Passage: Philippians 2:3-4

The Big Idea

The world treats a “low mind” as a problem to fix with self-esteem. Paul says lowliness of mind is the way our minds were designed to work. Selfish ambition and conceit (“empty glory”) are like cotton candy: they look like something but weigh nothing. Humility empties the vessel so God can fill it with His glory. Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself; it’s thinking of yourself less, because Jesus has captured your imagination. And it shows up in how we treat others.

Filling the Mind

Last time, we saw how thinking about the grace of Jesus brings unity to His body. There’s nothing more wonderful than meditating on what Jesus has done. Not the kind of meditation that empties your mind, but biblical meditation that fills your mind with the grace of Jesus, letting your soul drink deeply of His love, consolation, comfort, mercy and fellowship.

Now we learn how to think with a lowly mind.

Search the phrase “low mind” and you’ll find the world treats it as a problem to cure with more self-esteem. But Paul teaches that a lowly mind is the best way to operate. It’s how to reach your fullest potential and get the most out of life.

Nothing (2:3-4)

Paul says: do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind consider others more important than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

“Do nothing…”

How we think drives what we do. And our thoughts are also what make an action good or bad.

You can be nice to someone, but if you’re doing it to manipulate them, you’ve contaminated a good action with fleshly motives.
This happens in marriages and relationships all the time.
Why did you do the dishes? Because they were dirty and you love your spouse, or because you want something?
Why did you take out the trash? Out of love, or to get them off your back?
Why have you stayed faithful? Because divorce would be messy, or because you truly love your spouse and want to serve them through every trial?
Our thoughts are as much a part of our actions as our hands are.
God looks at the heart behind what we do.
We can’t fake it. People hide behind their actions: “I showed you I loved you when I said ‘I do.’ Isn’t that enough?” “I do this and that for you every day. Isn’t that enough?”
God calls us to sincere love, love from the heart. And that only comes from God and His Spirit.
Are you faking love today? Be honest with the Lord. Run to Him and ask the Holy Spirit to give you real love for your spouse, friends or coworkers. I’ll explain how in a moment.

“…out of selfish ambition”

If you’re focused on your own advancement, benefit or promotion, you’re living in the flesh.
And the flesh ruins relationships. It’s never satisfied. It can’t please God (Romans 8:7-8).
Are you doing what you do to build your kingdom or God’s kingdom? They’re not the same. We can’t serve both.

“…or conceit”

Conceit is thinking too highly of yourself, being preoccupied with yourself.
The Greek word literally means “empty glory.”
In Hebrew thought, glory is “weight,” substance.
Think steak versus cotton candy.
When we think with a high, self-focused mind, we fill our souls with cotton candy. A whole bucket of it weighs almost nothing!

“…but in lowliness of mind, consider others more important”

Lowliness of mind is humility.
In our dealings with others, we treat them as more important than ourselves.
That doesn’t mean believing they’re better than you in every way.
It means treating them as more important, because in your heart they truly are.
But how do we get that heart? How do we get humility, a lowly mind? How do we stop faking it and really love?

I’m so glad you asked.

Low. Go Lower.

Center your thoughts on one word: low.

This is the key to thinking, and acting, in a way that honors God.

Humility prepares our soul to live by trust. Learning to think this way is like training your body to live on a different kind of food. Your flesh will rebel against these ideas, because it loves to live on self-esteem. It feels so good to feel good about yourself.

When we learn to walk in humility, we let go of thoughts about how good we are, what good things we do, how we feel and what we want, and replace each one with a vision of who God is, what He does, how He feels and what He wants.

We see Him as higher, and ourselves as lower.

You are a vessel

You’re a container, like a vase or a bottle.

A vessel’s highest purpose is to be filled with something valuable.
You’re a very special vessel. God created you to be filled with His own glory, the most precious thing in the universe. No animal, angel or plant can hold what you were made to hold.
But we have a problem. We fill ourselves with junk: sin, things contrary to God, things that promote self.
Humility is emptying the vessel so God can fill it with His glory and presence.
The more we’re emptied of self, the more fully God fills us with what really matters.
We have this treasure in jars of clay, so that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us (2 Corinthians 4:7).

Andrew Murray wrote, “Pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you.”

The path to greatness is to go lower! Picture a gauge for self-esteem and self-ambition. Let it drop. Let it reach empty.
God is searching the whole earth for empty vessels to fill. His eyes roam to and fro across the earth to show Himself strong for those whose hearts are fully His (2 Chronicles 16:9).
Water always flows to the lowest place. God’s Spirit works the same way, flowing naturally to the lowest, emptiest places. Those who let go of self-sufficiency are filled with the water of His Spirit.

How do I empty my vessel?

Set your mind on things above (Colossians 3:1-2). Surrender your thoughts to dwell on God and His grace.

Humility is letting God replace all our thoughts of ourselves with thoughts of Him.
Humility is when we disappear to ourselves and see that God is all in all.
It’s when we honestly think, “Why would I waste time thinking about myself when I could be thinking about Jesus?”

