Preaching through Philippians
TOPIC:“Paul - The Mature Saint”
by Rev. Dr. Reg Dunlap
TEXT:Philippians 3:15-21
“Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded; and if in anything you
be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you” (3:15)
Paul S. Rees, in his book, The Adequate Man, writes these words in the beginning about Paul: “Henry Drummond once described Dwight L. Moody as “the greatest human I have ever met.” It is no reflection on Moody to say that if Professor Drummond had met St. Paul he would have revised his judgment.” Rees goes on to describe Paul as “the greatest of humans, in this most human of all his epistles - the letter to the Philippians.”
And may I state as we come to grips with the last six verses of chapter 3 that Paul never considered himself to have arrived at a spiritual plateau, but he was exactly as Rees described him “the greatest of humans.” Paul was human but he was continuously experiencing the reality and joy of being set free in his daily life from the mastery of indwelling sin through the inworking of the Holy Spirit in his life. So much so that Paul pleads for these Philippians to imitate his life and follow his example. Notice his words in verse 17: “Brethren, be followers together of me” or as Phillips renders it: “Let me be your example here, my brothers: let my example be the standard.”
With this now out of the way, let us look at three truths that Paul wants us to think about.
I.
We discover, to begin with, a PERFECTION which often is EXPLOITED. Paul declares in the words of verse 15: “Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded.” The word “perfect” in this verse implies full development, growing into maturity. Phillips renders the word to read “spiritually adult” and Williams has it “mature.” Here we have Paul as the mature saint.
A word to the wise at this point. Paul would be the first to admit that he had no perfection in himself, but his whole perfection and sanctity resided in Jesus Christ. Paul was perfect only because he was in Christ. He describes the Corinthian believers as “sanctified in Christ Jesus” (I Corinthians 1:3) and he describes Christ in these words: “who of God is made unto us sanctification” (I Corinthians 1:30).
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