Philippians
3:17-21
17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them
which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 18 (For
many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell
you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross
of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is
their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind
earthly things.) 20 For our conversation is in heaven;
from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ: 21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may
be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to
the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things
unto himself.
Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which
walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
1
Cor. 11:1 "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of
Christ." Paul was in not looking to make disciples for
himself. He is teaching the brethren to follow him as he
follows Christ. We should all be examples of a good
disciple of Christ so that others would follow us in the
path of discipleship. Paul followed Christ in the highway
of holiness and desired that others would be followers
together of him. As Paul and others followed Christ, we
should use that as a standard of the proper walk of
discipleship. By using this standard, we can judge how well
we are doing in our walk of discipleship.
For many walk, of whom I have told
you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the
enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction,
whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame,
who mind earthly things. While it should be our
desire that everyone who begins the walk of discipleship
would continue in that walk, the fact is that many depart
from the walk of discipleship after they start. I have
known some that we rejoiced together in walking as the
disciples of Christ. Yet many of these same brethren have
turned back and now mind earthly things. Their thoughts no
longer are upon the cross or upon what Christ has done for
them and how they ought to serve Christ. Their thoughts now
are on how they can make money and gain position in life and
be someone highly thought of in the world. They have set
themselves up for much destruction in this life. Their
glory is in their shame. It is a shame to make a god out of
this world and its ways and yet that is what they glory in.
For our conversation is in heaven;
from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ… The word conversation refers to our
behavior or walk. We, as the disciples of Christ, do not
walk after earthly things, but walk after heavenly things.
We walk in the kingdom of heaven and look for the return of
our blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He has promised
to return and will return one day. We greatly long for our
Lord's return.
Who shall change our vile body,
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body,
according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue
all things unto himself. So long as we live in
this life we have to deal with the sinful nature of our
flesh. This vile body is always a hindrance to our walk of
faith. We have a continual warfare of the flesh against the
spirit and the spirit against the flesh. Yet, when our Lord
returns from heaven, the warfare will be over forever. This
vile sin-cursed body shall be changed and fashioned like the
glorious body of Jesus Christ. When this happens, sin will
be altogether in the past. By the very power that raised
Jesus Christ from the dead, God will once again manifest his
mighty power, raise the bodies of the elect from the dead,
and change them to be fashioned to his glorious body.
Praise be to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who has
blessed us exceedingly abundantly above all that we have
ever asked or thought. |