In reading the Bible you need to learn to find the main points and the general thought. When you read the Bible, you must learn to hit the mark. For example, when you eat chicken, you should eat its meat and not pay attention to its feathers, skin, and bones. Chicken feathers, skin, and bones are essential to the growth of a chicken, for without them it would not be possible for a chicken to exist. When you eat chicken, however, you should eat only its meat. Let us use a fish as another example. A fish has a head, a tail, fins, and bones. To properly enjoy a fish, you have to know which parts to eat. Many Americans do not know which parts of a fish can be eaten, so they discard the fish head, the fish tail, and the fish bones. As a result, they do not get the proper enjoyment of the fish. When we read the Bible, we must learn to hit the mark. Whether or not we do this depends on whether or not we are focused on the main points and have the proper enjoyment.
The authors of the Bible did not include only “chicken meat” when they wrote the Scriptures. They included geography, history, and various people, matters, and events. When we read the Scriptures, however, we should not focus on these items; instead, we should endeavor to find the main points pertaining to life and spiritual principles, such as the meaning of salvation and the meaning of grace. After reading a particular section of the Scriptures, we should also try to speak the main points and understand the outline of that section. You who are learning to work for the Lord must learn how to speak properly. You must not only speak properly when giving a message, you must also speak in a logical and attractive way that is full of content when you are conversing with people one on one.
Let us use Philippians 1 as an illustration of how we should read the Bible. You may have studied this chapter very well; that is, you may have endeavored to grasp the main point and to find the central line. As a result, you may know that the subject of this chapter is living Christ for His magnification. You greatly miss the mark, however, if you do not see the matter of the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (v. 19). Without the Spirit, how can you live Christ? Without the Spirit, how can Christ be magnified in you? The key, the life-pulse, to live Christ and to magnify Him is the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Without the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, you also will not have the power to defend the gospel.
Paul clearly pointed out that his defense of the gospel, his preaching of the gospel, his suffering of persecution, and even his imprisonment all resulted in his living Christ for His magnification and all hinged on the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. We can use the breath in our human body to illustrate the importance of the Spirit. If our human body has all its parts and organs intact but does not have breath within, it will be a corpse. We can also use the gas in a car as an illustration. A cheap, old car with gas is better than the best car without gas. The bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ is the “breath” and the “gas” for our experience of Christ. The bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ is the life-pulse of Philippians 1.
A chicken has feathers, skin, bones, and meat. This is obvious, and we know that we should eat the chicken meat. But when we read the Bible, it is not so easy to find the “chicken meat.” This is the preciousness of reading the Bible. Philippians chapter one has thirty verses, and every letter of every word is of the same size and style. Moreover, the phrase the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ is not printed in large or bold type. Hence, when we read the Bible, it is up to us to find this phrase, to magnify it, and to apply it in our daily life. Reading the Bible may be likened to responding to a traffic signal. When we see a traffic signal, we know that we have to stop at a red light and proceed at a green light. Likewise, when we read the Bible, we have to find the life-pulse, the most precious point, of the portion that we are reading.
The entire book of Philippians is concerned with the experience of Christ. In particular, chapter one speaks on the experience of Christ in several aspects. First, it mentions the defense of the gospel. Regardless of how others preached or what they preached, Paul still preached the proper gospel. In doing this he lived Christ. For the preaching of the proper gospel, he was persecuted and even put in prison, yet he still lived Christ that Christ would be magnified in him. How could Paul defend the gospel, preach the proper gospel, and live Christ in a proper way so as to magnify Christ even to the extent that he did not care about being imprisoned? The key, the life-pulse, for him to do this was the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. When we read Philippians 1 we should make note of this fact and summarize this chapter in this way.
The whole book of Philippians is about the experience of Christ. Chapter one tells us that in order to experience Christ, we need to defend the gospel, to preach the proper gospel in a proper way, and to even suffer persecution for the gospel’s sake. We need to always live Christ that Christ may be magnified in us. The key, the secret, and the life-pulse to doing this is the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
The way to apply the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ is through prayer. Verse 19 of chapter one says, “For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” Here salvation does not mean that Paul would be rescued from the prison. It means that he would be delivered from the failure of not living Christ. In the midst of persecution and imprisonment he would still live Christ, defend the gospel, and magnify Christ. Paul was able to continue to preach the proper gospel and to defend the gospel even during his imprisonment. Thus, he lived Christ and magnified Christ. This was his salvation. How could he be saved in this way? It was through the petition of the saints and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. After the saints prayed for him, the Spirit supplied him, and once he was supplied, he was saved, so that instead of being defeated, he was strong and able to preach the gospel, defend the gospel, suffer persecution, live Christ, and allow Christ to be magnified in him as always whether through life or through death. This is a crystallized exposition of Philippians 1.