Rejoice in the Lord

Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. (Philippians 3:01, NKJV).

In the verse above, and later in the last chapter of this letter to the Philippians, Paul encourages his readers to "rejoice", to be "exceedingly glad", in the Lord. Although at first glance sometimes, this may appear difficult, when we take a second to fully understand what the apostle is saying, it becomes, in reality, a piece of cake. No, a whole cake, or whatever else your favorite desert might be.

Yes, we are also encouraged elsewhere to be thankful in, and for, everything, but that only makes any sense at all, if we understand first Who is irrevocably on our side, and sovereignly in control of everything - which brings us back to the first paragraph.

I admit to being cynical and skeptical of the things of this world, and of the motivations and actions of its inhabitants. I would count myself a fool not to be, given my age and personal experience. Gullibility is not a prerequisite for being a Christian, despite how we are usually portrayed by our post-modern cultural elites. And I include my own motivations and actions in these caveats, as well. I am told by God in His word that the human heart, every human heart, is desperately wicked. That seat of our will and emotion is a labyrinth of deception and conceit, and is irremediably damaged by our own fallenness. So much so, that when we are saved, we require a new heart by God Himself, with the old heart of stone removed.

But when it comes to Paul's multiple encouragements to be exceedingly glad in the Lord, there is no room for cynicism or doubt, not because of us or our circumstances, but because of Him. 

Look, it doesn't matter what is happening here on earth. Whatever chaos or joy, life or death, loss or gain, hardship or ease, is irrelevant in this regard. The Lord is good. The Lord is forever. The Lord Omnipotent reigns! Because of Him we live, and nothing can interfere with His perfect will for His children. Because of Him, because of Who He is, and how He is, when we see Him in all His goodness and love and power, we cannot help but have our hearts leap for joy, like the babe John in Elizabeth's ancient womb.

It is not happiness in view here, but unmitigated joy, and that joy is the ocean of life upon which He desires His children to dwell.

But when we forget His greatness, when we lose sight of His power, when we become immersed in the muck and mire of daily living in a dark and often dreadful world, then we fall into needless, and useless, despair.

That is why Paul tells us that for him to write the same things repeatedly to his people is not tedious, either for him or them, because it provides safety against the storms of emotion and events that can sometimes swirl around us, threatening to overtake us and carry us away into places and states of mind we need not go.

Everything in this world comes to an end. It doesn't matter how rich you are, or how beautiful, powerful, influential, protected, or comfortable. Your circumstances, your very life, could change in an instant. It is no accident that the Bible tells us our lives are vapor, our days like grass, here today, withered and gone the next. You can put your head in the sand, remain frenetically busy, concern yourself endlessly with the inconsequential details and tedium of daily living, or you can focus on things above, where your true citizenship as a child of God resides.

And when you do that, when you gaze upon the beauty and majesty of the everlasting God, you can rejoice and be exceedingly glad, because in Him is no darkness at all. In Him there is no shadow or turning. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And He loves you with an everlasting love, and has purchased you forever with the blood of His Son on the Cross.

For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. (Romans 5:10, 11, NKJV).

To Ella From Aunt Anna

Little Ella, God’s precious jewel

Your days with me as beads on a golden spool
Four years ago this day
A treasure came our way
A gift, lovely, undefiled
A little child.
An Aunt I am, and will always be;
That heavenly title I’ll wear proudly.Little Ella, little treasure

Abundant, without measure

Unique, one-of-a-kind you are, my Ell;

Far beyond any human to tell

The value of a soul, far above that of a fowl;

Handmade by God, encased within a mortal cowl

I was right by your side—to be anywhere else and I’d have died—

When you learned to crawl

(I was on my knees too; I never had any dignity to rue)

I helped to teach you to walk and not to fall

I was at hand as your biggest fan

When you climbed your first stair

At your 10,000,000th I was still there

Your first year, a joy untold;

Your second, yet more did unfold;

Your third…Oh, I’m too old!

Start your fourth year, my dear,

Knowing that you are not alone

For you at our door a light has always shone.

An Aunt I am, and will always be;

And you my niece eternally.

From a Possession of Venus to a Soldier of Christ

Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need; since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. For indeed he was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem; because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me. (Philippians 2:25-30, NKJV).

In this letter, Paul has already mentioned Timothy, his beloved son in the faith, and now he brings into focus a Gentile named, Epaphroditus. All we know of this man comes from this epistle to Philippi, but brevity in Scripture does not equate to insignificance.

That he was a Gentile is clear from his city, his name, and his identification as the church's messenger. Epaphroditus means "belonging to the Grecian goddess Venus", it also implies "lovely", perhaps indicating that the person so named was not unattractive in appearance. No devout Jew would have a pagan deity as his namesake, so his Gentile background is certain. That he was a resident of Philippi, and a key member of the young fellowship, seems clears by the fact that he was the one bearing the church's offering to Rome for Paul's benefit. Clearly, as well, he had remained with Paul for some amount of time, and had contracted a serious illness in the interim.

The apostle described this man as my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need. Do not overlook this glowing commendation. This Gentile believer, presumably young, or at least significantly younger than Paul, was considered by the apostle to be, first, a brother. Paul did not tout his authority and position as an Apostle of Christ unless pressed into it by necessity. He saw himself as merely a servant of the Kingdom whose primary function was a messenger of the gospel to the Gentile world. He did not stand on ceremony, expect special treatment, or insist on titles of rank. 

He was approachable, loving, hard-working, brilliant, and not inconsequentially, the one chosen by the Holy Spirit to author two-thirds of the New Testament. He traveled thousands of miles across the ancient world, successfully planting the early church in a hostile environment, and establishing the doctrinal foundation of the faith. Yet, he was unassuming and humble. His saw himself as a sinner saved by grace, not some lofty spiritual official. At the same time, he brooked no compromise with what he considered to be the essential tenets of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and did not hesitate to confront even the Apostle Peter face-to-face, when he saw that he was acting the hypocrite in Galatia. For Paul to call Epaphroditus, brother, then, was a tribute in and of itself, indicating the man's faithfulness, like-mindedness, and sincere conversion.

But he was more. Referring to him as a fellow worker indicates that Paul considered Epaphroditus to be an effective co-laborer in the cause and work of evangelism and church planting. He was someone whom Paul trusted to accomplish the things of God with the same urgency and sense of priority that Paul himself had. To be thought of in this way by the apostle, the same man who worked to the point of exhaustion for his Lord, was high praise indeed.

Beyond brother and fellow worker, Paul also considered him to be a fellow soldier on behalf of Christ, a comrade-at-spiritual-arms engaged in active battle to advance the banner of the gospel. To be called this by a man who suffered ship-wrecks, beatings, imprisonment, slander, false accusations, riots, stonings and endless persecutions, says a great deal about the esteem in which this younger man was held. It was a unique designation given by name to him alone in all of Paul's writing, so his endurance, courage, and commitment must have been something indeed.

