Please turn to the letter to the Philippians. We will read a few verses.
Philippians 1:21
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Philippians 2:5-8
Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men;
and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
Philippians 3:13-14
Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,
I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things in Him that strengtheneth me.
Or, to put it more correctly: “I have strength for all things through Him who empowers me.”
Let us look to the Lord in prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, how we do praise and thank Thee for Thy precious Son, the unspeakable gift that Thou hast given to us. We do treasure this gift very, very much.
Our Father, we do ask that Thou wilt continue to open our eyes to see Thy Son. Make Him even more precious than ever before to us. Make us think that without Him, where would we be?
O Lord, we do pray that we may truly see Him as Thou hast seen Him. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
Last Lord’s Day, we shared on the letter to the Ephesians. The letter to the Ephesians gives us the very height of Christian teaching.
This morning, we would like to continue with the letter to the Philippians. This letter gives us the very depth of Christian living.
In Ephesians, we find the height of teaching. There can be nothing higher than that, because there we see the eternal purpose of God, which is Christ Jesus. It is the will of God that His Son should have the first place in all things, that He is to sum up all things, that He is to be the all in all.
I believe we cannot find any teaching higher than that. Then, in the letter to the Philippians, we find the very depth of living. Why? Because it is said, “For me to live is Christ.” Can you find a deeper life than that?
These two epistles were written by one person, the Apostle Paul. That shows us that teaching and living are inseparable. We need teaching, for teaching without living is just theoretical. Living without proper teaching is undisciplined and limited.
Thank God, side by side we have the letter to the Ephesians and the letter to the Philippians. We need teaching, and we need living.
In this letter to the Philippians, we will see Christ in our daily life—or, to put it another way, seeing Christ in Christian experience.
Of all the letters written by the Apostle Paul, this is perhaps the most intimate letter written by him. He wrote this letter to the church in Philippi.
If you read Acts 16, you know that Philippi was the first place in Europe where the gospel was preached. Before that time, the gospel was preached in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and in Asia. But here you find that the Holy Spirit led the Apostle Paul to cross the Aegean into Europe. The first place where the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached in Europe was Philippi.
There God gathered a group of believers together unto the name of the Lord Jesus. This church in Philippi had such an intimate relationship with the Apostle Paul. Paul loved this church very much, and the brothers and sisters there loved Paul very much.
They had had this relationship for a long period, because when Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, it was ten years after he first stepped into the city of Philippi. Through those ten years, they maintained a very intimate, loving relationship.
Here Paul, in prison in Rome, wrote this letter to those whom he loved very dearly and by whom he was loved very dearly, too. So it was a love letter.
Now, even though in this letter you find very deep teaching—for instance, in Philippians 2, you find very deep teaching concerning Christ—this letter is not basically for teaching. This letter is really a fellowship, a sharing of love.
Of all the letters written by the Apostle Paul, there are two letters that reveal Paul the most: 2 Corinthians and Philippians. In 2 Corinthians, Paul is revealed to us as Paul the apostle. But here, in the letter to the Philippians, he is revealed to us as Paul the man, the person.
In 2 Corinthians, spiritual authority is in view. But here in Philippians, it is love that is in view. So, in this letter, Paul reveals himself to the saints in Philippi. He unveils, as it were, the very secret of his life as a Christian.
This is something that we would like to learn together this morning.
Life is made up of experiences. What we experience day after day makes up our life eventually.
It is more than just knowledge; it is experiential knowledge. You know, the knowledge that the Bible speaks about is epignosis, which is full and experiential knowledge.
The knowledge of Jesus Christ is not a theoretical, speculative kind of knowledge. The knowledge of God, the knowledge of Jesus Christ, is not only full, but it is experiential. That is to say, it can be experienced.
Therefore, knowing Christ is not just knowing about Him. That does not make up our Christian life. Knowing Christ is to experience Him, and experiencing Him makes up our Christian life.
