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The Joy of Fellowship

Title Page
Copyright
Dedication Page
Contents
Forward
Preface
Intro
Chapter 2 - Servants & Saints
Chapter 3 - Cause for Joy
Chapter 4 - Output of Fellowship
Chapter 5 - Aim of Christian Fellowship
Chapter 6 - Fellowship Manners
Chapter 7 - Experiencing Christ
Chapter 8 - Expression of Christ-Likeness
Chapter 9 - The Example of Christ
Chapter 10 - The Exposition of Christ's Glory
Chapter 11 - Exhibits of Christ Likeness
Chapter 12 - Joy in The Lord
Chapter 13 - A Christ-Like Intolerance
Chapter 14 - Mark of The Covenant People
Chapter 15 - Relating to Christ
Chapter 16 - The Fellowship of Christ's Sufferings
Chapter 17 - The Pilgrim's Progress
Chapter 18 - Enemies of the Cross
Chapter 19 - Citizens of Heaven
Chapter 20 - Fellowship with Jesus
Chapter 21 - Rejoicing in the Lord
Chapter 22 - Preoccupied in Christ
Chapter 23 - The Secret of Contentment
Chapter 24 - Supporting Christian Ministries
Chapter 25 - Joy From a Prison Cell

The Joy of Fellowship

Kuruvilla Chandy

Light of Life Books

Bombay

The Joy of Fellowship

Published December 1993

ISBN – 81-900341-4-6

Cover design: Alpha Media, Bombay

Published by

Light of Life Books

21 YMCA Road

Bombay 400 008

Printed at the GLS Press, Pant Nagar, Bombay 400 075

In grateful memory

my parents

CHANDY & MARY,

who initiated me in my love of

the Lord Jesus, the Bible & the Church

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Introduction
Servants and Saints
Cause for Joy
Output of Fellowship
Aim of Christian Fellowship
Fellowship Manners
Experiencing Christ
Expression of Christ-likeness
The Example of Christ
The Exposition of Christ’s Glory
Exhibits of Christ-likeness
Joy in The Lord
A Christ-like Intolerance
Marks of the Covenant People
Relating to Christ
The Fellowship of Christ’s Sufferings
The Pilgrim’s Progress
.Enemies of The Cross
Citizens of Heaven
Fellowship with Jesus
Rejoicing in the Lord
Preoccupied in Christ
The Secret of Contentment
Supporting Christian Ministries
Joy From a Prison Cell

FOREWORD

We are living in an individualistic society which is too busy acquiring material things and is not bothered about relationships. But fellowship is essential for a Christian to provide the support and encouragement for his faith.

Genuine fellowship is not meeting at church every Sunday. Of course, we fellowship as we worship, sing and pray together. Real fellowship is loving, caring, sharing, bearing burdens as well as rejoicing and sorrowing together.

It was indeed a great pleasure for me to go through The Joy Of Fellowship by my friend Kuruvilla Chandy, who is well known in this country and abroad for his frank, prophetic messages in Light of Life and elsewhere. The book has brought together the author’s expository messages on the epistle to the Philippians.

The author has dealt with the applications of the Scripture and this has made the book to be of great practical use for Christians in their daily lives. The comments on corruption and apostasy are particularly relevant. The book therefore fills a real need in the Indian Church today.

The book brings out the fact that one of the greatest blessings a Christian can enjoy this side of heaven is the fellowship of the saints. The author emphasises that fellowship is essential for spiritual growth.

The Joy Of Fellowship provides enough material to inspire pastors, Bible teachers and all Christians. The book will therefore have lasting influence on Christian society in our country.

P.Abraham

Chairman

Light of Life Society of India

Bombay

October 11, 1993

Preface

On September 1, 1974, I was installed as Pastor of the Lalbagh Methodist Church, by the Rt. Rev. Joseph R. Lance, the then Bishop of the Lucknow Episcopal Area of the Methodist Church.

That was an act of faith for Bishop Lance to appoint a raw seminary graduate as the Pastor of an English language congregation. To me, Bishop Larice has been a father in the ministry. He encouraged me a great deal and defended me when others wanted to shackle my freedom as a young person unwilling to walk the beaten path in the world of church administration. But for his love and care I would not have continued as a Pastor.

I went through teething troubles as a young Pastor. Lalbagh Methodist Church endured me and enabled me to grow. Regardless of how supportive a church is, when one has to preach Sunday after Sunday to the same audience, the person begins to run out of ideas for topics.

By the time three years were over, it had become difficult to come up with exciting ideas and catchy titles to sermons. That was when I decided to start preaching expositorily. I do not spend the week looking for sermon titles any longer. The Bible is before me, it provides me resources, and gives me an agenda for preaching. This does not rule out the preparation that needs to be done. I dig into the Word. I read what others have to say about a book of the Bible. I have to link it to the life of my people. All this does not come effortlessly. There is hard work, but it is not drudgery. It is a joy. It is an adventure.

The contents of this book have developed out of my preaching over a period of one year from July 1988 to July 1989.

Here is an exposition of a book of the Bible for people in the pews. It is not the work of a New Testament scholar. It is the experience of a pastor who tries to turn people back to God’s Word to begin to find some answers to the problems of being a Christian in modern India.

I want to thank the family of Lalbagh Methodist Church which provided me the opportunity of preaching through the book of Philippians. Among those who listened to me was my wife, Roshini. Her comments and criticisms have helped me to clarify and develop my thoughts further in writing.

Lucknow Kuruvilla Chandy

July 26, 1993

Introduction

God stopped Paul and Silas while they tried to preach in some parts of Asia (Acts 16:6-7). Paul and Silas were at Troas. There God revealed to them his reason for stopping them. Paul had a vision of a man calling them to Macedonia (vv. 8-10), and so both Paul and Silas came to Philippi. It was a Roman colony and the leading city of the district of Macedonia (v. 12)

Philip, the father of Alexander the Great, founded it in 368 B.C. In 168 B.C. the Romans captured it. After Brutus and Cassius assassinated Julius Caesar, Octavian (later Caesar Augustus) and Mark Antony defeated their rebel army at Philippi in 42 B.C. It was then, in honour of this victory, that Octavian designated Philippi as a Roman colony.

Philippian citizens had equal rights and standing as those on Roman soil. They were exempted from taxes. The Philippians eagerly adopted the Roman language, dress, customs and culture. In fact they considered themselves Romans (v.21).

Paul took the Philippian pride in being a Roman colony, seriously. He reminded the Christians that they had their citizenship in heaven (Phil. 3:20). As Moffat translates it, “We are a colony of heaven waiting for the Saviour.” Lady Powerscourt said, “The Christian is not a man who, standing on earth, looks to heaven, but one who, being in heaven, looks down upon earth and recognises throughout his lifetime that he is a foreigner indeed.” Through his letter Paul sought to bring this awareness to the Christians.

Philippi was a military outpost. It was not a commercial centre. It had a very small Jewish population. Jews were mainly businessmen and therefore did not find much gain and sustenance in Philippi. There were so few Jews in Philippi that there was no Jewish synagogue. So when Paul went to Philippi for the first time, the only practising Jews he met were women and these were gathered at the riverside (Acts 16:13).

Among them was the first European convert, Lydia. She is described as a “worshipper of God,” that is, a proselyte. As a proselyte she was already following the true God. Yet she needed to respond and become a believer in Christ (vv.14-15).

The next redemptive encounter was with a demon-possessed girl. She was following Paul and Silas, saying that they were men of God proclaiming “a way of salvation” (v.17, New American Standard Bible footnote, New English Bible). Paul was upset (v.18) at this perversion of the Gospel as just one of way of salvation. He commanded the evil spirit to go.

Freed of demon-possession, the girl lost her powers of divination. Her exploiters turned on Paul and Silas whom they accused of subversion (vv.20-21) and they were thrown into jail for that reason (vv.22-24).

While in jail they sang, and their songs were earth-shaking. The jailer marvelled at how free and unafraid they were though they were in prison. He realised that he needed their kind of faith. He asked, “What must I do to be saved?” and Paul and Silas led him to “believe in the Lord Jesus” (vv.25-30).

Paul made at least one more visit to Philippi (20:6). It was to this church founded by his efforts that Paul wrote the Philippian letter. A casual reading of this letter makes it apparent that Paul had a special relationship with the church at Philippi. It is a gentle letter. There is no scolding that characterised some of his other letters.

The church at Philippi supported Paul—especially during his imprisonment. They sent a personal attendant to be with him in prison (Phil. 2:25). They also gave him generous financial support (4:15-18).

Their generosity was commendable and Paul mentions them to the church at Corinth as an example of Christian giving (2 Cor. 8:1-5). This passage in 2 Corinthians makes it clear that generosity does not depend on largeness of means, but on largeness of heart. Christians consider it a privilege to share thus in ministry, and such generosity is an outcome of prior commitment to God.

Paul wrote his letter from prison. He was most probably imprisoned at Rome (he referred to the “palace guard”—Phil. 1:I3). This seems to have been his last imprisonment before his execution.

Paul had one purpose and one passion, while free—to preach Christ. He said, “Woe is me if preach not the Gospel” (I Cor. 9:16). Preaching was his life-breath. He continued to preach in prison. The guards who kept him captive were his captive audience (Phil. 1:I2-I3). So when Paul wrote to the church he wanted them to manifest the same concern for the advancement of the Gospel (1:27).

Paul became aware of some disunity that had come into this church (4:1). He pleads for unity for the sake of the Gospel (1:23). He speaks of Christian fellowship. This is one of the themes of his letter. The word koinonia (fellowship or partnership) occurs in chapters one to three and a derivative of koinonia in chapter 4. From those occurrences Christian fellowship maybe defined as:

a fellowship in the Gospel (1:4),
a fellowship with the Spirit (2:1), and
a fellowship of sharing in Christ’s suffering (3:10)
[a fellowship of] sharing in troubles through generosity (4:14-16)

Another recurring theme is that of joy. The words “joy” or “rejoice” appear 18 times in this letter. When he was in prison at Philippi he manifested it; now at Rome, he still manifested it. Having experienced it he could exhort his readers to joy. As Paul wrote this letter the chain on his wrist clanked. J Sidlow Baxter says that he made the clanking chains sound like heaven’s bells, as he writes of “grace,” “peace,” “joy” and “praise” in the first few lines of his letter (vv.1-11). The letter closes with a loud triumphant peal reaffirming “joy”, “peace” and “glory”.

Weave these two themes of Christian joy and Christian fellowship together as you study THE JOY OF FELLOWSHIP that Paul describes in Philippians

Chapter 1: Cause of Joy: Fellowship in the Gospel;

Chapter 2: Nature of Joy: Fellowship with the Spirit;

Chapter 3: Way to Joy: Fellowship of Sharing in Christ’s sufferings;

Chapter 4: Realisation of Joy: Fellowship with Jesus and His people.

Servants and Saints

(1:1-2)

It is important to know at the very outset as to who has written a letter. Lacking this perspective, any message can be misunderstood. When we cannot tell who wrote a letter by looking at the writing, we turn to the last page to see whose signature is on it.

In Paul’s time, letters began by stating who it was from and to whom it is addressed. It makes more sense. Therefore, in the opening verses of Philippians Paul greets his readers. The style was not distinctive. It was just the prevalent custom. The only difference in Paul and the other apostolic writers was that they Christianised their greetings. While pagan letter-writers greeted their readers in the names of pagan gods, the apostles greeted their readers in the name of God, the Father, and Jesus. They felt no need to develop Christian forms for every aspect of conduct, though there was a need to christen the forms they adopted from contemporary culture and society.

The Writers

Philippians purports to be written by Paul and Timothy. It becomes clear from even a casual reading of the letter that it is the work of Paul, and Timothy was, at the most, only his amanuensis or secretary who took down the dictation. Thus when Paul included Timothy as a writer of the letter, he was being polite and courteous toward Timothy. It also indicates Paul’s humble attitude toward his fellow workers. He was the senior apostle and Timothy was only a junior worker. In sharing the honours with Timothy, Paul showed true greatness—that he is not threatened, nor does he need to safeguard his position, nor does he abuse power. Another reason for Paul’s inclusion of Timothy in the greetings is that the latter had accompanied Paul and Silas when they went to Philippi the first time (Acts 16:1-5, 11-12) and the people at Philippi knew Timothy.

Paul described himself and Timothy as “Servants of Christ” (1:1). Although they had been involved in the founding of the church, and Paul had apostolic authority over the church, both Paul and Timothy did not write as officers of the church. They recognised that whatever authority they had was derived from Christ, whose servants they were.

Paul wrote thirteen letters. In seven of them he described himself as the “apostle of Christ.” In two he designated himself as “servant of Christ, called to be an apostle.” However, since the church at Philippi regarded Paul highly and did not question his apostolic authority, Paul did not need to assert his apostleship.

When Paul described himself and Timothy as servants of Christ, they stood in line with the Old Testament prophets who were called “Servants of God” (Jer. 7:25; Amos 3:7). Moses, Joshua and David who had political roles in the history of the nation of Israel were called “God’s servant” individually (Jos. 1:2; Judg. 2:8; Ps. 78:70). God also viewed Israel as His servant (Isa. 52: 13).

The most significant application of the word “servant” was when it was used to denote the Messiah (Isa. 52: 13). Jesus was God’s supreme servant. He was the most obedient of God’s servants. He obeyed to the point of foregoing rights and laying aside divine power and human dignity (Phil. 2:6-8). Paul described himself as the servant of this greatest of God’s servants. He wanted to stand in line, not so much with honoured prophets as with the “servant” who was despised and rejected (Isa. 53:3).

The Greek word that Paul used for “servant” literally meant “slave”. A slave is bought at a price and cannot regard himself as his own. In Paul’s view that is just what a Christian is.

“Do you not know,” he wrote, “that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20).

The Readers

Paul addressed the letter to the “saints” in Christ Jesus at Philippi. The term “saints” as used in the New Testament is applied to the commonality, the ordinary members of the church (Acts 9:13,32,41).

The word “saints,” means “the holy ones.” Literally the word “holy” means “separated” or “set apart.” When something is set apart in this sense, it is not set apart to be on its own. It is set apart from something, but joined to something else. What is holy is set apart to God. This setting apart is not purposeless. It is a case of being set apart for God’s use—His exclusive use. The word “saints” therefore simply means “the different ones.” That is what we are: those called to be different. Christians cannot be so totally identified with their social milieu that they are indistinct and where they make no difference to society. We are to make a difference–a difference as Christians!

Paul qualified his description of the Philippian Christians as saints with the words “in Christ Jesus.” They had no saintliness in themselves. They were saints only in Christ.

The concept of Christians as people who are in Christ is the most comprehensive description of them. Paul used the idea 132 times in his letters:

“in Christ Jesus” used 48 times,
“in Christ” 34 times, and
“in the Lord” 50 times.

A Christian is one who has his or her being “in Christ.” As a fish which can only live in water, a Christian is one who takes his or her breath in Christ; just as a fish out of water does not survive, being “in Christ” is critical to the survival of a person as a Christian . Christ is the very atmosphere in which a Christian draws breath. More than that, our lives are “hid with Christ” (Col. 3:3). We stand justified before God because we are in Christ. When God looks towards us, He does not see us, but Christ instead.

Paul could have written to the “Philippian saints”. That was their identity according to the natural order. But to Paul their more basic identity was that of being “in Christ.” Being at Philippi was incidental to their identity. Christian are citizens of heaven first (Phil. 3:20). Their racial or national identity is incidental and secondary to their character. It is their spiritual identity that matters and determines their lifestyle, behaviour patterns and loyalties.

“The difference between Christians and the rest of men is neither in country, nor in language, nor in customs …. They dwell in their own fatherlands, but as temporary inhabitants. They take part in all things as citizens, while enduring the hardships of foreigners. Every foreign place is their fatherland, and every fatherland is to them a foreign place” (Letter to Diognetus).

Paul also addressed his letter to “bishops and deacons.” There was more than one bishop at the church in Philippi. This points to the fact that in the New Testament period the office of bishop was not hierarchical, though functionally the task of oversight belonged to this office.

The leadership of the church was mentioned only after the common membership of the church. The church has priority over its leadership. The church does not exist for the benefit of its leaders, rather the leaders exist for the church. Leaders are given to the church not to lord it over people (1 Pet. 5:3), but to nurture the growth of the common people of the church (Eph. 4:11-13).

Paul greeted the leadership along with the church. The leadership is part of the church. Before God there is no separation or distinction between clergy and laity. God has only one laity or people (Eph. 2:14-16; 4:4). If the pastoral leadership of the church wants to be a people of God, they must belong to this one people of God—the laity of the church.

Another aspect of church leadership in the New Testament period is the collegiality practised among them (Acts 15:25, 28). Individualism and personality cults were condemned (I Cor. 1:13; 3:5-9). That collegiality is seen both in Paul’s inclusion of Timothy with himself and while he addressed the leadership at Philippi as one.

The Greetings

The writers Paul and Timothy greeted their readers with “grace and peace.” They combined Greek and Hebrew greetings in so doing. “Grace” was the greeting of the Greek, and “shalom” or “peace” the greeting of the Hebrew.

Grace is simply the unmerited favour of God. It is undeserved. Students who do not have the required minimum of marks to pass an examination are sometimes awarded “grace marks” to get them over the border. Actually the student has not made the grade and has failed. There is no claim to “grace marks.” No one has a right to them, nor can anyone demand them. It is all a matter of the teacher’s will. Similarly, God’s grace is undeserved and cannot be got as a matter of right. The right to grant (or not to grant) is God’s.

“Shalom” is not like the modern concept of peace. A mere state of warlessness does not constitute peace. The word is loaded with notions of the conditions of well-being that will prevail in God’s Kingdom. When God’s rule of equality and justice is established, His peace will prevail.

The source of grace and peace is God. They are not benefits of human achievement. Paul greeted in the name of the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. This letter was to be read to the gathered church at Philippi. The reader, in the same breath, would have made reference to both the Father and Jesus and described them as the common source of grace and peace. Such a combination implies that indirectly Paul led them to believe in the plurality of persons in the godhead. He applied the term “Lord” to Jesus. The Jews called Yahweh “Lord” and the Romans confessed that Caesar was “Lord”. In that context Paul calls Jesus “Lord”. He more than implied the divinity of Jesus.

Paul called God “Father”. Elsewhere Paul has preserved in the Greek text of his letters the Aramaic word “Abba” which Jesus used to refer to God as Father (Rom. 8: 15; Gal. 4:6). Paul who could once boast of his orthodoxy in the Jewish faith is now fascinated with the revolutionary notion Jesus brought, that God is our “Abba” or Father.

The letter to the Philippians is one from servants of Christ to saints in Christ Jesus. There is one common bond: Jesus, who with His Father is the source of grace and peace, and Jesus was the one who designated the writers as servants of Christ and the readers as saints in Christ. Both the writers and the readers stand on common ground.

Cause for Joy

(1:3-11)

Most people think that fellowship is merely a matter of getting together. It is assumed, therefore, that whenever Christians are together, fellowship occurs.

The Greek word for fellowship is koinonia. This word literally means “partnership”. The meaning of the word indicates that fellowship is not a passive state, but an active one. It is not a state of just being, but a state of functioning. A partnership exists for a purpose, a mission or a task.

Paul defined Christian fellowship as one that subsists in the Gospel (1:5). That is, it is a “partnership” in the Gospel (1:5, NIV).

Businessmen enter into partnership to deal in commodities. Christians partner in the Gospel. This partnership is observed in the relationship between Paul and the church at Philippi. Paul was in prison for the sake of the Gospel (1:7, 16). Even his imprisonment was serving to advance the gospel (1:12). By supporting him spiritually (1:15) and financially (4:14-18), they were giving evidence of the fellowship that centres around the gospel. Paul also urged them to “stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel” (1:27). In his letter he cited examples of those like Timothy (2:22), Epaphroditus (2:25), Euodia, Syntyche, Clement and others (4:2-3), who had done just that in working with him for the cause of the Gospel. He also called someone at Philippi his “yoke fellow” (4:3). Fellowship involves being yoked together in the service of Christ.

In this connection of being yoked it is good to remind ourselves that Paul wrote that it was impossible for believers and unbelievers to co-operate. “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers for what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?” God says that being in relationship with Him involves coming out from among unbelievers and being separate. He demands that we break co-operation with what is unsanctified (2 Cor. 6:14-18; cf. 2 Chron. 19:2).

The word picture of yoking together suggests oxen acting in unison in pulling a plough or cart. If one ox pulls in one direction and the other in another direction they cannot function together. The problem of a believer being yoked with an unbeliever is precisely in the area of functioning. The Christian’s mission to represent Christ cannot be fulfilled while his or her partner pulls in a direction other than the goal of glorifying Christ and spreading the good news about Him.

Paul wrote to the church at Philippi that their partnership in the gospel was a cause for joy in his life. When he prayed for those who had been his partners in the work of the gospel and when he reflected on their costly sacrifices in the matter, he experienced joy (Phil. 1:4-5).

Christian fellowship brings joy into a Christian’s life. The apostle John also wrote of this: “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete” (1 Jn. 1:3-4, NIV). John said that the purpose of proclaiming the gospel was precisely to invite the audience into fellowship. Every proclamation of the gospel is automatically an invitation to brotherhood or sisterhood. Conversely, anyone not interested in such fellowship has no business to engage in witnessing for Christ. John wrote that when he communicated his invitation to fellowship, it was in order to experience joy. It is usual to view the communication of the gospel as bringing joy into the life of the benighted soul that is yet to experience salvation. Instead, John emphasized that the communicator himself experiences joy in enlarging the circle of his fellowship. The fellowship a Christian enjoys with others who love the Lord is definitely a source of joy for one and all.

Superficial togetherness can be sustained by merely drinking a cup of coffee together. But what is the input for fellowship that centres on the gospel? In a word it is prayer. Paul was motivated to pray for those at Philippi (1:4) and he actually detailed what his prayer for them was (1:9). When you pray for someone, you give evidence that you have that person in your heart and it is an index of the depth of fellowship between you and the other.

How to Pray

When he thought of his fellowship with the Christians at Philippi, Paul was always thankful. He prayed with joy for them (1:3-4). Intercessory prayer must not be engaged in as a matter of drudgery. It must be a joy. You must indeed feel thankful for the other person. When you are in fellowship with someone, he or she becomes a source of joy. You feel good, when they feel good; you rejoice, when they rejoice (Rom. 12:15). When they triumph, you behave as if you yourself were the winner of the trophy.

Paul prayed at every remembrance of those at Philippi (1:3). Sometimes we suddenly think or dream of someone and then we spend time wondering why we were suddenly reminded of them. Paul would say that God is jogging our memories to pray for those he suddenly reminds us of.

Paul prayed for his readers with confidence and faith (1:6). All prayer must be made in faith. We have to believe that we have what we ask God for (1 Jn. 5:15). Such faith arises out of the knowledge that whatever we ask for is God’s own will (v.14). When we pray in Jesus’ name (Jn. 14: 13-14; 16:24) we claim His endorsement for our prayers. We assert that if Christ were in our place He would ask for the very things we ask for. And Christ is in us. Christ in us prays according to God’s will (see also, Rom. 8:26-27).

The sense of confidence Paul manifested while praying is based on God’s own redemptive purpose. “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). Paul affirmed that God has begun His work. The person we are praying for is God’s own son or daughter. However, God has only begun the redemptive work. He has not finished working on any of us. He is still working in us all, and the assurance is that God will finish His redemptive work in our lives. He will not give up on us. We might ourselves be ready on occasion to give up in despair of ever becoming perfect, but God does not feel that way. He has a target date for our perfection. On “the day of Christ” He will complete His work. When Christ returns “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as He is” (1 Jn. 3:2).

Why Pray?

The motive for praying for others is simply the love among Christians. In the case of the Philippians, Paul says that he has them in his heart (1:7), indicative of the very special regard he has for them.

Paul also had a sense of himself and his readers being equally debtors to grace. He said, “All of you share in God’s grace with me” (v.8). When we stand in the need of grace, we ought to remember that our brothers and sisters need God’s grace just as much as us, and therefore need to be upheld before God’s throne of mercy.

Paul described his love for the Philippian Christians as a longing or hunger (v.8). Hunger demands satisfaction. You cannot ignore it. You cannot divert attention from it. Sooner or later it becomes a pang that only food in the stomach will ease. Paul’s hunger for their fellowship found satisfaction in praying for them. He was in prison and knew that time was running out on him (2 Tim. 4:6-8), and he knew that his desire to be with them might never be fulfilled. Prayer spanned the distance between Paul and those he loved, so that, though absent in body, he sensed being in fellowship with them in spirit.

Paul went further to describe his love for them as Christ’s love for people (Phil. 1:8). The word “affection” in the New International Version stands for the Greek word splangchna. At this point the King James Version has more faithfully captured the sense than most modern translations by using the words “bowels”. The word splangchna refers to the heart, the lungs, the liver, the stomach and upper intestines, which were all regarded as the seat of human emotions. There is some truth in this notion since our deepest feelings cause a physical sensation in the region of the abdomen. They are “gut feelings”. The King James Version is inelegant, but true to Paul. Paul was inelegant when it came to communicating the gospel and he did not allow politeness to stand in the way of being understood. Another example of his inelegance is seen in Philippians 3:7 where he says that he considered all his social standing as nothing but “dung”. So Paul wrote to the church at Philippi that he longed for them with the splangchna or guts of Christ Himself. He was not merely describing his love for them as a feeling in his guts. He went further and assigned his feelings as born out of the guts of Christ. The Good News Bible translates Paul’s words saying that his “deep feelings” for the Philippian Christians “comes from the heart of Christ Jesus himself.”

The kind of love Christ manifested on Calvary is not natural to humans. Only Christ is capable of such love. The Christian never claims that he or she is capable of emulating such love. Rather the claim is, “Christ in me loves you.” J.B. Lightfoot said, “The believer has no yearnings apart from his Lord; his pulse beats with the pulse of Christ; his heart throbs with the heart of Christ.”

What to Pray For

Paul prayed for several concerns of those whom he loved so much. First of all he prayed that the Philippian Christians would experience growth in love. In Christian living love is basic. It is the seed of Christian life. “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love” (Gal. 5:6). “Above all we must have love” (1 Pet. 4:8). Jesus, on the eve of His crucifixion, imparted the heart of His teaching to His disciples. He began to teach by a demonstration of love that does not hesitate to humble itself. It was love at its fullest. He was their servant then (Jn. 13:1-5). And then He said, “A new commandment I give you. Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” He went on to say that the mark of being His disciples was going to be love (Jn. 13:33-34). He emphasised this teaching on loving as He loved. His love was the example. This is so important. He repeated it twice that evening (15:12, 17).

Paul prayed that the love of Christians at Philippi would grow in knowledge and depth of insight. Without knowledge of what God teaches about love, its nature and methods, love would become lust, a thing of the self – the flesh. In Galatians, after saying that faith expressed in love is the only thing that counts (5:6), Paul went on to say that the freedom we are called to should not become an occasion for indulging in sin, but should lead to serving others (5:13). Then he said that the entire law simply details how we should love our neighbours (5:14; cf. Rom. 13:8-10). Thus the vital question then about the growth of love is, “What does the Bible teach?”

Growth in the knowledge of love is for discernment of what is best (Phil. 1:9-10). The word “discern” suggests practicality. It means grasping in practice. The King James Version says it is growth in knowledge that you may “approve things that are excellent.” It is not mental affirmation that is in view, but practising and giving evidence of love. As the English proverb says, ”The proof of the pudding is in the eating.”

Next, we are to prove what is best or excellent. The root meaning of the Greek word translated “best” is “the different things”. They are not just different, but different and superior. The Christian life is meant to be different. It is life on a higher plane. Paul wrote this letter to those whom he called “saints”. These are “the holy ones” or ”the different ones”. Christians are not to conform to the world, but they are transformed (Rom. 12:1). They do not allow the world to fashion their lives. The fashions of the world cannot be embraced. The world’s ways cannot be ours. “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould” (Rom . 12:2, Philips). No doubt we cannot, for instance, be peculiar in dress and wear styles that were worn then in Bible times, but any modern style that discards modesty is not to be adopted by a Christian. There may be associations that we must avoid.

For instance, the Playboy range of clothes and accessories has entered the Indian market. Because of the nude photos associated with that brand name it would be inappropriate for Christians to sport that name. The issue is not merely how modestly designed the clothes are. Christians are called to promote and establish different values than what Playboy promotes.

Paul prayed that Philippian Christians would be “pure, blameless and filled with the fruit of righteousness.” We need to remain unadulterated by the world’s value systems where they destroy biblical values. We need to ensure that our lifestyle does not offend another or cause another to stumble. As a tree is known by its fruit, so ought we to bear fruit that shows our roots in God’s holiness (Mt. 7:20; Rom. 11:16).

