Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Responsibilities of a Church Member: Exercise Humility to Maintain Unity

In Philippians chapter 2, Paul writes
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.

Paul is happy if the church at Phillipi is unified in their thinking and love. He does not mean that they would be cookie-cutter Christians. He doesn't intend for all of them to think the exact same way about everything. What does he mean?
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus... (Philippians 2:3-5)

He wants them to have a mindset of humility. The thinking that unites them is a humble mindset - a Christlike mindset. 

As church members, we are responsible to exercise humility.  Humility is like a muscle.  You apply it every time you put the interests of others ahead of yourself.  So, if you want to grow in humility, you need to look for opportunities to serve others and prefer them. 

Practically, when the church has an event that you'd prefer not to attend, perhaps you should see it as an opportunity to exercise humility.  Prefer the other believers who you will be able to see, encourage, and serve.  When another believer talks about something you are not interested in at a fellowship dinner, after service, or at a Bible study, you can exercise your humility muscles by disciplining yourself to listen.   You can attend a Bible study or fellowship event even if your best friend won't be there because you aren't thinking first of yourself, but primarily of how you can encourage others.

How do you motivate such thinking, though?  The best way to facilitate humility is to put on Christ's mindset as your own.  Philippians 2:5-8 tells us to do this.  It mentions that Christ put himself below others to bring them up.  He did not hold on to his rights and prerogatives.  He was willing to lay them aside to serve others.  You might think you have the right to avoid relating to difficult people.  But the mindset of Christ doesn't leave room for that.  So, think about Christ and his humbling himself by becoming a man and then dying on the cross for you.  Then incorporate that mindset into your thoughts towards the church. If Christ wasn't too good for it, then neither are we.

Related to this, you can make progress in this sort of unifying humility by thinking of the church as your family.  You can remind yourself that this is your brother or sister in Christ, one for whom Christ died.  Just think of how often the Scripture speaks of Christians as "brothers and sisters."  Just like a family, we don't put our own needs and desires ahead of others.  Instead, we look to serve the interests of others.

I'll bring this to a close, but think of how many areas of church life this principle affects.  Song selection (the older like this...the young like this...both prefer the other), what type of events are planned, how we use our time, etc. Humility promotes unity in every area of church life.  So, let's exercise humility. 

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