As we continue through Paul’s letter to the Philippian church, he’s now coming to the final part. This verse is the last of his teaching section. We need to take it to heart.
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:9 NIV
This is a final exhortation, and a promise that goes with it. To really understand what Paul is saying here, you need to know that everything in this verse is plural. That means he’s speaking to the church as a whole. It’s not about one single person.
We have to come to grips with this truth. God wants to work through the church as a whole. WE are the body of Christ. It’s not a one-man or one-woman show.
He tells us the result of all this is the God of peace being seen among us. That’s what we should all be striving for in our churches. For that to happen, we need to go through the progression that the apostle puts forth.
I think that the best way to understand it is to go in reverse order from how it’s laid out in this verse. That will show how our maturity can increase by following the example of those who are more experienced in the things of God.
First, there are the things that they saw in Paul. When we look at a mature believer, we see certain characteristics. We see how they follow Christ, their attitudes and actions. We should be taking mental notes on how that portrays Christ to us.
But, that’s not enough. We need to know how to apply what we’ve seen. Now you have to get in a position to hear from them. We need to listen to what they say.
Too often, mature believers are ignored because we think that they’re too strict. They follow Christ too closely. But, that’s the kind of walk we need to think about. We need to hear about what they learned and the struggles they went through to get where they are.
The next step is to receive from them. Actually, this Greek word means to receive near them. This requires us to be more intentional. It means that we start associating with these mature Christians. You have to realize that you become like the people you associate with.
That’s true whether you associate with strong believers or ungodly sinners. The more you hang with them, the more you pick up their attitudes; good or bad.
So, the best resource is to find someone who is strong in the Lord. Then, start to spend time with them. Allow their attitudes to work a change in you.
That sets you up for the next step. Once you’ve adopted the same attitudes, you can truly say that you learned how to live for Christ in maturity. That’s why we’re called to be disciples – not students. A student simply wants to learn what the teacher knows. A disciple wants to become what the teacher is.
That’s why, usually, a mature Christian walk is “caught not taught”. We learn maturity through our association with strong believers.
This is the reason Paul ended the sentence by saying to put these things into practice. That means doing them repeatedly, over and over again. Just because I help someone once, doesn’t mean I’m helpful. Helpful means that I habitually help others.
It’s the same in our walk with Christ. One act of godliness doesn’t make me godly. Godliness is a lifestyle. It’s picked up and carried on through an entire life of service to the Lord.
That’s how Paul ends the teaching portion of his letter to this church. We should understand the importance of this and follow through with it.
Question: How far along the journey to maturity do you see yourself?
© 2023 Nick Zaccardi
The Spirit and the Word 