Search
Scripture Reading: Phil. 4:2-8
Philippians 1 speaks of salvation through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (v. 19), living Christ (v. 21), and magnifying Christ (v. 20). In chapter 2 salvation is spoken of again. Verse 12 says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Verse 15 says that we shine as luminaries in the world. We are luminaries reflecting Christ as light. This shining is the holding forth, the applying, presenting, and offering of the word of life (v. 16). Philippians 3 speaks of the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith (v. 9). Righteousness in chapter 3 equals the salvation in chapters 1 and 2. Chapter 3 also speaks of our goal (v. 14) and our pursuing (v. 12).
The first matter spoken of in Philippians 4 is thinking the same thing. Verse 2 says, “I exhort Euodias, and I exhort Syntyche, to think the same thing in the Lord.” According to our dissenting nature, we often cannot agree with others. If someone suggests that we do one thing, we may propose to do the opposite instead. Before a young child knows many other words, he can already say “No!” to his mother. From our youth we have learned to say no to everyone else and yes to ourselves. This is dissenting, and dissenting is rebellion.
The desire for prestige and respect is at the root of our dissenting. Even if we are wrong about something, we may still try to claim our dignity in that situation. We can observe this fallen, human behavior everywhere. Many of the arguments between children in a family center around the issue of prestige. The desire for prestige and the dissenting it produces are of the self.
Verse 4 says, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” If we think the same thing and are not dissenting, we can rejoice. According to human experience, a dissenting person is rarely joyful. Rather, those who are dissenting are full of complaints, murmurings, and reasonings (2:14). Philippians 4:5 says, “Let your forbearance be known to all men.” Forbearance is reasonableness, considerateness, and consideration in dealing with others, without strictness of legal right. Those who are forbearing can readily agree with and follow others. However, if we are dissenting persons, we will not be able to forbear with others. As a result, we will have anxiety (v. 6). The way to be at peace and be released from anxiety is to be forbearing with everyone.
Verse 8 says, “Finally, brothers, what things are true, what things are dignified, what things are righteous, what things are pure, what things are lovely, what things are well spoken of, if there is any virtue and if any praise, take account of these things.” The items listed in this verse are the virtues of a proper humanity. When we are not dissenting, we can rejoice and have forbearance. As those who forbear with others, we will live a life that is truthful, dignified, venerable, right, pure, and single, with no mixture in our motive. Then our living will be lovely and well spoken of. As a result, we will have virtues and things worthy of praise. This is the proper living of a proper human being.
All the items spoken of in Philippians 1 through 3 are the elements of the proper human living in chapter 4. To live Christ in chapter 1 is to live a life that is true, dignified, right, pure, lovely, and well spoken of, full of virtues and praise. Likewise, as luminaries reflecting Christ in chapter 2, our expression is a life that is pure, right, dignified, and true. The way to live such a life is to live Christ. However, many unbelievers endeavor in themselves to have these human virtues. They are like a glove without a hand in it. Their virtues are empty and without reality. When we live Christ, we have the reality of all the human virtues, including truthfulness, dignity, righteousness, and purity.
When some new believers begin to seek the Lord, they may desire to be like the angels. What we need to be, however, is proper human beings. A proper human being is a person filled with Christ as the reality of his human virtues. Christ must be our truthfulness, dignity, righteousness, purity, and every item of our human virtues. To be a proper human being in this way is to express God through His divine attributes in our human virtues, to have a human life filled with Christ as the reality of the attributes of God. A proper person is full of virtues, and Christ as the embodiment of God is the content, the reality, of his virtues.
To be a person full of Christ as the proper virtues is to experience God’s salvation. In Philippians 1 salvation is to live Christ and magnify Christ in any circumstance. Chapter 2 shows us that this salvation is to reflect Christ by holding forth the word of life. In chapter 3 salvation is the righteousness of God, who is God Himself embodied in Christ. Then in chapter 4, there is the life that is true, dignified, righteous, pure, lovely, well spoken of, and full of virtue and praise.
The reality of such a life is Christ. Therefore, all four chapters of Philippians refer to the all-inclusive, living person of Christ. In chapter 1 Christ is our long-term salvation, in chapter 2 Christ is our daily salvation, and in chapter 3 Christ is the righteousness of God. Then in chapter 4 Christ is all the virtues of our humanity.
