by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Philippians 2:1-11<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. When learning another language, it helps to start with the most common words first, the\nones most likely to come up in a conversation.\n
A. So what is the most common word spoken in English? <\/p>\n 1. One study in 1992 by Godfrey of switchboard conversations found the\nword “I” to appear the most often.\n
2. The New York Telephone Company, decades ago, found the same thing.<\/p>\n
3. We use “I” a lot!<\/p>\n B. One of the things that mark notes from Africa is that “I” is dropped by the writers.\nThey will tend say “am” instead of “I am.” It is a reflection of their language and\ntheir culture.\n
C. Makes you wonder about our culture, doesn’t it?<\/p>\n D. Many people are interested in making friends, but it seems the majority of the\nworld think friendliness is getting other people to be interested in you.\n 1. They strive to impress others with their accomplishments, their talents,\ntheir wit.\n
2. But consider for the moment the lowly dog.<\/p>\n
a. Why are they such popular pets?<\/p>\n
b. True some are kept for the protection of the house<\/p>\n c. But most are kept for the simple reason that they focus on their\nmasters. They are excited when they get home. They stick close.\nThey act as if the best thing in the world is that you notice them.\n d. For what? They aren’t out to sell you some item. They don’t want\nyour backing for a bid to an office.\n e. It is the genuineness of their interest which makes us interested in\nreturn.\n
E. A key to all human relations is found in Philippians 2:3-4<\/p>\n 1. Without rivalry, or strife, or selfish ambition – depending on your\ntranslation\n
2. Without empty conceit<\/p>\n
3. Consider others better that yourself<\/p>\n
II. Genuine Interest in Others<\/p>\n A. Paul tells us how to go about considering other better than yourself – look out for\nthe interests of others\n
1. Be fond of each other. Give preference to each other – Romans 12:10<\/p>\n a. The word “preference” comes from the Greek word proegeomai<\/i>,\nwhich means to lead the way or to out do another.\n b. It means taking the initiative. When it comes to showing kindness\nto another, going first, trying to beat the other to the first act of\nkindness. \n c. When it comes to treating another with respect, it means going\nfirst, trying to beat the other to the first act of honor.\n d. Long ago, Publilius Syrus stated, “We are interested in others when\nthey are interested in us.”\n (1) While that is the way many people operate, it is not the way\na Christian should behave.\n
(2) We take the initiative!<\/p>\n
2. Honor all. Love the brotherhood – I Peter 2:17<\/p>\n
B. It must be a sincere love, not some act or tolerance – I Peter 1:22<\/p>\n C. Dale Carnegie wrote this in How to Win Friends and Influence People<\/i> (p. 55-56),\n“That, too, was one of the secrets of Theodore Roosevelt’s astonishing popularity.\nEven his servants loved him. His valet, James E. Amos, … relates this illuminating\nincident:\n“My wife one time asked the President about a bobwhite. She had never\nseen one and he described it to her fully. Sometime later, the telephone at\nour cottage rang. My wife answered it and it was Mr. Roosevelt himself.\nHe had called her, he said, to tell her that there was a bobwhite outside her\nwindow and that if she would look out she might see it. Little things like\nthat were so characteristic of him …”\nHow could employees keep from liking a man like that? How could anyone keep\nfrom liking him?\nRoosevelt called at the White House one day when the President and Mrs.\nTaft were away. His honest liking for humble people was shown by the fact that\nhe greeted all the old White House servants by name, even the scullery maids.\n“When he saw Alice, the kitchen maid,” writes Archie Butt, “he asked her\nif she still made corn bread. Alice told him that she sometimes made it for the\nservants, but no one ate it upstairs.\n“‘They show bad taste,’ Roosevelt boomed, ‘and I’ll tell the President so\nwhen I see him.’\n“Alice brought a piece to him on a plate, and he went over to the office\neating it as he went and greeting gardeners and laborers as he passed. …\n
“He addressed each person just as he had addressed them in the past. …”<\/p>\n D. God regards the lowly people, If the Creator of the univers can do it, then we\nought to do so as well – Psalm 138:6\n
E. Be courteous – I Peter 3:8<\/p>\n
F. Show respect. Suppress your will for another (submit)<\/p>\n
1. Advice to young people – I Peter 5:5<\/p>\n
2. For all – Ephesians 5:21<\/p>\n
III. Competing Against Others<\/p>\n A. Seeking others well-being. Never lose sight of our purpose and goal – I\nCorinthians 10:24,33\n B. There is a story in the Old Testament that if you think about it is really strange to\npeople of our culture – Genesis 23:3-18\n 1. To understand, imagine a wealthy man coming up to a car dealer and\nsaying “I wish to get a car.” To which the sales people answer, “Pick\nwhich ever one you want off the lot and it is yours.” “The silver Lexus\ndoes interest me. I’ll pay full price for it.” “Fine choice. But you don’t\nneed to pay me, it is yours.” “Well, if you are willing to give it, then you\nmust let me pay for it.” “What? It lists for only $38,000, but what is that\nbetween you and I? Take the car with my blessings.” To which the wealthy\nman pays the full price.\n 2. This is a glimpse of what mankind once was like. They did not dicker\ndown to the least acceptable price, men negotiated seeking the better\nposition for the other.\n