He was also messenger for the church and one who ministered to [Paul's] need. Thus, he was clearly a reliable man who accomplished what was given to him, and was useful to those to whom he was sent. These are rare and valuable qualities in a worker for the Kingdom of God; to be someone who could be counted on to carry out what was given to him, and then to be able to serve in whatever capacity he subsequently found himself. I imagine him anticipating, and joyfully endeavoring to fulfill, the needs of those around him. These are so very important attributes in the workers and volunteers within the church. So often, discouragement, distraction, and dissonance of purpose begin to interfere in the smooth functioning of any human organization, be it the church or otherwise. It is quite a testament to this young man that he was wholly a benefit, and never an impediment, to Paul's needs in ministry.

And he was loved by his people, and loved them in return. In fact, Paul sent Epaphroditus to deliver his letter since he was longing for [them] all, and was distressed because [they] had heard that he was sick. Concerned that his home church would be needlessly worried by news of his own illness, and missing their fellowship as well, Epaphroditus strongly desired to comfort, and be comforted by them; another tribute to his character and sincerity.

Paul then commends him further by affirming that indeed he was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. So the prospect of this young man's death was an especial cause of sorrow for the apostle, a man who had already suffered and lost much in his work as an evangelist. Again, it is clear that Epaphroditus was particularly beloved by Paul himself, perhaps as close to his heart as Timothy, himself. Consequently, in recognition of all these things, Paul, the excellent leader that he was, sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. It was no small source of delight to Paul that his brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier would both be encouraged by, and encourage, the believers in Philippi, and providing the opportunity for both things to occur eased Paul's overall sorrow at all the things he had suffered.

And lastly, Paul's greatest commendation and instruction: Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem; because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me. Selflessly, faithfully, heroically, Epaphroditus worked the work of Christ without regard to personal cost or comfort, with a sincere heart, and pure motives, and should therefore be welcomed by his home church as the honorable soldier and servant he had proved himself to be. 

Paul then ended his tribute with a final compliment about the effectiveness of Epaphroditus' service. He acknowledged that his coming supplied Paul with what was lacking in [their] service toward [him]. In other words, the young man's arrival and faithful service was as if he brought the church in it's entirety to Paul as aid and comfort. Since they could not all be there in person, their representation by this young man was the equivalent.

That each of us, as members of the body of Christ, be worthy of these and similar commendations, should be our desire and the prayer of our hearts. May God grant it to be so.

The Emptiness of Self-seeking

But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. But you know his proven character, that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it goes with me. But I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly. (Philippians 2:19-24, NKJV).

Timothy was the Apostle Paul's protege, his son in the faith. Timothy's mother, Eunice, and his grandmother, Lois, are mentioned in the New Testament by name, and were Jewish. His father was Greek. Timothy, whose name means "honoring God", was well-schooled in the Scriptures from childhood, and joined Paul as a convert to Christianity in Lystra, after which Paul arranged for him to be circumcised so that he would cause no offense to the Jews to whom he would be sent to evangelize. He became Paul's constant and loyal companion, accompanying him even into prison. Eventually, he took over the leadership of the church in Ephesus, and tradition indicates he died as a martyr to his faith.

There was a sincerity and steadfastness to Timothy, and although it appears he had weaknesses, both physical and spiritual (who doesn't?), he remained loyal to Paul, and more importantly, to Christ no matter what the circumstances. Here, Paul commends him as being the only one at that time who had not abandoned the ministry, and who had not forsaken the well-being of the church at Philippi to seek their own, and not the things which are of Christ Jesus.

This is phenomenal statement in that it illustrates, not only Timothy's faithfulness, but also that, at times in the apostle's life, Paul was abandoned by those who paid lip service to faith and fellowship, but who were at heart self-seekers. Self-seeking is the emptiest profession imaginable, and the easiest career at which to become proficient. It is the most natural occupation in the world, and the least rewarding in the long run. At its heart, is the ruthless sacrifice of every relationship, every endeavor, and every act of kindness that is not deemed sufficiently self-rewarding. Every word, action, purpose and strategy is done with an overriding ulterior motive of self-satisfaction. Nothing is sacred. Truth is irrelevant, and in the end, despair and loneliness is the result. And along the way are the discarded husks of relationships that were cast aside after their usefulness came to an end.

Although there were some in Paul's life like that, Timothy was the exception. He was a true companion, of the same mind, selfless in his care for others, and a man of proven character. That word "proven", is the same word used repeatedly in the New Testament to indicate something, or someone, who has passed the test of being genuine; of being the real deal. And his relationship with the Apostle was that as a son with his father. This is a beautiful portrait of interpersonal fidelity that comes with faith in Christ; thicker than blood, more lasting than the planet itself. And his partnership with Paul was in the service of the gospel, perhaps the noblest endeavor in all Creation. As a father and son team, they were indomitable, not for themselves, but for the glory of God.

Yet, despite their closeness, Paul was not unwilling to send his "son in the faith" as a delegate of comfort and support to others. Despite his own imprisonment, the whole thrust of this letter to the church was to care for them, and their state. So Paul sent his trusted companion on a mission of significance and two-way solace, to inform the church of Paul's condition, and to subsequently console Paul with news of their condition. Partners like that are truly gifts from God, rare as diamonds, more precious than gold, of eternal pricelessness. Sometimes they are found in the church, sometimes in marriage, but only in Christ, never in the world. For the apostle to desire to send Timothy as soon as possible to Philippi was a declaration of his trust of the man, and his deep regard for the Philippians. And even in declaring that trust, he bespoke his greater trust in the Lord, the he, himself, would come shortly.

Both Timothy and Paul sought first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, with everything else coming in as not even a close second. They were both examples of seekers-after-God, and not self-seekers. They lived lives of others-centeredness so comprehensively that they willingly suffered the loss of all things on behalf of the greatest conceivable benefit to others - the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

This is the only sensible perspective and strategy of life for a follower of Christ. It is the only reasonable and rational response to knowledge of, and faith in, the Lord. What does it matter, Jesus Himself taught, if a man became the most successful self-seeker in the history of the universe, gaining ownership of the whole world, and renown from all its inhabitants, if in the process his eternal soul is lost forever? What does it matter if you attain the popularity or good reputation you seek if you do so at the expense of truth and faith? What does it matter if you are loved by the world, but by your self-seeking priorities prove that you are at enmity with God?

It is no surprise, then, that we are taught by Christ Himself that if you love your life in this world, you will lose it. And he who seeks his life in this world, who is a self-seeker, will lose not only life, but self, forever.

Poured Out

Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me. (Philippians 2:17-18, NKJV).

The Apostle Paul would not have been very popular in today's academic and intellectual circles. He was an absolutist. He was passionate. He gave his all, always, first to Judaism before his conversion on the Road to Damascus, and then, afterwards, to Christ. He was neither "nuanced" nor did he entertain "gray areas". He was most emphatically NOT an Universalist, affirming instead that there were not many, but only ONE way to Heaven - through Christ by faith.

