Thayer Thursday – Not looking to your own interests…
Chris Thayer is the Director of Discipleship at Good Shepherd Church in Charlotte, NC where he oversees adult life groups and Biblical education. On Thursdays I share his weekly “Thayer’s Thoughts” for small group leaders, which are based on the previous Sunday’s sermon. Click HERE to watch or listen to the accompanying sermon.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.” -Philippians 2:3-4
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry when I read these two verses from the second chapter of Philippians. The idea of a community of believers being so united with one another in Jesus Christ that not one person would look to their own interests is incredible. While sitting here at my computer, typing these words, I’m trying to imagine what that would look like. The more I think about it, though, the harder it becomes. Objections and ‘what ifs’ are flooding my mind. I’ve been in churches my entire life; and while I have seen small glimpses of what this looks like between a few people – the idea of it permeating an entire congregation is baffling.
N.T. Wright in his Paul for Everyone commentary on this passage rightly says that the only way for this to work is if everybody is in unison. The moment one person, one cog in the machinery, gets out of line it collapses.
This, I believe, is precisely the reason we talk ourselves into not living this way. Because we don’t trust our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to look to our interests – we are immediately afraid that we won’t be taken care of and write off how Paul tells the Philippians to act as a hopeless dream.
This thinking, though, is ultimately self-centered and dooms the whole process to begin with.
Richard Foster, in his book Celebration of Discipline summarizes the life of being a servant in a fantastic way that helps us get over this apprehension:
A natural and understandable hesitancy accompanies any serious discussion of service….We experience a fear that… ‘If I do that, people will take advantage of me; they will walk all over me.’
Right here we must see the difference between choosing to serve and choosing to be a servant. When we choose to serve, we are still in charge. We decide whom we will serve and when we will serve. And if we are in charge, we will worry a great deal about anyone stepping on us, that is, taking charge over us.
But when we choose to be a servant, we give up the right to be in charge. There is great freedom in this.
Our self-centeredness is deceptive and destructive. For the magnificent charge Paul gives the Philippian church to become a reality in our church today each of us must make the decision to let it start with us.
Don’t simply choose to serve. Become a servant.
Chris Thayer
Sermon title: “Selfie Wash”
Categories: Biblical Theology, Blog, Ministry, New Testament, Relationships, Thayer Thursday