Technicolor Joy: Philippians 2:12-18
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
07-02-2023
Get Strong Every Day
Kenneth Leverich, a former Junior Olympic weight lifter and a crossfit competitor, underwent four hours of makeup to turn him from a 29-year-old to an 84-year-old man.
Video: [YouTube: Old Man Strength at Muscle Beach - start at 1:00 and end at 3:25.
One of the guys asks him what his secret is. He says, “Just keep doing it. Get stronger every day.”
That is not only true in the physical realm but we are called to get stronger spiritually each day as well.
Review
Let’s review where we’ve been so far in this sermon series.
Paul is writing from Rome. He is under house arrest, chained to a Roman soldier, waiting for his trial before Caesar.
Years earlier, he had started the church in Philippi with a slave girl that he freed from possession, Lydia, a wealthy dealer of purple cloth, and the Philippian jailer and his family.
This church has grown and they loved Paul and supported him financially. They were worried about him and sent Epaphroditus to deliver provisions to him and encourage him. ?
Paul sends him back with a thank you letter to be read to the congregation.
Paul knew that they were facing opposition from the pagan culture and were experiencing conflict from within as well. Two women were fighting and the church had taken sides.
In verse 27, Paul lays out the theme of the letter when he calls them to “conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. (Phil 1:27)
Philippi was a Roman colony and they prided themselves in their Roman citizenship. Paul reminds them that their real citizenship “is in heaven. (Phil 3:20)
Paul commands them to ruthlessly pursue unity by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit, and having the same purpose, focus, and mission.
Paul wrote to the Ephesians:
“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Eph 4:3-6)
What’s the secret to unity? It’s humility.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.”
And Who is the supreme example of humility? It’s Jesus! He went down, down, down from the heights of heaven to the terrors of the cross. And because of His obedience and humility, God exalted Him up, up, up to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name - Jesus Christ the Lord.
Paul wrote to the Roman Christians:
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom 10:9)
Billy Graham once said,
“No man can be said to truly be converted to Christ who has not bent his will to Christ. He may give intellectual assent to the claims of Christ and may have had emotional religious experience; however, he is not truly converted until he has surrendered his will to Christ as Lord, Savior, and Master.”
Have you done that?
Turn to Philippians 2.
Prayer.
Obey
“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence but now much more in my absence…”
This section begins with “therefore” or your version may read “So that.” Paul is looking back to the obedience of Christ that he just highlighted in the Christ hymn. Jesus willingly left heaven and was obedient to the Father’s rescue plan. He “emptied Himself” - He took on humanity and humbled Himself by becoming a servant, and was obedient to death - even death on a cross.
Jesus had given us the ultimate example of obedience to follow.
The Philippian Church was a solid church. Paul points out that they have always obeyed the Gospel teaching that he brought them.
He also knows how much they love him. When he was with them, they wanted to please him and show themselves faithful. But now Paul is not sure whether he will be with them much longer. They have to learn to walk in obedience even if Paul’s trial ends in death.
When I subbed at the junior high, I could tell almost immediately the classes that I could step outside the door if another teacher needed me and which ones would set the room on fire.
We want our children to obey whether we are with them or not.
John writes for Paul and all pastors:
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” (I John 1:4)
Work Out
“…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.”
Before we study what James Montgomery Boice calls a “pregnant passage,” I want to remind you of the difference between justification and sanctification.
Justification is a theological word to describe what happens when we are born again. God justifies us - He no longer holds our sin against us, declares us innocent, and Jesus’s righteousness is applied to our account.
“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor 5:21)
That is a one-time event at our salvation.
Sanctification is the life-long process of becoming more and more like Jesus. We should have a sign around us that says, “Be patient. I’m a work in progress.”
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8:29)
Like an artist chipping away at a block of marble until at last, the sculpture is complete.
Unlike that sculpture, we will never be “complete” until we experience glorification in the presence of God in heaven.
The verse we will concentrate on this morning is one of the key texts that describe the nature of our sanctification.
He began verse twelve by calling the Philippians “my dear friends.” What he is about command comes from a heart of love and pastoral care. He loves them and wants what’s best for them.
