Look to Exemplary Disciples
by Edwin Crozier
I’m sometimes surprised by how Christians talk about the selfishly ambitious teachers in Philippians 1:15-17. The way I hear some people talk about these men is as if Paul were unconcerned about their envy and rivalry. Oh, sure, they should probably do better than that, and they probably need to grow some more, but, hey, they're preaching Christ, so no big deal. This completely misses what Paul does over the next two chapters.
In Philippians 2:3, he directly rebuked doing anything out of selfish ambition or conceit. Then he provided four powerful examples of how to live as Christians and work for the Lord. The first example was Jesus Himself, who did nothing from rivalry or selfish ambition, but counted us as more significant so that He counted as loss His equality with God and died for us on the cross. Then there was Timothy, whose will was aligned with Christ and did not seek his own interests. Then there was Epaphroditus, who had such goodwill toward Paul and toward the work of Christ that he put his very life in danger. Finally, there was Paul himself, who counted everything as loss for the sake of knowing Christ. He wasn’t competing with anyone. He wasn’t anyone’s rival. His only goal was to be in Christ and help others be in Christ.
Then, in Philippians 3:17-19, Paul said, “Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things” (ESV). Yes, Paul was able to take some joy in the fact that these rival teachers were teaching Christ. But he took no joy in their envy, rivalry, and selfish ambition. In fact, Paul was concerned the Philippians might set their eyes on these men because their example might outweigh their teaching.
Paul didn’t just tell the Philippians to walk according to his teaching, but also according to his example. Further, he told them to keep their eyes on others who walked according to that example. What example? Of course, we can apply this to a good example of Christian living in general. But in context, Paul was telling them to set their eyes on the example of Christ and of men like Timothy, Epaphroditus, and Paul, specifically in doing nothing out of envy, rivalry, conceit, or selfish ambition. They were to set their eyes on those who humbly sought the good of others and sacrificed for them, counting all things as loss for the sake of Christ and salvation in Him. In other words, the Philippians were not to set their eyes on those selfishly ambitious teachers from chapter 1. The end of those men was destruction. They may have taught the things of Jesus accurately, but Jesus was not their God; their belly was. They may have taught the truth about the cross, but they walked as enemies of it. They may have declared the truth of the resurrection, but their minds were set on earthly things. People can teach true things and still be awful teachers to follow.
I’m sure we can draw many conclusions from this. But perhaps the top two are, first, to be on the lookout for exemplary disciples. We need to find them and keep our eyes on them. We need to imitate them. Second, strive to be such examples. We need to be fellow imitators of Christ in this so that others can look to us and, by imitating us, imitate Christ.
Yes, we will all fail and fall short of such a high calling. But that takes us back to yesterday’s post. Our job is pressing on; God’s job is perfection.
Praise the Lord!
