Scripture Reading: Phil. 2:12-16

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 3　DAY 1　»

　　Phil. 2:5-7 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal with God a treasure to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave…

　　12 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much rather in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

　　[The salvation in Philippians 2:12 is] not eternal salvation from God's condemnation and from the lake of fire but the daily salvation that is a living Person. This daily salvation results from taking the very Christ whom we live, experience, and enjoy as our inward as well as outward pattern. The main elements of this salvation are Christ as the crucified life (vv. 5-8) and Christ in His exaltation (vv. 9-11). When this pattern becomes the believers' inward life, the pattern becomes their salvation. Only this would make the apostle's joy full. (Phil. 2:12, footnote 4)

　　The very pattern revealed in Philippians 2:5-11 must now become our salvation. This is indicated by the words so then at the beginning of verse 12. After giving us a clear view of Christ as our wonderful pattern, Paul says, “So then, my beloved,… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” As our pattern, Christ is both inclusive and exclusive. The pattern is exclusive because it excludes everything worldly, fleshly, or sinful. There is no way for negative things to have any part in Him or access to Him. But, on the positive side, He is all-inclusive, for He is the God-man Savior who emptied and humbled Himself and who has been exalted and glorified by God. With such a pattern available to us, we now must work out our own salvation.

　　To work out our salvation is to work out this pattern and to become in our experience a reprint of the pattern. Christ as the pattern can be compared to a page of type used in printing a book, and our subjective experience of the pattern becoming our salvation can be compared to the printing of the pages of a book. In making a book, each page of type is reprinted again and again until there are many copies. In our experience, the God-man Savior should be reprinted and become our subjective salvation. The very salvation we are to work out is Christ as our pattern.

　　For years I did not understand why in Philippians 2:13 Paul spoke of God and not of the Spirit. Now I realize that Paul did this deliberately in order to show us that the Christ who is the pattern for our salvation is the very God operating in us. If we consider the context of this verse, we shall see that Christ as the pattern is also the operating God. Objectively, He is the pattern. Subjectively, when He comes into us and operates within us, He is the operating God. On the cross, He was Christ. But within us, He is the operating God. On the cross He, as Christ, established a pattern for us. But within us He, as God, is the operating One to work out this pattern. Therefore, the pattern is the salvation, and the salvation is the operating God.

　　We may experience the operating God daily as our practical salvation. Whenever we cooperate with God operating in us, we enjoy salvation. God's operation becomes our salvation. Furthermore, this salvation is the reprint, the reproduction, of the pattern. When the pattern is reprinted in us, it becomes our salvation. The reprinting of the pattern is accomplished by God operating in us. (Life-study of Philippians, pp. 378-379, 382)

　　In Philippians 1 salvation comes through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, but in 2:12 salvation comes from the operating God within us. The operating God is actually the Spirit of Jesus Christ. In both these cases salvation is a practical, daily, moment-by-moment salvation. The constant salvation in 1:19 is one in which a particular believer is saved from a specific encounter in a particular situation, whereas the constant salvation in 2:12 is one in which any believer is saved from ordinary things in common situations in his daily living. (Phil. 2:12, footnote 4)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Philippians, msgs. 43, 48-49

«　WEEK 3　DAY 2　»

　　Phil. 2:12-13 So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much rather in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.

　　To work out our own salvation is to carry it out, to bring it to the ultimate conclusion. We have received God's salvation, which has as its climax to be exalted by God in glory as the Lord Jesus was (Phil. 2:9). We need to carry out this salvation, to bring it to its ultimate conclusion, by our constant and absolute obedience with fear and trembling. We have received this salvation by faith. Now we must carry it out by obedience. This includes the genuine oneness in our soul (v. 2). To receive salvation by faith is once for all; to carry it out is lifelong. (Life-study of Philippians, p. 100)

　　In Philippians 2:12 Paul charges us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Fear is the inward motive; trembling is the outward attitude. In verse 13 Paul goes on to say, “For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure.” The word for at the beginning of this verse gives the reason we need to obey always. It is because God operates in us. In God's economy we have the Lord Jesus as our pattern (vv. 6-11), as the standard of our salvation (v. 12), and we also have God operating in us both the willing and the working to carry out our salvation, to bring it to its ultimate conclusion. It is not that we by ourselves carry it out, but that God operates in us to do it. The only thing we need to do is to obey the inner operating of God. The willing Paul speaks of here is inward, whereas the working is outward.

