Philippians 3:17-21 Brothers, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as you have us for an ensample.… I. WHOM TO LOOK TO. "Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them which so walk even as ye have us for an ensample." There was no assumption in Paul putting himself before the Philippians for their imitation. He was simply proceeding on what belonged to the relation subsisting between them. It devolved on Timothy to be an example to believers in the various places where he labored in word, in manner of life, in love, in faith, in purity. So it devolved on Paul, as having the care of the Gentile Churches, to walk before them so that they might be directed in their walk. And, although he did not count himself perfect, yet he had earnestly endeavored to come up to this idea of his duty. He had carried his faithfulness to Christ to the extent of suffering imprisonment for him for a long period. In a brotherly manner, then, he asked them to imitate him. Let them hold to Christ under all circumstances. Let them not refuse the hardships to be endured in his service. Others were imitators of him and were proving themselves valiant for Christ and against persecution. Let them also be numbered among his imitators. He did not set himself exclusively forward for their imitation. He leaves the singular for the plural. "As ye have us for an example." He could join with himself other Christian teachers known to the Philippians. There was one type according to which they walked. Mark them among them who followed this type. "Mark the perfect man," says the psalmist. The New Testament form given to it by Paul is that we are to mark those who have, in their walk, the common Christian features. II. WHOM TO TAKE WARNING FROM. There were others who walked differently. We are apparently to think of them as nominal Christians - owning the cross of Christ in their profession, disowning it in their practice. 1. Feelings with which the apostle calls attention to them. "For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now tell you even weeping.' In this Paul echoes the words of the psalmist, "Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy Law." He echoes the words of the weeping prophet, "Hear ye, and give car; be not proud: for the Lord hath spoken. Give glory to the Lord your God before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and while ye look for light he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness. But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride: and mine eye shall weep sore and run down with tears." Chrysostom says here, "Paul weeps for those over whom other men laugh and are uproarious." It is an aggravating circumstance when men dishonor the Christian circle with which they are connected. But there is this, that Christ needed to weep over us when we were sinners, and still needs to weep over us for the sin which doth so easily beset us. And the more that others are in a state of sin, there is only the more need for our weeping over them and desiring their emancipation from their unhappy thraldom. Another circumstance which led to the tears of the apostle was their number. There were many who had disgraced their Christian profession. It was like a catastrophe involving the loss of many lives. But why did the apostle tell this to the Philippians? Why had he not been content with telling them once? Why had he continued telling them in his addresses when with them and in his messages when absent? Why, as he now thinks of it, with the pen in his hand or dictating to his amanuensis, do the tears begin to flow? It was because, being many, there was danger of this class appearing also in the Church of Philippi. Persistently, tearfully would he endeavor to stave off, to prevent, such a catastrophe. 2. Described generally. (1) Character. "That they are the enemies of the cross of Christ." It is said of the heathen that they refused to have God in their knowledge. It is said of the Colossians in their heathen state that they were enemies in their mind in their evil works. It is in darker colors that the persons before us are painted. They are enemies of God, not in his unity or spirituality, but in the brightest exhibition of his moral excellence. The cross of Christ is a great fact, of which the great expression is this, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life." The cross of Christ is God approaching men in greatest kindness - kindness displayed to his foes, kindness fitted to subdue the most hostile. It is the condemnation of the persons before us that, having had the cross of Christ presented to them so that they could not refuse to acknowledge the justice of its claims, they yet did not in reality yield to its claims, but opposed their will to the Divine benignity. (2) End. "Whose end is perdition." It is an oppressive thought, that this should be the end of any who have been created for God's glory. But it is the inevitable consequence of opposing the cross of Christ. As the Foundation-stone of the Church, when not used as Foundation, is to become the Stone of vengeance, so the cross of Christ, when not used as the instrument of salvation, is to become the instrument of perdition. It is as though a beautiful work of art, on which much loving labor has been expended, were taken and broken into a thousand fragments. So is every one the object of perdition in his spiritual nature, lost to beauty and usefulness and happiness, who does not submit to the saving power of Christ. 3. Described more particularly. (1) Indulgent of appetite. "Whose god is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame." The apostle writes to the Roman Christians of those who served net our Lord Christ, but their own belly. They are described in more startling language here, as making a god of their belly. That is to say, the place belonging to God is usurped by the very lowest part of their nature: We are to eat and drink in order that we may do the great business of life; these make it the great business of life to eat and drink. Their supreme concern is, "What shall we eat, and what shall we drink?" To this object, as devotees, they consecrate their thoughts, their energies. As professed Christians, they should glory in the cross of Christ; their real antagonism to the cross comes out in their glorying in what is fitted to pamper appetite. It is glorying in their shame. It is unworthy of rational men, it is especially unworthy of men who profess to be Christians, that they should be taken up with their eating and drinking. It is taking the glory which belongs to them as made for God, as intended for a Christian immortality, and giving it to their animal nature. It is in gluttony, and also in drunkenness, stupefying themselves, obscuring their vision of God, unfitting themselves for his service. And those deserve to be covered with shame who so walk. (2) Class to which they are referred. "Who mind earthly things." They belong to the earthly order of things; within it, their thoughts and interests are confined. One characteristic of the earthly is its perishableness. Such Epicureans as are here referred to make this even a reason for their indulgence of appetite, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die. But what a skeleton does this introduce into their feasts! Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats; but God shall bring to nought both it and them." Without being Epicureans and taken up with our eating and drinking, we may mind earthly things. If our minds do not rise above our earthly business, then we are living within the earthly order of things, that which is lower and which is doomed to perish. "The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherits shall dissolve, And, like the insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind." III. THE CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH 1. Its seat. "For our citizenship is in heaven." More exactly it is the state in connection with which we have citizenship. We properly belong to a heavenly order of things. And this points to the possession of higher privileges. (1) Right of access to the sovereigns. This is very rarely taken advantage of under an earthly polity. We cannot weary our heavenly Sovereign by our frequent approaches to him, if only we are sincere. In Christ we have an established place before him. And our present mode of access to him by prayer will be turned into an eternal abiding with him. (2) Right of protection. If a British citizen is within the law in travelling or trading within the bounds of a foreign state, he may rely upon the British power for his protection. Earth is like a foreign state to Christians; we may rely upon Christ meantime defending us from all our enemies. And ultimately he will withdraw us from the presence of enemies, to dwell entirely under the shadow of the Almighty. (3) Right of education. It is right that a state should make provision for the education of all who are to be its citizens. The British state, to a certain extent, acts upon this principle. As Christian citizens, there is provision for our education, in the Bible and the ordinance of the ministry. And ultimately we shall be directly taught of God. (4) Right of maintenance. The new-made citizen of a town has the right of trading within its boundaries for the purpose of maintenance. As citizens standing in a right relation to our liege Lord, he undertakes our maintenance in this world. And ultimately he will call us to sit at his own table. 2. Obtaining the condition necessary for the full enjoyment of privileges. (1) He who obtains the condition. "From whence also we wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." The seat of the polity to which we belong being in the heavens, it is fitting that our aspiration should be heavenward. Our great Hope in that would is Christ, who has taken possession in our name. We wait for him to come, with his saving power, to us on earth, i.e. to bring us out of present disabilities, and to bring us into the full enjoyment of privileges. (2) The condition to be obtained. "Who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his' glory." (a) Transformation from a psychical body to a spiritual body. Our present body is psychical - so it is called in the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians - i.e. it answers to our lower or animal nature. It has a certain material grossness about it; and it is very much hemmed in by material surroundings. Christ at his resurrection exchanged the psychical body which he shared with us for a spiritual body - so it is named, i.e. it is a body answering to our higher or spiritual nature, as the present body answers to our lower or animal nature. As seen in him, it was a body to which matter was no barrier. He appeared in the midst of his disciples when the doors were shut. It was a body to which distance was completely conquered. With it, when the time came, he could, at once and of his own accord, go up into heaven, only lingering in view for the sake of those whom he left behind. And his spiritual body is to rule the form of ours. (b) Transformation from the state of the Fall to the state of redemption. Our present body is called the body of humiliation. It is so in the aspect we have already considered. It is especially so in that the Fall has left its mark upon it as well as upon the soul. It is a body that is subject to weakness and disease terminating in death and corruption. Humiliation reaches its depth when this body becomes the prey of worms. Christ, in the body of his flesh, was subjected to the humiliation of weakness and suffering. He was also subjected to the humiliation of death. And, in addition, he was subjected to the humiliation of burial. At his resurrection the body of his humiliation, which had not seen corruption, was exchanged for the body of his glory, of which we can form some conception from the description of him as he appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration, and also as he was seen by the prisoner of Patmos in heaven. It was a body which bore a certain relation to previous humiliation; for there were the marks of the wounds in his hands and in his side. We are to think of it as a body which has received immortal power and beauty. And that gloriously transformed body of Christ is to rule the form of ours. (3) Guarantee for the condition being obtained. "According to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself." Following upon his resurrection was his being invested with universal power. "All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth." The final adjustment will bear witness to his being able to subdue all things unto himself, i.e. unto his thought, his way of adjusting things. We may, therefore, feel assured, seeing that is his thought, that he will subdue the present material fallen body to the spiritual glorious type, which he has asserted in his own resurrection-body. This condition being obtained, we shall be admitted as Christian citizens to full privileges. - R.F. Parallel Verses KJV: Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. |
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