Search
The center of Philippians 3 is the matter of being conformed to the mold of the Lord’s death. Verse 10 says, “To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” What is the mold of the Lord’s death? A man can be strong, sound, sober-minded, intelligent, rich in emotion, and strong in will. Such a man has a large soul, a thriving soul. In a sense, he has no weakness but is perfectly sound, fully developed, and has a strong personality. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He was such a man. He was intelligent and sober-minded, rich in emotion, being able to weep as well as smile, and strong in His will. While He was on the earth, however, He was always putting Himself to death, that is, putting His intelligent mind, rich emotion, and strong will to death so that God could be His mind, emotion, and will. This is the mold of the death of Christ, that is, the mold of the Lord’s death.
We should never think that the death of Christ refers only to His death on the cross. The death of Christ refers not only to His death on the cross but also to His putting Himself to death as a man in order to do the will of God. The basic principle of death is that of completely putting ourselves to death so that the will of God can be carried out. This is the death of the cross. Our knowledge of the death of the cross is too low and too shallow, and we may consider Christ’s death of the cross only in relation to the redemption of man. However, redemption is only a small part of the meaning of the cross. The cross has a deeper and higher meaning related to Christ’s willingness to put Himself to death so that God could have a way.
The Lord Jesus did not die only on the cross — He was dying every day while He was on the earth. The Lord Jesus lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years. From the beginning He put Himself to death. During these thirty-three and a half years He was living in death. Even though He was such a sound person on earth, He was always putting Himself to death, always denying His mind, emotion, and will. He denied everything of Himself so that God could come out of Him and have a free way to supply the needs of many. This is the death of Christ.
The mold of Christ’s death refers to a sound man who has the capacity to live and think independently, love matters and things, express opinions, and make decisions by himself, but who still does not rely on himself. Christ denied and rejected everything of Himself, whether it was His mind, emotion, or will so that God could come out of Him and supply others. He denied Himself even though He was rich and strong in every part of His being. This is the death of Christ. The death of Christ involves nothing less than putting such a sound humanity to death so that God can have a way to come out.
The entire life of the Lord Jesus, as portrayed in the four Gospels, is based on the principle of being conformed to Christ’s death. In the Gospels we see a person who was sober-minded, rich in emotion, and strong in will, a person who was perfectly sound yet refused to rely on Himself and continually put Himself aside. He did not rely on His own mind, preferences, or views; instead, He lived by God. He continually denied His intelligent mind, rich emotion, and strong will; He continually denied Himself so that God could work in Him freely and could have a way to come out of Him to supply others. This is the mold of Christ’s death. The mold of Christ’s death refers to the continual putting of oneself to death so that God can have a way to come out. This is the center of Philippians 3.
In Philippians 3 Paul’s mind was excellent, his emotion was rich, and his will was strong. He was a man of fervor and accomplishments. He had a resourceful mind, a rich emotion, and a strong will. When Paul was Saul of Tarsus, people could tell that he had an excellent mind, a rich emotion, and a strong will and that he was an accomplished, resolute, and courageous man simply by observing his actions, words, and attitude. In Philippians 3, however, he was learning the lesson of putting himself into the death of Christ to be conformed to Christ’s death. To be conformed to Christ’s death is to deny the self and give God a free way. Paul was such a person. He continually denied himself to give God a way. This is to be conformed to Christ’s death, and this is the central point of Philippians 3.
In Philippians 3 Paul says that he was a Hebrew of Hebrews, that as to the law, he was a Pharisee, that as to zeal, he persecuted the church, and that as to the righteousness in the law, he was successful to the point of being blameless. However, all these things were only of himself; whether they were related to his mind, emotion, or will, it was all out of himself. At that time he lived entirely in himself without anything of the death of Christ; he did not have the mold of Christ’s death in his living.
After he became an apostle and especially during his imprisonment, he continually learned the lesson of denying himself and letting the Lord’s death do a work of conformation in him. He continually allowed the Lord’s death to put the seal of death on his mind, emotion, and will. His natural man, natural life, natural thinking, natural strength, natural will, and natural preferences all bore the seal of Christ’s death on the cross, and in him there was the mold of Christ’s death. In him people could see a situation, a condition, in which a sound man was denying himself. He was a man standing in death, rejecting his self. He was a man who denied himself and who put himself in death so that God could have a way out from him. The mold of Christ’s death was in Paul.
We cannot have such a mold simply by hearing, believing, and accepting a message. This mold is the result of conformity, of being conformed, which takes ten to twenty years, or at least five to eight years. It comes from continually learning the lesson and taking the way of always denying the self and not relying on the self in serving God or in doing the Lord’s work. Not only do we not rely on our intelligence, talent, wisdom, and ability, but we also do not rely on our preferences, emotions, and even less, on our opinions and our will. Rather, we continually put these things of the soul to death so that Christ, the Holy Spirit, and God will have the ground in us and a way to come out of us. This kind of condition indicates that the mold of death has been imprinted on us; such a death is the death of Christ.