I am certain he would have been mocked and scorned today for being so "narrow" and "intolerant", but that would not have mattered to him at all. He did not care what men thought about him. He didn't even care what he thought about himself. He was one of those people who was incapable of less than full commitment, and of this you could be certain: when he focused that commitment on you, he would give everything he had to promote your good. Even if it cost him everything.

That is what he is alluding to in the two verses above, and in one simple phrase, where he writes that he is being poured out as a drink offering, he is conveying the depth of his commitment, past, present and future. Drink offerings were instituted by God, through Moses, the Lawgiver. These consisted of wine poured around the altar of sacrifice in the Tabernacle and Temple, and were part of the meat-offerings presented daily, on the Sabbath, and on feast-days (Ex 29:40, 30:9; Nu  6:15,17,15:5, 28:9; Ho 9:4; 2Ki 16:13; Joe 1:9,13 2:14).  By picturing himself as the wine that was poured on the sacrifice and service of [their] faith, he was inextricably linking himself to the believers in Philippi, for whom he had already given much, and was joyfully willing to give all. Including his life, if need be.

The love of Christ constrained Paul to offer himself fully to those under his care. He could do no less, and he considered it a privilege, something to be glad about. He also expected his audience to have the same perspective (I am glad and rejoice with you all). Here's the thing he knew and believed - that service in Christ transcended both life and death. Note that, please. Whether he lived or died was insignificant in comparison to his either living or dying in, and for, Christ. That meant he would gladly do all that pleased His Lord, at whatever cost, because there was nothing more important - neither life nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing - that outweighed the glory, beauty and eternal satisfaction of doing the Lord's will.

Paul had the epitome of a pastor's heart.

But there's more, here. Notice his description of what he is being poured out upon: the sacrifice and service of [their] faith. This speaks of a mutual commitment between the church and its founder, with a common mode of operation, namely sacrifice and service. It means something to be a Christian. Repentance and faith look like something, and often that something is viewed unfavorably by the unbelieving world. Be steadfast for what is right, and pure, and true, be definite as to where you stand on the issues of life and faith, and you are bound to suffer. Especially in these last days, when lawlessness and disbelief abound.

If you are a "moderate" Christian, one who prides him or herself on not coming across too strongly, then I exhort you to look closely at whether or not you are really in the faith. If you see sin and worldliness around you and are not grieved and heartbroken, then in who, and in what exactly, do you really believe? If you do not speak up when God gives you the opportunity to share your faith, perhaps enabling someone to escape ETERNAL damnation, then exactly what service to God are you performing? If you can abide in friendship with a dark and Christ-rejecting world, then you are at enmity with God. If you doubt this, read 1st John.

What you sacrifice as a Christian IS friendship with the world. It can be no other way. It may cost you everything you have in this life, family, friends, livelihood, even your life, but that loss is rubbish compared to what you gain in Christ. Paul will say these very things later in this marvelous letter, but he is previewing those truths right here.

To live this way does not mean being obnoxious, or self-righteous, or condemning of others. It doesn't mean being shrill or preachy or unapproachable. In fact, it means the opposite; being holy, harmless, loving, gentle, and inviting. But you CANNOT accommodate the world. You cannot blend in. In short, you must stand like a rock in the midst of the winds and the waves of this life, not blown about, but steadfast and certain in what you believe, and why.

And that kind of service will cost you. That kind of faith will cause some to hold you in contempt, or maybe even want to kill you, but so what? It's Christ you serve, not the world or your flesh. And for that service He guarantees more that you can ask or think or imagine.

Be poured out on behalf of others. Don't hold back. Don't try to fit in. The time is short. Make the most of it.

Become Less to Be More

Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. (Philippians 2:14-16, NKJV).

I am pretty good at doing some things without complaining or disputing. Things that I enjoy are easy not to complain about, and things for which I have no strong feelings are easy to let slide without arguments. But hit me with something unpleasant, or one of my "hot button" issues, then you might as well stuff cotton in your ears, or watch out, depending on the circumstances. And there is a direct correlation between how puffed-up I feel and how loud and argumentative I get. It is only when I am truly humble (rarely) that I display a quiet, gentle and agreeable attitude about things. So, Paul's exhortation here convicts me greatly. It is no accident, that the more we live and breathe in our "natural" selves, the more obnoxious we become. And unless we allow the Lord's mitigating Spirit to work actively and continually within us, the end result is ugly indeed. Less of us is better, because when we Christians are less us, we are more Him.

The word pairs Paul employs here are quite instructive, complaining and disputing linked with blameless and harmless. These are perfectly complimentary, four equal parts to a whole. The word translated as complaining is goggusmos (gong-goos-mos') in Greek, and it not only means "negative secret murmuring or muttering", but is a kind of Onomatopoeia that sounds like the activity itself. Exactly like boom describes an explosion, or vroom, an engine at speed. And the "secret" aspect of this is especially intriguing. It means that even if you manage to keep your complaining to yourself, your attitude still counts against you.

Disputing  is derived from dialogismos (dee-al-og-is-mos'), which in its purest form means "reasoning out loud, or having a dialog with yourself", but in the context above it has more the connotation of "arguing constantly", often merely for the sake of hearing yourself talk and contradict. It is an unpleasant activity, at best, and taken to extremes, may be one of the reasons gags were invented.

Amemptos (am'-emp-tos) is where we get blameless from, and it signifies the absence of fault. Frankly, I find that I am almost never completely without fault, and it is likely that even the minuscule blame I am willing to assign myself is solar-systems less than the blame I actually deserve. 

Harmless comes from akeraios (ak-er'-ah-yos), describing something or someone "without any mixture of evil; free from guile; innocent". Fail, again.

Now the fact that we can't, in our own strength, be these things perfectly (or even reasonably well), is NO excuse for not purposing to behave this way. In the Kingdom of God, intent matters. The desire to do good is significant, the sincere wanting to be like Christ and NOT be a reproach to His name goes quite a ways in enabling us to become more like Him, daily. Thus, Paul encourages us to practice behaving along these lines, instead of practicing sin. And there is reward in the trying, if only in that it often shows us just how far off the mark we are. Real success only comes, as I said, with becoming less me, and more Him.

There is an additional word pair, which, if viewed correctly, provides deep insight into how God sees the world of Christ-rejecting men. Crooked means skewed, off-center, off-course, uncorrectable. Unsaved humans cannot, and will not, have their course toward destruction corrected, unless within them, by faith, Christ renews their hearts and minds. They are like ships blown about by storms of emotion, greed and lust, rudderless, and with no means of navigation. In the end, their voyage through this life never ends nicely.

Perverse describes motivation to behavior that is consciously and willfully against known good. The guilty party is completely culpable precisely because he or she knows that the activity or attitude in question is directly opposed to what is known to be right. It is being evil as purposeful rebellion against being good. This is more than mistake-making. It is aiming to be bad. And both these adjectives are the essence of men without Christ. 

