Philippians 2:3

How to Count Others More Significant Than Yourself

Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”

If you have ever struggled starting and maintaining deep lasting relationships with people

If you have ever struggled at being consistent with your quiet time with God

If you have ever struggled with feelings of loneliness, depression, self-doubt, self-criticism, heavy hearts, discouragement, hopelessness, or maybe you feel like your in a slump

If you can grasp the weight of this verse and all the valuable treasure and richness that it contains, it will change the way you look at your circumstances and yourself

I. Attitude to Abandon

Paul begins this section in Philippians actually in Philippians 2:1–2 “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.”

Then Paul tells us in Phil 3 how to complete his joy by being of the same mind…”Do nothing from selfish ambition.”

Now you are always doing something, and most of what you’re doing everyday is making decisions. In the Greek, the word ‘do’ isn’t there. It has more of the sense of an exhortation related to thinking or feeling rather than to doing.

Therefore, every decision you are thinking about or feel like making, Paul says, don’t choose from selfish ambition.

What’s that mean?

You should work hard at your job, you should do your best when you have a task to accomplish. That’s not selfish ambition, that’s ambition. Paul explained what selfish ambition is in Philippians 1:17 “The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.” Selfish ambition is done out of sin, envy, jealousy, rivalry, and discontentment.

Those that were opposing Paul, were preaching Christ out of envy and rivalry with Paul because he was in prison, and they probably saw this as their opportunity to gather a following by convincing believers that they were more holy than Paul, because he was imprisoned.

For this devotion I began to look through the bible for all the selfish people I could find. I had to stop in Genesis 3. It was selfish ambition that caused Eve to listen to the serpent and take the fruit and eat. It was selfish ambition that Adam took the fruit and ate. And every person since has had that same selfish ambition seared onto their hearts. From Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Saul, David, Samson, Peter, Judas, and so on.

Then I looked at my own life. Maybe you can look at yours as well. I remember one day when we were living in California, my wife had starting managing a hotel around the corner from our house. And one night I pulled up in a brand new motorcycle. It was bright green and it had glowing green lights. If you could have seen the look on her face, it looked like she just watched Patrick Mahomes throw an interception on the final play of the Super Bowl! The reason of course is because I didn’t tell her that I was going to buy this motorcycle. I just did it because I wanted it. I wanted to be happy.

That is a very small example but in the same way, you must beware of making decisions from selfish ambition. Only looking out for yourself. Only concerned with yourself.

I wonder, how different would your life be if every decision you made was from an unselfish ambition. Every decision you made was based on what good it meant for others. Every decision you made was from care and love for another. That you believed that your time, money, and reputation was less important than your sister’s walk with Christ, that your own life was less important than your brother’s life. That your reputation means nothing if it doesn’t point to Christ.

Paul continues do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit

Defined as ‘vain glory’ only looking to exalt yourself or to make yourself look good, usually at the harm of others.

Galatians 5:26 “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”

Just like we shouldn’t make decisions based on sinful selfish ambition, we shouldn’t do anything with conceit or pride in our hearts, that leads to boasting

1 Corinthians 4:7 “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”

Other sins are against God’s law, but pride is against God’s sovereignty.

Thomas Manton

I remember one time I was in San Francisco with a church up there and I had a friend named Derek. There was a group of us and we went out to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. If you have ever eaten there, there is so much more than cheesecake! Well he ordered some limited time dish and when it came out it was on a huge platter it had fire, and colors, and sauces, and chips, and we all looked at it in amazement, like we just saw bigfoot or something. Then we looked at him and congratulated him on such a wonderful dinner. It was kind of awkward for him because he didn’t grow the food, he didn’t feed the cows, he didn’t cook the chips, he didn’t even light the fire. He just ordered it.

