God isn't going to make you get out of bed and have you show up at the discipleship group. He isn't going to make you fill out a form and you don't want him, but he's got your hand and you're volunteering to be a youth leader. He isn't going to force your jaws open to testify of the gospel of grace to your co-worker.
He isn't going to fill out the deposit slip that causes you to set a little money aside for that trip that's coming up internationally with that missions team. You see, his work in us doesn't void the responsibility to work and to work hard. Have you ever wondered why your spiritual growth seems like such a paradox? On one hand, you're told to work hard at it. On the other hand, you're reminded that God is the one doing the work.
How can both be true? In today's message, we'll unpack the mystery of spiritual growth from Philippians 2. You'll discover why God's work in you doesn't mean that you can just sit back and how your efforts, empowered by God, can lead to real transformation. If you've ever struggled with balancing God's power and your own role in growing as a Christian, this message is for you. You'll notice verse 12 begins with the words, so then. As he is bringing about an application, it's going to bring in the example of Christ's humility and his obedience. And so he's sort of letting us know, that's what I want you to apply in a general sense. But I want you to notice how he very tenderly adds the words, so then, my beloved. My beloved. Not you guys. Stay with it.
Get ready. I'm talking to you and Philippi. You need to grow up.
You got to work it out. No, it's wonderful that he begins his application by saying my beloved. He models a kind shepherd who understands and he would their disappointments in Philippi. He knows the conflicts they're facing. He knows their fears. He knows their needs. He understands this adversarial culture where the gospel is anything but appreciated. So he's not delivering.
He's not about to start delivering some indifferent, uncaring directive. He's actually very affectionately calling us to follow the example of Christ. Now as I have read and reread and reread these opening verses in his closing application, it struck me that Paul is very insightfully pulling out and surfacing the challenges that we face in growing in Christ.
The challenges of sanctification. He's going to bring up the truths about our tendencies and we all have them. And as he brings them up, these tendencies that hinder humility and obedience, ultimately sanctification, he's going to provide some solutions.
My first point would be this. Paul is bringing up the tendency we have to stray. The tendency we have to stray. Verse 12 again. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only, but now much more in my absence.
Stop there for a moment. Can you hear what he is graciously suggesting? You have obeyed my authority when I've been right in the middle of you, right in your face. It's one thing to obey when I'm right there. It's going to be an extra challenge for you to obey when I'm away.
He speaks like an experienced mother or father. It's one thing for children to obey when you're around. It's an entirely different thing when they obey when you're not around and the babysitter gives that dreaded report. It's one thing for a child to share his toys and behave when mommy's standing at arm's length.
And even then, it's not 100%. But it's really going to be interesting when she leaves the room. So Paul is basically telling them and us, we all have the same tendency.
Grownups have the same problem. Is anybody watching? Can anybody see me?
Does that change anything? I flew to Florida to speak to a student body at a Christian college. And you know, if you've been there, maybe you've noticed the same thing, but it still causes my heart to flip flop. You pull off that exit and you come around there and you're supposed to slow down as you merge in with the terminal traffic and right there they've placed a patrol car. I mean, there's a patrol guy right there.
But only after you've had a minor stroke do you realize that that patrol car is empty. That is not right. That's not right. You know, they got another one parked right over here at Rite Aid, the pharmacy.
It's like they know where I'm going to be and they park a car there just for me. It isn't fair. Not fair at all. In fact, it's not right.
I want to speak to somebody about that, but maybe not. I read this past week. It's interesting where one state trooper was sitting on the side of the interstate along an interstate in North Carolina and he's aiming his radar gun at the interstate and of course everybody's slowing down. He's just sitting there with his radar gun just pointing at the cars. He admitted to a reporter later on that it wasn't a radar gun after all. It was his wife's hair blower.
He forgot the radar gun at home, but he said this was working just wonderfully well. He's slowing down. There's just something not right about that, isn't there? Well, actually, it's a good thing. In fact, it's what one author called J. Dwight Pentecost in his commentary called the pressure of presence. The pressure of presence and authority shows up and attitudes change. I mean, you've been on the interstate and you're wondering why is everybody just poking along doing 55 when it's clearly okay to go 62.