He starts with “continue.” This verse is written to the Christians in the Philippian church. They are already obeying the Gospel teaching. Paul writes to them to keep being faithful.
“Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling”
First, notice that it does not say, “work for, or at, or toward” your salvation.
Paul is consistently clear that we can not earn our salvation by any amount of good deeds:
He wrote to the Colossians Christians:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Eph 2:8-9)
So what does he mean by “work out?”
This is one Greek word that means “working to full completion or maintaining constant energy and effort to finish a task.”
It was used for retrieving gems from a mine. Say you owned a gold mine. You bragged about your mine to everyone. But when someone asks you to see the gold, you tell them that you don’t have any, it’s all still in the mine.
Or a farmer who sits and stares at his field hoping something will grow even though he didn’t plant anything.
There are 30,000 gyms in the US. 80% of people will quit after five months.
Sitting outside a gym and watching people on the ellipticals while eating a jelly donut isn’t going to help you get abs.
You have to go in and consistently, diligently apply yourself to working out.
Spiritual growth is not automatic.
How many of you made marks on the door frame to measure your children’s growth? Each month, they got a little taller and they loved to see the line on the wall move up.
If you do absolutely nothing to grow spiritually over the next few years, you will remain the same.
?We are not called to work for our salvation, but to work it out. Through this process, we will grow as God enables us.
Paul prayed for this kind of growth for the Ephesians:
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Eph 3:17-19)
I was running a 5k once and set my turtle pace and was slow and steady. There was a boy, probably about 10 years old, who kept passing me running full out. Then I would pass him as he was walking. Then he would pass me again running like he was being chased by a bear. Guess who finished first? Slow and steady wins the race.
That’s what some people do. They hear a sermon like this and they go home for the next three days and they read their Bible for an hour. Then…well it goes back on the shelf.
Spiritual growth isn’t a sprint, it is a marathon. It’s an everyday process where we read, study, meditate, memorize, and apply Scripture.
Our growth sometimes is even hard for us to see. But other people can see it.
About two months ago, I went to the doctor because they thought I had a hernia. As I was leaving, he said, “You know your BMI is pretty normal for an American.” I laughed and said, “Most Americans are fat.” He just stared at me. I got the point. He said I want you to lose 30 pounds.
At 54, that’s not as easy as it used to be. I’ve been eating a lot less and a lot more fruit and veggies and working out each day.
I’ve lost 15 of those pounds but I don’t really feel it or see it. But my son Austin told me recently, “I can tell you’ve lost weight, especially in your face.” That was super encouraging.
Spiritual progress may not be as visible or measurable as weight loss, but it can be observed.
I have a friend who had a bad temper. It affected his family, his job, and it frustrated him terribly. Several years ago, he decided this was going to be an area of spiritual growth for him. He sought out a Christian counselor, asked others to hold him accountable, and memorized Scripture about keeping his cool.
He has grown significantly in this area and no longer is controlled by his anger. It’s noticeable to his family and friends.
Are you different spiritually than you were five, ten, twenty, or thirty years ago?
What is one surefire way to grow? By disciplining others. Remember, it isn’t an option but a command, to make disciples who make disciples. When you are disciplining someone else, they will ask you questions you don’t know the answers to and you will have to dig deep and learn more. When you are disciplining someone, they are watching your life so you are more aware of the areas you need to grow in.
Notice we are to work out OUR salvation. Many times we worry so much about other people’s spiritual growth when we should be concentrating on our own journey.
After Jesus restored Peter, he looked at John and asked, “What about him?”
Jesus replied,
“If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”(John 21:22)
The writing of Hebrews commands us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author, and perfecter of our faith.” (Heb 12:2)
Sanctification is an individual process but the “you”s in this verse are plural. There is a community aspect to the process of becoming more and more like Jesus. As we humble ourselves, and consider others’ interests as well as our own, the church will grow in unity.
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Heb 10:24-25)
We are to be diligent in our working out our salvation with fear and trembling. That doesn’t mean we hide in terror of God. It means that we have the proper respect, reverence, and awe of the God that works in us.