So Christian life actually is a life of experiencing Christ Jesus. The more you experience Christ, the deeper your Christian life goes. And the less, of course, that you experience Christ, then the shallower will be your Christian life.
When Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians, we know that he was imprisoned in Rome. For the sake of the gospel, he was a prisoner.
Even though he was allowed to stay in his own hired apartment, he was, of course, in the area where the imperial guards were stationed. We are told that, when he was there as a prisoner in Rome, twenty-four hours a day and night there would be an imperial guard chained together with him.
It was a long chain, of course, but nevertheless he was chained to an imperial guard twenty-four hours a day. There was never a time of privacy. He was always under the eyes of a Roman guard.
When he received friends, visitors, brothers, and sisters, and talked about the Lord, a guard would be there. When he was resting at night, a guard was there. There was absolutely no privacy.
He was there waiting to be judged by the emperor, who was, at that time, Nero. He never knew when he would have the opportunity of such an appearance. He had to wait and wait until it pleased the emperor to hear him.
We know he was there for two years. Everything was suspended there. Nothing was happening. The outcome, of course, was uncertain, and Paul had to live that kind of life day after day.
He was a very active person, but he was confined to his apartment. He was not able to travel. He was not able to go out to meet with people. He lived a very restricted life.
While he was in prison, his imprisonment was known by all—the imperial guards and everybody—that he was there not because he had committed any crime. He was there because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This very chapter tells us that some preached the gospel out of love, and yet there were also some who preached the gospel out of jealousy. We do not know exactly who these people were. Probably they were the Judaizers who followed Paul all his life, or perhaps they were somebody else.
But one thing we do know: some people preached the gospel out of love, but there were people who preached the gospel out of jealousy and contention. In other words, these people preached the gospel not because of Christ; they preached the gospel in order to add affliction to the Apostle Paul.
Now, I think if we were put in that kind of circumstance, probably we would be overwhelmed by all these adverse circumstances.
Yet you find that, under such circumstances, Paul was not only not overwhelmed, but he overwhelmed all his circumstances. He wrote one of the most joyous letters of the Bible.
In this letter to the Philippians, you find the word “joy,” and its equivalents, repeated sixteen times in this short epistle. In other words, he was overflowing with joy. He was able to share his joy with the Philippian believers.
You know, life is lived in many circumstances. We do not live in a vacuum. We live in all kinds of circumstances.
Some people say that we are the product of our circumstances. But probably, if we want to say it more accurately, we may say that we are the product of our reaction to our circumstances. In other words, how do we react to our circumstances?
Circumstances change, evermore, just like the four years—sometimes you have spring, sometimes you have summer, sometimes you have autumn, and sometimes you have winter.
But these circumstances, we believe, are ordered by our God. God rules and overrules our circumstances. Yes, it is true: sometimes our circumstances are caused by the adversary, but with the permission of our God.
You remember our Lord Jesus said, “Do not be afraid. The very hairs of your head have been numbered by your heavenly Father.”
Every morning when we comb our hair, somehow some hairs fall. Probably you never count how many. Of course, you do not know how many hairs you have in the first place.
But our Lord Jesus said, “The very hairs of your head are numbered.” Not only counted, but numbered. In other words, every hair of your head has a number.
In the morning, when you comb your hair, number 1,003 and number 3,004 may fall. God knows exactly which number of hair has fallen. Now, that is the care of your heavenly Father—very minute, insignificant, not worth even being noticed by men, but our heavenly Father knows everything.
Our Lord said that a penny would buy two sparrows, but two pennies would get five sparrows. Why? Sparrows are so cheap that, when you buy two pennies’ worth, one sparrow will be thrown in. In other words, that odd bird was nothing.
But the Lord said, even that one will not fall to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. How much more valuable are you than the sparrows?
Now, this is the loving care of our heavenly Father. Remember, it is this heavenly Father who has ordered all our circumstances.
Whether our circumstances are favorable or adverse, remember, it is all under the control of our heavenly God. In other words, He puts us in our circumstances with a reason.
