Death Blows to Vanity, Part 2

Book of Philippians. We find
ourselves there in that same passage which we began last week. And we know that the great subject
here in this, not just the opening verses of the Book of Philippians
chapter 2, But essentially, a concept that had already been introduced
earlier in the chapter, chapter one, and then reiterated there
in chapter 27 or chapter one, verse 27, the concept of unity. When Paul, there urged, only
conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
And he hangs that great concept out as a giant umbrella that
embraces all the way through the better part of chapter two. Conduct yourselves in a manner
worthy of the gospel. And then he goes out to basically
describe what it is to do that. What is it to live according
to the Gospel of Christ? And he says, so that whether
I come to see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are
standing firm in one spirit with one mind striving together for
the faith of the Gospel. And so he introduces for us there
this call to oneness or unity in the church. We saw in verse
1 and 2, essentially, the elements or the seeds of that unity. Encouragement in Christ. Consolation
of love. Fellowship of the Spirit. Affection
and compassion. All of those things that we have
seen and sensed and felt and experienced from God Himself.
It’s as if Paul is saying four different ways, if you are a
Christian, if you are a Christian, if you have experienced encouragement
in Christ, consolation of love, fellowship of the Spirit, affection
and compassion, make my joy complete.” Then he listed out for us those
very clear elements, those full-blown trees, if you will, of unity
that were planted by those various seeds. A church that is united,
Paul goes on to say, is a church that is like-minded, loving,
bonded, and focused. In other words, they are literally
of the same mind. They have a oneness of mind. They have a love that is reciprocal
for one another. They are united in spirit. And
they are intent on one purpose. They are focused. And it’s with
that backdrop that we really get into Paul’s concluding comments
that are directed specifically to the church on their particular
behavior. Read with me if you would. We’ll
pick up the whole passage and get a running start on verse
three and four. If therefore, there is any encouragement
in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship
of the spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete
by being of the. Pardon me, make my joy complete
by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit
intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or
empty conceit, but with humility of mind, let each of you regard
one another as more important than himself. Do not merely look
out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of
others.” What Paul wants them to do is give a death blow to
selfishness. A death blow to vanity. vain,
empty opinion of themselves that sees themselves as superior to
anyone in their midst. That’s what Paul wants them to
do. Those are, if you will, the means to putting to death this
selfish mindset, which will pave the way for that unity that he
so desires for his churches. The apostle here in verses three
and four, as we saw last week, he rebukes the passions that
are so deadly to church unity, but he also provides healthy
responses to those passions. Paul doesn’t just say, don’t
do this. He gives us some very simple
But in their simplicity, some very profound keys to cultivating
unity in our midst. Death blows to unity. What we
want to look at this morning is two keys to overcoming the
enemy of self. First of all, inordinate love
of self, and that is what is in focus in these final two verses,
inordinate love of self is checked, first of all, by a greater esteem
of others. a greater esteem of others.”
And we’ll get there, I promise. I promise we’ll get there this
morning. But Paul begins that by again highlighting the selfishness
that is under attack. That selfishness that he wants
them to mortify. Do nothing from selfishness or
empty conceit. That’s what Paul wants obliterated
in the church. And as we saw last week, there
is no verb there, but most translators have supplied either the word
doing or the word thinking. And I suggested last week that
I believe the word thinking is better there because the entire
passage is concerned with our mind, our mindset. Paul wants
to first change our thinking and the doing the behavior will
follow. Nothing is to be contemplated,
said one, from a mindset of selfishness or conceit. There shouldn’t be
in the churches of Christ any self-seeking, any sinful egotism. There isn’t supposed to be conceitedness
or pride that ultimately is vanity itself. One pastor said it this way.
