Philippians 2:12 says, "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." What were the Philippians to obey? They were to obey Paul's word regarding thinking the one thing and being in one soul. The one thing which they were to think is the experience of Christ for the Body life. We may also say that it is the enjoyment of Christ for the Body life. Paul was imploring the Philippians to think this one thing.
This one thing is clearly revealed in chapter three, where Paul speaks of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord (v. 8). To experience Christ as our enjoyment for the church is excellent. All other things are dung, refuse, dog food. Anything other than this one thing is refuse, food for dogs, not something for us Christians. As children of God, we should not feed on dog food. Rather, we should eat at the table. According to Matthew 15, Christ came as bread for the children of God, not as food for the dogs. However, when the Gentile dogs under the table ate the bread that was for the children of God, the dogs became children of God. Today, we are no longer Gentile dogs, but children of God. The Jews, originally the children of God, have rejected the food and have become dogs. The dogs in Matthew 15 refer to the Gentiles, but, as we shall see, the dogs in Philippians 3 refer to the unbelieving religious Jews. Although the Jews are God's chosen people, they do not eat the food intended for the children of God. Instead, they prefer to eat dog food. Dietitians say that we are what we eat. Thus, spiritually speaking, those who eat dog food become dogs, and the Gentile dogs who eat the food of the children of God become children of God. Through eating we have been metabolically transformed from dogs to the children of God.
Although the Philippians had been transformed from dogs into children of God, at a certain point they turned away to dog food. We can easily do the same thing today. The trash can, the place where the dog food, the refuse, is cast, is primarily in the mind in the case of the brothers and in the emotion in the case of the sisters. Therefore, to think the one thing and to be one in soul eliminates the trash can and all the dog food that is in it. We were reborn as children of God, not in our mind nor in our emotion, but in our spirit. Our dining table is in our spirit. When we get into our spirit, we find ourselves at the dining table where Christ is. The Lord Jesus Christ is our food, and the dining table is in our spirit.
In Philippians 2, Paul was encouraging the Philippians to think the one thing and to be one in soul. The one thing is not merely the objective Christ, but the subjective experience of Christ as our enjoyment for the church life. This one thing should occupy our mind all the time. We should constantly be thinking about how to experience Christ as our rich enjoyment so that we may have the proper church life. The Body life is the issue of the experience and enjoyment of Christ. When we enjoy Christ, the church life spontaneously issues forth. Thus, the church life comes out of our experience of Christ.
We should not only think about this, but even dream about it. Have you ever dreamed of feasting with all the saints at a banquet? Many of us have had dreams like this. Dreams come mainly from impressions, desires, and thoughts. Often, what we dream about is what we have been thinking about or what we desire. We need to think about the experience of Christ and the enjoyment of Christ until we dream about it. This is the one thing that the Apostle Paul charged the Philippians to think about.