Philippians 2:2-3a
"Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory."
Elsewhere, Paul suggests that if Christ is preeached by some because of vanity, it made no difference - the key was that the message of Christ was proclaimed. But we see here that that is a minimal standard. For obvious reasons. The message may be proclaimed out of discord or hate -- a man may become a preacher to spite his father - but this isn't optimal. If for no other reason than that the person doing the work out of the wrong motives hurts his or her self. That is, the work may get done and others may benefit, but the person doing the work out of discord or to be contrary reaps no reward for themselves.
One may wonder how often a situation like this occurs. How often do people work out of "strife or vainglory." As in every other walk of life, people in churches may certainly work with the intention of hurting others. I don't mean directly, of course. That's obviously wrong. But how about someone who takes over a post with the hope of showing how it ought really to be done and how miserably the predecessor had been doing it? Or the person how does his part in the team effort poorly in order to make the team leader look bad?
Vainglory, of course, is also quite common. After all, who doesn't want to be thought of as better than others? Who doesn't want praise? The sickness, I think, is when a) that is a person's main motive for doing a job and b) when praise is sought or accepted without merit.
Elsewhere, Paul suggests that if Christ is preeached by some because of vanity, it made no difference - the key was that the message of Christ was proclaimed. But we see here that that is a minimal standard. For obvious reasons. The message may be proclaimed out of discord or hate -- a man may become a preacher to spite his father - but this isn't optimal. If for no other reason than that the person doing the work out of the wrong motives hurts his or her self. That is, the work may get done and others may benefit, but the person doing the work out of discord or to be contrary reaps no reward for themselves.
One may wonder how often a situation like this occurs. How often do people work out of "strife or vainglory." As in every other walk of life, people in churches may certainly work with the intention of hurting others. I don't mean directly, of course. That's obviously wrong. But how about someone who takes over a post with the hope of showing how it ought really to be done and how miserably the predecessor had been doing it? Or the person how does his part in the team effort poorly in order to make the team leader look bad?
Vainglory, of course, is also quite common. After all, who doesn't want to be thought of as better than others? Who doesn't want praise? The sickness, I think, is when a) that is a person's main motive for doing a job and b) when praise is sought or accepted without merit.
posted by Steven at 11:50 PM
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