In our circumstances, He wants us to find out the secret of Christian living. Circumstances are opportunities to learn Christ.
You know, it is very strange. Two persons can be under the same circumstances, but they can come out very differently.
For instance, Abraham and Lot. You find that they left Ur of the Chaldees together. They went to Canaan together. They went down to Egypt together. They returned to Canaan together. They were in the same circumstances, and yet you find them so different afterwards.
Saul and David both went through all kinds of circumstances. But Saul failed in prosperity, and David succeeded in adversity.
Do not think that a good environment or good circumstances will always produce good results. Sometimes it is just the contrary. It is not the circumstance; it is the secret of reaction. It is the secret of the life within.
If you have mastered this secret, then you will find that you can be in any circumstance, and the result will be increase. The result will be a deeper experience of Christ Jesus.
So, dear brothers and sisters, here you find Paul writing this letter to the Philippians. He was in such bad circumstances. Think of the Philippian believers: they were free. They were not chained.
Yet you find that these Philippian believers, even though, when you compare their circumstances with Paul’s, they were in far better circumstances, were nevertheless under the weather. Why? Because there was some little problem in their midst.
Basically, there were two leading sisters. They all loved the Lord, but somehow they developed a kind of rivalry. Because of this rivalry between these two leading sisters, they cast a cloud over the whole assembly. They lost their joy. They were under the cloud, and yet Paul was joyful.
What was the secret?
Paul opens his heart to these brothers and sisters whom he loves. He is trying to tell them that, in whatever circumstance you may be, there is a secret. If you know that secret, then circumstances do not matter. What matters is that you master that secret.
What is that secret? “For me to live is Christ.”
Now, Paul does not say, “I am Christ.” You know, some people today say, “I am Christ.” No.
When people went to John the Baptist and said, “Are you the Messiah? Are you the Christ?” John the Baptist said, “Oh, no, I am not. I am just a voice in the wilderness.”
Paul never said, “I am Christ,” as some people would say. Paul said, “For me to live is Christ.”
Now, of course, it is true that for us to live is for Christ. That is true. If we are not living for Christ, then what are we living for? There is nothing else worth living for.
But Paul does not say that here. Paul does not say, “For me to live, I hope, will be Christ.” No. That would be an expectation. Paul makes a statement of fact: “For me to live is Christ.”
I am not Christ, but for me to live is Christ. Why is it? Because it is not I, but Christ who lives in me.
Actually, the explanation of this verse is found in Galatians 2:20.
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me:
and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.
Dear brothers and sisters, if we live by ourselves, no matter who we are, we are no match for our circumstances. One day, some circumstance will find you out.
You may live by yourself, by your own strength, your own cleverness, your own wisdom, and your own will. You may be able to live for a time. You may be able to weather your circumstances for a time. But there will come a time in your life when you find that your circumstance is more than you can take.
Sooner or later, you will find it happens. Why? Because no one is able to live the Christian life in this world—not even Paul.
There is only one way in which you can meet all kinds of circumstances, whether smooth or rough, whether prosperity or adversity, hunger or fullness. There is only one way for you to live a Christian life, and that is to say, “Not I, but Christ.”
Or, “I am crucified with Christ.” I know that I cannot live a Christian life. I know that I cannot meet all the circumstances in the world. I know that if I try to do it, sooner or later I will collapse.
Thank God, when Christ died on the cross, God put me in Him and crucified me with Him.
Paul acknowledged this. Brothers and sisters, do you not know that God has already pronounced over you a verdict? That verdict was carried out two thousand years ago on Calvary’s cross.
The verdict is: you must stop, because you are not able to live. You cannot be improved, reformed, or changed. God says, “You are finished. I have finished you on Calvary. When Christ died, you died in Him.”
Will you accept that? Do you think that you are too good, too clever, too powerful, that you can still live? If you do, then you will not accept that fact.
