Philippians 2.
H. Smith.
There is probably no greater cause for the weakness that exists among the people of God to-day than the lack of practical unity. We may not be surprised as we see the great Christian profession rent with divisions and sects; but it should be a constant source of exercise and sorrow to find many a little company of true believers that like the assembly at Philippi are marked by many Christian graces, and yet, with the work of God hindered in their midst because they are not “like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind”.
In this searching, but beautiful portion of the word, we are first very tenderly rebuked for this lack of unity; secondly, we discover that the vainglory lies at the root of this evil; thirdly we learn that practical unity can be maintained amongst the Lord's people only as they walk together with the lowly mind that ignores self to serve others in love. Finally there is set before us the blessed results that follow from a company of God's people being united together by each having the lowly mind of Christ.
This lowly mind is first set forth in perfection in Christ, Himself. Then for our encouragement it is seen in Paul, in Timothy, and in Epaphroditus, men of like passions with ourselves, but who walking with Christ before them as their Pattern, set forth the blessedness of those who forget self to serve others in love.
1. The Lack of Unity.
(Vv. 1, 2) The great theme of the chapter is introduced by a reference to the gift that the Apostle had received from the assembly at Philippi. When a free man, these believers had cheered the Apostle, in his labours, by sending once and again to meet his necessities; now, in his imprisonment they had once more comforted his heart by sending help, and thus, as he says, “taking part in my affliction” (4:14).
This kindness, and loving thought, in ministering to his needs, had greatly cheered the Apostle as a token of the “comfort of love” and “fellowship of the Spirit”. Nevertheless he would not allow this kindness to blind him to that in their midst which needed correction. Indeed he takes occasion by the gift to minister reproof in the most courteous and delicate way. He writes in the spirit of love, and without a trace of harshness.
At times it may be necessary, and right, to reprove a brother for that which is unquestionably wrong; but, if there is any personal feeling against the brother, the danger is that we may do so with harshness, and even find pleasure in the fact that his wrong gives occasion to minister rebuke.
It was far otherwise with the Apostle, for he could say, “I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ” (1:8). Thus moved by the pure motive of love, he refers to the lack of unity in their midst. In each chapter of the epistle there is reference made to the need for practical unity. In the first chapter the Apostle longs to hear that these saints “stand fast in one spirit, with one soul striving together for the faith of the gospel” (1:27). In this chapter it becomes evident that there was some little discord in their midst, and thus they were not all of one accord and of one mind (verse 2). In the third chapter the saints are exhorted to walk “by the same rule” and “mind the same thing” (3:16). In the last chapter, a special message is sent to two sisters “that they be of the same mind in the Lord” (4:2). Realising the conditions that prevail today we may well challenge ourselves with the question, “What would the Apostle say could he see the lack of unity that so often prevails amongst many companies of the Lord's people?”.
2. The Root of All Discord.
(V. 3). Having touched upon the lack of unity in their midst, the Apostle, in one short sentence, exposes the root of the trouble. He says, “Let nothing be done through strife or vain-glory.” Strife is the endeavour to belittle others; vainglory is the attempt to exalt self in the eyes of others. Anything that is said or done simply in opposition to someone else, or with the object of exalting self, will tend to destroy unity and raise discord. Thus the Apostle traces all discord among the people of God to the vainglory that has self, and self-exaltation in view. Even if we escape the gross folly of seeking to exalt self by boasting in birth, social position, earthly riches, or intellectual abilities, we may easily fall into the snare of spiritual pretension that seeks to exalt self amongst the people of God by means of spiritual gifts.
We are nearing the end of the journey, and as we look back over our past history we may well apply to ourselves the question that the Lord raised with His disciples, “What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?” As with the disciples this searching question will surely shame us into silence. For we read “They held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest” (Mark 9:33-34). Out of His presence they disputed among themselves; in His presence they were silent with shame. So with ourselves, our strifes and our vainglory only prove how little we have lived and walked in the conscious sense of His presence. In our difficulties and conflicts, how much that was said and done could never have been uttered, or taken place, had we been consciously in the presence of the Lord. In His presence we cannot think or talk of self.
3. The Secret of Unity.
(Vv. 3, 4). Having exposed the root of all discord, the Apostle sets before us the true Christian spirit whereby unity can alone be preserved among the people of God. He says, “In lowliness of mind each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man upon his own things (qualities), but every man also on the things (qualities) of others.” The Apostle does not speak simply of the “lowly word,” which can be uttered even to magnify self. He speaks of the lowly mind, which forgets self altogether, and thinks only of others and their good.
The Apostle is not speaking of “gifts” in which one man may exceed another, but rather of those moral and spiritual qualities in which true spiritual greatness consists. Conscious of the dreadful evil we discover in our own hearts, and seeing what is of Christ in another, we can easily esteem the qualities of others better than our own.
