01.02. Christ The Pattern of Life

Christ The Pattern of Life The Backward Look

Php 2:1-30 With Php 2:1-30 our viewpoint changes. We are now to look BACKWARD for the roots of Christian living to the Life that was lived nineteen hundred years ago; nay, not to the Life but to the Mind that actuated that Life, a mind that is to be wrought out in us as His followers.

Outline
1- Exhortation to One-Mindedness, Php 2:1-4.
a-Positive: Qualities to be Cultivated (Php 2:1-2).
b-Negative: Qualities to be Avoided (Php 2:3-4).

2- Christ Our Example, Php 2:5-11.

a-A Pattern of “Mind” (Php 2:5). b-His Humiliation (of Himself) (Php 2:6-8).

(1) What He Was-God (Php 2:6 a).

(2) His Attitude of Giving it up (Php 2:6-7 a).

(3) What He Became-Man (Php 2:7 b).

(4) His Attitude of Humbling Himself to the Death of the Cross (Php 2:8).
c-His Exaltation (by the Father) (Php 2:9-11).

(1) A Name above every Name (Php 2:9).

(2) A Name that shall Claim Universal Worship (Php 2:10-11 a).

(3) All to the Glory of the Father (Php 2:11 b).

3- The Pattern Worked Out in Believers, Php 2:12-16.
a-The Power to Realize it-Inwardly (Php 2:12-13). b-The Exhortation to Embody it-Outwardly (Php 2:14-15). c-The Apostle’s Personal Appeal to this end (Php 2:16).

4- The Human Example of Christian Leaders, Php 2:17-30.

a-Paul Embodying this “Mind” of Christ (Php 2:17-18).
b-Timothy Embodying this “Mind” of Christ (Php 2:19-23).
In Contrast-the Sad Failure of Others to be “Like-Minded” (Php 2:20-21).

c-Epaphroditus Embodying this “Mind” of Christ (Php 2:24-30).

Sectional Chart - Chapter 2 We are to find the summary of the teaching of Php 2:1-30 by the answers it gives to our three questions:

1. WHERE HE IS. Not Within us as in Php 1:1-30, but BEHIND US. It is the Christ of the PAST, the Christ of history. “This mind which WAS in Christ” (Php 2:5), followed by further description in the past tense.

Why dwell upon the Christ of history? Because He is the outstanding figure of all time. By His unexampled life He challenges every man: “What think ye of Christ?”

Briefly: In His ORIGIN, “a root out of a dry ground”; that is, incapable of being explained on natural, historical grounds. History has no cause to produce Him. He came in a dark, impotent hour.

“His Star” symbolizes, with many corroborations, His heavenly origin. In His LIFE-WORK, speaking as never man spake, He set forth a standard of life unknown to the finest conceptions of any teacher or philosopher of any age.

These His teachings are still the standard, lofty, unapproached by any other. Yet more-having promulgated such a standard, beyond man, He Himself forthwith LIVED IT. He alone! This is amazing! Yet more amazing that, after nineteen hundred years of the benefit of His teaching and example, not one man has arisen to measure up to the standard of this “Man.”

You call Him merely a man. Nonsense! Then, judged by relativity, we all would be less than men. Let none dare to place himself in the class of “a man,” if He is but a man.

No, He is more than man. In the FINISH of His life, its climax in Death and Resurrection, He rounded out the evidence that He is the One promised of God, embodying “all things which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Him” (Luk 24:44).

He is the Saviour of men. Your Saviour, dear reader, if in faith you received Him as such (Acts 16:31). Then, when thus received, He becomes more.

2. WHAT HE IS. He is OUR EXAMPLE. AS His disciples, learners, followers, we have Him for our Pattern, an Example to standardize our living.

“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps” (1Pe 2:21). The Greek word for “Example” is another picture-word. It means “copy-head”; such as appeared in our school-day copybooks, at the top of the page, in fine Spencerian.

But the copybook plan was none too successful, for, while we began well with the perfect copy immediately above, as our lines increased we left the copy-head out of the range of influence and fell to following our own imperfections.
This is the Christian’s great mistake. Today he repeats the imperfect self of yesterday, or copies some fellow-Christian, when he should go daily back to his God-given Copy-Head in whom is all perfection.
But now, what is the special feature characteristic of our Copy-Head that we are asked to note and follow? We must read carefully the context in Peter:

“For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but com mitted Himself to Him that judgeth righteously: Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1Pe 2:19-24).

Suffering deservedly-there is nothing Christian in that; it is merely justice. Suffering undeservedly, yet voluntarily, as Jesus did for our sins-this is “acceptable with God.” This is “Christian” (1Pe 4:16; 1Pe 4:13-15). This is the heart and essence of the Example He left that we “should follow His steps.”

