03.11. LESSON 11

LESSON 11 Being incurably religious by creation and unable to get away from the sense of God, in some way all men pray. The Christian way is for men to pray to their Creator about everything and to be thankful for anything. Christians pray to “the God of peace,” who dispenses peace through his Son, and come to possess “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding.” This peace, transcending all human philosophy, is Christ’s priceless legacy to his apostles and their converts: “Peace I leave with you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful” (John 14:27). Such peace is possible only to men who trust God far beyond their own understanding to make “all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). No man can be a Chris­tian (or a gardener either) unless he “consents to appre­hend much that he cannot comprehend.” To clinch the teaching and exhorting of this book, Paul offers himself again as an example in thinking, teaching and living. This is like setting before a man of poor ap­petite a dish to make him hungry. Paul names true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, and blameless things as proper subjects for thought. How much do these six adjectives need changing to make them fit our thinking! Had Euodia and Syntyche followed this, would they have fallen out?

Perhaps because the common heathen word for moral excellence was “virtue,” Paul, becoming “all things to all men,” adds: “If there be any virtue, and . . . any praise, think on these things.” Christians need not hesitate to take truth from any man, for it is theirs by right. To the fac­tious Corinthians, Paul had written: “All things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:21-23). Christians should not wear the name of preachers as the Corinthians were doing, for they belong to Christ, not to preachers. However, since preachers belong to Christians, whatever truth Paul, Apollos, Cephas, Luther, Wesley, or Campbell teaches belongs to all Christians. But who wants other than truth from any man?

Paul’s Contentment With the arrival of supplies from the Philippians after a considerable interval, Paul’s prison room is fragrant with gratitude and worship as he writes: “I rejoice in the Lord greatly.” How much a simple deed of brotherly kindness means to the great, tender soul! Note his generous spirit and refined courtesy in putting the best possible light on their temporary neglect; and the grace and delicacy with which he lets them know that he has been in want. No matter what else Paul’s character may comprise, he is at least a perfect Christian gentleman.

“1 have learned, in whatever state I am, therein to be content. In everything and in all things have I learned the secret. . . both to abound and to be in want.” Who can be­lieve that this self-drawn sketch of Paul with its transpar­ent sincerity and humility gets into his book through his egotism and vanity? Nay. Rather it is God’s chosen way openly to set forth for Christians of all time what he can make of a self-surrendered man, who wholly yields himself to his making, and suffers the evil spirit of the flesh to be cast out.

Paul repeats that he has learned the close secret of con­tentment. He means that he has come to believe that any­thing he experiences is by God’s will, and therefore good and usable. Here are the naked bones of Paul’s mature faith and religion. We know him too well to think he means the contentment of indifference and self-complacency. At the time he writes these words, he is content with his body chained to a soldier, for his spirit is at large, ranging the universe. He never writes of doing the best he can “under the circumstances,” he is always on top of circumstances, undiscouraged by the ups and downs of life. Suffering and hunger without despondency, and success and abund­ance without pride characterize him. Since second causes are but God’s means, he is ready for anything, at any time, from anywhere. The scale of his life is so exactly balanced between want and abundance that the indicator always points straight up. Paul’s contentment must ever be a locked secret to all except those who have his key. When Cicero and Seneca, heathen moralists who had written much on courage and manly virtue, were banished from Rome, they filled the air with complaints and entreaties to be brought home. How incomparably stronger and nobler is Paul.

Paul’s Strength

After Paul rises to the level of the greatest of the naturally great men of earth, he continues to rise. In noble purpose, disinterested service, moral grandeur, living power, and lasting achievement, he rises far above them all. He explains this by humbly saying, “I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me.” He realizes that he is not living merely, or mainly, in his own strength. Without the superhuman aid, probably he would be no stronger than Julius Caesar or others. Whether Paul’s “him” refers to God, Christ, Spirit, or to all three, the practical meaning is the same, for the three are “one Jehovah” (Deuteronomy 6:4). The Trinity, though it transcends human reason, it is not contrary to it. The Trinity is implicit in the first line of the Bible, for the word “God” is plural. In Genesis 3:15 God promises to send Christ to earth as a man. Isaiah, Joel and others fore­tell the coming of the Spirit. Christ comes and the Spirit descends upon him at his baptism to abide with him while he stays on earth. During his ministry, Christ has the Spirit without measure (John 3:33), casts out demons “by the Spirit of God” (Matthew 12:28), and tells his disciples that he must go away before the Spirit can come to take his place permanently (“that he may be with you forever”) (John 14:16), as representative of the Godhead on earth (John 16:7-15). In fulfillment of this promise, and accord­ing to God’s unfolding purpose, the transfer of the Spirit from Christ to his disciples was effected on Pentecost, and perfected Christianity was inaugurated. Throughout Acts and the epistles, the church is “a habitation of God (and Christ) in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22). “If any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8:9).

Paul believes he is the nether link of a five-link chain coming down from God-—God, Christ, Spirit, Word, Paul. If even one link fails, the chain fails. Since Paul is the only link that can fail, and, since his sole aim is that the triune God express himself through his personality (Galatians 2:20), he knows the chain will hold. This is what gives him his in­vincible confidence, strength, and peace. With respect to standing in grace and moral growth, God treats all Christians alike. Unless the Philippians have access to the power whence cometh his strength and contentment, and can learn his secret, why need Paul to exhort them to imitate him?

QUESTIONS

1.    What does the sentence that Christians cannot know Christian peace unless they continue to ‘consent to apprehend many things which they do not comprehend” mean?

2. What would be the effect now, it all leaders in the church could otter themselves as examples in thinking, teaching, and living?

3. Would not Paul’s exhorting the Philippians to imitate his life, had he not known they were “strengthened with power through his (God’s) Spirit in the inward man” to “do all things,” even as he himself was, have been mockery and hypocrisy?

4.    In what sense do preachers and books belong to Christians?

5.    How may we know that Paul was a gracious, Christian gen­tleman?

6.    Why did Paul never think that he could be and do better in different circumstances?

7.    What key did Paul use to unlock the secret of contentment?

8.    Is the absence, or the presence, of sorrow and disappointment the more conducive to “the peace of God”?

9.    Why did not the Holy Spirit take up his permanent dwelling in Christ’s disciples before Pentecost?