The onus of righteous living is laid on Christians. We achieve this righteousness not by our own power, but it “comes through Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:11). We do not have the power to be righteous, but God gives us this power in Christ Jesus (4:13). A Christian is one who keeps God’s schedule in mind. He spends his life with an eye on the coming “day of Christ” (1:10) because he has one aim: the glory of God (1:11).

What is the quality of fellowship in your life? Are you in partnership in the cause of the gospel with those you fellowship with? Have you prayed together? Have you prayed together for a growth in Christ-likeness?

Output of Fellowship

(1:12-18)

One day Jesus took Peter, James and John up a mountain and was “transfigured” before them. He looked heavenly and Moses and Elijah came to discuss His sufferings and death. Seeing the glorious company they were in, Peter immediately wished to stay on. He suggested that they erect three tents on top of the mountain, one each for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Then God enveloped them in a cloud and spoke to the apostles: “This is my beloved Son: listen to Him.” When the cloud cleared away they found that they were left with Jesus alone. The first thing that Jesus did after that was to say “Don’t be afraid” and to take them down the mountain back into a world waiting for His healing touch (Matt. 17:1-15). Peter wished to stay with his mountain-top experience and continue in fellowship with Jesus, Moses and Elijah. He did not want to go back in the world of human realities and problems. Many Christians feel like Peter about reaching out to the world.

The preaching of the gospel calls us into fellowship with God. Our alienation from God is brought to an end by the gospel of reconciliation. But, as Paul says, that same gospel that reconciles us to God engages us in the task of reconciling others and makes us ambassadors of God. “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:18-20).

Fellowship is the product of the gospel, but we are called into fellowship, not for the sake of fellowship alone, but to proclaim the gospel. Our proclamation in turn invites the new listeners into fellowship in the gospel. Just as much as fellowship is the product of the gospel’s proclamation, the proclamation of the gospel is equally the product of Christians being in fellowship.

Christian fellowship is not a closed fellowship, but an open one, for it is fellowship with the God who is love, and the practice of love is not the practice of exclusion, but the practice of inclusion. When we take the plunge into love there is a ripple-effect. There is an ever-widening circle. Love is inclusive, not exclusive.

The output of the fellowship in the gospel is therefore representing Christ to people in all situations and in all circumstances. That is what Paul wrote about in Philippians 1: 12-18.

Advancing the Gospel
He wrote that what had happened to him had advanced the gospel (v.12). The word “advance” is one from the vocabulary of an army on the march. Chained to the Roman soldier guarding him, Paul still thinks of the Church of Jesus Christ as an army on the advance. He was confined to his house, but the Gospel was advancing.

Paul’s reference to “what has happened” (v. 12) includes all that led up to his being imprisoned. Prophets in the Early Church had warned him that he would be arrested if he went to Jerusalem. But he felt “compelled by the Spirit” to court arrest (Acts 20:22-23). His judges were biased (24:26-27; 25:9) and he had finally appealed as a Roman citizen to Caesar (25:10-11). While awaiting his trial in Caesar’s court he was permitted to stay in a rented house, but was placed under house arrest and appears to have been chained for twenty four hours to his Roman guard (28:16).

When Paul talked about his chains (“my chains,” v.14) he referred to his situation, but he did not indulge in self-pity. As Alec Motyer writes in his exposition of Philippians, Paul drew attention to his chains, but not to his bruised wrists. “Holding up the chains before our eyes, he makes us look through its links at the effect of these ‘bonds’ upon the work and the church.”

Not that Paul derived pleasure from suffering itself. He was a realist and did not ask for prayer for release from his imprisonment (Col. 4:3, 18), but meanwhile he considered himself a prisoner for Christ’s sake. He described himself as a ‘prisoner of Jesus Christ’ (Eph. 3:1; Philem. vv.9, 13), and as an ‘ambassador in chains’ (Eph. 6:20).

So Paul did not say, “See what my imprisonment is doing to me,” but “See what God is achieving through my imprisonment.” He said that he was placed in that situation “for the defence of the Gospel” (Phil. 1:16). The word ‘defence’ is also from the soldier’s vocabulary. In Paul’s view it was not only the soldier who was on duty in his prison room, but Paul himself (Motyer, p. 72). He was not in prison by accident or because of some human being’s whim. He did not consider himself to have been forgotten by God nor view his experience as the devil’s doing. He did not think the imprisonment meant that his ministry had ground to a halt. In his view, he was on duty. He was an “ambassador in chains”.

Paul took a “long view” of what was happening. His focus was not on the immediate effects in his own life, but on the long term results (vv.12-13). It was Paul’s opinion that “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). The King James Version translates that as “All things work together for good.” No! All things are not good and do not work for good. Somethings are bad and they have bad consequences. But while situations can be bad in themselves, God can and does still work in all situations and He works good.

Chains for Christ

Paul is in no doubt that he is “in chains for Christ” and lets people know that (Phil. 1:13). Others thought of Paul as a prisoner of Rome, but he thought of himself as a prisoner of Christ. He was on duty in Christ’s service, and he let it be known to all who guarded him. If Romans considered Paul their captive, he viewed them as his captive audience. Chained to him, his guards had no escape from this fanatic. His buoyant attitude toward his hardships and his sense of destiny must have intrigued many and he did what Peter said witnessing for Christ consists of. Peter wrote, “In your hearts acknowledge Christ as holy Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Pet. 3:15).

That is how evangelism took place in the New Testament Church—incidentally. It took place naturally, incidentally, as incidents of God’s power occurred, and people wanted to know how and why the incidents took place. The preaching was simply the explanations given to the questions asked (Acts 2:1, 12-14, 37-38; 3:11-16; 4:7-10).

If people see a difference in Christians they will want to probe the reasons for that difference. They will ask, “What makes you tick? Why are you the way you are?” The difference and explaining the difference constitute an opportunity for witnessing.

Not only was Paul himself witnessing to his guards, he reports that because of his example the Christians in Rome had also been encouraged to witness.

In warfare of olden times the attack was concentrated on the commanding officer, so that the others fighting under his command would be discouraged from continuing. That had no doubt been the enemy’s strategy, but God frustrated the devil’s calculations. The history of the Church is replete with such instances of God obtaining results that were contrary to Satan’s reckonings. In the Early Church, the jailing of the apostles, Peter and John, did not deter people from believing in Christ Jesus (Acts 4:3-4) and when released, instead of having learnt a lesson in expediency, they and the Church prayed for and were granted boldness (4:23-31). Arrested again for preaching, when an angel freed them from prison, they did not go into hiding but went right back to the Temple to preach about Jesus (5:18-21) and when flogged rejoiced that they had been considered worthy to suffer for Christ’s sake, and kept on with their preaching (5:40-42).

Paul said that his imprisonment had encouraged “the brothers in the Lord” to witness for Christ (Phil. 1:14). Whose is the task of witnessing? It belongs to all the brethren in Christ. It is the task of the entire Church. The Roman statesman Celsus despised the Early Church for the fact that cobblers, weavers, dyers, smiths and other artisans were the propagators of the Christian faith. What Celsus did not realise was that this was the Early Church’s greatest strength, that the common member considered himself a representative of Christ. As Paul wrote, “Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were influential, not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before Him” (1 Cor. 1:26-29).

Content of Witnessing

Another question that needs to be considered is that of the content of Christian witness. The Christians at Rome spoke “the Word of God” (Phil. 1:14). The Christian’s witness does not consist of his personal speculations and reflections about Christ. It is based on revelation. Unless God revealed Himself, the Christian would not know anything about God, who was so unlike other gods. As Paul wrote to the church at Galatia there is “no other Gospel” than that was once revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, and spelt out by Him (1:6-9).

Confining our witnessing to what the Word says also ensures that we tell about what God has done and is doing in people’s lives rather than telling them about the human achievements of our denomination or group. The focus would be on God rather than on ourselves.

The content of witnessing is also a matter of calling. When a meeting is “called”, it has to have an agenda. There must be a reason for meeting.

The Greek word for Church is ecclesia, which is formed by the two root words ek meaning ‘out’ and kaleo meaning ‘call’. The Church is an assembly that has been convened. The Church might be said to consist of “the called-out ones”.

The Church was called into existence by her Lord to carry out His mission. Jesus told His disciples to wait at Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came to endue them with power to witness to Him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the furthest parts of the world (Acts 1:4-5, 8). So they gathered at Jerusalem and moved by the Holy Spirit they took Jerusalem by storm. Then God ordained that persecution should drive them out of Jerusalem and so the Gospel spread to the Samaritan and Gentile peoples.

Any society of people needs to have a purpose or an agenda to be productive. In Philippians 1:12-14 we observed that the agenda of the Church and its output is that of proclaiming Christ. We also observed that when our agenda matches God’s agenda, God overrules adversity and all the hurdles that come in our way. He does not save us from the breath of adversity, the touch of pain, or the rough winds of the storms of life. But He does promise grace.

God hath not promised we shall not know,

Toil and temptation, trouble and woe,

He hath not told us we shall not bear,

Many a burden, many a care.

But God hath promised strength for the day,

Rest for the labour, light for the way,

Grace for the trials, helpfrom above,

Unfailing kindness, undying love.

—Annie Johnson Flint

The promise is that “in all things God works for good to those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose” (Rom . 8:28). That was Paul’s experience. God continued to use Paul while he was imprisoned. In fact, God used the imprisonment as an occasion for breaking new ground in the advance of the Gospel.

In the next section of Philippians from verse 15 to verse 18 of chapter 1, Paul gives his readers yet another example of how God can work even in bad situations. Paul tells us that there were rival Christian groups in Rome at that time. Both the groups were active in evangelism. One group favoured Paul and the other was against him. Paul’s reaction to this situation was that of rejoicing. He said, “Praise God. One way or the other, Christ is preached. That is all that matters.” That is the gist of vv.15-18, but the passage teaches us something of the ethics of proclaiming Christ: how to proclaim Him, and how not to.

The anti-Paul lobby preached “out of envy and rivalry” (v.15), “out of selfish ambition” (v.17) and “from false motives” (v,18). This group was not preaching any heresy. Paul said of them that they “preach Christ” (vv. 15, 17-18). If it were heresy Paul’s stand would have been as uncompromising as at other times. He wrote to the church at Galatia that there could be “no other Gospel” and that any one preaching another Gospel was cursed (1:6-9). In his first letter to Timothy he instructed him to ban heretics and prohibit them from teaching (1:3) and to Titus he wrote that they must be silenced (1:11). So Paul’s permissive attitude can mean only that there was nothing wrong with the content of the rival group’s preaching. They were false, not in creed, but in motive.

They were envious of Paul’s ministry, that he was an apostle and had an effective ministry. They were competitive in the matter of their ministry. They had got into the numbers game. They wanted more people in their group. These were false motives for preaching Christ. Paul also wrote, “Everyone looks out for his own interests, not for those of Christ” (2:21).

The real clue to what was happening is in 3:18-19. He said they “live as enemies of the Cross of Christ…their god is their stomach…their mind is on earthy things.” As against this, Paul writes to Christians at Philippi that they must know that among the givens of being Christian was the fact that they were “not only to believe…but also to suffer for Him” (1:29) and he also wrote about involvement in a “fellowship of sharing in His sufferings” (3:10).

From this we may conclude that these were preachers who denied the Cross by their lifestyle. They were “enemies of the Cross.” They preached for personal gain. They served not Christ’s interests, but their own.

Centrality of the Cross

Recall the circumstances of the time that Jesus began to teach about the Cross. Peter had just finished confessing that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus congratulates him and promises him the keys of the Kingdom. From then on Jesus began to talk to His disciples about His impending suffering and death. Peter immediately objected and Jesus said, “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me. You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Matt. 16:13-23).

Why did Peter object to the idea of the Lord suffering and dying. He objected, not for Christ’s sake, but his own. I am sure that as soon as he had been promised the keys of the Kingdom, Peter began to dream about his own prime ministerial role in the Kingdom. Then the dream was shattered as Christ talked of His Cross.

Peter understood Christ perfectly. That is why he objected. He objected to the idea of a suffering and dying Master. He knew that very soon there would be talk of crosses for followers. And Peter was right. Immediately after this Jesus did say, “If any one comes after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow after me” (v. 24). You see, when you follow a man who is heading toward a cross, soon you yourself are confronted by that cross. When you follow a man who is climbing the hill of Calvary, soon you find yourself on Calvary. You cannot expect to be somewhere else just as you cannot travel toward Kashmir and expect to be in Cape Comorin. When you walk behind Jesus, you will come to your Calvary. You will come to your cross.

That is why Peter objected to Christ talking about suffering and dying. Peter did not want a cross in his own life. He wanted the power and privileges that he thought ought to go with the possession of the keys of the Kingdom. That is why Peter objected to the idea of his leader suffering and dying. Men do not want crosses. They want beds of roses. That is why Jesus said, “You have your mind on the things of men.”

Paul’s rivals in Rome were of that sort. They were preaching Christ, but leaving the Cross out of discipleship. Their lifestyle was one of cross-less discipleship. They lived as enemies of the Cross. They lived to satisfy their needs and wants and cravings because their god was their belly. They lived just for the earthly, with no thoughts of eternity. So they were envious, rivalrous and selfish. They preached for personal profit. Writing to the church at Corinth in his second letter, Paul refers to there being those who peddled or hawked the Word of God (2:17).

Today too there are similar people. They preach a “health and wealth gospel”. There are people who leave the Cross out.

When you leave the Cross out, you are left only with the values of men and women and what is valued in human society is obtained only by aggressive selfishness. How aggressively selfish one can get is exemplified by Paul’s opponents in Rome.

In Philippians 1:17 Paul said that they hoped to stir up trouble for him even while he was in prison. We get a clue of how they were causing trouble in the previous verse. Here the reference was to those who manifested goodwill toward Paul. They recognised that Paul was in jail “for the defence of the Gospel”. This must mean that the others were trying to make out that Paul was in prison for other reasons and that imprisonment was his just due. They must have implied that he was being chastened by God.

Many say there is something very bad about hitting a person when he or she is down and yet surprisingly a lot of people do just that. There is this streak in humankind to join the mob stoning a person or otherwise ill-treating a person. There is a tendency to exploit the poor and the powerless.

The Roman preachers were against Paul because he was an apostle among them. He was probably the only apostle in Rome at that time. Hierarchically he was above them. His coming had upset their little kingdom. Christians had begun to turn to Paul the apostle for advice. They had to regain the upper hand. The only way these envious men knew how to put Paul down was to character-assassinate him.

In denigrating Paul as they did, these preachers were guilty of the orthodox preacher’s worst sin: that of abusing the pulpit to preach against an individual or individuals. A person who has begun to do that sort of thing has obviously stopped preaching the Word of God. But the pulpit must sound only the Word of God. There is no other syllabus. There is no other agenda. There is no other Gospel.

On the other hand, there were those who preached “out of good will” (v.15) and “in love” (v.16). All preaching and witnessing must flow out of such feelings. There must be a desire to see people come to Christ and be in Christ. There must be “a passion for souls”. There must be a desire to invite people into brotherhood and the fellowship of the Gospel (1 Jn. 1:3-4). Christian fellowship consists of just such invitations to fellowship being extended to any and all. Such fellowship transcends human differences and divisions. It is not an invitation to join our own club, but the fellowship with Christ.

Paul viewed all orthodox preaching of Christ as aiming at and achieving the same purpose: the advance of Christ’s Gospel and the lordship of Christ. So Paul chuckled and wrote, “You know what? These others are preaching Christ….That is all that matters. I’m satisfied. I’m rejoicing.”

The others made the practice of Christianity a matter of personalities. For Paul there was only one personality: Jesus. If Jesus was being preached, he did not care about others having a cult following and trying to isolate him. Can Christians today say that denominational identities do not matter? It does not matter whether one is Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Baptist, Brethren or Pentecostal. All that matters is that Jesus is being preached.

The Christian’s experience of joy is all tied to the life of fellowship in the Gospel. Paul prayed because of the joy caused by fellowship in the Gospel (v.15) and he experienced joy because the Gospel of Christ Jesus was being preached (v.18). The input for Christian fellowship is intercessory prayer and the output of the fellowship is proclaiming Christ. That is, it is a fellowship engaged in the tasks of going to God on behalf of people and going to people on behalf of God. It is a fellowship of prayers and proclaimers.

Cause for Joy

(1:3-11)

Most people think that fellowship is merely a matter of getting together. It is assumed, therefore, that whenever Christians are together, fellowship occurs.

Paul defined Christian fellowship as one that subsists in the Gospel (1:5). That is, it is a “partnership” in the Gospel (1:5, NIV).

How to Pray

Why Pray?

What to Pray For

Aim of Christian Fellowship

(1:19-26)

When we speak of the input and the output of a project, we are as it were, talking of the small details of the project. There remains the question as to what the master plan is.

It’s been said that the makers of Coca Cola are not just concerned about the production and marketing of Coke. They have a master plan: that every person on earth may have a taste of Coca Cola.

Philippians 1:3-11 describes the input of Christian fellowship as prayer and 1:12-18 describes the output as consisting of the proclamation of Christ. We must now ask, “What is the master plan?” What is the ultimate aim of Christian fellowship? To answer this we need to study 1:19-26

Sources of Help

Part of planning a project involves identifying who will do the job and who will assist in doing it. The task of Christian fellowship has been identified as that of proclaiming Christ. The personnel for this task are the preacher (vv.12-13) and the “brethren” or the common membership of the church (v.14). The task belongs to all in the fellowship. It is a fellowship of fellow-workers.

As we work at the task of proclaiming Christ, we have assistance. Paul identifies two sources of help. First, there is human help. Paul acknowledged being helped by the prayers of fellow Christians (v.19). In several letters of his we see him requesting that he be prayed for so that he is undergirded for his ministry (Rom. 15:30-32; Eph. 6:19-20; Col. 4:3-4; 1 Thess. 5:25; 2 Thess. 3:1-2). No one can labour alone. We need to be supported by others. Knowing that we are prayed for strengthens us. We must not forget to pray for others who labour at proclaiming Christ to those who have not known Him.

The second source of help Paul identified was that of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The King James Version uses the word “supply” in place of “help” (NIV) and is closer to the original sense. The word in Greek has the connotation of fullness and sufficiency. That is how God gave the Holy Spirit to Jesus. God did not give him the Spirit “by measure” (Jn. 3:34, KJV). And that is how God gives grace to those who ask Him in prayer. He gives “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us” (Eph. 3:20). He supplies all our needs, not according to the smallness of human needs, but “according to his glorious riches” (Phil. 4:19). He “gives to all freely and ungrudgingly” (Jas. 1:5, JB). Since that is how God gives, we can go to God’s throne of grace “boldly” (Heb. 4:16, KJV). Whatever we need we ought to “ask with a sense of utter faith in God” (Jas. 1:6-7).

Sense of Assurance

Paul continued on his mission of proclaiming Christ in faith and hope. There was a sense of assurance. He said that his imprisonment was leading up to his “deliverance” (Phil. 1:19, NIV). He could not have meant that he was absolutely sure that he would be set free, because he went on to talk of his readiness to die (v. 20). The word “deliverance” in Greek is the same as “salvation”. The King James Version retains that sense. That is what Paul is assured of: salvation. Earlier in the letter he had told the Christians at Philippi of his confidence that God who had begun to work in their lives would carry on the work to completion (v.6). It is this same assurance Paul has for himself. God, he knew, would finish what He had begun.

Such assurance fills Paul with eager expectation. The Greek word he uses for “expect” has the literal sense of turning the head away from all other objects to look at something. It is the “concentrated intense hope which ignores other interests and strains forward as with outstretched head” (H.A.A. Kennedy, quoted by Ralph P. Martin, Philippians, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, 1959, p.75).

Paul’s eager desire is that he would not be ashamed of Christ and that he would have sufficient courage to face the final test of his faith. He wants Christ to be exalted in his body. For Paul the exaltation of Christ was not merely a thing of the heart and mind. He wanted his exaltation to have tangibility for bystanders. Alec Motyer says that Paul’s concept of honouring Christ was not that of carrying around a wallet-sized snapshot of Christ that could be conveniently hidden away in one’s pocket until taken out for occasional sharing with selected people. For him nothing but a life-sized Christ would do. Paul was himself imaging Christ (The Message of Philippians, The Bible Speaks Today, IVP 1984, p. 67). When people come in contact with us Christians, they ought to be confronted by Christ in us. We ought to be the Jesus of our situations.

Ellicott paraphrases Paul as saying, “My body will be the theatre in which Christ’s glory is displayed” (quoted by William Barclay, Daily Study Bible: Philippians, Colossians & Thessalonians, Indian edition, p.26). The drama of Christ’s exaltation was being enacted on the stage of Paul’s life.

Paul wrote in a similar vein in his second letter to the church at Corinth (2:14-16). He described Christians as those whom God “leads…in a triumphal procession in Christ.” The imagery here refers to a returning victor whose battle spoils include captive slaves marching behind him. Paul also spoke of the fragrance of Christ on us, and in that intermingles the “stench of death” and the “fragrance of life.” To those who do not repent, identification with Christ smells of death, but to others who respond in faith the smell of the resurrection in Christ is what is evident. They see the risen Jesus in the lives of Christians. Can that be our description?

Profit And Loss Account

In any business, sooner or later, you need to calculate whether you can continue with it or not. You need to assess what it costs you and if you are making any profit.

In Paul’s assessment of the task he had engaged in, he was gaining. He said, “For me to live is Christ, to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21).

Living is Christ! Being a Christian begins and ends in Christ “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2).

H. L. Wilmington in his Guide to the Bible (Tyndale House, Wheaton, 1981, p. 481) outlines that in Philippians Paul indicates that Christ is

life’s purpose (1:21),
life’s pattern (2:5),
life’s prize (3:14) and
life’s power (4:13).

In the Christian faith, Christ is everything. There is nothing else to it. Without Christ, there is no Christianity.

To gain Christ, Paul was willing to give up all that was humanly valued in his life. He considered them as “loss” (3:7). Actually he said it was all nothing but shit (“dung” in KJV).

When you gain Christ in life, in death you gain more of Him. That is why Paul thought of death as gain. In your life what have you gained? “What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose himself?” (Matt. 16:26). Christ posed that question in the context of teaching cross-carrying discipleship. When a person was prepared for crucifixion he was stripped of everything on his person. It is in that context that Christ says that a person holding on to all he has in his possession, saves himself from the cross, he gains the whole world, but loses himself. Remember the parable that Jesus told about the rich fool. He had lots and he prided in it. But God called him a fool because his possessions were things he could not keep when death came knocking (Lk. 12:15-21).

Try this personal exercise. “In life I have ____; in death I will have more of it.” Fill the blank space with whatever you value in your life. Will you have more of it when you die? The exercise will help you clarify what your values and possessions are: whether they matter or not.

What Is Death?

To most people death is the end of all dreams and hopes. But for Paul it was a departure for another place. He desired to “depart” (Phil. 1:23). The word is from the vocabulary of ancient armies. It is a word that connotes the striking of a camp. When you strike camp, tents come down. Paul viewed the body as a mere tent inhabited by the human spirit (2 Cor. 5:1).

The word for “depart” was also used on board ships. It was suggestive of weighing anchor or being released from moorings before sailing. Bishop H.G.C. Moule therefore described death as “that delightful moment when the friendly flood heaves beneath the freed keel and the prow is set straight and finally towards the shore of home, and the Pilot stands on board at length ‘seen face to face.’ And as He takes the helm ‘immediately the ship is at the land whither they go’ (Jn. 6:21)” (quoted by Motyer, p.88).

Paul has a desire to be with Christ (Phil. 1:23); but Paul’s one desire is to exalt Christ in his own life and in the lives of others as he nurtures their “progress and joy in the faith” (1:25). So he is willing to live, because it will give him more time to serve them (vv. 22, 25).

The ultimate aim of all Christian fellowship then is exalting Christ, and the individual Christian seeks to do this in his own life and to help others towards that end.

Fellowship Manners

(1:27-30)

A young man sent a card to his betrothed. It read:

I would swim the widest ocean,

Climb the highest mountain,

And cross the largest desert

To be at your side

Beneath those lines he wrote in hand, “See you next Saturday, weather permitting.”

There are many fair-weather Christians. Like this young man their favourite excuse for not staying committed is “under the circumstances.”

In Philippians 1:27 Paul writes of Christian behaviour irrespective of “whatever happens”. Paul is very aware of the uncertainties of life.

He also counsels them about their behaviour whether he went to them or was absent. For many, good behaviour depends on the presence or absence of dear parents, respected teachers or loved friends . They forget that Christ is always present.

Paul instructs Christians to conduct themselves in a worthy manner “whatever happens.” The definite implication of this is that while you cannot control your circumstances, you can control your conduct.

The Greek word translated “conduct” is politeusthe. In 3:20 the word for citizenship is politeuma. Quite obviously, the words have the same root. The King James Version consistently translates both words by the old English word “conversation” meaning conduct. But the new translations are not consistent and so the connection is not apparent.

Politeusma means “colony of foreign citizens.” It is a colony of foreigners whose way of life reflects their homeland. Philippi was a Roman colony and its citizens lived like Romans on Macedonian soil. That is the word Paul uses to describe Christian conduct. Christians are citizens of the new city where Christ is King and the Gospel is law. This citizenship demands a behaviour that is in a “manner worthy of the Gospel.”

These Christians “fellowship in the Gospel” (v.5) and they are engaged in the “defence of the Gospel” (vv.7, 16). The defence of the Gospel consists of proclaiming Christ, and proclamation is verbal activity. But life’s manners must also reflect the Gospel. Actions speak louder. We must not give occasion for any non-Christian to say, “I can’t hear what you preach about Christ, because your actions speak louder.”

You may give a non-Christian neighbour a Bible, but he or she will not read it. The only Gospel he will read is the Gospel according to you. Your life must be worthy of the Gospel. Your life is the Gospel.

Constancy

Paul calls for constancy on the part of Christians. He tells them to “stand firm.” William Barclay comments that “the world is full of Christians on the retreat, who play down their Christianity when things get rough.” Are you such a fair-weather Christian? Do you play down your identity and apologise for the Christian belief that Jesus is the only Saviour for all the peoples of the world? Be constant as a Christian.

The way to stand firm is to take that stand “in one Spirit”. The New International Version uses a lower case letter ‘s’ for the first letter of the word ‘spirit’. However Paul is not referring to an attitude or disposition of oneness:

The disposition of oneness is described by the next clause about “contending as one man”. It is unlikely that Paul talked of oneness as a characteristic in both the phrases.
Elsewhere Paul wrote that believers ought to “stand firm in the Lord” (4:1; 1 Thess. 3:8; 2 Cor. 1:21). Paul was never of the opinion that a Christian could stand firm in himself (1 Cor. 10:12). The source of the strength to be firm was always in God and His provisions in Christ: faith (1 Cor. 16:13; 2 Cor. 1:24), liberty (Gal. 5:1), hope (Col. 1:23) and apostolic teaching (2 Thess. 2: 15). Only Christ keeps us strong to the end (1 Cor. 1:8). In line with this it is logical to believe that Paul was talking of standing firm is in the Holy Spirit.

Another reason to believe that the Holy Spirit is referred to is that the phrase “one Spirit” is everywhere else a reference to the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 12:13; Eph. 2: 18; 4:4). The Spirit of God is the one who imparts the oneness of believers. He makes us the one Body of Christ.

Conflict

Christians are to be “contending as one man.” The task of the Christian is the “defence of the Gospel” (1:16, cf. v.7). Both “defence” and “contending” are fighting words. Unavoidably the Christian is in conflict with those that walk in darkness because the way of Christ is a counter culture. It goes against the world. Jesus asked His disciples to be different from the people of the world and to be like the Father (Matt. 5: 47-48).

The Church of Christ is like an army. That’s not merely the triumphalism of hymn writers. It is a biblical notion (Rev. 19:19). Armies are not called out to go on picnics. I saw a recruiting advertisement put out by the Indian Navy that says, “Join the Navy and see the world.” One of the consequent benefits of joining the Navy may indeed be voyages to different parts of the world, but it is a stupid advertisement. Anybody who joins the armed forces for such a reason is going to be a liability for lack of commitment to the national cause. No, armies are not called out to picnic, but to live a life of confrontation, and it is the same with Christ’s army. Jesus said, “I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household” (Matt. 10:35-36). Those opposed to Christ will definitely be opposed to those who follow Christ.