Again, when Jesus took the role, the position as well as “form of a servant” (Php 2:7), and washed the disciples’ feet, He said of His act, “I have given you an EXAMPLE, that ye should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15).

Why did He do all this? Why this humble service and voluntary suffering, undeserved and unparalleled in history? Why? Simply because He first HAD IT IN HIS MIND. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who” etc. (Php 2:5).

3. His MIND IN US. It is a HUMBLE mind. “This mind in Christ Jesus” (Php 2:5) caused Him to humble Himself (Php 2:6-8). Had He not been humble in mind He would never have been humble in life. Nor will we, as his followers. We cannot imitate Him; we must acquire His inner secret. Hence the chapter’s opening appeal; it contains the word “mind” four times in as many verses (Php 2:2-5).

1-Exhortation to One-Mindedness, Php 2:1-4

Note

“IF” (Php 2:1) presents a supposition according to fact-since there are-and, coupled with “THEREFORE/’ makes an appeal to the rich spiritual resources of the Christian faith from which flow Christian experience and fellowship. Four are mentioned, seemingly that they may correlate with the four exhortations that follow (Php 2:2)-four springs issuing in four streams:

(the following comparison best viewed in wide screen....) Php 2:1Any Consolation in ChristAny Comfort of LoveAny Fellowship of the SpiritAny Compassions and Mercies Php 2:2Be Like-MindedHave the Same LoveBe of One AccordBe of One Mind

NEGATIVE EXHORTATIONS, “Let nothing,” “Look not” (Php 2:2; Php 2:4), seek to inhibit those states of strife, vain glory and self-interest which are inimical to right Christian mindedness. Eschewed, they give place to the “lowliness of mind” which considers others better than ourselves and others’ interests before our own.

CHRISTIAN FRUIT (Php 2:1), which requires the Channel of a CHRISTIAN MIND (Php 2:2-4), must find its ROOT in the “MIND OF CHRIST” (Php 2:5).

Comment
THE MASTER-MIND. The Christian faith does not impose upon its followers a stereotyped life, bound by rules and regulations. It does not contemplate pressing all minds into one mould. But it does contemplate:

(1) The impartation of the matchless mind of Christ (1Co 2:16) by and through the New Birth (Regeneration),
(2) the working out of the qualities of that mind in practical living by and through His indwelling Presence (Sanctification).

We marvel to go into a vault of a thousand safe deposit boxes. Each box is equipped with a distinctive lock and key, no two alike, yet, as we are informed, there is a master-key which controls them all. So is the mind of Christ to those who are His own. His is a blessed control. Let His mind be in you.

Like-mindedness, so sadly needed in Christ’s household, can come only in this way. As “things equal to the same thing are equal to each other,” so minds like the Master mind will exhibit an essential likeness to each other.

2-Christ Our Example, Php 2:5-11

Note

We come now to a notable passage of Scripture, revealing in simple yet majestic language the person of our blessed Lord, in heaven and on earth, in relation to the Father and in relation to man, unveiling His pre-existent equality with God in eternity past, His voluntary subjection to God for the solution of sin, His consequent added glory now and on into eternity future.

1. “THIS MIND” (Php 2:5) is the source of His Saviourhood. He was minded to be before He became. When did that “mind” begin? Not in Jesus, but “in CHRIST Jesus,” voluntarily accepting the office and set apart thereto long before He became Jesus: “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8). Then, as JESUS, He continually expressed the same mind: “The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mat 20:28). This mind that “WAS in Christ Jesus” now is to be “in you,” His followers.
His Example covers both His HUMILIATION (Php 2:6-8) and His EXALTATION (Php 2:9-11)-three verses for each, connected by a significant “wherefore.”

2. His HUMILIATION (Php 2:6-8) consists of three most obvious stages:
THE NATURE OF HIS HUMILIATION (Php 2:6-7 a). His SELF-RENUNCIATION; giving up the glory of Deity.

Here are three statements:

(1) “being [Subsisting] in the form of God”-His essential Deity which once having been He could never cease to be; it is in the essence of His being.
(2) “He thought it not robbery [a thing to be grasped and held on to],” this subsisting in the form of God, with all the glory and honor thereof. This He could, and did, give up.
(3) “But humbled [emptied] Himself”-a fathomless statement; eternity alone will suffice to plumb its depths of meaning-its meaning for Him and its meaning for us. He emptied Himself, not of Deity, for that was essential to His being, but of the glory of Deity, that which was His from eternity and by eternal right, that He might accomplish His redemptive purpose.
THE MANNER OF HIS HUMILIATION (Php 2:7 b). His INCARNATION: taking His place in Humanity.

