Magnifying Christ (3)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bible Verses ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Phil. 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and hope that
in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as
always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether
through life or through death.
4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Words of Ministry ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Part 3 of 3)
At the time Paul wrote the book of Philippians, he was an
elderly person. No doubt, the guards expected him to be
exhausted by his imprisonment. But far from being exhausted,
Paul was full of joy and rejoicing in the Lord. I am
confident that he was shining forth Christ and expressing
Him. Such an expression was a declaration of the unlimited
greatness of Christ and a declaration that Christ is
inexhaustible.
Our love is eventually exhausted, but Christ as love is
inexhaustible. Likewise, our natural patience is limited, but
Christ as our patience is without limit. We all have the
capacity to be patient, but only to a certain extent. Then we
become provoked and angry. For example, a brother may
exercise patience with his wife. Eventually, however, this
patience reaches its limit, and he becomes angry with her.
Although our natural patience is so limited, Christ as
patience is inexhaustible and immeasurable.
Even though Paul must have been mistreated in prison, he
could be happy and display to the guards the unlimited
greatness of Christ. In particular, Paul displayed Christ's
inexhaustible patience. Christ certainly was magnified in
Paul's physical body. Day by day, Paul was happy in the Lord.
His happiness did not diminish as time went by. In his
happiness he could show forth the immeasurable Christ he
experienced and enjoyed. By this way Paul expressed,
exhibited, exalted, and extolled Christ. I do not believe
that Paul was offended by the jailers or that he offended
them. Rather, he was a living witness of Christ, testifying
of His ability, power, patience, love, and wisdom, all
without measure. The guards may have considered Paul to be
strange or peculiar, viewing him as possessing something
which they did not have. What they sensed in Paul was Christ
magnified. While he was in prison, Paul expressed the
greatness of Christ in an enlarged way. He magnified Christ
with all boldness both through life and through death. By
magnifying Christ in this way, Paul could overcome any
situation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(c) Living Stream Ministry. Bible verses are taken from the Recovery
Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study
of Philippians, pp. 26-27. Both are published by Living Stream.
Please visit us at www.emanna.com
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Message Date: 02/02/2009
