1)   

Being humble, we learned last week, involves us firstly having a true perspective about ourselves.  This week we are going to consider how we are to view others around us.

 

A right view of others

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”  Philippians 2 v3-4

 

Those that practice humility then, think more highly of others than they do of themselves (v3), and put the well-being of others ahead of their own well-being (v4).    

 

So what does that look like in sport?

 

The world of sport is so often a selfish, performance-based environment where ‘me first’ is the usual attitude!  What an opportunity to be different for Jesus and model humility!  But it’s not easy, is it?!

 

What about putting the interests of your team-mates ahead of your own when they have just taken your place in the team - Can you genuinely say “all the best” to the player playing in your position before he goes out to play the game?

 

The Message translation puts it this way; “Don’t push your way to the front…Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead.”

 

The rarest medal in the Olympics wasn’t created from gold, but a bolt.  The story begins on a cold, winter afternoon in Innsbruck at the 1964 Olympic 2-man bobsled competition.  A British team driven by Tony Nash had just completed its first run, which had put them in 2^nd place.  Then they made the most disheartening discovery.  They had broken a bolt on the rear axle of their sled, which would put them out of the competition.

 

At the bottom of the hill, the great Italian bobsled driver Eugenio Monti, who was in 1^st place, heard of their plight.  Without hesitation, Monti removed the bolt from the rear axle of his own sled and sent it to the top of the hill.  The British team affixed it to their sled and then completed their run down the mountain, winning the gold medal.  Monti’s Italian team took the bronze.

 

When asked about his act of sportsmanship, Eugenio Monti deflected any praise, saying, “Tony Nash did not win because I gave him a bolt.  Tony Nash won because he was the best driver”.

 

I don’t know if Monti was a Christian, but he certainly demonstrates a humble attitude, with a right view of himself and a right view of others.

 

When we care for the problems of others as if they were our own problems, we demonstrate Christ’s example of putting other’s first.  Next week we will look at how Jesus modeled humility throughout his life.