We are to be the opposite, to shine as lights in the world. And the only way to do that is to become less opaque, less thick with our own gooey sinfulness, so that we become more transparent, allowing His goodness to shine forth more brightly in our lives, words and deeds. And the only way to do that is by holding fast the word of life, which is the gospel, and everything that it means about Christ, and about us, and our helplessness to save ourselves by good works or ritual.

The Apostle is urging the people he poured his life, soul, heart, and God-given knowledge into, to reflect upon the world that which is Jesus, so that he, Paul, may rejoice in the day of Christ, and not be subject to the emptiness of knowing his time and effort were completely wasted.

He has outlined all along in this letter how to go about doing that, but all his immensely practical exhortations can be summed up in the title of this post. To succeed in the Christian walk, to conform to what is best for us, to be the most effective possible witnesses in a dark and fallen world, we need to become less to be more. As Christ emptied Himself of the real privileges and prerogatives of Deity to become a Man, we need to empty ourselves of our own delusions of self-worth and privilege to become more like Him.

That is the only way to be. Everything else is just vapor.

Working Out

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13, NKJV).

Have you ever struggled with assurance of salvation? Have you ever wondered whether or not you are doing enough, holy enough, righteous enough, or good enough to get into Heaven after you die? I've found that even people who long, with all their heart, for this life to be all there is, get concerned about what happens after death the closer they get to end of life. There are few sane souls, indeed, who, when faced with imminent mortality, don't experience dread at the prospect of what happens next.

Rest assured you haven't done enough, and are NOT holy enough, righteous enough or good enough to reach Heaven. You can't get there from here unless you pass the Entrance Exam, and that means ALWAYS having done what you should, when you should have, and NEVER having done what you shouldn't, ever, no matter what the provocation or excuse. Otherwise, you FAIL the Exam. It's either meeting a Holy God's perfect standards, or Hell. No gray areas, no marking on a curve, no extra credit.

And that is PRECISELY why the Gospel of Christ is good news. You cannot do anything to mitigate your own personal failure to meet the Lord's standards. You cannot save yourself, nor once saved, can you keep yourself saved. It is all Christ working in you and through you to perfect you. And He will complete that good work in you if you are His. That is His promise. At the same time, His perfect righteousness has been imputed to you. It is as if, when the Father looks at you clothed in sin, He chooses to see Christ in you, the hope of glory. This is made possible, not as a forensic fiction, but as a transaction made on the Cross which you receive by faith. Christ, the perfect sinless sacrifice, purchased you from the slavery of sin, once forever, and in doing so, made your regeneration possible. You are, literally, a New Creation, with your old nature being shed like a snake skin, and in its place, you have been clothed with His righteousness.

Given that magnificent truth, what is Paul saying in these verses? First, if we were to stop reading at the end of verse 12, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, and proceeded no further, fear and trembling would be an apt description of life in this world, always on the very brink of eternal destruction. Sadly, some people who rely on their own imagined righteousness, live just so, if they pay attention to who and what they really are in the world. Those who believe that it is up to them to please God by their own works, must either be delusional, if they feel confident of their eternal destiny, or in a state of incipient panic, if they are not. Break one Commandment, one time, and you are guilty of all; like that sinner pictured by Jonathan Edwards, suspended over the pit of Hell on a gossamer thread. Or someone suspended in midair by a chain. If one link is broken, descent is inevitable, no matter how many other links in the chain remain intact.

But we mustn't stop there. We can't. We need to understand the whole counsel of God. So it is no accident that in the very next verse, we receive the rest of the truth, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. In other words, the Apostle is exhorting his audience to obey the exhortations he presented previously in this loving epistle, not just when he was watching, but in the privacy of each and every heart and mind, so that we exercise, and I use that word purposely, that priceless gift we have been given by faith: salvation.

Think of it this way, God has fashioned for us a physical body. It exists. It is the vehicle by which we express our God-given life in the world of time and space. We can either use it to its fullest potential, or we can operate minimalistically, barely moving. The body, as gift, is there in both instances. In the first mode, we make the most of the gift. In the latter, we essentially waste it. But in both cases, we neither earned the gift (you cannot earn a gift, otherwise it would be wages owed, not a gift given), nor, by our use or negligence, do we forfeit it. What we DO lose or gain is reward and satisfaction.

It makes perfect sense. Since we can't work our way into Heaven, once our admittance is assured through sincere faith and reliance on Christ alone, we can choose to make the most of the empowerment and privilege we receive by working out, or exercising, our gift of salvation to its full purpose in the world, or we can choose to be covert Christians, barely discernible as such, living our lives in ways hardly distinguishable from unbelievers.

If we allow God to work in us, both to will and to do for His good pleasure, we simultaneously accomplishing several very good things:

• We display our surrender to His will for us in trusting obedience.
• We acknowledge to the world by our good words and deeds that we are Christ's and He is ours, and that that MEANS something.
• We experience the indescribable satisfaction of serving His Kingdom in His strength for our good and His glory.
• We lay up for ourselves treasure in Heaven, we neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

To take this as a license to sin, or as a means to presume on the grace of God, is not only evil, it's silly. There are degrees of reward in Heaven. The Bible makes that perfectly clear. Why would any well-informed, sane Christian exchange the passing pleasures of a carnal, indistinguishable existence, for the eternal glory of serving God with his whole heart. That choice would indicate that we have a very inaccurate view of our King, the one who promises great reward for even providing someone a mere drink of water in His name.

Paul is not urging us to legalism, but surrender. He is not telling us to strive for Heaven, but to strive to enter His rest. He is not saying grit your teeth and be good enough. He is saying surrender your will to the One who made you and you will be conformed into His goodness, and receive eternal reward.

A simple choice, when you really think about it.

Exaltation of Christ

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:09-11, NKJV).

From poverty, slander, imprisonment, torture and an agonizing death on the Cross, to the Right Hand of the Throne of God; a voluntary journey of inconceivable extremes all for our benefit and the Father's glory. This is the King of Kings we Christians serve and worship. This is the Man who calls us Friend and Brother. This is Messiah, the Anointed One, the only begotten Son of God.

In those six hours on the Cross, Jesus, who knew no sin and who became sin for us, paid the eternal penalty incurred by each one of us for our rebellion against God. He was our voluntary substitute, taking upon Himself the sin of the world and suffering the full force of the Father's righteous wrath, thus paying the debt we owe and could never repay. There are ageless mysteries here, of course, but what we do know through Scripture makes a terrible kind of sense, especially if we view sin from Heaven's perspective.

But that is hard to do, isn't it? Having been born in sin, and having spent all our conscious moments as sinners, I am convinced we do not understand how monstrous and evil sin is. We largely dismiss it, until we are confronted with a conspicuously egregious example, and then we sometimes get a glimpse of its true nature, and are HORRIFIED. Rightly so. Of course, it doesn't help our understanding that the modern world denies even the existence of sin, calling it everything else but that, and propagandizing the culture into viewing it as sickness, or aberration, or the result of a dysfunctional upbringing. We lose our moral anchor when we do this; when we pretend that evil is a quaint, nostalgic concept of the simplistic past.

