Way down in the innermost recesses

Paul starts Philippians 2 with, "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."

“When people hear ‘bowels and mercies’ they say, ‘What’s that?!’ ” explains Jordan. “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.’

“What Paul's saying in Philippians 2 is, ‘Here’s the thing I’m trying to get done in the ministry. He writes, '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!”

(new article tomorrow)