In and through

Paul starts out in Philippians 2, “1] If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
[2] Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

Jordan says, “The Christian life is not rules and regulations and performances and if, ‘I see this happening—OOOH, that’s God working!’ Life starts out of, as Jesus Christ says, ‘the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.’ (Luke 6:45).

“Proverbs 4:23 says, ‘Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.’ Your life proceeds forth out of something inside of you. The outward activities are just the expression of something that’s inside and this passage is talking about what’s inside that is to be working in and through you.

“Bowels and mercies. People say, ‘What’s that?’ Go back to chapter 1 and Paul’s already told you. He writes in verse 8, ‘For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.’ Obviously he’s using a figure of speech or a metaphor.

“You can easily find another place it’s used that will explain it to you. The bowels of something is the innermost recesses. Bowels of the cave; bowels of a ship.

“Isaiah 16:11 says, ‘Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir-haresh.’ He’s talking about, ‘I’m going to have some groaning way down in the depths of my inner man; my inward parts,’ and he’s not just talking about his physical anatomy; he’s talking about his soul.

“I John 3:17 is another place that helps you. ‘But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?’

“He’s talking about the innermost part of a person’s soul. The inward part. By the way, the issue about the bowels of compassion—that’s where compassion comes from.

“If there’s something that can go right down into the depths of your soul where life really comes from . . . is there any of that? It’s all in Christ. Now he says, ‘If all this identity and these things you have in Christ are true, here’s the mindset it’s going to produce.’

“Philippians 2:2 says, ‘Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.’ He’s saying, ‘Here’s the thing I’m trying to get done in the ministry. Paul goes on, ‘Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
[4] Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
[5] Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:’

“ ‘In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves’—that’s the whole key!

“By the way, verse 4 is a great verse to remind you you have to be careful when you read the bible. If you take that verse out of its context, and take it literally, you can see how that verse will get you into trouble!”