“The form of a servant” is antithetical to “the form of God,” setting forth His newly-chosen mode of subsisting in human form, where, as man, He could be servant to God, rendering active and passive obedience, as pre-pictured in Psa 40:7-8 :

“Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.”

“In the likeness of men” conveys the full reality of His human nature. He who had said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” is now “made” in man’s likeness. What condescension for sinful man to hold in contemplation!
The marrow of the whole matter is in the word “likeness.” It is a window through which floods the light of His redemptive purpose in the Incarnation: God was “sending His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin” (Rom 8:3). Its anticipation in the Old Testament is in the great body of teaching clustered around the Hebrew word “gaal,” the Kinsman-Redeemer. He must be of our flesh and blood (Heb 2:14).
THE EXTENT OF HIS HUMILIATION (Php 2:8). His CRUCI FIXION; giving up His position in Humanity.

Having taken His place in the human race, “found in fashion as a man,” He was in position to display the moral glory of God in and through His human nature. Found in the position of man He did not think even this a thing to be held on to (cf. vs. Php 2:6); “He humbled Himself.”

“And became obedient,” thus to undo “one man’s disobedience-by the obedience of One” (Rom 5:19). “Obedient unto death.” The first man’s obedience would have been unto life, but having disobeyed unto death, this Man must obey unto death. Adam’s disobedience brought his posterity a harvest of death; Jesus’ obedience brought His posterity “out of death into life.”

3. His EXALTATION (Php 2:9-11) matches, yea far outdistances, His Humiliation.

“Wherefore” reflects the justness of God’s response to His obedience in self-abasement. Enfolded in it also is the sacred mystery of a covenant between the Father and the Son, a covenant which lay back of the Son’s confidence in addressing the Father when through Death and Resurrection He saw Himself at the triumphant turning-point of His Humiliation:

“I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was” (John 17:4-5).

Correspondent to His Humiliation, His Exaltation also consists of three stages:
His EXALTATION IN THE PAST (Php 2:9 a). “God HATH highly exalted Him.” The Greek verb means, “hath lifted Him up above.” Not merely above the earth level and the experiences through which He had passed; He was lifted “above” all that can be known or named, as is set forth in Ephesians:

“Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all” (Eph 1:20-23).
His EXALTATION IN THE PRESENT (Php 2:9 b). Today, in glory, He has “a name which is above every name.” The “name” is the sum of one’s fame-all by which one is known. Here on earth for a time His name leaped from lip to lip; “His fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about” (Mark 1:28). That was fleeting. But today-His fame fills the heavens. Not a heavenly being but knows the story and stands in awe at the Name.
His EXALTATION IN THE FUTURE (Php 2:10-11). His greatest triumph still awaits Him, when “at the name of Jesus” -His human name, so despised and heaped with ignominy-“every knee SHALL bow, every tongue SHALL confess.” It is certain, decreed, one of God’s pre-written purposes.

Confess what? That Jesus, who voluntarily gave up His place as man among men to die for us, is more than man; that He is “Christ” and “Lord.” All will acknowledge His Messiahship, the anointed and appointed of God, and His Deity, the divine Lord, even God.

“To the glory of God the Father.” God is the beginning and the end of His Exaltation. As the Son’s great aim on earth was His Father’s glory, so the goal of redemption is the glorification of the Father through the universal acknowledgment of the Son.

Comment
THE DEITY OF CHRIST. With this classic passage be fore us, stating as it does our Saviour’s pre-existent “being in the form of God,” we may well take occasion to refresh our mind and heart, reassuring our faith in a day of doubt, with the Church’s declarations and deliverances concerning His Deity: The first great ecumenical council assembled at Nice, A.D. 325, for the settlement of the Arian controversy, and consisting of 318 bishops, confessed its faith in “one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of the same substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who, for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary; and was made man.”
And the Westminster Confession, which may be taken as the statement of all Protestantism, tells us, “The Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, being very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the Father, did, when the fulness of time was come, take upon Him man’s nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin: being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, of her substance. So that two whole, perfect and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, are inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion, which person is very God, and very man, yet one Christ; the only mediator between God and man.” The person of Christ, as very Man yet very God, stands unimpeached and unimpaired. His pre-existence, antedating His Incarnation, alone suffices to explain His unique personality and place in history, His personal self-consciousness of being the Son of God, His abiding influence, undiminished through the years.
THE DEPTHS OF HIS DEGRADATION. The heights from which He came, to the depths to which He descended - these must determine the degree of His voluntary degradation.

