The joy of one mind involves living with one mind and with humility. Verses 3-4 of Philippians 2 says, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”[1] When it comes to living with humility there are four basic principles to keep in mind.
Do nothing through strife. This means to not have any selfish ambitions or be conceited. There is a fine line between having vision and having selfish ambition. Remember the tower of Babel. The people decided to build a great city that would feature a really tall tower that reached the heavens. This was a great vision. There was nothing wrong with the vision itself, however, the issue was their misplaced purpose. God told the people to spread out and populate the earth. Instead, they disobeyed God and stayed in one place. God gifted the people with imagination and dreams and creative skills to be used for His glory. Instead, they used those gifts to build a name for themselves. It is good to have vison. It is good to dream big and attempt great things. However, we must not do those things for the wrong reason. Anything that falls short of bringing God glory is worthless.
Do nothing for personal gain. Paul says to do nothing for vainglory. This means to not be a self-promoter. Do not purposefully do things for personal gain especially at the expense of others. There are too many people today trying to build their own little kingdoms and make a name for themselves. Often, they will put others down in order to elevate themselves. Paul warns that such behavior should never be present in the church. It is not about gaining positon, or power, or notoriety; it’s all about Jesus. We are not to lift up ourselves and promote our personal agendas. We are to lift up Jesus and promote His Kingdom.
Promote others. Paul tells the Philippian church to do something that goes against their natural tendencies. Paul says that in all humility, instead of promoting ourselves, we should promote others. The Bible Knowledge Commentary says, “Preoccupation with oneself is sin.”[2] Have you ever met anyone that was preoccupied with their self? All they do is talk about themselves and what they have accomplished. Such a person is not fun to be around. Years ago I was at a pastor’s conference in Jacksonville Florida. There was a very famous pastor speaking in one of the sessions. This pastor was so prominent that he had an entire security detail. When he walked in the auditorium you would have thought the President of the United States just walked in. I will not mention his name because you would know exactly who he was, he was that well-known. When he got up to the pulpit to preach, all eyes were on him anticipating a special Word from the Lord through this powerful man. However, he never opened his Bible. He never prayed. He never used scripture to encourage the thousands of pastors eagerly waiting to be encouraged. Instead, he spent nearly an hour talking about all his achievements. He talked about the big church he built. He talked about all the books that he wrote. It was all about him. I am not sure he even mentioned the name of Jesus one time. I must say, my respect for this man went straight out the window. Paul tells us that to have the joy of one mind, we should promote others and not ourselves. Instead of praising ourselves, we should praise others. I think it is a beautiful thing in the church to hear people constantly telling one another how much they appreciate them. In this age of social media, we see more self-promotion than any time before. Brothers and sisters, the church ought to be different. We should not be promoting ourselves. We should be promoting one another. We should be lifting each other up and making each other look good. Most of all, we should be promoting Jesus!
Provide for Others. In verse 4, Paul mentions that we are not to focus only on our own needs, but also on the needs of others. This has both a physical and spiritual connotation. Just as we care for own personal physical needs, we should also look out for others. The church is a family and if there is a need, we should rally around the one in need and help them. This also applies to our spiritual growth. The church should be a place of accountability. It is a place where we help each other in our spiritual growth. We should be concerned not only for own discipleship, but also the discipleship of everyone else in the church. This is what being a church family is all about.
There is great joy found in a church that has one mind. We cannot have one mind if we are selfish. Lenski wrote, “Nothing is achieved in the kingdom except by genuine sincerity and unselfishness.”[3] If we want to see the church make a difference in our community for the Kingdom of God, we must be concerned for one another and not just ourselves. Every ounce of selfishness and selfish ambition and self-promotion should be removed from our lives if we expect to be the church that God desires for us to be.
[1] The New King James Version (Php 2:3–4). (1982). Thomas Nelson.
[2] Lightner, R. P. (1985). Philippians. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 653). Victor Books.
[3] Lenski, R. C. H. (1937). The interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians and to the Philippians (p. 768). Lutheran Book Concern.
Pastor Chris Noland 