But if you acknowledge that there is no good in you—that is, in your flesh—there is no strength in you, you cannot do it, you cannot make it, it is beyond you, then, brothers and sisters, it is the easiest and most natural thing to do: to declare, “I am crucified with Christ.”
“No longer live I.” Now, who is living? It is Christ. That is the reason why Paul said, “For me to live is Christ.”
Yes, I am living. I am living in circumstances. But it is not I who live; it is Christ who lives in me. He is living out His life through me.
Because Christ lives, no circumstance is too difficult for Christ. You will find that life is resurrection life. It is life out of death, and it always comes up and never goes under.
“For me to live is Christ.”
Dear brothers and sisters, ask yourselves this question: Have we discovered this secret? Christ in you, the hope of glory.
We who believe in the Lord Jesus all have Christ in us. If you do not have Christ in you, you are not Christ’s.
When we believe in the Lord Jesus, Christ comes into us. He is in every believer. But remember, He is in you as life. That is to say, He is in you to live.
He is in you to live for you. Brothers and sisters, if we can only see this, then daily, when we open our eyes, we can just lift up our hearts to the Lord and say, “Thank God, here is another day to live.”
There are circumstances in which I have to live throughout this day, but thank God, it is not I; it is Christ who lives. If day by day you just stand on this fact—“For me to live is Christ”—how different your life will be.
There is nothing impossible with Him. Do not look at circumstances; look at Christ. Do not blame your circumstances. If you have Christ, your circumstances will serve you.
Romans 8:28
And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to His purpose.
The story was told about Saint Augustine. We know that Saint Augustine, before he was saved, was a brilliant young man.
He became a professor of rhetoric when he was, I think, in his early twenties. A professor of rhetoric at that time was the highest seat of professorship in the university.
He lived a very dissipated life. He committed many sins. But then, thank God, he was saved.
After he was saved, one day he was walking on the street. Suddenly, he heard a voice behind him calling his name—a woman’s voice. But he would not turn around.
Finally, that woman caught up with him and said, “Augustine, do you not know me?”
Augustine said, “Who are you talking to? The one whom you knew is dead.”
Brothers and sisters, that is the secret: “For me to live is Christ.”
But sometimes you think, “Yes, I do have the life of Christ in me. Christ lives in me. I know that. But why is it that I still live and He does not live?”
“How can I release His life in me? Where is the button? Is there any key that can open the way for the life of Christ to come forth instead of myself?”
Now, there is. That is the reason why, in Philippians 2, Paul mentions the matter of the mind of Christ.
Philippians 2:5
Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, you know, life can be blocked or it can be released through the mind.
It is just like in your home. You have a water tower full of water. But if your faucet is shut, no water will come out. You have to open the faucet, and then the water will flow.
This is the same thing with our Christian living. We have all the resources within us: Christ, our life. That is the resource.
These resources are unsearchably rich. They cannot be exhausted. He is abundant. He is there. But somehow you find that it is shut. All you need to do is open the faucet, and that is our mind.
Let me explain it this way. In Romans, we know that Romans can be divided into two parts.
One is from Romans 1 through Romans 11. There you find the mercies of God. God has done so much for us in Christ Jesus. He has done everything for us in Christ Jesus.
If you want your sins to be forgiven, it is in Christ Jesus. If you want to overcome the power of sin, it is in Christ Jesus. If you want to live a holy life, it is in Christ Jesus. Everything is in Christ Jesus.
God has done everything for you in Christ Jesus. In other words, God has given Christ to you by His mercies, and this Christ is in you. All the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies are in Him and in you.
Then Romans 12 through Romans 16 speak of practical living. After we have received all the mercies of God, we have stored all the mercies of God within us. Then let these flow out to the glory of God.
But at the transition, you have Romans 12:1-2.
Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
You have the life of Christ in you. Now, you need to open it up. How do you do that? By the renewing of your mind.
You hear the Greek philosopher say, “I think; therefore I am.” In other words, your thinking has much to do with what you are.
