unselfishness – Simply True

A story of joy

We all like getting a pleasant surprise—like a friend’s visit, or an unexpected kindness. And joy is like that. It’s always a gift—something over and above what we’ve deserved or worked for. And, it’s always better than we thought it would be.

God has made us for joy, and we function properly when it’s flowing well—even if gently, and underneath the surface. And, as we have seen, he’s provided us with ample material to put a genuine smile on our faces.

Paul gives us a window into this when he writes to his beloved church in Philippi. He’s shared his life with the believers there, and they with him. And he wants the joy they’ve shared to continue.

Their story starts with a jailer being converted. The full account needs to be enjoyed as Luke tells it.[i] We just note here, that what happens to Paul and Silas in Philippi is cruel and unjust. They sit in their prison with their backs bloodied and their feet in stocks. But then, they start singing!

Then, God reveals his presence with an earthquake. The prison is no longer secure. The jailer is ready to suicide, but Paul says all the prisoners are still present and correct. And he shares the good news of Christ with him.

The jailer and his whole family believe and are saved. He takes his new prisoner-friends into his home—possibly next door—tends their wounds and feeds them. And the meal they share celebrates the fact that they have all believed in God.[ii] No need for balloons and jokes at this party!

Now, possibly a decade later, a rich relationship has formed between Paul and the church that has grown from this beginning. Paul writes to them—and again, he’s in another jail. But joy is still high on his agenda. He raises it about a dozen times in his brief letter.

So, what’s giving joy to Paul now? And how can we grow in joy ourselves? Here’s three of the main things he raises.

First, joy grows among those whose affections are widened by the gospel of grace.[iii]

Look at what gives Paul joy. It’s praying for his friends—friends who are actually partners in the gospel. He’s thinking of the good work God has done in them and will complete. They are ‘partakers with me of grace.’ People who know the same Lord and receive the same grace have a special bond.

Paul adds that he longs for them with the affection of Christ. He hasn’t just received grace. He’s let that grace shape his heart. The joy he feels is coming from the grace and love that Christ has for both him and for those he loves.

Christian joy belongs with love. The Holy Spirit produces them together—not as separate qualities. They are the first two of the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit.[iv]

So, the joy he’s talking about is not just the excitement of a reunion and memories of sharing a project. It’s a movement of his heart. Fun can bounce around easily. Joy belongs with loving.

I remember the person who taught me to play tennis. He was also the Bible teacher for the young people in our church. We knew he loved us, and one day, he said to us after a conversation around the tennis court, ‘God bless your little hearts. And may he expand them!’

Well, that need continues! As Paul prays, may our love ‘abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment.’[v]

This growing must begin with knowing that Christ has loved us—loved us ‘to the end’[vi]. And it continues with us ‘abiding in’ his love. He wants us to make ourselves comfortable there, and to practice the new habits appropriate to this affection.[vii]

Here is where loves grows. And where love grows, so does our capacity for joy!

Paul’s friends are not only receiving the same grace that he is, they are helping him in his proclamation.[viii] And, in fact, they’ve just sent him a gift.[ix] And this brings him great joy too.

Then again, Paul refuses to get upset by some people with the same gospel who are jealous of him and try to annoy him—so long as the gospel still goes out to others.[x]

Nor does he mind getting beaten up at Philippi, if by this, people come to know the Saviour.[xi] He doesn’t mind if bringing the gospel to him costs him his life. It would be his joy. And he wants his friends to feel the same about this.[xii]

Love is reigning! And the gospel is the way to spread the joy.

Second, unity of heart and mind among believers makes our joy complete.[xiii]

Paul asks the Philippian Church to complete his joy by being like-minded. He doesn’t just mean we should conform to a ‘group think’. He wants everyone to think in the same way as Christ.[xiv] When this happens, it creates great joy for us too.

There’s nothing like a good squabble to destroy joy! Particularly when it’s among people who are agreed on the gospel! Paul says it doesn’t need to be this way. There’s something we can do about it.

