Philippians 2:12-16 is a definition of living Christ in Phil. 1:19-21, for the God who operates in us (2:13) is the supplying Spirit (1:19), for us to shine as luminaries (2:15) is to magnify Christ (1:20), and to hold forth the word of life (2:16) is to live Christ (1:21).
Paul had a burden in this epistle to help the believers to think the same thing, having the same mind that was in Christ Jesus, so that they would live a crucified life to magnify Christ and express Him.
But there were some inward and outward hindrances; inwardly there’s the murmuring and reasoning, and outwardly there’s a dark and corrupt world which is usurped by Satan.
In the midst of the dark and corrupt world, which is usurped by Satan, our function is to shine as luminaries, holding forth the word of life.
On one hand we need to be saved from murmurings and reasonings by working out our own salvation, for it is God who operates in us both the willing and the working.
On the other hand we need to hold forth the word of life so that we may shine as luminaries in this dark world.
As we live in this dark world we realise that the age is more and more corrupt, dark, evil, and perverted; there’s nothing we can do to fix this – we simply need to hold forth the word of life for God to have a way to shine in us!
On one hand the world has all these advanced technologies and things, but on the other hand the moral level is the lowest ever. We are not here to change the world into a better one; we are here as children of God to be the reprint of the pattern of the Lord Jesus, the first God-man.
We are here to work out our own salvation in the midst of this perverted and crooked generation, for the whole world lies in the evil one, and this one operates freely in all those who live in the world and are drugged by this world.
But praise the Lord, we as believers in Christ can come to the Lord to be shined on by Him as the sun, and we can become luminaries in this dark world, holding forth the word of life!
When we come to the Lord and behold Him, we will be infused with Him and we will reflect Him to others.
In ourselves we don’t have the capacity to shine, but we can behold and reflect the Lord as the sun! What we need, therefore, is not more works and things we do for the Lord – we need more shining, more illumination, more reflecting!
God as the Spirit Operates in us, and we Shine as Luminaries to Magnify Christ by Living Christ
Paul testified in Phil. 1:19-21 that he knew that for him this (his situation – even his imprisonment) will turn out to salvation through the saints’ petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
He wanted that Christ would be magnified in his body whether through life or through death, and for him to live was Christ and to die gain. What a testimony!
Then in 2:12-16 he encourages us to work out our own salvation, for it is God who operates in us, and we should shine as luminaries in the world by holding forth the word of life.
Here we have seemingly two different topics, but actually Paul speaks about the same thing. In Phil. 1 we see salvation, the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the magnifying of Christ, and the living of Christ. In ch. 2 we see the working out of our own salvation, God operating in us, and holding forth the word of life.
There are two lines here: the first like is salvation, the Spirit, and Christ, and the second lie is salvation, God, and the word.
Who is the Spirit? The Spirit who bountifully supplies us is the God who operates in us inwardly. If God doesn’t operate in us, it is not possible for us to experience the supply from the Spirit. When God operates in us, He brings us the bountiful supply of the Spirit. This is something that we can testify in our experience.
The God who operates in us (Phil. 2:13) is the supplying Spirit (1:19). For us to shine as luminaries (2:15) is for us to magnify Christ (1:20), and for us to hold forth the word of life (2:16) is for us to live Christ (1:21).
For us to shine as luminaries is for us to magnify Christ. We shine as luminaries by holding forth the word of life; holding forth the word of life is offering this word to others, presenting it to them, and applying the word to them.
This is actually to minister Christ to others, to offer Christ to them. What does it mean to shine as luminaries in this dark and corrupted world? It is to hold forth the word of life, that is, to offer Christ to others, present Christ to them, and apply Christ to them in their situation.
For example, what we offer to our family, to our relatives, to our neighbours, to our colleagues, and to our friends and classmates is just Christ; the word of life is actually the living expression of Christ.
For us to shine as luminaries is for us to magnify Christ, and to hold forth the word of life is to live Christ. How wonderful it is to see a definition of what it is to live Christ – first Paul lived Christ, and then he defined what it is to live Christ!