What you set your mind upon, what occupies your mind, what you evaluate in your mind, what you consider important or not important—your viewpoint, the way you look at things—all these have much to do with the way you live.
You have the life in you. Now, how are you going to live? That has much to do with your mind.
You know, dear brothers and sisters, even though we are saved and have a new life in us, our mind is still old.
Even though we are saved, you find that our minds still think in the way that the people in the world think. We still consider things in the world as important, precious, and dear to us.
We still go after these things. We still evaluate things in the way that we did before we were saved. Because of that, no wonder we still go the old way.
Our minds need to be renewed.
God has done everything for us by giving us the life of His beloved Son. In that life is all that you need. But there is one thing God will not and does not do for you. It is something that you have to do yourself.
You have to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.
Now, brothers and sisters, even though God purchased you with a price, even the blood of His beloved Son, and you belong to Him by right, God never forces anyone. He wants voluntary service.
In other words, God says, “Now look at what I have done for you. Look at what I have given to you. I have given Christ to you. He is yours.”
But if you want to live by His life, one thing you have to do: you have to present your bodies as a living sacrifice to Me.
What is a sacrifice? A sacrifice is something given to God for His consumption. Therefore sacrifice is called food—God’s food. Let God be satisfied with the sacrifice.
So, in other words, today we who belong to the Lord are to be a living sacrifice. That is to say, every day we live, we are for His pleasure.
We do not live here for our own pleasure or for our own enjoyment. We live here as a sacrifice to God. We live here for Him, for His pleasure, for His satisfaction, for His will, and for His purpose.
This is something that you have to present yourself to God.
The wonderful thing is, when you present your body as a living sacrifice to God, something happens to your mind. The Holy Spirit renews your mind.
In other words, the Holy Spirit so renews your mind that you begin to see things differently. You begin to value things differently. You begin to look at things differently.
What you treasured before becomes refuse to you. What you despised before suddenly becomes very precious to you.
Now, let us use Paul as an illustration. In Philippians 3, Paul said that before he knew the Lord, he boasted in his heritage.
He was a Jew. He was of the tribe of Benjamin. He was circumcised on the eighth day. According to the law, he was brought up as a Pharisee who kept the law. According to the righteousness of the law, he was blameless.
In other words, he considered these things very valuable, and because of that, this was the way he lived. He said, “I lived as a Pharisee.”
But after he came to the Lord, after he surrendered his life to Christ, what happened? He said, “What things were gain to me, these have I counted loss.”
“I count all things as refuse, as nothing. I am willing to let everything go for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.”
Brothers and sisters, that is the renewed mind. A renewed mind. We need a renewed mind.
But for this renewed mind, you have to do something. You have to present your body as a living sacrifice. You have to give yourself to God. You have to give up your right over your life. You have to let Him manage your life.
If you do, then you find that the Holy Spirit will do the work of renewing your mind. Then you will find that the faucet is open.
When your mind is renewed, what do you see? You see that you know that in your flesh there is no good. Therefore, it is right for God to have you crucified with Christ. You take it.
With a renewed mind, you begin to see, “Why should I continue to struggle? Christ lives in me, and what a glorious life He lived when He was on earth. Why not let Him live again in and through me?” That will be the happiest thing to do. You let Him live.
Where do you live? Brothers and sisters, remember that this life is not stagnant at all. This life is a life that continues to grow.
Therefore Paul says, “I do not say that I have attained. I do not say I have arrived.” He said, “I am pressing on to that which is before me, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
“I want to possess that for which I was possessed by God.” Brothers and sisters, this life is thrilling. This life is progressing all the time—to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, that I may attain unto the out-resurrection from among the dead.
Brothers and sisters, it is a continual gaining of Christ. As you experience Christ more and more, your Christian life deepens more and more.
Sometimes I like to use an illustration which is not very good, but you will forgive me for doing that.
When I was a boy in Shanghai, we had a racecourse. There were racecourses for greyhounds. They raised the greyhounds, and I had never been there, but I was told that when they raced these greyhounds, they could not let them go without an object to pursue.
