Friday, September 5, 2014

Do Nothing Out of Selfishness

Philippians 2:2-3
“Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”

In Philippians 2:2, “having the same love” means having a common love for Christ, which will translate into a love for one another. If disunity is the problem (and that is what we discussed last time), love is the solution. There won’t be any disunity if we all truly love each other, will there? Dissention and lack of unity within a church ultimately stems from a lack of love one for another.

That goes hand in hand with the next phrase in the verse. “Being of one accord” is translated as “being of one spirit” in the New American Standard version. It literally means, “being one-souled.” That means we are all in total agreement about the greatest issues of life. That means we have faith in the same Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and we believe the same things about Him and about salvation. And we have all agreed how we will serve Him. That is where our unity comes from, and why we can be “of one mind.” We have a common love, a common faith, and a common mission within the church. We are “of one mind.”

Not to be is sin. And it is spiritual immaturity as well.
Look at 1st Corinthians 3:1-3
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
Envy and strife are a sign of spiritual immaturity within the church. That is a great and ever present danger. Don’t let that ever be true of you. It should be the prayer on the lips of every one of us that no one should tear apart what God has divinely joined together. Our constant prayer should be for unity.

But, what prevents disunity from rearing its ugly head?
Philippians 2:3
3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
Not anything – not one solitary thing - not one word, not one action, not one thought - not one thing should be done selfishly. Can you say that’s true in your life? I sure can’t. I have a selfish streak in me that sometimes seems a mile wide. It’s a trait in me that can easily dominate my life, and so I have to continually try to dominate it. Isn’t that true in your life too?

It caught up Lucifer and caused him to rebel against God. It tripped up Adam and Eve who wanted to be like God. It can trip up you and me, if we let it.

Selfishness is nothing but a loyalty to ourselves over anything else. It is a determination to make sure that our desires always take precedence over anyone else’s.

In the last chapter, Paul talked about those who preached Christ from envy and strife in verse 15, so he was familiar with that awful motivation. But nothing should ever be done from selfishness – NOTHING!

Yet, here, there, or anywhere, whenever there is a disagreement within the church, the root cause is usually envy or strife. Rarely is it over some significant doctrinal issue. J. Vernon McGee says that “I think it would solve 90 percent or maybe even 100 percent of the problems in churches today . . . if we could follow this injunction.” What injunction? Verse 3 – “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or deceit.”

McGee, of course, quoted from the Old King James, and so he used “strife or vainglory,” which means the same thing. But isn’t that a descriptive word, “vainglory?” The New American Standard uses “empty conceit” here referring to a highly exaggerated view of ourselves -a view that thinks we are always right. It’s like the gal sadly admitted after she married the person she thought was Mr. Right, “I didn’t know his middle name was always.”

Listen: None of us are always right, so why should we think we are? We have to cut that out. It only causes strife. Yet, all the time, you hear of a church torn apart over something as silly as what color carpet to lay in the church. Now, you all know, don’t you? The real issue isn’t the color of the carpet? The real issue is who gets to decide the color of the carpet. The real issue is power and control, and who wields that power. And people zealously guard the power and control they have at all cost, even at the cost of destroying the church. They’ll get their way, or else.

And why do people get their nose bent out of shape when they feel slighted? If someone forgot to say thank you to them and did to someone else, or greet them, or they didn’t get asked to sing a solo or do something special while someone else did; they get into a huff. Why do we wear our feelings on our sleeve? Isn’t that envy? Isn’t it “selfish ambition?” Why are we so easily offended? Isn’t it envy? Isn’t it worrying that someone else will get the glory instead of us? Isn’t it worrying that they will get something that we want, or that we think we deserve?

Yes! It’s selfishness through and through. And we all seem to have a bit of that selfishness running through us. I know I do, don’t you? Which is precisely why we do nothing from selfish ambition

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