The way to be prepared for confrontation with the opponents of the gospel is “contending as one man”. We stand united, divided we fall. Surely that saying is based on Christ’s words, “A kingdom divided will be defeated, a house divided will not stand” (Matt. 12:25, paraphrased).

Paul connected the manners worthy of the gospel with Christian unity. This same juxtaposition of ideas is in Ephesians 4:1-6. Christians are called to “live a life worthy of their calling” and that worthiness is defined as “[keeping] the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called…”

While seeking such unity, Christians must be very clear what they are uniting for. Some people say, that we must seek unity for the sake of political strength. They say that we must become more militant, like other minorities. But that is not a biblical notion.

Our unity can have only one basis—proclaiming Christ not only by words, but in action. In fact, Jesus said that Christian unity would promote belief in Him (Jn. 17:21-23). When Christian unity has that purpose, the promise is that the purpose will be achieved. Look at this another way. What should Christians fight for? The answer is, to preserve the faith or the gospel as Jesus gave it.

Christians may not fight among themselves over property. It is a known fact that property and possessions have divided families. Brother has dragged brother to court. There once was a man who desired his brother’s conversion. He wanted him to be one who would listen to Jesus. He wanted the Master to speak to his brother, not about his soul, but about property. This man followed the Master with his mind on the property (Lk. 12:13), unlike the other disciples who left boats and nets to follow Christ.

Christians should not fight among themselves for position. In Jesus’ time the disciples quarrelled a lot about position. Once they kept quarrelling over the answer to the question, “who will be the greatest in God’s Kingdom.” That question was all they thought about when they reached the upper room where they were to eat the Passover meal together. So when they got to the upper room, each of them said to himself, “Hey, I’m not going to wash any feet.” They did not wish to be at a disadvantage in their race for power. Jesus might have understood this. Without saying too much Jesus began to wash the feet of His disciples (Lk. 22:24-27). Whenever Christians have jostled for position and outmanoeuvred others into serving them, you can hear the voice of Jesus say, “…you have done it unto me” (Matt. 25:31-46).

Courage

Christians are called to engage in proclaiming Christ “without being frightened” (Phil. 1:28). Paul wrote, that we should literally contend forth faith “without being stampeded.” A stampede begins when horses or cattle are startled. Christians should not be startled by opposition or persecution. We were promised that “In this world you will have trouble” (Jn. 16:33). Persecution is the heritage of Christians. That’s what Christ left His followers. “Beloved, do not think it strange that you suffer, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Pet. 4:12, paraphrased).

We are not to be frightened because Jesus, who promised that tribulation would be our lot, immediately afterward said, “But take heart! I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33). If tribulation is our heritage, the triumph of Christ is also our heritage. And He has promised, “Surely I will be with you always to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). He has promised that we will not stand trial alone. Our advocate, the Paraclete, will be with us to answer every inquisition (Mt. 10:19-20).

At this point, Paul said something that appears rather curious. He said that our fearlessness will be a sign of destruction for those who oppose the Gospel and a sign that we will be saved (Phil. 1:28). But Paul is writing from experience. It happened in the Philippian jail. When Paul and Silas sang triumphantly after being flogged and put in stocks and God effected their liberty through an earthquake, the jailer’s first question was, “What must I do to be saved?” Their demonstration of fearlessness and joy made the jailer realise that he needed to be saved and that Paul and Silas were already saved. Christian fearlessness in the face of severe opposition brings fear to those who oppose the Gospel that they may be fighting God. That was what Gamaliel said to the Sanhedrin about continuing to oppose the apostles who, in fact, should have been frightened of the Sanhedrin’s opposition. “You may be fighting God,” Gamaliel said (Acts 5:39).

Both salvation and destruction are effected by God, according to what Paul wrote (Phil. 1:28). Let it not be lost sight of that there is such a thing as damnation by God. Just as surely as there is salvation, there is destruction too. If there were no destruction we would not need salvation.

Paul cites two reasons for manifesting such courage in the face of opposition. “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him” (1:29). We are not to be taken by surprise or startled by opposition because first of all it is our calling. It has been “granted” to us. It is our privilege. We suffer, but not by accident.

We are called “not only to believe.” There’s more to being a Christian. As modern-day Christians, we need to take note of this: Christians are “not only to believe.” As Christians we are not to be satisfied with mental assent alone. We are privileged to suffer for Christ.

Peter wrote in the same vein. He said, “Rejoice that you participate in Christ’s suffering so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you … if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name” (1 Pet. 4:13-14, 16). The way Peter put it, suffering is like a halo around the Christian’s head: “The Spirit of glory rests on you.”

The second reason for courage is that we are in good company when we suffer for Christ’s sake. He told the Philippian Christians that they and he shared similar experiences in suffering (Phil. 1:30). When we suffer we stand in line with the prophets and apostles. “Rejoice and be glad…for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:12). “Apostolic succession” is not a matter of ritual. It has to do with suffering. But it is suffering with a sense of joy and fulfilment, because it is all for Christ’s sake.

Experiencing Christ

(2:1)

Most appeals for unity in human society are based on objectives that must be achieved. For instance, in India, only a united opposition can successfully fight the party in power. But when there is no attraction or inward cohesion among the different elements, the common objective is not strong enough as a gravitational force to keep them united. If the mutual repulsion is stronger than the common cause, unity moves will fail.

One motive for Christian unity is the objective of the fellowship of Christians, namely, the proclamation of Christ or the propagation of the faith. Christian unity is productive. It aids proclamation and propagation. This is a utilitarian view. The reason for Christian unity is outside the fellowship itself. The question is, can there be unity for an inward reason?

In Philippians 2: 1-5, Paul continues his appeal for unity by looking inward at the soul of a Christian. Paul begins this section with a suppositional clause: “If you have any…”. However, Paul is not doubting Christian experience by using the word “if,” but rather the experience is the basis of appeal. The word “if” must be understood as having the significance of “since” in this context. In effect he said, “Let your manners match your experience and let your experience produce manners.” What then is Christian experience? It is experiencing Christ. It is the Christ-experience.

United With Christ

The first aspect of the Christ-experience is that of “being united with Christ.” The word “united” means “joined.” Both are words that are used in connection with marriage or a sexual union (cf. 1 Cor. 6:15-17). We must face the question: are we joined or married to Christ? At this point I could be misunderstood; but I do not speak of a physical or sexual relationship, but rather the mystical union of a person with Christ.

A marriage has either taken place or it has not. It is not a matter of feeling. I cannot say one day, “I feel married today” or “I feel very married today,” and another day say, “I don’t know what’s wrong, but I don’t feel married today.” To the question, “Are you married”, the answer is only a simple “yes” or “no.”

How does one marry Christ? Marriage is a case of taking a spouse. The biblical view is that Christ is the groom and the Church is His bride. In this union Christ is the ‘head’ or the ‘Lord’ of the Church (Eph. 5:23). So, to marry Christ today involves taking Him as ‘head’ or ‘Lord.’ It means submitting to His Lordship. It means asking Him to be the head of your life, in other words, the decision-maker.

Now the perspective changes. You have to ask Him. He is not an aggressor. He will not rape you. Your lover has come calling. He will not kick the door in or climb in through the window. He stands knocking at your life’s door, waiting to be admitted (Rev. 3:20). Opening the door to your life is your decision. You have to ask Him in. All you need to do is pray, “Come in Lord Jesus.”

The Bible also speaks of unity with Christ as a matter of identification with Christ.

Sometimes people who are unable to attend a business meeting will say, ”I’m with you,” to those that are expecting them. Something like that happened but on a deeper level in the events of the death and resurrection of Christ (Rom. 6:3-5). Christ was our representative. He was representing us on the cross. That is how God sees Him and us. In God’s view, we died on the cross with Christ and rose with Him. Paul argues that since that is how God calculates, we too should calculate like that (6: 11).

If we are in Christ, we must be one. “Is Christ divided?” (1 Cor. 1:13). There is only one Christ and those who are “in Christ” are in his “one Body” (12: 12,13). In fact Paul says specifically that what Christ did on the cross was to take alienated peoples and make them one body (Eph. 2: 14-18).

Experiencing His Love

The second aspect of our Christ-experience is experiencing His love. Love is an experience. Experiences are of the present. This may sound callous but no one can say, “I love my dead parent.” They can only say, “I have precious memories of my dead parent.” This is because love is not a mere feeling. It is an experience. Love is a verb and it must indicate the activity involved in it.

The next aspect of the nature of love is that it is a two-way relationship: there is a giving of love and a receiving and returning of love. When you love someone, you are for him or her and care about his and her feelings. You consult that person. When you love someone you live your life with reference to him . You listen to him. You read his letters. You talk to him . You do what pleases him. Have you experienced Christ’s love? Do you love Him and relate to Him?

Thirdly, love is a power, or a force. The word translated “comfort” in the phrase “comfort of his love” means constraint as in 2 Corinthians 5:14, “The love of Christ constrains us” or “compels us.” The Jerusalem Bible translates this phrase in Philippians thus: “… if love can persuade …”

When you have an experience of love, you are being transformed by love. You become a channel of love./You are a votary of love, you advocate love and you practise love. The love within you impels you to act. It bursts forth in love.

When you have an experience of love, you are incapable of harbouring ill-will and cannot be divisive. Have you heard people say, “I feel like I could hug the whole world?” That is impossible physically. But what they actually mean is, “I feel so good, there is no room for hate.” Can the Church claim the experience of the love of Christ and be divided denominationally? Can a church be filled with factions? Conversely, it may be concluded that those who are quarrelsome have no experience of Christ’s love.

What is your experience? Have you had an experience of Christ’s love? Is Jesus a living reality in your life? A person who influences your life?

Fellowship with the Holy Spirit

The other three aspects have to do with Christ, but is fellowship with the Holy Spirit an aspect of the Christ-experience or an experience by itself? In Romans 8:9 the Holy Spirit is referred to as the “Spirit of Christ”; so fellowship with the Spirit is an aspect of the Christ experience, for it is fellowship with the Spirit of Christ.

Jesus described the Holy Spirit as “another paraclete” (Jn. 14:16). This means that Jesus is first our paraclete, advocate or counsellor. He is given that designation in 1 John 2:1: “If anyone sins we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous” (KJV). We need Him as advocate because the Devil is the “Accuser of the Brethren” (Rev. 12:10, KJV) who accuses us and attempts our prosecution.

In Romans chapter 8, where the Holy Spirit is described as the Spirit of Christ, both the Holy Spirit and Christ are seen praying for us (vv. 26-27,34) . Both intercede for those that Jove Christ and have faith in Him . Both serve as paracletes or as our advocates. “The Spirit helps us in our weakness . We do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express, and God who searches our hearts knows what the Spirit means, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to God’s will” (vv. 26,27). Similarly, Christ intercedes for us who would otherwise be condemned. But when Christ intercedes that by His death the penalty of our sin has been paid and pleads that punishment cannot be meted out twice for the same violation, how can we be condemned? He died to pay the penalty and He lives to plead for us (vv. 33-34).

Thus when Jesus describes the Holy Spirit as “another paraclete”, we are to understand that the Holy Spirit is a substitute for Christ, and an equal substitute. That is how Jesus is with us always (Mt. 28:29) and when Christians are hauled up before rulers for witnessing to Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to their aid and in that very hour inspires them to answer their accusers and persecutors (Mt. 10:18-20). The Holy Spirit is the Christian’s fellow who stands by him in his trials and conflicts. The Holy Spirit gives the believer His fellowship (cf. 2 Cor. 13:13).

Christian fellowship, we observed, is firstly a fellowship in the Gospel. The basis and the ground of all fellowship is the Gospel and the function of this fellowship is the propagation of the Gospel. The be-all and end-all of Christianity is the Gospel.

In a sense, though, the Gospel is words. It consists of the propositions of faith. But Christian fellowship is something more vital than mere words. It is fellowship with the Spirit Himself. Some think, Christian fellowship takes place when Christians get together to spend time together in Christian activities. It is that, but more than that it is time with the Holy Spirit. Fellowship that is Christian is in a totally different dimension. It is on the level of the Divine. “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and His son Jesus Christ” (1 Jn. 1:3).

In fellowship which is Christian there is a presence. Jesus said, “If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Mt. 18:19-20).

In such fellowship we become “possessed.” A person is described as “possessed” when a person has a fixation and cannot be diverted or distracted from it. Such a person is one who had got hold of an idea and held on to it, until the idea got hold of him. In Christian fellowship the unseen presence takes over. Paul wrote, “Be filled with the Spirit speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:18-19, KJV). The New International Version breaks up that sentence and separates the acts of devotion from the experience of being filled by the Spirit. But Paul ran it all together (see KJV, RSV, NASB). To me it suggests that the Holy Spirit comes in the midst of the acts of corporate devotion. That is how it happened on the day of Pentecost. After Christ’s ascension the believers stayed on in Jerusalem. They spent their time praying together (Acts 1:13-14). The day of Pentecost found them still together (2:1) and that was when the Holy Spirit came to the Church.

But many people have mistaken notions about the possession of the Spirit. Some regard it as something that is true of those who get into a frenzy when they worship God. For many, possession by the Holy Spirit has been reduced to a case of being able to speak in tongues.

For some the evidence of the presence of God’s Spirit is the manifestation of the spectacular or miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit. But in the Bible there exists no such equation as that of the miraculous and the divine. Some of the miracles performed by Moses were duplicated by the pharaoh’s magicians (Ex. 7:11-12, 22; 8:7), but the God of Moses was more powerful. In Samaria, Simon the sorcerer was thought to be the great power of God, but his true character was discovered when he attempted to purchase the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:9-11, 18-23). The book of Revelation predicts that just before Christ’s return the Antichrist will perform miracles (13:13-14). The name “Antichrist” suggests that what he will do will be a near imitation of Christ that will make people think he is the Christ. It seems that every gift of the Holy Spirit has its counterpart gift of Satan. Also there have been instances of glossolalia occurring among adherents of other religions. So miraculous gifts in themselves cannot guarantee the Divine Presence. They do not always signify the Holy Spirit’s activity.

Most people consider only the lists in Corinthians when considering the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Many would not even be aware that in the New Testament. There are five lists of these gifts.

Rom.	1Cor.	1Cor.	Eph.	1Pet.
12:6-8	12:8-10	12:28-30	4:11	4:9-11

prophecy	wisdom	apostles	apostles	hospitality
serving	knowledge	prophets	prophets	speaking
teaching	faith	teachers	evangelists	serving
encouraging	healing	miracle workers	pastor- teachers
giving	miracles	“healers”
leadership	prophecy	helpers
showing mercy	discerning spirits	administrators
	tongues	tongues speakers
	interpretation	interpreters

The first observation is that each list mentions one or more gifts not mentioned in the other lists. The Christians in the first generation could have easily jumped to the conclusion that only the gifts cited in the particular list in their hand were gifts of the Holy Sprit. But they did not, even though sometimes a church would not even be aware that other such lists existed. This must mean that they viewed apostolic teaching as having the thrust that there were various gifts and that the Holy Spirit was the Prime Mover. We may therefore rightly conclude that even putting all the lists together does not exhaust the number of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The gifts of poetry and music are not included in the New Testament lists, even though the psalms were all inspired by the Spirit.

Can’t talents be redeemed by the Holy Spirit to serve the body of Christ? Stuart Hamlen was a songwriter who was inspired when drunk. When he got converted, he gave up alcohol, and lost the source of his inspiration. He wanted to write songs for God, but was not able to. Then he asked God to let him write songs for God’s glory as he had once written with no concern for God. Then God put the song back in his life and he wrote the song, “It is no secret what Christ can do.” Who will say that the songs Hamlen wrote from then on were not a manifestation of a gift of the Holy Spirit?

The trouble is that subconsciously we have the idea that the Holy Spirit’s gifts are miraculous in appearance and effect. But when you look at the biblical lists it becomes apparent that very ordinary abilities that lacked the element of the spectacular and the capability of grabbing people’s attention were also designated gifts of the Holy Spirit. For example, serving, giving, helping, and hospitality were recognised in New Testament times as gifts, though no one today talks of them as gifts of the Holy Spirit. Today people view only the spectacular and miraculous as divine in origin.

We must also conclude from the scriptural evidence that the Holy Spirit took the training that Moses and Paul received in their earlier life and redeemed it for His use. Possession by the Holy Spirit was not viewed as a loss of senses or personality. The person so possessed retained all his or her individuality. The modem notion, that when the Holy Spirit comes all sense of order has to go, does not correspond to biblical data. For instance, Paul would quarrel with anyone who says that when a person is moved by the Spirit, the manifestation may not be controlled or limited. The Holy Spirit and our spirits act in unison, but our spirits are very much active (1 Cor. 14:32-33).

This also means that even the gifts of the Holy Spirit can be developed and refined (2 Tim. 1:6; cf. 1 Tim. 4: 14,15). The biblical writers never viewed the possession of gifts as the essence of being a Christian. The gifts were considered only to be aids in the Spirit’s task (1 Cor. 12:17,11; Eph. 4:12, 13). The gifts are not essential to being Christian.

The gifts are after all earthly and temporal. They are not eternal. They are given only for our time on the earth. In that sense they are imperfect. They will have no place in heaven (1 Cor. 13:8-10).

Again and again, in the context of reference to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, love is defined as the essence of Christianity (Romans 12:9-10; 1 Peter 4:8). Paul is explicit: it is the “most excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31) and only faith, hope and love will continue on in eternity, but “the greatest” of these is love (1 Cor. 13:13).

Fruit of the Spirit

Paul, who spoke of the “gifts of the Holy Spirit” also spoke of the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22,23). The term “fruit” is suggestive of something that is generated from within, as it happens in plant life. Juan Carlos Ortiz, the Latin American Pentecostal minister, departing from a rigid Pentecostalism has illustrated the difference between gifts and the fruit very graphically in his little book Disciple. He says that we hang “gifts” on a Christmas tree. They do not belong to the tree’s life. We hang them on. It is not so with the fruit of a tree. It is integral to the life of the tree. The fruit is essential the gifts are not.

Jesus described false prophets as wolves in sheep’s clothing, said, “By their fruit you shall know them” (Matt. 7: 16, 20). He recognises that these false prophets may even perform miracles in His name (vv. 21, 22). But His disciples would be known not by the display of power, but by the quality of what they produce. In the final analysis, the presence of the Holy Spirit is not demonstrated by the gifts, but by its fruit. There are many different gifts and people differ in what they possess. On the other hand, there is just one fruit of the Spirit and all must share in having the flavour of God’s fruit.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control against such there is no law” (Gal. 5:22-23). Since there are not many fruits, but only one fruit of the Spirit, it has been suggested that the fruit is love and that all the others are merely the aspects of love. “Joy is love rejoicing, peace is love resting, patience is love waiting, kindness is love being sensitive to the feelings of others, goodness is love making allowance and sacrifices for others; faithfulness is ·love proving constant; gentleness is love yielding; and self-control is love triumphing over selfish inclinations” (Elizabeth Sherrill in Guideposts citing an unknown source). These are the ingredients that make for unity. The fruit of the Spirit tastes of unity. It woos its consumers to a love of unity.

Miraculous gifts are not the indisputable pointer to the presence of God. The indisputable evidence is ending of alienation between persons possessed by the Holy Spirit. The indisputable evidence is the unification of individuals so that they are one “body.”

The supreme evidence of the Holy Spirit is the reconciliation He effects. In a world where alienations are the common feature, the Holy Spirit’s entry begins the end of alienation. The dividing walls are broken and the one body of Christ is created. Again and again Paul juxtaposes the idea of the Spirit’s presence with the idea that Christians are one body in Christ (1 Cor. 12-14; Eph. 4: 1-13). In fact, the context of Paul’s instructions suggests that his instructions are given in a context of controversy over the legitimacy and the importance of the gifts possessed by individuals or groups in the Early Church.

To the question, “What is fellowship with the Holy Spirit?” the answer is, firstly, that it occurs when the Holy Spirit is our fellow, when we know He is our companion and experience Him. Secondly, it is what happens when the Spirit of Christ possesses us to produce Christ- likeness in us. Christ-likeness is not merely godliness or holiness. We would not coin the term “Christ-likeness” for those kinds of qualities. Humans struck by the humility, love and compassion of Christ in human society coined the term to suggest all of that in the context of an aggressive society. Paul immediately after writing about the Christ-experience of fellowship with the Spirit of Christ goes on to describe how to give expression to Christ-likeness: the secret is to coexist and cooperate with people by having a high regard for them. Thirdly, fellowship with the Spirit is what occurs when He possesses individual believers to make them into one body – the one body. of Christ.

The nature of joy is that it is fellowship with the Spirit When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, the early disciples joy was mistaken for drunkenness. Instead of being offended. Peter joked that it was only nine o’clock in the morning and that could not be the reason for their ecstasy. He then identified the Holy Spirit as the source of their joy (Acts 2: 13-17).

Paul says that the ecstatic feelings of alcoholism end in an abandoned life, free of moral restraint, but also devoid of sensibilities and senses. On the other hand, there is joy of being filled with the Holy Spirit, our companion, our soul-mate. The joy of having the Holy Spirit as your soul-mate draws you to others who have Him as their soul-mate. So, Paul says that his joy is completed by Christian unity (Phil. 2:2); and that the Christian character and witness of other believers gives him something to boast about (2: 15, 16); that sharing in sacrifice and Christian service brings Christians mutual joy (2: 17, 18); and that believers experience joy from meeting and being with one another (2: 19, 28, 29).

Think about this. Paul never once spoke of his relatives. He spoke only of his brothers and sisters in Christ. In the case of believers there is a new blood relationship in the blood of Christ that beats all the old blood ties. That is why a Christian gets all excited about other believers. I feel closer to many a believer than to many of my close relatives. The quality of Christian relationship is a totally different experience. There is depth. Soul meets soul. It is fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

Tenderness and Compassion

The fourth aspect of the Jesus-experience is that it is an experience of the feelings of tenderness and compassion. In the King James Version these feelings are referred to by the phrase “bowels and mercies.” That inelegant word splangchna was used again. The internal organs of the abdomen were thought to be the seat of human emotions. I feel the English phrase “gut feelings” captures the essence of the original idea. So Paul was saying, “If you know Christ, you know His feelings – His gut feelings.” You feel like Him and you feel with Him. Christ felt very deeply about Christian unity. On the eve of His crucifixion, His urgent prayer was, “That all of them may be one, Father… May they be brought to complete unity” (Jn. 17:21-23).

Paul talks of “the guts of Christ and compassion.” The first is the source and the second the product of that source. Christian compassion is the production of Christ’s feelings in us.

In chapter 1 verse 8, Paul had used the word splangchna to describe the source of his own intense feelings as he thought of the Church. His feelings were the product of Christ’s guts in him. What he felt was what Christ was feeling. And what exactly was it that Paul was longing for with such an intensity of feelings? He was longing for fellowship. Experience that is Christian is characterised by an intense hunger for the unity of Christian fellowship because an experience that is Christian is an experience of Christ. It is a Christ-experience. It is an experience of feeling Christ living in you and filling you with His own feelings.

Here are questions for yourself-evaluation. What is your Christian experience? Have you experienced Christ in your life? Have you experienced His love? Have you experienced His Holy Spirit producing fellowship? Have you experienced His gut-feelings for Christian unity?

Expression of Christ-Likeness

(2:2-5)

Did you hear about the fellow who bought a tin of cold cream, but when he opened it he discovered that it was full of shoe polish? Well, not really, he does not exist. The situation of finding a tin of cold cream containing shoe polish is an impossibility. It is possible that when you buy a tin of Amul cheese there could be a mistake in labelling and it could turn out to be a tin of Amul butter. But there is nothing as incompatible as finding shoe polish in a tin labelled as cold cream.

The contents invariably match the respective labels. At least, that is what we expect. Otherwise, we would be making shop-keepers open cans and bottles to check on their contents before taking them home.

Philippians 2:1 describes the Christian as one who has had an experience of Christ by being united in Christ, being empowered by Christ’s love, having fellowship with the Spirit of Christ, and experiencing the guts and compassion of Christ. This is the Christian’s label. The contents should match.

Verses 2 to 5 describe the contents of a Christian in terms of Christ-likeness. In this case the contents are not contained but are expressed. If you have had an experience, good or’ bad, it will show in your life. If you have been badly frightened, you will be a nervous person . If you have known deprivation, you will be an aggressive survivor. If you have been secure, you will be trustful. If you have been loved, you will be loving. So, If you have had an experience of Christ, there will be an expression of Christ-likeness.

In this section of Scripture, the word “mind” appears four times in its different forms. Unfortunately, this feature is lost sight of in the newer translations . Although, if you refer to the King James Version, you will find it consistent in translation. The occurrences of “mind” are as follows:

v.2: “like-minded” – “being one in Spirit and purpose” reads as

“being of one accord and of one mind .”

v. 3: “in humility” should be read as “in humility of mind.”

v. 5: “Your attitude”– is then “Let this mind be in you …”

From this reference to the mind again and again, it may be concluded that Christ-likeness begins in the mind. You cannot be Christ-like if you only imitate Christ by outward acts and appearances. Somewhere, sometime the dissimilarity with Christ will show.

Long before modern psychology was born, the Bible viewed the mind as controlling behaviour. “As a man thinks in his heart so he is” (Prov. 23:7; cf. 27:9). Jesus said that a good man produces a positive experience out of the good that is stored in him. Similarly, an evil man produces evil from his evil store (Matt. 12:35). Commenting on the Pharisees taking offence at His disciples eating without first washing their hands, Jesus said that it is out of the heart that evil thoughts arise and it is these thoughts that make a person unclean (Matt. 15:19, 20).

Paul said that enmity with God is a state of the mind (Col.1:21). He contrasted the mind of the sinful man with the mind of a person controlled by the Holy Spirit. The sinful mind tends toward death because it is hostile toward God, refuses to submit to God, and cannot please God. Those who live under the direction of the Holy Spirit set their minds on what the Spirit desires and so are led to experiencing life and peace (Rom. 8:5-8).

That is why the mind needs to be redeemed. To experience transformation in our lives there must be a commitment to being set apart for God and there must be withdrawal from the contaminating world. But being a “living sacrifice” and not conforming with the world is insufficient. The mind needs to be renewed. It has to be made new (Rom. 12:1, 2).

Similarly, writing to the church at Ephesus, Paul said that Christians must not be like the Gentiles in their behaviour, and the Gentiles were as they were because of the ‘futility of their thinking.’ Because of their lack of spiritual understanding, they were estranged from God and depraved. But Christians are to put away such depraved behaviour by changing the person on the inside. Change on the inside is a matter of being “made new in the attitude of your minds” (4:17-23).

The renewal of the mind is possible because we can replace our mental processes by feeding the mind the right programme. Therefore, Paul advises that Christians spend their time on thinking about “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable if anything is excellent or praiseworthy” (Phil. 4:8), they must think on it. We need to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).

Christ-likeness is a product of the mind – not ours, but of Christ. A Christian changes his mind, not as a momentary act, but as a permanent feature. Instead of thinking as he was used to and being shaped by the thought pattern of the world around him, he adopts the thoughts of Jesus. He wants to do what Christ would have him do. So he studies God’s Word and reflects on his life-situation in the light of what God is saying. He can live as a Christian only as he has the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:9-16).

Being Like-Minded

When Paul called for like-mindedness he was not just saying, “Sink your differences.” People can be like-minded in doing evil. The like-mindedness he calls us to is that of having the mind of Christ.

In the final analysis, if a person “has a mind of his own” he will have some elements of pride and selfishness. When each person in a group has a mind of his own, no like-mindedness is possible. There can only be like-mindedness when a transcendent mind takes over. When the mind of Christ fills our thinking, Christians can be like-minded.

This like-mindedness is characterised by “having the same love.” The word “same” has reference to Christ. Our love should be the same as that of Christ. We should love as He loved, sacrificially and selflessly.

In being a Christian, “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love” (Gal. 5:6). Above all the attitudes being manifested in a Christian’s life, there must be love that covers one another’s shortcomings and failures (1 Pet. 4:8). The entire law can be summed up as essentially commanding only love. Love is the fulfilment of the Law (Gal. 5:14 Rom. 13:9,10).

The mind of Christ tends toward unity. Christians seek to be “one in spirit and purpose.” They are “of one accord and of one mind” (KJV). On the eve of His crucifixion Jesus prayed for His disciples. What did He pray for so urgently? Was He praying that His disciples should succeed in their mission? Jesus prayed for their protection by God. The protection He desired for them was their oneness (Jn. I7: II). He wanted them to be protected from the evil one (v. I5). Christian disunity is diabolic. He prayed for the unity of His disciples because Christian unity is the secret of success in Christ’s mission (vv. 2I,22).

