00:00:00:19 – 00:00:45:58
Clint Loveall
Hey everybody happy Wednesday! We are moving into the second chapter of Philippians. It’s hard to have arguments about best chapters, I suppose, but, of the people who love Philippians and there are many, I, I have to thank Michael that one of the reasons they love it is this second chapter. It’s really good. It it is interesting from a scholarship perspective because it Paul inserts a section that looks like it may have been an ancient hymn or part of an ancient liturgy, but just the content, particularly devotional.

00:00:46:10 – 00:01:06:07
Clint Loveall
The challenge that he gives to those he’s writing to just, I think this is really strong over the next couple of days, as we look at it, I hope they will say something to you. I’m going to jump in here at verse one. Read through verse five, and then we’ll come back and try to unpack some of it.

00:01:06:12 – 00:01:42:04
Clint Loveall
If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete. Be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to your own interests, but to the interest of others, and let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.

00:01:42:09 – 00:02:07:59
Clint Loveall
So in the front part here, these are challenging words. Paul is saying, look, if there’s any good thing, if I’m going to be encouraged, if you take any consolation from this, if there’s any joy, then take the next step. And I don’t think that’s Paul being snarky. Paul is just saying as an extension of your faith, as an extension of your joy, the next step in your faith journey.

00:02:08:04 – 00:02:36:24
Clint Loveall
And then he goes on to some of the most beautiful, challenging words to the church on being community that I think you could find in Scripture. A word to each individual on what it takes to willingly and intentionally be a part of something bigger than yourself. And the problem at the heart of it is selfishness, selfish ambition.

00:02:36:28 – 00:02:56:40
Clint Loveall
This is, I think, for for Paul, the root cause of most problems is that we put ourselves in the middle. And so I think very telling Michael that he starts here, do nothing from selfish ambition, that that’s the place that Paul starts.

00:02:56:45 – 00:03:19:28
Michael Gewecke
I think that we’re actually a bit of a precarious situation here, because it would be really easy to rush in to this section that you alluded to, Clint, this Christ, him that we have in Philippians, because and we’ll talk more about this, when the time is right. But fundamentally, it gets attention from biblical scholars for lots of reasons.

00:03:19:30 – 00:03:45:40
Michael Gewecke
It gets attention from readers of Scripture for lots of reasons. We’ll get to that. It would be easy to rush to that. And we’re in a position in which I think we really have to be careful that we don’t. Because to your point, there’s some rich, rich material for us here today. And I think it’s always wise to take a step back, especially for the way that we do this study and look at the context that we ended with in our study last time.

00:03:45:45 – 00:04:20:48
Michael Gewecke
You see how we ended with this conversation about suffering, since you were having the same struggle that you saw. I had, and now here that I still have, then the movement that comes next and this is really important, is if then there’s any encouragement in Christ. So what we have is setting up the reality, which is believers in Philippi as well as Paul together, each in their own individual ways, experiencing difficulty in this moment.

00:04:20:52 – 00:04:44:53
Michael Gewecke
And so Paul the writer turns to what the encouragement is in the midst of that situation, the difficulty that their experience. And here he wants to talk about the consolation from love, sharing in the spirit compassion and sympathy make my joy complete. How so? If we’re going to have encouragement, this is the road we’re going to pass. What’s it going to lead us to?

00:04:44:58 – 00:05:27:33
Michael Gewecke
What do we need to do? Be of the same mind. Having the same love, full accord, one mind. Nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. These are the character qualities that are chosen by the Christian community. If we are going to find strength in the midst of our difficulty. Clint, the the context in the set up here matters. Because if the Christian community, if the church in Philippi was living on cloud nine and everything was up until the right, if Paul was living in a peak moment of ministry for him, then maybe these words would sound like good maxims, some wise tropes that we should put on notes on our bathroom mirrors.

00:05:27:37 – 00:05:50:22
Michael Gewecke
I think actually this is a fundamental rewiring of what our human spirits tend to do. We tend to get in moments of great pushback or great difficulty. We find ourself on the other side of some of life’s most difficult places. And in those moments, if we get weighed down, we lose our hope, we get impatient, we get angry.

00:05:50:29 – 00:06:00:13
Michael Gewecke
And here Paul is providing another way. He’s providing a window for us to see that in those moments, God enables us to live in a different way.

00:06:00:18 – 00:06:30:45
Clint Loveall
I think maybe, Michael, the danger, as we probably will do today of separating the introduction from the actual hymn, so-called, that we’ll look at maybe tomorrow, is that it’s a little harder to see what Paul is doing, as Paul calls us to this life that is not lived from ambition and conceit and selfishness, as he calls the church, to be humble.