- As God He humbled Himself to become man.
- As man He humbled Himself further, till He describes His despicable condition on the Cross by crying, “I am a worm, and no man” (Psa 22:6).
A worm! From man, with his highly organized and highly sensitized body, coupled with his intelligence, it is a very far distance down the scale of being to the worm, crawling at his feet. Yet that distance down is but a faint, shadowy suggestion of the depth downward my Saviour came from being God to being man. From Infinite to finite, who shall measure the distance? But-great as that was, He did not stop at man’s level. He further descended to the worm level. History has no parallel. How could He do it? Mute in contemplation, we can never cease to wonder.
THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME. The supernal nature of “The Name” now enjoyed by our Lord in heaven, mere mortals of earth may only surmise. Yet we have two means by which to gauge its glory even now:

(1) The profusion of Names and Titles employed by Scripture adequately to set forth His august person, the many-sided nature of His mediatorial work, His wealth of relationship, temporal and eternal, reflecting the fact that in Him the Father has caused all fulness to dwell and that in and through Him all human need is met.

(2) The wealth of Christian hymnody which has gathered round “The Name” of Jesus, a galaxy of the most splendid songs of the Church, voicing the purest praises of His people, breathing the deepest gratitude of the soul and the highest aspirations after holy living.
HIS NAME IN SCRIPTURE
The following list of titles of our Lord is not thought to be exhaustive but will prove sufficiently comprehensive:

Adam, the last (1Co 15:45); Advocate (1Jn 2:1); Almighty (Mat 28:18); Alpha and Omega (Rev 22:13); Altar (Heb 13:10); Altogether lovely (Song of Solomon 5:16); Amen (Rev 3:14); An Angel (Exo 23:20); Angel of God (Exo 14:19); Angel of the Lord (Gen 22:15); Angel of His presence (Isa 63:9); Anointed (Psa 2:2); Apostle (Heb 3:1); Author of faith (Heb 12:2).

Babe (Luk 2:12); Beginning (Col 1:18); Beginning and ending (Rev 1:8); Beginning of creation (Rev 3:14); Beloved (Mat 12:18); Beloved Son (Mat 17:5); Bishop of souls (1Pe 2:25); Blessed and only potentate (1Ti 6:15); Branch (Zec 3:8); Branch of the Lord (Isa 4:2); Branch of righteousness (Jer 33:15); Bread of God (John 6:33); Bread from heaven (John 6:32); Bread of Life (John 6:35); Bridegroom (Mat 9:15); Brightness of God’s glory (Heb 1:3); Bright and Morning Star (Rev 22:16); Brother (John 20:17); Builder (Heb 3:3).

Captain of the Lord’s host (Jos 5:14); Captain of salvation (Heb 2:10). Carpenter (Mark 6:3); Chief corner Stone (1Pe 2:6); Chief shepherd (1Pe 5:4); Chiefest among ten thousand (Song of Solomon 5:10); Child (Isa 9:6); Christ (Mat 23:8); Christ Jesus (1Ti 1:15); Christ of God (Luk 9:20); Christ, the Lord (Luk 2:11); Christ the Son of God (John 20:31); Commander (Isa 55:4); Consolation of Israel (Luk 2:25); Corn of wheat (John 12:24); Covenant of the people (Isa 42:6); Covert from the tempest (Isa 32:2); Counsellor (Isa 9:6); Creator of all things (Col 1:16); Crowned with glory and honor (Heb 2:9); Crowned with many crowns (Rev 19:12).

David’s Lord (Mat 22:45); David’s Son (Mark 10:48); Daysman (Job 9:33); Dayspring (Luk 1:78); Day-Star (2Pe 1:19); Dear Son (Col 1:13); Defense (Psa 89:18-19); Deliverer (Rom 11:26); Desire of all nations (Hag 2:7); Door (John 10:9).

Elect of God (Isa 42:1); Elect Stone (1Pe 2:6); Ensign of the people (Isa 11:10); End of the law (Rom 10:4); Eternal Life (1Jn 5:20); Everlasting Father (Isa 9:6); Example of His people (1Pe 2:21); Express image of God’s person (Heb 1:3).

Faithful and true (Rev 19:11); Faithful and true Witness (Rev 3:14); Faithful Witness (Rev 1:5); Filling all in all (Eph 1:23); Finisher of faith (Heb 12:3); First born (Psa 89:27); First-fruits (1Co 15:20); First born from the dead (Col 1:18); First born of many brethren (Rom 8:29); First and last (Rev 1:17); Foundation (1Co 3:11); Forerunner (Heb 6:20); Friend (Song of Solomon 5:16).

