Putting Yourself Aside

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is Philippians 2:1-11. As far as I am concerned, it is one of the most majestic passages in the New Testament. Theologically it is a great hymn of praise for the work of Christ, a profound glimpse into the mystery of the incarnation, of God taking on flesh in the person of His Son, of the way God became Immanuel, God with us. A wordy sentence, yes, but how do you describe what all of this means in just a few words!

Of course, the passage has a practical purpose – it is part of Paul’s plea to the Philippians to maintain unity, to strive for a greater love for each other, and to have the shared purpose of exalting Christ. It is a call to follow the pattern of Jesus by putting others before ourselves, being a servant, setting aside self-interest. This is where this tremendous passage nails me.

I read this passage as the text for a deacon ordination service in the church I pastor this past Sunday. It is a great passage for service, calling us to have the same attitude which was also in Christ Jesus – to take upon ourselves, as one version puts it, the mind of Christ.

But I have a problem with that.

It’s not that I think the idea is wrong; on the contrary, it is so right. If we are truly Christ-followers, then of course we will seek to pattern our lives after Jesus.

But I find that easier said than done.

C. S. Lewis highlights the struggle I have – is it yours as well? He writes:

All this is flashy rhetoric about loving you.
I never had a selfless thought since I was born.
I am mercenary and self-seeking through and through;
I want God, you, all my friends, merely to serve my turn.

Peace, reassurance, pleasure, are the goals I seek,
I cannot crawl one inch outside my proper skin;
I talk of love – a scholar’s parrot may talk Greek –
But, self-imprisoned, always end where I begin.

That is how Lewis puts it with his lofty prose – Don Miller in his book Blue Like Jazz puts it more crassly, and more to the point – “Six billion people live in the world, and I can only muster thoughts for one. Me.”

I don’t like that fact about myself, and I tend to believe I am not alone. We can talk a good game, speak of things like love and service and putting others first – but frankly, that doesn’t happen easily. That is why I keep coming back to Philippians 2. Eugene Peterson puts it in the same frank way Miller does in The Message – “If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made a difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care – then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”

I keep coming back to these words because I must. Vain conceit and selfish ambition are just natural for me – isn’t it for you as well? And so day by day we keep coming back to the admonition to put on the mind of Christ, and we keep coming back to the example of Jesus and the attitude displayed by His great act of self-emptying. We come back with the prayer, “Lord, make me more like you.”

It’s a cinch I can’t pull it off on my own.