You with me? Maybe I'm on my own here, but eventually you pull into the left lane. You get into the Indianapolis 500 lane. That's what I call it. You're picking it and all of a sudden, just ahead, you see that bank of lights and you realize why everybody was watching their automotive Ps and Qs.
The pressure of presence, it changes everything. One author was talking about how she was late one morning taking her 11-year-old to school and I'll quote, hurrying my 11-year-old daughter to school, I stopped at a red light at an intersection and I turned right on red and then noticed a sign prohibited. Uh-oh, I said out loud, I just made an illegal turn. My daughter looked behind us and then up at me and said, oh, it's all right, mom.
The police car behind us just did the same thing. Nothing like the pressure to do the right thing because of the presence of an authority. And Paul says you have been obedient in my presence. I know you have a tendency to stray.
It's our nature. In fact, the word he uses for obedient is a compound word that has to do with listening. In fact, it could refer to someone in his generation for someone answering the door.
You hear the knock, you get up and respond to what you heard. So Paul was effectively saying, you've been careful to listen to me. When I delivered some truth, you've responded, you've gotten up, you've acted on it.
It's wonderful. I'm so grateful for you, my beloved, but unlike children or motorists like me, we evidence spiritual growth by how we behave when no one is looking. Or to put it even more crudely, we behave when we have the opportunity to get away with misbehaving.
There is no pressure. See, a growing reputation is based on how you act when people are watching. Sanctification, growing and sanctification is how you act when people are not watching. The power or the pressure of presence in a growing believer is moving from an external authority that you can see, like a parent or a policeman. It moves to an internal authority that you are very well aware is present, the Spirit of God. So in a very real sense, growing in our sanctification means we're coming to understand the pressure of the presence of God. He is watching, and by the way, that's a good thing to remember because we have a tendency to stray.
Secondly, we have a tendency to stall. Verse 12 again, but now much more, put the coal on, get a little more heat, much more in my absence, work out your salvation. By the way, make sure you understand Paul is writing to Christians. He's not defining how you get salvation. He's talking about how you demonstrate salvation. In fact, would you notice that Paul does not say here work for your salvation or work up your salvation or work toward your salvation.
He might corner it down the road. No, he's saying work out your salvation. Live it out, Paul is effectively saying, growing as a Christian is going to require the willingness on our part to have a daily work out. I think we understand it that way.
So are we willing? Well, God is, as we'll see, in fact, his willingness is already at work within you so that whenever you're prepared to engage, he is already prepared to enable. Work out your salvation. There are three dimensions of salvation we're given in the New Testament as well, and it's helpful to understand a past dimension where our sin is dealt with. And at that moment of justification, we have applied to us the fact that Christ paid the penalty for all our sin. That's the past dimension of salvation. We have this future dimension of salvation when we are glorified and perfected and that fallen nature is done away with as we prepare for that kingdom and then the holy estate. And what we have in between the past and the future is the present dimension and that sanctification, how we're demonstrating, how we're acting out the truth of the gospel. I've heard it put like this, by the way, and it's worth repeating that our past salvation saved us forever from the penalty of sin. Our future salvation will save us from the presence of sin, no sin in the eternal state. Our present salvation saves us one temptation at a time from the power of sin.
We can now say no. Even though we move forwards and then sometimes backwards, we have ups and downs, mountaintops and valleys, strikeouts and home runs. This is the process of sanctification where we are being challenged to demonstrate our growth in Christ having been redeemed in the past on our way to being glorified in the future.
This present dimension we refer to as sanctification. Now the reason Paul is encouraging these believers from stalling and the reason I get that idea is the use of this verb to work. Work out.
In fact, much more. Work it out. Don't slow down. Don't stop. The verb Paul uses literally means to work toward the finish, to keep the goal in mind, to keep completion in mind and progress toward that goal.
