Living as a Servant, part 2

Last week we broke chapter 1 into three parts:

1. We can Live as if God is in Control, by taking on God’s priorities. We saw Paul’s example, that he was Gospel-Centric. And we asked ourselves, “Do we look at the outrageous national or world events swirling around us in terms of their effect on God’s plan, or do we ask, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ as if things are out of control?”
2. We can Live as if God is in Control, by trusting Him for the outcome. Paul wrote to his friends in Philippi that, “what has happened will turn out for my deliverance.” From this very important phrase, we learned that Paul understood God is in control, in terms of outcomes. Whatever the outcome, Paul was rock solid about the fact that he would experience glory and goodness from any set of events.
3. And finally, we can Live as if God is in Control by receiving suffering as something that is sometimes granted by God to the community of the faith. This is very challenging to our 21st-century ears; our ability to suffer together is a sign to us, and to the world, that God’s kingdom is in the earth here and now.
    
   

This week, as we turn our attention to Philippians chapter 2, we discover that Jesus is our model for living in troubled times. His example is not only praiseworthy or notable, it is accessible to us. Paul  challenges us to live up to the example Jesus set.

We’ll move through the chapter this week, taking a few verses at a time.
 

Philippians 2:1-4 “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of the others” CSB.

There are four things we will be considering concerning How We can Live as a Servant, just as Jesus did for us while He was on this earth.
 

Don’t look out for #1

As we look at the first four verses of this chapter, we are instructed that in the midst of difficulties, we should not look out for number one! This certainly runs counter to the spirit of this age. It’s easy to be considerate and generous when everything is rolling along well. But Paul laid his challenge in front of people, who were experiencing significant persecution. 

Continued tomorrow