Philippians 2:3-8 – Humility vs Discrimination

Philippians 2:3-8 – “3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

With all the protests that have been happening in the United States lately due to the recent unnecessary death of George Floyd, I was compelled to think about racism and how it still exists in the world today.  It was hard for me to understand what was going on and why people were protesting, because I have never experienced such blatant discrimination myself.  I am an Asian American man, who was born into an upper middle-class family in a big city known for its diversity, so what would I know about racism?  Not much, clearly.  But as I thought about what racism, or in more general terms, discrimination, stems from, I could only think of one thing – pride.  Discrimination stems from pride in oneself thinking that one is better than another for reasons that cannot necessarily be controlled, such as age, sex, race, and in some cases, socioeconomic status.  The current issue being brought to our attention these past few days is discrimination based on race with the Black Lives Matter movement, but last year the issue was discrimination based on sex with the Me Too movement.  This inappropriate attitude of the heart has existed for the longest time throughout the world – the only thing that seems to change is the group that is being persecuted.  In current day America and most of the Western world, we see racism and sexism at the forefront.  But in Victorian England, it was socioeconomic status, as illustrated by Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and in the current Middle East, we see it being religion with different sects fighting against each other.  No matter what the reason, discrimination is wrong, and it all seems to stem from pride.  So what can we do about this sinful characteristic that is ingrained into our hearts?

The answer is given to us in Philippians 2:3-8, the passage for today’s short devotional – “Do nothing from selfish ambition 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.  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…”  The answer is humility.  Although Paul wrote these verses likely to address a problem of disunity in the church at Philippi, his words apply to the disunity and discrimination we see in the world today.  We as people need to humble ourselves and consider others more significant than ourselves.  To seek the interests of others, as well as, our own.  To have the mind of Christ.  We are asked to put others before ourselves, just as Christ Jesus put us before Himself, when He came to this earth to die for our sins.  Jesus Christ is God’s Son, who gave up all His glory, all His majesty, all the praise that He was worthy of, to become a man, to become a servant, to be born into the lowliest conditions of a manger in Bethlehem, so that we as sinners and enemies of His could be saved.  He not only lived as a man, he died as a criminal, being put to death in one of the most horrid, cruel, and shameful ways, by being nailed to a cross, naked and scorn for people to mock at although He did nothing to deserve that.  Our God, our Savior, our Lord gave Himself for His enemies.  He gave Himself for us, even before we were born, even when we were still rejecting Him.  Romans 5:8 states, “…But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  The only way we can cure this problem is to submit ourselves to the mind of Christ – to have His Spirit, His love, His heart flow in and through us.  This can only happen when we repent of our sins and give our lives to Jesus Christ and allow His Spirit to work in us.  He has a spirit of humility, and that same spirit can live in our hearts today.

You may then ask me why there are so many Christians who have this type of discriminatory attitude.  And I will tell you, it is likely because so many of us would rather be concerned about ourselves and our desires than to live in the way and manner that Christ taught us – to put others before ourselves.  Jesus Christ taught His disciples to live as servants of God Himself first and then as servants of others.  We are told to love one another and to love our enemies.  We are taught to do unto others as we would have them do unto us.  We are told to consider others more significant than ourselves.  Why aren’t we living in that manner?  Jesus Christ gave His life up for us, and we ought to have that same heart and mind.

I don’t want to sell short or ignore the injustice that has been happening based on race, sex, age, and socioeconomic status.  I don’t want to discount all the work and changes happening through politics and movements and protests and the like.  I don’t want to say that we shouldn’t stand up against what is wrong and fight for what is right through the platforms given to us.  I definitely don’t want to speak as if I have all the answers on how to fix this broken society.  But I do want to point us to the real and true problem of pride.  And that problem can only be fixed by placing the only Person who deserves honor and praise on the throne of hearts – Jesus Christ.