The goal that Paul would have in mind here within this context of application is to demonstrate the humility of Jesus Christ and the obedience to God the Father. Don't stop. Don't slip into neutral.
That's dangerous. And don't stop halfway. Keep your eye on the goal which is Christ in his example and move toward that. The goal here then is the attitude of humility and the finish line is ultimately the completion of that work when he perfects us and we're glorified in Christ.
But again, Paul is a gracious encourager here. He knows that finishing is a lot harder than starting. It's a lot easier to start something than it is to finish something. You may have started in 2015. You've decided to read the Bible through in a year. This is one of the reasons why the book of Genesis is the most read book in the entire Bible.
It's worn out because you get to Leviticus 21 and 22 and the wheels bogged down. A lot of people can start a marriage. Staying at it is different. A lot of people can enter a graduate program. I understand that less than about 60 percent of those who do graduate. People can start violin lessons at the age of 8.
Not very many are playing at the age of 38. In fact, if you want to explore the issue in the life and times of Nehemiah, a wonderful example, that Jewish leader rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. They've been entirely destroyed for generations. You'll discover his greatest threats from his enemies and his most discouraging moments recorded in his service occurred when the walls of Jerusalem were halfway up. The temptation to quit is probably never stronger than when you're halfway.
You know what it took to get here. You're not sure you got it to finish. It's when it's easy to stall.
That's why you may know of people, and we talk about this midlife crisis. That's when people who are halfway say, I've had enough of it. They throw in the towel.
In the church, we have the same tendency as believers. We know what it took to get this far and we may have as much to go. The temptation to stall is strong. Maybe you have accomplished something and about the time you wipe the sweat off your brow, you see something else you need to accomplish.
It looks a lot like that. You've weathered a storm and you've gotten through it and all of a sudden, you have another one and it's already darkening on the horizon. How can I get out of this boat? The verb to work here is a present tense imperative which means that Paul is literally commanding us to keep at it which gives me the idea, don't stall. Stay at it. Stay the course.
Stay with it. Eugene Peterson calls this the long obedience in the same direction. It's a great definition of sanctification. The long obedience in the same direction. He writes, when the path of obedience becomes steep and difficult, even dangerous, those who simply want to find pleasure look for an easier way. Religious tourists hunting for entertainment or enlightenment or excitement jump off and jump on a newer ride.
Take the quickest shortcut. They will not be found among those believers on the long hard road following in the footsteps of Jesus Christ who, as Paul applies here, was obedient to death all the way up to the point of death on a cross. Death to self, obeying Christ over the long haul, waiting for the final resolution and rest when we're perfected in him, in the kingdom. In the meantime, with humility and obedience, waiting and still working toward the goal of his example and glory. Is that what sanctification is?
Absolutely. And you know something? As soon as you take a step or two in that direction, maybe even the text, something's already going through your mind. You're not even listening. You're already talking to the Lord about certain things and you know there's something you need to do. No sooner will you take one or two or three or four or five steps in the right direction and then maybe take off a milestone or so.
No sooner does that occur than the enemy of your flesh gives an ear to the enemy of hell who sides up to you and whispers, aren't you something? I mean you're something. I mean the other people in here, they're not even off the dime. They probably don't get the big picture, but you do.
Way to go. So Paul is not only going to tell us that we have a tendency to stray and a tendency to stall. He's going to tell us the truth that we have a tendency to strut.
Couldn't find the Greek word for that, but you know what I mean. To strut. He adds, work out your salvation with gloating and self-congratulation. Oh, excuse me. Wait a second.
What did he say? Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. That doesn't sound like strutting to me.
There's no showboating in that. This is Old Testament terminology which he was steeped in that references God as our audience. Fear and trembling is another way of saying we are in awe of and in deep respect of the glory of God.
We love nothing more than pleasing and we hate nothing more than displeasing. The word fears, phobos, gives us our word phobia, terror. The word for trembling is traumas, gives us our word tremor. Isaiah uses that in the Septuagint at least in that translation Isaiah 66 for the humble and contrite person who trembles at God's word. One Puritan scholar centuries ago wrote that this phrase to fear and tremble means you have a trembling anxiousness to do what's right.
