HAVING A CHRIST-LIKE ATTITUDE (PART 3)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete...Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Philippians 2:1-2a, 3-4

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Be like-minded, in one spirit and mind with other Christians, and have the same love for one another while united with Christ and sharing in the Holy Spirit.

These are the first two Christ-like attitudes we find the Apostle Paul sharing with the church in Philippi in the second chapter of his letter.

Today, in the third message in this series, we find Paul adding an additional behavior that will indicate a believer is connected to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Look at these words of exhortation from verses 3 and 4:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Look to the life of Jesus and you don’t see self-centeredness or narcissism. He never exhibited arrogance or egotism in the way he interacted with other.

No, Jesus perfectly carried out the will of His Father who sent Him from heaven to earth on a mission to save all mankind. That mission involved Jesus surrendering His life, suffering deeply before dying, so other might have the chance to be pardoned, escaping judgment and living forever.

If Jesus was self-centered, He would have saved Himself and wouldn’t have seen the sins of others as His problem but He didn’t. Instead, He willingly allowed Himself to be sacrificed to atone for the sins of every person who had ever lived or ever would live. This was God’s plan for His life and as we learned about Jesus from a very early age, He was always about carrying out His Father’s business (Luke 2:49 NKJV).  

Friends, as followers of Jesus, those who are called Christians, we are to live in the ways of our Savior for He is the Christ in Christian. With this, we need to model His key attitudes of which we’re adding self-sacrifice today. Like Jesus, we need to develop an attitude that does “nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit” but instead values others above ourselves. For Christ never functioned in selfishness but rather constantly looked after the needs and interests of others, all the way to the cross and the empty tomb.

Today, as in the prior messages in this series, the scriptures are calling us into self examination while posing the following questions:

How well are we united with Christ and sharing in the work of the Holy Spirit, individually and collectively as Christians?

As a church, how well are we like-minded, in one spirit and mind with Jesus and the Holy Spirit?

As Christians, are we fully committed to share the same love with one another, not just any love but the pure and pristine holy love of our Lord?

and

Where is our focus as we live out our Christian faith? Do others see us operating out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, or do they see the kind of humility Jesus showed during His life?

Ultimately, the way others see us live will tell the story about our commitment to living with Christ-like attitudes. It’s something we can’t afford to not get right if we want to show others Jesus through the way we behave.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com