Philippians 2:16 - Coach Paul on 'How To Finish'...

"...holding upon [the] word of life, unto my boasting unto [the] day of Christ, so that I did not run unto empty nor did I toil unto empty."

-the Word of life... the only other place this phrase is used in Scripture is in 1jn 1.1, and it is used as a title for Jesus.  Jesus did say that His words were life (jn 6.63), and of course He is the Way, the Truth AND the Life (jn 14.6).  peter himself affirmed that Jesus had the words of eternal life (jn 6.68).  john elsewhere affirms that Jesus is the source of life (jn 1.4).  and He also is the Word (jn 1.1), through Whom all life in the universe came into being (col 1.16).  so one way to look at this is to say that paul is talking about holding on to Jesus.  He is the One Who provides life in abundance (jn 10.10) and Who quenches and satisfies our deep soul thirst (jn 4.14, jn 7.37-38).  His water gives true life.  He is our Rock and our Refuge and our Strength and a very present Help in time of Trouble.  He is our Great High Priest Who was tempted in all things like we are (and suffered even more than we have or will) but never sinned.  so yes, in a very real way we are to hold tight and fast on to Jesus as we follow Him through the storms of life, as we journey with Him in a broken world amongst broken people and through our own experiences of brokenness.  we look to Him and fix our eyes on Him (heb 12.1-2), we cry out for help to Him, we cast all our cares and worries on Him.  we drink deeply from the well of His delights, from His Fountain of living water.  and we choose to rejoice and pray and give thanks without any grumbling or complaining no matter what comes our way, trusting that He is with us and will carry us through to life eternal.  and in the end, this is both how to be the shining light God wants us to be and it is the proverbial proof of the pudding.  the one who claims to follow Jesus but fails to hold on to Him until death or until He returns is a pretender, not a follower at all.  

-now, elsewhere paul does mention holding fast to what is the written Word of God (cf 1cor 15.2, tit 1.9).  the end result of holding on to the Word of Christ would no doubt look much the same as holding on to Jesus Himself, Christ Who is the very Word of God (jn 1.1).  of course in holding up and holding on to the written Word one must ultimately be careful not to divest it of its ultimate source of truth and life and power - that which we call the Bible is only as powerful as the One Who wrote it.  but we know that God’s written Word thus is full of power (rom 1.16), it is alive and at work (1th 2.13, heb 4.12), it is profitable, and it is what allows those who follow Christ to be fully equipped and ready to do anything and everything that God wants them to do (2tim 3.16-17, 2tim 2.15)(cf ps 119.89, ps 119.160, is 40.8, is 55.11, mt 24.35).

-and so holding on to the written Word will look similar to holding upon the One Who wrote it, every day believing that it is true, that its promises are true and that its commands are to be obeyed because each one has been given by the faithful God with Whom we have to do (cf ps 56.4).  we follow its instruction and rest in its truth regardless of what comes our way because it comes from Him, whether blessing or storms, peace or persecution, illness or health.  in times of darkness or distress or uncertainty, the Word of God is our light, a beacon of truth and hope and comfort (ps 119.105).  it is the rock which provides that sure foundation on which to build our lives (mt 7.24-27).  but we cannot be passive, we must not expect that we can merely hear a bit of the Word or read a little-dab’ll-do-ya and then survive all that comes our way.  we must know it and understand it - study it, memorize it, meditate on it (ps 40.8, ps 119.11, 2tim 2.15, josh 1.8).  and we must believe it and take pains to actually be absorbed in it and put it into practice, letting it be our counsel and guide and playbook for living (jam 1.22).  ours is no mean or bitter task, however - there is much joy and peace and pleasure and treasure to be gleaned from the pages of God’s Word and from the One Who wrote it and is found therein (jer 15.16, ps 19.7-11, ps 1.2, ps 119.14)(cf mt 11.29-30).  but understand that holding onto Christ and His Word is both the end and the means to the end.  we want to be holding onto Jesus all the way until that final day - this will show that we are truly His.  but we make it to the end by holding onto Christ and His Word each and every day until we make it to the end.  it is indeed a glorious dance, a joyous journey with a indescribable destination.

-at this point, holding upon the Word is still tied to doing all things without grumbling or disputing.  and it stands to reason - the one who is in fact holding fast to the Word of God is far less prone to give in to grumbling or disputing about their circumstances, and the one who is caught up in grumbling and complaining is far less likely to be inclined to really wade into and hold upon the Word.