Be in Humility of Mind

Pride and selfishness cause all disunity. Adam and Eve experienced alienation because they sought the position of equality with God. Adam immediately set himself as better than Eve. In effect he said to God, “It wasn’t me that fell. It was Eve.”

The Twelve nearly aborted the oneness of being Christ’s disciples by quarrelling about who was greater. As they jostled for position it was Christ who was outmanoeuvred and He ended up washing their feet.

Those who have the mind of Christ need to give up certain mental attitudes. They must first of all give up “selfish ambition” (Phil. 2:3). The King James Version uses the word “strife,” and does capture some of the sense of the original word. In 1:15 the same word is translated “rivalry”. So it is more than “selfish ambition” that Paul wrote of. He wrote about competitiveness and jostling for positions.

Rivalry in God’s work uses Christ Himself as a stepping stone. Christ is not a bone of contention. He is not the prize for rivalry. Whenever Christ is reduced to being a prize or stake for rivals, He is in fact treated only as a stepping stone. It is not His glory that is sought, but the glory of the self is aimed at. When we seek our glory, the glory of Christ suffers.

Vain conceit must also be given up. When one is conceited he thinks of himself as better than others. The Disciples would not wash one another’s feet because each thought himself as better than the others and therefore more worthy of having his feet washed by another. We have no grounds for such an inflated view of ourselves. We are all in God’s image. All of us belong to Adam’s fallen race. We have all sinned. All of us need grace equally. All of us need Jesus to save us.

Paul described the antidotes for selfish ambition and vain conceit. He said, “consider others better than yourselves” and “look…to the interests of others.” The humble mind focuses on others, not on the self. This is an aspect of self-denial. The denial of the self is not merely a matter of denying the self some things, but looking away from the self. We do not talk about the necessity of cross-bearing in the life of the Christian. But the cross is just the end of the road of self-denial. It is the culmination of self-denial. The cross spells death to the self. So where the self will not be denied, the cross will not be taken up.

If you have had an experience of Christ or know Him personally, you must also have the mind of Christ. To be in possession of the mind of Christ is to have certain mental attitudes. One must love as Christ loved and would love. Such a person pursues unity. To maintain such oneness, the self must be denied and others affirmed. This is the mind of Christ for this was His way of life.

The Example of Christ

(2:6-11)

In the history of humankind, some movements are named after their founders. Christianity is such a movement. In such movements, the adherents are recognised as followers of the founder. The term “Christians” was coined, therefore, to identify the disciples of Christ Jesus (Acts 11:26). Following Christ is then the essence of christianity . Being Christian is simply a matter of being Christ-like. The oneness essential to Christian unity and cooperation depends on this very Christ-likeness and so Paul commands the Christians at Philippi to “have the mind of Christ” (2: 5). While Christians cannot be Christ-like in divinity, Paul said that there are aspects of Christ’s life that must be emulated by all who follow Christ Jesus (vv.6-11).

Paul begins by identifying who Christ is. He is described as “being in very nature God” (2:6); the Greek reads, “in the form of God.” William Barclay points out that there are two Greek words for “form.” Morphe is the word for the essential form of something and the essential form does not change. But schema describes the external form that is subject to change according to time and circumstances. For example, the morphe of a human being is humanity, but the schema keeps changing. First, the human is a baby, then a child, a boy, a youth, a young adult, a middle-aged adult, an older adult. The word used in Philippians 2:6 is morphe. Divinity is the essential form of Christ Jesus. His very nature is divine. He would be classified as a divine being. Jesus is God, not just a human founder of a human movement.

There are some people who attribute the idea of Christ’s divinity to Paul. They say that it is a distortion of Christ’s teachings by Paul. It is thought that Paul, with his theological background, turned Christ’s movement into a religion when that was never the intention of Christ.

First, it must be noted that Paul stood in line with apostolic teaching. He was no innovator. He was not the one who manipulated the direction of apostolic teaching. On the day of Pentecost, when the Church was born and Peter preached the inaugural sermon, he said, “God has made Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). The term “Lord” was one that a Jew reserved for God. When Peter attributed lordship to Jesus, he implied that Jesus was divine.

Secondly, Philippians 2:6-11 may in all probability not have been authored by Paul. It was a song or creed of the Early Church. The words are set in poetic structure and the consensus is that Paul merely included a song or creed that was in use in his day.

Thirdly, it must be noted that the apostolic notion that Jesus is divine was not a notion that the Jews would have had. They picked up the idea from Jesus. It was He who claimed divinity. When the Jews challenged that He could not have seen Abraham because He was not yet fifty years then, He replied, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:57- 59). The Jews recognised then that he was using the formula that God had given Moses to identify himself to Israel. God had said to Moses, “Tell them, I AM THAT I AM has sent you.” The Jews immediately picked up stones to stone Jesus to death for they thought him guilty of blasphemy. Similarly, when He said, “I and the Father are one” (Jn. 10:30,31) and “Learn and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father” (10:38,39), the Jews attempted to stone Him to death. Jesus was not deified by the apostles. Jesus was divine. He claimed to be divine.

What Christ Did

He “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped” (Phil. 2:6). In the New Testament, Jesus is constantly compared to Adam and contrasted with him. Romans 5:14 describes Adam as the “pattern of the one to come.” After that, from verse 15 to 21, Paul’s argument is that just as one man’s sin brought sin and its consequences on all who were of his line, grace and eternal life are brought by Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 15:45 Jesus is described as “the Last Adam,” the one who would close the race of Adam, and in verse 47 he is designated “the Second Man,” the beginner of a second race of Man, a race of men and women made new. Similarly, this clause “did not consider equality with God something to be grasped” contrasts Christ with Adam. In Eden, Adam was tempted to be like God and he made an attempt to grab equality with God. The Second Man is unlike the First Man. He did not feel He had to grasp or hold on to divinity. He began a new race of humans – people with the mindset of humility.

He “made himself nothing” (Phil. 2:7). People set out to be something, not nothing. So when Christians want to become people of importance, they are unlike Christ.

Of course, we have to lead useful lives and in that sense we have to be something more in this life. But when we are obsessed with the idea of being important, it is in comparison to others in lesser roles than ourselves. Thus obsessed, we go climbing and ruthlessly stepping on people. But Jesus was not like that. He did not step on people.

But when Jesus is described as having made Himself “nothing,” was He a doormat? Some Christians think that Christ-like humility implies being a doormat. Jesus allowed people to abuse Him, but He did not become a doormat. When people step on a doormat, they do not abuse it. They use the doormat appropriately. To think that Jesus was a doormat is to think that He was treated right. But He was not treated right. He was treated unjustly. He was ill-treated.

Jesus was anything but a doormat. He allowed himself to be abused, but he opposed human pride and hierarchy. His opposition to pride was divine. He stood in line with the God who “opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble” (Prov. 3:34).

So, let Christ-likeness never be thought of as a matter of being a doormat. Christian humility is basically the stance of a person who knows he is in God’s presence. When you have been in the presence of ultimate power, you can never be in awe of lesser powers. You can never bow your head to human pride and arrogance. You may allow yourself to be abused, but you cannot let the abuse of power go unchallenged. At His trial, Jesus did not defend Himself, but He challenged the judicial procedures adopted by His accusers and judges (Lk. 22:52-53; Jn. 18:20-23; 19:9-11). Jesus was no doormat when He exposed the corruptions of the Jewish hierarchy (Matt. 23: 1-39) and challenged Herod’s authority over His work (Lk. 13:31-32).

What then ails the modern church is that unlike Jesus most of its members stand in awe of human power. Having shifted their gaze from the majesty of God, they stand in awe of human positions and powers. They attempt to hide behind claims of Christian humility. But this is an aberration and distortion of humility. True humility is a stance in regard to God. That regard for God overrides all other relationships. It will not stand the manifestation of human pride that is in opposition to godliness. We must not be afraid to challenge bishops, bosses and rulers.

The words “made himself nothing” literally means “emptied himself.” People seek fulfilment. But Christ emptied Himself. He laid aside the marks of His divinity, not divinity itself. His divinity was hidden or clothed over.

This clause also echoes Isaiah’s saying, “he has poured out his soul unto death.” Jesus’ human life was not fulfilled in human pursuits, but it was emptied out for the sake of saving others.

Jesus “humbled himself” (Phil. 2:8), he took “the form of as lave” (v. 7). The word “form” is the same word morphe that was used in connection with His divinity. He took the essential nature of a slave. Rather, in essence, He became a slave. It was no role-play. He, in nature God, became in nature a slave.

He was “made in human likeness.” The reverse of what happened at creation took place in incarnation. Then God had made man in His image, and man in God’s image had failed. So God came to be in man’s image and showed the way to godliness and human fulfilment.

This song or creed records the descent of Christ. He did not just become a man, He became a slave, and not just a slave, but a criminal. He did not climb upward. He climbed downward step by step. Can we follow this Christ, or do we want to go climbing?

Jesus “‘humbled himself and became obedient to death” (v. 8). The death of Jesus Christ was an act of volition. It was his free choice. It was voluntary. It was an act of humility and obedience. Obedience is the mark of a slave. Jesus obeyed, by choice, freely and to the point of death. His death was the culmination of His servanthood. The death of self begins in servanthood. A servant does not push to have his own way. He does not expect to be served, but expects to do all the serving. It begins in self-denial. When you deny yourself, you die to self and you are therefore ready to carry a cross. You can accept death on the cross once you have already denied the self’s rights of life.

God’s response to the self-denial of the Suffering Servant is that God Himself exalts the Servant (Is. 53:12). That same picture is drawn here in this song in Philippians 2:6-11. God has already exalted Jesus. When Jesus ascended to heaven, He took His place of sovereignty with God (Acts 7:55). God gave Him the name that is above every name (Phil. 2:9). Already that is true. Jesus is the index of all self-sacrifice and love. God has ordained that the name of Jesus be confessed by all. God has ordained that every knee shall bend at the name of Jesus (vv. 10, 11). It will happen. But it is far better that we take the name of Jesus by our own choice. It is better that we do not forego our choice to voluntarily bend our knee to Jesus. If not, we will be forced to, one day when the time for choice has gone.

The Exposition Of

Christ’s Glory

(2:12-18)

History gives us examples of what is good and right. The trouble is that historical examples can be easily dismissed as irrelevant to the present because we can always hide behind a claim of changed circumstances. For instance, we were looking at the example of Christ as described in Philippians 2:6-11. Ask modem Christians what they think about Jesus. They will respond, “wonderful example”, “Really great man.” But ask another question: “How about following Jesus?” Examples, after all, are not merely for applauding, but for emulation. But immediately people make excuses. There are two standard excuses.

Some would plead that times have changed. “You know life was so simple when Jesus lived on earth. Things are more complicated today.” Or, “Life is more competitive. You can’t survive in today’s world doing what Jesus did.”

But who says life is so different? Who says people are different from that generation? The Twelve followed Jesus. They were really close to Him, but they still struggled for power and supremacy. They were no less ambitious and competitive than people today. If we really think Jesus is irrelevant to our lives and times, we might as well say, “He died back in the First century. He never came back to life. He doesn’t live here any more.”

The other excuse is, “Look, it was easy for Jesus. After all, he was God.” That is just another way of saying Jesus is irrelevant to humans. He doesn’t belong to our race. But the point of Philippians 2:6-11 is that Jesus was not just God, but the God who enfleshed Himself and went to the extent of experiencing the worst of human situations and experiences, so that no one can say, “Jesus hasn’t been to my kind of hell.”

But, as I said, a merely historical Jesus remains no than a historical example – a part of history. What the world needs now is an exposition of the glory of Jesus.

An exposition is a public display or an exhibition. The example from history needs an exposition today to show how real and relevant Jesus is. And that is what Christians are supposed to be – the exposition. That great shining example of the past needs to be put on display in the lives of Christians. That is the subject of Philippians 2:12-18.

To see what the theme of our exposition is, we need to refer to the example of Christ. That ancient creed or song that Paul recorded in chapter 2:6-11, was in praise of Christ’s servanthood. He who was in nature God, took the nature of a servant.

What does a servant do? He obeys, and Jesus obeyed to the nth degree. He was obedient to the point of getting executed as a criminal. An exposition of servanthood should therefore be an emulation of Christ’s servanthood. That is what Christians are called to. They are called to be disciples of the Servant. They are called to follow the Servant. As Christ “became obedient” (v. 8), and as the Christians in Philippi had once “obeyed” (v. 12), they were called to continue to do so.

What Paul says in this context illustrates how people have not changed basically. Paul had tremendous influence in the church at Philippi. But when he moved away, it seems that the focus of the church changed. Paul had kept them gazing at Jesus. After he left them, they became rivalrous, self-interested and quarrelsome (1 :27; 2:3,4; 2:14).

This is how a lot of Christians are today. While a big-name preacher is around, everybody tries to impress him. They try very hard to be good Christians. They act so humbly and unselfishly. But when the big-time preacher moves on, they start to tear at each other’s throats. Billy Graham, Bhakt Singh, George Verwer and other big leaders have this effect on people. Just like Paul. But they are all merely human. They cannot make people Christians.

Working Out

Being Christian is something each one has to work at when the big preachers leave. So Paul counselled Christians: “work out your salvation” (v. 12).

The secret is you have to work at being a servant. Note first that Paul did not say, that Christians are to work for their salvation. The Gospel of Jesus is that “by grace you have been saved through faith – and that not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, therefore no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8,9).

People have a “work out” at a gymnasium. They exercise. Or a student is given a maths problem to work out. The problem is his already. He has to explore the problem and discover its secret. That is the sense in which Paul used the phrase “work out.” Exercise yourself. Work out the meaning of salvation.

It needs to be noted that in this particular instance Paul was not talking of individual salvation. He was concerned rather about the prevalence of selfishness and individual. So he wrote to them, “Each of you should look not only at your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (2:4).

At Philippi they had interpersonal problems. He wanted them to work at their corporate health. In Greek the word he used for salvation can also be translated “wholeness” or “health”. But working out spiritual health is not possible other than the realisation that God is the one working in you. Paul wrote, “It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (2:13).

In the context of saying that salvation is gained not by works, but received by faith in God’s grace, Paul said, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us” (Eph. 2:10). The “work out” depends on who “works in.” Sure, we have to work at it, but we do not struggle all alone in our own puny strength. Christianity is not about the God who inhabits outer space, but about the God who has entered our inner space. How can we be Christ-like?

How do we follow Christ’s example? How can we be an exposition of Christ’s glory? We can do it because we are united with Christ (Phil. 2:1), have fellowship with the Holy Spirit (2:1), have the mind of Christ (2:5) and God works in us (2:13).

All in me rebels at the notion of being a servant. All in me rebels, except Jesus Christ in me. Christ has no problem being a servant. When I cooperate with Him and have a work out with Him, He uses the vehicle of my body to be a servant today. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (4:13). But I must work out with Him (2:3-5).

Servanthood is not forced. At Philippi, Christians seemed to have been doing their duties accompanied by complaints and arguments (2:14).People were fulfilling requirements, but with a lot of grumbling. Doesn’t this have modem echoes: “I don’t see why I must do it…My talents would be better used in other work.”

Complaining and arguing is a combination of words drawn from the Old Testament word-picture of Israel during the wilderness wanderings. They followed Moses, but they grumbled while they followed.

But servanthood is not forced. It is voluntary. That is why Jesus never exercised his prerogative of ordering a disciple to wash the feet of the other disciples. It had to be done voluntarily. Jesus did it voluntarily.

When servanthood is not forced, it cannot be engaged in grudgingly. You either choose it or don’t. If you choose it, it becomes your choice. After making a choice to follow the Servant, there is no room for grudging service.

A Way of Witnessing

This uncomplaining, ungrudging servanthood sets us apart from “a crooked and depraved generation” (v.15). It is not the way of the world. The way of the world is bossing people and climbing over them (cf. Matt. 20:25). Servanthood is a way of witnessing.

As Christians we are open to judgment. We are on display and we will be judged . therefore we must be “blameless” (v. l5).

We are to be different. We are called to a counter-culture. We must be “pure” (v.l5) or undefiled and unadulterated by the world that surrounds us: ”Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its mould” (Rom. 12:2, Phillips). We have to be unlike the world because our identity is that of being “children of God” (v.l5). The mark of the child is that it is like its father. Aas the adage goes: “Like father, like son.”

There are two ways in which God’s children witness to the world. They appear as light-bearers. The word “shine” in verse 15 literally means “appear” and the word translated “stars” means “light-bearers.” We are bearers of the light of Christ. We are the stand on which the candle is placed that it may give light to all (Mt. 5: 15). The light must not be hid under a bushel. There must also be words that declare and identify the source of the light we bear. We must “hold out the Word of life” (v. 16). The Name must be named. People must not be left in uncertainty. People who have sat in darkness and ignorance must see the Light (Matt. 5: 16).

There is mutuality in servanthood. Philippians 2:16-18 describes the joy that Paul and Christians at Philippi found in each other because of a sense of mutuality in servanthood. Doing the work of a servant is joyless activity. It is drudgery. Joy in servanthood can only come from mutuality.

Have you ever thought of how all the disciples sat in their seats while Jesus washed their feet? Not one of them got up from his seat to kneel beside Jesus and share in the task of washing feet. What if one had done just that? Can you imagine the joy that Jesus would have experienced? Peter protested that he was too humble to allow his Master to wash his feet. But Peter’s humility would not go far enough to wash another’s feet.

A lot of Christians today are armchair Christians. They want everything done for them. They ask, “What has the church done for me?” When people are like that, those who work feel exploited and end up serving without joy. When that happens, Christian servanthood has ceased. Everybody tries to shirk. Everybody tries to outmanoeuvre others. When that happens, there is only Jesus left to wash feet. When we refuse to be servants and force others to serve us, it is Jesus whom we have forced to wash once again and He says, “Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of my brethren, you have done it unto me” (Matt. 25:31-46).

Exhibits of

Christ-Likeness

(2:19-30)

You cannot have an exhibition without exhibits. There must be tangible objects that demonstrate the point we try to make in an exhibition.

In Philippians chapter 2, we have seen that our experience of Christ (v.1) leads, necessarily, to our giving expression to a Christ-likeness (vv.6-11). Since a historical example can easily be dismissed for irrelevancy, Christians must engage in an exposition of Christ’s glory (vv.12-18), and an exposition is not an exposition unless there are exhibits of the theme of the exposition. The last section of chapter 2 is a description of people who were Christ-like. They are exhibits of Christ-likeness.

If you look into modern translations of the Bible that also aid the reader with chapter titles and sub-titles of sections, you will find this section of Philippians 2 entitled with reference to Timothy and Epaphroditus. The editors lead us to think that Timothy and Epaphroditus are the subjects of this section. But you cannot write or talk about other people without revealing something about yourself. You reveal your philosophy of life, your mental attitudes, your sentiments, your inclinations and also your disinclinations and aversions. So when Paul wrote about Timothy and Epaphroditus, he also gave some glimpses of his own character. The exhibits of Christ-likeness are thus not only Timothy and Epaphroditus, but also Paul.

A Servant of God’s Son

In verse 22 Paul says Timothy and he served together in the work of the Gospel. Literally the word translated “served” means “served as a slave.” Paul regarded himself as a slave of Jesus. The slave’s attitude was one of submission to his master’s will. This was Christ’s attitude toward God the Father. Jesus “humbled himself and became obedient” (v. 8). Paul’s attitude was also one of submission to his Master’s will. As Paul considered the future he was unsure about the changes in his circumstances. That uncertainty is seen in the words, “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy.” In verse 24 he talks of confidence in the Lord. No matter how things might turn out, Paul’s faith was in God’s sovereignty. He submitted to God’s plans for him. Like his Master he was saying, “Not my will, but Thine be done” (cf. Lk. 22:42).

When Christ came as God’s servant, He was servant to people. Paul also served God by relating to people in caring ways. He experienced joy in his relationships. He wrote to the Church at Philippi that he would find cheer in news about them (v. 19).

When Paul described Timothy and himself as serving together Paul showed his humility. Timothy was after all an assistant, and in a hierarchical and competitive world, one does not give equal credit to an assistant. But Paul cared about Timothy’s development and growth. He served Timothy by encouraging him.

Similarly, Paul cared about how Christians at Philippi would view Epaphroditus. The church at Philippi had sent Epaphroditus to represent them in giving care to Paul during his imprisonment. He had slaved to the point of exhaustion and illness (vv.27, 30). He had probably not fully recovered and Paul was anxious about his health (v.28), so Paul decided to send him back. But there existed the possibility that some Christians in Philippi were going to accuse him of desertion and cowardice. Paul ensures that Epaphroditus is not misunderstood by describing him as a brother, a fellow worker and a fellow soldier (v.25) who risked his own life in the cause of Christ by his devoted service to Paul (v.30). Paul specifically says that Epaphroditus deserved a joyous welcome and honour (v.29).

A Son of God’s Servant

Timothy is described in verse 22 as a son who served with his father. Timothy was not one who failed in fulfilling his filial duties in respect of Paul. Timothy was a close companion of Paul. When Paul wrote to the church at Corinth about being their spiritual father and asking them to imitate him, he said, “For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus” (I Cor. 4:17). Paul thought of Timothy as one who had understood him well and had the ability of portraying him to others. Timothy had been with him on his first visit .to Philippi when the Church at Philippi was born (Acts 16:1-4, 12). Thereafter Timothy accompanied Paul on several mission trips and was beside Paul in prison. There can be no doubt that Timothy served Paul as a devoted son. But in Philippians 2:22 Paul emphasised the fact that Timothy served with him in the task of mission. He served as Paul’s apprentice, learning how to proclaim the Gospel and how to help them grow in their Christian life.

Paul described Timothy as a selfless servant of Christ. Paul said there was no one like him in selflessness (v. 20). Paul was talking in generalities. He did not mean that Timothy was the only selfless person. After all, right here in Philippians he spoke of Epaphroditus and his selfless devotion to service that nearly cost him his life. What Paul meant was that, generally speaking, the average Christian is not so selfless. The average Christian is selfish. The interests of Christ are not supreme in his life. He plans his life for a comfortable future ignoring the present needs of others. What are you? Are you just an average Christian? Or do you give importance to those things that are important to Christ?

A Soldier in God’s Service

All that is known of Epaphroditus is here in this passage (vv. 25-30). He was a fellow worker of Paul. He probably worked with Paul when he was at Philippi at the founding of the church there.

The church at Philippi sent Epaphroditus to represent them in serving Paul while he was in prison, and Epaphroditus went readily. It is never easy to be identified as a friend of a jailbird. You could get into trouble yourself.

Epaphroditus was the Philippian church’s “messenger.” The word Paul used was the word apostolon. Epaphroditus was not designated a deacon for the service he rendered, but he was called an apostle. Think of that. Paul was an apostle and Epaphroditus was only serving an apostle in the secrecy of a dungeon. This speaks of an equality in ministry within the church.

His devotion to service was so intense he made himself unwell. Paul said of Epaphroditus that he “risked” his life (v.30). The Greek word is paraboleuesthal. Literally, Epaphroditus served “gambling” with his life. There is always that kind of risk in serving Christ. It is a gamble. You can be sure of more favourable circumstances if you did plan your future. But when you serve Christ wholeheartedly there is always that element of not being able to guarantee favourable circumstances for yourself. There is always a need to say, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” That is a risk. The stake in this game is high: your life.

In the early church there were some Christians who described themselves as parabolani, the gamblers. They visited prisoners and sick people, especially those who had infectious and dangerous illnesses. Barclay tells us that in AD 252 when plague broke out in Carthage, the pagans would throw out the bodies of their dead and then flee in terror. Cyprian, the Christian bishop, gathered his congregation and got them to bury the dead and nurse the sick. They saved Carthage at the risk of their lives.

Similar to the AIDS scare here. Some time ago an Anglican church member deplored that their church used a chalice at Communion and expressed fear that AIDS could spread in the congregation. I sent the person a news-clipping that gave proof that AIDS would not spread in this manner. What if a person suffering from AIDS sought membership in our church? Would we be Twentieth Century parabolani who minister to people in plague time?

We claim to have an experience of Christ that motivates us to Christ-likeness emulating the example of Christ. Is there an exposition of Christ’s glory in our lives? Do we serve God by serving people? Do we serve at cost to ourselves and risking our lives?

This is the nature of joy. It is fellowship with the Spirit of that Master Servant of God. There is joy in this selfless devotion to being a servant of God and people. Confining circumstances and situations cannot limit or hinder such joy. It is not joy that bubbles at the surface. It is of the Spirit and it touches us in the depths of our being.

Joy in The Lord

(3:1)

“Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die.” That line is from the Bible (1 Cor. 15:32). However, it is not the philosophy of the Bible. It is a restatement of the prevailing Epicurean philosophy.

From the beginning humans have avoided pain and made the experience of pleasure the primary pursuit of their lives. For most people joy consists of pleasant experience: fun, laughter, excitement, thrills, pleasure, and satisfaction. For them joy is sensual. It depends on stimulated senses.

Our senses are stimulated by external stimuli, conditions or circumstances. There are two problems with circumstances. First, there is a law of diminishing returns that applies to circumstances. What we find satisfying initially does not go on satisfying. For instance, those who find pleasure from what is addictive need larger doses of whatever they are addicted to in order to continue to find pleasure. Secondly, circumstances cannot be guaranteed. There is no assurance that they will remain constant.

This means that sensual joy is fleeting. It is not permanent. It is not enduring. It is not a joy that can overcome adversity.

Philippians chapter 3 could be entitled, “Way to Joy: Fellowship of Sharing in Christ’s Suffering.” I base that on the third occurrence of the word “fellowship” in this letter (v.10). Recall that in 1:29, Paul had described the call to be Christian, as consisting not only of belief but of suffering for Christ’s sake. We follow the One who has been described as “the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the Cross” (Heb. 12:2). To be facing in the direction of joy, you have to face the cross because joy lies beyond the cross. To put it negatively, when you turn your back on the cross, you turn your back on joy.

The person who counsels the church to “rejoice in the Lord” (Phil. 3: 1) is not handing out platitudes from the safety and comfort of an ivory tower. He wrote from a prison. As he wrote, his chains clanked. Yet all he could hear was the music of heaven, and even the clanking of his chains harmonised with that music. He shared his secret: “Rejoice in the Lord.” The secret of joy is not in wealth and luxury, nor prestige and human applause, nor earthly position and power. The secret is to rejoice in the Man ho had none of these, not because they were not available to him, but because he refused it all. The secret is to rejoice in the Man who was the Suffering Servant. He was the Man who while facing the Cross, said to His disciples that in His teaching they could discover a joy that is full (Jn. 15:11, 17:13).

Though the Bible counsels you to rejoice in the Lord it does not deny that you can find a certain kind of joy in what earth has to offer. It does refer to the existence of pleasure in sin, but it is pleasure for a while (Heb. 11:25). But as time passes what do you do for joy when the moments of pleasure pass away?

Ecclesiastes records the experience of a man in pursuit of happiness. He chased after happiness and concluded that it was like chasing the wind. He went in for all kinds of experiences, and after each experience gave his opinion of it: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

The reason that all the pleasures of earth are unsatisfying in the final analysis is the fact that God “has set eternity in the hearts of men” (3: 11). The dimensions of your life are not temporal, but eternal. With such large dimensions your heart can never feel satisfied with the little pleasures of this life. You have a “God- shaped blank” that nothing on earth can satisfactorily fill.

So the writer of Ecclesiastes concludes that we ought to remember our Creator in the days of our youth before time runs out on us (12:1, 6, 7). The whole task of being human is just a matter of relating to God. To be a whole human, God must be obeyed (12:13).

Paul’s counsel makes sense: rejoice in the Lord, not in your circumstances that will pass. When your rejoicing is in the Lord, when your circumstances are grievous you are not overcome by grief, because you know it will pass but the Lord Jesus will remain.

Jesus said so. He said, “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come, but when her baby is born she forgets her anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you. Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy…In this world you will have trouble. But take heart I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:20-22, 33).

Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit …those who mourn…those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…those who are persecuted for Christ’s sake…” (Matt. 5:3-12).

Those are not happy circumstances. Although the circumstances are oppressive and do not make for happines when Christ is Lord, He makes those circumstances work for happiness. You can be blessed. “In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). “And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (5:2-5). Our circumstances may not be happy ones, but because God is working in those circumstances, and because God’s glory is beyond those circumstances, we rejoice. That is our hope. But the hope is not a figment of our imagination. We already have the experience of His love – a foretaste of the hope for the glory of God.

There is coming a day when even our circumstances will be happy. John prophesied that when God makes his dwelling with people, and lives with them, they will be his people and God will be with them and be their God. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order has passed away” (Rev. 21:3-4). The circumstances will be happy then because of God’s presence, but you can have God’s presence even now.

