Beloved friends, we greet you and we welcome you to the joy of Bible study in our epistle that we are studying the Philippian letter written by Paul, the beloved apostle, the great servant of God. As we commence our study today, we enter into chapter two of this wonderful prison epistle written concerning Christian experience. It was written by one who lived what he has written. in this wonderful letter. In chapter one we learned that Christ was the dominating purpose for the Apostles' living, and it should be the same for all believers today. May God, by His Holy Spirit, enable every one of us who know Christ, who belong to Christ, to sincerely say with Paul, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians As we now continue our study in the second chapter, we shall find that Christ must be and should be the believer's pattern for the path of our life below. It is the same path that Christ himself trod when he walked and lived below upon the earth amongst men. His life should be the pattern for the believer today. And the beloved apostle introduces this pattern. by words in verses one through four. In these words he is exhorting his dear Philippians as well as ourselves to follow Christ alone. May I be permitted to make a frank confession from personal experience when I recall my early Christian days as a newborn baby in Christ. When I first came to know the Lord, how very eagerly I listened to every faithful preacher and teacher of the Word of God. I enjoyed them greatly. Many of them I admired, one after another, drinking in the blessed truth that my spiritual appetite was enjoying from their ministry. But I did find myself again and again, wishing I could be like that preacher, like this preacher, like another preacher, or a teacher. I have to confess, I would even try to imitate them when I tried to preach, but I had my heart fixed on the wrong pattern, blessed as it was to know who they were and what they were, as well as to enjoy their ministry. I should not seek to be like others. I ultimately learned that my pattern only is to be Christ, and Christ alone. Now listen to Paul's words of introduction in chapter two, describing, as he will describe later, beginning in verses five through eight, that blessed pattern to us. But listen to his introduction in verses one through four, how he exhorts the necessary fact. There should be total self-effacement. It should be true of us that we would say, not I but Christ. And he gives a loving appeal. to his beloved Philippian saints, that they all would possess, now note, the same love and being of one accord and of one mind. A unity of love, a unity of heart, a unity of mind. And note that through the glorious Gospel, he reminds them of the comfort and the encouragement that they had which was theirs in Christ, and he calls it the fellowship of the Spirit, and the compassions and mercies. Now all this was theirs to enjoy in Christ, the fellowship of the Spirit, and all the joy of Christ's compassions and mercies. All this was theirs, and it is ours, my fellow believers. Precious possessions through the Gospel. These are our present consolations in Christ, as he calls them. Therefore, through these precious possessions, Paul asks that as fellow saints, we should manifest all of this in a practical manner. Now, how can we manifest it? Notice words that follow in verses two and three. Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, and of one mind doing nothing through strife and vain glory, but in loneliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. May I repeat those words? Please, these are so properly given to us by way of introduction, before we look at the perfect pattern, exhorting us. to be practical in our approach. Fulfill ye my joy, which was the desire of the Apostle's heart, that ye be light-minded, that you have the same love, that you're of one accord, that you're of one mind doing nothing through strife and vain glory, but in loneliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Now we shall learn later on in our epistle that there was some difficulties existing among the saints in Philippi. But in our Scripture here Paul desires, having the joy, that they would be one in soul, in thinking the same thing. That blessed unity of mind and heart is one. The same thing the Lord Jesus prayed for us. In the great prayer of John seventeen he prayed, Father, that they might be one. And Paul says, No, look not every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others. Now let me try to summarize the message that Paul gives in these first four verses of chapter two in the following way. Nothing is to be done among or by God's people in a self-seeking spirit of strife or vain glory. Let me repeat that. I need it as much as you, my friend. Nothing is to be done among or by God's people, beloved people, in a self-seeking spirit of strife or vain glory. Is not that the spirit of the world? The true way of becoming the followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live by him and live for him, is to esteem other believers better than ourselves, in loneliness of mind. regarding our own qualities, but being more considerate of the qualities we can see in others. Does it not declare that we should be truly and utterly forgetful of ourselves in living for the Lord? True humility is not merely humbling oneself, but it's really forgetting yourself. Forgetful of yourself. in complete self-effacement and self-denial, which certainly when it is manifested will absolutely prove the absence of strife and vain glory. This in one word is humility in all of its true meaning. May I suggest that true humility will never be exhibited in selfishness. For in selfishness one likes to be served. But when in love, and Christ Himself is before our hearts, His love will enable us to be a servant, looking after the interests of others. And in this way we should be like Him, as He was when living upon the earth. Now let me raise the question, my Christian friend, as well as on saying, friend, what motivated the Lord Jesus to come down from heaven? Did he come down for himself? Did he come down to seek his own good? Can we not confidently say it was for others? Others, others, others. Dear Bramwell Booth, the first general of the Salvation Army, when there was a great gathering of their Salvation Army people in this country years ago, they asked him to send a message. In the days when those messages had to be cabled by telegraph. And he sent one word to be the theme of the congregation that was gathered together. And it was the word others. Yes, my beloved, when he comes to the Lord Jesus leaving heaven above, the word others brought him. And this can be brought for you and me. to raise the searching question, do I think more of myself than I do of others? We are told not to think more highly of ourselves as we should, but are we not prone to value qualities which we possess? That's like those that others may possess. You will certainly know that in this epistle, Paul writes to these dearly beloved saints in Philippi that though they shared his sufferings in a practical manner and showed their love for him more than any many other Christians did. Yet he's saying to them now, listen, if you really love me as much as you do and say you do, why don't you love each other more than you do? Let me repeat that. I'm sure that frankly in the meaning of Paul's words to the Philippians he commended them for their love he prayed that their love would even abound more and more toward each other and he commended them to the fact that he knew they loved him they had him on their hearts but think of it he said now if you love me so much why don't you love each other more than you do what a blessed change of conditions among the saints who know and love the Lord in this way whenever it would be true. These saints were standing together for the faith of the gospel. Then how neat to manifest lowliness of mind, esteeming each other better than themselves. And for all this, my beloved fellow Christian, Christ itself alone will be, and we shall see he is our pattern. For in verse five, we shall continue in the next message, Paul says, let this mind be the lowly mind, the humble mind, being in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. My beloved radio friend, if you're unsaved, we present to you a person that you can be fully in love with and satisfied in his perfection of person as well as in the finished work of his cross for your redemption. And that person is Christ. We forget others. Yea, may I not confess. May every believer forget me. May every listener unsay forget the preacher that's preaching. We present to you a greater person for your heart and for your mind to be taken up with. And that person is Christ alone. Oh, our blessed Father, how we confess For every child of God in the world today, the greatest object for their affection and devotion is Christ. The greatest object for the unsaved to find us their Savior. The greatest person is no one but Christ. May Christ be found today for all, in Jesus' name. Amen.