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We all go through high and low points in our lives. It's easy to be content when things are going well. But when faced with the lows—the difficult, puzzling situations—how do we react? Do we simply grit our teeth and try to get through them, or do we spend time wishing things were different?
In Philippians 4:11-12, the apostle Paul made a remarkable statement:
“I have learned, in whatever circumstances I am, to be content. I know also how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in everything and in all things I have learned the secret both to be filled and to hunger, both to abound and to lack.”
Paul said he had learned to be content not only when things were going well and all his needs were met, but also when he was hungry and lacked even basic necessities. How was he able to be content in all circumstances, whether good and bad? With the help of notes from the New Testament Recovery Version, we'll take a closer look at these two verses to find out what the Bible says about how we can be content.
It’s easy to see how Paul could be content while abounding—that is, while he had everything he needed. But when Paul wrote this epistle to the Philippian believers, he was far from being in a pleasant, trouble-free environment. He was a prisoner in Rome, abased and in want.
Let’s recall who Paul was and how he came to be a prisoner.
Born to Hebrew parents and educated under Gamaliel, an honored teacher of Judaism, Saul of Tarsus was zealous for the Old Testament law. He even searched for believers in Jesus to persecute and arrest. But God had chosen him.
While he was still a young man, the resurrected Jesus appeared to him directly, and Saul's life was forever changed. He repented, completely forsook his previous life, and believed in Christ. He was regenerated, and Christ came to live in him. Eventually, he changed his name from Saul to Paul.
God then sent Paul to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the Roman Empire. While many people were saved through his preaching, others opposed and persecuted him. Eventually, he was arrested because of his faith and was brought to Rome as a prisoner. We can only imagine how Paul suffered in such a situation.
Yet it was as a prisoner in Rome that Paul wrote to the Philippians that he had learned the secret of being content in whatever circumstances he was. What was the secret Paul learned?
If we consider the entire book of Philippians, one thing stands out: the experience and enjoyment of Christ. This was Paul's secret to being content.
Now let’s take a look at some verses in Philippians that reveal this to us.
In Philippians 1:21 Paul said, “For to me to live is Christ.” Note 1 on live in the New Testament Recovery Version explains:
“Paul’s life was to live Christ. To him to live was Christ, not the law or circumcision. He would not live the law but would live Christ, not be found in the law but be found in Christ (3:9). Christ was not only his life but also his living. He lived Christ because Christ lived in him (Gal. 2:20). He was one with Christ in both life and living. He and Christ had one life and one living. They lived together as one person. Christ lived within Paul as Paul’s life, and Paul lived Christ without as Christ’s living. The normal experience of Christ is to live Him, and to live Him is to magnify Him always, regardless of the circumstances.”
Even while imprisoned in Rome, Paul experienced Christ as his life, and he lived Christ and magnified Him to those around him. Despite his circumstances, Paul experienced the indwelling Christ meeting his every need.
[[Free Study Bible]]
Then in Philippians 3:8, Paul testified:
“But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ.”
Paul was captivated by the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. This is why he counted the religious, cultural, and philosophical things of his past as refuse, or worthless garbage. To Paul, nothing could compare with the experience and enjoyment of the wonderful Christ he knew and loved.
Paul focused on knowing and experiencing Christ, who was his life. His life’s aim was to gain Christ in every situation.
Then in Philippians 4:13, Paul said:
“I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me.”
Paul’s testimony was that he was able to do all things by being in Christ, no matter what situation he was in. He didn’t try to muster up courage or maintain a positive attitude to handle his troubles apart from the Lord. Instead, he remained in Christ, even under very difficult circumstances.
Note 1 on in Him in the Recovery Version explains:
“Paul was a person in Christ (2 Cor. 12:2), and he desired to be found in Christ by others. Now he declared that he was able to do all things in Him, the very Christ who empowered him. This is an all-inclusive and concluding word on his experience of Christ. It is the converse of the Lord’s word in John 15:5 concerning our organic relationship with Him, ‘Apart from Me you can do nothing.’”