00:06:30:50 – 00:06:57:54
Clint Loveall
He then goes on to say that the reason we pursue that is because of the humility of Christ, and that that scripture, you’re referencing, the Christ hymn, is a celebration of Jesus humility, and you might think it would go the other way that first you would look at Jesus humility and then you’d say, act like that. But here Paul actually says you should live this way.

00:06:57:54 – 00:07:31:34
Clint Loveall
And then goes on to say, because this is what we see in Christ. And what that does for us is frame what Paul thinks he sees in Christ for our life. And again, it’s a life where we are not at the center of it, in do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit and I mean, think about if you if we endeavored, if we put effort in to living that.

00:07:31:39 – 00:07:32:58
Michael Gewecke
Yeah.

00:07:33:03 – 00:08:03:54
Clint Loveall
Think how difficult that I mean think what a challenge that these words truly are. Do nothing. Nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others better than yourselves. And I want to. I want to jump in. We don’t do a a ton of maybe criticizing translations, but I don’t love the word better here. That word, is, I think, better served.

00:08:03:54 – 00:08:39:03
Clint Loveall
If it said something like consider others above yourself before yourself better has a qualitative sense to it that I don’t think the Greek word carries their, But again, the challenge is just as daunting in humility, in humbleness regard others before yourself. Think of others before you. Elevate others above yourself, your own needs. Consider them as important or more important than yourself.

00:08:39:03 – 00:08:43:55
Clint Loveall
That again, I just.

00:08:44:00 – 00:09:04:46
Clint Loveall
If you if you give these words a serious hearing. They’re I don’t want to say depressing, but they’re certainly convicting of how most how far most of us certainly how far I am from this example.

00:09:04:46 – 00:09:28:31
Michael Gewecke
They’ve always been convicting. And I want to be clear about that. They’re they’ve been convicting as long as we’re human, because as humans, we share the same fundamental breakdown of character that this sin that besets us is a reality that cuts across our religious tradition and the time in which we live. But Clint, I think we can look at these words specifically.

00:09:28:31 – 00:09:57:01
Michael Gewecke
Verse four, let each of you look not to your own interests, but the interests of others. And that lands on us modern Americans 21st century in a way that is very, very uncomfortable because fundamentally, we live in a moment in which one of the core criticisms is that no one can be trusted except for itself, that ultimately self-interest must be protected.

00:09:57:12 – 00:10:22:05
Michael Gewecke
This is one of the clarion calls of the cultural moment in which we live. And here Paul doesn’t leave us much wiggle room. Just to be blunt with you, this is an imperative. This is a command. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. And you would naturally. I push back against Paul and say, well, then, Paul, who’s going to look out for our own interests?

00:10:22:10 – 00:10:46:55
Michael Gewecke
I would submit to you, come back for the study tomorrow, because this gets answered in a cosmically, incredibly beautiful way in the hymn that we’re going to see. But that being said, for today, this is enough. The command itself calls us to recognize it is not our own interest that we’re called to pursue and to protect, but rather the interest for those outside of us.

00:10:47:00 – 00:11:15:25
Michael Gewecke
Jesus and his own teachings. Love your neighbor as yourself. The religious teachers come to him. Who’s my neighbor? Jesus gives us the story that defines us. Whoever God brings into your path, that you don’t get to set the boundaries of that God does. And so fundamentally, this is a very, very strong command for us today. And I think it’s worth remembering when you come to texts like this, that it’s one sentence.

00:11:15:25 – 00:11:33:10
Michael Gewecke
Fundamentally, we can read past that and beyond to the next thing so quickly, not allowing it to land on us on the kind of lifetime it will take to try to live out this command, to try to live out the way in which the faith draws us out of ourselves and our own interests towards others.

00:11:33:10 – 00:12:22:33
Clint Loveall
I think not only not only that, Michael, though I agree with all of that. It it also is two sided. In other words, as we look at those verses three, four and five, they’re spoken to us as individuals, as disciples. It’s a challenge for our own faith life. But if you if you jump back up to verse two, be of the same mind, have the same love, be in full accord and of one mind, one spirit, so, so even in this struggle that each of us have to live out these directions, Paul has a vision that is beyond the individual to the church, to the body of Christ.

00:12:22:33 – 00:12:51:18
Clint Loveall
The place where we would all commit to live this way, the same mind, the same love. You know, you know, again, to our knowledge, at least in the context of this book, Paul doesn’t say much to the Philippians about divided ness, though. There is an argument happening in this church and we’ll see it at the end. So maybe, maybe he’s sprinkling some advice for that in this.

00:12:51:23 – 00:13:21:16
Clint Loveall
But again, imagine the congregation who has as one of its ongoing conscious goals to be a place of same mindedness, of a unity of love and being in full agreement or accord. Accord is probably a little bigger word than agreement, because agreement is easier, I think, than accord it. It’s easy to love people who all think the way you do.