Gift of God (John 4:10); Glory of His people Israel (Luk 2:32); God (John 1:1); God blessed forever (Rom 9:5); God manifest in the flesh (1Ti 3:16); God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Exo 3:2; Exo 3:6); Good Shepherd (John 10:11); Governor (Mat 2:6); Great God and Saviour (Tit 2:13); Great High Priest (Heb 4:14); Great Prophet (Luk 7:16); Great Shepherd (Heb 13:20).

Head (Eph 4:15); Head of the body (Col 1:18); Head of all principality (Col 2:10); Head of every man (1Co 11:3); Head over all things (Eph 1:22); Head Stone of the Corner (Psa 118:22); High Priest (Heb 3:1); Holy One (Acts 2:27); Holy One, and the Just (Acts 3:14); Holy One of God (Mark 1:24); Hope of His People (Joe 3:16); Horn of Salvation (Luk 1:69); Husband (Isa 54:5).

I Am (John 8:58); I Am that I Am (Exo 3:2; Exo 3:14); I Am the resurrection (John 11:25); I Am the Son of God (John 10:36); Image of God (2Co 4:4); Immanuel (Mat 1:23); Immutable (Heb 13:8); Intercessor (Heb 7:25); Interpreter (Job 33:23).

Jehovah (Isa 26:4); Jehovah of hosts (Isa 6:3); John 12:41); Jehovah mighty in battle (Psa 24:8); Jehovah’s fellow (Zec 13:7); Jehovah Jireh (Gen 22:14); Jehovah Shammah (Eze 48:35); Jehovah Tsidkenu (Jer 23:6); Jesus (Mat 1:21); Jesus Christ (Rev 1:5); Jesus, the Christ (Mat 16:20); Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 5:21); Jesus Christ the righteous (1Jn 2:1); Jesus of Nazareth (Acts 22:8); Jesus Christ of Nazareth (Acts 4:10); Judge of the world (Acts 17:31); Just (1Pe 3:18); Just One (Acts 7:52).

Keeper of His People (Psa 121:5); King (Acts 17:7); King of glory (Psa 24:10); King in His beauty (Isa 33:17); King forever (Psa 29:10); King of Israel (John 1:49); King of nations (Rev 15:3); King of the Jews (Mat 2:2); King over all the earth (Zec 14:9); King of kings (Rev 19:16); Knowing all things (John 21:17).

Lamb (Rev 21:23); Lamb of God (John 1:29); Lamb in the midst of the throne (Rev 7:17); Lamb that was slain (Rev 5:12); Lamb without blemish (1Pe 1:19); Leader (Isa 55:4); Life (John 14:6); Light of the world (John 8:12); Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5); Living Bread (John 6:51); Living One (Rev 1:18); Living Stone (1Pe 2:4); Lord (Mat 3:3); Lord and God (John 20:28); Lord of all (Acts 10:36); Lord of glory (1Co 2:8); Lord of lords (Rev 19:16); Lord of peace (2Th 3:16); Lord of the dead and the living (Rom 14:9); Lord of the Sabbath (Luk 6:5); Lord our righteousness (Jer 23:6); Lord over all (Rom 10:12).

Made to be sin (2Co 5:21); Maker of the worlds (Heb 1:2); Man approved of God (Acts 2:22); Man of rest (1Ch 22:9-10); Man of sorrows (Isa 53:3); Mediator (1Ti 2:5); Mediator of the new covenant (Heb 12:24); Messenger of the covenant (Mal 3:1); Messiah, called Christ (John 4:25); Messiah the Prince (Dan 9:25); Mighty God (Isa 9:6); Morning Star (Rev 22:16).

Nazarene (Mat 2:23).

Offering (Eph 5:2); One Lord Jesus Christ (1Co 8:6); One shepherd (John 10:16); Only begotten Son (John 3:16); Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2Pe 1:11); Our passover (1Co 5:7); Own Son (Rom 8:32).

Power of God (1Co 1:24); Precious Corner Stone (Isa 28:16); Precious Stone (1Pe 2:6); Prince of life (Acts 3:15). Prince of peace (Isa 9:6); Prince of the kings of the earth (Rev 1:5); Prophet (Deu 18:15): Prophet mighty in deed and word (Luk 24:19); Propitiation (Rom 3:25).

Quickening spirit (1Co 15:45).

Redeemer (Job 19:25); Refuge from the storm (Isa 25:4); Righteous Servant (Isa 53:11); Righteousness (1Co 1:30); Rock (Mat 16:18); Rock of ages (Isa 26:4); Root and Offspring of David (Rev 22:16); Ruler in Israel (Mic 5:2).

