“So Stand Fast” (2)

“Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown,
so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.” (Phil 4:1)

“So stand fast…”
That little word “so” means “in this way”.
Paul frequently tells us to “stand fast” (1 Cor 16:13,Gal 5:1, Phil 1:27, 4:1, 1 Thes 3:8, 2 Thes 2:15). But here he tells us how we are to do so.
What does a Christian look like who is “standing fast”?
(All references, unless otherwise noted, are from Philippians.)

In a recent post we looked at perhaps the most important way that we are to “stand fast” in the Lord, i.e. we to “rejoice in the Lord.”
Four times in Philippians (3:1a, 3:3, 4:4a, 4:4b) we are told to “rejoice in the Lord”. That is fundamental if we are to stand fast.

But, notice in 3:3, “rejoicing in the Lord” goes hand in hand with “having no confidence in the flesh.” You can’t have one without the other.
Which brings me to the second great characteristic of a Christian who is standing fast:

Lowliness of Mind

The first time Paul told us in this Epistle to “stand fast” was back 1:27,

“Stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” 

This is essential,
– because there are adversaries who terrify us (v 28),
– because we will be called upon to suffer for Christ’s sake (v 29)
– and, because we will face conflict (v 30).

Paul then goes on to tell us how we are to conduct ourselves if we want to stand fast:

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” (2:3)

How do we do this?

“Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” (v 4)

“Lowliness of mind” means “looking out for the interests of others.”
It’s not all about you!
The great test of my “lowliness of mind” is this: “Am I consistently looking out for the interests of others?”

To help us understand what he means Paul gives us examples to consider in this Epistle.
First though, one not in Philippians:

1. Satan: Pride before a Fall

Satan is the Worst Example of all of “lowliness of mind”.
Satan did not stand fast, because he did not exercise “lowliness of mind”. The great sin that led to Satan’s downfall was the sin of pride.
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Prov 16:18)

How did he fall?
I rather like the way John Milton tells it in his epic poem, Paradise Lost.
He portrays Satan as, originally, the highest Angel in heaven, the most glorious of all God’s creation. He therefore assumed that God would choose him to be lord over all creation, so that “at his name every knee would bow and every tongue confess that he is lord.”

You can imagine his shock, then, when God the Father elected His Son, instead, to fulfil that role. Satan believed “the election had been stolen” (so to speak).
Exploding in pride, he led a rebellion among the angels, drawing away a third of them after him – for which he was cast out of heaven. (Rev 12)
But now, and forever, he burns with undying hatred against the One who, he falsely claims, stole his birthright.

Whether or not all this is how it happened, we do know that pride led to Satan’s downfall.
Pride is the great sin for which he is condemned. (1 Tim 3:7)
He did not stand fast, because he did not exercise “lowliness of mind”.

Ever since, pride has been the chief weapon in Satan’s arsenal in seeking to bring about the downfall of others:
– It was pride that led to the downfall of our first parents, when they listened to Satan tell them: “You will be like God.”
– It was pride that Satan tempted Jesus with, when “he showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.’”

2. Christ: Lowliness before Exaltation

Moving then from the Worst Example of all of lowliness of mind, to the Greatest: Jesus!
Jesus said: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matt 11:29)
Jesus, above all, showed us what “lowly in heart” means.
We are to “learn from Him.”

That’s exactly what Paul tells us to do in Phil ch 2:

“In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…”

He is our Greatest Example.

“Being in the form of God, He did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
“And being found in appearance as a man, He made Himself lowly…”

How “lowly”?

“He became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

For what?
For you! For me!
The Son of God looked out for the interests of foul and vile sinners like you and me!

And can it be that I should gain
An int’rest in the Saviour’s blood?

Died He for me, who caused His pain?  Really?
For me, who Him to death pursued?  Truly?

Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?

As a reward, God exalted Him (vv 9-11).
Likewise, if you stand fast in lowliness of mind, you too will be exalted in due time.
See Matt 23:12, Jas 4:6-10, 1 Pet 5:5-6

“He who is greatest among you shall be your servant.” (Matt 23:11)  

 Lowliness, Meekness, Gentleness

Two words that commonly get bracketed with “lowliness of mind” are “meekness” and “gentleness”.
(You get all three words together in 2 Cor 10:1)

1) What is meekness?

Meekness is not weakness.
Jesus was “meek” (“Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart…”) and yet He had infinite resources at His disposal to help Himself.
Meekness is a powerful word. But it is using your power, not to assert yourself, but to “look out for the interests of others.”

The most powerful illustration I have ever seen of meekness is the Australian saltwater crocodile.
The saltwater crocodile has the most powerful jaws of any animal on earth, slamming shut at 3,700 psi. (When you chomp into a piece of steak, you generate about 150 psi.)
And yet, that same crocodile (the female, at least) transports her babies by carrying them in the jaws of her mouth. And not one of them suffers harm.
That is meekness: having incredible power, but using the power you have to “look out for the interests of others.”

2) What is gentleness?

“Let your gentleness be known to all men.” (Phil 4:5)
The idea of “gentleness” is that of being gracious, reasonable, considerate of others. (See also here.)
In 1 Tim. 3:3 it is contrasted with being “quarrelsome”.
Again, this is a powerful word. It takes great power to be “gentle”.

David notes, in Psa 18:35, “Your gentleness has made me great.”
And, David was great, as long as he exercised that same gentleness.
David was great in 2 Sam ch 9 when he sought to “show kindness” to Saul’s relatives.
David was great in 2 Sam ch 10 when he sought to “show kindness” to the new king of Ammon after his father died.