When we have the mold of Christ’s death imprinted on us, as soon as people come into contact with us, they can sense that we are intelligent, rich in emotion, and strong in our will. However, they can also sense that there is a deep, clear, and distinct seal of death in our intelligence, emotion, and will. Although we have an intelligent mind, a rich emotion, and a strong will, we refuse to use them and even dare not to use them. In our mind, emotion, and will there is a very deep mold, which is the seal that has been imprinted on us by the death of Christ. This shows our conformation to the mold of Christ’s death in Philippians 3.
At the beginning of Philippians 3 the apostle Paul speaks of people who boasted in their strong qualities and their capabilities in serving God and in working for the Lord (vv. 2-4). In response, Paul says, truthfully speaking, that if they could boast in such a way, he could boast all the more and was in no way inferior to them in any of these things. Even if they could boast in their cleverness, Paul was more clever. Even if they could boast in their emotions and capabilities, Paul was more capable. Even if they could boast in their resolve and zeal, Paul was more resolute and zealous.
However, Paul says that he counted as loss the things that were gains to him on account of Christ. Paul was standing in death, putting to death all the things that were gains to him; he no longer allowed himself to live in these things. Paul put himself to death and let Christ live in him and live out of him. By putting himself to death and being in death, Paul allowed Christ to live out of him. If he lived out himself, Christ would have no way. Once Paul put himself to death, however, resurrection came out, and Christ had a way. This mold of death was imprinted onto Paul’s being. In his living, person, and work, there was a seal — the death of Christ.
Learning to live in the fellowship of life does not mean that we need to continuously pray behind closed doors. Many people think that this kind of prayer before the Lord is to live in the fellowship of life. This is not wrong, but strictly speaking, a person learning to live in the fellowship of life must see that fellowship is of life and that this life is the Holy Spirit in our spirit. In order to live in the fellowship of life, we must learn to live in the spirit. This is the basic lesson. In order to learn to live in the spirit, we must learn to deny the self and to thoroughly and seriously reject whatever is of our mind, emotion, and will. Only in this way can we live in the spirit. Only when we truly live in the spirit can we sense the fellowship of life that is in the Spirit.
If we have not learned the lesson of being conformed to the mold of the Lord’s death, we are still living according to ourselves, that is, we love by ourselves, express opinions by ourselves, and make decisions by ourselves. We do not have the experience of death if we have not allowed the death of Christ to be imprinted on our mind, nor allowed the death of Christ to kill our mind. As such, we will live according to our thinking, and we will let our thoughts be loose instead of holding them back. Therefore, when we desire to turn from our mind to our spirit to have fellowship with the Lord, it will be impossible because our mind will not listen to us. When we desire to adjust our mind, it will not respond, because we have indulgently and loosely lived in our mind much of the time.
In our living we must continually learn the lesson of allowing the Holy Spirit to apply the death of Christ in our mind. In our daily living and contact with people and matters, we need to let the death of Christ do a killing work in our mind. We must learn to deny our mind in everything. If our mind bears the mold of Christ’s death, we will easily be able to live in the spirit, and without much effort, we will be able to turn back to the inner man.
If we desire to learn the inward fellowship of life, we must allow the Holy Spirit to continually kill everything in our mind, emotion, and will, continually putting every part of our soul to death. This is the reason the Holy Spirit often raises up a specific environment to deal with us; this is the discipline of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit conquers our mind, overcomes our emotion, and subdues our will through the things we encounter. Furthermore, in coordination with His work through the outward environment, the Holy Spirit also works within us to put us in the place of death. He does this time after time and little by little until we are put to death completely.
Real growth before the Lord involves the breaking of our self, and it involves being put to death little by little. We often think that a person’s growth depends on his ability to give a better message, to study the Bible more thoroughly, and to handle matters more skillfully. Such things, however, are not indications of real growth. However, when the saints can testify that a brother, who lived by his natural mind, emotion, and will, has been deeply touched by the Lord in his mind, has been dealt with by the Lord in his emotion, and has been broken by the Lord in his will, we should worship God and acknowledge that this person has grown. If this is the case, then the marks of death, the mold of death, and the seal of death surely have been increased in this brother’s mind, emotion, and will. A person can discern the spirit from the soul only when his self has been dealt with sufficiently by God. When the natural man has been dealt with severely enough by God, he will not rely on his soul but rather learn to live by the spirit.
Peace Wang was a sister who learned many spiritual lessons. She always handled matters calmly, being neither quick nor slow. On one occasion she was going to northern China. As she was about to board the boat, people were rushing to get off the boat, and others were rushing to get on the boat. The sisters who were seeing her off were quite anxious, but she remained calm and was not hurried at all. The sisters were very impressed by this and felt that they should imitate her by being calm and composed. However, this kind of imitation is useless. A person who has not dealt with his emotion is always in turmoil. If a person constantly allows God to deal with his emotion, his emotion will be broken. It can be compared to an amplifier that cannot give out sound or a torn eardrum that cannot hear. Only those whose emotions have been smitten, broken, and touched by God and have been dealt with by the cross can remain calm and be neither fast nor slow regardless of the circumstances. Such calmness cannot be imitated.
