g film of earth?

It is a solemn estimate of some professing Christians which the Apostle
gives here, if he is including the members of the Roman Church in his
judgment that they are not 'like-minded' with him, and are 'seeking
their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.' We may rather hope that he
is speaking of others around him, and that for some reason unknown to us
he was at the time secluded from the Roman Christians. He brings out
with unflinching precision the choice which determines a life. There is
always that terrible 'either--or.' To live for Christ is the antagonist,
and only antagonist of life for self. To live for self is death. To live
for Jesus is the only life. There are two centres, heliocentric and
geocentric as the scientists say. We can choose round which we shall
draw our orbit, and everything depends on the choice which we make. To
seek 'the things of Jesus Christ' is sure to lead to, and is the only
basis of, care for men. Religion is the parent of compassion, and if we
are looking for a man who will care truly for the state of others, we
must do as Paul did, look for him among those who 'seek the things of
Jesus Christ.'

III. The prisoner's joy in loving co-operation.

The Apostle's eulogium on Timothy points to his long and intimate
association with Paul and to the Philippians' knowledge of him as well
as to the Apostle's clinging to him. There is a piece of delicate beauty
in the words which we may pause for a moment to point out. Paul writes
as 'a child serveth a father,' and the natural sequence would have been
'so he served me,' but he remembers that the service was not to him,
Paul, but to another, and so he changes the words and says he 'served
_with_ me in furtherance of the Gospel.' We are both servants
alike--Christ's servants for the Gospel.

Paul's joy in Timothy's loving co-operation was so deep because Paul's
whole heart was set on 'the furtherance of the Gospel.' Help towards
that end was help indeed. We may measure the ardour and intensity of
Paul's devotion to his apostolic work by the warmth of gratitude which
he shows to his helper. They who contribute to our reaching our chief
desire win our warmest love, and the catalogue of our helpers follows
the order of the list of our aims. Timothy brought to Paul no assistance
to procure any of the common objects of human desires. Wealth,
reputation, success in any of the pursuits which attract most men might
have been held out to