We can look at how Jesus thinks. We can have his ‘one mind’ together, and so, be in ‘full accord’. He even names two women who have shared with him in gospel ministry, and asks them to ‘agree in the Lord’.[xv]

Paul is not talking about a dispute that can be resolved by an appeal to Scripture. He talking about differences that happen because of egos.

Jesus—who comes among us as fully God—empties himself of all priviledge to live among us, like us—apart from sin, to die on a cross. His whole life is focused on his Father’s will to do good for us. There’s not a selfish thought in him anywhere. This is our Saviour who is now established in power beside the Father.

Here is the love, and the unity of purpose, that explains the universe. Here is the message that heals the world. What joy when this outpouring of love—of Father and Son, for each other, and for us—begins to flow into our church community! And out into the world!

In the same way that Paul asks the Philippians to complete his joy by being of one mind, we need to bring joy to one-another by having this mind amongst ourselves. Is there any comfort in Christ? Are we comforted by his love? Is there any affection and sympathy in our gospel? Then it needs to show.

Paul tells us about Timothy who ‘genuinely cares for your welfare’, and about Epaphroditus who has been ‘longing for you all’. He asks the church to ‘receive him in the Lord with all joy…for he nearly died for the work of Christ’.[xvi]

We’ll probably spend the whole of our life discovering the layers of self-interest that we all have. But real God-likeness will happen, really happen, when we focus on what manner of Lord we have in Jesus.

When that work is complete, it will be heaven. Or, in heaven, it will be like that. We need some practice at being that way now!

And this is important for the world too. People around us need to see us being together—as one. It will be a witness to them. They will see our joy in being one in purpose and in heart.[xvii]

Third, decide to be happy in the Lord.[xviii]

Paul tells us to ‘Rejoice in the Lord’. He raises it twice in his letter, and on the second occasion, repeats it for emphasis![xix] He’s explained where joy is to be found, but we need to do it!

A British London pastor, George Muller, was called by God to open homes for children who’d been orphaned in the early 20^th century. As the work developed, he led a team that cared for some 2000 children. Doubtless, he brought joy to many people.

But the thing that was most important to him, every day, was to have his ‘soul happy in God’. He wrote a small article called ‘Soul nourishment first’ where he describes his discovery of this need.[xx]

When Paul first tells us to rejoice in the Lord, he follows it up by exhorting us to watch out for any who throw us back on our own resources.[xxi] He’s been there! And he knows how sterile this is and how bitter it makes us. Now, he knows the surpassing worth of knowing Christ and makes this his goal. It’s in knowing him that joy flows.

The second time Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord, he follows it up with an exhortation to be gentle with others, and prayerful about our own needs.[xxii]

We don’t need to be frustrated with people, and then, insist on everything working in the way we think it should. And we don’t need to be anxious about the threats and uncertainties of living in this precarious world. Paul is reflecting our Lord’s teaching: ‘Don’t be anxious about your life’.[xxiii] But now, this Lord Jesus is ‘at hand’ and ready to act!

Paul may be asking us to think about the second coming of our Lord. That will be the time when everything will be sorted out. Not now! But Paul could also be asking us to think about how close the Lord is to us now. Jesus has told us he will be with us always. Either of these options are true. Either way, we can rely on the Lord being near.

It’s very easy for people or circumstances that take centre-stage in our attention and affections. But the Lord is waiting to be gracious to us.[xxiv] The heart of our Advocate in heaven ‘grows warm and tender’. He cannot give us up.[xxv]

In other words, if we live in the knowledge that the Lord is rejoicing over us[xxvi], it becomes easier for us to rejoice in the Lord.

It would be easy for us if all our joys were visible and predictable, but we are called to live by faith, not sight. And everything around us is where it is because God has spoken—because of something unseen.[xxvii]

And now, it’s the same with joy. We can’t see our Lord. We can’t hear his voice. But when we believe his word, a tangible joy begins to grow where before there was nothing. And so, joy is a sign that God’s new creation is coming, and even now, we are tasting its beginnings.

