The culture of Philippi that Paul was writing to has much similarity to our current North American culture. It was a wealthy culture. It was a cultural hub. It was a place where citizenship held many advantages. Paul urges his followers to live a life worthy of Christ, and in doing so to make his joy complete. At first, that sounds a little co-dependent...Paul needing others behavior to look good in order to feel good about himself? But if you flip that around, it actually appears that Paul cares so much for his people, that nothing will give him more joy than their success. Do we care for our people that way?

Paul gives a few pointers to help us know how to live in such a way. They are simply 3 simple steps...errrr, maybe not. But here’s Paul’s advice.

-Do nothing out of selfish ambition

-Look to others

-Have the same attitude as Christ

These exhortations are really an exhortation to walk with a certain posture. It is not that we are to have no ambition...it is that we are to have a self-less ambition. It is not that we are not to examine our own lives, it is that we should care more for others than ourselves. Finally, we need to have the attitude of Christ, which means letting go of our propensity towards selfishness. All of this is only possible by the miracle of God working in us. That is why Paul says we should participate in all of this with “deep reverence and fear.”