Last time we saw how the first few verses of Philippians 2 are linked back to Philippians 1 and how Paul’s main point is that it would bring great joy to him to see that they are living a life worthy of the gospel. The Philippians could “complete his joy” by “being of the same mind, having the same love, and being in full accord and of one mind.” Notice how he talks about unity of mind twice in the same verse. He is reminding them that true unity comes when people are living lives worthy of the gospel together. 

What does this look like? Paul says it very plainly in verse 3—so plainly that it makes someone wonder at the seeming impossibility of this command—what I think is the most difficult command in all of Scripture: 

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 

How can we possibly do this? Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit? 

A Greek dictionary defines conceit as, “A vain or exaggerated self-evaluation.” 

We shouldn’t just think of selfish ambition as the most arrogant person we can think of. When we look at our own hearts, how easy it is to have an exaggerated self- evaluation. 

When we think about how we view a situation and essentially treat our own opinion as the only valid opinion, this is selfish ambition.

When we make a decision based on what we think is best without considering how it affects others, this can be from selfish ambition.

When we judge others, it often stems from an exaggerated self-evaluation. We look at ourselves and say, “The way I think or I am approaching this situation is right—and the way they are doing it is wrong.” Sadly, it is far too easy to see others’ weaknesses and judge them without considering how weak and limited we ourselves are. 

But Paul doesn’t stop there. Listen to verse 4: “Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others.” 

If someone would have objected, “Well, am I never supposed to think about myself and look out for my own self-interests?” Paul answers: not only to his or her own interests. Paul knows we all care for ourselves and should do so—it’s how we’re made. To not care for ourselves at all is to have too low of an opinion of how we are made in the image of God. 

But if you look back at the end of verse 3, there does seem to be an order in how we are to perceive ourselves: “In humility count others as more significant than yourselves.” 

Paul is not telling us we shouldn’t care about ourselves, that’s not his point. His point is the order in which we consider others: others first, ourselves second.  

Let me close our time today with a brief story that I heard many times growing up from my mom. 

My great-grandma, Rosa Stiff (where Ellie gets her middle name), told the story about how her mother would always choose to eat the neck of the chicken when they would sit down to dinner. She chose it first so often that her kids all thought that it was the best part of the chicken and that she was selfishly choosing it for herself. It wasn’t until they were older that they realized the truth: the neck was the worst part of the chicken! 

How can we seek to do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit? We count others as more significant than ourselves. 

On our next podcast we’ll see how we might do this impossible command. Paul grounds this command in the example and person of our Savior, Jesus—that we are to seek to have the mind of Christ in how we treat others. In this context is where we come to some of the greatest, most mind-blowing, Christological truths in Scripture. 

See you next time. Remember, we have hope in Christ. Let’s make that hope known in a struggling world. 

Music by Joseph McDade. https://josephmcdade.com. Used with permission.