[i] Acts 16:16-40

[ii] Acts 16:34

[iii] Phil. 1:3-8

[iv] Gal. 5:22

[v] Phil. 1:9

[vi] John 13:1; Gal 2:20

[vii] John 15:9

[viii] Phil. 1:7

[ix] Phil. 4:10

[x] Phil. 1:16-18

[xi] Phil. 1:18-26

[xii] Phil. 2:14-18

[xiii] Phil. 2:1-11

[xiv] Phil. 1:27; 2:2, 5

[xv] Phil. 4:2

[xvi] Phil. 2:19-30

[xvii] John 17:22-23

[xviii] Phil. 3:1; 4:4-9

[xix] Phil. 3:1; 4:4

[xx] The article can be read here. < https://www.georgemuller.org/devotional/soul-nourishment-first >

[xxi] Phil. 3:2-11

[xxii] Phil. 4:4-9

[xxiii] Matt. 6:25

[xxiv] Isa. 30:18

[xxv] Hos. 11:8-9

[xxvi] Zeph. 3:17

[xxvii] Heb. 11:3

God’s welcome, and ours (Rom. 14:1—15:13)

Paul is concluding his account of the gospel he preaches, and does so in a very practical way.

His readers in Rome include numbers of Jewish believers, and, probably, a majority of Gentiles. Their different backgrounds have led them to different conclusions about the right way to express their new faith.

Jews are accustomed to reverencing God by not eating certain foods and keeping certain holy days. They know they are justified by faith in Christ but can’t put aside what they see as an obligation. The Gentile Christians have no such constraints and gratefully enjoy all foods and serve God without regard to a calendar.

If these two people groups share the same faith, should they not share the same practice? The problem is felt keenly. Jews are condemning Gentiles for their liberties. And Gentiles are despising Jews for their rules[i].

These differences are all the more difficult to resolve when the issues are not just cultural but have to do with what each one thinks is right or wrong. As we have noted, everyone wants to be right—or be seen to be right. It’s hard to get on well with people who challenge this.

The problem is felt wherever the gospel brings people of different backgrounds together—and hopefully, that will include every church!

So, Paul gives us ways to navigate this territory. But he is not content to give directions. He tells us his gospel again and shows how it both shapes and enables this new way of living with each other.

The world fosters an ethic, an education and a culture, and ways to keep people within their bounds. These things are necessary but they can’t create what they prescribe. Only God and his gospel can do that. Here’s how.

First, God has welcomed us all. So, welcome each another![ii]

It is no small thing to be welcomed by God. The Maker of the universe is our Father. We’re being blessed because we are in his beloved Son.[iii] The Father knows each of us and wants us to help each other.

The opposite of this—as we have seen—is being alienated and destined for wrath. But this same God has offered up his Son in our place, to reconcile us to himself. He’s not angry with us. [iv] He’s welcomed us.

Given that this has taken place, our part is relatively simple. We should put away our anger with each another. We should welcome each another.

We can stop looking down on people who don’t have the same perspective as ourselves. And if God doesn’t see anything to condemn, there’s nothing to correct. If it’s only a matter of opinion, our opinion isn’t final!

Obviously, there are things God does condemn. And it may be our task to advise or to warn, and certainly, to pray. But it will be done as one who shares the same grace and is part of the same family.

What a relief! If God has welcomed us, we don’t need to be critical or dismissive of each other’s views on Christian living. A lot of our critical spirit is simply restlessness—because we’re not trusting in God’s welcome of us. So, let’s live in the gospel, enjoy it, and let its effects flow out to others!

Second, Christ is Lord of the living and the dead.[v] We’re responsible to him before we are responsible to each other.

Christ being our Lord hasn’t come about just because of who he is but because of what he’s done. He died and rose again. That’s why he’s been made Lord over everything.[vi]

So, he’s in charge of the household we belong to. We’re his servants and need to be looking to him for what needs to happen.