We must build up a proper daily life with a proper character. To merely behave in a certain way is a performance and is hypocrisy. Our living should not be a performance. Rather, we should be proper persons with a proper living. “To live Christ” is not merely a slogan. The living of Christ must be the reality of our daily life. The revelations in Philippians 1 through 3 concerning the salvation and righteousness of God are very high. However, they all point to the living of Christ as the divine reality in our human virtues. Therefore, in chapter 4 Paul applies these revelations to our practical daily life. In verse 2 he says, “I exhort Euodias, and I exhort Syntyche, to think the same thing in the Lord.” According to verse 3, these were very good sisters who had been helpful to Paul. These sisters were living Christ and magnifying Christ to a certain extent. However, they were still dissenting. Spiritually speaking, they were appraised highly. Their names are in the book of life, and they labored with Paul and Clement (v. 3), but in their practical life there was a big problem. In the same way we may speak of spiritual things, but our person may not be true, dignified, righteous, pure, and lovely.
One aspect of our daily life is the way we dress. We should learn to dress properly at all times. To dress properly only when we know someone is coming to visit us is hypocrisy. It is not a genuine daily life. If we are loose in the matter of dress, we are probably loose in everything else as well. In the same way, if we do not make our bed after rising in the morning, it is not likely that we can study the Bible very well.
The very Christ whom we live and preach must be our daily virtues. Our love for people should not merely be human love but human love filled with and expressing the divine love, which is Christ, the embodiment of the processed Triune God. The ethical philosophers of China stressed the development of the human virtues. They taught that we need to develop the sense of our conscience, which they called the “bright virtue.” If some would go to China to teach them of Christ as the divine love filling our love, the Chinese scholars could be subdued. We not only have a conscience; we also have the embodiment of the processed Triune God, who today is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the all-inclusive, consummated, sevenfold intensified Spirit. Such a Christ is our motivator, the inward motivating power. Christ as our motivating power may be compared to an electric motor empowering the development of our human virtues.
In Philippians 1 the motivator is the Spirit of Jesus Christ (v. 19), who is the bountiful, all-inclusive, all-capable, and all-sufficient supply. Christ passed through incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, and enthronement by the all-inclusive Spirit. Now this Spirit, who is the consummation of the Triune God, is in our human spirit. In chapter 2 the motivator is the inner-operating God (v. 13), the processed Triune God embodied in Christ who became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). In chapter 3 the motivator is the power of Christ’s resurrection, and this power is also the processed Triune God as the all-inclusive Spirit of Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus Christ, the inner-operating God, and the power of His resurrection refer to the same person.
The motivator in chapter 4 is seen in verse 13, which says, “I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me.” This motivator is the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the operating God, and the consummated Triune God as the power of resurrection. He is not only in us, but we are also in Him. In this One who empowers and strengthens us, we are able to do all things. All things refers to every aspect of our human virtue, as spoken of in chapters 1 through 4. We can be true, dignified, right, pure, lovely, and well spoken of in Him. We can live the top human life, full of human virtues filled with the divine attributes.
Question: How do we reconcile the high teachings in Philippians 1 through 3 with the emphasis on the details of our daily life in chapter 4?
Answer: Living Christ and our daily life do not need to be reconciled; they are one. The very Christ whom we live and magnify in Philippians 1 should be our virtues in our daily life in Philippians 4. The reality of all the items of our virtues, such as truthfulness, dignity, righteousness, and purity, is Christ, who is the righteousness out of God based on faith.
Question: How can attention to the details in our daily life help us?
Answer: Attention to details will help us to go to Christ. We have to have a morning watch to meet the Lord Jesus, to enjoy and contact Him. We need to have the assurance that through the cleansing of His blood we have the anointing. The anointing is Christ moving in us, and the moving of Christ is His presence. Early in the morning, regardless of how busy we are, we must have at least some time to stay in the presence of the Lord. Then we will meet Him, and He will supply us. He will become the motivator and the “motor” for our Christian life. Then if we are wrong in some aspect of our daily life, He will bother us within. In this way we will learn how to live Christ.