　　To work out salvation is not to accomplish salvation. Rather, it is to carry out through continual obedience the salvation we have received. Paul's word about obedience in verse 12 answers to what he has previously said about Christ becoming obedient (v. 8). A very striking aspect of Christ as our pattern is His obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. As God, Christ first took the major step of emptying Himself, of laying aside the expression of His deity. Then, having emptied Himself and having taken the form of a man, He humbled Himself. This self-humbling is particularly related to obedience. The Bible underscores the importance of obedience. For example, in 1 Samuel 15:22 we are told that to obey is better than sacrifice. We who have received Christ as the pattern of our salvation must learn to always obey with fear and trembling. Within we should have fear as the motive, and without we should have trembling as our attitude, an indication that we have no confidence in ourselves.

　　According to Philippians 2:13, God is operating in us. Our salvation is not merely an action; it is a living Person, the Triune God Himself, operating in us. The God Paul speaks of in verse 13 is the Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

　　In order to prove that God in 2:13 is the Triune God, we need to consider the context of the whole book of Philippians. The last verse of the book, 4:23, says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” Certainly the Lord as the One whose grace is with our spirit is not separate from the God who operates in us. The very Christ who is with our spirit is the God who operates in us. Furthermore, 1:19 speaks of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. There can be no doubt that the Spirit who supplies us is the Spirit who indwells us. But this Spirit cannot be separate from the God who operates in us. If we put all these verses together and consider the context of the book as a whole, we shall see that the God who operates in us is the Triune God. He is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. He is the very God who is Christ in us (2 Cor. 13:3a, 5) and the Spirit dwelling in us (Rom. 8:11). (Life-study of Philippians, pp. 100, 103-104)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Philippians, msg. 12 

«　WEEK 3　DAY 3　»

　　Phil. 2:13-14 For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and reasonings.

　　Eph. 1:5 Predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

　　Where within us does the willing [in Philippians 2:13] take place? It must be in our will. This indicates that God's operation begins from our spirit and spreads into our mind, emotion, and will….The grace of Christ is with our spirit. However, God's operating to will in us involves not only our spirit but also our will. Therefore, God's operation must spread from our spirit into our will. As God operates the willing within us, He carries out His working. This corresponds to Romans 8, where we see that God works not only in our spirit, but also in our mind and eventually in our physical body (vv. 6, 11). We will in our will, and we work in our body. The Triune God operates in us from our spirit, through our will, and then into our physical body. (Life-study of Philippians, p. 104)

　　God's operating is for His good pleasure. His good pleasure is the heart's desire of His will (Eph. 1:5) that we may reach the climax of His supreme salvation. Paul speaks of God's good pleasure. The good pleasure of a mother can be observed in the way she loves her child. Using this as an illustration of God's good pleasure, we may say that God's good pleasure is to love us in a way that makes Him happy. God's working in us is to enable us to reach the climax of His supreme salvation. Praise Him that we are now in God's good pleasure! As He operates in us, we cooperate with Him by obeying Him.

　　Philippians 2:14-16 continues Paul's word about working out our salvation. In verse 12 Paul charges us to work out our salvation, and in verse 13 he tells us that God is operating in us. Now in verse 14 Paul issues a warning: “Do all things without murmurings and reasonings.” Murmurings are out of our emotion, mostly on the part of the sisters; reasonings are out of our mind, mostly on the part of the brothers. Both frustrate us from carrying out our salvation to the fullest extent, from experiencing Christ to the uttermost. The context indicates that if we murmur or reason, we do not obey. Obedience to God slays all murmurings and reasonings. In order to work out our salvation, we must obey the very God who operates in us. He Himself is our salvation, and our obedience to Him is the working out of our salvation. The sisters need to realize that when they murmur, they disobey the God who works within them. Likewise, the brothers need to see that whenever they reason, they are rebellious against the One who operates in them. Only by obedience can murmurings and reasonings be put to death.

　　Paul's word in 2:14 about murmurings and reasonings is a further indication that his purpose in writing the book of Philippians was not related to doctrine, but very much related to experience. Murmurings and reasonings are important factors that frustrate our Christian life. From experience Paul knew that if we would work out our salvation, we need to do all things without murmurings and reasonings. Often in important matters we may not murmur or reason. But in small matters we are prone to murmurings and reasonings. Any kind of murmuring or reasoning is disobedience to the inner working of the Triune God. How we need the Lord to save us from our murmurings and reasonings!

　　We have pointed out that murmurings issue from the emotion, whereas reasonings proceed from the mind…. Again and again we need to be reminded of Paul's word in 2:14. When the sisters are washing dishes in the sisters' house, they should remember not to murmur. As the brothers are taking care of matters in the service groups and the church life, they should remember to do all things without reasonings. They should not reason, but simply serve the Lord in the church. (Life-study of Philippians, pp. 104-105, 107-108, 110)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Philippians, msg. 13 

«　WEEK 3　DAY 4　»

　　Phil. 2:15-16 That you may be blameless and guileless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine as luminaries in the world, holding forth the word of life, so that I may have a boast in the day of Christ that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.