Paul experienced being in Christ. And by being in Christ, he was empowered by Christ. This was his secret.
Living Christ, gaining Christ, and being in Christ were all part of the secret Paul learned of being content no matter what his situation. So as the note points out, Paul’s testimony that he could do all things in Christ is the all-inclusive and concluding word on his experience of Christ.
Note 2 on empowers in Philippians 4:13 explains:
“The Greek word means makes dynamic inwardly. Christ dwells in us (Col. 1:27). He empowers us, makes us dynamic from within, not from without. By such inward empowering, Paul was able to do all things in Christ.”
Paul’s empowerment didn’t come from a positive change in his outward environment. By being in Christ, he was empowered from within and made dynamic inwardly. This is how he was able to do all things, including being content, no matter what was happening around him.
So how can we, like Paul, experience Christ as our secret of being content in all our circumstances?
First, we have to realize where Christ is today. For us believers, He’s not far away. When we believed in Christ, He came to live in our spirit. So to be in Him, we must simply be in our spirit, where He is.
But throughout the day, we often drift away from the Lord in our spirit to our anxious thoughts or depressed feelings. We may even find ourselves complaining about our circumstances. We’re certainly not content when we’re not in Him.
When we realize this, we simply need to turn back to our spirit where the Lord is. We can do this by calling on the name of the Lord, praying, singing, or praying with the Word of God. We'll be brought back to Christ in our spirit and be empowered by Him.
The more we remain in our spirit, the more we enjoy Christ. Outwardly, our situation may not change, and the problems may not go away. But we change. Instead of complaining or worrying, we’re satisfied, contented, and even joyful. As we experience being empowered by Christ, we’re able to do the seemingly impossible—be content in the middle of our circumstances.
The subject of Philippians is the experience of Christ, and the Recovery Version is full of insightful commentary that leads us into this experience. If you live in the US, we encourage you to order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here. You can read the verses we've mentioned in this post and all of their notes to learn more about how we can be content in any environment.
The Sermon on the Mount, the traditional name for what Jesus spoke in Matthew chapters 5-7, begins with nine blessings known as the Beatitudes. These blessings are full of rich meaning for our Christian life today.
In a previous post, we discussed the meaning of the very first blessing recorded in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
In this post, we’ll explore the meaning of another blessing. Matthew 5:8 says:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
Today we’ll read verses and notes from the New Testament Recovery Version to help us understand what it means to be pure in heart, and how this results in seeing God.
Let’s first see what it means to be pure in heart. Note 1 on pure in Matthew 5:8 in the Recovery Version is very helpful. The first part explains:
“To be pure in heart is to be single in purpose, to have the single goal of accomplishing God’s will for God’s glory (1 Cor. 10:31). This is for the kingdom of the heavens.”
When we’re single in purpose and have only one goal for God’s glory, we’re pure in heart.
Now let’s read 1 Timothy 1:5:
“But the end of the charge is love out of a pure heart.”
Note 3 on this verse in the Recovery Version says:
“A pure heart is a single heart without mixture, a heart that seeks only the Lord and takes the Lord as the unique goal.”
Here again we see that a pure heart is one that's single, without any kind of mixture.
A substance is pure only when it's not mixed with any other material. For instance, a gold ring may be described as pure gold if the ring has no other element besides gold in it. But if it’s gold plus something else, it’s not pure; it’s an alloy, or a mixture.
To be pure in heart means our heart doesn’t seek anything other than the Lord Jesus. It means we take Him as the unique goal of our life.
The next part of note 1 on Matthew 5:8 tells us why we must be pure in our heart:
“Our spirit is the organ by which we receive Christ (John 1:12; 3:6), whereas our heart is the ground where Christ as the seed of life grows (13:19). For the kingdom of the heavens we need to be poor in spirit, empty in our spirit, that we may receive Christ. Also, we need to be pure, single, in our heart that Christ may grow in us without frustration.”