When everything around us is peaceful, we may be like Mary, who sat calmly at the Lord’s feet and listened to His words. But as soon as we hear that our children are sick, we panic and cannot be quiet even for two minutes to ask the Lord where we should take our children. If a man who is full of emotion has been broken in God’s hands, he can remain calm and unhurried even when he hears that his child is sick. This does not mean that he is calm because of his own efforts but that his faculty of panicking, in other words, his emotion, has been broken. This can be compared to a light bulb that cannot shine even when the electricity is switched on, because it has a broken filament. When our emotional “filament” has been broken by God, we will surely remain unhurried inwardly no matter what news we hear. If we hear about a matter that concerns us and are able to react to it as if we were bystanders, this is a proof that the emotional “filament” within us has been broken. This is not something we can imitate outwardly; we will respond in this way only when the unsteady “filament” in us has been broken. Every part of our soul needs to be gradually broken and shattered by God.
There was a brother who complained that he had no way to pray because of the noise related to living with four other brothers. When we asked him how he could pray, he said that it was best when he was alone in a quiet room. When we are alone in our room, our mind often wanders. We all have had this experience. When we are really alone in our room, our mind often wanders to New York, Washington, London, Shanghai, and Tokyo. In less than half an hour we can travel around the whole world. Hence, we should not complain about the environment or blame others for disturbing us. All the real distractions are within us. If the “filament” of these distractions was broken, we would be able to pray even if there were people quarreling around us.
Some have truly learned the lesson in these matters. There was a brother who was led by the Lord to cast out many demons. While the experience of casting out demons is not very deep, the lesson that this brother learned before the Lord was deep. On one occasion, a woman was possessed by a demon, and her husband asked the brother to come and cast the demon out. He came with another brother, and they knelt down together to pray. While they were praying, the woman possessed by the demon took a pair of scissors and started to make a noise with the handles. However, the brother continued to pray. The demon-possessed woman then walked toward the brother, holding the scissors in her hand. This brother, however, was not disturbed and continued to pray without being affected. The demon-possessed woman, however, continued to make noise with the scissors as she walked back and forth beside the brother. The situation was truly frightening.
At a certain point the brother had a sense from the Holy Spirit within him. He immediately stopped praying and said, “Lord, in Your name I command this demon to stop and be still.” The woman stopped and put down the scissors. The brother then stood up with the other brother and said, “In the name of Jesus the Nazarene, I command you to leave her body.” Then the demon came out. The noise and disturbance at the scene were truly extreme, but this brother was able to continue to pray and be restful before the Lord. This shows that his emotion, which otherwise would have been affected, and his mind, which otherwise would have been susceptible to fluctuations, had been dealt with to a considerable extent.
If we desire to learn the lesson of the cross properly, we must learn to continually put our mind, emotion, and will to death in every matter in our daily living. If we are easily moved in our emotion to like someone or can easily be stumbled by others and have a negative feeling toward them, we will find it very difficult to turn back to our spirit when we try to pray. We must all learn the lesson of not letting the death of the cross become a doctrine but rather of letting it be executed in every part of our being. We must be clear that if we freely do things according to our mind, emotion, and will, it will be impossible to turn our being when it is time to pray. We can turn back to our inner man only when we allow the Holy Spirit the opportunity to continually deal with us through the cross in our everyday situations.
Our being needs to be conformed to Christ’s death until our mind, emotion, and will have the seal of death. This means that even though our mind, emotion, and will still exist, they have been broken. When situations arise, we can be unmoved in our mind, emotion, and will, and none of these inner parts will function in themselves because they have been broken by God. At such a time, we will be able to turn to our inner man because the outer man has been broken. This is not a doctrine but a very serious lesson.
As we are learning the lesson of being in the death of the cross, our outer man is decaying and being broken day by day, and our inner man is being renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16). Our soul is being broken, but our spirit is being built up: this is the way of fellowshipping with the Lord. Every day we need to designate a certain time to pray to the Lord and have personal fellowship with Him. Even when the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He often went up to the mountain alone to pray (Matt. 14:23; Luke 6:12). However, the basic point is that our mind, emotion, and will must be dealt with by the cross in normal situations so that when we fellowship with the Lord in prayer, we will not be distracted by the things of our outer man.
Many people encounter problems when they pray, that is, their mind wanders and daydreams a great deal. There is nothing that can help us with this apart from allowing the cross to deal with our mind in our daily situations. If our mind has been dealt with, it will spontaneously focus and listen to us when we pray. Dealing with any problem hinges on Christ and His crucifixion. This is not a matter of doctrine; it is a matter of the cross in the Holy Spirit becoming a reality in our daily experience to deal with our natural man. This is the only way for Christ to have the ground in us and for us to touch spiritual reality. May the Lord have mercy on us so that we will learn the lesson of the cross and be kept in the way of fellowship with the Lord and of prayer.