He said it does not signify contention for the love of it. And we’ve
all met those people. They love to argue about anything. That’s not the case here. This
person argues with a purpose and the purpose is preeminence,
as we saw with some degree of extensiveness last week. It does
not signify the love of contention For the sake of it, troubling
the waters just to enjoy the confusion. But such contention
as tends and is designed to secure preeminence, it is self-seeking
the restless battle to be first, no matter what opposition is
encountered or what feelings or interests may suffer. Even
the unity of the church itself is expendable. And we’ve all
met people like that, too, unfortunately. But Paul says not just selfishness
must be mortified, but empty conceit. That’s another word
that he uses, and it’s only used here in all of the New Testament.
Last week we looked at it. We saw that it was used a great
deal in the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, the
Septuagint, and it so often there was used to translate the folly
of worshiping idols. And so it’s folly, it’s utter
foolishness, in essence, to worship yourself and to constantly push
yourself up to the top of the heap. It is translated many times
vain opinion or error. Puritans translated it vain glory,
which is a curious blend of the two Greek words. It is a vain
conceit, said one, of possessing a rightful claim to honor. You
really believe, you really begin to believe that you deserve this. And sadly, the church has had
its share of those as well. Unfortunately, that excessive
love of self we saw last week, absorbs that brotherly love and
absorbs that unity. It gobbles it up and devours
it. There are always those in the
church that love to have the first place. They love preeminence
as one He said, clear evidence may be shown to him that it is
a wrong position to which he holds and one, the maintenance
of which will certainly produce dissension. Yet, even if he sees
it to be wrong, vanity and the refusal to sacrifice his reputation
for wisdom and firmness and the power of management induces him
to hold to it. In other words, no matter what
you say to the brother, he will not let go and he will trouble
the church even to the sake of a split. He will take whatever
he needs to in order to hold to his position. Well, Paul says
that kind of thinking, that mentality must be put to death. The response,
if you will, the beginning of the death blow of which there
are two is a humility of mind, and we spent some time on this
as well last week. So I’ll just briefly recap where
we are and then look at what it means to regard one another
as more important than themselves. It’s an interesting thought,
but you can’t do that without first cultivating a humility
of mind. That humility of mind It was a dirty word to the heathens.
It was a dirty word outside of Scripture. It was Christianity
that elevated this view. In the world, it meant lowliness
and just abject poverty and one that was just almost irrelevant,
cast aside even from society itself. But in Christianity, the word
is elevated. And in that sense, it is an outgrowth
of the gospel. As one said, it does not occur
before the Christian era. The virtue itself is founded
in a correct estimate of actual littleness, conjoined with a
sense of sinfulness. You see, when we begin to take
inventory of who we really are and the fact that no matter what
gift we possess that blesses and encourages the church, or
what gifts God has bestowed upon us, money or good looks or power
or what have you. No matter what it is we possess,
it’s been given to us. And how much had to be overlooked
in us for God to bestow those blessings upon us. This humility said one, is one
of the distinctive features of Christianity, for it rests in
an absolute dependence upon God for everything. Some of the heathen
sages, they came close to this concept. But the Christian meaning, as
John Eady said, the meaning is immeasurably deepened by the
aspect of a sinner’s relation to the Redeemer, who died for
Him in His state of utter unworthiness. and bestows upon him blessings
to which he has no claims. And in spite of all of his faults,
he maintains the spiritual life within him.” I mean, once you
begin to see how just utterly amazing it is of God to save
you, how can you possibly be proud? How can you possibly be
selfish and self-centered? How can you possibly think that
with you, the church, and God Himself got a great deal? That meaning is immeasurably
deepened by the aspect of a sinner’s relationship to the Redeemer
who died for him in a state of utter unworthiness, bestows upon
him blessings which he has no claims, in spite of all of his
faults, maintains the spiritual life in him. He is ever unworthy
and ever receiving, having received nothing that God Himself did
not give. We’re called to humility. And
what better model than Paul himself? Other than Christ, which Paul
will get to here shortly. But Paul certainly had been molded
by this concept of humility. Where else, but by the grace
of God, could he say some of the things that he said? I am
the least of all the apostles. 1 Corinthians 15. I am the least of all the saints. It’s one thing to say that I’m
apostle number 13, but to say that I’m the least of all the
saints, I am the least deserving of heaven of any Christian that’s
ever come to Christ. That’s what Paul’s opinion was.
