Lies We Believe #22: You Have to Look Out For Number #1

“Do nothing from rivalry 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.”—Philippians 2:3-4

Our world is not one that treasures looking out for others, but focuses on "number one." The Christian life is not about being number one; rather, it is entirely focused on Christ. Our identity is no longer based on the accomplishments we have achieved; instead we see and understand ourselves as recipients of Christ’s salvation. If anyone knew about accomplishments, it was the Apostle Paul. Religiously speaking, his credentials were unparalleled. He was raised in a well-to-do community, a part of the Jewish upper crust, a Roman citizen, went to the best schools, studied under the best teachers and then ascended to the top of his craft by discipline, zeal, and an unparalleled work ethic. He gives us a glimpse into his successes,

“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless”—Philippians 3:4-6.

Despite his religious accomplishments, once he came into contact with the risen Christ, his entire life direction and understanding of himself and what was important radically and unalterably changed. He says,

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”—Philippians 3:7-11.

Paul’s life took an entirely new direction. He no longer was living for himself, but for Christ and Him alone. He didn’t want anything to get in the way of knowing Christ. All of his previous accomplishments he now considered “rubbish.” He shed any idea of having a righteousness of his own, or any success that somehow moved him away from resting in what Christ had already accomplished for him.

As believers in Christ, we know that Christ has accomplished for us something greater than we can imagine. There is nothing the eye has seen, nor the ear has heard, nor the imagination created that is greater than what it means to know Christ. That’s why it was so easy for Paul to consider everything else as “rubbish.” No one looking at a mud puddle wants that, once they have seen the ocean. As C.S. Lewis said, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” We are far too easily pleased. Lewis understood that what is offered to us is infinitely greater. At the end of The Last Battle, the seventh and final book of his Chronicles of Narnia, in the last paragraph, he writes,

“And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

Once we come to know Christ, or rather come to be known by Christ, we are forever transformed, and want to do what pleases Him. And for the follower of Christ, we no longer are looking out for number one; rather, we are to seek to build others up, so that they too might be won to the faith and come to know Christ. We don’t do anything out of “rivalry or conceit” because we understand that is not the life Christ lived. As Paul writes,

“…though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”—Philippians 2:6-8.

May we follow the example of our Master, knowing that He humbled Himself and so must we. May we consider the needs of others, and may our ambition in life no longer be filled with selfish impulses; rather, may we consider how to communicate the gospel toward those who are lost. And may Christ receive praise and may we receive joy through it. Amen.