2009 Nov 1 - Kingdom Family (Philippians 2:1-4)

This week, we only got through the first four verses of Philippians 2. (And may I express publicly my gratitude to Reggie Phillips for his insights into the passage a couple Wednesdays ago.)

Among a lot of notes, I find the following "Take-aways" this week:

1. If prayers were more "we-focused" rather than "me-focused," unity in the Kingdom would be easier to achieve. (This reminds me of the discussion a couple weeks ago when we recognized that we are offered the mind of Christ, but often settle for our own perspective as sufficient.)
2. We need to trust that God is at work in those people we disagree with. Unity doesn't mean uniformity. We are all part of the same body, and God expects us and even commands us to use our differences to help each other.
3. One of God's commands is for us to keep our own priorities straight. Paul tells us to look to the interests of others AS WELL AS to our own interests. We do need to take care of ourselves, too.
4. Unselfishness may be the beginning of putting others first, but it is not enough. We need to get beyond the negative ("Don't be selfish") to the positive ("Do what's good for others"). This reminded us of Jesus' story of the house that was swept clean but left empty. We need to fill our lives with positive, not just fight the negatives.

This coming Sunday (Nov 8), we'll pick up where we left off: Philippians 2:5-11.

Unless someone wants to go back and revisit any of the prior issues, of course. (David would like that. He really was looking forward to leading this passage's discussion.)

See you Sunday, if you're not serving elsewhere!

Dale