Ephesians 3.8. I am the chief of sinners. 1st Timothy 1.15. Paul had a handle on this humility
that is absolutely necessary if we are to strike a death blow
to self. And it’s with that backdrop,
with that caveat, in essence, that Paul says, with that kind
of humility, let each of you regard one another as more important
than himself. That’s the big problem, Paul
says. That’s the big problem in church. That’s the big problem
when Christians clash. Is that one or more or both are
thinking of themselves first. They have this desire for preeminence. The word there for esteem or
consider, regard, if you will, is from a word that meaning a
belief that rests not just on feelings, but on the estimation
as you look out over the landscape, as you gather the facts, it’s
a very objective look. It’s not just that you think
yourself humble, but you look. And when all the data is in,
you see that, you know what, I’ve got really very little to
offer to the church in and of myself. I have such a sinful
attitude in so many different ways. Even the graces that God
has bestowed upon me, I’m such a poor steward. Robert Johnstone, the Puritan,
in very clear terms described this regard that we should have
for our brother. He said, this does not at all
imply that there should be a blindness to one’s own abilities. And you
get that from time to time where people will actually hide their
talent under a rock and think that by doing so, that is humility. And they will play up others
who are less gifted than them. all with kind of a ploy to fulfill
this command. And that’s not at all what’s
being said. If God has given us a gift, we should be doing
all that we can to use it and to use it for God’s glory and
to enhance those around us. Yes, we don’t have to grovel. We don’t have to pretend that
God hasn’t blessed us. But he goes on to say, we are
bound to struggle earnestly against our natural tendencies to undervalue
our neighbors and think more highly of ourselves than we ought
to think. Our tendency isn’t that. Our tendency isn’t to think
so highly of our neighbor that we downplay our own giftedness. That’s not our tendency. Our
tendency is to say, oh God, Thank you for giving me to the church.
Thank you that I’m able to help these people.” That’s our tendency,
isn’t it? Oh, if these people would only
listen to me. Right? He goes on and says, to really
accurate knowledge of our own powers and those of the persons
with whom we associate is needful for our right filling of the
place of Christian usefulness which God has assigned to us.”
In other words, remember as we closed out the book of 1 Peter
and Peter looked and he recognized the giftedness of those around
him? That’s what we need. We need to constantly be looking
at others and saying, you know what? I don’t know that you notice
this, but you’re such an encourager. I don’t know that you know that
you have this gift, but you’re such a servant of God. We should
be acknowledging those things. Luther, addressing these things,
said one time, my humility is not so foolish of a kind as to
make me desirous of concealing the gifts God has bestowed upon
me. God isn’t saying that we should
hide it under a rock at all. We should serve, but we are to
have an estimate of our brothers and sisters that is accurate.
We are to look for those graces in their lives. Johnstone goes on to say there
may be a consciousness of knowledge and power, but there is a profound
conviction at the same time that these are holy through the gracious
working of God’s spirit in one personally unworthy and powerless. I mean, if God has granted us
incredible gifts, how much more thankful should we be because
of our undeserving nature? We are to regard one another
as more important than ourselves. We’re not always able to perfectly
evaluate ourselves and scrutinize even our own motives. Paul even
said, by that I’m not acquitted. If I look at my own motives,
I’m not necessarily, because we’re so clouded in our estimation
of ourselves. But we are to look, we are to
consider, we are to think, We know that our motives aren’t
always pure, but we have no reason to consider that others motives
are tainted. We have no reason. We are to
take others motives on face value. If they are laboring for the
Lord and they are serving, we have no idea that their motives
might be far superior to ours. We can’t look at their heart.
God knows. God knows. One pastor writing
about that very thought said this, the Christian knows that
he has many defects and failings which are unknown to his brothers.