Sacrifice to God (Eph 5:2); Sanctification (1Co 1:30); Saviour (Acts 5:31); Second man, the Lord from heaven (1Co 15:47); Seed of the woman (Gen 3:15); Servant (Php 2:7); Shadow from the heat (Isa 26:4); Shepherd and bishop of souls (1Pe 2:25); Shiloh (Gen 49:10); Son (John 8:36); Son of Abraham and David (Mat 1:1); Son of God (John 1:34); Son of Man (Mark 10:33); Son of the highest (Luk 1:32); Spiritual rock (1Co 10:4); Star and scepter (Num 24:17); Stone cut out without hands (Dan 2:34); Stone of stumbling (1Pe 2:8); Sun of righteousness (Mal 4:2); Sure foundation (Isa 28:16); Surety of a better covenant (Heb 7:22).

Testator (Heb 9:16); The Coming One (Rev 1:8); The righteous Judge (2Ti 4:8); Tried Stone (Isa 28:16); True God (1Jn 5:20); True Light (John 1:9); Truth (John 14:6).

Unspeakable gift (2Co 9:15); Upholder of all things (Heb 1:3).

Vine (John 15:5).

Way (John 14:6); Well beloved Son (Mark 12:6); Wisdom (Pro 8:1); Wisdom of God (1Co 1:24); With two or three gathered to His name (Mat 18:20); With us all the days (Mat 28:20); Witness to the people (Isa 55:4); Wonderful (Isa 9:6); Word (John 1:1); Word made flesh (John 1:14); Word of God (Rev 19:13); Word of life (1Jn 1:1); Worthy to open the book (Rev 5:9); Worthy to receive all praise (Rev 5:12).
His NAME IN SONG From among the many a few of the more familiar are noted (printed in part):

“JESUS, THY NAME I LOVE”
Jesus, Thy name I love,
All other names above,

Jesus, my Lord.

“THE NAME OF JESUS”
The name of Jesus is so sweet, I love its music to repeat;
It makes my joys full and complete, The precious name of Jesus.

“Jesus,” oh, how sweet the name!

“Jesus,” every day the same;
“Jesus,” let all saints proclaim Its worthy praise forever.

“THERE IS A NAME I LOVE TO HEAR”
There is a name I love to hear, I love to sing its worth;
It sounds like music to mine ear,
The sweetest name on earth.

“THERE IS NO NAME SO SWEET”
There is no name so sweet on earth, No name so dear in heaven,
As that before His wondrous birth, To Christ the Saviour given.

“HOW SWEET THE NAME OF JESUS SOUNDS”
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds In a believer’s ears.
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds, And drives away his fears.

“TAKE THE NAME OF JESUS WITH YOU”
Take the name of Jesus with you, Child of sorrow and of woe-
It will joy and comfort give you, Take it then where’er you go.

Precious name, O how sweet!

Hope of earth and joy of heav’n.

These lines, penned by a converted atheist, carry conviction as to the need, the power, the worth of the Name to a lost soul:

I’ve tried in vain a thousand ways My fears to quell, my hopes to raise;
But what I need, the Bible says, Is ever, only Jesus.
My soul is night, my heart is steel- I cannot see, I cannot feel:
For light, for life, I must appeal In simple faith to Jesus.
He died, He lives, He reigns, He pleads;

There’s love in all His words and deeds;
There’s all a guilty sinner needs For evermore in Jesus.
Though some should sneer, and some should blame, I’ll go with all my guilt and shame;
I’ll go to Him because His name, Above all names is Jesus.

Scripture and song are corroborated by this marvelous fact: The word “Jesus,” bearing from God a message to all men, proves to be a universal word. Linguistically, it fits into every language of earth. It does not need to be translated, merely transliterated, as though it were meant to be upon every man’s lips. Friend, how often do you lisp the Name, in prayer? in praise? in the sense of His preciousness?-“My Jesus.”
THE GLORY TO BE. In the progress of the divine purpose there is a glory yet to be revealed; it concerns both the Son and the Father. For the Son, a universal homage awaits. “Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess.” Beginning in heaven, soon every creature of every level is voicing His praise:

“And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever” (Rev 5:11-13).

Read also: Rev 19:11-16; Zec 14:9-21; Psa 72:1-20.
For the Father, the finality of glory awaits. The purposes of redemption converge upon the Father. The glory of the Son, accomplished through His righteous reign, culminates “to the glory of God the Father.” Thus we read:

“Then cometh the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

“For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all” (1Co 15:24-28).

