Willing,
Working, and the Sovereignty of God
(or, “How should we then live?”)
Philippians 2:12-13
Introduction: There is a famous story about Earl Weaver when he
managed the Baltimore Orioles… Outfielder Pat Kelley had come to faith in
Christ and told Weaver that he had learned to walk with God. Weaver replied, “I’d rather have you walk
with the bases loaded!” The Christian
life is incomprehensible to those who don’t know the Lord (1 Cor 2:14). What
does it mean to walk with God? It’s a lifelong process of learning and growth
for we who strive to do that! For
Paul theology is always practical – it should make a difference in how we live.
What we have in our head, has to make its way to our heart, and then to our hands and
our feet. In our context in Philippians, Paul has just pointed to Jesus in his
self-humiliation and exaltation as our example: “Have this attitude in
yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus…” Jesus, the sinless, perfect
Son of God, is our example of a humble spirit and the attitude of a servant,
C.S. Lewis well said that “humility is not thinking less of yourself, it Is
thinking of yourself less.” Jesus is our “model” of looking out not only for your own interests, but also for the interests of others. But there is no way that
we are going to come close to his level of obedience. The Christian life is not difficult, it is
impossible if we are trying to live it in our own strength! The good news: God is working in us! We can “work out” our salvation, with fear
and trembling, because God is at work “in” us, giving us the will, and
the ability, to live a life that is pleasing to Him. We work it out –
God works in us. If the question is, as I had it in the alternative sermon
title which I borrowed from the book written by Francis Schaffer, How shall
we then live? The answer Paul gives us, under God’s inspiration
is…
The Maine* Idea: God is pleased as we obediently work out the
implications of our salvation in our Christian lives, trusting in His plan and
empowered by His presence even as He works in us.
I. Human Responsibility: Recognize
the Powerful Presence of God as you strive to live your life in humble,
reverent recognition of His sovereign hand (2:12). Before
talking about God working salvation “in” us, Paul implores the Philippians to work
out their own salvation with fear and trembling. How many of you
like to “work out”? As we look at these two verses, let’s think of the
Christian life as a spiritual “work out.”
“12 Therefore,
my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much
more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…”
With the word “therefore” Paul again draws a logical connection with what he has
already said… Remember the context, “So
then…” In light of what has come
before: In view of the fact that God has given us abundant reason to trust him,
in light of the example of Jesus in humbling himself and obediently carrying
out the Fathers plan 2:5-8), and in view of his exaltation to the throne at the
Father’s right hand (9-11), and even back to 1:27 when Paul said, “…Only let
your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ…” In fact, if you
take a pencil and start in 1:27 right down to 2:11, just underline the imperatives,
the commands, that Paul gives… Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel
(1:27); complete my joy by being of the same mind (2:2); Do nothing
from selfish ambition or conceit; in humility count others more significant
than yourself (3); look out not only for your own interests, but for the
interests of others (4); have the attitude of Jesus, who took the
form of a servant (5). We are called to “Work
out our salvation with fear and trembling…” Is this “working out” of our
salvation a contradiction to the Gospel of salvation by grace alone, through
faith alone, in Christ alone?
Before we look at the admonition Paul is
making, let me mention again the way Paul addresses the church… “Therefore my
beloved…” The heart of Paul for his people is evident, is it not? He is
speaking to brothers and sisters in Christ who he knew and loved. Remember that
this is, at its core, a letter of friendship, and the love of the brethren that
he urges the Philippians to excel in is also modeled in Paul’s life. Remember
the words of Jesus, and how they are reflected so often in the apostolic
writing… “By this men will know you are my disciples, if you love one
another.” And so, he is not ordering the Philippians in his apostolic
authority, but urging them to obedience, to working out their salvation, as a
beloved brother in Christ. This then, is how to live!
You might think, “Wait a minute, I
thought salvation was by grace, God’s unmerited favor, what’s all this about
work?” Aren’t we undercutting the Gospel? Know that Paul is not saying
that we should work for our salvation.
The Bible is very clear that there is nothing we can do to earn eternal
life. We can’t work our way into
heaven. Eternal life is a free gift from
God. For example, Paul said in Rom 6:23…
The wages of sin is death, but the free gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord… (NASB).
That is crystal clear. Eternal life is
not earned or deserved, it is a free gift.
Likewise, he wrote in Ephesians 2:8,9…
For by grace you have been saved through
faith, and that not of yourself, it is a gift of God, not as a result of works,
that no one may boast…
So,
we certainly do not work “for” our salvation! Rather, we are to “work out
our salvation” in the sense that we are to live out the implications of being a
saved person, God’s child, forgiven, not yet perfect, but changed, carrying
out our part in Christ’s mission in the world. We see the interplay between God
working in us, and our responsibility to live our lives in obedience to Him.
“How’s your workout going?”
In other words, we are saved “unto” obedience. I Peter 1:2 says, “…who are chosen 2
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of
the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood…” Paul writes in Eph 2:10 that “We are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God ordained beforehand that we should walk
in them…” A changed, transformed life is characteristic of biblical Christianity. James 2:17 says that “…faith, if it has no
works, is dead being by itself…” A
changed life, conduct that is characterized by a growing obedience to Jesus is
normal, healthy Christianity. This kind of change comes from the inside out, it
results from God giving us a new heart. I like the way John Ortberg put it: "Spiritual
growth doesn't mean a life of doing what I should do instead of what I want to
do. It means coming to want to do what I should do." We start to think more like Jesus.
