Today’s reading: Exodus 36; Philippians 2
What would it look like if God’s people took the first paragraph of Philippians 2 to heart and lived it out faithfully?
After calling them to unity, Paul calls them to a challengingly high bar in the outworking of that unity:
Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves, each of you looking out not for your own interests only, but also for the interests of others.
We have some context for what Paul means by selfish ambition from chapter 1 where he tells them that some people are emboldened by his imprisonment to preach the gospel out of selfish ambition. Evidently there were some jockeying for a following, and with Paul out of the way in jail, his “market share” was up for grabs. Paul tells the Philippians there in chapter 1 that, even though that is the case, he is grateful because the gospel is being that much more widely proclaimed.
Here though, as we get into chapter 2, Paul is calling them (and us) to something higher. Gathering a following, or making a name for ourselves, is not why we follow Jesus, because it’s not what Jesus himself did. As we read on from the verses I quoted above, Paul gives Jesus as the prime example of his call to humility and care for the needs of others. Jesus, God Himself, was willing to step out of the paradise of Heaven, putting on flesh and being born as a man, and then going even to a shameful death hanging naked on a cross, all for us. He had no need to do this, but He set aside His needs and desires so that He could meet our greatest need at the greatest personal cost. And the irony of it is that it is precisely because Jesus was willing to humble Himself and make this great personal sacrifice for our good that God has exalted His name over every other name.
The exact thing that these people are trying to get by working out of selfish ambition and empty conceit, God provides, not to those who work for self aggrandizement, but to those who humble themselves and put the needs of others before their own.
But just imagine what this community would look like!
Each of us wants to make sure our needs are met, but none of us is ultimately best suited to meet all our own needs. There are times when we need skills, abilities, resources, contacts, etc. that we simply do not have on our own, but this is part of how God has designed the church. The Exodus reading today (Exodus 36) is actually a great picture of this with the building of the tabernacle. God specifically blessed Bezalel and Oholiab with ability in every kind of craftsmanship needed for the construction. It is a really impressive list for them to have that level of skill in all of it, and the community needs them and the skills God has given them in order to construct the tabernacle God is calling them to construct. But despite their skills, there is too much work for Bezalel and Oholiab to do alone, and they need the other skilled craftsmen to complete the work. And despite their collective skill, the craftsmen all together are reliant on the people to provide the materials needed for the construction.
I really like that example from Exodus because there is no way any of them could accomplish what they needed to accomplish without the help and input of the broader community, and this is how it is for us as well. No matter how much we, especially in the modern West, generally think we have the resources to be self-reliant, none of us is able to meet our own needs as effectively as the broader community God has placed us into. If we each look to our own needs only, we might be getting by, but it will not be the fullness of what God has for us. But if we, as a community, begin to look after the needs of others, we begin to see the people God has gifted and placed around us able to use their abilities and resources to help meet our needs much more effectively than we ever could on our own. At the same time, our abilities and resources are able to help meet the needs of others more effectively, and the entire community is built up as a result.
When each of us looks just to our own needs, we sacrifice the fuller life that God desires for each of us individually and for the community He has established for His people.
And it is not those who are independently “successful” or most self-sufficient who God elevates and celebrates, but those who are most willing to look outward to the needs of others and sacrifice for their good.
This is the kind of community God desires for His people, and if everyone is sold on it, it is an incredible and exciting vision for the church. So I guess my question out of Philippians 2 this morning is, are you looking to your own needs only, or are you an active participant in recognizing and meeting the broader needs of the people and community God has placed you in?
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