Know this, if you believe true evil is a figment of religious imagination, and sin is a mistaken, unsophisticated concept, you have no hope of salvation. You just won't see it as something necessary, or real, and you will not seek the Savior. That's why this diminution of sin is such an effective and evil strategy devised by the Enemy to ensure the damnation of countless souls. It ranks right up there in effectiveness with the trivialization of the concept of Satan or the Devil, himself. What better tactic than to make the denial of evil, sin and Satan a prerequisite for laying hold to the claim of being modern, educated, and too sophisticated to fall for myths and wives' tales. It is brilliant! It plays diabolically into humanity's greatest weakness: its own imagined, and delusional strength. Human pride is both the cause of the Fall, and the single most effective impediment to its rescue.

Throughout history, God has shown us the hideousness of sin by demonstrating its cost in the shedding of innocent blood. For centuries, His chosen witnesses to the world, the Jews, practiced a religion that floated on an endless sea of innocent animal sacrifice; a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice of Christ which was to come. Sin entails the forsaking of the Source of Life Himself, who created us as immortal beings to live in wondrous fellowship with Him, forever. Immortal beings who choose to rebel against an eternal God, declare their desired independence from Him, forever. It is a casting off, a denial of that which is, by definition, good and right and just. To oppose that is to embrace its opposite, and the result is the absence of all that is good and right and just - a place, and a state of existence called, Hell.

Hell is likened to a place of despair, a place of eternal suffering in unquenchable fire, where conscious, indestructible beings are consumed every moment by agony described as being eaten alive by worms. It is an unthinkable place reserved for those who, having full knowledge of God, reject Him anyway. If you cast your lot for that which is against God, who is all, and in all, the only place left in which to exist is outer darkness. And since you were created in God's image, you cannot be uncreated. You cannot cease to exist. Annihilation is impossible, however much we would like that not to be the case.

Given this truth of the consequences of conscious and willful rebellion, it is even more amazing that the Father sent His Son to suffer this punishment in our place. If eternal damnation for voluntary sinners is unthinkable, how much more unthinkable is the wrath of God poured out on Jesus after He was nailed to the Cross. The one Man who was as far from sin as Hell is from God, suffered the punishment of Hell for us, and became sin. I don't really think there are words sufficient to describe what this really means. I know I don't have them, but what it does bring to mind is the monumentally disturbing knowledge of all those instances throughout the human experience involving the unfair and despicable treatment of the innocent. 

You name it, and it has occurred. Beaten, tortured and mutilated men, women and children, abused animals, senseless unfathomable violence and bloodshed, and all this only the palest approximation of what it meant to have the sinless Son of God suffer the way He did. And yet the physical agony was not that which paid the price for our sin. If anything, that only increased the condemnation of the human race. No, it was being forsaken by God, by being the sole undeserved recipient of His righteous and holy wrath in our place - that is what paid the price. 

That prospect of divine abandonment is what caused Christ's unutterable despair in the Garden of Gethsemane. That is what made Him sweat blood, and cry out three times in heart-broken resignation to the will of the Father. And it is that abandonment that we accept when we are "crucified with Christ", but it does not end there, and for that, all glory and worship and honor and blessing should be given to Christ. Because we are not only crucified with Him, we are raised up with Him, as well. Because He lives, we will live also. Because He died and rose again, we have life everlasting.

Do you see both the cause and the necessity of the exaltation of Christ? Without Him, Adam's sin would have been the end of the story of mankind. With Him, and in Him, our story goes on forever. Unless His humiliation and sacrifice in our place had been complete, our redemption could not have been complete. But because of His unhesitating obedience, He has saved that which was lost, and presented to the Father that special treasure, that gift bestowed out of indescribable love. 

Us.

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:09-11, NKJV).

When God Obeyed

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:08, NKJV).

When God obeys, the history of time and space are rewritten, and the Universe and all Creation are redeemed from the judgment of sin. This is true, in all its profound complexity, because God has ordained it to be so, and for no other reason that the human mind can comprehend. In fact, we would not know about it all unless the Holy Spirit had revealed it to us through the Apostle Paul. That is partly why former skeptics, like C.S. Lewis, came to believe in the tenets of Christianity; it's just not something mere human imagination could conceive.

The writer of Hebrews declares, "though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered." (Hebrews 5:8, NKJV). What might be the single most miraculous aspect of the Incarnation of Christ? Perhaps, it's that the Omnipotent One learned obedience. He became voluntarily subject to Someone else to the point of death! What a startling contrast to what we would expect. It is amazing to me that this would be the case, and even more amazing that one of the commands He received from the Father was to die! For us! And not just to die, but to die a horrible, torturous and humiliating death in one of the most painful ways possible; the death of the cross. So agonizing was it, that a new word entered into human speech to describe it: excruciating.

Disobedience in the Garden resulted in excruciating obedience on Golgotha. That which the first man had every incentive to achieve, was a devastating failure. And only through the voluntary and obedient sacrifice of the Son of God was humanity brought back from the brink of eternal destruction. How much love does that evidence? How much humility? I cannot even imagine it. It is literally incomprehensible that God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21, NKJV). But beyond that, and this is the point of the verse above, Christ obeyed in this heroically redemptive act. Do not take that fact for granted, because it is proof of so much goodness and mercy and grace that it could explode our hearts in joy.

At this point in chapter 2 of this epistle, we have been given three separate words for Jesus being born a Man: He came in the form (morphe - mor-fay' ) of a slave, His life's shape, so to speak; He came in the likeness (homoioma - hom-oy'-o-mah) of men, meaning He was human, through and through; and now appearance (schema - shay'-mah). This last word is interesting in that it is the same word used daily in the Information Technology industry to describe the outward look, and inward rules of composition, of data. It serves as the complete description of both the format and valid values of information. It is all that is ever needed to know about the essence of what is being conveyed, or transmitted, or used. In human terms, it serves a similar purpose, in that it is everything in a person which strikes the senses about the figure, bearing, discourse, actions and manner of life of another.

What does all this say about the single most important hero of existence? How is it meant to impact the lives of those of us this hero has saved and transformed? Basically this:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16, NKJV).

And

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32, NKJV).

And

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. (Romans 8:29, NKJV).

We are to love like Him, obey like Him, and become like Him. Not out of fear, but gratitude. Not from compulsion, but voluntarily, because we KNOW and TRUST the One to whom we must give account.

Remember, above all, that you have been bought with an inconceivable price. You are not your own. All that you have, and are, come from Him, and without Him, you can do nothing.

The message of the Incarnation is clear. Each and every fallen human being is worth more to the Creator than all the rest of Creation put together. His love for us is abundant and boundless. He stopped at nothing to redeem us and to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:26, NKJV).

