In Philippians 1:19 Paul says, “For I know that for me this shall turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” As in Romans 8, the Spirit here is the aggregate Spirit. Thus Paul is saying that his situation will turn out to salvation through the bountiful supply of the aggregate Spirit.
There is no indication in the book of Philippians that Paul prayed in the way of telling the Lord how weak he was and that he needed the Lord to strengthen him. There is no indication that Paul prayed, “Lord, You know that I am in prison for Your sake. I have been faithful to You, Lord, but I’m weak, and I need You to strengthen me. Have mercy on me so that I can bear this imprisonment.” Paul did not pray this way in the book of Philippians, nor did he pray like this when he and Silas were in prison in Acts 16. According to the record in chapter 16 of Acts, Paul and Silas sang praises to the Lord.
Too many Christians pray in a pitiful way. Too few Christians are joyful, praising Christians. We need to be Christians who are joyful, praising, and full of rejoicing. Even while in prison, Paul could speak about rejoicing in the Lord (Phil. 3:1). Paul knew that through the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ his imprisonment would become a salvation to him so that he might magnify Christ and live Him (Phil. 1:20-21).
In Philippians 3:7-10 Paul says, “But what things were gains to me, these I have counted loss on account of Christ. But surely I count also all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them to be refuse that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God based on faith, to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” Here we see that Paul counted all things to be loss on account of Christ. These things certainly include the ten items we have mentioned in previous messages: culture, religion, ethics, morality, philosophy, improvement of character, and the effort to be spiritual, scriptural, holy, and victorious. Paul counted all such things loss for the sake of the aggregate Spirit so that he might be found in Christ, not in anything else.
Paul also aspired to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and to be conformed to His death. Once again we have Christ with His death and resurrection.
In Philippians we see that Paul was the continuation of the Lord Jesus. Just as the Lord lived a life fully according to and for God’s New Testament economy, so Paul lived a life according to and for the New Testament economy of God.
In the New Testament the twenty-two books from Acts to Jude reveal the all-inclusive pneumatic Christ. We have seen that we need to praise the Lord that we have received this pneumatic Christ, that we have received Him as the life-giving Spirit. However, some may say, “Do you really mean that all we should do is praise the Lord? Isn’t there something else we should do?” To ask such a question is to give ground for the “weeds” of the ten items that are replacements for Christ to grow in us. The more we question what we should do, the more these weeds will be sown into us.
Just as the seeds of certain kinds of weeds are carried by the air, so the seeds of devilish weeds are carried by the blowing of the satanic air. Someone may say, “I agree that we should praise the Lord that He is the all-inclusive Spirit in us. Yet I still believe that we need to do something.” This kind of speaking shows the influence of the blowing of the satanic wind. As long as we think that we in ourselves must do something, we shall experience failure, and we shall be distracted from what we have heard in these messages.
Let us forget our own efforts to do something and praise the Lord that we have received the aggregate Spirit. Praise Him that we have received His breathing of the essential Spirit and His baptizing with the economical Spirit. Now we are in the all-inclusive Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God.