There are probably many people we look up to—those who have brought the word of God to us, given us advice or helped us out of trouble. But Jesus Christ is the one to please. He’s the one who can settle our conscience, and our thinking as to what is right and wrong. He’s the one who can help us make adjustments as we experience greater security in his gospel.

And in the end, God has a judgement day arranged. That’s the assessment we need to face. And the person we’ll see on that throne will be Jesus Christ. So, he’s the ‘big person’ to be aware of now. The opinions of angry people, dominant people, kind people, all need to be subject to his presence.

Third, the whole purpose of Christ’s reign and God’s kingdom is establishing righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.[vii]

You may remember these three thoughts coming together in chapter 5. We are justified or declared righteous, we have peace with God, and rejoice, even in suffering because the Holy Spirit has poured love into our hearts.

If we have felt the relief and dignity of justification, the confidence of being at peace with God and the joy of flowing love, we know what it means to belong to a kingdom that is safe and sure. Matters of what we eat and when we do things can take second place.

And we’ll be careful not to get in the road of a fellow believer practicing what they believe to be pleasing God. They need to act according to the faith they have—faith by which they are justified. Faith is the important thing, not getting everyone practicing their faith in the same way that we do.

Fourth, Christ didn’t please himself. In fact, he endured a lot of trouble because of us—to put it mildly! So, we need to endure the troublesome aspects of what other people do.[viii]

For example, if we are robust in our confidence before God, that quality is for others just as much as it is for us. We’ve got enough enjoyment of grace to put up with the stumbling faith of others. We should use our faith for their benefit.

Just look at Christ. He’s a walking picture of what God endures from us. All our hatred of God is directed against him, and he feels the pain. But he endures what we are and what we do. And still, he encourages us in what is good. This is perhaps what leads to Paul’s conversion. The ascended Jesus explains that persecuting Christians is fighting against him. He tells Paul that he must be having a hard time![ix] That’s endurance, and that’s encouragement.

So, these are the things God wants us to feel and to express. We Christians are a diverse and unfinished bunch! But God wants us to welcome each other—like he does. Not to indulge useless talk, but to endure each other when necessary. And to encourage each other.

And now, here’s the final word on this gospel of which Paul is so proud.[x]

Christ has fulfilled the promises God made to Israel—particularly about people from all nations being thankful for his mercy. The day of joy and praise and hope has come.

If Jews think they have been left behind by what is happening among Gentiles, they should rather be proud that they have been the launching place for this great work.

The world is not just the dismal place we have made it. It is the scene in which God has let his gospel loose!

If we forget this gospel and try to make a world around ourselves—even around our Christian experience, we shut others out. But if we live in what God has done and is doing—giving us righteousness peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, we will praise God together, rejoice together, and hope for the same future.[xi]

God himself is full of hope. He wants us to share this confidence with him—in our life together, and while we wait for the coming glory.

Paul began this letter telling us why he is a joyous slave of Christ. Now we know why! And he will finish the letter with some personal reflections, plans and greetings. We’ll look at this next time.

[i] Rom. 14:3

[ii] Rom. 14:1-4

[iii] Eph. 1:6

[iv] Rom. 5:9-11

[v] Rom. 14:5-12

[vi] Rom. 14:9 with Phil. 2:8-11

[vii] Rom. 14:13-23

[viii] Rom. 15:1-13

[ix] Acts 26:14

[x] Rom. 1:16

[xi] As in Rom. 5:1-5

Friendship is all about other people

The story goes of a man coming home from a party saying, ‘I was surrounded by friends, but none of them were mine.’ Many people experience loneliness—including some who appear to be ‘the life of the party’.

These experiences demonstrate that loneliness isn’t mended with company. In the real world, having friends involves thinking—thinking about others.

Perhaps this is why many have experienced amazing community spirit when a catastrophe strikes—a flood or fire or accident. Everyone focusses on what needs to be done and forgets about themselves. They begin to ‘discover’ each other.