When we believed in Jesus Christ as our Savior, we received Him into our human spirit and were born again with the divine life of God. But Christ doesn't just want to be received by us; He also wants to grow in us, in our heart.
The Bible tells us our heart is composed of our mind, emotion, will, and conscience. In order for Christ to grow freely in us, we need to be pure in heart, that is, single in our purpose and our goal. This is for the kingdom of the heavens and accomplishes God’s will.
[[Free Study Bible]]
Our heart can be made impure by all kinds of things, not just sinful or evil matters. Actually, our heart is not pure if it seeks anything other than the Lord Jesus.
For example, let’s say we want to achieve a certain advanced degree, attain a certain career milestone, or possess something we long for. These things aren't wrong or sinful in and of themselves. But it’s possible for us to allow any one of them to occupy our heart more and more. Eventually, it can become the main objective in our life, and then everything we do is driven by our desire to obtain it. We may even ask the Lord to help us, not realizing we’ve lost sight of accomplishing His will and seeking Him as our unique goal. We start living for that thing, and the Lord is frustrated from growing in our heart.
So how can we be pure in heart?
We'd probably all admit that our heart can be very complicated. We may not even be able to tell when we’re not pure in heart. So what should we do?
Instead of trying to self-diagnose the condition of our heart, we should come to the Lord Jesus and open to Him. We need the Lord to shine on us and speak to us about anything in our heart that competes with Him for our affection.
John 1:4 says:
“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
The light that can show us where we are comes from the life in us, which is just the Lord Himself. That’s why it’s so important to spend time in the Lord’s presence in prayer and in His Word. We can ask the Lord to make our heart pure by praying something like this:
“Lord Jesus, thank You for coming into me as life. Thank You, Lord, You are the light in me. I want to be pure in heart. Show me if I have any goal or aim other than You. Lord, I want my heart to be single for You and Your will so You can grow in me.”
When the Lord points out something that's occupying our heart, we shouldn’t be discouraged. We should simply respond to Him in prayer and tell Him that we don't want that thing to take His place in our heart.
As we respond to His shining in fellowship with Him, the Lord will continue to speak more to us. Responding to the Lord is how we cooperate with Him and give Him the way to make our heart pure for Him. Then He'll have the opportunity to grow in us.
The Lord Jesus said that the pure in heart are blessed because they shall see God.
In the Recovery Version, note 2 on see God in Matthew 5:8 says:
“If we are pure in heart in seeking God, we will see God. Seeing God is a reward to the pure in heart. This blessing is both for today and for the coming age.”
The reward of seeing God is a tremendous incentive for us to cooperate with the Lord so He can have the room and the freedom to grow in us.
But what does seeing God mean for us today? Does it mean we have some kind of an outward, supernatural vision of Him?
We can see God today in two ways. One is by seeing Him in the face of Jesus inwardly, and the other is by seeing Him in the Word of God. Let’s look at some verses that show us how we can see God in these two ways.
Let’s first read 2 Corinthians 4:6:
“Because the God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
The eternal God became a man, our Lord Jesus Christ, and lived on this earth among mankind. No one ever lived, acted, or spoke like He did. In every way, in every situation, and with every kind of person, Jesus expressed God. People saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But since Jesus is no longer physically on earth, how can we see Him today? Verse 6 says God shines in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
So for believers today, seeing God isn’t something outward, physical, or supernatural. Instead, it’s something inward, in our hearts, since now Jesus dwells within us. When nothing in our heart competes with the Lord for our affection, we have an inward sensation of seeing and beholding the Lord. To see God in the face of Jesus Christ is an indescribable joy.
In addition to inwardly seeing God in the face of Jesus in our hearts, we can also see Him in the words of the Bible.
In John 5:39, Jesus said:
“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me.”
When we read the Bible with a pure heart while exercising our spirit, our deepest part, the Scriptures testify concerning the wonderful person of Jesus to us. As we read and pray with the words of the Bible, God’s light shines, and we see Jesus in all His beauty and glory. Then spontaneously we’re filled with love and praise for Him.
