My dear readers,

Others’ Things and Our Things!

Philippians 2:4: “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”

Doing our best not to hurt others is not sufficient in pleasing the LORD. The LORD wants His disciples to go the extra mile. We must also help others by focusing on the things of others even as we focus on our own things. This is a tall order, impossible to obey for non-Christians. Selfish and self-centeredness are ingrained in the DNA of every sinner. Self-preservation has been the way of mankind throughout the ages since the Fall. Man is helpless to change this. He might appear altruistic and seems to consider others’ welfare, but there is some personal benefit that is hidden somewhere. It is either for tax benefits or to alleviate some wrong to sooth a guilty conscience or to create some lasting “thing” like a foundation to best remember him by after he is gone. The fact is that sinful man has no ability to do good for “goodness’ sake”. The reason is that no man is good except God (cf. Mark 10:18: “And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.”) The only people on earth who can do good are believers, for they have been made good by God in Christ.

In Philippians 2, the Apostle Paul corrected some of the believers who preached the gospel with sinful motives (cf. Phil 1). This injunction of serving with the right motive applies to all areas of service. The motive must be the love of Christ. It is the only motive that pleases God. This love must be expressed as it is more than just a feeling. To do that, Paul urged every Christian to “look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Phil 2:4).

How to Look! – The teaching here is don’t stop looking. The word “look” is “to focus” as it comes from the root word that means “to scope”, from which we get the English word “telescope.” The child of God is to look out for believers who need help. Inward looking believers struggle to look out for others as they look inward all the time. They tend to think that the world revolves around them. Their self-consciousness causes them to shy away from people. They do not mix well. They usually find excuses to decline invitations to a meal or a social event. They prefer to keep to themselves. They give excuses to live a recluse-like life. They look after their own things badly and wrongly because of this inward perspective.

Such behaviour is not becoming of a child of God as he is supposed to be a lover of strangers. These inward-looking believers are also ultra-sensitive due to an aversion of contact with people. The slightest difference they have with others results in an outburst of emotion. They handle suggestions that differ from theirs poorly. Therefore, they fail to “scope” the needs of the people around them. To scope requires a conscious effort. All believers need to work on this as all of us have in various degrees this inward tendency. That is why this injunction from God is for all believers.

However, believers who are Christ-centred forget about self. They can readily focus on the people around them. They do this continually. They are sensitive to the needs of others. They know how to reach out to them. They can draw them out to share their needs. They do not mind suffering loss for the sake of Christ that others may benefit. They regard others better than themselves. They have discernment. They will not pander to the whims and fancies of those they help. They will rebuke if necessary. Truth and righteousness, according to Scriptures, guide them in what they say and do. In this manner, they can help continually. It will not be sporadic. They do not get tired of helping. They expect nothing in return for helping. They do not keep score. They have a large heart of forgiveness. They are not easily discouraged in doing good for Christ. Their Christ-centred perspective with the love of Christ constraining themenables them to focus on helping others.

Others’ things – Before believers can focus on the things of others, they need to look at their own things scripturally. The best that believers want for themselves must also be the best that they want for others. If they want carnal things for themselves, they will struggle to help others financially or materially. It is the nature of carnality. But if believers want spiritual things for themselves, then they will freely and graciously want the same for others. For example, if believers experience great joy in the study of God’s Word and how it has changed their lives, they will encourage others to study God’s Word. If they experience the power of faith-filled prayer, they will encourage others to pray more in faith. If they find strength from the Holy Spirit's filling in teaching God’s Word, they will want the same experience for other teachers. These are some of the reciprocal desires that believers need to experience for themselves before they can desire or “scope” them for others.

The things that the believer looks upon that will help others are congruent to what he wants for himself. “Others’ things” are a reflection of his own. If he desires to be rebuked whenever he sins, he will rebuke others when they sin. He knows that this is the path of holiness. He desires the holy path for himself and he desires the same for others. He seeks to be forgiven and so he will forgive others. The more spiritual the believer is, the more he can “scope” out others' things.

Food for thought – The Lord Jesus says, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”