Suggestions for leading a study:

• Familiarize yourself with the passage in context, including the book itself.  Who wrote it to whom, and why?
• Read through the study guide a couple times to get the “big idea” as well as the flow of the argument
• Have the group read through the passage in it’s entirety before beginning the study.  One of the goals is to try to get your members to learn how to study Scripture methodically, and this is an important step.
• Be prayed up
• Have fun!
  

Setting the Bar High for Getting Low

¹If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ²then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. ³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. ⁴Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
⁵Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
    ⁶Who, being in very nature God,
       did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
    ⁷but made himself nothing,
       taking the very nature of a servant,
       being made in human likeness.
    ⁸And being found in appearance as a man,
       he humbled himself
       and became obedient to death--
          even death on a cross!
    ⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
       and gave him the name that is above every name,
    ¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
       in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
    ¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
       to the glory of God the Father.

¹²Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Discussion Questions

Paul is talking to the church and describes his goal for them in verses 1 and 2.  How would you paraphrase his desire?  Are churches always like this?

According to verse 3, what kinds of attitudes will get in the way?  Why do they create disunity in groups?

The second half of verse 3 and verse 4 describe an alternative kind of attitude.  Why would that create unity in groups?

Verses 6-11 are a song, or hymn of the ancient church, setting forth Jesus Christ as an example of the kind of attitude Paul was asking for. 

            -According to verse 6, what position did Jesus start from?  Do we tend to put too much emphasis on titles and positions?

            -Verse 7 states that Jesus gave up the perks of his position.  What nature did he take on instead?

            -In verses 7 and 8, taking on the nature of a servant is connected to a being made in human likeness, and having the appearance of a man.  What does this say about the way we should “naturally” be, as human beings?            

-How does that compare to the first attitudes we discussed?

            -In verse 8, how far did Jesus go with his servant-hood?  Do you think Paul includes this just because it’s part of the song, or is he really serious about us doing the same?

            -Read verses 9 through 11:  What was the result for Jesus?  How can keeping the long term rewards in mind help us make sacrifices for other people?

-Verses 12 and 13 finish the thought of this passage (you can tell from the “therefore”).  To “work out” your salvation does not mean that you complete it, but that it is displayed in your life.  How can you display this kind of Christianity?

-This passage set the bar high for getting low as servants.  According to verse 13, what help is available for us in being Christ-like servants? 

Leaders' Guide

This lesson is designed to help us change our attitude about life to help us become servants like Christ was.

Paul is talking to the church and describes his goal for them in verses 1 and 2.  How would you paraphrase his desire?  Are churches always like this?

            The reason Paul is writing this passage is to appeal for unity in the church.  Apparently, there were some egos getting in the way at the church in Philippi. The second half of the question is just a discussion starter.  If group members have any experience in churches, they know that competing agendas regularly get in the way of unity.   The challenge may be in keeping this from degenerating into a gripe session, or an opportunity to vent against someone in the church.  Don’t go there.  That would violate the spirit of the whole lesson Paul is trying to teach.  Move on as quickly and graciously as possible if that starts to happen.

According to verse 3, what kinds of attitudes will get in the way?  Why do they create disunity in groups?

            Selfish ambition and vain conceit are what Paul mentions.  They create disunity simply because you have many people working for their own interests rather than the interests of the group.

The second half of verse 3 and verse 4 describe an alternative kind of attitude.  Why would that create unity in groups?

            The alternative attitude is humility, the kind that thinks of other’s interests ahead of your own.  Obviously, that would solve the problem described previously.  That doesn’t mean that nobody is taking leadership, or setting vision, but that people are willing to subordinate their own desires to that vision. 

Verses 6-11 are a song, or hymn of the ancient church, setting forth Jesus Christ as an example of the kind of attitude Paul was asking for.     

            -According to verse 6, what position did Jesus start from?  Do we tend to put too much emphasis on titles and positions?

            Jesus’ initial position was about as high as you can get:  equal with God, together with all the power and glory of that position.

            -Verse 7 states that Jesus gave up the perks of his position.  What nature did he take on instead?
            The text says that he took on the very nature of a servant.  The  idea here is to get right to the next question to complete this thought, so move on quickly without dwelling on just what this means.

            -In verses 7 and 8, taking on the nature of a servant is connected to a being made in human likeness, and having the appearance of a man.  What does this say about the way we should “naturally” be, as human beings?

            Here is the crux of this lesson:  Becoming human apparently entailed becoming a servant.  I other words, being a servant is what makes us truly human—it is the natural state we were created to be in.        

-How does that compare to the first attitudes we discussed?

            Selfish ambition and vain conceit are exactly opposed to being a servant.  This is how Satan has used the ego problems that resulted from falling out of the position we were given at creation to pervert this world.  The church should be one place where that “natural” way of living is regained. 

            -In verse 8, how far did Jesus go with his servant-hood?  Do you think Paul includes this just because it’s part of the song, or is he really serious about us doing the same?

            He went all the way to the cross, the most degrading and humiliating way to die that there was, on public display as a condemned criminal, naked and broken.  The second half of the question is partly designed to help people learn to think contextually when reading Scripture.  This is, after all, a piece of music that Paul inserts into his letter and as such, he had to take it as it was.  That may mean that some of it can be seen as hyperbolic (exaggerated), or poetic license.  On the other hand, would it be wrong to assume that he meant it just as it stands?  The bottom line is that there is no doubt that Paul is using the example of Christ to set a very high standard for us and the degree to which we are willing to sacrifice to serve other people.

            -Read verses 9 through 11:  What was the result for Jesus?  How can keeping the long term rewards in mind help us make sacrifices for other people?

            Clearly, the end result of all this for Jesus was pretty fantastic.  Humility in this world will not result in humiliation forever.  Our reward, as well, is certain.  We may not be exalted like Jesus, but keeping in mind our ultimate destiny is the key to an ability to sacrifice and serve in this world.  If this  world is all there is, we may as well have “selfish ambition and vain conceit.”   

-Verses 12 and 13 finish the thought of this passage (you can tell from the “therefore”).  To “work out” your salvation does not mean that you complete it, but that it is displayed in your life.  How can you display this kind of Christianity?

            Many Bibles (including the NIV) begin a new sub-heading here, but the connecting word, “therefore” makes it clear that here is the actual conclusion that Paul is wanting to come to with the previous argument.  As opposed to somehow completing our salvation with our works, as some assume, this means to display the results of our salvation.  The how part of this question is meant to act as the practical application part of the lesson.  It could be as simple as doing dishes at home, or as profound as committing to a particular ministry in the church. 

-This passage set the bar high for getting low as servants.  According to verse 13, what help is available for us in being Christ-like servants?