Listen to the apostle Paul’s words of caution which still ring true today. He writes… 4 “ do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”
‘But also’ indicates that our own concerns need not be totally ignored, but that the interests of others must also form a good part of our concern. The Bible is realistic. It doesn’t say, “Never think of your own needs.” It tells us, “Think of your own needs, but don’t become so preoccupied with them that you overlook the needs of others.”
Human nature seeks joy by focusing on self. Christ’s attitude provides real joy by focusing on others. There’s a joke about a man walked into a pet store and ordered ten mice and forty-two cockroaches. “That’s an unusual order,” the store owner said.
“Well,” replied the customer, “I’m moving out of my apartment and the lease says that I must leave it just as I found it!”
Serving others means that you don’t leave things just as you found them. As a teen at a youth conference I heard Tommy Oakes tell us to “wipe off the sink countertop in public restrooms, leaving it better than you found it.” At a restaurant help clear away the deserted table with fast food wrappers strewn everywhere and left behind. Pick up the discarded piece of trash outside on the ground. Hold the door for someone. Let another driver’s car out into the flow of traffic. Jesus modeled an inverted approach to power that was completely counter-cultural. The result is Discovering Joy…via Serving Others.
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