May the Lord help us open to Him daily so He can make us pure in heart. We’re truly blessed and happy when we have the delight of seeing God, and Christ is happy when He has the free way to grow in our hearts.
If you live in the United States, we encourage you to order a free New Testament Recovery Version here so you can read all of the enlightening notes and cross-references for the verses mentioned in this post.
If you’d like to learn more about our heart and the crucial role it plays in our relationship with the Lord, we recommend reading chapter 8, “Dealing with the Heart and the Spirit,” in The Economy of God. This e-book is free to download anywhere in the world here.
As believers in Christ, we all desire to be under His blessing. In Matthew 5, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Have you ever wondered what that means and how it applies to you?
In this post, we’ll take a close look at this phrase in the Bible. With the help of notes from the New Testament Recovery Version, we'll dig into the meaning of being poor in spirit and see how it applies to us today.
In the New Testament, each of the four gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—presents Jesus' life and work on earth from a different perspective. The Gospel of Matthew is the gospel of the kingdom and reveals Jesus Christ the Savior is the King.
Jesus came to this earth not to set up a physical, material, or political kingdom but to bring in a spiritual kingdom, the kingdom of the heavens.
In Matthew chapters 5 through 7, the Lord Jesus spoke a lengthy word to His disciples that has traditionally been called the Sermon on the Mount. But when you read these chapters, it’s easy to see that what Jesus spoke was extraordinary; it was much more than a mere sermon and has to do with His kingdom.
The Lord began with nine blessings that are known as the Beatitudes. The very first of these blessings is in verse 3:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.”
To see what poor in spirit means, we’ll take a close look at each piece of the phrase separately: blessed, poor, and spirit.
Let’s read the first part of note 1 on blessed in the New Testament Recovery Version. This note defines blessed and gives a brief overview of Matthew 5-7:
“The Greek word implies happy. It may also be rendered blessed and happy. So in succeeding verses. The word spoken by the new King, being the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens, is a revelation of the spiritual living and heavenly principles of the kingdom of the heavens. It is composed of seven sections. The first section, vv. 3-12, depicts the nature of the people of the kingdom of the heavens, who are under nine blessings.”
When we’re poor in spirit, we’re blessed and happy—not because of any outward, material benefits, since we see from the note that this verse is related to the kingdom of the heavens. The benefit we enjoy is something spiritual.
Now let’s consider the word poor. Since the Greek word for blessed implies happy, to be poor in spirit doesn’t mean we’re spiritually impoverished, or that before God we have nothing of spiritual value. How could we feel happy if that were the case? Actually, to be poor in spirit is something positive and profitable to our Christian lives.
Note 2 on poor in the Recovery Version says:
“To be poor in spirit is not only to be humble but also to be emptied in our spirit, not holding on to the old things of the old dispensation but unloaded to receive the new things, the things of the kingdom of the heavens.”
The old dispensation mentioned in this note refers to the dispensation, or age, of the Old Testament. Since the Lord's first followers were Jews, His word about being poor in spirit was very important. If they had held onto the things of the Old Testament, they wouldn’t be able to receive all of the things of the New Testament. The disciples needed to be poor in spirit.
Today we believers should also be poor in spirit, which means we’re humble, emptied, and unloaded in our spirit, so we can receive something new from the Lord.
Now we need to know what spirit refers to in Matthew 5:3. The spirit in this verse is our human spirit. This God-created deepest part of our being can contact and receive God, who is Spirit. Our human spirit has the capacity, the ability, to grasp spiritual things.
Note 3 on spirit explains:
“Spirit here refers not to the Spirit of God but to our human spirit, the deepest part of our being, the organ by which we contact God and realize spiritual things. We need to be poor, emptied, unloaded, in this part of our being that we may realize and possess the kingdom of the heavens. This implies that the kingdom of the heavens is spiritual, not material.”