I can remember years ago. Thinking this thought, I saw
this guy driving, right, and he’s all over the road and he’s
obnoxious, but on the back bumper. 1-800-something-something, how’s
my driving? I thought, you know, how curious,
how interesting would it be if we all had to have an 800 number
and an identifying mark on our bumpers? Same concept, you know,
from time to time, people’s sin becomes known. And what if it
was all known to everybody, everything that we did? The Christian knows
he has many defects and failings which are unknown to his brothers
and which he has no right to suppose that they have. Just
because you struggle in a particular area is no reason to project
that on everyone else and say, well, I’m sure that they struggle
with that too. On the other hand, he sees in
them virtues which he knows he does not possess. It’s easy. It’s really easy if you look
objectively at the data, because you have very little data on
your brothers, except what you see externally. But you’ve got
a wealth and a putrid wealth of information about yourself,
don’t you? I mean, how easy is this then
in light of that to regard one another as more important than
himself? Every man, said one, knows his
own heart and he finds and he must find much in it to give
him a low estimate of himself. And he cannot tell what graces
may be cherished in the hearts of those around him. They may
very well be superior to his own. Nor has he any cause to
be vain of the gifts conferred upon him. The original gift,
that of salvation, and the impulse to cultivate it are alike from
above. Not that any man is to underestimate
himself or in any way to conceal his gifts, for that would be
false modesty, disregarding the design of the great benefactor.
It’s God. We need to look for the grace
of God at work in our brothers lives and assume that there is
plenty. Assume that there is even more
than what we’ve been bestowed. They don’t deserve it any more
than we do. But we don’t know the facts of
the matter at work in their life. That’s what it is. And we we need to cultivate that. As I said, Peter did that as
he acknowledged at the close of that epistle, the blessings
that others had been to him and they’re just incredible usefulness
to him. That’s what we need to do. When you talk to a brother, even
if it’s just in your own mind, Lord, how how is this brother
manifesting the grace of God? What are you doing to this brother?
You know, it’s not a crime to comment on it. It’s not a crime
to say, you know what? You are such an encouragement
to me. I appreciate your prayer life. I appreciate the way that
you serve. I appreciate. And just let people
know that you see. Let people know that you see
the grace of God actively flowing through them. The Christian said, one, as he
grows in spiritual wisdom, will not merely see ever more clearly
the dutifulness and beauty of self-sacrifying consideration
for others, but abundant ground also of esteeming others better
than himself. Increasing self-knowledge brings
an increasing hatred of sinfulness. The more you see yourself for
who you are, the more you ought to be motivated to see the grace
of God at work in other people’s lives. We are all completely
and utterly dependent upon one another. With a growing purity and beauty,
there is a deeper sense of the vileness and remaining impurity. Our awareness of the degree in
which our attainments are below what our privileges might have
led us to our dullness of spiritual apprehension, our lack of spiritual
energy, all of these come distinctly before our mind. I mean, when
you think of it, even as I pray fairly regularly, we’ve been
given the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. We’ve been given a perfect
book. The very Word of God. We’ve been
given the greatest saints in the world with whom to walk.
Examples by Christ. We’ve had conferences. We have
books, tapes, you name it. Shouldn’t we be more faithful
and more productive than any saints ever in the history of
Christianity? We should. All of those things come distinctly
before a saint’s mind. others He cannot know as He knows
Himself.” It’s easy, really, isn’t it? The first part of these,
the first one of these death blows is really pretty simple.
With humility of mind, to regard one another as more important
than Himself. Thank God for your brothers and
sisters. Thank them specifically. We challenge
you from time to time to go through the book and pray for people.
Go through the book and thank God for how He’s using each saint
that you come across. Really look. Really consider
what God is doing in and through them. Secondly, there’s a second
blow that we give to vanity that should put it to death. Paul
lays them out. They’re just as simple as can
be. Not only is an inordinate love of self checked by a greater
esteem of others. But secondly, it’s checked by
a greater care of others. Look at verse 3 again. Do nothing
from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind. Let
each of you regard one another as more important than himself.
Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also
for the interests of others. The verse is so simple. It brings
out a very special emphasis, the emphasis on considering,
not just considering, but actually taking the next step. You’ve
already thought them to be more important than yourself, and
now you’re going to take it to the next step and you’re actually
going to take care of their interests. Do not merely Look out for your
own personal interests. It’s an interesting word. It
was used of a watchman, one that looked out over the horizon and
looked for trouble or looked for, you know, even bad weather
advancing. It means to focus and direct
your attention upon a thing either in order to obtain it. And so
a lot of times a thief would look out and would scope out,
you know, the right person to pick on. but it means to fix the attention
upon with a desire or an interest in that thing. And we do that
with our own things, don’t we? We take great care in our own
interests, don’t we? In fact, to me, that’s the bigger
shortcoming of the two. in my opinion, because a lot
of times we will have a good regard for someone. But then
we all go our separate ways and we all roll up our sleeves and
we all set about our own personal interests when the church really
is designed to work together. And I mean, even to take it to
projects in your home, projects in your yard, projects on your
car, work together. Certainly, it’s true in the church. were to look to our brother’s
interests and not just to our own. What Paul seems to be pointing
to here is that in the Philippian church, there were those that
seemed to lack the, I guess, the Christian grace, as it were,
of humility and unselfishness. And the way that was manifesting
itself, just like in the Corinthians love feast, it was selfishness. They’d come together here. And
then everybody would scatter and do their own thing. They
overestimated their own usefulness to the church, their own services,
their own excellencies, and they depreciated their own brothers
in Christ. But if you take that first clause
in an absolute sense, it would forbid all care Wouldn’t it even forbid brushing
your teeth and combing your hair? And if you were to take that,
absolutely don’t look out for your own personal interests.
I mean, basically, you guys got to come comb my hair. Well, that’s why I think Paul
says, do not merely. He’s not forbidding us to take
care of our own interests. He’s not forbidding us to take
care of our lawns, and to do our chores, and to take care
of our businesses. But He is telling us, don’t just
merely do that. Look beyond yourself. Look beyond
your own needs. Look beyond your own struggle
with the day-to-day frustrations. Somebody else’s pile of leaves
may be bigger than your own. And they may have less of a means
of cleaning up that pile of leaves. Also, if you look in the second
clause, the word also basically modifies the exclusiveness of
that first statement, suggesting that to us, some consideration
of our deeds and our needs and our interests is good and normal
and healthy. That we are also to look for
the interests of others. Those interests, I don’t even
think, are as simple as raking leaves and changing the spark
plugs on the Buick. I think he’s talking here about
spiritual things. We know our own spiritual needs.
And we will enumerate those lots of times in prayer requests,
in Bible study, in church. We’re quick to share what our
needs are and what our interests are in those regards. What Paul
says, that’s fine. It’s good to share prayer requests,
but you’ve got to know what your brothers need. You’ve got to
know what their interests are, spiritually speaking. The Philippians
weren’t supposed to just look out for their own interests,
but they were to kind of cultivate this mutual care and concern
for one another. One pastor put it this way, they
were not to be there. Pardon me. They were not to disregard
their own things and pretense of caring for each other’s. For
unless they cared for their own things, they weren’t even qualified
to care for the things of others. The apostle requires a vivid,
substantial interest in the spiritual welfare of others. You should
have prayer requests for your fellow saints. You should know
what their struggles are. You should know what their gifts
and graces are. And you should be enhancing those
by your prayer on their behalf. John Eady said, it is not myself
alone or in isolation as if others don’t exist, but myself with
them and they with me in earnest brotherhood and love. My object
must not be simply to outstrip them of religious attainment,
but to bring them and myself to a higher stage of Christian
excellence. I’ve said it for a long time. It’d be fine with me if all the
men of the church were elders. It’s fine with me. There’s no
number. There’s no quota. It’s not wrong to look at your
own personal interests, but it is wrong to look at your interests
exclusively. That’s what Paul says. And then
he finishes his thought, but also for the interests of others. There is to be an unselfishness
in considering others and their needs. The more we begin to consider
how much Christ loved those around him, the most astounding and
most poignant moment in all of the New Testament, in my opinion,
you’ve heard me say this before, is John 13 in the upper room
where Jesus washed the apostles feet. And you think that, well,
God had planned this from eternity past. Yes, but you know what?