C. We see a similar character in David – I Chronicles 21:21-25<\/p>\n D. Instead we see people competing to get the best advantage over others. Not only in\nour purchases, but it influences every aspect of our lives.\n
1. Biting and devouring each other – Galatians 5:14-15<\/p>\n
2. God’s wrath is on the self-seeking – Romans 2:8<\/p>\n
3. Evil exists where there is selfish ambition – James 3:14-16<\/p>\n
E. We are not in a competition – II Corinthians 10:12<\/p>\n
1. Seeking your own glory is not glory – Proverbs 25:27<\/p>\n
2. Instead of pushing self, let others – Proverbs 27:2<\/p>\n
IV. The Emptiness of Conceit<\/p>\n A. Alfred Adler, a psychologist, said, “It is the individual who is not interested in his\nfellow men who has the greatest difficulties in life and provides the greatest\ninjury. It is from among such individuals that all human failures spring.”\n B. We remember Diotrephes, not for the good he might have done, but the fact that\nhe thought so much of himself that he would not even welcome the venerated\napostle John – III John 9\n
1. That is why we are warned to remember where we came from – Titus 3:1-5<\/p>\n
2. Wrapped up in useless arguments – I Timothy 6:3-5<\/p>\n
C. Love does not parade itself, does not seek its own – I Corinthians 13:4-5<\/p>\n
1. Don’t be wise in your own sight – Proverbs 26:12<\/p>\n
2. Exalting yourself leads to ruin – Proverbs 17:19<\/p>\n
D. In lowliness bearing with others in love – Ephesians 4:2<\/p>\n
V. If you fulfill the royal law, you are doing well – James 2:8<\/p>\n A. In other words, fulfilling this command means removing pride from our lives and\nreplacing it with true humility\n
B. Pride doesn’t have the effect you might think it does – Proverbs 29:23<\/p>\n
C. Pride leads to conflict – Proverbs 13:10<\/p>\n
D. Godliness is to hate pride – Proverbs 8:13<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Please add an audio file by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Philippians 2:1-11 I. When learning another language, it helps to start with the most common words first, the ones most likely to come up in a conversation. A. So what is the most common word spoken in English? 1. One study in 1992 by Godfrey of switchboard…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[1211,1212,579,463,788,126,1363],"class_list":["post-23630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-competition","tag-conceit","tag-friendship","tag-humility","tag-meekness","tag-pride","tag-selfishness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40202,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/let-me-tell-you-about-my-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":23630,"position":0},"title":"Let Me Tell You About My Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"September 15-20, 2013 by Terry W. Benton of Gardendale, AL. Every Jesus Is Not Right (recording failed, borrowed an older copy) The Most Wonderful Jesus (recording failed, borrowed an older copy) The Most Challenging Jesus The Temple-Cleaning Jesus The Anti-Divorce Jesus The Hell-Fire Preaching Jesus The Victory-Giving Jesus The Common\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13426,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-name-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":23630,"position":1},"title":"The Name of God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Exodus 3:10-17 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses have gone out into the world declaring that God\u2019s name is \u201cJehovah.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A reader of our website wrote to ask why this claim is made since he was only able to find less than ten instances of the name \u201cJehovah\u201d in his Bible.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42079,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ive-listened-to-the-entire-bible-during-my-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":23630,"position":2},"title":"I’ve listened to the entire Bible during my day","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your article on \u00a0Reading the Bible Cover to Cover. Permit me to share that I love listening to my audio Bible and have covered 50 to 100 chapters a day. I have since gone through the Good Book eleven times. By late Wednesday, March 5th, I'll complete\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40204,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-most-wonderful-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":23630,"position":3},"title":"The Most Wonderful Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Let Me Tell You About My Jesus","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40223,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-most-challenging-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":23630,"position":4},"title":"The Most Challenging Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Let Me Tell You About My Jesus","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68150,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/agrippas-statement-and-common-beliefs\/","url_meta":{"origin":23630,"position":5},"title":"Agrippa’s Statement and Common Beliefs","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23630\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}