Wow. Because of who he is. That attitude combats the tendency to strut and to swagger and to brag and to tell people all about yourself. But we have that tendency.
Spurgeon used to say it this way, somebody in the church can't kill a mouse without publishing it in the Sunday School Gazette. So Paul delivers a reminder. We have a tendency to stray, we have a tendency to stall and a tendency to strut.
One more. We have a tendency to steal. In other words we have a tendency to take the credit and craft idols from our accomplishments. So Paul reminds us here where the credit and glory belong. And in the context of humility this is what he's after.
Verse 13. For it is God who is at work in you. Both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Pride is already nibbling away in Philippi. He's going to deal with selfishness and conceit even more pointedly as the letter progresses. He's attempting to cut it back, that weed of pride by showing the example of the humility of Christ and will deal with selfish contention later on. And he does it by saying, hello, it is God who is at work in you.
I mean right down to the core of giving you the will and desire and ability to do of his good pleasure. You see, here's the paradox. We are commanded to work outwardly. Now we discover that he is at work inwardly which produces the work outwardly. And in the context of humility this is Paul's way of reminding us that God then alone deserves the credit because ultimately he was at work in us both to will, that is to wish or to want, to decide, and to do, that is to act.
I mean how humbling should this truth be to all of us? I mean how did you do that? God did it through me. How'd you come up with that great idea? God impressed me with that idea. How'd you get that wonderful desire? God gave it to me. Come on that's just you know that Sunday vocabulary, that's religious jargon, you're supposed to say stuff like that when you're around other Christians. I mean do you really believe that?
Yes I do. I have been crucified with Christ. He's no longer either live but Christ who lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Colossians 2 20. We proclaim him admonishing every man, teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete in Christ for this purpose I labor, strong word, I labor, striving according to his power which works mightily in me. Colossians 2 29. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4 13. See the evidence of your sanctification is coming to realize that any anything good that I desired was a desire he put in me.
Anything good that I did was something he did through me. It is God at work. I love the word Paul uses here for work. It's a different word than the one we looked at earlier in verse 12. Work out your salvation and now it is God who is at work. The word changes to energy. We get our word energy from this which again creates a wonderful paradox but helps clarify God is the initiator, the enabler, the empowerr for you to do his work and when our work is empowered by his work, our work externally is the result of his work internally.
His energizing power which we entirely depend upon. So herein though lies the tension. God isn't going to make you get out of bed and turn to Leviticus chapter 21 and start slugging it out. He isn't going to kick you out of bed and have you show up at the discipleship group. He isn't going to make you fill out a form and you don't want him but he's got your hand and you're volunteering to be a youth leader or sing in the choir or volunteer in the nursery. He isn't going to force your jaws open to testify of the gospel of grace to your coworker.
He isn't going to fill out the deposit slip that causes you to set a little money aside for that trip that's coming up internationally with that missions team. You see his work in us and the fact that he does it in us doesn't void the responsibility to work and to work hard. Here's the tension but when we do work it is through his energizing strength to do what is right and when we desire to act it is his first and foremost desire and when we accomplish something it is his good pleasure we're after which means we're not going to steal any of the credit that belongs to him which is why by the way when we are rewarded one day at the beam what are we going to do with those crowns? We're going to put him at his feet because we'll fully understand then much better than we do now and ultimately it was all of him.
That was Steven Davey and this is Wisdom for the Heart. This message is called The Truth About Our Tendencies. Thank you for joining us today. If today's message has blessed you we'd enjoy hearing about it. It always encourages us to hear your wisdom story and learn how God's using his word to build you up in the faith. Write to us at info at wisdomonline.org that's info at wisdom online dot org or call 866-48-bible that's 866-482-4253. I hope we hear from you today. I also hope you'll be back with us next time to discover more wisdom for the hearts.
