Philippians 2:12-18 "Work out your Salvation"

Recap Philippians 2:1-11

Last week we heard about God’s incredible humility as lived out by Jesus. Though He was fully God, the Son of God, He became a servant, lowering Himself and letting go of HIs own face, and looked after the interest of us humans, above His own. Our majestic God became nothing and even died for us and our sins by crucifixion, so that we may be made right with God, and be given His righteousness, guaranteed God’s life and benefits through Jesus’ sacrifice.

And in the context of the Letter to the Philippians, Jesus’ life of humility and service, is the good news and basis of the Fellowship or Friendship. When God’s Spirit is given to His people - we who believe in our hearts that Jesus has died and rose again during that Easter and confess with our lips that Jesus is now Lord and God’s Exulted King - this Spirit gives unity to the Fellowship of God’s people:

“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. “ (Phil 2:1-2)

The Gospel, wins for God a whole new people, united by the Spirit of Jesus, that display and work out a unifying humility, like that of Jesus, within the community, and which is so different, so distinctive that the whole world around the church community are left speechless when they see God’s people living out their Gospel-changed lives. This is the theme of today’s passage and can be split into 3:

1. [God’s People] Working out [our] Salvation
2. [God’s People living] Pure and Blameless lives [marked by humility with grumbling or arguing], and lastly
3. [God’s People] Joy[fully] Serving [each other]

1. Work out your salvation (12-13)

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” (Phil 2:12-13)

Paul uses “Therefore” because he wants us to know that the reason, the example and the power behind us living Gospel-changed lives is Jesus’ humble service and sacrifice for God’s people, shown in Phil 2 above, and the unifying Spirit that lives in believers. He says, “Therefore”, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. To “work out” is to be active, to produce, to achieve, to labour, to try our best, in order to gain something and in this case, we are working out “our salvation”.

Woh, woh, wait, are you thinking that you have just heard me say that we are saved by our good works? Are your alarm bells ringing? They should be. But listen to me carefully, Andrew has, last week, and I have, earlier, said that it’s all God’s grace when He chose to come in His Son, to humbly die for humans on a cross for our sins, serving us and so wins salvation for us sinners, who are made right with God and receive the full blessings of a restored relationship with God. SO you guys need to work out, what Paul means by “work out your salvation, with fear and trembling.”

You see, Jesus initiates, sustains and guarantees salvation by HIs life, death, resurrection and return as Lord and Christ [aka God’s chosen King]. He starts by turning us, sinful enemies of God into a saved people in God’s community, His death effectively, sufficiently and absolutely guarantees - “on the day of Christ” when God returns to judge the whole world - that we will not die or be condemned for our sins. That’s simple, and it’s a huge part of the Gospel. You must not forget that even on your death bed. Salvation is finished in this way: we know that those in Jesus Christ will be saved from God’s wrath on that day! But salvation is also a journey towards that day, it is a relational process in a life, which shows that someone is saved and changed and is in relationship with the God who saves!

And remember again, who and what is the power behind our working out? It is “God, who works in [us] to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.” (Phil 2:13) God initiates, works and sustains our Christian lives to will and act so that He achieves a community that displays HIs power and likeness so that He gains Glory. In fact Jesus did that during the first Easter. He died, in obedience to God, humbled Himself for you and I, and God raised HIm to life again and gave Him a name above all names, so that everyone will acknowledge Him and give Glory to God the Father. (Phil 2:6-11)

We work out because it’s God who works! We are not lazy, compromising, or complacent because we have God Himself, changing our wills - that is our hearts and motivation - and God helping us by grace to act - that is using our bodies, hands and feet, in order to live out godly lives. We no longer live for our selves, seeking our selfish ambitions and interests, but seeking what God wills. Our purpose is to identify God’s good purpose in our lives. And let’s no forget that obedience is the ongoing attitude of God’s people. (Phil 2:12a) Jesus obeyed, we obey. He was obedient to the Cross, i.e. death, we too are obedient with our whole lives to God.

[Fear and Trembling]

2. Blameless and pure (14-16)

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.” (Phil 2:14-16)

Together, we are to look so different in the middle of our world. The world around us is a wee-bit troubled in Paul’s days, it’s not so different today. It’s “warped and crooked”, that’s twisted, perverse and wandering away in disobedience and way from God’s moral, ethical and social standards. How are the people of God to be different, especially in our relationships with each other? Well, as we individually and collectively work out our salvation, we will look out for the interest and humbly serve each other, just as Jesus did, and do “everything without grumbling or arguing.”