EXAMPLE FOR HIS SONS. Not forgetting that all this is the outworking of the mind of Christ, and that that mind is held before us as an example for us-“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”-the question arises: “If the Father honored thus the one Son who humbled Himself, will He deal similarly with His other sons?”
That our Father invites us to avail ourselves of the same principle on His part with a like experience on our part, appears evident from this word in Peter:

“Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that HE MAY EXALT YOU in due time: casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you” (1Pe 5:5-7).

HUMILITY, as exemplified by our Lord, must embody such qualities of heart and such experiences of life as Andrew Murray so beautifully portrays:

“Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble. It is never to be fretted, or vexed, or irritated, or sore, or disappointed. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me, and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret, and am at rest as in a deep sea of calmness when all around and above is trouble.”

3-The Pattern Worked Out in Believers, Php 2:12-16

Chart
NOT IMITATION, BUT IMPLANTATION. Are we to imitate the mind of Christ and the life flowing from that mind? Impossible! The product of our effort would be artificial, and wholly human. This is not God’s way.

He first imparts His life to us. He implants His life in us. Then He brings to fruition His life, His very own life, through us.
This is the divine order in Christian Experience. Note the Chart. Before He presented Himself to us as “Our Example,” He had already become in us “Our Life.” The second chapter builds upon the first. The order is logical. The process is vital. God within us will reproduce the same traits of character as He wrought in His Son, in proportion as we allow Him.

This, then, is the very appeal which Paul makes: Having seen in Christ the Pattern Life, “Work out your own salvation, for it is God who is working (also) in you.”

Note

“WHEREFORE” (Php 2:12 a). Since humble obedience in our Example was productive of such glorious results (note the “wherefore” of vs. Php 2:9) we are exhorted by a correspondent “wherefore” to a like obedience for the attaining of like results.
NOT DEPENDENT UPON HUMAN LEADERS (Php 2:12 b). So far from being disheartened or growing lax through the Apostle’s not being present with them, they are exhorted “much more in my absence” to devote themselves to Christian living, since they have the vital secret within themselves.

“WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION” (Php 2:12 c). This presupposes its possession, as one works out a garden, already his, by cultivating it and causing it to produce the finest flowers and fruits; or a ball-player works out his pitching ability, exercising, developing, training the possibilities latently his. So the Christian is exhorted, having received Christ and seen in Him the beauties of character, to work out these possibilities in a salvation peculiarly, personally and individually, “your own.” Work out in terms of your own living the beauties inherently possible in such a salvation. For its realization abundant encouragement follows.

POWER TO REALIZE THE PATTERN (Php 2:13). God supplies the power. It is Himself-“God worketh in you.” In the Greek “God” is emphatic. God in-working us, as He did Christ, is the great secret.
The entire sentence should be read in strict regard for the literal: “For God it is who is in-working (effectually working) in you both the willing and the working for His good-pleasure.”

The form of the verb makes it still more meaningful: God is “displaying His activity, showing Himself operative” in us, as He did in His Son, that we too may be His “good pleasure.”

Says Augustine: “We will, but God works the will in us. We work, therefore, but God works the working in us.”
This inward realization of the Pattern is now to find outward manifestation in the life.

EXHORTATION TO EMBODY THE PATTERN (Php 2:14-15). Now we come to the “do.” Our lives are to exhibit the same traits of character in outward conduct as were found in our Master and Pattern, seeing God is working in us the same mind and purpose. The master-key is humility.

Humble as He, we will not murmur (against God) nor dispute (with men).
The exhortation lends itself to tabulation:

God-wardMan-ward Php 2:14Without MurmuringsWithout Disputings BlamelessHarmless Php 2:15Sons of God Without BlemishIn the World Shining as Lights

PAUL’S PERSONAL APPEAL (Php 2:16). The Apostle has made an investment in them which is now at state. Having preached to them he is looking for returns “in the day of Christ”-the day when we shall receive rewards for service (Mat 16:27; 2Co 5:10). His expectation of reward includes not merely those to whom he has personally ministered “the word of life,” but the multiplied many won in turn through their faithfulness in “holding it forth.”
To be “light” (Php 2:15) to others we must have the word of “life.” The two are indissolubly linked-scientifically, spiritually and experimentally. “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). Lacking His life, the light in us will be but darkness.

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Comment
Six words may well be employed to embody the comment due this section:

1. PATTERN. We have a pattern life after which the Christian life is molded and modeled. This means a standard, a norm, by which certain things may be adjudged Christian and others not Christian.

Every follower of the Lord should standardize his life by Him. We have no right to cling to that which is foreign to Him, foist it upon Him and our fellow-believers, labeling it “Christian” when it is not. To “work out” our salvation is to work out of our living all that is extraneous thereto, letting that which is germane come into power and fruition.