(V. 5). We must all admit how good and right is the Apostle's exhortation to have the lowly mind. Nevertheless, we all think something of ourselves, and lowliness is so contrary to all that we are naturally, that we may all inquire, “How is it possible to possess the lowly mind?” In the beautiful passage that follows the Apostle gives the answer. The lowly mind can only be acquired, and maintained, as we are in the presence of the Lord. In Him the lowly mind was perfectly expressed; and it is only as we have Christ before us, and are consciously in His presence that we can forget self. In His presence, if we think of self at all, it can only be to condemn ourselves as we discover the vanity and evil of our hearts in contrast to the lowliness, and grace, and love of His heart.
To bring our souls into the presence of Christ, the Apostle, in a most lovely and touching passage, proceeds to present Christ come down to earth as the perfect Pattern of the lowly grace that makes nothing of self in order to serve others in love. He thus seeks to engage our hearts with Christ in His path of humiliation in order that we may imbibe something of the lowly spirit of the Lord.
Let us not be content with reading, or being able to expound, the passage. In another scripture the Apostle can write, “Consider what I say; and the Lord give you understanding” (2 Tim. 2:7). How good then to turn from the written word to the living Word and, like Mary of old, to sit at His feet, and in His presence read these words as a message from the Lord to each one of us personally.
If we fix our eyes upon Jesus and then for a moment look upon ourselves, we shall be quite out of love with self. When at last Job found himself in the presence of God he had to confess, “I have heard of thee with the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye sees thee. Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6). When Peter found himself in the presence of the power and grace of God revealed in Jesus, he can only say of himself, “I am a sinful man O Lord” (Luke 5:8).
(Vv. 6-8). Thus the Apostle turns our eyes upon Jesus to contemplate with holy wonder the path He took from the glory of the Godhead to the shame of the cross. Moreover, this path is set before us to let us see the mind that was in Christ Jesus in taking the path. It was his lowly mind to come down – ever down – from the glory to the cross. Lower He could not go than the death of the cross.
In taking this path we learn that He “made himself of no reputation;” He “took upon him the form of a servant;” “He humbled himself;” and He “became obedient unto death.”
“He made himself of no reputation.” He had indeed every reputation, but His mind was to pass through this world as one that had none. When His disciples said, “All men seek for thee,” His answer was, “Let us go into the next town” (Mark 1:37-38). When the people would “make him a King,” we read, “He departed again into a mountain alone” (John 6:15).
“He took upon him the form of a servant.” He could say,” I am among you as one that serves” (Luke 22:27). He girds Himself, pours water into a basin and stoops to wash the soiled feet of His way-worn disciples.
“He humbled himself.” He is content to come into this world as a babe, born in a stable and cradled in a manger. He worked as a carpenter and associated with a few poor Galilean fishermen. He became weary, and thirsty, and lonely, to meet and bless one poor sinful woman by a well-side.
“He became obedient.” Coming into the world He said, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.” Passing through the world, He could say, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which has sent me.” Going out of the world, He can pray, “Not my will, but Thine be done” (Heb. 10:9; John 5:30; Luke 22:42).
Thus in every step of His path we see the loveliness of the lowly mind that forgets self to serve others in love; as one has said,”Love likes to serve, selfishness likes to be served, and thinks itself exalted when other people are waiting upon it” (J.N.D.). Alas! Our natural tendency is ever to have self before us and seek to make a reputation for self rather than be content to be nothing that Christ may be everything. We forget the Apostle's word, “If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself” (Gal. 6:3). We may indeed be permitted in our little way to serve, but alas how often we use the very service that the Lord gives us to do for Him, to assert ourselves, exalt ourselves, and work our own wills. We need ever to remember that Christ, not only became a servant, but He also humbled Himself and became obedient. Naturally we like to be lords over God's heritage rather than stoop to serve; naturally we seek to exalt self rather than humble ourselves; and we prefer to do our own wills rather than walk in simple obedience. In the Apostle's day he had to say, “All seek their own,” but in Christ we see One who refused self to seek in love the good of others. Could we live a little more in the presence of the Lord, with Himself before us in all His lowly grace,our selfishness would disappear, and without difficulty we should think of others to serve in love. So acting, strife would disappear and we should find ourselves of one accord. Thus in the first part of the chapter we learn that lowliness is the way of unity.
In the light of the apostle's exhortation, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,” we do well to ask ourselves “In what kind of mind do we pursue our way through this world? In what mind do we go to meetings; in what mind do we take up the service of the Lord; in what mind do we preach and teach? Do we look at all these things as occasion for calling self and adding to our reputation and self-importance; or do we take them up in the mind of Christ - the mind that makes nothing of self in order to serve others in love?” In what mind do we face life is a very practical and challenging question for every believer!