Grumbling may be against each other, or against Paul and other leaders in the church, or even against God. Israel, God’s original people and now us, are fabulous grumblers. Grumbling in Egypt, grumbling in the desert, grumbling with Manna from heaven, grumbling with meat, grumbling when thirsty, grumbling before entering the promised Land, grumbling at Moses their leader all the way, grumbling when in the promised land, grumbling when they had no king, grumbling when they had a king, grumbling when prophets told them to obey, grumbling when God punished their disobedience, grumbling when they return from Exile to a diminished Israel, grumbling when God takes HIs time in return to save them, grumbling even when Jesus shows them the way and offers salvation by Grace: grumbling is a major trait of the people in the OT. And it is also in the NT, most likely in the Philippian church, which you’ll see in chapter 4, and we too are a grumbling nation and people, even our Christian churches here.

But serving each other with humility, seeking the other’s interests without bickering or arguing is the mark of a Gospel-community. The goal of this is that we be “blameless, pure and without blemish” against an entirely crooked world.  God’s working out a perfection within this community that even in the unfinished work, the world can tell the difference. “Blameless” is living of a standard that the world can’t fault, “pure” is the state of our inward and outward life, shown in how we use our minds, hearts, eyes, hands feet and most of all tongues and “without blemish” is similar to blameless, that to the outside world the way we behave appears like a perfect community, even though we are being perfected and are not perfect yet as God’s people.

The difference is like the stars, moons and heavenly bodies, standing out in a dark sky. Our world is dark, and we are to look completely different and attractive, in the midst of all this.  What thrives in God’s people is obedience, thankfulness and generosity: lives which are godly and faultless, and most of all, filled with mutual service and giving that’s done willingly, without seeking our own benefit and face. There is no university, work, volunteer or interest group that compares to a living Gospel-community, with God working within each and everyone’s wills and bodies.

Look, I’m not saying we are sinless right now, Paul has said that we are working it out and God is working it out. Our individual lives and collective fellowship is not complete yet. We still depending on God’s forgiveness, His grace, and His Spirit daily. But I am saying that we strive for that goal, which will be complete on the Day of of Christ (2:16). Another thing is that not only do we work and trust in God’s work, we need the Gospel, the constant reminder and teaching and explanation and spiritual digestion of “the word of life”. If we for one week or a day, forget what Jesus the Lord God did for us in His life, death and resurrection, or put another way, if Easter Friday/Sunday is not our holy day every  day, then we can’t work out this Gospel-community. Christ is the power, the example, the standard, the reason for what we do. We have to have the mind of Jesus, we must continually feed on the Good News of Jesus’ humble service for mankind. That safeguards us all from falling into perverse and twisted darkness. That changes us into God’s Gospel-community.

3. Joy in serving God’s People (17-18)

“But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.” (Phil 2:17-18)

The Philippian pyramid that Andrew used had 3 layers: the context or situation of the Philippians is suffering, that’s the bottom, the reason is the Gospel and the outcome is Joy. And Joy again is the result for Paul’s labour and also the Philippians. Paul serves, having the mind of humble Jesus Christ and so do the Philippians, the result is Joy in each other and because of each other. Paul brought the gospel to the Philippians, and has been lovingly praying for them, teaching them, sending messengers like Timothy to check up on them and even in prison,  He is writing with instruction and encouragement and, of course, prayerfully giving thanks for them. (Phil 1-2)

But their Friendship is not one way. The Philippians have responded to Paul’s work with faith and obedience (Phil 2:12a), they have been generous to Paul in sending Epaphroditus and financial gifts (Phil 4). They have been a source of Joy for Paul in their ongoing faith - trust in God - and even in their suffering for their faith (Phil 1:27-30). Most of all they have been Partners in the Gospel, in supporting Paul, in prayer for Paul’s work and giving toward the work in personnel (Epaphroditus) and money. That is the mark of this Gospel-friendship. So much so, that Paul describes their work as a sacrifice and service, like that of the OT priest or Jesus’ own sacrifice and service for God’s people, and Paul’s own service is like a “drink” poured out, emptied out, again like Jesus, in addition to the Philippians’ work in the Gospel. Paul and the Philippians have been Christ-like to each other in their Gospel-friendship. And the result is mutual Joy in each other and ultimately in God’s glorious grace.

