“The one who stands nearest to Christ will be he who on earth has drunk most deeply of the spirit of His self-sacrificing love,—love that ‘vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, . . . seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil’ (1 Corinthians 13:4, 5),—love that moves the disciple, as it moved our Lord, to give all, to live and labor and sacrifice, even unto death, for the saving of humanity. This spirit was made manifest in the life of Paul.
In Philippians 2:14, Paul urges the Philippians to “do all things without complaining and disputing” (NKJV). The challenges to church unity are so serious that it cannot be maintained without significant effort on our part. Unity within the church is a by-product of our union with Christ and obedience to His Word. And it’s vital to our witness, as Paul proceeds to point out, calling us to “shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15).
Having just presented Jesus as the perfect example of humility and obedience to God’s will, Paul now turns to the Philippians themselves. He affirms their obedience to the Lord after they received the gospel message (see Acts 16:13–15, 32, 33) and urges them to continue in that obedience.
Having presented the example of Christ’s life and the Cross as the way of salvation, Paul now focuses more directly on how this all works in practice.
“All the paternal love which has come down from generation to generation through the channel of human hearts, all the springs of tenderness which have opened in the souls of men, are but as a tiny rill to the boundless ocean when compared with the infinite, exhaustless love of God. Tongue cannot utter it; pen cannot portray it.
A popular verse in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 8:2: “If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know” (NKJV). There is no subject about which we know everything. We can always learn something more about anything. How much more true is that of eternal realities connected with the Godhead and the Incarnation? Paul frequently refers to Christ’s amazing condescension in becoming a human being. It’s a subject that even eternity will be inadequate to exhaust.
Muhammad Ali once said, “I am the greatest.” In August 1963, six months before winning the world heavyweight boxing championship, he even released a record album titled “I Am the Greatest.” Ali, no doubt, was a great athlete, but he was not an example to follow if one wants the mind of Christ.
