In a gathering of my pastoral colleagues, the subject of Philippians 2:3 came. It’s a really important verse, especially for those of us who pastor churches. The verse reads this way:
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
It’s a needed reminder that my ministry, the church that I pastor, the congregation that I am privileged to lead, is one of many, all dear to the heart of our Lord, and I must regard them as such. So I found myself thinking about the word “regard.” The King James has “esteem” and the NIV has ‘value.” What exactly did the apostle Paul have in mind?
The word Paul used was ἡγέομαι (heegaomay). We get our English word “hegemony” from it. The English word means “predominant influence or authority over others” (Websters). We would usually describe a hegemony as a dictatorship, or by some other highly authoritarian term. So how do these ideas go together?
I think an answer can be found in what Paul says in the next chapter. Or rather, in how he says it. In 3:7 Paul writes of himself, "But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ." The word translated “counted” is ἡγέομαι, that is, to take authoritative control, to be in control. The Apostle, it would seem, has taken authoritative control over his own value system. He has, contrary to his nature and ours, made a determined choice about where his values are. He has chosen to value the things of Christ over the things of this life. All of the good things that may be said of him or about him are of no importance, not when compared to the immeasurable goodness of knowing Christ.
In short, Paul determines what his priorities will be. He takes charge.
In the Book of Hebrews, we read, By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.
Even when confronted with biological realities, Sarah made a faith choice. Her mental activity was ἡγέομαι. She asserted control over the natural inclination to view herself as incapable of bearing a child. She put faith in charge of her thoughts and feelings.
So we are left with the question, “Who’s in charge? Who is in charge of my thoughts,
emotions, priorities, and values?” The world wants to be in charge. My particular social
environment wants to be in charge--to dictate how I feel and think. My own physical body will assert itself, loudly saying, ‘This is how things are.’
I must choose faith. I must give it a promotion, placing it in the driver’s seat, the captain’s chair. I must choose to give faith a voice and then heed that voice over all others. A life of faith never happens by accident. We don’t follow the path of faith by happenstance. We make the deliberate decision to follow the Way of faith and then make countless more decisions that keep us in the Way.
We choose to listen to faith.
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