　　In Philippians 2:15 Paul continues, “That you may be blameless and guileless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine as luminaries in the world.” The Greek word rendered “that” means “in order that.” We should do all things without murmurings and reasonings in order that we may be blameless and guileless, children of God without blemish. The Greek word translated “guileless” also means “simple, artless, innocent; hence, harmless” (cf. Matt. 10:16). It comes from a root which means “unmixed.” The word blameless describes our outward behavior, and the word guileless, our inward character. To be artless means not to play politics. No one who is political can rightly be called guileless. If we are artless, we are also guileless and harmless. (Life-study of Philippians, p. 108)

　　In Philippians 2:15 Paul refers to “children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation.” As children of God, we have God's life and nature (2 Pet. 1:4). Being children of God with the divine life and nature, we are luminaries which reflect the light of the sun (Christ). As such, we are without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation. “Without blemish” is the total quality of being blameless and guileless. The Greek word translated “perverted” means “warped or twisted.” There can be no doubt that today's generation is twisted and warped. In this kind of generation we should shine as lights in the world. (Life-study of Philippians, p. 108)

　　[In Philippians 2:15] luminaries reflect the light of the sun. As such luminaries, the believers shine in the world. They do not possess any light in themselves but have a heavenly ability to reflect the light of Christ. Christ is the sun, with the church as the moon and the believers as the planets to reflect Him by holding forth the word of life (v. 16). (Phil. 2:15, footnote 5)

　　In verse 16 Paul goes on to say, “Holding forth the word of life, so that I may have a boast in the day of Christ that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.” The Greek word for holding forth also means “applying, presenting, offering.” As God's children, we need to present the word of life to others.

　　To hold forth Christ is to live out Christ, to express Christ, and to work out our salvation….To work out our salvation is to obey the Triune God who is operating within us both the willing and the working for His good pleasure. Here we have five important, interrelated matters: working out our salvation, obeying God, living Christ, expressing Christ, and holding forth Christ.

　　As a result of God's operating in us, we spontaneously have a life in which the word of life is held forth to others. To hold forth the word of life is to present it to others, to offer it to them, to apply it to them. If God operates in us and we are filled with the Word, then wherever we are and whatever we say or do, we shall be an expression of the living God. This is to hold forth the word of life. This is also to live Christ.

　　In verse 16…the Greek word rendered holding forth means to apply, present, offer. To hold forth the word of life is to present it to others and offer it to them, applying it to them in their situation. Wherever we may be, we need to hold forth the word of life; we need to present the word of life to others. What we offer to those around us should not be words of murmuring or reasoning, nor anything related to crookedness or perverseness. We should offer nothing other than the word of life. To hold forth the word of life is identical to living Christ. Whenever we live Christ, we hold forth the word of life. (Life-study of Philippians, pp. 108-109, 390, 415)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Philippians, msgs. 44, 47 

«　WEEK 3　DAY 5　»

　　Phil. 1:19-21 For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

　　In Philippians 1:19-21a we have salvation, the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the magnifying of Christ, and the living of Christ. In 2:12, 13a, and 16a we have the matters of working out our own salvation, of God operating in us, and of holding forth the word of life. In these two portions of Philippians we have two lines: the first line is salvation, the Spirit, and Christ; the second line is salvation, God, and the word.

　　The very God who operates in us is the supplying Spirit…. In 1:19 Paul says that his circumstances will turn out to his salvation through the bountiful supply of the Spirit. If God does not operate in us, it will not be possible for us to experience the supply from the Spirit. God operates in us in order to bring to us the bountiful supply of the Spirit. This is not mere doctrine; it is a fact of spiritual experience. (Life-study of Philippians, pp. 303, 306)

　　To shine as luminaries [Phil. 2:15] is to magnify Christ. This indicates that the salvation in chapter 2 equals the salvation in chapter 1. The operating God equals the Spirit with the bountiful supply, and shining as luminaries is equal to magnifying Christ.

　　According to 2:16, the way we shine as luminaries is to hold forth the word of life….To hold forth the word of life is to offer such a word to others, to present it to them, and even to apply it to them. This is to minister Christ to others, to offer Christ to them. What do you offer to your family, relatives, neighbors, colleagues, friends, or classmates?…You offer Christ to them, present Christ to them, and apply Christ to them in their situation. This is to hold forth the word of life. The word of life is actually the living expression of Christ. To shine as luminaries is to magnify Christ, and to hold forth the word of life is to live Christ.