The interesting thing is that only Christ noticed the dirty
feet. Everybody sat there at the table.
Everybody had the same dirty feet. Everybody’s feet was in
everybody else’s face. And only Christ takes notice.
Only Christ stands to serve. And even that Judas, the more fervently, the more
one realizes how fervently Christ loved the apostles and went out
to save them, the more he will wish to advance that brother’s
interest. The more we realize how much
Christ loved us and how much Christ loved our brothers. So
we forget that we get some little idea or argument in our head
or some bitterness, you know, comes up between us and a brother
and how quickly we forget how deeply Christ loved that brother. That’s Paul’s argument, isn’t
it? For abusing our Christian liberties, isn’t it? That we’re
going to abuse this liberty and trample underfoot one for whom
Christ died. Look at how great Christ loved
him. And can I belittle him in the use of my liberty? One pastor
said that The spirit of Christ will lead us regardless of how
great our powers and however beautiful our character in comparison
with the power and characters of those around us to endeavor
to serve them in love. It will lead us to cherish and
manifest a spirit of unselfishness in regard to all things, to be
considerate and active and self-denying for the good of others. feeling
them and ourselves to be in a bond of brotherhood. Isn’t that what
Paul said here at the outset? That we are of the same mind.
We are maintaining the same love. United in spirit. Intent on one
purpose. Isn’t that what God would want
of us? We need to strike a death blow
to vanity. A death blow to self and selfishness. Paul lays out so simply. It’s
so simple that a child could preach this message. The greater
esteem of others and a greater care for them. And what do we stand to gain? We stand to gain the lost. We
stand to gain a solid testimony in the community in which God
has placed us. One Puritan said it this way.
The man whose character reflects God’s graces cannot help being
a wholesome and illuminating influence. Do you want to be
a light to the world? Take care of each other’s interests and esteem others more highly
than yourself. Such a man cannot and will not
isolate himself. His goodness will be infectious.
Christian character is not only individual and selfish, but it
is social and beneficent. To attend only to his own soul
is to lose savor and obscure light. The world will measure
the value of the gospel by this. Men estimate the worth of Christianity
by the lives of the Christians whom they see and know.” That’s frightening, isn’t it?
You mean people are looking at me and deciding what they think
about the gospel and about Christ? Yep. Goes on to say, and perhaps some
of the strongest words possible, Men estimate the worth of Christianity
by the lives of Christians whom they see and know. There would
be no more heathen if Christians took care to be what they ought
to be. If the church were for one day what it ought to be,
the world would be converted before nightfall.” Now, those
are strong terms. Maybe even hyperbole. But we are called to be. a light
in this world and no clearer light than if we esteem others
higher than ourselves in humility and take care of others interests
beyond even our own. What a great call. What a death
blow to self. Let’s pray. Merciful God, It is true. We don’t deserve any of the blessings
you’ve bestowed upon us. And how simple and clear these
instructions are. How great is the foe, self, that
will argue even against these things that we’ve heard today
and seek to build us back up and puff us up so that we can
lay hold of what we believe is rightfully ours. first place. Lord, grant us the grace, if
you would, to strike down this enemy self by these two simple
commands. Thinking of others accurately
and highly and caring for their needs more deeply than our own. Be glorified, Lord, as we cry
out to you for grace to do these things. Pray these things in
Jesus’ name, Amen.