4 The Results of Unity.
Having shown that unity among the saints can be reached only through lowliness; and that the lowly mind can be reached only as we have Christ before us in the lowly grace of His pathway from the glory to the grave, the Apostle passes on to set before us the blessed results that will flow from a company of believers being united through each having the lowly mind of Christ.
(Vv. 9-11). Before however speaking of the believers, we learn through the example of the blessed Lord that before honour is humility, and that “He that humbles himself shall be exalted.” In all its fulness this is seen in Christ. Having been down lower than all, God has “highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name.”
(Vv. 12-16). Then, passing on to speaking of believers the apostle shows that two things would very definitely mark a united company. First, they would be in the world for the “good pleasure” of God; secondly, they would give a collective testimony before men, shining as lights in a dark world. That which goes up to God from His people as fruit, will go out to the world as testimony.
In order then that we may bear fruit to God and be a testimony to the world the Apostle first of all urges us to obey the exhortations set forth in the first part of the chapter, and thus work out our own salvation from everything that would hinder our being here for the good pleasure of God. The epistle clearly indicates that the special dangers from which we need to be saved are envy and strife, the self-importance of vain-glory, and the selfishness which seeks our own things. Paul is no longer with us to shelter us from these and other dangers, and therefore we have to work out our own salvation with “fear and trembling” - fear because of our own weakness, and trembling because of the power of the adversary. Nevertheless, greater is He that is for us than he that is against us, for “It is God that works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Not only does God enable us to do His pleasure but He can make us willing, so that to do His pleasure becomes our delight.
We are not surprised, when Jesus was here, that God opened the heavens to express His delight and good pleasure in His beloved Son; but that it is possible for such poor things as ourselves to be here for His pleasure is indeed a wonder and a triumph of grace. What was it, we may ask, that drew forth the expression of heaven's delight in Christ at the scene of His baptism, and again at the mount of transfiguration? Was it not the lowly grace of which the Apostle has been speaking which led Him to make Himself of no reputation, take the form of a servant, humble Himself and become obedient? And what is it in the saints that can give God “good pleasure”? Is it not the reproduction of the character of Christ – His lowly grace – in the lives of His people?
Thus in the verses that follow (14-16), we are exhorted to conduct that exactly sets forth all that Christ was as He passed through this scene. However great the contradiction of sinners that He had to endure, however trying and sorrowful the circumstances that beset His path, whatever insults and affronts he had to meet, no murmur ever escaped his lips, and no reasoning question was ever raised as to the ways of God. Through all the trial and temptations He was blameless; though man returns evil for His good and hatred for His love, yet He was harmless, the Son of God who, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, was without rebuke, in a dark world was a shining light, and in a a world of death held forth the word of life. Thus His life that was for the good pleasure of God became a testimony to man. What was true in absolute perfection in Christ will still be true in measure in any company of believers who walk in unity through having the lowly mind of Christ. Such will collectively set forth something of the beautiful character of Christ which will ascend to God as fruit for His good pleasure, and go forth to man as a testimony to Christ and the grace of God. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
As we realise the condition of the Christian profession and our own individual failure we may feel inclined to say it is too late to think of any collective testimony and the less we talk about being a testimony the better. It is true that the church in its responsibility to witness for Christ has entirely failed, but let us beware that we do not cast a slur upon the Holy Spirit who is still here to lead our hearts to Christ. We cannot get back to the unity and power that marked the church in Pentecostal days, but, in the darkest day it is never too late to get back to Christ. In this great passage the Apostle draws our hearts back to feed upon Christ in all His lowly grace.
If we think of the condition that marked the church even in the Apostle's days we might be led to argue that it was useless to talk any more of a collective testimony. At the time Paul wrote the epistle he was a prisoner. Some that took a prominent place as preachers were marked by envy and strife. All were seeking their own not the things of Jesus Christ; and some were walking so badly that, though professing the name of Christ, they were the enemies of the cross of Christ. Nevertheless, in the midst of this low condition the Apostle shows that it is possible for a little handful of believers at Philippi, despised and thought nothing of by the world, to be here for the pleasure of God and as a testimony to man. So today nothing could well exceed the weakness of God's people, for it is a day of small things, but, notwithstanding all our weakness, this great passage clearly shows that if even a few get back to Christ, and learn of His lowly mind they will be “like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.” Thus united they will in their small measure be for the “good pleasure of God” and a testimony to the world.
Again, let us remember this will only be possible as we each walk in the sunshine of His presence. “Strife” and “vain-glory,” “provoking one another, envying one another” can have no place in His presence. Very soon the prophet's words will be true when, looking on to the coming glory, he says of God's long-divided people, “With the voice together shall they sing for they shall see eye to eye” (Isa. 52:8). “What folly it is,” as one has said, “for us to fight here who shall feast there.” When at last we see Him “Face to face” we shall all see eye to eye and together we shall raise the great song “Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood... be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”