Week 8: Love That Unifies

Paul loved the church at Philippi, but two of its faithful women had stopped thinking together. His remedy starts with the mind. In five verses he reaches for a word about thinking six times. He names the two appetites that pull a congregation apart, selfish ambition and empty glory. Against them he sets humility that counts the other person as more important. Then he points to Christ, who considered His own rights, emptied Himself, and went all the way down to a cross before God lifted Him to the highest place. The lesson closes on the road to Jerusalem, where James and John asked for the seats at Jesus's right and left. Mark later shows who was actually on His right and left at Golgotha.