I wrote this just a few days after my mother’s death. My family and I grieve for ourselves. We hoped that mother would live with us for a few years more and that we would have the privilege of caring for her for some more years. Those dreams were denied. But for her we rejoice. For her the suffering is over. She has been healed. And so we rejoice in the Lord.

A Christ-like Intolerance

(3:2)

Human beings are vain creatures. To prove their status they collect various possessions as status symbols. The number of bedrooms a house has is often a matter of proving status than necessity. Possessing goods made in a foreign country is a status symbol. A doctorate may not necessarily improve one’s ability professionally, but is certainly a symbol of status. The spiritual realm is not free of them. The Pharisee boasted of being unlike the publican and other men because he fasted twice a week and gave a tithe on all his income (Lk. 18:11,12). Ananias and Sapphira pretended to give all to God, because they thought of giving as a spiritual status symbol and not as an expression of love from the heart (cf. Acts 4:32; 5:11).

In the early church there were two marks of super-spirituality: circumcision and speaking in tongues. The second was manifestation of the human tendency of one-upmanship and only that. I am not saying that pride and putting others down are not sins. They are. But the super-spirituality vested in circumcision was more than one-upmanship. It was an attempt to derail the Gospel by a perversion of it.

Firstly, it was a denial of the doctrine of grace. The Gospel states that salvation is by grace. The Gospel is salvation by faith in the grace of God. Salvation is not achieved by keeping the law nor by works of righteousness. The evangelical watchwords sola gratia, sola fidei (by grace alone, by faith alone) indeed captured the essence of the Gospel. Making circumcision a requirement contradicted the Gospel that salvation is by grace.

Secondly, it was denial of the finished work of Christ. From his cross, Jesus had triumphantly shouted, “Finished!” He had completed all He came to do. “Mission accomplished!” was what He exclaimed. By requiring that circumcision be done in order for a person to be Christian, the finished work of Christ was nullified. According to this view, salvation comes not by the work of Christ, but by the works of the law.

Judaised Christianity said that to be completely Christian one needed “Jesus Plus.” Whenever there is a plus factor in the practice of the Christian faith, it pushes Jesus out. It renders him worthless. Writing to the church at Galatia, Paul said, “Mark my words…if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all” (5:2). The plus factor becomes the high watermark of faith and Jesus himself is given second place. Elsewhere Paul also said that those who added to their faith and practice elements of Jewish or pagan religions had in fact removed Jesus from lordship. “He has lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow” (Col. 2:19).

Paul reacts to such people harshly. In Philippians 3:2 he calls them “dogs”. Jews referred to Gentiles as dogs. But to Paul it is not Gentile Christians who are dogs, but those who insist that being a Christian is not enough.

They are “mutilators.” There is a play on words that is lost in translation. The Greek word for circumcision is peritome. Mutilation is katatome. The circumcision of a person accepted and saved or made whole by Christ Jesus is nothing less than mutilation, something that is forbidden by Old Testament Law (Lev. 19:28; 21:5).

The question is, how Christian is it to be harsh. Paul’s harshness needs to be seen in perspective. It must be noted that he was not harsh with non-Christians. He was very accommodating. He found points of contact with them and built on them in order to reach them for Christ. To the Jew, he became a Jew. To the weak, he became weak. He said, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the Gospel…” (1 Cor. 9:19-23). He longed for their salvation. His longing was so great that he was even willing to be cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of unsaved Jews (Rom. 9:1-3; 10:1).

On the other hand, Paul regarded Judaising Christians as the enemy within. A kingdom does not fall due to external attacks as much as internal weaknesses. The erosion of its strength or the betrayal of a kingdom will bring about its downfall. So Paul was harsh with those who .attacked the Christian faith from within. To such he offered no quarter. He wanted them out.

“But isn’t this un-Christlike?” some may ask. We forget that Christ pronounced woes against Pharisees. In plain terms, he cursed them. We forget also that Christ wielded a whip in the Temple. He did not wield the whip in the market. There he had no expectation of honesty, but in the Temple he did.

Just as much as it is Christ-like to wash the feet of one fellows, it is equally Christ-like to attack and expel evil. We must attack evil. We must expel it. Evil thrives in the Church only when it is allowed.

By all means let us be tolerant of those who do not know Christ. By all means let us become all things to all who have no knowledge of Christ. Let us find areas of commonness. Let us love them, care for them and serve them. But by no means are we to be tolerant of evil in the Church.

There are two kinds of evil in the Church that must be attacked. First is heresy. This is the perversion of Christian doctrine. The heretic appears to be Christian. He refers to Jesus, but his Jesus is not the Jesus of the Bible.

There are two basic tests to identify a heresy. Firstly, heretics do not accept the sole authority of the Bible in matters of faith and practice. They insist on the authority of their founder’s writings. There is authority in the Bible plus their own book or books, because their perversions do not find support otherwise.

The second test is that of checking how the doctrine of the Trinity fares at the hands of heretics. The doctrine of the Trinity is a difficult doctrine. It is not a product of the human imagination and therefore humans cannot comprehend or understand it. In order to appear more reasonable, and to be more acceptable to human imagination and understanding, a heresy offers an “improved” doctrine of God.

All this points to the necessity of knowing doctrine. There is a modern impatience with Christian doctrine. This is dangerous for the health and the very survival of a Christian. It is vital that you should know what you ought to believe. The Apostles’ Creed is a sure measure of what constitutes the truth in Christianity. It would be helpful to memorise it:

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit

and born of the virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended to hell.

The third day he rose again from the dead.

He ascended to heaven

and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting. Amen.

Familiarity with the Bible is essential to avoid being misled by those who claim to have gained a clearer and better understanding of it when they actually are only perverts of the simple Gospel.

Heretics must not only be guarded against, but they should receive no cooperation. John counsels that we should not even be hospitable toward them. “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God…If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work” (2 Jn. 9-11).

The other kind of evil we must oppose consists of evil acts. There are people in the churches who are corrupt, unjust or immoral. Sometimes orthodoxy in doctrine may cloak evildoing. Evildoers must be exposed, their actions must be condemned and their authority in a church must be taken away.

As in the case of Judaism and the Early Church, this kind of evil exists among those in positions of power. If a cassock is sometimes a cloak of unrighteousness, let us not hesitate to defrock the unrighteous, no matter how high up in the hierarchy the person is. Protectionism never safeguards the reputation of a group. Protectionism destroys credibility while the reputation is already tarnished by the evildoing. People say, “Why wash your dirty linen in public?” When you have dirty linen it stinks, sooner or later, and the fact that you possess dirty linen becomes public. The question is not, “Why wash dirty linen?” The question is, “Why have dirty linen?”

Jesus prophesied that false christs will come. Another term for false christs is antichrists. The term connotes opposition to Christ. Jesus taught that they should neither be followed nor heeded. Just as much as antichrists are opposed to Him, Christ is opposed to antichrists.

Paul counsels, “Rejoice in the Lord.” Those who rejoice in the Lord do not find joy in people, notions and activities that oppose Christ. How can we rejoice with such, when we rejoice in the Lord?

Mark of The Covenant People

(3:3-8)

Almost every political party in any Indian city wants to make its political speeches under a statue of Gandhi. The ruling party claims to be the only true follower of Gandhi. Parties in the opposition also stand under the statue of Gandhi, denouncing the ruling party of moral lapses and proclaiming that only they have preserved Gandhianism. Anyone can judge them by their conduct in the public arena and on that basis conclude whether a party is following Gandhi or not.

There were controversies in the early Church over the identity and status of Christians. One such controversy was over circumcision as a distinguishing mark of a Christian. Paul challenged this notion and claimed for Christians the identity of being the circumcised even though they were not physically circumcised. Circumcision was the physical sign of the covenant with God. By claiming that Christians were “the circumcision”, Paul indicated that they were the new covenant people.

The Old Testament itself contained notions of the need for a circumcision that went beyond the physical. Moses hesitated to respond to God’s call because he was a man of “uncircumcised lips” (Ex. 6: 12, 30). God predicted that when Israel would rebel against him they would go into exile and would not return to their land until their “uncircumcised hearts” were humbled (Lev. 26:41). Centuries later, Jeremiah said that there was no one to hear God’s Word because people had ears that were uncircumcised (6: 10). In fact, God specifically calls for a circumcision of the heart (Deut. 10:16).

Paul is therefore not wrong in viewing circumcision essentially as a spiritual condition, rather than a physical one. He wrote, “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God” (Rom. 2:28-29).

The marks of being God’s covenant people are in Philippians 3:3.

Worshipping by the Spirit

The sacrificial system of the Old Testament was prone to formalism. Ceremonies could be performed without involving the heart and feelings. By the time of Jesus, ceremonialism was all that was left. When outward form is all that is left, it becomes important to stand at the street corner and pray in order to be seen by others (Mt. 6:5).

To prevent the Israelites from degenerating into idolatry through lack of spiritual guidance and by copying the worship practices of surrounding idolaters, God had required them to have just one Temple for his Name (Deut. 12). But by the time of Jesus, Jerusalem had itself become the idol of Judaism. Jerusalem had become a “holy place.”

When Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well, she raised a question about traditions and holy places. There was hostility between Jews and Samaritans. The Jews thought of Samaritans as half-breeds whose religion was contaminated by Hellenism. Samaritan worship was held on Mount Gerizim. Rejected by the Jews they had their own place of worship and they were not dependent on Jewish tolerance. But, of course, it was another point of controversy between Jews and Samaritans. The woman said to Jesus, “Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth” (Jn. 4:20-24).

These words of Jesus indicate that true worship was not connected with holy places. It had to do with the heart. Jesus said that the time was coming when holy places would not be needed, and the time came when the Early Church began to meet in ordinary homes.

The time came when the ceremonialism of the Old Testament system was replaced by a religion that did not need professionals to conduct worship. It only needed people to “be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:18-20).

The Church in later ages turned the clock back on Jesus. It replaced the spontaneity of Spirit-directed worship with formalism and ceremonies. It reintroduced professionals as the sole functionaries of Christianity, and built temples they called “churches.”

There is no greater manifestation of Christian formalism than at a Holy Communion service. What Jesus intended to be a regular meal that affirms our fellowship in Him, has now been reduced to a ritual. Even those who have a regular fellowship meal or love feast keep it separate from the “Lord’s Supper/Table” which is then necessarily ritualised.

One can only pray that the time will come again for this formalism to die. The end cannot be too far. “All over the world the Spirit is moving.” The spontaneity is returning. Let us not “quench the Spirit” (1 Thess. 5: 19) by insisting that His servants be licensed to function and by our observance of formalities. Let us worship with the heart. Worship involves serving. That is why our worship is a service. But the service is not to be confined to holy places such as churches. Let us serve our Lord in our daily lives. When Jesus is Lord, the Holy Spirit is there and He takes our inward groanings and translates them for the Divine Ear (Rom. 8:26, 27). He will fill our lives until there is sharing and singing and rejoicing because we are grateful for Jesus (Eph. 5: 18-20).

Glory in Christ

Do horses and dogs taking part in shows do their part for the certificates they will receive or as a response to their masters? Animals have no concept of recognition by the masses, only of approval by an individual or individuals. It is the human owners of animals that seek certificates at shows.

Humans are boasters by nature. They boast of achievement or conquest. They boast of their egos. The covenant people of God on the other hand are those who “glory in Christ.” They boast about Jesus. Paul gloried in Christ Jesus in his service to God (Rom. 15:17). Among the Corinthian Christians he “resolved to know nothing … except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). He wrote also, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal. 6:14).

The world is scandalised by the cross (1 Cor. 1:23). The way of the cross is unacceptable. It is an affront to human wisdom and sensibilities. It does not permit “confidence in the flesh”.

The message of the cross is, “It is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8,9).

The carnality of the flesh does not lie in evil tendencies. The flesh is carnal in itself.

Paul enumerated all his qualifications and achievements. Everything about him was commendable yet it was these respectable aspects of his person that Paul considers as a manifestation of the flesh. If trust could be placed in the “works of the flesh” being effective Paul had reason to be confident. But it is these marks of his social status that Paul gave up. He thought of them as dung. For the sake of knowing Christ he was willing to throw it all away. Seen in perspective, they were not worth holding on to. Knowing Christ was worth much more.

Paul analysed his life on the basis of a profit and loss account and it showed him that he had gained by the exchange. Have you ever done a profit and loss account on your life? Jesus asks you, “What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose or forfeit his very self?” (Lk. 9:25). Have you ever answered that question in view of death and eternity? Paul calculated that if he had Christ in his life he would gain in death, because he would have more of Christ in the life after life (Phil. 1:21). Will you have more of whatever you have now in the life after death? “You can’t take it with you” is what they say about money. But neither can you take your educational and professional achievements, nor fame, nor pleasure. So what will you take with you?

Jim Elliot and fellow missionaries were martyred in South America by Auca Indians. Long before going on the mission, he wrote in his diary, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” The Kingdom of God is like a man who found a pearl of great price. To get that one pearl he gave up all he had. Would you?

Relating to Christ

(3:7-10)

Shops are full of different brands of soaps, toothpastes, creams and powders. You choose the brand which you want to buy. We live in a world full of multiple choices.

Some choices exclude the possibility of making other choices at the same time, because of limited means. It is possible to buy two brands of soap or toothpaste. But you may have to make a choice between buying a fridge or a washing machine because there may not be enough money to buy both. Or you may have to make a choice between building a house of your own and possessing all kinds of conveniences and luxuries.

As in the case of money, so too with time. We have to choose how we will spend our time. If you want to read a book, you cannot watch television at the same time. So it is very important to consider what you will do with your life.

We usually think of the answer to that question as concerning a career choice. But the question, “What will you do with your life?” concerns more than a career choice. It is a matter of the direction of your life, and the moment we talk of direction, we imply an ultimate destination. We are not stopping here. We are going on. Our choices then are ultimately going to determine our lives beyond this life. There is life beyond life. If there was nothing, committing suicide would be the wisest thing to do. But if there is life hereafter, the most important question of our lives is the question, “What will we do with our lives?” As Paul considered the question, he concluded that all that could be reckoned to be “gains” of this life, were “loss” for Christ’s sake (Phil. 3:7).

The Bible is full of realism. It does not deny that human gains are gains, that human values are values. It even admits that there can be pleasure in sin (Heb. 11:25). But the Bible challenges us to an evaluation of different values. It asks us to compare values. It calls for a re-valuation. The Bible leads us to the conclusion that all gains are not equal. Therefore, there is need to grade our values, and a need to prioritise them.

The Bible gives us a new perspective on our values in the light of the fact that all of us live terminal lives. This life is marching to its end. We gain a new perspective because the Bible shows us that there is a life beyond life. We gain a new perspective in the light of eternity.

In this light, all earthly values lose their value. All our human gains become a loss in that moment when we cross from life on this plane to another plane. Therefore, the Bible calls us to make a choice for Christ’s sake.

Being a Christian is first of all a matter of choice. A Christian is firstly a disciple. It was to identify the disciples of Christ that the word “Christian” was coined (Acts 11:26).

A disciple is not born . One is a disciple by choice. It entails the choice of a master. Every disciple has a master. There are many messiahs and god-men in the world. One must choose who will be the master.

Paul says choosing Christ as master involves giving up everything else as loss. To gain Christ you must give up all. Jesus demanded total loyalty. He said, “If anyone comes after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me” (Lk. 9:23). When talking of counting the cost of being His disciple, Jesus said, “Any of you who does not give up everything, he cannot be my disciple” (14:33).

Knowing Christ

It is for the sake of “knowing Christ” (Phil. 3:8) that Paul would give up everything. Knowing Christ is not the same as having knowledge of Christ. I know of the president of our country, but I do not know him. Knowledge in this sense is more than having information. When you talk of knowing someone, you speak experientially. Knowing Christ is an experience and not possessing information about Him.

The biblical usage of the word “know” in the realm of relationship is suggestive of intimacy and intercourse . The Old Testament picturises God as Israel’s husband and so when Israel indulged in idolatry it was condemned as adultery. The New Testament transfers this concept to Christ and His Church: He is the bridegroom and the Church His bride.

The emphasis in Scripture is not that God’s relationship with His people is like marriage. Rather, marriages ought to be like God’s relationship with His people.

Knowing Christ requires losing everything else. Again it is a picture of the marriage relationship. It is an exclusive relationship. One may be acquainted with a lot of people of the opposite sex, but in marriage a choice is made to exclude all others from the intimacy of marriage. Every other person of the opposite sex is given up or lost.

Paul said he gave up all his previous gains to “gain Christ” (v. 8). Before becoming a Christian, life is minus Christ. After becoming a Christian it is plus Christ. Some of Sadhu Sundar Singh’s stories about people have been published under the title With and Without Christ. Whether Christ is present or absent in a life makes the difference. When Christ is added to life, we have the flavour of Christ.

To God we are the “aroma of Christ.” To those who reject Christ we are the “stench of death”. We smell of the crucifixion. It spells doom to egotism. But those who come to Christ smell us as the “fragrance of life”. We smell of the life beyond. We demonstrate the love, joy and peace of life in Christ (2 Cor. 2:14-16).

After the death and resurrection of Jesus when the apostles were on trial, the Sanhedrin discovered that the unlettered commoners before them were not afraid of them because they had been with Jesus. Their companionship with Jesus made the difference. Adding Jesus to our lives always makes a difference.

Being in Christ

Paul gave up all to “be found in Christ” (Phil. 3:9). The word “in” is crucial to the understanding of that phrase. Like creatures that live and breathe in air, and fish in water, a Christian has his or her being in Christ.

Paul expands on how he was in Christ. He was in Christ in the matter of righteousness. Paul said that he wished to be found in Christ not having a righteousness of his own. He wanted rather to have ·the righteousness from God. “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6). When we stand before God we need to stand clothed in the righteousness of Christ. When it is time to stand before the throne of the Lamb, only those can stand, in the presence of His righteousness, who “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7: 14).

Being in Christ, clothes us with His righteousness. That is God’s view of us. Our spiritual standing with God is dependent on our being in Christ. When God looks our way, He only sees Christ.

But being in Christ is not merely a matter of spiritual status. It is also a spiritual experience. People in Christ undergo a transformation. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5: 17).

The phrase “in Christ” (or its equivalent) is a favourite with Paul. In Ephesians chapter one, Paul spells out the blessings of being in Christ. He begins by asserting that God has blessed us with every blessing in Christ (v.3). He enumerates the blessings: we are the chosen of God (v.4); we are those adopted by God as His children (v.5); we have redemption and forgiveness (v.7); we are included with the people of God, rather than alienated from God, we become participants in a covenant with him (v.13); and we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, the foretaste of life in the kingdom when the veil will fall from our eyes and we shall see the fullness of His glory (v.14).

The experience of transformation is not something that happens to us without our wanting it. Transformation is an experience that requires our cooperation. In Colossians chapter 3, after talking about the Christian’s life being hid with Christ, Paul speaks of the need to take off the old man and his ways and putting on the new man (vv.3, 9-10) . The taking off and the putting on are our responsibilities.

The secret of being effective and successful in being a Christian is that of “abiding in Christ”. Jesus said, “I am the true vine…Remain (abide) in me, and I will remain (abide) in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself, it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn. I5:4-5).

Being a Christian is finally a matter of being Christ-like. In giving up all his human gains, Paul had aimed to know “Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death… (Phil. 3:10). According to this passage of Scripture Christ-likeness lies in the death of the self. Earlier Paul called for a lifestyle that cares for others and puts others first (2:3,4). When you put others before yourself, selfishness dies and in that much the death of the selfish self occurs. Dying to selfishness does not come to us naurally, but by the power of the resurrection. That is why Paul transposes the order reference to resurrection and death. For Christ, death before the resurrection. For the Christian the power of Jesus comes before he or she dies to selfishness. The power of the resurrection gives us the power to die. The power of the risen Christ is all that helps us to die to self in the hope of life beyond death.

The Fellowship Of Christ’s Sufferings

(3:10,11)

Elijah confronted 450 of the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18: 16-40), but when Queen Jezebel threatened him he ran away (19:2,3) crying, “I am the only one left.” He ignored the fact that King Ahab’s courtier Obadiah had given his protection to 100 of God’s prophets and kept them in hiding. Elijah, thinking that he was all alone, was depressed .

Peter had made that great confession of Jesus, acknowledging Him to be “the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Maybe because of the Lord’s commendation of him, Peter began to think of himself as a person apart from the other disciples. He went alone to the High Priest’s court on the night when Jesus stood trial, and when he was alone among enemies, he denied Jesus.

These two giants of biblical history experienced depression and denial when they were assaulted with a sense of solitariness.

The human condition craves companionship . Reviewing all that God created, the Bible keeps on declaring that God saw that “it was good.” The first time the idea that something was not good in creation cropped up was when God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” It was God’s assessment that humans needed companionship.

In Philippians we have been viewing the nature and purpose of Christian fellowship. Firstly, it is a fellowship in the Gospel (1:5). Fellowship requires that there be commonness and Christians find it in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact it is the nature of this Gospel to unify. It has the power to unite people. Christian fellowship is a product of the Gospel. The Apostle John said that apostolic preaching aimed at the audience finding fellowship with the apostolic band. “That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us” (1 Jn. 1:3). What was more, those who preached experinced fulfilment and joy in the sharing of their faith. “These things write we unto you, that our joy may be full” (v. 4). Every proclamation of the Gospel has to be an invitation to brotherhood at the same time. In the context of evangelism, the winsomeness of Christianity was brotherhood. The watching world remarked with admiration, “See how they love one another” and people pressed into the Church. In fact fellowship is an imperative of the Gospel. It is not an option. It is a commandment. If you call Jesus “Master”, others who call Him “Master” have to be your brothers and sisters (Matt. 23:8). If you do not care to be a brother or sister to other Christians, Jesus cannot be your “Master”.

Secondly, it is a fellowship with the Spirit (Phil. 2:1). Christian fellowship is not fellowship with theological concepts. That is not to say that theology is not important. There is such a thing as truth, and truth needs to be formulated, so that others can also know the truth. But we cannot have fellowship with concepts and theories. If that was all there is to Christian fellowship it would not just be a dying fellowship, but one that deadens. “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). Christian fellowship may be caused by the proclamations of the Gospel, but the fellowship comes alive by the Spirit’s presence and activity. Life is from the Spirit.

Fellowship with the Spirit is something remarkable. If fellowship means “fellow feelings”. To claim fellowship with the Spirit is to claim that our God is the God who has fellow feelings with us and for us. That is exactly the testimony of sacred history. God said of Israel in slavery, “I have seen the misery, I have heard the crying and I am concerned about their suffering.” God felt for them. He felt with them. He felt their pain.

The supreme evidence that God has fellow feelings is the person of Jesus Christ. He is “God with us”. The Gospels repeatedly describe him as being “moved with compassion”. Even after His Resurrection and Ascension the Gospel is that we “do not have a High Priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities” (Heb. 4:15).

When Jesus left His disciples on earth, He did not leave them “orphans” (Jn. 1:18). He sent us the Paraclete–the Advocate or Helper who can be called to stand beside us in our trials and struggles (vv.16, 17; 16:7).

The end of our faith is unhindered fellowship with God, when “the dwelling of God is with men and he will live with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God” (Rev. 21:3).

It is the fellowship with the Spirit that stops us withdrawing from people. In fact it is fellowship with the Holy Spirit, who gives us likemindedness of love, spirit and purpose, prevents our selfishness and moves us to servanthood, viewing others better than ourselves (Phil. 2:2-8).

Finally, Christian fellowship is one of sharing in Christ’s sufferings (3:11). Suffering is the Christian’s lot. When Jesus was giving out blessings to His disciples, He said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness…Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” He said that when we are persecuted we are in glorious company. “Rejoice and be glad…for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:10-12).

On the eve of His crucifixion, while Jesus spoke to His disciples of the heritage He was leaving them, He said, “In the world you will have tribulations, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33).

It is no wonder that Peter said later that suffering was not a strange experience for Christians. “Beloved, do not think the fiery trial you suffer is strange, as though something strange were happening to you” (I Pet. 4:12, paraphrased). His letter is addressed to “Strangers and pilgrims scattered…” (1:1, KJV). Christians are strangers who pass through this world. As the song say, “This world is not my home. I’m just a-passing through…”

Peter spoke of a disciple suffering “as a Christian” (4: 16). Paul wrote in a similar vein to Timothy. “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Suffering was certain or a foregone conclusion for those who followed Christ.

The apostolic view was that Christian suffering was an extension of Christ’s sufferings. “Rejoice that you participate in Christ’s sufferings” (1 Pet. 4:13). Paul put it more radically. If someone in the time of Reformers had said what he said, they would probably have been burnt at the stake for heresy. “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church” (Col. 1:24). .

Today we desperately need to recapture the notion that we are a fellowship of suffering. But the lot of Christians is no token suffering. It is a fellowship of His sufferings that we are called to.

But Christians today are concerned about living well. If God allows well-being, praise God. But when our aim and purpose in life is no more than living well, we have lost track of the man who walked the road to Calvary. In his novel The Shoes of the Fisherman, Morris West says that the church is losing its grip for reasons of its prosperity and respectability. “We’re not persecuted anymore. We pay our way. We can wear the faith like a Rotary badge – and with as little social consequence.”

We desperately need to restore the cross, not as a theological concept, nor even as the mark of Christianity, but as the mark of personal Christianity. It must be my personal mark, and yours. Being a Christian must cost us. It might mean missing opportunities of advancement, losing privileges, denying oneself the wages of corruption, being misunderstood and ostracised, or harassed, victimised and terrorised.

While the cross needs to be restored in the personal life of a Christian, he needs a fellowship of suffering. You have heard the saying, “Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone.” Weeping alone makes weeping difficult and hard to bear. Even Jesus needed fellowship while He sorrowed. That He did not get it is another matter. He needed the strength of knowing that His disciples were watching and praying with Him. He needed them to watch and pray and share the hour with Him (Mt. 26:38,40).

Peter wrote to the Christians scattered in Asia, “Resist him (the Devil), standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings” (1 Pet. 5:9). The strength to resist the Devil comes in part from the knowledge that we do not suffer alone. So Paul invites Timothy to share in his sufferings (2 Tim. 1:8; 2:3). If you think no one else is paying the cost of being Christ’s disciple, sooner or later, you will sense discouragement and even be tempted to give up. We need people to stand with us. We need a fellowship of “sufferers”. The fellowship of those who suffer with Christ is different from those who suffer without knowing the reason for their suffering. In such a situation there is no joy or fellowship, only complaints and frustration.

There was an eccentric missionary in China who was truly “incarnate” in China. He embraced being Chinese as his Lord had become human. A new recruit of the China Inland Mission (now, Overseas Missionary Fellowship) visited the founder Hudson Taylor in his Spartan quarters and afterwards wrote, “He never used his position as Director of the Mission to purchase for himself the least advantage or ease. However hard his lot might be in China, every missionary knew that Hudson Taylor had suffered in the same way, and was ready to do so again. No man could suspect, at any time, that while he himself was bearing the cross, his leader, under more favourable circumstances was shirking it” (quoted, Dr.& Mrs. Howard Taylor, Biography of James Hudson Taylor, Hodder Christian paperbacks, London, 1965, p. 350).

Fellowship could be pictured as what exists among fellows on a ship. When a ship is at sea life depends on interdependence, mutuality and cooperation. Fellowship is fellow feelings – a feeling that you are a fellow with another. We normally associate fellowship with times of joy and fun, and, of course, there is that in Christian fellowship. But as the reality of friendship is discovered in need, and “a friend in need is a friend indeed,” it takes a crisis situation and need to discern the reality of fellowship. That is why Christian fellowship is ultimately a fellowship of sharing in His sufferings.

The Pilgrim’s Progress

(3:12-16)

Life is a journey. We travel from one realm of experience to another. We climb our mountains. Our peaks are made of thrills, successes and excitement. We pass through the valleys of defeat, discouragement, depression and despair. Sometimes we travel level roads of commonplace and contentment. In this journey through life some people have direction. Others simply wander around in the wilderness.

According to the New Testament’s description, disciples of Christ were those who had direction in their lives. They followed Jesus and He led them to the Father. He is the Way to the Father (Jn. 14:6). That is why Christians began to be known as those “of the Way” (Acts 9:2). Also Christians thought of themselves as pilgrims. “Here we do not have a continuing city, but we are looking for the city that is to come” (Heb. 13:14). Those who live in faith regard themselves “as aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return . Instead they were longing for a better city – a heavenly one” (11:13- 16). They were pilgrims on the way.