Thank You Lord for being the God who operates in us, and when You operate, we have the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ! Amen, Lord, we need the bountiful supply of the Spirit so that all thing would turn out to salvation! May we be filled with the word of life, and may we present this word, offer this word, and even apply the word of life to those around us, so that we may hold forth the word of life! Amen, Lord, we want to hold forth the word of life so that we may live Christ, magnify Christ, and exhibit Christ!
We Live Christ by being Saturated with the Word of Life through Pray-reading the Word
The only way for us to live Christ is by being saturated with the word of life. For us to magnify Christ and to live Christ, we need the bountiful supply of the Spirit, and this bountiful supply is stored in the Word of God.
The Lord Jesus said that the words He speaks to us are spirit and are life (John 6:63). The Spirit and the Word are one; when we exercise our spirit over the word of God, we get spirit and life.
Eph. 6:17-18 also says that the Word is the Spirit, and that we can take in the word of God by means of all prayers and petition to be filled with the word of God and thus be filled with the spirit.
2 Tim. 3:16 tells us that all Scripture is God-breathed; every word of the Bible is the breath of God, the breathing out of God. God has breathed Himself out in His word, and this breath is the pneuma, the Spirit.
When we come to the Word of God we should have a deep realisation that this word is not merely black-and-white letters on many pages to give us knowledge and understanding; rather, this book is filled with the breathed-out word of God.
On one hand, the Word of God is the Spirit, and on the other, the Spirit of God is the word. So we need to receive the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, by means of all prayer and petition.
The way for us to live Christ is by being supplied with the Spirit, that is, being saturated with the word of life; the way we do this is by pray-reading the word of God.
We need to take the word of God into us by means of all prayer and petition, praying at every time in spirit. We need to pray in many ways and at many times over the word of God, taking in the word by means of all prayer and petition.
We need to have audible prayer and silent prayer, long prayer and short prayer, quick prayer and slow prayer, private prayer and public prayer over the word of God and with the word of God, so that we may be saturated with the word and thus be supplied by the Spirit to live Christ.
May we learn and practice to pray-read the word of God, exercising not only our eyes to read and our mind to understand but even more our spirit to pray and receive the word of God into us.
We should mingle our reading of the Bible with our prayer; when we read the word, we need to pray it to the Lord, musing over it in a prayerful way, so that the word would become spirit and life and thus supply us to live Christ.
When we pray over the word of God, mixing it with our faith through prayer, the word will be the living breath of God, the Spirit.
As a result, we will be watered, nourished, refreshed, and enlightened, and the whole Bible becomes in our experience the nourishing Spirit for us to live Christ.
We need to pray-read the word of God every day, receiving the word of God by means of all prayer and petition. This is how we can live Christ, by being saturated with the Word of life through pray-reading the word.
Lord Jesus, we want to live Christ by being saturated with the word of life through pray-reading the word so that we may be inwardly supplied. Hallelujah, the word of life is the living breath of life, the Spirit who gives life, and we can pray over God’s word to be nourished, watered, supplied, refreshed, and enlightened. Amen, Lord, we want to learn to take in the word of God by means of all kinds of prayers and petitions, so that we may partake of the bountiful supply of the Spirit and thus live Christ!
This article can also be read in the Romanian language / Citiți acest articol în limba română vizitând următorul link, Îl trăim pe Cristos fiind saturați cu Cuvântul vieții prin citirea cu rugăciune a Cuvântului.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ricky Acosta for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Philippians, msgs. 35, 39 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Experience of Christ (2019 Memorial Day Conference), week 3, Knowing and Experiencing Christ as the Pattern.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Feeding and drinking, Lord Jesus, of Thee, / Feeding by reading, and drinking by prayer; / Reading and praying, I eat and I drink, / Praying and reading-Lord, Thou art my fare. (Hymns #811)
# Jesus is the living Spirit / And the living Word; / When we touch Him by pray-reading / We receive this Lord. (Hymns #1142)
# Do you hear them all pray-reading, / Breathing in the living Word? / Praying, praising, drinking, feeding, / How they all enjoy the Lord! (Hymns #1257)
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