Message Two

Taking Christ as Our Expression

Scripture Reading: Phil. 1:19-26; 4:22

1. All of Paul’s life and work were not for expressing himself or for displaying his knowledge, his ability, or his other merits and strong points; what he was and what he did were for expressing Christ, even for magnifying Christ—Phil. 1:20; cf. 3:3-10; 4:22.
2. In the apostle’s suffering in his body, Christ was magnified; that is, He was shown or declared to be great (without limitation), exalted, and extolled— 1:20:
   1. The apostle’s sufferings afforded him opportunity to express Christ in His unlimited greatness—Acts 9:16; 2 Cor. 6:4; 11:23; Col. 1:24.
   2. To magnify Christ under any circumstances is to experience Him with the topmost enjoyment—Phil. 1:18; 4:23.
   3. As Paul was held captive in a Roman prison, he magnified Christ, making Him to appear great in the eyes of his captors:
      1. Regardless of the circumstances, Paul was full of joy and rejoicing in the Lord—cf. Acts 16:23-25.
      2. Since Philippians is concerned with the experience and enjoyment of Christ, which issue in joy, it is a book filled with joy and rejoicing—1:4, 18, 25; 2:2, 17-18, 28-29; 3:1; 4:1, 4.
      3. Paul’s shining forth and expressing Christ in his joy were a declaration of the unlimited greatness of Christ and a declaration that Christ is inexhaustible—Eph. 3:8; cf. Isa. 9:6.
3. Salvation in Philippians 1:19 means to be sustained and strengthened to live and magnify Christ; this requires the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ:
   1. The salvation Paul speaks of in 1:19 is not eternal salvation; it is a subjective, experiential, and constant salvation in our daily life for magnifying Christ.
   2. To live Christ for His magnification is to participate in Christ’s salvation in life, in which we are saved from the failure of not living Christ and from the defeat of not magnifying Christ—Rom. 5:10.
   3. The key to Paul’s experience of salvation was the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ; when we enjoy the Spirit and partake of Him, Christ is magnified and becomes our expression—Heb. 1:9b; 3:14a; 6:4b; 1 Cor. 12:3b.
   4. We need to be in the Body life and remain in the priestly service that builds up the Body so that we can enjoy the bountiful supply of the Spirit, the supply of the Body, for magnifying Christ—Psa. 133:2; Exo. 30:23-31; Phil. 1:19; Rom. 15:16; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9.
4. The expression of Christ, signified by the priestly garments, qualifies us to serve as priests and sanctifies us, separates us unto God for His unique purpose— Exo. 28:2-4; 1 Pet. 2:9:
   1. The expression of Christ as our “holy garments” is for glory and for beauty—Exo. 28:2:
      1. For glory means to express Christ’s divinity with the divine attributes—John 1:14; Heb. 1:3; John 17:22; 2 Cor. 3:18.
      2. For beauty means to express Christ’s humanity with the human virtues—Luke 24:19; Acts 16:7; Psa. 27:4.
      3. Whenever we express the divine glory blended with the beauty of human virtues, we are built up together as the priesthood—1 Pet. 2:5.
      4. Whenever we are separated from the other saints and become individualistic, we immediately express the fallen, natural life instead of expressing Christ with the divine glory and the human beauty.
   2. As the believers’ pattern, Paul lived a life fully dignified, with the highest standard of human virtues expressing the most excellent divine attributes, a life that resembled the one that the Lord Himself had lived on the earth years before—1 Tim. 1:16; Gal. 6:17; cf. Acts 27:21-26.
5. If we magnify Christ by living Him, we will become strong factors, channels of supply, to enable the saints to grow in life and enjoy the Lord—Phil. 1:22-26:
   1. In Paul’s chained body, Christ was exalted, extolled, praised, and appreciated because Paul lived Christ— v. 21; Eph. 6:20.
   2. Christ’s being magnified is so that He may be seen by others in the reality of His resurrection and ministered to others in the reality of His Spirit.
   3. When Paul wrote to the Philippians, he was living in prison and not outwardly working; his speaking of “fruit for my work” indicates that his work was actually his living—Phil. 1:22:
      1. The fruit of this work was Christ lived out, magnified, ministered, and transfused into others.
      2. The fruit of this work was the issue, the result, of Paul’s living in prison.
      3. Paul’s living work was to minister Christ to others and to transfuse the Christ he magnified into them.
      4. Through Paul’s magnification of Christ, even some in Caesar’s household were saved—4:22.
   4. Because of Paul the churches could have the growth in life and could be filled with the enjoyment of Christ; this should also be true of us today—1:25:
      1. Because Paul lived and magnified Christ to the uttermost, he could transfuse Christ into the saints and minister Christ to all the churches.
      2. Paul’s consideration to either depart and be with Christ or remain in the flesh was not selfish but was for the saints’ sake; he was absolutely occupied by the Lord and the church—vv. 23-24:
         1. It should matter to the church whether we remain or go to be with the Lord, but this depends on our living Christ, magnifying Christ, ministering Christ, and transfusing Christ from the depths of our being into that of the saints— cf. 2:25-30.
         2. In the Body life there is the urgent need of certain ones to function as channels of supply— cf. Zech. 4:12-14; Judg. 9:9.