So, here’s the real issue. If we are only thinking of ourselves, there’s no real relationship going on. The other person is only ‘present’ to the extent that they are meeting a need of mine. They may be thinking the same. Neither of us are being real. We are like ghosts trying to hug each other.

A relationship with someone else is not just a matter of chemistry, or sex, or common interest. It involves love, and this means seeing who someone is and what they need—thinking about them and how we may be a part of their lives.

Paul tells his friends at Philippi to think of others and not just themselves, and consider others better than themselves.

That’s good advice but it’s easier said than done. Selfishness runs deep and takes us back to thinking about ourselves. That’s why Paul points to how Christ has lived among us (Philippians 2:1-11).

It would be worthwhile reading some Gospel stories about Jesus. People called him a friend of sinners (Luke 7:34). That’s what we need—not someone who expects high standards, conformity, or agreement but a friend who knows who we are, what we can become and what help we need.

And the first need we have is to be forgiven. We don’t merely need people we can follow, or who like us. We need a Saviour. We need Christ’s encouragement, comfort, tenderness and compassion.

We need to belong to a whole group of people participating in a love that’s bigger than all the funny things that go on between us people. We need to be God’s children—together.

Believe me, what we read here fixes the problem. We have a quality of life that doesn’t depend on our friends being friendly or us being perfect! There’s something different that happens among people who receive forgiveness from God, and receive the gift of his Holy Spirit.

Paul also says we need to put away selfish ambition or conceit (v. 3). In business circles, people talk about ‘networking’—finding relationships that may further their interests. But that’s not friendship. Friends aren’t concerned with their own interests but the interest of their friend.

In fact, we are called to consider others better than ourselves (v. 4). This is nothing to do with us being better or worse than others. We are talking about considering others better than ourselves.

So, is all of this just a game? Do we just act in a certain way because that will make other people feel happier with us? Hardly. That’s hypocrisy, and eventually, hypocrisy shows!

Here’s why it’s so important to know how Jesus thinks. He has been thinking about us—not himself. And because he is thinking about us, we can be freed from always focusing on ourselves. We can have the same thought in our minds as Jesus Christ.

How can this be? Stay with this! It might seem like I’m trying to crack a problem with a heavy thump of Bible, but thinking about ourselves doesn’t yield easily!

The way Jesus thinks starts with him being equal with God. He is God. But he doesn’t think this fact needs to be defended. He doesn’t need to protect his rights or have his identity acknowledged. Simply—he’s God. He knows it. And he acts accordingly.

Here’s what he does. He ‘made himself nothing’. That is, he pours out all that he is—for us.

The Son of God becomes one of us—a human being. As God, he is in charge. But, as a human being, he is told what to do. He’s become a servant.

Then, the job he is given is to show us who God is. So, he shows us the ‘comfort of his love’, his ‘tenderness and compassion’.

It’s because we don’t know this that we have to protect ourselves. This is why we have to be surrounded with approving people. We’re not persuaded that God is friendly.

So, Jesus makes himself an offering for our sins. He’s already a servant, but he becomes a humble one and does the most despicable job you could ever take on. He’s nailed to a Roman cross. In our place.

This is the mind of Christ. He has come closer to us that we can come to ourselves. By being what he is—God, doing a human job—he’s shown us what it means to be human. He’s also shown us what it means to be God.

And then, Jesus is given the name above every name—that’s the name ‘Lord’, or God. There’s never been any risk of him losing his identity!

And there’s no risk of us losing our identity either when we think fondly about people around us—in just the same way we think about ourselves. If we’ve been united with Christ through faith, we have his encouragement, his tenderness and compassion.

So now, we are free to live, to love, to give and to share. It will seem risky. Sometimes, we may lose a friend rather than gain one. But we will always have Christ’s friendship.

Surely and certainly, we will discover the riches of relationships that flow from a reliable source—from no less than the God who made us to be like him.