Yes, this is termed the "emptying" passage, but in the emptying of Himself, He enabled our joy to be full, and for us to have life everlasting. It is incomprehensible and glorious, stretching our minds and hearts beyond the bounds of human understanding. But it is true nonetheless. The most important truth of all.

Beautiful Mind

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:05-07, NKJV).

Years ago, as a new Christian, I read this verse for the first time and had no clue what it meant. Then a beloved brother in Christ (the same one who challenged me to memorize whole books of Scripture), pointed me to a slightly different translation of verse 6: who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, (Philippians 2:6, NASB). Better, but still not getting it. Then I did a very brief study on the Greek word, harpagmos (har-pag-mos'), variously translated as "robbery" or "a thing to be grasped", and it became blazingly clear.  And this points out a couple of very useful suggestions in studying the Bible, three of them actually: 

1. Pick one or two "favorite" reliable translations (mine, in descending order of preference, are NKJV, NASB, KJV, NIV), and don't be afraid to compare them. It may give you insight into the meaning of a particularly interesting passage. 
2. Consider the verse in context, meaning don't just camp out on a passage in isolation, but both back up and go forward a few verses to avoid idiotic interpretations that arise form cherry-picking a single thought, like "There is no God." (Psalm 53)
3. Get a Strong's or other Concordance and dig into the original language a bit.

It was by following these simple steps that my understanding about "robbery" and "a thing to be grasped" crystallized into a sparkling diamond of truth, and it's this: Christ, though very God, did not view His Deity as something that He must hold onto like a thief holds onto his spoils, or a desperate and greedy person holds onto a valuable. Instead, out of love for us and filial obedience to the Father, he let it go, and "emptied Himself" to become one of us so He could die in our place! Now, that concept of "emptied Himself", is why these verses are referred to by scholars as the kenosis passage, the Greek word that means "emptying".

I recall the precise moment that it all came clear to me, and it felt like I imagine suddenly finding a priceless treasure would feel. I was amazed, and joyous, because of what it said about the One to whom I had committed my life and soul. I understood that my Jesus had given up something eternally inconceivable, the privileges and power of Godhood, to become eternally a Man so that He could die for me! I am not about to argue the point sometimes raised about God ceasing to be God, and how could that happen? Nor, will I argue with someone who honestly says that rather than ceasing to be God, He took on an additional nature to become Man, and chose to be born, live and die on the earth solely in His humanity. I don't argue those points because, frankly, those are valid questions and premises in my mind, and I don't understand things like the Trinity (not really), nor how God could die, either. I am old enough to know what I don't really know. So I just shut up.

But the bottom line for my heart is this: Jesus set aside something incomprehensibly magnificent to become someone like me, though without sin, to suffer the punishment I so richly deserve, and He deserved not at all; and He did so out of an abundance of mercy, grace, and love that I can scarcely imagine, let alone put into words. And it is that abundance of mercy, grace, and love that characterizes His indescribably beautiful mind. The same mind that the Apostle Paul exhorts each one in the church to have by letting it be in them. That is an intriguing way to say it, as if those characteristics of Jesus' mind are standing at the door of our own thick heads just waiting to be invited in.

Of course, the Lord did not just become a Man, but He became a Man of no reputation. I believe this describes two additional attributes of the Mind of Christ, which we, his people, are to cultivate: humility and approachability. Have you noticed that it is mostly arrogant individuals who feel the need to defend and broadcast their reputations; those whose main concern is their own advancement and maintenance. That's why immediately prior to these verses, Paul exhorts us to esteem others better than ourselves. It is the first necessary step in looking out for more than our own narrow interests. The epitome of that attitude is Christ Himself, who, knowing that all power had been given into His hands, washed the filth off His disciples feet. That is the type of humility in view; a disposal of dignity on behalf of others.

As far as someone being approachable, the best picture I can paint is one of the difference between interacting with someone famous versus someone unknown. Most regular people hesitate to approach famous people, or people who have reputations. It's just a natural reluctance that is difficult to overcome, a kind of a "Oh, I don't want to bother or impose on such an important person." In contrast, Jesus was inviting - even little children were perfectly comfortable in His presence, no doubt eager to climb up onto His lap and feel right at home.

Beyond even becoming a Man of no reputation, He took on the form of a bondservant, a doulos (doo'-los), which literally means slave. He came to serve and not to be served. We say that like it's even remotely understandable, but I for one, have great difficulty in comprehending that He who is called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Light of the Word, the Beginning and the End, who was given all authority in Heaven and Earth, was born to a couple living in poverty and who was raised in the backwater village of Nazareth from where nothing good ever came. That is not how mere humans would have orchestrated the coming of the King, but it is how our God ordained it.

And finally, whereas He came in the form (morphe - mor-fay' ) of a slave, His life's shape, so to speak, His likeness was human, through and through. That's what the Greek word, homoioma (hom-oy'-o-mah) means - the exact resemblance, the same identity, as men. Us. His creatures. To serve us and save us.

I confess to not getting this mind of Christ, this infinitely beautiful mind, made more awesome by Who it was who became these things on our behalf. It would be like us becoming a flatworm, but even that is a faulty analogy, because we didn't create the flatworm. We just share creature-hood with it.

Nonetheless, whether I can comprehend or describe or fathom this mind, I know it stands at the door and knocks. It is part of my inheritance as a child of God, part of the New Creation that He made me.

My job is to just let it be in me. To open that door and be transformed by that Mind, and through that, be His instrument to transform the lives of those around me. Heady stuff, indeed.

Relax and Be New

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:03-04, NKJV).

Frankly, I am one of the most selfishly ambitious and conceited people I know. I am convinced that when you are not actually talking about me, you are thinking about talking about me. I am the center of the Universe and I've got to work really, really hard to stay there, since there are a few knuckle-head pretenders out there looking to usurp my rightful place on the pedestal. Otherwise, whole continents will be disappointed by my tragic fall from the world's Center Stage.

How exhausting is that? Living life with yourself as the Grand Central Station of Existence is both impossible and self-destructively delusional. Paul's exhortation to the Philippians in the verse above is a merciful attempt to save them from themselves, while simultaneously giving acknowledgement, and tacit approval, to our natural proclivity to put ourselves first. But he emphatically encourages us to mitigate that tendency by making sure our self-focus does NOT blind us completely to everyone else.

There is a huge misconception foisted upon modern Western culture that Christians MUST be sacrificial doormats, allowing themselves to be stepped on by everybody, else they are not "turning the other cheek". There is an equal, but opposite, misconception that Christians, when they aren't doormats - when they stand up for themselves and look after their own interests - are being complete hypocrites, worthy of nothing but contempt. Both extremes are extremely inaccurate. 

I know some radically ambitious and conceited Christians who make me look humble, and they are VERY tiring to be around for more than a polite yawn or two. If they are not overtly sounding their own trumpets, they are doing so under flimsy, gossamer cover, that makes the attempt at subterfuge that much more cringe-worthy. If I feel that way about them, I can readily imagine how people must feel about me. All such ruthless self-promotion is worthless and damaging.

