n Him.' In Him, we find, they are 'saints' and 'brethren' [i.
1, 14; iv. 1, 2; ii. 29.]; in Him they are to 'stand fast'; to be 'of
one mind'; to 'receive one another'; to possess comfort, consolation; to
glory; to rejoice [ii. 1; iii. 1, 3; iv. 4.]. It is solemnly guaranteed,
under certain most holy and happy conditions, that 'the peace of God
Himself shall'--the promise is positive--'keep safe their hearts and
thoughts in Him' [iv. 7.]; wonderful words, but perfectly distinct. In
them God 'has begun a good work, to be carried for its completion up to
the day of Christ'; and God is now 'working in them to will and to do
for the sake of' His plan and purpose [i. 6; ii. 13.]. It is laid upon
them accordingly, in the profound inner rest of such union, such
possession, such submission, to 'work out their salvation,' to live out
their life as the saved, with the 'fear and trembling' of sacred
reverence [ii. 12.]. They are 'to look each not on his own things,' but
on the things of others, in their Lord's manner [ii. 4.]; to hold
together in loving and courageous union for the Gospel, standing fast in
'one soul,' under the 'one Spirit's' power; to keep their place in the
midst of evil surroundings as the 'children of God' [i. 28.] and the
'light-bearers' of 'the message of life.' [ii. 16.] They are to abstain
totally, in the power of their life in Christ, from all sin, to 'do
nothing' (I take all possible note of these '_alls_' and '_nothings_' as
I study and classify) 'for strife or vainglory' [ii. 3.]; to be 'anxious
about nothing, but in everything' to tell God their desires; to 'do all
things without murmurings and disputings' [iv. 6; ii. 14.]; to be
'unblamable, unhurtful, unblemished, God's children,' not in a
dreamland, but in the realities of Philippian life; to bear fruit,
'fruit of righteousness, which is through Jesus Christ,' [ii. 15.] and
so to bear it that at last it shall turn out, in the day of the Lord,
that they are 'filled' with it [i. 11.]; every branch is laden. They
are to let their 'moderation,' that is to say their yieldingness, their
self-lessness, come out in common life, 'known to all men,' in the power
of a 'Lord at hand' [iv. 5.]; to fill their thoughts with all that is
good, straightforward, chastened, pure [iv. 8.]; to 'mind' the things in
heaven [iii. 20; ii.]; to have 'the mind of Christ'; to grow in
spiritual perception, along with the growth of love [i. 9.]; to live the
life expressed in that