Sermon for CATM – October 5, 2008 – “Working Out Your Salvation”
Last week Pastor Bill Ryan did a splendid job of helping us understand the first 11 verses of chapter two of Philippians. I was thrilled actually, because Bill really did an amazing job…superb theology and superb application…making it relevant to our lives. Your reflections also showed that you appreciated what Bill shared.
And because the passage we’re looking at today follows directly from last week’s Scripture and service, I want to quickly review a bit of what Bill talked about. Bill helped us to understand Paul’s call to the church at Philippi to humility was rooted in the profound humility of Christ Jesus.
Jesus is the Lord of Creation, the sustainer of every created thing. He is the Alpha and Omega. He is the Almighty, the glorious resurrected Lord of Glory whose sacrifice for us won us salvation. [PPT] Eph 1:7 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace”.
And yet Jesus, who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made Himself nothing. Your Creator, the Creator of every microbe and human and human genome and every star system and every one of the bazillion galaxies, became a helpless human infant.
He laid aside the qualities and attributes of his Deity, the things that all-too obviously identified Him as God, and became one of us. Liable to be misunderstood. Without a place to rest His head.
Thought of as a rebel, a traitor to Rome and even, by those who really, truly and grandiosely missed the point, Jesus was accused of being demon-possessed (Jn 8:48).
So that’s the framework of the call to humility that we find earlier in this chapter of Philippians. Now we read that in light of all this, in light of Christ’s humility (2:1-11) and in light of the call that you and I have on our lives to personal humility modeled on that of Jesus, we read that we are to “work out (our) salvation with fear and trembling”.
First off, I’d like to address a common misunderstanding. Sometimes when we’re reading…anything, really, we will substitute a word that’s not there for a word that is there.
That’s why sometimes when we’re reading we go, “Hunh?”, only to find that when we re-read we come to a clearer understanding. A common misreading of this passage is to substitute “work out” with “work for”.
When we make that error, we then think the scripture is telling us that we need to ‘work for our salvation with fear and trembling’. That of course, is a few things.
It’s terrifying…because we then think we have to work for our salvation…we get into that age-old rut of trying to balance the good things we do with the bad things we do, and the climate we are to do that in is one of petrifying fear of God that leaves us nervous wrecks.
This way of thinking, of course, negates the gospel of God’s grace entirely and makes the sacrifice of Christ on the cross meaningless.
It actually removes Jesus from the scene entirely, except as a holy Coach who by his example tries to show us how to live so that we can get on God’s good side and then, maybe, if we get all our ducks lined up in a row, maybe, we get to be with God in eternity.
So that error is, actually, terrifying. It’s also grossly unbiblical. I would hope that if anyone here leans toward that misunderstanding, you would today find freedom in Christ to walk away from that sort of understanding which is, at its heart, unbiblical.
And that’s the second thing that this misreading of Scripture is: unbiblical. To suggest that we can acquire salvation through works is to ignore some pretty potent passages of Scripture, like for instance [PPT] Isaiah 64:6: “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away”.
Of course the antidote to the misreading of Scripture is an accurate reading of the Word of God. Ephesians 2 says: 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
And Romans 5 says this: 1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Barbara and I have been happily married for 21 years. Now, we were married on September 26, 1987. We said “yes”, when asked if we take each other as man and wife. We received each other as husband and wife.
We have not had the challenge of working for marriage. To work to achieve marriage would be silly. We’re already married. Rather, the challenge has been working things out. We are no more married today than we were 252 months ago (yes, we still keep track of the months…and we’re amazed it’s that many months).
Likewise, salvation is already something that has happened for a follower of Christ. It happens when you and I say “yes” to Christ suffering on the cross. We say “yes”, we receive Christ as our Lord and Saviour.
John 1:12 says:“…To all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God”.
We’re not called to “work for” our salvation. We’re called to “work out” our salvation. So…now that we’ve cleared that up, how are we to get inside this verse: “work out your salvation with fear and trembling”?
Well, like we’ve seen, the context for this is the humility of Jesus Christ. Let’s read it again: Philippians 2:12 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, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Paul starts with a huge affirmation here: “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed…” Now Paul knows that the Philippians are far from perfect, but here Paul himself is expressing something of the grace of God: He affirms and strengthens them by focusing on the good in them. “As you have always obeyed”.
Now, let me ask you, how do you respond when someone you respect affirms the good you are doing? When someone focuses on the positive and not the negative? [Feel encouraged, strengthened, emboldened to try harder; generally we know where we’re lacking and so we are encouraged to improve on those areas as well]
Now, how do you respond when someone is just critical of you? When they have nothing to say, by and large, but criticism? Well, first we may often feel pretty low, or defensive. “But you’re not seeing the full picture!!!” we may feel but rarely say out loud. And eventually, in order to keep on keeping on, we will often shut out that voice of negativity. That voice, in fact, loses credibility.
Let’ move on. Paul then writes to the whole church of Philippi: “…Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose”.
So verse 12 is really bookended by Paul’s discourse on the humility of Christ and our call to live in humility (which is what verses 1-12 are all about as we’ve discussed), and verse 13.
As we work out the implications of being a saved people, a people chosen by God and who have said ‘yes’ to God’s choosing; as we seek to grasp the freedom that Christ has won for us Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.], and as we start to figure out how to use that freedom to bring glory to God and to serve the interests of others and not ourselves… this is what Paul is getting at…
As we do all this, remember one crucial thing: 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose”. This may remind you of the passage of Philippians we began our series with: 1:6 “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
I say: Wow!! What an amazingly different picture we get when we read the Word of God accurately. Instead of thinking we have to work ‘for’ our salvation with an overbearing dread of God, we get to ‘work out’ our salvation in the full confidence that it’s actually God who works in us, who ‘works out’ in us. And what does He ‘work out’?
