November 22, 2016 – Philippians

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Philippians 2:1-2Where do I find encouragement from belonging to Jesus?  Where do I find comfort, fellowship, and do I have a compassionate heart?  How do we do find this belonging, comfort and fellowship with a caring heart?  It is not being alone, the fact of compassion in the heart compels us to respond with a serving heart and action in the name of Jesus.  For His glory, not ours.The next verses give us a glimpse of humility in action.  Let’s look at verse 5 first.  You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.  Love.  Loving us so much that God sent Jesus, His only begotten Son to be the sacrifice on the cross for our sins, and the sins of all who lived before and live after us.  Jesus was humbled, leaving  God’s right side to dwell in an unfriendly, judgmental world. Once, celebrating our anniversary in a restaurant, I saw a small child use his fingers to dig into huge display of food. Suddenly God interrupted my disciplinary-minded thoughts toward the child, to the realization that all the people in that restaurant and all over the world are loved by Jesus.  He died and rose again for the fat, the skinny, the ugly, the beautiful, the old and the  young. For the Lord God looks on the heart and not on the outer person.Begin with the quality of humility — there is no ‘how to’ or five easy steps to humility.  C.S. Lewis put it this way.  Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but it is thinking of yourself less.  Jesus taught us how to serve others.  His life on earth was one of serving…and teaching us how to be a child of God.Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Philippians 2:3-5