HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1444
P H ILIP P I A N S 3
with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power
to do what pleases him.
14 Do everything without complaining and
arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you. Live
clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked
and perverse people. 16 Hold firmly to the word
of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will
be proud that I did not run the race in vain and
that my work was not useless. 17 But I will rejoice
even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid
offering to God,* just like your faithful service
is an offering to God. And I want all of you to
share that joy. 18 Yes, you should rejoice, and I
will share your joy.
Paul Commends Timothy
19 If the Lord Jesus is willing, I hope to send Timothy to you soon for a visit. Then he can cheer
me up by telling me how you are getting along.
20 I have no one else like Timothy, who genuinely
cares about your welfare. 21 All the others care
only for themselves and not for what matters
to Jesus Christ. 22 But you know how Timothy
has proved himself. Like a son with his father,
he has served with me in preaching the Good
News. 23 I hope to send him to you just as soon
as I find out what is going to happen to me here.
24 And I have confidence from the Lord that I myself will come to see you soon.
Paul Commends Epaphroditus
25 Meanwhile, I thought I should send Epaphroditus back to you. He is a true brother, coworker, and fellow soldier. And he was your
messenger to help me in my need. 26 I am
• Will of God
PH ILIPPIA NS 3 :1 5 -1 6
Why won’t God show me his will? God
will not reveal new truth if we are not acting on the truth we already have. How
are you doing with, for example, the
Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17),
the biblical prohibition of gossip
(Proverbs 26:22; 2 Corinthians 12:20),
and God’s command to care for the poor
(James 1:27)? Here God’s will is very
clear. If we treat it as something we can
take or leave, is it any wonder that God
will not further reveal his will? If you are
seeking God’s will in a particular matter,
first examine your life to see if there is
any command or call of God that you
are not following. When you have taken
care of this, you may be surprised at how
quickly God clarifies other issues.
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sending him because he has been longing to see
you, and he was very distressed that you heard
he was ill. 27 And he certainly was ill; in fact, he
almost died. But God had mercy on him—and
also on me, so that I would not have one sorrow
after another.
28 So I am all the more anxious to send him
back to you, for I know you will be glad to see
him, and then I will not be so worried about
you. 29 Welcome him in the Lord’s love* and with
great joy, and give him the honor that people like
him deserve. 30 For he risked his life for the work
of Christ, and he was at the point of death while
doing for me what you couldn’t do from far away.
The Priceless Value of Knowing Christ
Whatever happens, my dear brothers and
sisters,* rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired
of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.
2 Watch out for those dogs, those people who
do evil, those mutilators who say you must be
circumcised to be saved. 3 For we who worship
by the Spirit of God* are the ones who are truly
circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has
done for us. We put no confidence in human
effort, 4 though I could have confidence in my
own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others
have reason for confidence in their own efforts,
I have even more!
5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old.
I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if
there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the
Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness,
I obeyed the law without fault.
7 I once thought these things were valuable,
but now I consider them worthless because of
what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is
worthless when compared with the infinite value
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I
have discarded everything else, counting it all
as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own
righteousness through obeying the law; rather,
I become righteous through faith in Christ.* For
God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from
the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his
death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
3
Pressing toward the Goal
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already
achieved these things or that I have already
2:17 Greek I will rejoice even if I am to be poured out as a liquid
offering. 2:29 Greek in the Lord. 3:1 Greek brothers; also
in 3:13, 17. 3:3 Some manuscripts read worship God in spirit;
one early manuscript reads worship in spirit. 3:9 Or through
the faithfulness of Christ.