#2 Pursue Humility

Godly Qualities that Make and Athlete Great

Philippians 2:3–4 ESV

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

These are qualities that don’t just make an athlete great, they make a person great.

These are qualities that make people want you to be on their team.

These are qualities that make people respect you and look up to you.

These are all qualities that Jesus Christ perfectly manifested.

Paul starts by showing...

What we shouldn’t do?

Philippians 2:3 a(ESV)

3 “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit”

Don’t go out there and play to become popular. Get noticed by a girl.

Don’t expect everyone on the team to go above and beyond to accommodate your preferences or desires while you do nothing but just enjoy getting what you want.

People can smell a selfish turd from a mile away. And they don’t like a selfish turd because he stinks!

Well then. We know what we shouldn’t do. But...

What should we do?

Philippians 2:3b (ESV)

...but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

“Count” or consider.

My well being doesn’t matter as much as their well being.

This is completely counter cultural.

Self becomes the center of your world when you have selfish ambition or conceit. But others become your primary focus when you pursue humility.

Pursuing humility means you are seeking to be concerned with how your actions and motives effect other people.

I’ll put it this way, someone who is not pursuing humility would be completely oblivious how their selfishness and their interactions with people negatively effect others.

They lack compassion. They lack empathy. They are only able to focus on themselves. Humility focuses outward while pride focuses inward.

People who are pursuing humility are able to recognize that they aren’t the center of the world. They are merely a small part of it!

This doesn’t mean you become a doormat for people to abuse. Look at the next verse...

Philippians 2:4 (ESV)

4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests...

Paul shows us here that we are, to some respect, looking to ourselves. We are taking care of ourselves. We aren’t just completely neglecting ourselves or starving ourselves.

We still exists. We need certain things to survive…

But we are to look...

Philippians 2:4 (ESV)

...but also to the interests of others.

Pursuing