The Christian life is a “walk.” The new translations of the Bible, in an attempt to use contemporary idiom, drop the word “walk” and describe the idea in other words. For instance, the New International Version substitutes the word “live” in place of “walk” in most instances of the Bible describing Christian lifestyle or behaviour patterns. Maybe it aids understanding, yet today people poetically do think of life as a journey.

Here is what the Bible says about the Christian’s “walk.” Abraham is the father of all who walk in the footsteps of faith (Rom. 4:12). Christians “walk in newness of life” (6:4), and do not walk according to the dictates of the flesh, but under the direction of the Holy Spirit (8:4). Paul counsels Christians to walk worthy of the vocation or calling they have received (Eph. 4:1). He tells them to walk in love (5:2), to walk as children of light (5:8), and to walk wisely (5:15).

In Colossians he asks that Christians walk worthy of the Lord (1:10). As Jesus Christ has been received as the Lord of the Christian, so the Christian must walk or continue in Christ (2:6), and in terms of relating to those outside the Christian faith he is to “walk in wisdom… redeeming the time” (4:5).

To those at Thessalonica, Paul said in his first letter that they must “walk worthy of God, who calls you into his Kingdom and glory” (2:12). He said that he had given them instructions on how to walk in order to please God (4:1) and urged them to walk honestly while relating to those who were outside (4:12).

Similarly, John described the Christian’s life as walking in the light (1 Jn. 1:7) and as we read on we discover that to walk in the light is to live in love with the brethren (2:9-11). John is filled with joy when he discovers his children in the faith walking in the truth (2 Jn.v.4).

The Christian life is described as a walk or a slow journey. This journey of the Christian life cannot be rushed through. You can only walk. It is slow and it takes a lifetime.

We like going to new places. But before we can get there, we have to engage in a journey, and journeys, sooner or later, seem tiresome. The journey cannot, however, be cut short. We must go through it.

The moment we describe the Christian life as a journey, we admit that we have a destination that we have not yet reached. We confess that we are not those who have arrived. That is what Paul says about himself: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect…” (Phil. 3:12). That is the correct attitude for a Christian. In other cases, when you find religion, your quest is over. You have arrived. For instance, that was Paul’s attitude while he was an adherent of Judaism. He thought of himself as faultless (3:6). But when he became a Christian, he realised that it was a spiritual journey and even after years spent in faithfully preaching the Gospel and suffering for it, he still thought of himself as one on a journey. He had gained a new understanding of his situation, that it was not a situation, but only a passage that he was in. He was in transit. Along with this new perception of his condition, he gained a new awareness of destiny. Christ had arrested him on the road to Damascus for a purpose in keeping with Christ’s own glory.

As he considered his spiritual condition, Paul was neither complacent about having reached his spiritual goal nor did he despair about not having achieved his target. He was not spiritually self-satisfied, and was not satisfied to remain where he was. He said, “I press on.” He strained forward like the athlete straining to breast the tape first. The word he used can also mean “pursue.” This is a hunter’s vocabulary. It was a relentless pursuit that Paul had engaged in.

We learn from Paul’s life that while sanctification is God’s work, we have to seek it for ourselves and pursue it. God is not going to sanctify us against our will. We have to be willing, and willingness is always evidenced by cooperation. We are not going to experience sanctification without cooperating with God.

From Paul’s description of his spiritual pursuit, we gain counsel on how to engage in our spiritual pilgrimage. Paul regarded the journey as the “one thing” he did. Paul Toumier in his book, The Adventure of Living showed that one of the characteristics of adventure is its “coherence and purposiveness.” It is “the pursuit of a single final goal.” That is why “once committed, a man must be continually committing himself further if he is not to betray and lose his adventure, in spite of every obstacle” (SCM Press, London, 1966, pp. 85, 91). An adventure is a consuming passion that does not allow one to engage in other adventures. For instance, if a person wants to engage in the adventure of excellence in gymnastics he cannot at the same time expect to excel in the adventure of weight-lifting. Those who engage in adventure have just one goal they dream about, and train for.

In the New Testament we meet two persons with many lovable characteristics; but they are described by the Lord Jesus as those who lacked one thing at the centre of their lives. The rich young ruler came to Jesus and asked what must be done to have eternal life. Jesus told him to keep the commandments. The young man said that he had been keeping all of them, yet sensed that his life was unfulfilled. What was it that he lacked? Jesus liked this man and thought him to be a very lovable person. But he lacked “one thing.” He needed to disengage his life from the many things that cluttered his life and make following Jesus his only passion (Mk. 10:17-23).

The other person who lacked “one thing” was Martha. When Jesus visited her home she was busy preparing the meal and complained that her sister Mary was not helping her. Jesus then told her that it was not needful to do “many things”. Just one. What was the use of cooking several dishes, if she did not have time to be with Jesus? That was the one thing needed (Lk. 10:38-42).

In the Old Testament the psalmist had one aim: to live in fellowship with God constantly (Ps. 27:4). He wanted to live in God’s presence all the time.

Scripture again and again emphasises that relationship with God is one that excludes the possibility of divided loyalties. God does not share his glory with another. That is why the spiritual journey has to be the “one thing” in a life.

Forget What Is Behind

Paul first forgot what was left behind in order to press on into the future. When you go to make your life in a new city, the very first thing you need to do is to forget your life in the old place. If you keep looking back, you will never like your new life. When the Israelites looked back even their slavery in Egypt seemed more desirable than liberty (Exo. 16:3).

What one leaves behind in the old place of residence is actually excess baggage. We go through life collecting a lot of things. Only when we have to go to a new place do we go through our possessions discarding what is not useful. The Indian Railways have had to advise passengers that to make a journey comfortable they need to travel light.

Old sins are part of the excess baggage that needs to be discarded. It is so unnecessary to drag them around because Jesus died and now we are forgiven. He shouted, “Finished!” from the cross and with that ended the hold of sins on our lives. He died that we might be free of our guilt.

In the Christian’s journey, old sorrows cannot be taken along. Dead bodies must be buried. They cannot be dragged around.

Harbouring old slights can cause the growth of a root of bitterness that poisons our own lives (Heb. 12:15). Nor can we take old successes on our journey. Sure, they were successes, but we cannot rest on our laurels. A laurel was a wreath made in ancient times from leaves, which would dry and crumble. Old successes are like that.

The future cannot be built on the dimensions of the past – neither its failures nor its successes. If we built our future on the pattern and scale of the past, it would not be different from the past. It would not be the future, but just a continuation of the past. That is why we need to forget what is behind us.

Have a Goal

Paul said that he pressed on “toward the goal to win the prize.” Should a Christian be interested in prizes? In all realism, it must be admitted that it is a part of human nature to want to be rewarded in one way or another.

But when we speak of the Christian’s reward we must recognise that it is not a matter of merit. The Christian begins his life with grace, continues in grace and ends his spiritual journey by the grace of God.

The Christian’s reward is not like earthly rewards. In fact our Master has specifically instructed us not to seek such rewards. They depend on being attentive to men. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving can be focused on human attention too. (Matt. 6:1-21). If they are, those activities are all out of focus. They cannot please God. When we seek human rewards, we will not be denied. But that is all the reward we will gain, and what we gain on earth does not withstand the ravages of time. Treasures that are stored on earth are subject to decay and theft. They do not last. Only what is stored in heaven will endure in eternity.

What then is the Christian’s prize? “God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” The prize is in following Jesus all the way. In other words, Jesus is the reward we seek. We follow Him and pursue Him to be in His company.

Elsewhere Paul does speak of a “crown of righteousness” that is there for him. It is the prize for having fought well, for finishing the race and for keeping the faith. But the prize is for “all who have longed for his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). Again there is the notion that the reward is in the person of Jesus. He comes to reward.

In Revelation, overcomers are promised eternal life which is knowing the Father and the Son (2:7, 11; Jn. 17:3), a new identity in Christ (Rev. 3:12), sharing Christ’s authority (2:26), recognition by Jesus (3:5), and fellowship with Jesus (3:21). The Christian’s rewards are all connected with Christ.

Living Up to Attainments

When we journey there are times we run into problems. There is the possibility of tripping and falling when we walk. Each time we fall, we need not go back to the starting point to start the journey all over again. We have to go on but before that we must get up. We cannot lie in the dust and regard any effort useless. The way to get up when we fall spiritually is to first get up on our knees to tell God that we failed. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn. 1:9).

There is another thing that is not done on a spiritual journey. We do not deny that progress has been made. When you are on a journey, one of the ways to find encouragement is knowing that you are closer to your destination than when you began and that the journey must come to an end soon. In our spiritual journey we are closer to finishing. “Our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Rom. 13:11).

Whatever level we have reached in our spirituality, we must live up to that level. God has been enlightening us. He has shown us how to live. We should not be like the man James described in his letter. This man looked into the mirror to see how he looked, but then failed to do anything about his appearance. He saw his face needed washing and his hair needed to be combed. He took note of it, but did not do anything to correct his appearance. That is what a person is like when he looks into the mirror of God’s Word and is given insight into his spiritual condition and shown what remedial action to take, but remains unresponsive to the directions God gives him (1:22-25). Jesus asks, “Why do you call me ‘Lord,’ ‘Lord’ and do not the things I command you?” (Lk. 6:46). He said that people who do not follow His instructions are building their lives on a shifting foundation of sand (v.49).

Jesus is Himself the target for spirituality. He has shown us the way. He is the Way. But the modem Christian denies that following Jesus is practical. It is practical, but not expedient. We forget that neither was it expedient for Jesus. He ended up on the cross. So the problem is not that following Jesus today cannot be done, but that there is an unwillingness to pay the price.

Life is certainly a journey and all of us are travelling. The ultimate question is, which way are you going? Are you travelling toward the cross and the heavenly city that lies beyond it, or are you travelling away from the cross? We never stand still in one place. We either go forward or backward because life is dynamic. Life stands still only when it is over. Then there is an end to progress or regress. While life is there, it is not static. So either you will walk in the footsteps of Jesus toward the cross, or head in the opposite direction.

The Christian’s life is not what is spent within the safety of a church building or relaxing complacently in an armchair. It is a challenging life. It calls for conflict with the culture around you and the spirit prevalent in society. It is costly. There is a cross along the way. The question is, are you willing to pay the price to be a Christian?

Enemies Of Tlte Cross

(3:17-19)

In an age of diplomacy anyone who talks of “enemies” is regarded as a crank. He is merely a contrary person looking for someone to quarrel with.

Are there such people as “enemies of the cross” today? Or is Paul outdated in a world where people are learning to “live and let live”?

Those of us, who live in countries where Christians are a minority and have to contend with the militant opposition of the majority community, would most likely think that the term “enemies of the cross” refers to those who militantly oppose Christianity and the Church. But those who oppose the Christian faith are not enemies of the cross. They, in fact, promote the cross in the life of believers.

Our problem is that we think of enemies as being those who do not belong to our group. Paul, however, did not refer to those outside the Church as enemies. He described them as “unbelievers” or “people in darkness” or “children of disobedience” or “children of wrath”. All of these description carried the notion that they were people who needed to be won to Christ. They were not enemies. They were people needing the Gospel. They were people waiting to be shown the way into the Kingdom.

From what Paul says about people, whom he calls “enemies of the cross”, it is clear that these are people in the Church . When people outside the Church attack it, they do not really affect the Church adversely. They contribute to its strength and growth. As the Church Father Tertullian observed, “The blood of the martyrs is the need of the Church.” But when the core of the faith community is attacked, it becomes a matter for counterattack.

Opponents of Apostolic Teaching

In Philippians 3:15,17, Paul urges that apostolic practice be followed. It is obvious that he is concerned about some who were teaching and advocating differing views. Paul was not concerned that apostolic authority was being challenged. He had no problems with people bucking authority. He had bucked the authority of the First Apostle himself (Gal. 2:11). But when people who called themselves Christians departed from apostolic teaching, it endangered the life of the Church.

Apostolic teaching consisted of the Gospel of grace. The Apostles “placed no confidence in the flesh” (3:3). There was a lot Paul could have boasted about. He could have been proud of his status and achievements as a religious person. But when he came to Christ Jesus, he thought of it all as rubbish (excreta). After becoming a Christian he continued to make no claims of spiritual achievement. He did not think that he had “arrived” (3:12, 13).

He told his readers that the mark of maturity was knowing that there is room for growth. The mature, like Paul, think that they have not arrived (3:15). Like Isaac Newton they regard themselves as standing on the shores of a vast sea merely picking seashells. The prophet Isaiah sensed woe and uncleanness when he was granted a rare vision of God’s glory. Those who are truly nearer to God sense that they are so far off the mark of God’s holiness.

To Paul any departure from grace was a perversion of the original Gospel. It was “another gospel.” In fact, it is “not another.” Rather, it is “no Gospel” at all (Gal. 1:6-9). Writing to Christians at Galatia, Paul asked them, “Are you foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you trying to attain perfection by human effort?” (3:3). Enmity to the cross was then first of all an enmity to the Gospel of grace.

Conflicting Lifestyle

Secondly, being an enemy of the cross was a matter of lifestyle. Paul’s one desire was that he should experience the power of the Resurrection and share in Christ’s sufferings (Phil. 3:10). Apostolic preaching included preaching Christ crucified. Paul said, “We preach Christ crucified” (1 Cor. 1:23). He “resolved to know nothing … except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (2:2). In Paul’s preaching, Jesus was “portrayed as crucified” (Gal. 3:1). The Gospel was all about the “Crucified One.”

To the world this Gospel was a stumbling block and foolishness (1 Cor. 1:23). What kind of God got impaled helplessly on a cross? How could anyone find this Gospel attractive? Enemies of the cross had a solution: stop preaching the cross. Start focussing on human abilities and achievements. Make people feel good about their religion. Paul said that those who stopped preaching of grace and the cross, and instead emphasised meeting some other requirement by personal effort did so only “to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ” (Gal. 6:12). They were afraid of suffering. They were opposed to viewing Christianity as a “fellowship of sharing in his sufferings.” They “live as enemies of the cross” (Phil. 3:18). Their lifestyle showed that they would not endure deprivation. They wanted a sense of well-being. They wanted prosperity. They lived well and would not allow the cross to cast its shadow on their lives.

By avoiding the cross, enemies of the cross gain immediate benefits. They avoid deprivation and suffering. They gain a good life. That is the immediate gain, but destruction is the end.

There is an end coming. That is sure. Life needs to be seen in perspective. It must be lived with a view to the end.

In the case of enemies of the cross, their end is going to be destruction. There are people who question if a loving God can create hell? God is everywhere and so God will be in hell too. To those who have not related to God in their earthly lives, the very presence of God may be the hell they must endure!

Scriptural depictions of hell include flames and torture. Jesus described it as a fiery furnace where there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 13:42, 50). Today we are sophisticates in theology and know that there is no gold in heaven, nor are there flames in hell. True, the flames are not literal, but there is a literal hell. Jesus affirmed the existence of hell and only picturised it as a dreadful place of torment when He said it was a fiery furnace. That hell awaits all who avoid suffering with Jesus now.

Idolatry is more than bowing before images. Whatever gains priority or first place in one’s life is an idol. Enemies of the cross made their wants their gods. They preached with an eye to profit. They preached out of envy and rivalry (Phil. 1:15). They looked out for themselves, not for the cause of Christ (2:21). Paul said, those who were divisive by teaching a gospel other than that of Christ, were “not serving our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own appetites” (Rom. 16:17, 18). Writing to the church at Corinth he contrasted the apostles with those who “peddle the Word of God for profit” (2 Cor. 2:17).

Are those who follow Christ today, paying a lot of attention to such questions as “what shall we eat or drink or wear?” If those questions are determining how far we go in following Jesus, we have displaced Jesus by our wants. In the context of these questions the call of Jesus is to lay up treasures in heaven, not on earth, to serve God and not mammon or money and to first seek the rule of God in our day-to-day living (Mt. 6:19-33).

Paul’s glory was in Christ. He said, “God forbid that I should boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world” (Gal. 6:14). The Gospel he reached made no room for boasting as, it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and that not of yourselves. it is the gift of God – not by works so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9). Paul belonged to a community among whom not many were wise, nor influential, nor noble by birth. But God had chosen the weak to confound the strong so that no flesh should glory in his presence (1 Cor. 1:26-29). Paul knew he had no reason to feel proud. “Compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus” he counted all his status to be worth nothing. It was a total loss that could be written off because by losing all he had gained Christ (Phil. 3:7, 8). He “put no confidence in the flesh” (v.3).

But the enemies of the cross put their confidence in their human resourcefulness. They claimed spiritual achievements. They had made following Christ a no-cross, no-risk programme. To them discipleship became a way of life that was comfortable. But Paul viewed all their human resourcefulness from the perspective of eternity and saw its limitedness. What they gloried in now would end in mortality. Their glory would lay its head in the dust. Their glory would lie dead. Their glory would end. That was the shame that awaited them.

Enemies of the cross preoccupy themselves with the earth and life on earth. Their minds do not rise above the earthly plane. On the other hand, those who experience the power of the Resurrection are those who set their hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Their minds are set on things above, ·not on earthly things (Col. 3:1-2).

ur preoccupations are an index of whether or not our lives have been touched by the Resurrection. Those who have known this power are enabled to put to death the flesh and all its inclinations (vv.10-11).

Here then are the marks of enemies of the cross; they preach a sophisticated, cross-less Christianity; their lifestyle is opposed to suffering for Christ; they serve their own wants and ends; they boast not of dependence on Christ, but of their spiritual achievements, and they have no higher thoughts than of the earth, they have no thoughts of heaven and eternity. Looks like such enemies of the cross still exist within the ranks of the Church – always attempting to pervert the Gospel of grace, the Crucified One and the Cross.

Citizens Of Heaven

(3:20-4:1)

Should a Christian judge other Christians?

Jesus said, “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matt. 7:1). From this most people conclude that “one ought not to judge others”. But that is a thoughtless interpretation of Christ. Immediately after saying, “Judge not,” Jesus went on to say, “Do not cast your pearls before swine.” In fact, he meant us to exercise judgment. He meant us to be able to identify those who, like swine would not know the value of pearls.

What then did Jesus mean by saying, “Judge not”? There is a rider to that saying of Jesus that must be remembered to understand Jesus at this point. He cautioned about not being one to judge, because when we judge others we will be judged by the same yardstick. If we are censorious about aspects of the behaviour of others, we must expect people to be more censorious of our behaviour in those same areas. Jesus then went on to remark about a person trying to take out a speck of dirt from his brother’s eyes while having a log in his own eye.

Some may simply say that Jesus did not want us to bother about specks of dirt in another’s eye. But what Jesus was against was the hypocrisy of ignoring the log in our own eye, while being concerned about the speck of dirt in the brother’s eye. He advised that one ought to get rid of the log first to be able to see well enough to remove the speck of dirt in another’s eye (Mt. 7: 1-6).

To summarise, Jesus did not say, “Judge not.” He said, “Judge not, unless you are ready to have the same yardstick used to judge your life.” Jesus did not say, “Do not remove the speck of dirt from your brother’s eye.” He said, “Remove the log from your own eye first, restore your sight and then remove the speck of dirt from your brother’s eye.” Jesus did not say, “Judge not,” he said, “Identify those who are swine-like and don’t cast pearls for them to trample on.” In other words, he said “Don’t be judgmental, but exercise judgment.”

So there is a place for a Christian to say, “That is not Christian,” and to say, ”This is Christian.”

In Philippians 3:18-19, we saw that some people who called themselves Christians, were identified by Paul as “enemies of the cross.” Now as we read on, we see Paul contrasting Christians with those he had identified as enemies of the cross. One way to regard what he said may be to view it all as some more answers to the question, “Who is a Christian?”

A Pilgrim People

Paul begins by saying, “But our citizenship is in heaven” (3:20). The usage of the word “but,” here indicates the difference or the contrast. By implication, the others were at home on earth. They were citizens of the cities of men. But the citizenship of Christians is not on earth. Here they are aliens. They do not belong. They do not fit into human societies. As a Christian, do you feel like a foreigner in the company of earthbound people? Do you feel that you do not belong?

In the Bible the word “aliens” is very often linked with the word “pilgrims.” Abraham is the father of all engaged in the pilgrimage of faith (Rom. 4:11,12,16). Hebrews 11:8-10 describes Abraham’s life as a pilgrim. It says about Abraham, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place that he would later receive as his possession, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the Promised Land. Like a stranger in a foreign country, he lived in tents as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. He was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

This man Abraham obeyed the call to a life of pilgrimage not knowing where he was going. Can you and I live like that? Can we live without knowing where we will go next, and without knowing what will happen next? Can you live with that kind of uncertainty? We want to be certain. We do not like being uncertain about our lives. But Abraham was a man who lived with uncertainty. He had no settled life. He lived in tents all his life. There is nothing permanent about life in a tent. Strong winds can blow it away. Even if that didn’t happen, in the normal course, Abraham had to strike tent, pack, and move on to other places from time to time. He lived merely in hope that one day he would come to a place where he could live permanently. He journeyed from place to place looking for the city of God.

The writer of Hebrews said, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were foreigners and strangers on earth” (v. 13). Read that again. They “were still living by faith when they died.” They lived in faith and all they had was their faith when they died. They died believing.

The world would say their faith was unfulfilled. They never got what they hoped for. “They did not receive the things promised.” They lived with visions of the promises. They died believing and seeing visions of promises.

Do you have that kind of faith? Today we are taught to believe that the Bible is full of promises to be claimed and all we have to do is claim them. That is the kind of life of faith we want – where all promises are fulfilled, where our faith is always rewarded in the very way we want it rewarded. Nothing else will do. Nothing less will do. If we believe something, we want it. Otherwise, what is the point of believing?

The object of our faith is ourselves and the benefits we seek in our lives. But faith should focus on God. Have you got the kind of faith that does not care about being rewarded? Just having the promises of God is reward in itself because promises are the fabric of the covenant relationship with God. Being in relationship is all that matters in any relationship, not what we get out of that relationship. We are not to exploit relationships. When we do, the relationship is devalued and the benefits we derive from a relationship gain the ascendancy over the relationship itself. But faith does not centre on the self. It is focused on the person of God. Whether or not we make gain is not a concern. Faith sees visions. Its only aim is being at home with God. The life of faith, then, is one of pilgrimage, the destination of which is God Himself.

The pilgrim’s life includes deprivation. Peter wrote, “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers (pilgrims) in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul” (1 Pet. 2:11). Christians are at war. It is a war that attacks the very centre of our lives. “For our struggle is not against the flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:12). A defeat in this struggle in the realm of the spiritual is a defeat of the soul. The consequences are very serious. We must make every sacrifice to win this conflict. War is always a time of deprivation. In wartime, abstinence becomes imperative for lack of provisions and supplies of basic needs.

The enemies of the cross will not stand such deprivations. “Their god is their stomach…their mind is on earthly things.” They have to indulge themselves. They will not endure any sacrifice. But citizens of heaven do not run from the cross. They adopt a lifestyle of deprivation, abstinence and sacrifice, because here they have no enduring city (Heb. 13:14). They live as pilgrims making sacrifices and enduring deprivation because their loyalty is to the city of God. In the struggle to establish this city, the people of heaven will pay all the costs.

A Waiting People

They eagerly await a Saviour from heaven. Aliens get all eager about meeting an authority figure from their homeland. When the Prime Minister of India visits a foreign country, representative of Indians living there have meetings with him to apprise him of the situation where they are and to assure him of their loyalty and help for their home country. When one is waiting in eagerness, it is evidenced by preparations for the awaited event. Similarly, those who are citizens of heaven await their Saviour.

They wait for a Saviour, because they need the salvation He brings. They need to be saved from their homeless state. Who wants to be a pilgrim all his life without ever coming to the destination of his pilgrimage? Sure, they wander as homeless vagabonds, but they do seek a place to settle in, a place they can call home. For the pilgrims of faith, the end comes when their Saviour brings them to the city where they have the rights of citizens. From here they will not be forced to leave. No one can demand that they move on. This is their city.

Our Saviour “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” The bodies we inhabit now are tents. They are not permanent and are subject to the law of decay and destruction like everything else on earth. But when this tent is laid aside there is a house awaiting us. This is a building. It is a permanent structure and it has been fashioned by God (2 Cor. 5:1). We shall not have to endure the inconvenience of an impermanent lifestyle. When we gain our external homes, we gain something glorious. It will not be an unreal experience. It will not be some abstract experience. There will be reality. It will be a bodily experience. Our decaying bodies will be exchanged for a body as glorious as the Resurrection body of Jesus.

Citizens of heaven await that eagerly. They do not merely need salvation. They desire it. They no longer enjoy being homeless wanderers. They endure it now for the sake of being identified with the Son of Man who had no place to lay his head, while foxes had holes and birds had nests. They endure the life of pilgrimage because it is the way of the Crucified One. They are not enemies of the cross. They embrace the way of the cross.

But the cross is not to be enjoyed masochistically. Jesus too, endured the cross. He did not enjoy it. He wished he did not have to drink the cup of suffering, but God’s will had to be done. So he drank the cup of suffering; he went to the cross, but he did not enjoy it. He was able to endure it because of “the joy set before him.” He looked beyond the cross and saw the glory that would be His (Heb. 12:2).

Those who are citizens of heaven await “a Saviour from there.” Paul names the Saviour. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. Let those who are citizens of heaven not be ashamed to identify with their Lord. When you live as an alien in another country it is not expedient to tell people there that your loyalties are outside that country. But when Christians are citizens of heaven, they must acknowledge that they have another ruler. Although the Christian abides by the Iaws of the land, and gives to the country what it demands, there is need to have an inner allegiance to the Kingdom of God on earth. For the Christian there can be no compromise in this. The Name must be named. Let us confess, “There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4: 12). The name is not Ram or Allah. The name is Jesus. There is no other Saviour. He alone is the Way. He alone is the Truth. He alone is the Life. There is no other Way to reach God than Jesus (Jn. 14:6).

The returning Saviour will return as Lord. He is coming back “to bring everything under his control” (Phil. 3:21). He was once born a helpless baby. Once he became a Man of Sorrows. He was once beaten and abused. He was crucified. But then He will come to be the King of kings and Lord of lords. He will come to judge the world. The Christian’s Saviour is the returning Lord.

Citizens of heaven need to stand firm. Paul said, “That is how to stand firm in the Lord” (Phil. 4:1). He is obviously referring to all his foregone advice about forgetting what belongs to the past and not allowing past achievements, although good, to frame the agenda for our lives, for then we would not rise higher. He said that we have a higher goal in Jesus. There is a heavenward pull in making Him our goal and prize. We must press on. We must not let the past hold us back (3:12-14). But at the same time we must “live up to what we have already attained” (3:16) and not fall back. Many of us enter a cycle of falling back and returning to Christ. If we are doing that, let us recognise what is happening to us. Let us recognise that we are not making progress. In fact, we might be regressing. Finally, there must be an eager waiting and longing for the Saviour to return (3:20) and those who wait eagerly make all kinds of preparations for the Saviour’s return. If you do these things, your standing in the Lord is firm. You are in Him.

Fellowship With Jesus

(4:2-3)

Thus far in our study of Philippians we have viewed the usage of the word “fellowship” as a key to understanding this letter of Paul’s. In my outline I suggested that chapter 4 could be entitled, “the Realisation of Joy: Fellowship with Jesus.” But there is a problem. Whereas each of the previous chapters had used the word “fellowship” once, chapter 4 does not use the word itself.

Still the chapter is definitely all about fellowship with Jesus. The phrases “in the .Lord,” “in Christ Jesus,” and “through him” are scattered all over this chapter in the letter. Paul calls on Christians to “stand firm in the Lord” (v.I). Then Paul asks two quarrelling Christians to “agree in the Lord” (v.3). All are then asked to “rejoice in the Lord” (v.4). The peace of God brings a sense of security “in Christ Jesus” (v.7). Personally Paul rejoiced greatly “in the Lord” (v.10). “Through him” (Christ) Paul found enabling to do everything (v.13) and for believers there were “glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (v.19).

Paul has described Christian experience as one of being “in the Lord.” This experience of being in Christ is not removed from life situations, but right in the middle of them. The situations Paul described included confrontation with enemies of the cross, quarrelling in the church, and facing difficulties and needs. The realisation of Christian joy is an experience in the here and now. There is a reality to this joy. It is not a case of escaping from reality. It is neither artificial nor superficial. It is not a fair-weather experience and is not affected by circumstances. Christian joy is the real thing, and it can be realised in real life situations because of the Lord. The unchanging centre of a Christian’s life is this fellowship with Jesus.

