The Living Bible (376 page)

Philippians
2

Is there any such thing as Christians cheering each other up? Do you love me enough to want to help me? Does it mean anything to you that we are brothers in the Lord, sharing the same Spirit? Are your hearts tender and sympathetic at all?
²
 Then make me truly happy by loving each other and agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, working together with one heart and mind and purpose.

    
³
 Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself.
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 Don’t just think about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and in what they are doing.

    
⁵
 Your attitude should be the kind that was shown us by Jesus Christ,
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 who, though he was God, did not demand and cling to his rights as God,
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 but laid aside his mighty power and glory, taking the disguise of a slave and becoming like men.
*
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 And he humbled himself even further, going so far as actually to die a criminal’s death on a cross.
*

    
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 Yet it was because of this that God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name which is above every other name,
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 that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
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 and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

    
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 Dearest friends, when I was there with you, you were always so careful to follow my instructions. And now that I am away you must be even more careful to do the good things that result from being saved, obeying God with deep reverence, shrinking back from all that might displease him.
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 For God is at work within you, helping you want to obey him, and then helping you do what he wants.

    
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 In everything you do, stay away from complaining and arguing
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 so that no one can speak a word of blame against you. You are to live clean, innocent lives as children of God in a dark world full of people who are crooked and stubborn. Shine out among them like beacon lights,
¹⁶
 holding out to them the Word of Life.

    
Then when Christ returns, how glad I will be that my work among you was so worthwhile.
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 And if my lifeblood is, so to speak, to be poured out over your faith, which I am offering up to God as a sacrifice—that is, if I am to die for you—even then I will be glad and will share my joy with each of you.
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 For you should be happy about this, too, and rejoice with me for having this privilege of dying for you.

    
¹⁹
 If the Lord is willing, I will send Timothy to see you soon. Then when he comes back, he can cheer me up by telling me all about you and how you are getting along.
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 There is no one like Timothy for having a real interest in you;
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 everyone else seems to be worrying about his own plans and not those of Jesus Christ.
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 But you know Timothy. He has been just like a son to me in helping me preach the Good News.
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 I hope to send him to you just as soon as I find out what is going to happen to me here.
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 And I am trusting the Lord that soon I myself may come to see you.

    
²⁵
 Meanwhile, I thought I ought to send Epaphroditus back to you. You sent him to help me in my need; well, he and I have been real brothers, working and battling side by side.
²⁶
 Now I am sending him home again, for he has been homesick for all of you and upset because you heard that he was ill.
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 And he surely was; in fact, he almost died. But God had mercy on him and on me, too, not allowing me to have this sorrow on top of everything else.

    
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 So I am all the more anxious to get him back to you again, for I know how thankful you will be to see him, and that will make me happy and lighten all my cares.
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 Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and show your appreciation,
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 for he risked his life for the work of Christ and was at the point of death while trying to do for me the things you couldn’t do because you were far away.

Philippians
3

Whatever happens, dear friends, be glad in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you this, and it is good for you to hear it again and again.

    
²
 Watch out for those wicked men—dangerous dogs, I call them—who say you must be circumcised to be saved.
³
 For it isn’t the
cutting of our bodies
that makes us children of God; it is
worshiping him with our spirits.
That is the only true “circumcision.” We Christians glory in what Christ Jesus has done for us and realize that we are helpless to save ourselves.

    
⁴
 Yet if anyone ever had reason to hope that he could save himself, it would be I. If others could be saved by what they are, certainly I could!
⁵
 For I went through the Jewish initiation ceremony when I was eight days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish home that was a branch of the old original Benjamin family. So I was a real Jew if there ever was one! What’s more, I was a member of the Pharisees who demand the strictest obedience to every Jewish law and custom.
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 And sincere? Yes, so much so that I greatly persecuted the Church; and I tried to obey every Jewish rule and regulation right down to the very last point.

    
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 But all these things that I once thought very worthwhile—now I’ve thrown them all away so that I can put my trust and hope in Christ alone.
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 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ,
⁹
 and become one with him, no longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God’s laws, but by trusting Christ to save me; for God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith—counting on Christ alone.
¹⁰
 Now I have given up everything else—I have found it to be the only way to really know Christ and to experience the mighty power that brought him back to life again, and to find out what it means to suffer and to die with him.
¹¹
 So whatever it takes, I will be one who lives in the fresh newness of life of those who are alive from the dead.

    
¹²
 I don’t mean to say I am perfect. I haven’t learned all I should even yet, but I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ saved me for and wants me to be.

    
¹³
 No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,
¹⁴
 I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us.

    
¹⁵
 I hope all of you who are mature Christians will see eye-to-eye with me on these things, and if you disagree on some point, I believe that God will make it plain to you—
¹⁶
 if you fully obey the truth you have.

    
¹⁷
 Dear brothers, pattern your lives after mine, and notice who else lives up to my example.
¹⁸
 For I have told you often before, and I say it again now with tears in my eyes, there are many who walk along the Christian road who are really enemies of the cross of Christ.
¹⁹
 Their future is eternal loss, for their god is their appetite: they are proud of what they should be ashamed of; and all they think about is this life here on earth.
²⁰
 But our homeland is in heaven, where our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is; and we are looking forward to his return from there.
²¹
 When he comes back, he will take these dying bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same mighty power that he will use to conquer all else everywhere.

Philippians
4

Dear brother Christians, I love you and long to see you, for you are my joy and my reward for my work. My beloved friends, stay true to the Lord.

    
²
 And now I want to plead with those two dear women, Euodias and Syntyche. Please, please, with the Lord’s help, quarrel no more—be friends again.
³
 And I ask you, my true teammate, to help these women, for they worked side by side with me in telling the Good News to others; and they worked with Clement, too, and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are written in the Book of Life.

    
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 Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice!
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 Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do. Remember that the Lord is coming soon.
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 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers.
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 If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.

    
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 And now, brothers, as I close this letter, let me say this one more thing: Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about.
⁹
 Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.

    
¹⁰
 How grateful I am and how I praise the Lord that you are helping me again. I know you have always been anxious to send what you could, but for a while you didn’t have the chance.
¹¹
 Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little.
¹²
 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of contentment in every situation, whether it be a full stomach or hunger, plenty or want;
¹³
 for I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power.
¹⁴
 But even so, you have done right in helping me in my present difficulty.

    
¹⁵
 As you well know, when I first brought the Gospel to you and then went on my way, leaving Macedonia, only you Philippians became my partners in giving and receiving. No other church did this.
¹⁶
 Even when I was over in Thessalonica you sent help twice.
¹⁷
 But though I appreciate your gifts, what makes me happiest is the well-earned reward you will have because of your kindness.

    
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 At the moment I have all I need—more than I need! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me when Epaphroditus came. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that pleases God well.
¹⁹
 And it is he who will supply all your needs from his riches in glory because of what Christ Jesus has done for us.
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 Now unto God our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Sincerely, Paul

P.S.
²¹
 Say hello for me to all the Christians there; the brothers with me send their greetings, too.
²²
 And all the other Christians here want to be remembered to you, especially those who work in Caesar’s palace.
²³
 The blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon your spirits.