So they used an electric rabbit. When they raced the greyhounds, they would let the electric rabbit go before the greyhounds. Of course, all the greyhounds would pursue the rabbit, trying to catch it. Of course, it ran very fast.
Sometimes I feel that our Christian life is like that. We are running all the time, but you cannot run without an object, without a goal. Here you find Christ is our goal.
He is not only the life within us, but He is also the goal outside of us. We are running after Christ.
But the strange thing is, if you are never able to catch up with Him, you will be disappointed. So you find that from time to time you are allowed to catch Him.
But after you catch Him for a while, suddenly you find that He is running ahead of you again, and you have to run again. That is the Christian life.
Paul said, “I do not say that I have attained.” Of course, he had attained a lot, but still he said, “He is before me. I have to press on, forgetting the things that are behind and pursuing that which is before.”
Brothers and sisters, this is Christian living. It is a life lived by Christ, and it is a life pursuing Christ as the prize. A glorious life—a Christian life that will never grow old.
There is always something ahead of you because He is always ahead of you. You know, that is Christ.
Again and again, you find in the Scriptures, in the New Testament, that Christ was passing by. He was going on, and people had to call Him back.
The disciples were rowing in the storm, and you find Christ walking on the water. But He was not walking to the boat; He was walking past the boat. They had to call Him back.
You remember that He was walking with the two disciples to Emmaus. When they came to Emmaus, Christ was walking on. They said, “Oh, no, stay here and have supper with us.”
That is the way. We have to catch up with Him sometimes, and then we have to catch up again. This is Christian living, brothers and sisters.
Again, we ask: How do you get into that kind of Christian living? It is not natural. You need to be initiated into it.
Paul said, “I have been initiated into this kind of living. I know how to be abased. I know how to abound. I know how to be hungry. I know how to live in prosperity. I know how to live in adversity. I have been initiated into it.”
What was he initiated into? He said, “I can do all things through Him who empowers me.”
Now, do you want to be initiated into this? Do you want to be initiated into, “I can do all things through Him who empowers me”? How? Through experience, through circumstances.
God arranges your circumstances that you may be initiated into Christ, into the all-sufficiency of Christ.
I wonder if I can say how Paul was initiated into this. Probably in 2 Corinthians 12, you know, Paul had a thorn in his flesh.
We are told repeatedly that this thorn was actually not a tiny thorn; it was a stake. Paul had a stake driven into his flesh. That was the circumstance which weakened him. It put him to shame.
It was a kind of drawback to him in his preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because of this, he prayed three times, “O God, remove that stake. You can do it. Change my circumstance, that I may be strong.”
Then God answered, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”
Instead of removing the stake, changing the circumstance for him, God said, “Let My grace rise up so high that you are able to overcome this thing.”
Just like our brother Watchman Nee said, sometimes God can remove the rock so that the boat can sail through. At other times, He can raise the water so that the boat can sail through.
Here you find that God says, “I will not remove the stake, but I will raise the water. My grace is sufficient.”
Paul was initiated into this secret: “I can do all things through Him who empowers me.”
Brothers and sisters, do not despise your circumstances. Do not murmur against your circumstances. Do not always pray that God will change your circumstances. Sometimes He does.
But take these circumstances as opportunities for you to experience Christ. If you learn to experience Christ in one circumstance, then, when another circumstance comes, you are initiated into it.
You will be able to rise above your circumstances and come into knowing Christ in your daily life.
So, dear brothers and sisters, this is the letter to the Philippians. Paul here reveals the secret of Christian living to us. May we learn it.
Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do worship Thee because Thou hast already put that secret of living in us: Christ, our life.
We do pray that Thou wilt open our eyes to see it. Thou wilt also renew our minds, that Thy life may be lived through us.
We pray that we may, in our circumstances, be initiated into that secret: “I can do all things through Him who empowers me.”
May it be revealed to every brother and sister here in this place, that Thy name may be glorified. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.