how becoming well,
Together such as brethren are
In unity to dwell!
There is peace for no one where there are broken human relationships and strife between individuals. There is no lovelier sight than a family linked in love to each other, or a church whose members are one with each other, because they are one in Christ Jesus their Lord.
(5) There is the joy of suffering for Christ (2:17). In the hour of his martyrdom in the flames, Bishop Polycarp prayed: ‘I thank you, O Father, that you have judged me worthy of this hour.’ To suffer for Christ is a privilege, for it is an opportunity to demonstrate beyond any question of doubt where our loyalty lies and to share in the upbuilding of the kingdom of God.
(6) There is the joy of news of the loved one (2:28). Life is full of separations, and there is always joy when news comes to us of those loved ones from whom we are temporarily separated. A great Scottish preacher once spoke of the joy that can be given with a postage stamp. It is worth remembering how easily we can bring joy to those who love us and how easily we can bring anxiety, by keeping in touch or failing to keep in touch with them.
(7) There is the joy of Christian hospitality (2:29). There is the home of the shut door, and there is the home of the open door. The shut door is the door of selfishness; the open door is the door of Christian welcome and Christian love. It is a great thing to have a door from which the stranger and the one in trouble know that they will never be turned away.
(8) There is the joy of those who are in Christ (3:1, 4:1). We have already seen that to be in Christ is to live in his presence as the bird lives in the air, the fish in the sea, and the roots of the trees in the soil. It is human nature to be happy when we are with the person whom we love; and Christ is the one from whose love nothing in time or eternity can ever separate us.
(9) There is the joy of those who have won other souls for Christ (4:1). The Philippians are Paul’s joy and crown, for he was the means of bringing them to Jesus Christ. It is the joy of parents, teachers and preachers to bring others, especially children, into the love of Jesus Christ. Surely those who enjoy a great privilege cannot rest content until they share it with their families and friends. For Christians, evangelism is not a duty; it is a joy.
(10) There is the joy in a gift (4:10). This joy lies not so much in the gift itself as in being remembered and realizing that someone cares. This is a joy that we could bring to others more often than we do.
THE MARKS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
2. CHRISTIAN SACRIFICE
Philippians 1:3–11 (contd)
IN verse 6, Paul says that he is confident that God, who has begun a good work in the Philippians, will complete it so that they will be ready for the day of Christ. There is a picture here in the Greek text which it is not possible to reproduce in translation. The point is that the words Paul uses for to begin (enarchesthai) and for to complete (epitelein) are technical terms for the beginning and the ending of a sacrifice.
There was an initial ritual in connection with a Greek sacrifice. A torch was lit from the fire on the altar and then dipped into a bowl of water to cleanse the water with its sacred flame; and with the purified water the victim and the people were sprinkled to make them holy and clean. Then followed what was known as the euphēmia, the sacred silence, in which the worshippers were meant to make their prayers to their god. Finally a basket of barley was brought, and some grains of the barley were scattered on the victim and on the ground round about it. These actions were the beginning of the sacrifice, and the technical term for making this beginning was the verb enarchesthai, which Paul uses here. The verb used for completing the whole ritual of sacrifice was the verb epitelein, which Paul uses here for to complete. Paul’s whole sentence thinks in terms and pictures of sacrifice.
Paul is seeing the life of every Christian as a sacrifice ready to be offered to Jesus Christ. It is the same picture as the one that he draws in Romans when he urges Christians to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1).
On the day when Christ comes, it will be like the coming of a king. On such a day, the king’s subjects are required to present him with gifts to mark their loyalty and to show their love. The only gift Jesus Christ desires from us is ourselves. So, our supreme task is to make our lives fit to offer to him. Only the grace of God can enable us to do that.
THE MARKS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
3. CHRISTIAN PARTNERSHIP
Philippians 1:3–11 (contd)
IN this passage, the idea of Christian partnership is strongly stressed. There are certain things which Christians share.
(1) Christians are partners in grace. They are people who owe a common debt to the grace of God.
(2) Christians are partners in the work of the gospel. Christians not only share a gift, they also share a task; and that task is the furtherance of the gospel. Paul uses two words to express the work of Christians for the sake of the gospel; he speaks of the defence and the confirmation of the gospel. The defence (apologia) of the gospel means its defence against the attacks which come from outside. Christians have to be ready to be defenders of the faith and to give a reason for the hope that is in them. The confirmation (bebaiōsis) of the gospel is the building up of its strength from within, the spiritual encouragement of Christians. Christians must further the gospel by defending it against the attacks of its enemies and by building up the faith and devotion of its friends.
(3) Christians are partners in suffering for the gospel. Whenever Christians are called upon to suffer for the sake of the gospel, they must find strength and comfort in the memory that they are part of a great fellowship in every age and every generation and every land who have suffered for Christ rather than deny their faith.
(4) Christians are partners with Christ. In verse 8, Paul uses a very vivid expression. The literal translation is: ‘I yearn for you all with the bowels of Jesus Christ.’ The Greek word for bowels is splagchna. The splagchna were the upper intestines, the heart, the liver and the lungs. These the Greeks believed to be the location of the emotions and the affections. So Paul is saying: ‘I long for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus.’ He is saying: ‘I love you as Jesus loves you.’ The love which Paul feels towards his Christian friends is nothing other than the love of Christ himself. J. B. Lightfoot, the New Testament scholar, writing on this passage, says: ‘The believer has no yearnings apart from his Lord; his pulse beats with the pulse of Christ; his heart throbs with the heart of Christ.’ When we are really one with Jesus, his love goes out through us to our fellow men and women, whom he loves and for whom he died. Christians are partners in the love of Christ.
THE MARKS OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE
4. CHRISTIAN PROGRESS AND THE CHRISTIAN GOAL
Philippians 1:3–11 (contd)
IT was Paul’s prayer for his people that their love would grow greater every day (verses 9–10). That love, which was not merely a matter of sentiment, was to grow in knowledge and in sensitive perception so that they would be more and more able to distinguish between right and wrong. Love is always the way to knowledge. If we love any subject, we want to learn more about it; if we love someone, we want to learn more about that person; if we love Jesus, we will want to learn more about him and about his truth.
Love is always sensitive to the mind and the heart of the one it loves. If it blindly and blunderingly hurts the feelings of the one it claims to love, it is not love at all. If we really love Jesus, we will be sensitive to his will and his desires; the more we love him, the more we will instinctively shrink from what is evil and desire what is right. The word Paul uses for testing the things that differ is dokimazein, which is the word used for testing metal to see that it is genuine. Real love is not blind; it will enable us always to see the difference between the false and the true.
So,