00:13:21:16 – 00:13:36:00
Clint Loveall
And that’s not what Paul is saying at all. One spirit maybe is a good translation. As challenging as those other verses are for each of us.

00:13:36:05 – 00:13:44:22
Clint Loveall
At least that kind of challenge for the overall church. And he does that in three verses. It is phenomenal.

00:13:44:25 – 00:14:04:30
Michael Gewecke
And in case you want to try to give yourself an out here and say, well, yeah, Paul’s saying this theologically, this is a great idea, but Paul doesn’t mean this. I just want remind you, Paul, just literally previous that literally within the first chapter said there are people who are preaching the gospel, doing so because they think it’s against me.

00:14:04:35 – 00:14:32:11
Michael Gewecke
And glory to Jesus Christ. The gospel is being preached. So when he talks about this idea of looking out for others interest, he means if Jesus Christ is being proclaimed, thanks be to God, even if that’s not in my best interest. When he talks about the idea of being of one mind full accord, when he talks about the same love you remember, this is the guy who wrote the letter to the Corinthians.

00:14:32:22 – 00:14:58:26
Michael Gewecke
Basically going to bat, in this largely communal conflict, I mean, that churches that nearly at each other’s throats. And Paul gets right into the middle of it. He argues there is a way through this together as a community. He really means it when he says these things. He lives it out. And his ministry, when push comes to shove, he literally puts his body on the line to do this.

00:14:58:26 – 00:15:25:19
Michael Gewecke
And Paul’s not a perfect individual, and we’re not going to pretend that he is. But when Paul is at his best and when we can hear him most graciously, there is deep spiritual wisdom for us to glean from it. I think you’re right to point out that this is not restrained to our individual faith. It involves our communal faith and and in a very difficult, wise, nuanced way.

00:15:25:24 – 00:15:42:00
Michael Gewecke
It requires both to be active at the same time. And that is what makes the faith rich and beautiful and incredible. And it’s also what makes it so easy for us to fall off the path, because it is, by definition, combining these things that are always in tension with one another.

00:15:42:05 – 00:16:26:17
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I think I, I, I mean, certainly there’s a cultural aspect, Michael, but the ideas of comparison and assessment, I mean, they’re they’re largely hardwired into us. And so we learn from the smallest children on to score keep to compare to judge, to decide who’s right, who’s wrong, who has, who doesn’t have, and again, with a few simple sentences, Paul dismantles all of that.

00:16:26:22 – 00:16:55:15
Clint Loveall
And, even more so if you get a chance to be with us tomorrow, I think even more so. You see this when Paul lays out the reasons for what he says. Again, he starts with instruction and you say, well, I don’t I don’t know, Paul, that, I’m not sure I buy that. Well, Paul’s about to give the why, and the why is, there’s not a lot of wiggle room yet.

00:16:55:21 – 00:17:29:38
Michael Gewecke
That’s the pro of the way we’re doing this is we get an opportunity to see what Paul expects of Christian community. The the con is that we’ve not yet seen the foundation upon which. Why it must be that way. Yeah. So I consider this conversation. This is part one. If you don’t see part two, I think you’re going to be missing substantially because what’s to come is an important way of illustrating how this is not a good idea, but this is fundamentally the foundation.

00:17:29:50 – 00:17:33:57
Michael Gewecke
I don’t know how to say it with a different sin in them. I this is the basis of it all. Yeah.

00:17:34:10 – 00:17:36:20
Clint Loveall
Spoiler alert it’s Jesus. But you’re.

00:17:36:21 – 00:17:36:45
Michael Gewecke
Right.

00:17:36:46 – 00:18:23:20
Clint Loveall
But the way that Paul unpacks that is beautifully done, theologically rich, spiritually challenging, and I would say even has notes of adoration, praise and worship in it. The next 5 or 6 verses that we’re going to cover are really well done. But no surprise, it’s a it’s an elevation of Christ. And Paul without exception. I mean, being completely, consistently will teach us that our behaviors are rooted in and spurned on by what we see in Jesus.

00:18:23:20 – 00:18:25:06
Clint Loveall
And no, no difference here.

00:18:25:13 – 00:18:47:33
Michael Gewecke
History has shown us that for as many times, and peoples as there have been in the world, there’s been that many jesuses in the world. There’s we have a human capability of making Jesus in our own image. So what we get from Paul is an amazing glimpse into Jesus as he was a scriptural account of Jesus’s character and why that matters.

00:18:47:45 – 00:19:00:00
Michael Gewecke
I sincerely hope you will join us for the conversation. We’re glad that you’ve made it thus far in this one. Give this video a like if you found it helpful. Subscribe. If you want, stick on studies like this one and you want to see that next video. We’ll see all tomorrow.

00:19:00:01 – 00:19:00:43
Clint Loveall
Thanks everybody.