Leaving Beyond – Grounded In Scripture

Written by: April J. Buchanan

Be joyful, a command not forced, but that which is wrought within by the gracious work of God. How can the saint be joyful? Is he able? Yes. As he attends to the means of grace, what is unnatural to the flesh becomes the visible work of God within. The man who walks in these means finds his joy in the Lord, whatever his circumstances.

Such things are not natural to us. We are not born content, joyful, or marked by genuine love and affection that glorifies God for one another. These are evidences of grace at work in the man who has been born again.

How might this church have rejoiced upon the reception of this letter? I know not. I am certain that they rejoiced much.

Joy becomes a burden to the heart that is commanded to rejoice apart from the gracious means of God, where joy is spoken of but not defined biblically or received as the fruit of grace. The command itself feels heavy to the flesh that is concerned only with its own interests. But such commands are not burdensome to those in whom God is at work, whose love is increasing more and more. In them, obedience becomes delight, and duty becomes joy.

This church was near to the heart of Paul. Philippians is not primarily a letter of rebuke. They were not marked by serious disorder or corruption. While Paul does warn them against external threats of false teaching, especially Judaizing influence, they are not a church characterized by internal doctrinal breakdown. They were a church that had faithfully helped Paul in the furtherance of the Gospel from the first day until even as he wrote this letter. And when they lacked opportunity to help, it was not because they cared not for him or withdrew themselves from his needs, but because they simply lacked opportunity. As soon as they were able, they supported him and helped him in his need.

In this letter, Paul’s love for them and their love for Paul is evident. He wrote to encourage them even while he was in chains. He wrote to assure them that even in his imprisonment, the work of Christ was not hindered but advancing. He wrote to share with them his joy in what God was doing.

It is one thing for a church to send money in aid and support of another, yet never pray for them again, never truly consider them in their labor, but merely feel satisfied in what they have done through monetary giving. This was not so with these precious saints. They cared for Paul and for the work of the Gospel. And when they heard of his chains, Paul wrote to encourage them that the work of the Lord had not been chained, but rather that his imprisonment had turned out for the furtherance of the Gospel.

This mutual love, affection, concern for one another, and devotion to the work of the Gospel is beautiful to read. And it is right that it stirs the affections. But those affections are not an end in themselves; they are meant to be formed by truth and directed toward Christ. This is what the church looks like when she is concerned not only with her own interests, but with the interests of her Lord, His bride, and the work of the Gospel.

Is the letter this simple? Yes. Is it far more? Yes. Do we behold in it some of the most beautiful revelation of Christ, especially in Philippians 2, where we are given one of the clearest displays of Christ taking on flesh? Yes. And in the passage where the warning exists against external corrupting doctrines, we also find some of the most piercing contrast between the righteousness of man and the righteousness of Christ.

There Paul, once confident in his own standing under the Law, counts all things as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord. What once defined him, his lineage, his zeal, his righteousness according to the Law, he now considers loss and even refuse compared to Christ. This passage is not merely a warning against false teaching and worthless righteousness, but a necessary contrast that reveals what we truly are in ourselves and magnifies the perfect righteousness of Christ, which is received through faith.

This little epistle is not demanding joy, it produces it as the Spirit uses it in the hearts of God’s people as they read it, enter into it, and come out of it being formed by its truth. Whatever circumstance we are in, if we are Christ focused, Gospel driven, and unified in the work of the Gospel and in love for one another, then we rejoice when we hear of what God is doing, wherever we are and whatever our circumstance may be, for the sake of the Gospel.