A little girl was learning about the royal family. The teacher went back hundreds of years and worked her way up to the present. The little girl recognized several of the names, especially her mom and dad. And that’s when it dawned on her - she was destined to be queen.
Queen Victoria stood up, straightened her dress, and told the teacher “I will be good.”
Psalm 2:11 brings both together,
“Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.”
So Paul establishes that he wants them to continue to press forward in their faith.
But the rest of the verse explains how that happens.
What God Works In
“…for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
Wait? Which is it? Do we work or does God work? The answer is both/and. Charles Spurgeon wrote: “We work out what God works in.”
The word work here is where we get our English word, “energy.”
This isn’t “let go and let God.” We work diligently and consistently toward holiness.
But we don’t do that in our own strength. It is God who works in us.
Paul wrote:
To this end, I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. (Col 1:29)
And
“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” (I Cor 15:10)
When we are in an airport, I love walking on the moving sidewalks. I’m walking but the sidewalk is moving so I’m able to walk way faster than I could on my own.
When the Israelites were trapped at the Red Sea, God told Moses to lift his staff. When he did, the Red Sea parted. Moses didn’t part the Red Sea, God did. But Moses was obedient.
We are not passive in our sanctification:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal 2:20)
God works in us to will and to act. Internal, God gives us the desire to obey and grow and then the ability to do so.
And that process creates joy!
How do we know that? Because this process will fulfill “God’s good purpose.” This means great enjoyment and satisfaction.
Paul wrote to Titus:
“For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:11-14)
Personal obedience + Divine Power = God’s Good Pleasure
John Piper explains the whole process this way:
God is able to create our willing in such a way that it is really ours, and we are responsible.
Though God does not overrule our sinfulness, and works a holy willing in us, His “good pleasure” is wise in such cases and shows us how desperately we need his power.
God tells us about His decisive power in us so that we have an incentive for our work, not so we have an excuse for passivity.
We confirm that we are really God’s children by zealously working out our salvation.
The writer of Hebrews ends his letter:?
“Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Heb 13:20-21)
One pastor summarized it this way:
It means God understands our weaknesses and is committed to helping us
It means we are not left to simply work to muster more of our strength but we are invited to tap into His
It means we don't have to worry about falling away in the end because God is working on our desires and appetites so that we won't want to drift away.
It means that the victories and accomplishments we have in the spiritual realm should be acknowledged as coming from the Lord . . . and we should give Him the glory.
It means that we CAN live the Christian life.
Linda Migliocco was taking care of her mother and fell in the bathroom, tearing her meniscus in her right knee. The doctor told her that at her weight, almost 350 pounds, he couldn’t repair the injury and predicted that she would be wheelchair-bound within a year if she didn’t lose weight.
That did it. Migliaccio made a lifestyle change that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, grains and nuts, and didn't cut out any foods, allowing herself to have a cheesesteak or ice cream when the craving struck. That 80/20 split of healthy and more indulgent foods helped her stay on track, along with her friends and her weight loss support group. In two years, Migliaccio lost 189 lbs., and didn't even need knee surgery.
She will tell you that she worked really, really hard. And that it was worth it.
Paul wrote to Timothy:
“For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (I Timothy 4:8)
We need to make a concerted effort to grow in our Christian life by cooperating with the Holy Spirit.
Find a rhythm for reading/listening to your Bible every day.
Journal your thoughts about what you read.
Read a Christian book that interests you.
Find some Christian music in a genre you enjoy and listen to it throughout the week.
Attend Bible study on Wednesday mornings. (We are currently studying Job)
Attend Adult Sunday School (We will be beginning a study of the Gospel of Mark in a couple of weeks)
Be accountable to at least one person.
Communion
This practically works out in the process of fighting sin. My friend, Brian Bill, wrote:
Let me give you a suggestion. Instead of saying to God after you sin, “I really wanted to obey you,” some of us need to be more honest and cry out, “God, I disobeyed you and did what I wanted to do and not what you wanted me to do. Would you please create within me a desire to do your will, and then give me the devotion to do it?”