　　In order to magnify Christ and to live Christ, we need the bountiful supply of the Spirit….This bountiful supply is stored in the Word. According to the Bible, the Spirit and the Word are one. In John 6:63 the Lord Jesus says, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” This indicates that the Word is the Spirit. Ephesians 6:17-18 indicates that the Spirit is the Word. Second Timothy 3:16 says that all Scripture is God-breathed. Every word of the Bible is the breath of God. We have pointed out that this breath is the pneuma, the Spirit….The Spirit is the breath of God, and the Word also is God's breath. Furthermore, God's breath is His pneuma, the Spirit. On the one hand, the Word of God is the Spirit; on the other hand, the Spirit of God is the Word.

　　In Ephesians 6:17 and 18 Paul tells us to receive the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition. Here Paul covers the aspects both of the Word and of the Spirit. Furthermore, he tells us to receive the Word of God by means of all prayer, praying at every time in spirit. We may receive the Word of God by means of all kinds of prayer: audible prayer and silent prayer, long prayer and short prayer, quick prayer and slow prayer, private prayer and public prayer.

　　To take the Word of God by means of prayer is to pray-read the Word. Whenever we come to the Word of God, we should not merely exercise our eyes to read or our mind to understand, but also exercise our spirit…. Our reading of the Bible should be mingled with prayer. This is pray-reading… When we pray-read the Word,…the Word becomes to us the living breath of God, the Spirit. As a result, we are watered, nourished, refreshed, and enlightened….The Bible becomes in our experience the nourishing Spirit. (Life-study of Philippians, pp. 350-351, 307, 309-310)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Philippians, msgs. 35, 39 

«　WEEK 3　DAY 6　»

　　Col. 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.

　　Eph. 5:18-19 …Be filled in spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and psalming with your heart to the Lord.

　　Many of us have read the Bible for years without realizing that we can receive the Word of God by singing. Is it your practice to take a verse of the Bible not only by reading, but also by singing? Christians have been taught to study the Bible and to read it, but not to sing it. We are thankful for the recovery of pray-reading the Word. Now we must go on to sing-read the Word of God. We need to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly in all wisdom by singing. This is not my teaching; it is the charge given by the apostle Paul in Colossians 3:16. (Life-study of Philippians, pp. 355-356)

　　If we sincerely desire to be saturated with the living Word so that we may live Christ, we need to follow the practice advocated by Paul in Colossians 3:16. This means that we must let the word of Christ inhabit us in a rich way, not by mere knowledge from the mind, but by every kind of wisdom from our spirit, including singing and psalming. Oh, we need to sing and psalm the Word of God! To sing the Word is better than reading it, and to psalm the Word is even better than singing it. Psalming the Word includes musing upon it and enjoying it. As we psalm the Word, we dwell upon it, muse on it, and enjoy it, thereby giving more opportunity for the Word to saturate us.

　　If we only read the Word, there is little opportunity for the portion we read to sink into us and saturate our being. But if we sing the Word, and especially if we psalm it, we open our being more fully to the Word and give it the opportunity to sink into us and saturate us…. Let us sing and psalm the Word of God not only in the meetings. Let us come to the Word daily to sing and psalm it with our whole being. In singing and psalming the Word of God, let us exercise our voice, our mind, our heart, and our spirit. Furthermore, I hope that from now on in the church meetings more place will be given to spontaneous singing of the Word. Perhaps in a certain meeting we shall sing or psalm the whole book of Ephesians. No doubt, if we spend an entire meeting to do this, we shall touch the riches in this Epistle.

　　Ephesians 5:18-19 is parallel to Colossians 3:16…. When we put these verses together, we see that we should be filled in spirit with the word of Christ. These two portions of the Word have the same goal—that we should have our spirit filled with the Word.

　　When the element of Christ has been infused into us by our singing and psalming the Word, we live Christ spontaneously and automatically. Sometimes we may read the Word without having any element of Christ infused into our being. But when we sing and psalm the Word, we are saturated with the divine element contained in the Word and conveyed to us through the Word. The more we sing and psalm the Word, the more we give opportunity to the Word to dwell in us, sink into us, and permeate us with the divine element. Then we shall be constituted of the element of Christ. Automatically we shall become what we eat and live out what we have absorbed. This is the way to live Christ.

　　In Philippians 2:16 Paul speaks of “holding forth the word of life.” The word of life is very different from doctrine in dead letters. The word of life is the living breathing of God (2 Tim. 3:16), the Spirit who gives life (John 6:63). We have the Lord Jesus as our pattern (Phil. 2:6-11), we have God operating in us (v. 13), we are God's children possessing God's life and the divine nature (v. 15), we are luminaries qualified to reflect the divine light of Christ (v. 15), and we have the word of life to hold forth, to present to others. What a divine and rich provision! By such we are well able to carry out God's salvation to the full extent. (Life-study of Philippians, pp. 356-359, 114)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Philippians, msgs. 40-41, 46