Implications

1. God uses the Gospel to work in our Lives Today
   1. Fear and Trembling. This attitude is not natural. People don’t fear (in their hearts) and despise fear, because it basically means a submission to one in authority. We would rather be feared than to fear. But this is the natural Christian response from the Gospel. God is an awesome judge and our fear of Him draws us closer to Him, not away from Him. So the fear is different to earthly fear. It means a lot for our lives, having a fear of a righteous, loving, generous Father who is behind us and working in us. It actually motivates us to work harder in our lives, because we know the one working in us and what He is like. We also need to treat all our lives as serious projects, where God is the Architect, Engineer, Resource Manager: it is ultimately His work: me, you, the guy you’re sitting next to, we are ultimately God’s work! Thinking like that instills a healthy fear as we relate and serve.
   2. Work Out. It’s clear that we need to work hard at our lives. We often put more effort working in our homes, our university work, our career, our holidays our next meal than we often do in our lives. I think the use of “I can’t change myself, only God can” is a sign of laziness. But why don’t we place the same thought, planning, effort, money, intention, worry, contemplation, reflection and evaluation in our godliness and in our church-friendships? Remember it’s God who’s working in us for His good purpose, we have God-given resources to do that: His Spirit, His people, the Word of Life, Christian Books, Others’ Experiences. All these things help us. And the end goal is Christ-likeness and Christ-like living in our church! It’s going to look really, really impressive, it’s happening and will be complete on the Day of Christ. Hear my encouragement from God Himself, let’s work hard at our Gospel-living Today!
   3. Pure and Blameless. And this of course means privately and publicly. Publicly we usually have no problems, we are not yet so individualistic and often face-saving helps mould the appearance of purity and blamelessness. But I must confess, before everyone else, that innermost purity and blamelessness in the knowledge of God is hard. Again, God’s Gospel, His Spirit of Fellowship and His present help and forgiveness is wonderful in helping me strive for purity.
2. Mutual Service, Generosity makes Church truly attractive
   1. Without grumbling but with filled with Grace. This is the distinguishing mark of our church. May I tell you that at most churches in Sydney that believe and preach the Gospel, I know it happens. When compared to working in even public health, it’s even worse in private health, often what drives relationships is material good, mutual monetary benefit and asking people, even your assistants for assistance, which they are paid to do, is filled with grumbling, retaliation, delay, there is no enthusiasm, no seeking the others’ (i.e. patients’, colleagues’) benefit or generosity. But we are not to be like that. They are often dark, perverse, without God’s love, but we are to be filled with Grace, that is people experiencing God’s grace in HIs full measure in Jesus, so we serve each other, happily, out of our freewill and with creativity and joy! We are all God’s work, together we are in this enterprise of working out our salvation. If we did this, I know, our churches will be filled with those who hear the call of God. We will be marked with love and by this the world will know that we are God’s people and give Him praise.
3. We are Friends in the Gospel
   1. More than Friends. In our churches we have great friendships. In general friendships are not hard to build. Time, fun, food, lots of outings, interesting stunts make good friendships. But Gospel-friendships are more than this. We are in partnership of Gospel-building-lives together. We are building each other’s lives and helping the sending of the gospel to other gospel-communities. That’s the relationship between Paul and the Philippians: it’s one of mutual service. That will be the relationship between your leaders and Andrew and yourselves and between you and me. We are really good at maintaining, spicing up our friendships; let’s be even more adventurous in our gospel-friendships. Pray, with thanksgiving and this frequently for each other, give and raise funds together to help gospel ministries, serve communities, especially needy non-Christian ones, together.
   2. True Joy. We will have this if we are Friends in the Gospel. There is nothing sweeter. Even secular projects or work gives off much satisfaction, as I know when I’ve worked well with my team at say a resuscitation, at a horrible case or something similar. In normal friendships, traveling is often the essential element to some common joy. But I’m talking of True Joy.  The Joy of seeing the Gospel work in lives, completely changing your own, each other and even stranger’s lives with the Gospel of God. If your friendship is based on this and you hold firm to the Gospel yourself, your friendships will be so satisfying, it’s a prelude to our satisfaction and the filling of our appetites when we meet God face to face on the Day of Christ. Make it a point, that your friendships are based on the the Gospel and work for the Gospel.

These are just some ways to work out our salvation with all of God’s heart, mind and strength.