Agreeing In the Lord

We have already seen what is involved when we stand firm in the Lord. Now we take a look at this matter of agreeing in the Lord. This definitely has to do with fellowship. Philippians 4:2 makes clear that fellowship that is real does not gloss over differences or cracks and gaps in the body of believers. Christian fellowship is not achieved by pretensions.

In the church at Philippi there were two women who quarrelled. A man reading from the King James Version where the names appear as Euodias and Syntyche had difficulty pronouncing the names. After some struggling he inadvertently pronounced the names as “odious” and “soon touchy.” May be those were not the characteristics of the respective women, but I suppose there is a bit of both in every quarreller. There is both giving and taking of offence in every person who quarrels.

From what Paul says about dealing with this quarrel among two Christians it becomes clear that when two Christians quarrel it concerns all Christians. Paul pleads for the quarrel to end. “Plead” is a strong word that Paul used to convey his feelings in the matter. Quarrels among Christians deeply concern every other Christian. The fellowship in a church is affected when two people quarrel in the church. Others are on guard so they can avoid being drawn into the quarrel, and sometimes a church ends up in two camps.

Christians as Peacemakers

Quarrels among Christians concern all Christians because they are a denial of oneness in the Lord. In fact Paul had occasion to ask quarrelling Christians at Corinth, “Is Christ divided?” (1 Cor. 1:11-13). That is indeed what happens when Christians quarrel. They divide the Body of Christ. In this they divide Christ Himself.

Quarrels among Christians also affect our fighting fitness as Christian soldiers. We are called on to contend “as one man for the faith of the Gospel” (Phil. 1:27). How can we proclaim the Gospel with one voice when there are quarrels among us? Voices will be divided, and those divided have a way of calling people, not to Christ, but to their own side or group.

Only as we contend as one man for the Gospel, will we be unafraid to proclaim Christ (v.28). Divisions bring fear, because as the saying goes, “United we stand, divided we fall.” Our divisions give us an acute sense of being a minority. We are then afraid to proclaim to the majority about Jesus being the only way, the only truth and the only life.

Quarrels among Christians also divert them from fighting the real enemy. Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil (Eph. 6: 12). When Christians fight among themselves, they quit fighting the enemy to fight brothers or sisters in Christ, and I suppose it could quite reasonably be inferred that Christ would say, “Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me” (Mt. 25:31-46). It is not just Christian brothers or sisters we fight, but our Lord Himself.

Quarrelling Christians present other Christians with occasions to serve as peacemakers. They cannot ignore quarrels. There is a need to confront quarrellers and call them to peace.

Paul was in prison when he wrote his letter to the church at Philippi. But prison walls did not stop him from expressing his concern. He pleaded with Euodia and Syntyche personally. Paul also called on other Christians at Philippi to help the women make their peace. He motivated others to do what he could not do from prison.

The quarrellers, on the other hand, did not ask for any help in making peace. Christians do not need to wait to be asked to serve as peacemakers by those who quarrel. They take the initiative because God has already called them to peace-making (Mt. 5:9).

Paul did not describe the quarrel nor assign blame. He did not take sides. He pleaded with both equally. Whoever heard God’s voice took the initiative in seeking the restoration of the broken relationship. That should be the attitude of all who would serve as peacemakers between others. Their impartiality should be obvious. A peacemaker is not a judge. It is not to arbitrate that we are called, but to peace-making. There may be a place for judging wrong and condemning it. However, where there is no evil involved, but a mere difference of opinion, a Christian making peace should not take it on himself to give his views in the matter. His views are not called for.

Differences in thinking and behaviour will be there, but they are not important. The main thing is to bring people to agreement in the Lord. People need to get a proper perspective on issues. There is nothing as important as the Lord Himself. Every issue and concern and plan needs to be subordinated to the Lordship of Jesus. Everything else is minor. It does not matter that we cannot agree about them. But it does matter if that lack of agreement affects the agreement in the Lord. When that happens, the Lord takes second place in relation to our pet concern or peeve. If Jesus is paramount, then agreement is possible in spite of differences, because the differences are less important.

When Christians Fail

As long as we are subject to the infirmities of life on earth, there is the likelihood that we would fail to live up to our callings. Like Euodia and Syntyche. But failures do not annul our past contributions to God’s work. A work done for God has the value of being a work for eternity. Paul could not forget that the two women had worked and fought beside him. More important, their names continued to be in the book of life. God did not write them off.

Paul spoke of names that were recorded in the book of life. Names identify specific persons. The book of life has specific entries. That specificity means, the names in the book of life are limited. The names of all the people, of all generations, are not there. Only some names are recorded there. Is your name one of those recorded in the book of life?

When the seventy two disciples came back from their preaching tours, they happily recounted that even demons obeyed them when they commanded them in the name of Jesus. The Lord then told them to rejoice rather that their names were written in the book of life (Lk. 10:17-20). More important than our Christian ministry is the reality of our Christian identity before God. It is possible to preach, heal and exorcise demons in the name of Jesus, and still be deemed false by the Lord (Mt. 7:21-23).

The book of Revelation sheds more light on the subject of the book of life. The people whose names are recorded in it are “overcomers” dressed in white and acknowledged by Jesus Christ (3:5). The criteria for having your name recorded in the book of life are given in this passage.

Those whose names are listed in the book of life obtain white robes that are washed in the blood of the Lamb (7: 14). The blood of Jesus has purchased forgiveness for sins and cleansing from sin. Salvation lies in His saving us through an atoning death. If you believe that in Jesus you have salvation, then indeed you have it. Your faith is rewarded.

Those named in the book of life are also described as those who are acknowledged by Christ. Jesus said, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven” (Mt. 10:32, 33) . The condition for being counted among those who belong to Christ and have their names in his book is to be identified as belonging to Christ.

These people who are named in the book of life are also described as “overcomers”. The book of Revelation is all about the fight between those who belong to Christ, and those who belong to the Devil and his Antichrist. Only those who do not stray and do not submit to the rule of Antichrist can belong to Christ. Enemies of the cross who avoid the cross in their lives and wish to have it easy cannot have their names in the book of life. In fact, if you are on the side of Christ and have your name in the Lamb’s book of life, then it is an antidote to apostasy under the rule of the coming Antichrist (Rev. 13:3; 17:8). If you choose not to be identified with Christ now, and choose to avoid the cost of identifying with Christ, when the Antichrist comes you will only give in to the far more severe pressures to compromise.

On the Day of Judgment we will be judged according to the books. Whether our names are in the book of life or not is crucial. Every action of ours is on record. Those whose names are not found in the book of life will be consigned to the lake of fire (20: 12-15). Only those whose names are in the book of life will enter into the New Jerusalem. Nothing impure, shameful or deceitful will be allowed (21:27).

What about you? Is your name in the book of life? The criteria for having your name in the book of life are given in the Bible. Do you fulfil those requirements?

Heaven and eternity start here from the time we begin to have a relationship with Jesus. Being in the Lord is for ordinary people, and not for the super spiritual. It is for those who have problems and needs, who have feet of clay and turn to Christ for salvation and hope. Being in the Lord is for anyone who wants it.

Rejoicing in the Lord

(4:4-5)

“Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” The inevitability of death seems good reason for such abandon, as this philosophy affirms. But the truth is that, for people who live by that philosophy, the knowledge of the imminence of their death casts a pall over every attempt at being carefree. In fact, those who make merry, seeing no purpose in life, and measure their happiness by the number and intensity of pleasures they experience, seem to have a very high level of dissatisfaction.

They are those, who forever complain of being bored. Thrills lose their effect because the law of diminishing returns operates in the case of thrills. So their quest for happiness remains unsuccessful. Happiness eludes them. If those who seem to lead such exciting lives are not really happy, is there anyone at all that is happy? If Paul were here, he would answer, “I rejoice greatly in the Lord” (Phil. 4:10). When he said this, he was confined to a prison cell, chained to a soldier all the time. He had to wait for the changing of the guard to see another face. Another person would have said that Paul’s life was boring, but Paul the Christian claimed that he was happy.

The Secret of Christian Joy

Paul was happy, although he was in a very trying situation because his joy was rooted in the Lord . This is the secret of Christian joy. The source of a Christian’s joy is the Lord himself. Paul wrote to the Christians at Philippi that they should rejoice in the Lord (4:4). As we read through Philippians we find that Paul connects his experience of joy with various experiences that are integral to being a Christian. Paul found joy in prayer (1:3). He did not remember people in prayer as a matter of performing a duty grudgingly. He prayed with a sense of excitement, that although he was confined to a prison cell, there were no prison walls that could prevent his prayers from winging their way to the heavenly throne of grace where prayers were received and answered even before we ask (Is. 65:24) and answered in greater measure than we asked or thought of asking (Eph. 3:20).

Paul also found joy in the preaching of the Word (1: 18). He did not care who preached or what their reasons were for preaching. As long as they preached the Word of God, he was filled with joy. Preaching was his very life. He said, “Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel.” There was an inward compulsion to preach. Preaching was itself the reward for Paul the preacher (1 Cor. 9: 16-18).

The Christian also experiences a “joy in the faith” (Phil. 1:25). A Christian’s faith is objective. It is grounded firmly in the historicity of the Incarnation, the substitutionary atoning death of Jesus and the resurrection of Christ. Circumstances change. Moods change. Attitudes change. But when faith rests solidly on the strong foundations of historical manifestations of God’s grace, there is confidence that scorns all changes.

Christians also find joy in fellowship (2: 17,18). Mutuality among Christians is a deeply touching experience, when we allow that mutuality to find its natural depths. Consequent to Christians initiating fellowship (not a programme, or having tea together), those who are desirous of experiencing the genuine article, simply go deeper in the relationship. They find joy in one another.

For the Christian, these are activities and experiences that bring joy because all of them centre on the Lord. They are not sources of joy apart from their connection with Jesus. And so it is no wonder that predominantly joy is identified as lying in the person of Jesus (1:26; 3:1). Paul even spoke of glorying in Christ Jesus (3:3). Christian joy is exulting. It is an experience of glory now.

As Paul came to the close of his letter, he felt the need to reiterate that joy was in Jesus, because he did not want people to think that all that would be needed would be a programme or activity. 1he thrill of a new programme wears off with its novelty. But the joy of knowing any person is a growing one. The more you relate to a person, the greater the sense of joy in just being with the person. In the case of Jesus, we gain an eternal friend. His constancy is comforting in our uncertain and changing lives.

The Quality of Christian Joy

Joy is heavenly. The Greek word makarioi is translated “happy” in many modern translations of the Bible. But the King James Version translates it “blessed” (Mt. 5:3-12). According to the Bible, happiness is an experience that is blessed. It transcends earthly experiences and feelings. There is a divine quality to happiness. It is a condition touched by heaven.

A second quality of joy is that it is perpetual. Paul asked people to “rejoice in the Lord always.” Joy is not touched by earth. Adversities do not diminish or destroy real happiness. The first contact that Philippian Christians had with Paul had been after he and his companion Silas had been beaten and bruised and thrown into a prison cell with their arms and legs tied up so that they would spend the night uncomfortably. Discomfort and trouble have a way of getting to people when surrounded by darkness. The darkness settles over the soul.

Thus the conditions that Paul and Silas were subjected to were prone to depression or the night of the soul. But that was when they broke out in song and their songs moved their jailer to ask, “What must I do to be saved?”

After the earthquake he was a terrorised and broken man. His secure world had caved in. He needed to find out the secret of being a “whole person in a broken world” (to borrow the title of a book by Paul Tournier). Only Paul and Silas could tell him the answer. They were men who could sing in the night from a prison cell in spite of a battering.

Though Paul counselled that Christians should partake of joy in Christ, he himself was back in prison, and he wrote to the accompaniment of clanging chains that hung from his wrist. The chains clanged. But when Paul’s letter reached the outside world, people could only hear the music of joy.

The Beatitudes of Christ are all about happiness in difficulties. To be poor in spirit, mourning, hungering and thirsting are not happy circumstances. People seeking happiness want to escape such circumstances. But Jesus said that the happiness he offered was experienced in the midst of trials and sorrows (Mt. 5:3-12; Lk. 6:20-23).

Not only so, the Bible also mentions Christians who found joy in their difficulties . The apostles rejoiced that “they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name” (Acts 5:41). Peter counselled Christians, “Rejoice that you participate in Christ’s sufferings, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you” (1 Pet. 4:13, 14). If you can experience joy when under trial for your faith, what is coming next is joy upon joy.

Sometimes the happiness of people we see around hurts us. They are insensitive in their celebration and festivity. But Paul counsels the rejoicing Christian to be gentle (Phil. 4:5). Joy does not have to be boisterous. In fact, as the saying goes, it is only the empty vessel that is noisy. If a person is boisterous it may well be a cover for the lack of reality to the happiness they experience.

Christian joy is in caring. It is not diminished in any way for having to be sensitive to the needs of others. Because joy can “weep with those who weep.”

Paul asked that this gentility be “evident to all.” Gentility is the evidence of our Christianity, for the man Jesus was a gentle man and a meek one (Mt. 11:29). He was known for His compassion and caring. He talked in the same breath of fullness of His joy and the laying down of life for a friend (Jn. 15:11-13). When we are gentle, we invite others to follow Jesus. Gentility is a way of witnessing.

The Fulfilment of Christian Joy

So far we have seen Christian joy as an experience that is “in spite of” our situations and adversities. That thought is best captured in the words of Jesus our Lord Himself: “In me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33).

The promise though is that our joy will not always be in spite of adversities. Christian joy is not simply the power of positive thinking without ever having a change in circumstances. The promise of God is that an end to contrary situations is coming. There is a fullness of joy coming for Christians, that will not be mixed with sorrow (Prov. 10:22). A time is coming when God will “spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger, never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb… will be the shepherd; He will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (Rev. 7:15- 17). “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the older order of things has passed away” (Rev. 21:3,4).

That is why talking of joy, Paul also said, “The Lord is near” (Phil. 4:5). The King James Version translates that as, “The Lord is at hand.” Either way it is reminiscent of Christ’s preaching, “The Kingdom of God is near.” As one studies all that Jesus said about God’s Kingdom it is clear that he meant that it was present and coming. The Kingdom had come in His person. He had ushered it in with His ministry of healing and reclaiming people (Lk. 4:18-19). He had made inroads into Satan’s kingdom (Lk. 11:20). But Jesus also taught that the Kingdom was coming. John the Baptist proclaimed that the Kingdom was coming near (Mt. 3:2). Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was coming (Mt. 4: 17) and sent His disciples with the same message even though He had begun His ministry (10:7).

Jesus came once, long ago. Today, Jesus is taking possession of lives. But Jesus is also coming back.

To summarise Paul’s teaching, first of all, Christian joy is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then joy is gentle like the Lord and finally, joy that is Christian is the anticipation of the return of the Lord.

Preoccupied in Christ

(4:6-9)

Humans are among the few creatures who always seem to be preparing for the future. Children are sent to school to prepare for life as if to be alive is not life itself. And when people are engaged in a career it seems as though they are preparing for retirement. But for many people planning for the future is nothing but worrying about it. Worry is that preoccupation of the mind that neither guarantees the future nor allows the present to be enjoyed. The Bible has lessons for us on how to handle anxiety.

How Not To Worry?

How we face the future is a matter of choice. It is not that we are people without options as we consider the future. That is why the Bible invites people not to be anxious. Paul wrote, “Do not be anxious” (Phil. 4:6). To not to be anxious is indeed an option for Christians. The possibility of not worrying exists. Christians can choose not to worry.

This piece of advice from Paul is reminiscent of Jesus who taught His disciples not to worry about the future (Matt: 6:25-34). First, Jesus asked His disciples to consider the fact that life itself is more important than the things that sustain life. Food and clothing are essential, but Jesus asked His disciples to get the right perspective on these essentials too. Jesus did not consider them life itself. Nor are they central to life.

Secondly, God’s care is evident in all nature. He feeds the birds and clothes plain grass with flowers. You are more important than birds and grass. If God cares so much for animal and plant life, how much more will He care for creatures He has made in His own image.

Thirdly, worrying has never accomplished a thing. Worrying about one’s health has never added to life’s length. On the other hand, medical science informs us that, in fact, worry shortens life.

Fourthly, Jesus said that His disciples should get their priorities right. They were to first seek the Kingdom of God. Then everything would fall in place. When people do not have one unifying purpose in life, they expend their energies in trying to achieve many little things. It saps our strength without leaving a sense of having achieved any worthwhile purpose. But when we have one overall purpose, other things do not have this effect. We are able to take life in our stride, and are able to finish attending to our tasks so that our time and energy is spent on our supreme goal and we spend ourselves with a sense of satisfaction. Certainly, the goal of attaining the Kingdom of God will cover all lesser needs. When we have the Kingdom itself, we automatically have everything else. The Kingdom of God came in the person of Jesus and “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him graciously give us all things?” (Rom. 8:32).

Finally, Jesus advised us that our worries about tomorrow’s needs should not spoil today. There are enough needs and burdens each day without adding to them burdens of another day. God had given us strength for the day. “Your strength will equal your days” (Deut. 3:25).

Paul’s antidote to worry is prayer. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Phil. 4:6). The Word of God does not teach us to be improvident. We are counselled to take lessons from the ant that so providently prepares for the coming of winter (Prov. 6:6-8). It is anxiety that is prohibited. But as we face the future, in the light of current events and trends, we are bound to feel worried. It is natural. But allowing worry to plague us would be counter-productive. There is only one thing we can do about the things beyond our control: turn them over to the One who is in control over all.

Jesus taught His disciples not to worry about the future. He taught them instead to pray about the next day’s needs. “Give us today our bread for the morrow,” that is how James Moffatt translated the petition for bread in the Lord’s Prayer. The Revised Standard Version, the New English Bible and the New American Standard Bible have that idea in a footnote. The Greek words can be translated both as a petition for daily bread and for the next day’s bread. We are not to worry about the next day’s needs, but we certainly can commit them in prayer to God.

How to Pray?

Paul uses three different words while advising that Christians should pray instead of worrying. He was not just being rhetorical; the three words describe how we should pray.

The first word is “prayer” itself. The word is suggestive of general prayer or prayer that is common to all people equally. For instance, take a look at the Lord’s Prayer. The first part of that prayer expresses concerns that are common to all the faithful. All who love the Lord are concerned about keeping the name of God holy. All Christians desire that the Kingdom of God should come soon and end the wickedness and peacelessness of our time. They desire that God’s will be done on earth just as it is done by the angels in heaven. Only then does the prayer refer to personal needs such as food for the body and forgiveness for the troubled soul.

The second word Paul used was “petition”. This word focusses on need. It draws attention to the petitioner’s need. It reflects the attitude of the one praying. He or she comes with the attitude of the needy. A person in prayer must come as a supplicant in an attitude of total humility. There is room only to petition, not demand.

The third word is “requests”. This word implies that our prayers must in the end be specific and personal. Too many people do not experience answered prayers because they have not asked. James said that people who do not pray about their specific needs and aspirations, try to fulfil their needs in ways that exploit other people. “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (4:1-3). Too many people pray only in general terms. “Lord bless me and my family.” I suppose the word “bless” is an overworked word that has been devalued by such meaningless usage. What do we want God to do for us specifically?

If you have not experienced an answer to prayer, is it because you have never really asked? Of course, the Bible does not say that all prayers will be answered in the affirmative. When a prayer is not according to the revelation of God’s will in His Word it will not be answered. A Christian may not ask God to help him choose a lottery ticket and pray that God will let him win the prize. The whole tenor of God’s Word is against gambling. God will not answer such a prayer. And, if by chance if one does win a lottery, it should not be viewed as a case of God having answered a ludicrous prayer. Winning may rather indicate how a person has wandered off from God and that God has given such a one up to his pleasures (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28) in order to allow him to reap the full bitterness of his waywardness (cf. 1 Cor. 5:5), and like the prodigal in the far country come to his senses when he realises that the ordinary fare of the Father’s home is better than pig’s food.

Paul said also that all praying should be accompanied by thanksgiving. Expressions of gratitude are an acknowledgement of God’s grace is operative in our lives. Ingratitude comes very easily to humans. Israel forgot the God who had brought her as a nation out of slavery in Egypt and protected her in her wanderings in the desert (Ps. 106:7, 21). She forgot God even though her people had been forewarned by Moses that the human soul at ease has a tendency to take God’s blessings for granted and even to count them as human achievements (Deut. 8:1-20).

The psalmist counselled his soul to “Bless the Lord, and forget not his benefits” (103:2). It is so easy to disregard blessings. It is so easy to think of blessings as being commonplace. When we enjoy something daily we do not tend to think of it as being special. The word “blessing” for many people only categorises the extraordinary. They feel that they are not blessed because nothing spectacular has happened to them lately. They go through life crying about things they never got, nor feeling grateful for the things they did get. You can cry for shoes until you meet a man without feet; then you learn the blessing your feet are. Anything we receive from God is a blessing.

Peter had to be taught not to categorise as unsanctified or unblessed or common what God offered (Acts I 0:I5). God asked him to eat animals that were regarded to be ceremonially unclean by the Jews. Peter disregarded that it was God who asked him and still called God’s offering to him unclean. As Paul wrote to Timothy, “Everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” (I Tim. 4:4).

Gratitude not only acknowledges God, but also builds faith in the petitioner. Thanksgiving serves to remind us of the power of God that we have witnessed to date. It reminds us that God’s touch still has its ancient power and it can operate once again to bless us.

God Heals the Anxious

In this portion of Philippians, Paul focusses on ways in which a Christian can deal with anxieties that cross his path. He can pray about them. Prayer calls on God to take over.

Paul said that when we pray, we experience God’s intervention. We experience peace. The peace is “of God.” People search for peace. Our hearts are restless. But as Augustine discovered, our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God. That is the kind of peace that prayer brings us. It “passes all understanding.” It is unearthly. There is a touch of heaven about the peace we experience.

The peace of God keeps us “in Christ Jesus.” It is in Christ that we find peace with God. “Justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand” (Rom . 5:I ,2). “God… reconciled us to himself through Christ…God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting men’s sins against them” (2 Cor. 5: 18,19). There is no other way than Christ to the Father (Jn. 14:6).

Peace is not only God’s intervention. It is God’s preventive against the onslaught of the disharmonious world. God’s peace “guards” our hearts and minds. The word “guards” is a word from the vocabulary of the army. It suggests a constant watch maintained by a sentry marching up and down. God’s peace surrounds us so that disharmony does not attack our soul, the centre of our very being.

It must be noted, that God’s peace does not come to us apart from the God of peace. Paul not only spoke of experiencing the peace of God, but also of the God of peace being with Christians (Phil. 4:7, 9). In the Bible, peace or shalom is the condition of God’s Kingdom. Peace comes only as God’s Kingdom is established. It is only when God rules that there will be peace. It is because Christians submit to God’s rule now and God’s throne is set up in their lives that they experience the peace of God that the rest of the world waits for and will not experience until the Kingdom of God comes. Any who do not wish to wait till then and wish rather to experience this unearthly peace now must go to God and accept His Lordship in their lives. Only the God of peace can grant the peace of God.

Christians must nurture the mind of Christ (Phi l. 2:5; 1 Cor. 2:16) and God by His peace keeps our mind in Christ (Phil. 4:7). Philippians 4:6-9 is all about the things a Christian must do to take the mind off anxiety. First, there must be an unburdening of anxieties through the exercise of prayer. ·

Secondly, we must have good thoughts . Paul advises that the mind in Christ must “think” about the good (v. 8). The word he used for “think” suggests a critical exercise of the mind. It involves reflection or meditation. Another word for “meditation” is “rumination.” It is rather graphic. It means chewing the cud. Cattle regurgitate to chew with care what they had swallowed in a great hurry earlier. This chewing over is what is involved in meditation. There is reflection. There is musing or deep thought or contemplation.

Paul listed the subjects for the Christian’s rumination. The Christian must think about what is true without an escape from reality. The truth must be faced. There is no need to take refuge in deception or illusion.

A Christian must make what is noble subject for thought. The King James Version uses the word “venerable” in the margin. The Revised Version uses “honourable” in the text and “reverend” in the margin. William Barclay wrote that the original Greek word was characteristically used of gods and temples and says the word implies “that which has the dignity of holiness upon it.” When used of a person it implied one who moved through the world as if it were God’s temple. Barclay commented further, “There are things in this world which are flippant and cheap and attractive to the light-minded, but it is on things which are dignified that the Christian will set his mind” (The Daily Study Bible: The Letter to the Philippians, Colossians and Thessalonians, Theological Publications of India edition, p. 79).

The Christian then thinks of what is right. He is concerned about fitting God’s standards. The Law of God is normative. It is not optional, but compulsory.

Purity is a concern for a Christian who wants “to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (Jas. 1:27). There can be no adulteration in a Christian’s faith and practice. There can be no mixing of the Christian lifestyle with the world’s ways (Rom. 12:2; Jas. 4:4; I Jn. 2:15-17).

Whatever is “lovely” the Christian must think about. The word implies attractiveness. A Christian must always reflect on ways to be winsome for Christ’s sake. You live and work with others. Do they find you winsome? Are they drawn to Christ because of you? Are the people who are close to us drawn closer to Christ because they know us?

There are “admirable” things to think about. From a biblical perspective only good is admirable. The admiration of evil is called “envy.” Paul ended his list with words that take into consideration all that is excellent and praiseworthy. Of course, Paul refers only to what has such a standing in God’s eyes. We must remember that Jesus said, “What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight” (Lk. 16:15).

The third way to handle anxiety follows from this second way of reflecting on what is good. Paul asked his readers to put their reflections into practice (Phil. 4:9). There is no point in such reflections, if they are not going to have any practical effect. Our thoughts will shape our lives (Prov. 23:7). But if reshaping does not take place, it must simply mean that we have not really made our reflections a part of our minds. “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word, but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it–he will be blessed in what he does” (Jas. 1:22-25). Can there be people who get up in the morning and after looking in the mirror do not wash their face or comb their hair? Yet there are people who do just that after looking into the mirror of God where souls are bared. If our reflections do not end in practice they are not going to help us or relieve us of what troubles us.

The fourth way to handle anxiety is to focus on God. Turn your attention from the source of your anxiety to the source of peace. The source of peace is the God of peace. Peace is “of God.” As the songwriter Helen H. Lemmel said,

Turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in his wonderful face

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of his glory and grace.

The Secret Of Contentment

(4:10-13)

There is a viral disease that has spanned the centuries to infect modern man. It makes life miserable. It has become more virulent in our time. It is the virus of discontentment. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. A situation other than your own seems more desirable. The thought makes you miserable with discontent. Envy of the Joneses leads to keeping up with them and attempts to surpass them. The trouble is that the Joneses do not exist in real life. Each thinks of the other being Jones. The result is a spiralling competitiveness all around.

Whole societies have been infected by this malaise. An infected culture, not living within limits has developed. The byproducts of such wantonness are the industrial pollution of land, air and water, some species being endangered, and through this the ecological disasters. Humankind runs amuck through the earth to sustain a lifestyle of consumption.

E.F. Schumacher, the author of Small is Beautiful, said, “… the earth cannot afford the ‘Modem World.’ It requires too much and it accomplishes too little. It is too uneconomic … a crude materialistic way of life which ravages the earth. The poor don’t do much damage… The problem passengers on Spaceship Earth are the first class passengers and no one else.” Schumacher was, of course, contrasting rich and poor nations, but the upper class in poor nations have a lifestyle that fits the milieu of rich nations. But it is not a lifestyle that should be allowed to become universal. As Bishop John V. Taylor of the Church of England pointed out, “Any attempt to raise all to parity with the rich will destroy our world…Excess means disproportion and disproportion can never be a recipe for survival.” However, unless the rich give up their way of life they have no moral right to demand that others give up their hopes of a materially advantaged life. Envy of the rich will always be aroused.

The Bible gives us some picture of discontentment. They are all pictures of death.

‘The leech has two daughters.
“Give! Give!” they cry.

‘There are three things that are never satisfied,
four that never say, “Enough!”:
the grave, the barren womb,
land, which is never satisfied with water,
and fire, which never says, “Enough!” (Prov. 30: 15-16).

The virus of discontentment like all viral diseases sweeps through the land. The infection seems to be in the very air. But cures have to be administered individually. You do not catch a cure. Paul was an individual who had experienced the cure for discontentment.

Paul said, “I rejoice greatly in the Lord …” (Phil. 4:10). His sense of contentment came primarily from the Lord Jesus. But that is not enough, because we live in the body and the Lord is no longer in the days of His flesh. We crave to be touched by humans. We need such experiences involving our flesh and blood to give a sense of reality.