-now, we hold on all the way until the day of Christ... paul’s third mention of this day in his letter, the day when Jesus Christ returns in all His glory and every eye will see and every heart will know once and for all that Jesus is Lord.  no doubt for paul this return was imminent - Jesus was coming back in his lifetime.  paul pictures for both himself and his readers a life that was to be diligently stewarded right up to the day when Christ came back (cf 2tim 4.7).  they were going to wake up one day and Christ would return on that very day, and they would be out of time.  of course, for those who would die before that day - and for all those who have died since then - death holds a similar finality.  you wake up one day, and that will be the day you die, at which point you are likewise out of time.  either way, whichever day is your last it will come as a thief at a time when you are not prepared and least expect it (most likely unless you have a terminal illness or a death sentence).  you are going to meet your Maker, and the very next thing you know you will be in the presence of the One Who is either your Savior or your Judge.  for many it will be too late to believe - they should have trusted in Him before that day (heb 9.27, lk 21.34, 2pet 3.7-10).  and for those who did turn from self to trust in and follow Christ for salvation in this life, it will mean the end of the opportunity to lay up treasures in heaven.  it is a major point of focus for paul - it colors pretty much everything he says and does (cf 2tim 4.1).  and he really has a twin motivation.  on that day when Christ returns, He will separate the sheep from the goats, those who are truly saved and are His from those who are not.  those who have had true faith which endured for their entire lives will enter eternal life.  others who perhaps believed in their heads only for a short while or dabbled with Jesus or tried real hard to be good but never truly acknowledged their sin or trusted in Christ’s death on the cross - these will have to pay the penalty for their sins away from the presence of God (2th 1.7-10).  so, on the one hand, paul earnestly wants to see people maintaining their confession until that day for their own sakes and for the glory of the One Who saved them.  but on the other hand, there is the benefit that accrues to the accounts of all those who, like paul, are investing spiritually in the lives of others.  they pray and serve and give of themselves and of their time and resources in order to help others learn about Christ and live for Him, and to the extent that those they help do indeed wind up trusting and following Christ, these faithful servants will have occasion to glory and celebrate in the day of Christ.  in fact, all of Christ’s followers will see the eternal fruit of their labors, and they will be rewarded for how they did this - or not (cf phil 4.17, 2cor 9.6, 1cor 3.8-15, 1cor 4.5, 1cor 9.17, 2tim 1.12, 2tim 1.18, 2tim 4.8).  thus paul wants these philippians to be holding upon the Word until the end for their sakes and so that his efforts don’t come up empty.

-run... ‘do you not know that those who run in a race all run?  run in such a way that you may win.’  these are paul’s words in 1cor 9.24.  all we who follow Christ are indeed running in a race (cf heb 12.1).  it is a marathon, a daily test of endurance, running long and hard to glorify the Lord day in and day out, to exalt His Name (recall phil 1.20), AND to help others come to believe in His Name and live for Him (1cor 9.22-23, phil 1.22).  these two actually go very much hand in hand - the great goal and outcome of making disciples is that they turn from living for themselves to living for the glory of God, AND help others do the same.  this is the great purpose for which paul labors and struggles (col 1.28-29).  it is a bit of a harsh reality perhaps - most people in a prosperous and pervasively Christian society like ours do not begin to follow Christ with the sense that they are signing up for a marathon.  ours is the culture of easy-believe-ism, where one has the impression that they can get their fire insurance and not have to expend much effort beyond that.  surely the fault in many ways lies with the leaders, those including myself who set the bar (and the example?) so low and ask their people to give up so little.  sure, there is the need to tithe and build the buildings and show up to the programs, but what of the cross?  what of the daily dying to self and doing all things for the sake of the Gospel and the glory of God?  what of saying no to what i want and saying yes to whatever Jesus wants?  what of selling out and becoming poor in order to make others rich (cf 2cor 6.10, 2cor 8.9)?  even in the church ours is the culture of indulgence, of comfort and convenience and of super-size-me.  we haven’t signed up for a marathon.  ours is a leisurely stroll in the park.

-empty... for those who ARE running what is THE marathon of marathons, paul repeatedly expresses great concern that he and others should wind up wasting the great effort they are expending both to follow Christ and to spread the fame of His Name among the nations (1cor 15.10, 1cor 15.58, gal 2.2, gal 4.11, 1th 3.5, 1cor 9.27).  oh, how depressing the thought, that one would run really hard or work really hard on anything, and have it come up empty.  ’empty’ is kenos, and here means without effect or result or profit.  nothingness, pointless, fruitless, in vain - this is what paul is desperately trying to avoid.  paul’s is the mindset of a coach.  there could be the disappointment of say, an olympic athlete who had trained and worked their whole life for one event and gets disqualified, and then there would be the disappointment of their coach, the one who trained them.  the coach’s effort would have in essence been empty and wasted as well.  so coach paul’s hope and prayer and exhortation has in view these philippian believers finishing the race themselves, obeying and revering Christ and holding fast His Word (as well as spreading it) until He returns.  and thus paul does not want to be wasting his time, throwing away his days and gifts and what Christ has entrusted to Him on things (and people) that don’t wind up bearing fruit for eternity.  to that end he is totally intent on exalting Christ and glorifying Him by helping Gentiles truly follow Jesus unto eternal life, and that not just for a season but for a lifetime.  to that end, they will need to be holding fast to the Word of life.  this holding fast upon God’s Word is both the end and the means to get there.