He works out in us “to will” and “to act”. It is God who stirs in us, by the presence of the Holy Spirit in both to desire to please God and to have His purposes fulfilled in us and it is God who stirs us to act.
I hear a common objection to this passage: “But I want to feel that when I do something good, it’s me who does it. Why does God get all the credit for the good and I get the blame for the bad?”
Well, the answer, as in most cases, involves humility. We know we have a will of our own…that part doesn’t take much convincing. We do what we want when we want and we’ve all experienced the consequences, good and bad, of exercising our wills. But here’s the thing:
When we become Christians, when we trust in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sins, the Holy Spirit enters our lives. We actually become a home or a temple of the Holy Spirit.
1 Cor 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price...”
So, if God dwells in us by the Holy Spirit, does it make sense to assume that we can, really, do anything absolutely independent of God? The truth is that the presence of God does not eliminate our wills or our individuality.
Neither does our part, our presence as it were, eliminate or overwhelm the reality of God dwelling IN us. Perhaps a way of understanding this is to think of a willing partnership.
Practically speaking, when we do good, we are working in agreement with God who lives in us…that’s why we feel His pleasure…we feel His peace.
When we do wrong, we are acting in contradiction or disagreement with God who lives in us…that’s why we feel guilty, or sometimes, that’s why we feel He is absent from us. He lack His peace.
The general call to holiness that we find over and over again in the Word of God is a call to dwell in His peace, to dwell in harmony with God in us. And that’s part of the freedom that Christ won for us.
Now there remains this section which is troublesome to many ears in 2008: … Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
What’s with the fear and trembling? Why does the passage include the idea of the fear of God and the idea of trembling as we work things out? Prov 9:10 says: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding”.
The general understanding of the Jews in the OT is that without reverence and awe for God, there’s not a lot to keep us lined up with God’s purposes. Without reverence for God we won’t worship God in truth. Without awe of God’s power, we may lose track of the fact that God is God and we are not.
The Message paraphrase of this passage is helpful. It says this: “Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure”.
Perhaps that is enough said. We need to move on to the other key verse in our passage today: “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 15 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 16 as you hold firmly to the word of life”.
It’s actually kind of funny that this follows the previous passage we’ve been looking at. Right after talking about working out our salvation and about how deeply involved God is in leading us to do His will, we’re exhorted to do what we do, but without the kvetching, without grumbling or arguing. Various translations use the words ‘without bickering, second-guessing, fault-finding, complaining, arguing, murmuring, disputing etc.
I guess human nature stays the same. The Philippians, like the rest of humanity, were perhaps prone to some pretty negative interpersonal behaviours, pretty destructive and hurtful ways of interacting. But we’re told to let none of that characterize the church.
That means we sometimes need to challenge the negativity that comes at us, and to do that pretty boldly; we need to make it clear that that’s just not what we’re about.
I would hope we would all do that…in Christian love, so that we can continue to be what God calls us to be. And Paul waxes poetic next about what it is that God calls us to be:
“…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”.
{Thanks to Steve Zeisler for the next two paragraphs}
Have you ever observed the Milky Way from up north, without any interference from any other source of light? Then you have seen how gloriously bright the stars are. Our wholehearted, loving obedience to Christ makes us as beautiful as that, with a contrast to the darkness of the world around as pronounced as that.
On the one hand our call is to obey God out of a sense of utter respect for the greatness of the Lord who is at work in us; on the other hand it is with a sense of the dramatic difference that will he made in our lives which are as lights in the world compared to the darkness of the generation in which we live.
So this is what God is up to. This is the point. As we grow to reflect Jesus in our humility and love, as we work out this amazing gift of salvation we’ve received…
As we do that most practically by allowing that gift first of all to transform us from whiners, kvetchers and complainers to people who look and feel like Jesus, we become like Jesus…notice the description of what it means to be like Jesus…”blameless and pure, children of God without fault”.
In doing this we shine among a ‘warped and crooked generation’. Remember the song: “This little light of mine…” So that’s what that means. Hmm. And finally for today, all of this happens as we hold firmly to the word of life.
Cleave to Jesus. Be concerned about being close to Him. Do what you need to do, change what you need to change in your life…knowing afresh that it is God that is at work in you to enable you to change - so you can know His peace that passes all understanding.
One last quote from the Message paraphrase that rephrases this verse in a way that is perhaps helpful and challenging at the same time:
“Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night…”
I want to close with a prayer that was written by Cindy Lai, who submitted this prayer for her ‘theological reflection’ for last week’s service. I’ve just changed the ‘me’s to ‘us’. Can we please stand to pray this together.
Dear Jesus, Thank you for your humility and the gift of salvation, along with the greatest kind of love and redemption. Thank you for the Cross and your humility to be obedient to the Father’s will. You are worthy of being exalted to the highest place, as you are the Servant King.
One who is involved in the Creation of the world and all that is in it, yet humbly made the sacrifice on the Cross. As you have given all your children and me this unconditional love, lead us to live with the same love, Spirit, and purpose as that of yours.
Guide us to live a life that lifts your name up, that shows your greatness. Teach us to walk humbly with you and to set an example of humility as you continue to mold us and refine us. In Jesus name. Amen.