“Fear and trembling” are almost always used together in the New Testament in
contexts that speak of God’s sovereignty, or of his holiness and power. It does not mean that we are to be “fearful”
of God, rather it implies a deep reverence and respect for the majesty and holiness of God.
So, we are not to live out our Christian life arrogantly or presumptuously, but
rather with a “humble reverence.” Why?
V. 13 goes on to give the reason, God is working in us! Remember the Maine* Idea: God is pleased as we obediently work
out the implications of our salvation in our Christian lives, trusting in His
plan and empowered by His presence as He works in us. So we see human
responsibility, connected amazingly, interwoven in these two verses, with…
II. Divine
Sovereignty: We live the Christian life in humble reverence of God, recognizing
His work in us, as we strive to live out His good purpose for our lives (13). “…for it is God
who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure…”
Why should our striving to live
the Christian life, learning and growing in our walk of faith be “with fear
and trembling…”? For [that is, “for this reason”] it is
God who works in you… How great is our God!
We need to live our lives in humble, reverent recognition of the
sovereign hand of God. Here Paul gave the explanation of why our
striving to grow in faith and faithfulness is carried out with “fear and
trembling,” we recognize that our mighty God, the majestic Creator of the
universe, is working in us to shape our will, and to energize and equip us to
do His work.
Think of it, the One who shook the
mountain with His presence when He gave Moses the Ten Commandments, the One who
parted the Red Sea, who sent fire to consume the sacrifice of Elijah on Mount
Carmel. The One who hurled a storm after Jonah when He thought he could run from
God’s presence, and then sent a great fish to swallow him alive and give him a three
day “sea-taxi” ride back to the beach. He is the God who raised up kings and
kingdoms and who brought them down, who spoke through the prophets and in these
last days has spoken in the Son, THIS God, the One true God, knows you, and is with
you, and is working in you, both to will and to work for His good
pleasure! Does that stir some fear and trembling in you? What a mighty God
we serve! I thought of the story of David and his men, carrying the arc back to
Jerusalem. Do you remember this scene in 2 Samuel 6:2-9,
2 And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from
Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name
of the LORD of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. 3 And they carried the ark of God
on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the
hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, 4 with the ark of God, and Ahio
went before the ark. 5 And
David and all the house of Israel were making merry before the LORD, with songs
and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. [A big celebration! What could possibly go wrong?] 6
And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to
the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 And the anger of the LORD was
kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and
he died there beside the ark of God. 8
And David was angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah. And that
place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day.
9 And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and he said,
"How can the ark of the LORD come to me?"
God is that
holy, that transcendent, that awesome. He could only be approached in the ways
He ordained and allowed. That same God, because of Jesus, is present, working
in us. Paul admonished the Corinthians to live differently when he said “Don’t
you know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in
you?” The presence of the holy, all
powerful, creator of the universe should cause us to tremble! Here he goes even further; God is not only
with us and in us, he is purposefully working
in us, “…both to will and to do for His
good pleasure.” Does that astound you, that God finds pleasure in us, as he
is working in us? As he sees us responding to Jesus’ example, loving Him and
loving others, striving to learn and grow in obedience, putting off our old
self with its passions and desires, and more and more conforming our attitude
to the mind of Christ, He finds pleasure in us!
The miracle is that as God is working in
us, he will also work through us! As his
plan is unfolding on the stage of human history, he has chosen to include us in
his story! God has worked salvation in
us, now “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…”
What is God saying to me in this
passage? The Maine*
Idea in these two verses is that God is
pleased as we obediently work out the implications of our salvation in our
Christian lives, trusting in His plan and empowered by His presence even as He
works in us.
What would God have me to do in
response to this passage? I know that one erroneous
conclusion that people sometimes draw from the doctrine of grace is that we
don’t really have anything we need to “do” once we believe, as though we are
just along for the ride. Sometimes we hear the expression, “let go and let
God.” I am quite sure that early in my Christian life, I probably led some
people astray when they started talking about their favorite sin, with the
proviso, “I am not going to give up x-y-z…” I think I told more than one
person, “Just believe in Jesus, he’ll take care of changing what needs to
change.” What that person was really saying is, “I don’t want to repent, my sin is too important to me.” And I
gave them permission, as though believing and repenting were not really two
sides of the same coin! If you believe, really, you will repent. I
should have said, “Do you really believe that Jesus is who he claimed to be?
Don’t you think He gets to make the rules?” Listen to what Paul will say in
chapter 3:8-14…
I count everything as loss because of the surpassing
worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of
all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having
a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through
faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith- 10 that I may know him and the
power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in
his death, 11 that by any
means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already
obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because
Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do:
forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for
the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
That doesn’t sound like coasting does it? The New Testament clearly
teaches the doctrine of Grace. Yet the recognition of God’s sovereign, gracious
work demands a response. Listen to John 3:36, in the NASB translation, "He
who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Some
English translations are ambiguous, but two different Greek words are used. Belief
is not contrasted with unbelief, but rather belief is contrasted with not
obeying! The implication is that if we truly believe, we will
obey, and if we are not obeying, we may not be truly believing! And so, the Bible is full of commands, imperatives. And they are
frequently connected: in view of what you have in Christ, considering what
God has done for you based on no merit of your own, walk worthy of the calling
with which you have been called. In other words, “…work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling…” Or, as Paul told the Ephesians, “For
by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is
a gift of God. Not as a result of works that no one may boast. For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works, which God before ordained
that we should walk in them…” Beloved, as you have always obeyed God’s
word, “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God
who is at work in you, both to will and to work, for His good pleasure…” You may never walk with the bases loaded,
but because God is in you, you can learn to walk with God, AMEN.
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