For us to have the blessing of realizing and possessing the kingdom of the heavens, which is something spiritual, we need to be unloaded in our spirit.
It may help us be impressed with the meaning and importance of being poor in spirit by considering the negative example of the scribes and Pharisees in the Gospels.
The scribes and Pharisees were experts in the law of God and the things of the Old Testament, yet they rejected Jesus Christ, the Savior. They opposed Him, the very One they studied about in the Old Testament who was present with them at that time. How could that be?
The scribes and Pharisees were proud, full, and occupied with the things of the Old Testament. They weren’t poor in spirit, so they couldn’t receive something new, namely, the new King and Savior and His kingdom.
The scribes and Pharisees didn’t see that God’s way had changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament, and that it was centered wholly on the wonderful person of Jesus. Instead, they hated Jesus and eventually had Him crucified.
We can learn a lot from this negative example. We certainly need to know the contents of the Bible, but we shouldn't become proud or full of that knowledge, unable to receive something new from the Lord.
[[Free Study Bible]]
In contrast to the scribes and Pharisees, the apostle Paul was a positive example of someone who was poor in spirit. In Philippians 3:13-14 Paul tesified:
“Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing I do: Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called me upward.”
Note 2 on forgetting in verse 13 explains:
“In order to gain Christ to the fullest extent, Paul not only forsook his experiences in Judaism but also would not linger in his past experiences of Christ. He forgot the past. Not to forget but to linger in our past experiences, however genuine they were, frustrates our further pursuing of Christ.”
Paul didn’t want to be held back or prevented from experiencing and enjoying more of Christ. He desired to experience Christ to the fullest extent possible because he had received a revelation from God concerning how rich Christ is. In Ephesians 3:8 Paul said:
“To me, less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to announce to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel.”
Paul saw that the Christ he loved is unsearchably rich in relation to who He is and in what He accomplished. He’s rich in love, holiness, righteousness, kindness, long-suffering, endurance, faithfulness, and so much more. He’s rich in all that He accomplished and attained in His birth, perfect human living, death, and resurrection.
So although Paul had enjoyed Christ very much up to the time of his writing the book of Philippians, he wasn’t content. He knew there was still so much of Christ to experience. He lived his Christian life continually forgetting what was behind and stretching forward to the new experiences of Christ before him.
Each day the Lord gives us is full of opportunities to experience and enjoy Christ. Instead of trying to hold on to the previous day’s experiences or being content with them, we should come to the Lord Jesus with an unloaded spirit. Then when we spend time with Him in prayer and in the Word, we’ll enjoy Him in a fresh way and receive something new from Him.
But if we’re proud and think, “Oh, I already know what this verse says,” we won’t be able to receive what the Lord Jesus wants to speak to us at that moment.
Instead of having a proud attitude, we can exercise our spirit to pray, “Lord Jesus, don’t let me think I know what this verse means. Lord, empty me and unload me. Make me poor in spirit. I don’t want to miss Your fresh speaking to me.”
The Lord Jesus said that those who are poor in spirit are blessed—that is, happy—for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.
Jesus didn’t say, “For theirs will be the kingdom of the heavens.” He said, “For theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.” This means we don't have to wait to enjoy the kingdom of the heavens in the future; we can participate in it today.
As we come to the Lord Jesus and His Word emptied and unloaded of all we think we know, we can realize and possess the kingdom of the heavens every day. Since the kingdom of the heavens isn’t something material or physical but spiritual, it’s no wonder we must be poor in spirit to possess and enjoy it.
The kingdom of the heavens is a great and profound matter in the New Testament, especially in the Gospel of Matthew, and its significance can’t be covered in a single post. To gain more understanding of the kingdom of the heavens, we encourage you to read note 4 of Matthew 5:3 in the New Testament Recovery Version. This substantial note explains what the kingdom of the heavens is and is accompanied by many other verse references on the same topic. If you live in the US, you can order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version here.