2. PERSISTENCE. There is a persistence of type in Christian living, whether in Christ or His follower of the first or twentieth century, secured by the self-same Spirit actuating all.
As a lad on the Atlantic coast I came to know the characteristics of a maple. Decades later and far miles distant, on the Pacific slope, I found it the same maple. The type persists because the life is the same. So with the life that Jesus lived nineteen hundred years ago; by the same Spirit His life in me should reproduce the same traits of character.

3. POWER. God’s child is possessed of a power that is startling and challenging. He is inwrought by a power not man’s, but God’s.

Some time since one of our State institutions of learning experimented with vegetation, to test the strength of growing cellular life. A squash was harnessed and 60 pounds imposed upon its back. It kept on growing. They weighted it with 300 pounds. It kept on growing. They substituted 1,100 pounds. It kept on growing. They now ventured 2,300 pounds. What could a squash do with over a ton on its back? It kept on growing.

If God’s power is such through non-sentient cell life, what should He not do through His own child, made in His image?

4. PERSONALITY. Ours is not merely God’s power, as in nature, but the power of God, Himself, indwelling and in-working. In the realm of Christian experience, power is personality.

- “Apart from Me ye can do nothing.”
- “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you.”
- “It is God which worketh in you.”

We in (union with) Him, He in (union with) us, laying hold of our being’s vital processes, actuating, transforming, and energizing its intellectual life, its affectional life, its volitional life-this is power.

5. POSSIBILITY. Were I dependent upon my own human energies and capabilities, my possibilities would be bounded by the finite; but resting in and relying upon Him working in me, my horizon expands to the Infinite. What can He not do as He works in me “to will and to do of His good-pleasure,” if I but yield to His working. No stagnation! No limitation. Each new day a fresh, untried opportunity for God in me.

6. PROSPECT. We live and labor in prospect of “rejoicing in the day of Christ.”

The same power that has wrought in us works also through us, empowering our service, claiming, quickening, and keeping other precious souls as sheaves for the garnering. In that day He will bring them, with us, into His glorified presence. They will be our “crown of rejoicing.” May the prospect nerve us to fresh, untiring endeavor.

4-The Human Example of Christian Leaders, Php 2:17-30

Note

Put to the practical test, how will the mind of Christ express itself in those who are filled with His presence and imbued with His Spirit? For answer, Paul appends a personal allusion to himself, Timothy and Epaphroditus, adding warmth of human interest to the picture. They are here mentioned as men who embody and exemplify the mind of their Lord and Master, as certain others disappointingly do not.

1. PAUL (Php 2:17-18). The mind of Christ renders him so unmindful of self that he faces the eventuality of his own obliteration in the “sacrifice and service of their faith,” only to “joy and rejoice.”

2. TIMOTHY (Php 2:19; Php 2:22-23). A son in the faith he has proved himself faithful. He has an unselfishness of mind and spirit that render him useful in the Lord’s service and dependable on the Apostle’s errand. The sadness of the picture is that none others are like him. And why? It is a matter of the mind.

3. OTHERS NOT “LIKE-MINDED” (Php 2:20-21). The teaching of the chapter enforced by contrast, and a very sad contrast at that. These are not minded, like Timothy, to “care for your state” (Php 2:20). Why? “For they all seek their own” (21a). Having the mind of Christ is the one way we will ever care for “the things which are Jesus Christ’s” (Php 2:21 b). We must heed the opening exhortation:

“Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Php 2:4-5).

4. EPAPHRODITUS (Php 2:24-30). A sweet and beautiful testimony to a worthy servant of Christ. He combines faithfulness (Php 2:25) and tenderness (Php 2:26) in a service that is sacrificial and self-forgetful to the point of death (Php 2:30).

Loving and beloved (Php 2:26-29) his life is still a benediction in contemplation.

Comment
OUR PRESENT-DAY GOSPEL. Every follower of Christ has to face the responsibility of discipleship as a demand upon him to embody and reflect the mind of Christ. It is inescapable.

Inevitably His mind finds expression in us, or is denied such expression. We are an up-to-the-minute edition of the Gospel, “the epistle of Christ, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart”-out on the street where it is “known and read of all men” (2Co 3:2-3).

Unless we allow the Spirit to write in us His full, perfect mind, the mind of Christ, our lives are bound to bring to our fellow-men a daily distortion of His truth, a daily misrepresentation of Him.

“You are writing a Gospel, a chapter each day,
By deeds that you do, by words that you say.

Men read what you write, whether faithless or true.
Say! What is the Gospel according to You?”