But then, 2 Sam ch 11: “It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel… But David remained in Jerusalem.”
David had ceased fighting – in more ways than one. David was no longer great.
Instead, he used his power, staying at home, to seduce Bathsheba and murder her husband! That is not power. That is weakness.
It is not gentleness, meekness, or lowliness of mind.
It is certainly not looking out for the interests of others; just his own.

3. Paul: Lowliness before Rejoicing

In Phil 3:17 Paul says: “Join in following my example.”
And: “Note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.”
We have the example of Christ. He is the Greatest Example of all, of lowliness, meekness and gentleness.
But there are other real life examples we are to follow as well – not perfect (we live in a fallen world); but examples, nonetheless, even if they are fallible men and women like you and me.
One such example of meekness, gentleness and lowliness is the apostle Paul himself (2 Cor 10:1).

Especially we see this in Phil ch 1.
There, Paul is in prison. But that’s O.K. – good things are happening all around him because he is in prison. (vv 12-14)
But, among those who had become “much more bold to speak the word without fear” were some who “preach Christ even from envy and strife”! (v 15)
These “preached Christ”, but “from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains,” says Paul.
Wow! Here were Christians, preachers – these were not the false teachers of ch 3: legalists and antinomians. But as preachers, we are human like everyone else, we have our faults and failings.
These were ambitious, and jealous of Paul’s popularity; they were just trying to promote themselves.
It’s painful enough when the enemies of the cross hurt us. But, when a preacher of the gospel, motivated by envy and jealousy, hurts us…?

How did Paul respond to this hurtful situation?

“What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice.” (v 18)

That – is lowliness of mind!
Here was Paul really, “looking out not only for his own interests” – not even principally for his own interests – “but mainly for the interests of others.”
As long as the true gospel was being preached, he could rejoice in that.

I don’t mean he rejoiced in being maligned; that was painful, it “added to his affliction” he says. But it was not all about him; he really wanted to see others reached with the gospel. And, he rejoiced in that.
And I don’t mean that you ignore your own interests. Paul says, “Let each of you look out not only for his own interests…” He doesn’t say your own interests don’t matter, or that you shouldn’t look out for them at all.
But as long as I focus solely upon my interests and the hurts that I have received (yes, sadly, even at the hands of the Lord’s people at times) – but as long as it is all about me, I won’t rejoice. If I can genuinely be looking out for the interests of others, I will always find something to rejoice in.

“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (4:4)
“Let your gentleness be known to all men.” (4:5)

Rejoicing goes hand in hand with lowliness of mind.

4. Leadership: Lowliness before Peace-making

One more example: This is the advice Paul gives to a leader in Philippi, as to how to handle a difficult situation that had arisen in the church there.

The problem arose because two women had fallen out with each other. (4:2)
Paul urges a leader (“true companion”) in the church there to deal with it.
We don’t know the name of this leader (unless it was “Syzygos”, the Greek word for “companion”).
But we do know the names of the two women in the church who were causing trouble:
Euodia and Syntyche. (Or, as some have referred to them: Eu-odious and Soon-touchy.)
Not the best way for your name to be remembered forever in the Bible.

But what I find fascinating is how Paul counsels Syzygos to deal with the situation.
Now, Paul pulls no punches when the gospel itself is at stake.
Back in ch 3, he warns against legalists who were perverting the gospel: “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!”
Later in that same chapter, we warns against antinomians who were corrupting the gospel: “Enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame – who set their mind on earthly things.”
Lowliness of mind does not mean you pretend it’s all good, and don’t warn against those who are corrupting and perverting the gospel.

But that is not the case here: this is not about preaching another gospel.
Here were two women in the church who had fallen out with each other. There was a disagreement between them.
This is still a serious matter. In a gospel church, where we fall out with each other, the gospel is brought into disrepute. It is difficult to communicate a gospel of reconciliation when we fall out with each other. (John 13:35, 17:20)
So, yes, this was a serious matter.
But notice how Paul tells Syzygos to handle this: “I urge you, faithful Syzygos, help these women…” (4:3) He urges him to be a mediator, to become a peace-maker.

Sadly I have known situations in churches where two have fallen out with each other, and the “mediators” come in all geared up for battle. They don’t come in as peace-makers.
Instead they come in, put out that they have to put themselves out to sort out the mess.
Especially if women are involved: sometimes leaders (who let male-leadership go to their heads) get especially irritated with women who, they think, are causing trouble.

But we are not to be like that.
Paul advocates here the gentle approach. He doesn’t view these women simply as trouble-makers. He remembers who they are:
– Not only fellow believers, sisters in the Lord.
– But: “these women who laboured with me in the gospel”.
He counts these two quarrelling women among his “fellow workers” – just as he does great and well-known names in the churches, like:
– Epaphroditus and Timothy in this Epistle.
– Aristarchus, Mark, Epaphras, and Clement and others elsewhere.
– Not to mention that notable wife and husband team: Priscilla and Aquila.
(See also notes on “Shared Leadership” here)

“Help these women, who laboured with me in the gospel; these whom I count among the rest of my fellow workers”.
Become a mediator. Be a peace-maker.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. In lowliness of mind look out not only for your own interests, but also for the interests of these two dear sisters in the Lord.”
That is how, as leaders, we are to deal with situations like that. (1 Tim 3:3, 2 Tim 2:24-25)

 But any of us, any time – leader or not – may be called upon to “correct those who are in opposition.”
Any of us, any time, may be called upon to become a mediator, to be a peace-maker. (Gal 6:1)

---

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”

 “So stand fast in the Lord, beloved.”

(The audio of this post can be found here)