The truth is much more profound, and relaxing, then we might imagine. As a child of God by faith in Christ, I am empowered by His Holy Spirit within me to act more and more like His Son, "who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2:6, 7, NKJV).  Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself… (John 13:3, 4, NKJV), like the lowest level household servant who was given all the nastiest jobs. And surely, redeeming us was the nastiest job conceivable.

Because we are these New Creations in Christ, destined for an eternal inheritance, we need not have our own advancement and maintenance in life as our primary concerns. If you think about that for a second, for just a second, a huge weight should fall from your shoulders, and you should lean back and breathe a long sigh of relief. The unbelieving world has no such refuge from stress. Those who don't know Christ must be, and will be, by nature, completely self-absorbed. Oh, they may manage to put a sweet face on the whole business, but underneath, and not very far underneath at all, there is a dark miasma of compulsion to be first, and most. In the end, IT IS DEADENING. Remember beloved, what He says to the self-absorbed and ambitious, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God." (Luke 16:15, NKJV).

Again, this means we can RELAX. I don't mean vegetate, but I do mean there is no need to agonize and strive in your own strength to put yourself forward and prove to the world that you're something. First of all, the world doesn't care. Everyone in it is too busy worrying about proving the same thing about themselves. Secondly, they won't be convinced anyway, no matter what you do, because they would first have to step off the pedestal stairway to let you pass. And that is not happening. 

Take heart though, Christian. You have already been regenerated , and you, as a finished product, are guaranteed to come off the assembly line as the Lord's Masterpiece, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; (Philippians 1:6, NKJV).

And that's the point. Since we know the end of our personal story, we can afford to, in lowliness of mind, esteem others better than himself. We have nothing to lose but a life-long futile expenditure of energy wasted on ourselves. This, in turn, enables us to look out not only for [our] own interests, but also for the interests of others. And as you practice that, and get better at all of it, life becomes more, well, livable. And just a bit more relaxing.

Finally, the best part is this: if everybody around you has this same mode of operation going, esteeming others better, looking out for others' interests, then you won't have everybody trying to get through the same doorway to self-esteem all at once. There will be a measured, steady, and sweet tenor to life that leads ultimately to that amazing peace of God that passes understanding. Bearing with one another in love will be a piece of cake.

Try it.

Pastor's Joy

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. (Philippians 2:01-02, NKJV).

Christ raises up servants and leaders in His church "for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God…" (Ephesians 4:12, 13, NKJV). And He does so by bringing them through a learning and refinement process so that  they become shepherds of His people, tending and feeding His flock on His word, accountable to Himself, the Great Shepherd.

By the time He has qualified them for leadership, they, like Paul, are boundlessly appreciative of the gifts Christ gives His people for life in this fallen world. They, like Paul, rejoice when those under their spiritual care conduct themselves in accordance with the will of Christ for His church. Often, in response to the inevitable opposition and resistance in the world to the things of God, His people require consolation, comfort, fellowship, mercy and affection in ways that only He can provide. And He is able to provide all our needs "exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think," and for that Paul did, as can we, "greatly rejoice". 

He starts by making a statement of cause and effect: Therefore if there is…[then] fulfill my joy . This is a classic proposition of logic in the form of "if, then", with either an explicit or implied "else" condition. In this case, it is not so much a conditional statement, but a challenge to his audience to discover those aspects of walking in faith with the Lord. Put another way, the apostle is really saying "since (not if, in the modern sense) - since there are these things in Christ", then reach out and obtain them, and in obtaining them, you will fulfill my joy.

The consolation in Christ he speaks of is the Greek word, paraklesis (parka'-lay-sis), which means to "come closely alongside to provide an abundance of solace, encouragement, and refreshing." It pictures a wounded warrior being carried along a road by his fellows so that he can rest and heal. Note that this consolation is in Christ, and nothing comparable can be found in the world. Only those who have been saved by grace through faith are in a position to receive this gift. Not that He withholds it from the world, but that the world has no capacity to accept it if it were to be bestowed. Like a man without lungs cannot inhale.

Comfort of love, can be paraphrased as the "persuasion of agape", that tidal force of divine, sacrificial love that sweeps the recipient out of the fires of the world into the arms of a loving Lord and Savior, King, Brother and Friend. Someone who has all power and authority to assuage the pain and despair, and who longs to do so with all His heart.

Fellowship of the Spirit is that unique and profound partnership between Jesus and each one of His people, shared as well between each other. It is that quintessential relationship obtained solely through baptism into His death and resurrection into His life. It is so unique that the New Testament writers coined a new word for it, koinonia (koy-nohn-ee'-ah), to attempt to differentiate between this and all other possible divine and human relationships. It speaks of a bond more profound than mere blood, more enduring than mundane human affection, and more transformational than anything else in existence. A child of God is NEVER alone.

Affection and mercy appears in earlier English translations as "bowels of compassion", an attempt to render as accurately as possible the word picture being conveyed. In ancient cultures with pictographic and rich languages, like Hebrew and Greek, the sincerest emotions were depicted as coming from the most inward physical parts. And the combination of deep regard and abundant compassion is ours for the taking in Christ, and among each other.

Next, Paul moves into yet another discussion of the Christian mind, beginning here in the foothills of human experience, and soaring a few verses later into the loftiest heights possible as he reaches upward into the very "mind of Christ". This unity of mind is a key ingredient to his fulfilled joy  and can only occur among those informed by knowledge of Christ. It impossible for the natural man, who cannot help but be carried about with every wind of doctrine and by the cunning trickery of deceitful men.

This emphasis on being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind is Paul's song, and source of joy, celebrating complete unity in the faith. In Ephesians he writes of it as, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Ephesians 4:3-6, NKJV). This is the same desire for the church expressed by Christ in his High-Priestly prayer in John 17, where He intercedes for each one of us throughout the age that we would be one in Him as He is One with the Father. 

It is no wonder then, that Paul's joy and desire as their Pastor was to see his people walk in these glorious gifts from the Lord, coming to Him for that necessary replenishment of consolation, comfort, fellowship, mercy and affection.

Suffering and Conflict

For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me. (Philippians 1:29-30, NKJV).

Paul ends the first portion of his letter to the church in Philippi with something that would hardly be categorized as a "selling point" for the Christian faith: suffering and conflict. And from the earthly perspective these things are indeed negatives. Suffering is, after all, painful. Conflict is the antithesis of peace, and yet the Apostle is expressing these as gifts that have been granted on behalf of Christ to the church, then and there, and here and now.

The key, of course, is the pair of connecting phrases he employs, on behalf of Christ, AND not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer. Christ transforms the essential nature of all earthly experience from mundane and meaningless to sublimely purposeful. He is the only thing in the Universe and in time that can do so. And it is yet another aspect of the profound paradoxes of being a follower of Jesus, the One who provides profit from loss, exaltation through humility, leadership through service, riches through poverty, and life through death.

