FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. – Philippians 1:20.

Surrendered Lives

A final truth arising from our text in Philippians is that if the Lord Jesus Christ is to be magnified in our bodies, our bodies must be surrendered to Him fully. Romans 12:1 says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Two things are involved here: our innermost selves who do the offering and our bodies that are offered. Clearly we must first belong to God ourselves before anything can be offered to Him.

This means that the kind of life the Bible advocates is totally impossible for the non-Christian; it is impossible for anyone who has failed to come to God solely on the merits of Christ and His atoning death on Calvary. Nothing in the unsaved person can satisfy God in the slightest degree. All acts of human sacrifice apart from Christ, all acts of self-denial apart from Christ, all acts of penance apart from Christ, all these are acts of human righteousness. It is only after a person has come to Christ irrevocably that God moves him to make that sacrifice of his body through which Jesus Christ is magnified. Have you made this first and great commitment? If not, you need to, for all other steps in the Christian life flow from it.

Then too we must surrender our bodies to the Lord to use as He determines. His plans and His will for us is perfected in Him. Merely to see this truth is not sufficient; you must also practice yielding your body to Christ. You must practice living to His glory as He gives you grace to do so. You must wake with the name of Jesus on your lips and commit the day to Him. You must surrender your thoughts to Him at breakfast. You must ask Him to take control of your eyes and tongue that they might be given to His service. Moreover, you must do so each moment as each is yielded to His direction.

In such a way Jesus Christ will be truly magnified in each of us, and we will be able more and more to say: “It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.”

Adaptation of excerpts from James Montgomery Boice, Philippians: An Expositional Commentary.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.

It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. – Philippians 1:20.

The Tongue and the Mind

The Bible also teaches that Christ must be magnified in the way we use our tongues. In fact, a whole chapter of the Book of James is given over to that teaching. James comments on the power of the tongue for good and evil, and he notes the difficulty people have in taming it. It is a difficulty even for Christians. He concluded that “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” – James 3:9–10.

Frank E. Gaebelein, one of the editors of the New Scofield Bible, has written of these verses:

“James is right; so far as man goes, the tongue is incorrigible. Yet as James’ divine brother declared: ‘The things which are impossible with men are possible with God’ (Luke 18:27). The fact is that many Christians through the ages have been given the grace to control their tongues and use them constructively to God’s glory. They have not retreated into monasteries, but in the temptations and difficulties of daily living they have been given victory over the unruly member. They have done it, not in their own strength, but through submission of mind and heart to the indwelling Christ.” ¹

How are we to gain control of our tongues? Only by submitting our minds to Christ. We speak what we think. Therefore, if Jesus is to be magnified in the way we use our tongue, He must be magnified in the way we use our mind also. Paul writes of Christians: “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” – 2 Corinthians 10:5. Paul knew that there can be no purity of speech apart from a genuine purification of our minds. Jesus also taught this truth when He said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” – Matthew 12:34; Luke 6:45. Righteous words come from a righteous heart, one that has been surrendered to Christ, cleansed by Him, and filled with the thoughts He strives to place there.

If Jesus Christ is to be honored in your thoughts and your words, as He desires to be, there must be no preoccupation with idle thoughts, even less with anger and cursing. Instead you must fill your mind with God. Moreover, you must participate in a constant and sympathetic encouragement of other believers, as spiritual truths and spiritual lessons are shared between you.

To Be Continued

Adaptation of excerpts from James Montgomery Boice, Philippians: An Expositional Commentary.
¹ Frank E. Gaebelein, The Practical Epistle of James (New York: Channel Press, 1955), 80.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.