In the same way, everything we have received and will receive is a gift from God. Our life, our breath, our future, and our salvation…all from God. Even our repentance and faith is a gift from God. Actually, it’s not like the dinner that Derek ordered, because you didn’t even know what to order or even how to order. God ordered for you. It’s like eating at Elderslie Farm in Kechi, Ks. You don’t order, they just bring out the meal. There is no room for boasting, so you must be careful not to do anything from conceit that would cause you to exalt yourself…because the danger is that you would be exalting yourself above God.

Remember though that the context of this has to do with relationships between people, probably believers, but even unbelievers may be won to Christ by your love for them. So boast only in the cross and Jesus Christ himself.

II. Attitude to Accept

Paul says do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility

Illustration of woman convicted by a sermon “feeling small”

Romans 12:10 “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”

1 Peter 5:5–6 “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,”

Just as I looked through the bible to find selfish people, it also contains numerous passages of humble people, some of those humble people were the same that were selfish before

Humiliation is the act of being put to shame, often in a public manner

No other person in the history of the world demonstrated perfect humility more than Jesus Christ

Philippians 2:5–11 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Everything Jesus did was in humility

He did nothing on his own, only the will of the Father

He washed the disciples feet in the upper room, including Judas’

He came not to be served but to serve

And I believe that’s the point of Paul’s letter here, you must have the same mind as Paul and of Christ, ultimately by taking the form of a servant to others.

Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross

I wonder is that too much humility for us

You say but that’s Jesus, we can’t be that humble! Maybe, except that I get Voice of the Martyrs magazine every month and every month I read of brothers and sisters laying down their lives for…you. Their brothers and sisters in Christ. For the sake of the name. For the sake of Christ. For the sake of the gospel in the world that the good news would continue to go forth and save the dead in spirit.

He gave his life as a ransom for many

1 Peter 2:22–24 “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

III. Attitude of Acknowledgement

So Paul exhorts you to abandon selfish ambition and conceit, literally strife and vain glory, and to accept an attitude of humility. And now he explains why? To count others more significant than yourself. He was not saying that we should view everyone as better than ourselves in every way. His point was that we should view others as worthy of more consideration than we give ourselves.

Can you imagine what the true church would look like if in humility you counted others more significant than yourselves?

Do you struggle with starting and maintaining deep and meaningful relationships with people?

Consider counting those new friends or even some old friends, in humility, more significant than yourself. Do it with love and see if that changes.

“Martyr woman that was beaten over and over”

Do you struggle with being consistent with your quiet time with God?

Consider humbling yourself and instead of going to God to get something, you go to him to give to him. To give him your love, and adoration, and gratefulness at the cost of your salvation…the blood of his son. Spend time with God to give and not to get and see if your time with him changes.

Do you struggle with feelings of loneliness, depression, self-doubt, self-criticism, heavy hearts, discouragement, hopelessness, or maybe you feel like your in a slump?

I want you to imagine for a minute with me that your life is not yours anymore. That the old you has died. The old you has been crucified. And that it is no longer you who live but Christ who lives in you. That the reason you feel depressed, discouraged, and hopeless at times is because you are thinking too highly of yourself, as though you deserve more or a better life. What you deserve is exactly what God thinks is best. Not what you think would be best. The only way you can digest that is if you are in humility. The world will tell you that you need more self-esteem, you need self-help, but Jesus says to deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow him. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Live in a state of mind where you desire humility above your own joy and on that last day, you will indeed receive your reward and your joy …Jesus Christ himself.

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching A Fellowship of Beggars

The year 1983 marked the five-hundredth anniversary of the great reformer, Martin Luther, whose stature increases with time. Found by his deathbed, scrawled in German and Latin, was this declaration: “We are beggars: That is true.”

This statement may have inspired D. T. Niles to say, “Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where he can find a piece of bread.” Not a sweet roll and a cup of coffee, but a bite of the staff of life—bread!

The church is a fellowship of beggars, receiving and offering love, support, and hope. Committed Christians acknowledge their dependence upon God and their interdependence on one another. They are always in the bread line, if not receiving, then giving.