Life is suffering and conflict, from conception through physical death in this fallen world. Fertilized intrauterine cells struggle to implant and survive against the many forces arrayed against them, even in the womb. If successfully implanted, the fight for survival intensifies throughout gestation, so much so that the odds of a successful delivery into the world nine months later are almost 2 to 1 against. For every infant born alive on this planet, twice that number are not, without even taking into consideration the horrific statistics of abortion.

The New Testament offers no temporal escape from this chronic exposure to pain and conflict. It does not deceptively attract adherents by promising long life, health or wealth, despite what some erroneously teach from many pulpits. In fact, Jesus Himself declares the very opposite: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NKJV).

And it is this very point that Paul is echoing in his letter. Suffering and conflict exist as incontrovertible facts. There is no escape this side of Heaven, and there is no permanent escape outside of Heaven. If you are alive, you will eventually experience both, but these things in conjunction with believing in Christ, and on behalf of Christ or, even more specifically, because of our belief in Christ - these things are redeemed. Instead of mere purposeless negatives, in Him, they are transformed into something else entirely - gifts that are the catalysts that conform us into His image and make us fit for eternal citizenship in Heaven.

And what is the specific conflict to which Paul is referring? It is the very thing to which he confessed a few sentences earlier in this same letter: For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. (Philippians 1:21-24, NKJV).

There is no shame in wanting to go home, to enter into the sanctuary provided under the authority of a loving, benevolent and all-powerful ruler. It is, in fact, a declaration of faith and trust in the promises of that Ruler, who portrays Himself as God, Father, Creator, Brother, Savior, Redeemer and Friend. But for that desire to be God-honoring, we must walk in faith day by day, "occupying until He comes", until that glorious moment of Homecoming takes place. That is what the Apostle Paul is reminding the church, that this suffering and conflict is an inherent part of the gift of salvation. We are to expect it, be unsurprised by it when it comes, to patiently endure it, and to give thanks in the midst of it, trusting that it is for our good and God's glory.

Look, pain, suffering, and conflict are guaranteed. If you are alive, you WILL know these things. You can either let it serve its intended purpose, to draw you closer to God and conform you into the image of His Son, or choose to have it do the opposite: intensify your scream of defiance as you slip into an eternity of darkness and despair.

A person of no less significance than the Apostle Paul was not spared these things, and that makes perfect sense, for the Son of God Himself provided the example. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21, NKJV). And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. (Ephesians 5:2, NKJV).

Christ gave us the example. He became the example. He is the only One who can make the misery and hopelessness of this life into something joyous and beautiful. The only one who can turn our mourning into dancing.

Good Soldiers

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God. (Philippians 1:27-28, NKJV).

The full sense of this verse is clear: behave daily, moment by moment, like a Christian who is aware that he has received a priceless gift; acting accordingly, whether in public or in private; unmovable in unity and agreement as a witness of the good news; fearless in the face of his adversaries, demonstrating that he has been saved by God from eternal destruction.

This is the Apostle Paul's fervent prayer for those under his teaching and guidance. It was his entire purpose as a minister of Jesus Christ, to give his all, in the power of the Holy Spirit, so that his beloved and longed for brethren would stand fast in the Lord.

His Spirit-inspired word choice is, as always, immensely instructional to the church throughout history, and to us today. In all the long centuries since this letter was first sent to the church in Philippi, nothing has changed for the child of God living in a fallen world as ambassadors and servants of the Lord Jesus.

So Paul begins this passage by imploring his flock to exist continuously as recipients of the greatest gift of mercy and grace imaginable. The word translated "conduct", sometimes rendered as "conversation" in older English versions, comes from the Greek word politeuomai (pol-it-yoo'-om-ahee), from which we get the concepts of both politics, and civility or politeness. It is a word which describes the constant and rightful behavior of responsible inhabitants of a glorious kingdom, fully recognizing the value of their rights and privileges as citizens living under a good and just government. Further, it conveys the idea that behaving otherwise is irresponsible and unreasonable.

The word "worthy" denotes "in a manner worthy of", or "suitably". In other words, behave in way that clearly expresses your appreciation of the immeasurable value of the gospel. How does that manifest itself outwardly in reality? Primarily, through an attitude of humble gratitude in regard to the things of Christ. That we are benefactors of the grace of God says precious little about us, and a universe about God. A puffed-up, conceited, self-righteous Christian is an oxymoron of the highest absurdity. To take ANY credit whatsoever for being saved, is like congratulating yourself for creating the moon. It does not compute.

The apostle's exhortation was to behave in this way whether he was absent or present, in the dark, or spotlighted on stage. It is one thing to be real, and humbly, and transparently grateful in public. It is entirely another thing to have that attitude so much a part of you that it continues in private, behind closed doors, half-asleep, or exhausted. It needs to become, not just how we act, but who we are.

His choice of "stand fast" is interesting and meaningful, as well. It is a military term that encompasses what a soldier does to hold his position against the enemy. It is essentially defensive in nature, and depicts a faithful and well-trained combatant doing all that is necessary NOT to retreat, no matter how intense the enemy's onslaught.

Unity of spirit, and especially of mind, is a repeated theme in Philippians. Paul mentions "mind" at least eight separate times in these four chapters, clearly emphasizing the importance of rational thought and its relationship to a walk of faith. The word "spirit" in this context refers to the human will and emotions, with mind designating the center of intellect and reason. Christianity, though rife with the miraculous, is nevertheless an evidentiary faith. It is the fulfillment of what the prophet Isaiah wrote centuries before Paul about God entreating His people to "come, let us reason together."

"Striving together" is what an athletic team does after much training and practice. It includes the idea of an "agonizing" commitment to mutual success, a collective will to maintain the course despite any obstacles.

The phrase "for the faith of the gospel", refers, not to the act of believing, but to the proper teaching and dissemination of the tenets of Christianity "once for all delivered to the saints". Through unified, well-taught, energetic commitment, the truth is to be spread throughout enemy territory, without compromise or retreat. This tactic will, of course, provoke resistance from the world and the current ruler of this world, Satan.He will rally and compel his human and angelic minions to set themselves as adversaries to the spread of the gospel, and the effective witness of the church. And those who participate in this resistance, by the very nature of their opposition to the gospel, prove themselves to be "sons of perdition", like Judas.

Likewise, the fact that such Christ-rejecting factions are against us who believe is "proof", literally "a demonstration of the fact", that we are saved by God Himself, and not by anything we have done. And the existence of our enemies is not to be a source of terror for us, but a confirmation of whose side in this long war against God we have chosen.

Beloved, if your Christianity is unopposed in the world, if it goes unnoticed by unbelieving friends, family or colleagues, if it causes not even the slightest ripple in the calm of your existence, then perhaps - just perhaps - you are not that "good soldier" who stands fast in the faith, without retreat or compromise that the Lord Jesus, through His servant Paul, exhorts us to be.