Humility isn’t thinking less of yourself. It’s thinking of yourself less, because your imagination has been captured by the character and grace of God. Not by a rule, but because God is simply so much better to think about. His grace, what He gives us, is what we live for!

Pride, the enemy of faith

Pride says, “I’ve got this! I don’t need You. I don’t need Your promises, Your grace or Your Word. You don’t own me!”

“You need me! Look what I can do. Look at my best efforts, my great plans, my abilities. Look at me. Let me climb a little higher so you can see me better.”

God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).

Andrew Murray wrote that humility, “the place of entire dependence upon God,” is the first duty and highest virtue of His creatures, and that pride, the loss of humility, “is the root of every sin and evil.”

Paul is calling us to a life of faith: trusting God’s love and grace, admitting our need for it, depending on it completely and renouncing every dependence on the flesh, on ourselves.

That’s lowliness of mind. How much can I depend on God and not on myself? God is so much better than me! He’s right; I’m wrong. He’s perfect, and I’m perfectly incapable of filling myself with anything valuable. I need Someone outside me to fill me with steak instead of cotton candy. Self-glory looks like something, but it’s air. Put it on a scale and it weighs nothing. Even our best righteousness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

And becoming a believer doesn’t mean your cup is magically full forever. We grow in grace. We need to keep being filled with the Spirit of grace, growing in humility.

Paul says don’t be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). In Greek it’s an ongoing command: keep on being filled.

Back to Others

It may seem like I’ve talked a lot about our relationship with God, when this passage is about our relationships with others.

That’s because our relationship with God is put on display in the way we treat others. You can’t have a real, humble relationship with God that doesn’t affect how you treat your spouse, neighbors and kids.

This is how God wants His family to work. If I consider you above me, and you consider me above you, something marvelous happens: a family where everyone is looked up to, and no one is looked down on.

The ancient Greeks considered lowliness of mind a weakness, not a virtue. As the commentator R.C.H. Lenski observed, the pagan idea of manhood was self-assertion, and stooping to others was seen as disgraceful. The world simply lacked the spiritual soil for Christian humility to grow.

Paul says to look out not only for your own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Everything about a lowly mind is wrapped up here.
When we look out for others and love them sacrificially, we’re filled with God’s glory.
We become vessels of honor when we’re emptied of ourselves (2 Timothy 2:21).
This isn’t just how we act in public. It governs our thoughts and actions in private too.
When we’re alone, we won’t feed envious or lustful thoughts about people, because our minds are fixed on Christ.

And that’s exactly where Paul goes next: to Jesus, the perfect example of humility. He doesn’t just ask humility of us. He lived it for us.

Leave Your Crown Behind

There’s a story told of a reception honoring a beloved musician on his hundredth birthday. An elderly socialite with failing eyesight fell into a pleasant conversation with a woman who seemed to know her well. Only when she looked closely at the woman’s diamonds did she realize she was speaking with the Queen. Mortified, she curtsied and apologized: “I didn’t recognize you without your crown!” The Queen graciously replied that it was so much the musician’s evening, she had decided to leave her crown behind.

Leave your crown behind, every idea of how great you are. We were all rebels. But God loves us all and sent His Son to redeem us. He deserves the glory, not us!

In fact, let’s throw our crowns at His feet! John saw the twenty-four elders fall down before the throne and cast their crowns before Him, saying He alone is worthy to receive glory, honor and power, because He created all things (Revelation 4:9-11).

Do you think you can change your own life? Cast that crown before Jesus. Worship Him instead!
Do you think you can change someone else? Cast that crown before Jesus.
Do you think you need a degree, a marriage, or the single life to be complete? Cast that crown before Jesus.
Do you think you have to earn respect, or that meekness will make you less in people’s eyes? Cast that crown before Jesus.
Do you think following Jesus is hard because He demands so much? Cast that crown before Jesus.
Do you think your prayers work based on how holy you’ve been lately? Cast that crown before Jesus.
Do you think you can follow Jesus and serve yourself at the same time? Cast that crown before Jesus.
Do you think following Jesus guarantees comfort, money and plenty? Cast that crown before Jesus.
Do you think you’re keeping the law better than someone else? Cast that crown before Jesus.
Do you think people are just difficult and you have a right to be bitter? Cast that crown before Jesus. Worship Him instead!

Notice a trend?

Jesus alone can fill you with glory when you empty yourself.

God promises to pour water on the thirsty and floods on the dry ground, to pour out His Spirit and His blessing (Isaiah 44:3). He wants to fill your empty cup.

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, come. Whoever wishes, take the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17). It’s free. Come and take it today!

Grace Takeaway

We aren’t God’s slaves straining to be humble enough. We’re His children, and humility is simply a child depending on a loving Father for everything. Empty out the cotton candy of self-glory. Cast your crowns at Jesus’ feet. Then let Him fill your empty vessel with His Spirit, and watch His love overflow into how you treat the people around you.

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How to Think with a Lowly Mind