"“Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” KJV
“Let each of you look not only to his own interests but also on the interests of others.” ESV It is not unusual for us to take our own interests very seriously. After all, a lot of our interests have to do with our families. In fact, the Bible is hard on people who do not look after their own interests. One who does not look out for the interests of his family is called a heretic in the Bible. But we need to remember that we live in the world with other people and they have interests also. The height of immaturity for a Christian is to think only of himself or herself. This is not unusual in a child, but as one grows up, he or she needs to learn that sometimes they have to recognize the other person. This is the advice that Paul is giving to the Philippians, who were having a fellowship problem (see Philippians 4:1-3) in which some were probably tempted to take sides. It is important for our Christian witness that we not be selfish and look out only for our own interests. In the verses following in this chapter Paul used the greatest example of selflessness that mankind has known –Jesus. (Verses 5-11) He was certainly not thinking of himself when he went to the cross. Paul wrote: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” The suggestion here is that in the matter of selfishness, we need to use Jesus as our model. Jesus lived a selfless life, ministering to people on a daily basis. If Jesus had tended to His own interests alone, we would be in great trouble. Jesus knew that He came to earth, not only to live a perfect life, but to die as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. In John 10:17-18, Jesus said: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I may have it again. 18. No man takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” You are probably thinking at this point that you are not Jesus. I am certainly not claiming that I live up to the example of Jesus, nor am I suggesting that you have to live up to that perfect example. But it should be our aim to be as much like Christ as possible. If we did that, we would certainly be more aware of the interests of other people. When we are not Christ like in our approach to the interests of others, we show a poor witness to the world. We see this happen in churches when they split because two (or more) sides cannot come to agreement for the sake of their gospel witness to the community. This occurs because people are thinking about their own interests and not the interests of others, and certainly not the interests of Christ. I have said many times in sermons, and have written it many times, that there is nothing wrong with Christians disagreeing, they just need to disagree like Christians and not like politicians. (If you get my drift.) It comes down the matter of whether we are going to live our lives by our own will or by the will of God. It is certainly not God’s will that we live selfish lives. We read a lot about this in the Bible. Take Moses for example: He seemed perfectly happy tending his father-in-law’s sheep in Midian. I get the idea that he was living a comfortable life. Then God came to him in the “burning bush” and his life was changed forever. His life after God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt did not allow him to be selfish. He had to think about what God wanted and what he could to help his people. This is true of a lot of the best people in the Bible. They couldn’t have been the great men and women of God that they became if they thought only of their own interests, nor can we. Ask yourself if you are selfish, or if you are making an attempt to be selfless? None of us will be perfect in this matter, but we should surely try to do better. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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