We have seen in the past messages that by the time we come to Ephesians, the church has come into being through the indwelling of Christ. This is the climax. If we look into the content of all the books of the New Testament up to the end of Ephesians, we can see that Paul has reached a consummation. He has presented to us the all-inclusive Christ, and he has showed us the Body, the church.
Yet Paul the Apostle is a good minister and a good writer. Even after reaching the climax, he still has something to say. Therefore, the book of Philippians follows Ephesians. The arrangement of the books of the New Testament is really something of the Spirit of the Lord. Suppose we were to put Philippians before Acts, or even after Galatians. It simply would not fit so well. But in the order in which we have them, they give a clear, meaningful picture.
What is the purpose of the book of Philippians? If we have the proper light from the Lord, we can see that following Ephesians, the book on the church, Philippians gives us a real picture of the practical way to have the church life. After seeing the wonderful church life in the book of Ephesians, we need to know how to practice it. Therefore, Philippians follows Ephesians to show us the practical way of the church life.
In a sense, the book of Philippians is not merely a book of revelation, but a book of practice. We have chosen verses from each of the four chapters of this book, and all of these representative verses speak mostly of practice.
Consider Philippians 1:19. “For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” Undoubtedly, this is a practical daily experience. So many things happened to Paul. Whenever we see how much Christ is to us and what the church life is, we can be assured that things will happen. There is not one exception. If we mean business with the Lord, we must be prepared for the things to happen. The demons may be stirred up, the wind may blow, and the rain may fall. The children may become naughty, the wives may become rebellious, and the husbands may become hard. If you are a teacher, your class may give you much trouble. If you are a general manager, the employees may give you a difficult time. If you are an employee, your boss may not treat you well.
Even if your circumstances are good, that is still a test to you. Many saints, after seeing something of Christ and the church, can take the sufferings, but they cannot stand the good situations. Some after seeing the church may lose their job. But that loss of employment will eventually turn to their salvation. However, some after seeing the church get a better job. And this better position, instead of turning them to their salvation, turns them away from the church. Sometimes the good that comes to us may not be a real help. But still that is a test. Sometimes the greatest test is not affliction, but prosperity.
In other words, after seeing something of Christ and the vision of the church, the Lord will surely put us on test, and He knows just what kind of test we need. Some need the test of a troublesome wife. Others need the test of a very obedient wife. Sometimes it is hard to tell which is better. Of course, humanly speaking, an obedient wife is much better, but spiritually speaking, only the Lord knows. Only the Lord knows what kind of wife we need, and whether she is good or bad, she is still a test to us.
Paul had no wife, but he still had much trouble. Some of the churches gave him trouble. By reading all his writings, we see that he had many problems with the churches. From reading 2 Corinthians we can see that the Corinthians even thought Paul was cheating them in the matter of money (2 Cor. 12:16). So Paul told them that he would never take anything from them, but rather he would spend and be spent for them (2 Cor. 12:13, 15). We may say that the church in Philippi was good to him. But in Philippi there was a problem of the practical church life. All the Epistles were written due to the fact that there were some problems. We thank the Lord for these problems; otherwise, we would not have these Epistles today. First Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, and Colossians were all written because of problems.