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Scripture Reflection by Sang Sur on Philippians 2:3-5 posted July 22, 2013 - Prayer Tents
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Paradox of leadership.
A leader is someone who has a solid vision and does not waiver in it. In that sense, all Christians are to be leaders—that in the face of danger, persecution, or even temptations, we hold fast to our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. When people doubt, we still hold.
Now, the issue is—what if people don't like what you are doing, what you want them to do, how you go about doing things—should you bend to their views? These verse says to not be selfish, but rather be humble and take an interest in others. How would you rectify that one? Does that mean that even though we feel God is telling us to go out to the streets, since others do not want to go (due to inconvenience, laziness, or just plain—”I don't think it's going to work”), we should please them and say—”ok, maybe when you are ready?”
This passage ends with, “you must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.”
This calls us to look at Jesus' life—how He lived, and how He handled the crowd. What is amazing is that Jesus did so many things within His three years of ministry and had many crowds telling him that He should heal XYZ people, that He should be at ABC locations, and that Jesus should overtake the Roman empire and start a new kingdom.
Jesus did not comply with the crowd. Jesus focused on remaining close with the Father and those close to him. Even in the midst of busyness (crowds gathering constantly), he left for the secret place. He understood that His secret relationship with God mattered, and that was His source of strength.
Then, as the Lord guided Him, He followed and did only as He saw the Father doing things (John 5:19). And we too should do that—as leaders, as Christians. Stay close to our Father, and do as He guides you.
This in fact answers the questions I began with (read v. 3 and 4 again). We are not being selfish by trusting the Father (we don't need to worry about impressing others, because we are just doing as we are told), and certainly, we are not looking to our own interests, but rather being obedient to the Father so that others may see the good results for them (for example, Jesus healed others because that was what the Father was doing—that is how Jesus took interest in others, by being obedient to God's guidance).
3Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. 4Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. 5You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
Philippians 2:3-5 (NLT)
Monday, July 22, 2013
New York, NY
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