The historical is an experience in the spatio-temporal dimension. God’s love also had to be incarnated before it could be communicated to humans. In the same way Paul’s experience of joy in the Lord involved an experience in the body. The Risen Lord is still incarnate in His body, the Church. Jesus still touches people through His people. They are His healing hands. They are His feet to take Him into situations of human need. They are His lips to proclaim His Gospel of God’s rule of peace. So Paul experienced joy in the Lord because of the human care given by the Christians at Philippi.

The fellowship of humans is essential for humans. In the Christian’s war with evil, he not only needs the armour of God, but the knowledge that there is a commander and other soldiers. A soldier must take orders from his commanding officer, and have a sense of being part of a company or regiment. The Christian soldier therefore, having donned his armour, gives expression to his dependence on God by praying and when he prays for his fellow-soldiers he acknowledges his dependence on his comrades (Eph . 6: 10-18).

Peter tells Christians to resist the Devil, “Standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings” (1 Pet. 5:9). The way Peter puts it, the implication is that the knowledge that we are not alone arms us. Courage fails when we are assaulted by a sense of our loneliness in any struggle. We see no value to struggling alone. Yes, the Lord is our primary source of encouragement, but he communicates through human companions. That was why Paul juxtaposed the notion of joy in the Lord with the care given by Christians (Phil. 4: 10).

Paul rejoiced because Christians shared in his troubles (v. 14). While the word “fellowship” as such is not used in chapter 4 of Philippians Paul has used a derivative of the word koinonia. Generosity is an aspect of fellowship. It is possible for a person to give without loving or caring as in the case of giving alms to a beggar showing an annoying persistence. But the opposite is not true. You cannot love someone or care for someone without the aspect of giving becoming a part of the relationship. Love is sacrificial because it is outgoing. Its object is other than the self. All love is only an imitation of God’s love, and it was on the hill of Calvary that God demonstrated His love most – the hill where He sacrificed His only son. There can therefore be no fellowship or community of love without generosity.

Paul experienced Christian generosity according to the opportunity that Christians had. He said of the Christians at Philippi that they had “renewed” their concern for him. He was not complaining that somewhere along the line they had stopped loving him. Rather, they had no opportunity to give physical expression to their concern (Phil. 4:10). The word “renewed” literally meant “blossomed.” So where there was concern there was a blossoming of that concern as soon as it became possible to give physical and material expressions to that concern.

John wrote to the church, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers” (1 Jn. 3:16). Many would respond, “Oh sure we would give our lives for a brother or sister if the need arises. But there is no need, you see.” John knew that many would hide behind the fact that a need to lay down life does not always exist. So he went on to say, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” (v.17). Sure the need to lay down life does not exist right now, but what are you doing about others’ needs that you are aware of? What do you do to give them relief? John does not require us to go beyond our means. We must give aid from what we possess, not from the millions we do not have. Have you ever felt, “If only I had lots of money, I would feed all the hungry in India”? We will never be able to do that. The Bible is realistic. It says that we are to show our compassion according to our ability: not to all the poor, but to a poor brother; not as much as what a million could do, but what our limited means could do.

Contentment is Learned

When Paul wrote of fellowship and generous sharing, he did not do so to complain or to hint about more help. Paul was uncomplaining. Not like the Israelites. They had so many reasons for feeling contentment. They had been freed from slavery. But in the wilderness they said, “In Egypt we sat around pots of meat” (Ex. 16:3). So God sent them manna and quail (vv. 11-32). While the manna was available daily, quail was not supplied every day. So they complained, “We see nothing but manna. We are sick of it.” Then God gave them quail saying that he would not just give them meat for a day or two or a few days, but for a whole month until it would come out of their nostrils, till they would be sick of it (Num. 11:4-33).

Discontentment is dangerous. It not only invites the punishment of God if we persist in it, but even before that, it begins to leave its mark on our soul. First of all, it is indicative of a lack of trust in God. The writer of Hebrews said, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you'” (13:5). It is only when we feel that we cannot really trust God and leave everything to His care, that we feel we have to fret about the conditions of our lives and worry about the future. Jesus wanted His disciples to learn to trust the God who fed the birds and clothed the earth and put a higher value on humankind. Paul counselled the rich not to be arrogant, but to put their hope in God who is provident (1 Tim. 6:17). When our trust in God is gone, human pride raises its head against God.

The second danger is that discontentment will lead to covetousness. When a man came to Jesus and asked Him to tell his brother to divide the inheritance equally, our Lord’s response was first that it was none of His business, and then warned against greed when the man was asking only for a fair share. The reason that Jesus classifies his desire for his share of the inheritance as greed is that “a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” He had come to Jesus, whose kingdom was not of this world (Jn. 18:36), and all he could think of was about his share in the inheritance, and he wanted Jesus to use His spiritual position to manipulate his brother. His one objective was to get his share. Everything he did and everyone he came in contact with was viewed from the angle of how his objective would be attained. His whole life revolved around possessions that were now his brother’s. He was discontented with his own lot. He wanted what belonged to his brother now. So Jesus warned of greed. It was greed that would not stop short of touching the godly and roping them in to serve his greed.

Jesus then told the story of an empire builder. He was a successful farmer and built bigger and bigger barns to store his grain. The man forgot God in his quest for greater wealth. When he had amassed much, he congratulated himself for having enough to live in luxury for the rest of his life. But God said, “You fool. This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” Jesus concluded by saying that that would be the fate of everyone who pursued riches selfishly for himself but was “not rich toward God” (Lk. 12:13-21).

Paul said that one who is greedy is actually an idolater (Eph. 5:5). He allows riches to take the place of God in his life. He worships and adores riches.

The third danger of discontentment is that it brings about a debilitating character change in a person. A tendency toward evil begins to appear. Paul said, “People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1Tim. 6:9,10).

Love of anything always excludes other loves. So when you love money it dominates and the acquisition of money becomes paramount. It does not matter then how the money is acquired. Dishonesty, corruption and exploitation become the means and there is no hesitation in adopting them. The ways and means of acquisition are considered unimportant when people begin to think that the end is all that matters. But when people are not humane, when they are uncaring or brutal to others, they dehumanise themselves. A person has to be inhuman to adopt inhuman ways. So the person who treats others as means to his acquisition of wealth, first treats his own faculties and senses as means. The person becomes no more than a money-making machine. Even the person himself is only the means, and not the end.

While discontentment comes so easily because of our fallenness, contentment has to be learnt. Paul learnt to be contented in all circumstances (Phil. 4:11). He said that he had “learned the secret” (v.12). The verb form of the Greek word he used for “secret” was one that was used in connection with Greek mystery religions. People who belonged to one of those religions considered themselves to have worked their way up from the lower levels to the possession of the particular mystery of the religion. By using the word “secret”, Paul implies that contentment is a mark of Christian maturity. The Christian is not like a spoilt brat, never satisfied with his toys and always throwing tantrums to get new ones.

Contentment Is a Christian Characteristic

The Bible could be said to have a “theology of enough,” to use Bishop John V Taylor’s phrase. Bishop Taylor has written that the Old Testament’s laws reflect such a theology. There was first the law of gleaning (Lev. 19:9-10). When people harvested their crops they were not to go over their fields a second time to pick up any ears of grain left in the first picking. What was left was for the poor. People were not to be mean or over careful when God had blessed them with enough and more for their own needs.

A second law had to do with limited cropping (Deut. 22:9). There was to be no planting of anything between rows of vines and every seventh year the land was to be allowed to lie fallow (Lev. 25: 1-7). The land was not to be exploited.

Thirdly, God wanted people to offer their first fruits to him (Ex. 22:29). People were not to regard first fruits as scarce commodities that provide an opportunity for making a fast buck. Offering them to God precluded greed. It also disallowed the arrogance of imagining that the first fruits were a mark of their own proficiency.

There was also the law of tithing (Lev. 27:30-33). It was an acknowledgment of God’s ownership of all that was in a person’s possession. But the tithe also celebrated the community of God’s people (Deut. 14:22-29). People were to take joy in their being a community and also to care for the less fortunate who were part of their community.

The New Testament’s “theology of enough” begins with Christ’s teaching that people were not to worry about their needs of the next day when they had enough for the day. The assurance is that God will take care of His people (Mt. 6:25-34).

Paul elaborated on what he considered to be enough. He said, “But godliness with contentment is great gain…if we have food and clothing we will be content with that” {1 Tim. 6:6,8). Basic necessities are all that are necessary, in Paul’s opinion. But modem Christians talk of conveniences and comforts as needs. They have to have more than food and clothing. They have to have not only electricity and piped water, but also appliances, gadgets and toys, and several sets of clothing to suit different styles and moods. This redefinition of need has generated discontentment. Christians today need to echo the prayer, “Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’. Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God” (Prov. 30:8,9).

Paul had a very realistic reason for not making the acquisition of wealth the aim of life. “For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it” (1 Tim. 6:7; cf. Ps. 49:10, 17). When someone dies, many ask, “How much did he leave?” There really is only one answer to that question: “He left all. He took nothing with him.” That is the answer irrespective of whether a person died surrounded by riches or whether he died in penury.

Marya Mannes has said, “The good life exists only when you stop wanting a better one. It is the condition of savouring what is, rather than longing for what might be. The itch for things – so brilliantly injected by those who make and sell them – is in effect a virus draining the soul of contentment. A man never earns enough, a woman is never beautiful enough, clothes are never new enough, the house is never furnished enough, the food is never fancy enough.There is a point at which salvation lies in stepping off the escalator, saying, ‘Enough: What I have will do, what I make of it is up to me’ ” (“Points to Ponder,” Reader’s Digest, December 1974).

Learn to say, “Enough!” Do not let the prophet of consumerism, the ad man, fool you. Bishop Taylor quotes Theodore Roszak, “Nothing counts more heavily against the technocracy than a successful desertion, for there is no underestimating the influence of an authentically happy disaffiliate in society of affluent of self-contempt. Every drop-out who drops into a freer, more joyous, more self-determining style of life – a style of life that works – breaks the paralysing official consensus.” The call -is to be a counter-culture that calls the bluff of trend setters. We must not wait for others to change, and certainly not for all to change. We ourselves must initiate change and start a new trend of returning to a simple lifestyle.

Contentment in Christ

Paul’s secret of contentment was the power he had discovered in the Lord Jesus Christ to be contented. He said, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (Phil. 4: 13).

The power to be contented is not something we can discover in ourselves. We are people who desire conformity with others. We feel we have to keep up with the Joneses. We fear that we will be losers if we do not. That is why the virus of discontentment finds home in us.

The Lord Jesus Christ alone has the antidote for discontentment. He lived a life of deprivation. The foxes had holes and birds nests, but He, their Creator, had no place to lay His head (Lk. 9:58). He could have stayed on in glory. “You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). During His incarnation He experienced hunger. Once He faced the temptation to exploit His powers to fulfil His own need. He fought that temptation by affirming that life is not sustained by bread alone, but by God’s Word (Matt. 4:4). You can have plenty of bread, but if God does not command you to live, the bread would not serve in maintaining life.

Another time, while the disciples went into a nearby town to buy bread, He got busy talking to a Samaritan woman about her soul’s need. When the disciples came back with bread, they wanted Him to give priority to having His meal. He responded that His food was doing the will of God (Jn. 4:31-34). Life is sustained by God’s will and by responding positively to God’s will.

Contentment with God’s will was characteristic of our Lord Jesus. When He lives in us, we have His power to be contented with God’s will for us. His power is a match for every situation, no matter how hard. Paul discovered this. He wrote, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why for Christ’s sake I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:9-10). Paul knew how to be contented, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want (Phil. 4: 12).

The secret of contentment is the power of Christ. While Paul was speaking of Christ’s power in the context of earning contentment in all situations, the fact that he said he was able to do all things enlarges the scope of Christ’s power. It is not only in finding contentment that the power of Christ is effective. His power is good for doing all things. In the Lord Jesus Christ, the unlimited power of God is made available to the people of God. Let that power touch your life at every point, and in every situation.

Supporting Christian Ministries

(4:14-19)

Jesus came into the world with no special protection . He experienced hunger, thirst, weariness and pain. He came as ahuman – with needs. When He was hungry He had to send His disciples to buy bread to eat (Jn. 4:8, 31). He did not wave His hand in the air and produce bread (cf. Matt. 4:3). When the Devil took Him to the pinnacle of the Temple, the temptation was to believe that God would grant some special protection if He were to defy the laws of gravity. Jesus resisted the suggestion (4:5-7). And when He taught people, He let them know that God sends sunshine and rain equally on people – irrespective of whether they were good or bad (5:45). There is a commonness in the need and trouble that humans experience.

Paul also discovered that being a minister of God was no guarantee that troubles would not touch him. He had had all kinds of troubles. He had been flogged and imprisoned. He came near death at sea and on land. For a minister these are troubles of a glamorous kind. Paul could boast about them (2 Cor. 11:23-29). But he also had troubles of a very mundane nature.

From his letter to the church at Philippi we learn that Paul had financial troubles. He had some very ordinary needs that money could take care of. The church came to his aid. They gave him the money he needed to take care of his personal needs (Phil. 4:14-19). From Paul’s description of this money transaction between him and the church at Philippi, we learn quite a lot about the significance of giving support to those engaged in Christian ministry.

But before we get to the significance of Christian giving, we need to grasp well that Christian workers face needs that others face. There is no difference in needs. The difference is only that God has chosen them to depend on the covenant community for their needs to be met. The apostles were not to earn money. They were to receive gifts. They were to depend on God’s providence through human charity. They depended on the covenant community’s sensitivity to their needs and their concerns.

Co-operation

Christian giving then is an act that affirms our commonness. It affirms Christian fellowship. It involves sharing. Paul rejoiced, “It was good of you to share in my troubles” (v. 14). The Greek word for “share” is a derivative of the word koinonia, which means fellowship or partnership, When you give to Christian ministry, you cooperate in the ministry. You become a partner of God’s ministers. A minister and the one giving in the ministry are both engaged in ministry. One is engaged in the ministry of God’s Word. The other is engaged in ministering to the one in the front line. But as David told his soldiers, those who stay and look after things are no less than those who do the fighting. The latter can go freely because others free them by taking care of their concerns (1 Sam. 30:22-25).

A Christian is not only to rejoice with those who rejoice, but to weep with those who weep (Rom. 12:15). When one part of the body suffers, the whole person is miserable (1 Cor. 12:26). The individual Christian is a part of a body – the body of Christ – the Church. He or she should feel the needs and concerns of the entire body of Christ. But there are many who call themselves Christians who subconsciously, and sometimes consciously, have the attitude that God is somehow going to take care of the needs of Christian workers.

They are like the character James describes. Meeting a person in need, all they say is, “God is going to take care of you. You are going to be warm and well fed. That is my prayer for you” (Jas. 2: 15-16 paraphrased). How? How will God take care of His needy ones if all God’s people have that attitude? Thank God, there are people who are sensitive to the needs of others. Christians at Philippi were meeting Paul’s needs when no one else seemed to care (Phil. 4:14-16).

Paul had occasion to write to the church at Corinth in his second letter about their need to “excel in this grace of giving” (8:7). His desire was not that they should experience deprivation, but rather that there should be equality among people. Our brotherhood is not abstract.

Brotherhood is the fabric of Christian society. People are really brothers and sisters – in need and in resources (vv. 13-14). Paul wrote to Christians at Corinth about following the example of Christians in the churches of Macedonia (v.1). That included the church at Philippi. They were not rich people. In fact, Paul described them as experiencing “extreme poverty” (v.2). But they were rich in generosity because they had an overflowing joy (v.2).

When anything is described as having an overflowing quality, it is something that cannot be contained. Their joy was unlimited. It overcame their “severe trial” and “extreme poverty” and overflowed from their lives to touch others. The important thing to learn is that God does not expect us to give what we do not have. He only expects us to give according to our means (v.12). We are to give what we have, and what we have is for giving.

Credit

In his Philippian letter Paul said that he wanted the church there to get credit for their kindness to him. He looked for what may be “credited to (their) account” (4:17).

Of course, we cannot purchase salvation by our good works. It is by grace that we are saved. We need only to believe in the grace of God (Eph. 2:8-9).

While we cannot store up merit through good works, there is a sense in which we store up treasures in heaven. Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matt. 6:19-21). Jesus wanted His disciples not to be such as those who stored things up for themselves. He wanted them to be unselfish. He wanted them to be “rich toward God” (Lk. 12:21). He told them not to be excessively concerned about providing for themselves. He told them not to worry about food and clothes, but seek God’s kingdom (vv. 22-31) because God had given them something of much greater value. God had given them His entire Kingdom (v.32). So, Jesus said, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys” (v.33).

Christian faith is founded on the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other foundation. But foundations are for building on. We must take care about what we build on that foundation. It must endure the test of the fires of the Day of Judgment. That is what Paul wrote. He said, “No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up he will suffer loss, he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames” (1 Cor. 3:11-15).

It is because we have to build upward on the foundation of Christ’s grace and we have to be rich toward God, and store up treasure in heaven, by unselfishly sharing our earthly treasures with others in need, that Paul writes about Christians gaining credit through their generosity. But Christian giving does not seek merit. It is simply the product of grace. It is simply the response of a heart that has been touched by the God who gave, and keeps on giving.

Consecration

Paul described the Philippian gift as “a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God” (Phil. 4: 18). Ultimately that is what all Christian giving is. It is not merely generosity. It is not just sharing with humans. In the final analysis, it is nothing less than an offering to none other than God.

In the Old Testament, the prophet Malachi tells the people of Israel to bring their tithes, so that there will be food in God’s house (Mal. 3:10). God had no need of food. But His servants and His dependents did. The tithes were to feed the Levites who served in the Temple, and destitute widows and orphans (Deut. 14:26-29). What was given for their needs, God regarded as the provision for His own house.

Jesus also had a similar view of aid given to His brothers and sisters. He told the story of the sheep and the goats. Those who cared for His brethren were regarded as having cared for Him. When Christians care for the needs of other Christians, they are caring for Christ. When they give water to drink, it is Christ’s thirst they quench. They clothe Him when they clothe the naked. They nurse Him when they nurse the sick. They befriend Him when they visit those who are in jail for His sake. On the other hand, those who show no such care for Christ’s hungry, destitute and persecuted ones, ignore and neglect none other than Christ Himself (Matt. 25:31-46).

People are sometimes scared to be generous because they are afraid that they might find themselves in dire straits. Even in the Early Church there were people who felt that way. That is why Paul had to reassure Christians at Philippi that God is no man’s debtor. Christian giving does not impoverish anyone. God has promised to make up what you give. “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (4: 19). God has not promised to give us conveniences, comforts and luxuries. But the promise is that all our needs will be met. And how! Not according to the smallness of our needs. He gives us grace according to His own richness. His grace is as large as He is.

Writing t the church at Corinth, Paul said in his second letter that when you give, God enables you to give and give again. “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work” (2 Cor. 9:8). That is our God. He is rich and he enriches us to enrich others.

Joy From a Prison Cell

(4:21-23)

The final section of Paul’s letter to the Philippians is his greeting to the church. The letter opened with greetings. When other people started to read his letter, they would not know that he was writing from a prison. The church at Philippi knew his circumstances and had sent Epaphroditus to serve him, and Paul had .sent his letter back through Epaphroditus. But it was customary among the early Christians to make copies of apostles’ letters and to circulate them among churches so that churches had the foundational teachings of the apostles to reflect on.

As the copies got circulated, not all the churches would have known from the start that Paul’s letter was written from a prison. They learnt this fact as they read and marvelled at the joy Paul had. This concluding section would only bring a flood of memories associated with the earlier occurrences of the word and connected ideas.

Saints

Paul wrote, “Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus.” His opening greetings had been addressed “to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi” (1:1). To Paul the essential identity of a Christian was the status of being “in Christ.” Outward conditions were merely incidental. In fact the location of a Christian was immaterial to his identity as a Christian because he was one whose “citizenship is in heaven” (3:20), and so his mind is not “on earthly things” as are the minds of others (3: 19). It was not because Philippian Christians were at Philippi that they were saints, but because they were “in Christ.” The word “saints” literally means “the holy ones.”

Holiness is not a special characteristic of super Christians. It is the mark of every Christian. All Christians are saints. They are made holy by the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). We do not make ourselves holy. We do not achieve holiness. Jesus is the one who makes us holy. Holiness is not a matter of merit. It is a matter of God’s grace.

While holiness is not our achievement, its practical outworking in our lives depends on our cooperation. It involves our withdrawal from contamination. The basic idea in the word “holy” is that of separation and apartness. The holy ones are those who are uncontaminated. The apostle James in his letter to the church characterises pure religion as consisting of kindness shown to those in need and keeping “oneself from being polluted by the world” (1:27).

Holiness is not a matter of looking religious. Wearing one’s religion on one’s sleeve is pharisaic. But holiness does involve withdrawal from contaminating influences and being more like God than like the people we live among. We are “in the world” (Jn. 17:15, 18), yet “not of the world” (vv.14, 16). The Lord Jesus Christ “bore our sins” but it was in order that “we might die to sins and live for righteousness” (1 Pet. 2:24). Those whom Christ has purchased by His shed blood on the cross of Calvary, are not to continue in sin but to have a high regard for the high cost of their redemption. Moreover God’s sanctification rite turns our lives into temples set apart for the glory and praise of God. As a Christian “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God. You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body” (1 Cor. 6:19, 20).

The saints in Christ Jesus that Paul wrote to were living Christians. The Roman Catholic Church has a rite of beatification. According to their doctrines and practices, only the dead become saints and then only some who are very special. If you have to be dead to be a saint, you might as well give up. Holiness is then for the dead, not for the living. But that is not the message of the Bible. The message is that being a Christian is possible and that Christian life is practical. Holiness is not for the dead; it is for the living. It is for those who live “in Christ.”

In Christ

In his letter to the Philippian Christians, Paul refers to three characteristics of the life that is lived “in Christ.” The first one is the Christian’s “joy in Christ Jesus” (1:26). Joy as we have seen is what this letter is all about. Throughout, Paul either gave testimony to the joy he experienced or counselled his readers to discover the joy of being in fellowship with Christ. Whether engaging in personal devotions and praying to God (1:4), preaching the Gospel, or just knowing that someone else was preaching Christ (1: 18) Paul found all of them to be occasions for joy. Christians find joy in the faith (1:25) and in fellowship (2:17-18). Their joy was in Christ (1:26; 3:1, 3; 4:4, 10), and so all these aspects of a Christian’s life – prayer, preaching faith and fellowship – were causes of joy.

The second aspect of being in Christ is described as “being united with Christ” (2: 1). There is a sense of being joined to Christ. The phraseology is suggestive of marriage, just as much as the Church is the Bride of Christ (Eph. 5:22-33; Rev. 19:7, 8; 21:2) the individual Christian must have a personal relationship with Christ. He or she must know him personally and intimately. Marriage is a relationship of intimacy in knowledge. The Bible uses the word “know” with reference to sexual intercourse. The Roman Catholic Church speaks of marriage to Christ as the experience of those who take a vow of celibacy. But the New Testament views it differently. The entire Church is married to the Lord of the Church.

Down through the ages an intimate knowledge of God characterised those who served God both in biblical times and in the history of the Church. They served God because they loved Him. God commands the love of all. The entire law of God has to do with loving Him. That is a commandment not for prophets and priests alone. It is a commandment for all the people of God. “Hear 0 Israel…Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:4, 5).

The third aspect of the life in Christ is the sense of security that we have through Christ. “The peace of God guards” us against inner disturbance and we rest secure in Christ (Phil. 4:7) because He is the prince of Peace (Is. 9:6). Shalom is the condition of God’s Kingdom. When He rules, there is peace.

Joy, love and peace – aren’t they what the world is looking for desperately? They are all found “in Christ” and anybody who is in Christ experiences them.

Brothers

The “saints” are greeted by their “brothers” (4:21). In Christ there is sainthood and also a new brotherhood. In a world that knows alienation and disintegration, Christ came to be “our peace” (Eph. 2:14). He takes those who are “excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenant of the promise, without hope and without God…who once were far away” to bring them near. He makes divided people one because he “destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.” He had one purpose: to take divided people and “create in Hhimself one new man out of the two” (vv.12-18).

As we have seen, this letter is about the fellowship of Christians in the Gospel (Phil. 1:5), fellowship that centres on Jesus – not a mythical Christ of our imaginations, but the historical Jesus of the incarnation documented in the New Testament.

The fellowship of Christians is neither superficial nor a game of pretence. It is a fellowship that involves fellowship with the Spirit of Christ (2:1). The Gospel is proclaimed to invite people into fellowship, not just with humans, but with God Himself. It is fellowship at a very deep level. As John wrote, “We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and his son Jesus Christ” (1 Jn.1:3).

Such fellowship does not steer away from the cost of fellowship. All true fellowship is a “fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil 3:10). It is fellowship that shares in trouble (4: 14). When people know that they are not alone in suffering, they are encouraged (1 Pet. 5:9).

Bringing People to Christ

Paul included greetings from those of “Caesar’s household.” It was for preaching Jesus Christ that Paul found himself in prison. He was in “chains for Christ” (Phil. 1:13) and was imprisoned “for the defence of the Gospel” (1:16). But prison cannot stop the love of a grateful heart. Those who love are passionate and such love always finds expression. In his prison cell Paul rejoiced that there were others on the outside continuing the preaching. But he did not stop with that. He regarded his incarceration as merely God’s way of getting him into prison so that he could preach behind prison walls to those who would otherwise remain unreached. His imprisonment had “served to advance the Gospel” (1:12), and, from this closing greeting, it is apparent that Paul had not been unsuccessful in his preaching. He had made inroads into Caesar’s household. Those who served Caesar, as they guarded Paul or bore food to him and did other such service, were now servants of Christ.

From Paul’s life we learn that the opportunity to witness to Christ is always there. All our contacts can become contacts for Christ, even those which are opposed to our beliefs and our philosophy of life.

Why do we not naturally bring Christ into our conversation and acknowledge that He makes all the difference to our lives? Why attribute our experiences to good luck or fortune or circumstances? Why not say we trusted God and prayed and He acted on our behalf? May be it is because we never did trust God and pray in the first place.

Paul specified his desire for the Christians at Philippi. He wanted them to experience Christ’s grace. “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit (4:23). Grace is what the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about. All the world’s religions are all about working for one’s salvation. Even the institutional church with its institutionalised forms of Christianity has quite often been guilty of giving the impression that salvation is attained by human effort. But the Gospel of Jesus states that it is not by a person’s meritorious efforts that one is saved. Salvation was purchased by Jesus Christ’s atoning death. Salvation is a gift. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).

It is more than salvation that the Christian receives by grace. The entire Christian life is one that is lived by the Grace of the Lord Jesus. For the Christian it is Christ living in him. In the words of Paul, the Christian’s affirmation is “for to me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). The Christian’s life is one of being “united with Christ” (2:1). It is “God who works” in the Christian’s life to carry out His own will and pleasure (v. 13). “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10).

It is because a Christian may depend on God’s grace that he may present all his needs and anxieties to God in prayer. A Christian’s continuing sense of security is derived from the sustaining peace of God in Christ (Phil. 4:6, 7). There is a sense of assurance that all the needs of a Christian will be met out of the abundance that is God’s (v.19). Like Paul, a Christian affirms, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength” (v.13). A Christian begins his or her spiritual journey by the gracious saving act of Christ’s atoning death. But a Christian not only begins the journey depending on grace, but he is able to continue that journey and complete it only by grace. A Christian is always a supplicant in the presence of God. He keeps going back to Jesus to say, “I need your grace…I need more of your grace…I need more…I need more …” To those who have that attitude of dependence on Christ, the benediction is “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit” (v. 23).

I am sure there were Christians who did not know Paul, who expected to hear complaints and wails from Paul’s prison cell. Instead, they heard the sound of joy. They h rd affirmations of faith and songs of praise (2:6-11). But to the Christians at Philippi the sound of music from Paul’s prison came as no surprise. The church at Philippi had come into existence when they had heard unearthly music while Paul and Silas were jailed at Philippi.

God has not promised that you or I as Christians will escape imprisonment. Our prison walls may consist of difficulties, disabilities, disappointments, troubles or sorrows. We may find ourselves in confining circumstances and situations, and we may find that we are just locked in with no signs of our liberty. What are the sounds that our listening world hears from our prisons?

Prisons do not turn people into singers. Rather, they snatch the song from a prisoner’s life. There is only one song that can be sung from a prison. It is the song of Christ’s Grace, “For me to live is Christ…I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.”

No prison walls can stop that song from being sung, because Christ is there in prison with us. He has promised, “Surely I will be with you always to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). Yes, you would have the fellowship of His Spirit. When you share His sufferings, He will be there, because it is His fellowship of sufferings.

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