We continue this morning in the portion of Paul’s letter to the Philippians where Paul challenges the Christians at Philippi Community Christian Church to be involved in growing like Christ. Three weeks ago, we looked at Paul’s challenge to these Christians to make his joy complete by their progress in three areas: 1) in their reliance upon God, 2) in their resolve to have the same love, unity and purpose, and 3) in their relating with others in humility.
Then two weeks ago, Matthew Watson taught on Paul’s call for the Philippians to have the same attitude as Jesus Christ. The attitude of Jesus Christ was humility and obedience. Chapter 2, verse 8 reads, "And being found in appearance as a man, he (Jesus) humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!" And so the Son of God, with heavenly splendor, took on human form, and the Creator of life, with the gift of eternal life, surrendered Himself to death. The Righteous died for the unrighteous to save us from the penalty of sin and to reveal His great love to us.
This morning, Chapter 2, verses 12-13, "Therefore," Paul says, "as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but 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 according to his good purpose."
In other words, God’s salvation does not result only in the promise of Heaven that you and I can claim when we breathe our last breath on earth, but God’s salvation also has a present reality, which is obedience to His purpose. If we are saved for eternal life in heaven, we are saved for obedient life on earth. If we are not exhibiting the obedient life on earth, we might question whether we are destined for eternal life in heaven.
Now nothing that I say this morning should cause you to think that we can work for our salvation, but we can work out our salvation. We cannot earn our salvation, but we can exercise our salvation, which was given to us freely.
Paul says it this way in Ephesians 2:8-10, "For it is by God’s favor you have been saved, through trusting--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
I don’t watch more than four hours of television each week, and last week, I somehow ended up watching the Oprah Winfrey show. One of her guests was a father who was saved by using his daughter’s heart in a heart transplant surgery. The daughter died in a car accident, and the father had a failing heart. The doctor suggested that the dead daughter’s heart be used for the heart transplant the father needed. The father, very unsure in the beginning, finally agreed. He appeared on the show, filled with gratitude for the ability to exercise his new heart.
He didn’t work for his daughter’s heart. He received the heart as an unexpected gift, which now he puts to use in his extended life. Salvation is an unexpected gift from God, which, if we have accepted the gift, we can now put to use in obedience to God in our present life.
Most of us know that salvation promises eternal life in Heaven. But what can we expect from salvation before we get to Heaven? What does the present experience of salvation look and feel like for us who are destined for Heaven? Paul tells us this morning that we, who are saved for Heaven, can expect to progress in our obedience to God through choosing to fear God and through letting God work in us.
Therefore, if you are saved, and you are not making the progress in your obedience to God as expected, you are not choosing to fear God. We see this in verse 12, "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."
What Paul was noting was that the Philippians were obedient to God while Paul was their pastor many years ago, and now, even more obedient, while Paul is away in prison. The passage of years and the absence of their pastor did not lead to weakening of their faith and disobedience to God’s purposes. If this were a man-imposed obedience, you would expect their obedience to diminish during Paul’s absence.
Instead, the Philippians grew in their obedience to God’s purpose for them. Obedience to God is living out the purpose God has for our lives. But obedience requires that we choose to fear God and not something else. Fear is a great motivator and an equally great de-motivator, and God gave us the gift of fear to help us live out the purpose He has for our lives. Unfortunately, the fall of mankind has caused us to fear many other things besides God.
John Haggai noted, "Almost everything we fear is a fear of injustice.... Before the fall, the only fear Adam and Eve had was the fear of justice: The reverence for a God Who is all-knowing, all-powerful and holy." After the fall, we acquired the fear of injustice: Murder, theft, starvation, ridicule, lawlessness, sickness, loneliness, etc.
As Christians, made new through Jesus Christ, we can choose to fear God over all other things. This fear is a healthy fear of God’s justice, holiness, power and wisdom.
The Christian who disobeys God by marrying a non-Christian is one who fears loneliness or fears not being married to someone she loves more than she fears God.
The Christian who disobeys God by holding back from giving to God’s work through the church and missions is one who fears sacrificing one’s personal lifestyle more than he fears God.
The Christian who disobeys God by neglecting to care for her aging parents fears the financial and time burdens required more than she fears God.
And the Christian who disobeys God by doing poor quality work for his employer fears the demand of diligence more than he fears God.
Proverbs 10:27 reads, "The fear of the LORD adds length to life...."
Proverbs 15:33 reads, "The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom...."
Isaiah 33:6 reads, "He (that is God) will be the sure foundation for our times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure."
The fear of God not only produces obedience to God, but the fear of God also adds length to life, instills wisdom and opens up the treasures of God. Fear has gotten a bad reputation in a society that shuns authority and lives for autonomy. Yet, fear is a built-in part of our humanity, intended to protect us from harm, but never intended to create disobedience to God.
If you are saved and are not making the progress in your obedience to God as expected, you are not choosing to fear God. Let me give you an example of how the fear of God produces obedience in my life.
You need to know that I don’t enjoy calling most of you on the phone. This is not your fault. Also, it isn’t that I don’t like you; I like you all a lot. But you all scare me to death. You see, I have a need to be thought of as spiritual and wise, but the moment I open up my mouth without a manuscript, I’m afraid you’ll find out that I’m not that spiritual or that wise. But God scares me a whole lot more than you scare me. And since God called me to be your pastor, I have to call you to find out how you’re doing and how I can pray for you, even at the risk of being found out.
Fear that causes us to disobey God generally is a fear of people or the fear of loss - loss of security, loss of pleasure, loss of comfort, loss of love, loss of life, etc. Whenever we are faced with the choice of obeying God or disobeying God, allow the holiness, the justice, the power and the wisdom of God to scare us more than not doing the wrong thing would scare us. The progress of obedience we expect to make in our salvation is worked out with fear and trembling.
Second and finally, (this is to make up for the times when I kept you late) if you are saved, and you are not making the progress in your obedience to God as expected, you are not letting God work in you. We read this in verse 13, "for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purposes."
Personal will power rarely produces the kind of obedience God is asking from us. Thomas Kelly said "I will" is not obedience, but God’s will is. We too often assume that our will is God’s will, but that is not generally the case. Our will is often impure, filled with self-ambition and self-deception.
Oswald Chambers, in My Utmost for His Highest, noted, "God not only expects me to do His will, but He is in me to do it." Our job is to let Him do through us what we would otherwise fail to do. Only God can work in us to will and to act according to His good purposes.
A Christian lady worked on the 24 floor of a downtown office building. One day, the elevator operator commented, "You must be a Christian. You have such a warm smile." From that point on, that lady smiled whether she was happy or angry on the inside, because she didn’t want to destroy her testimony for Christ.
Even that is not the obedience Paul is writing about. Paul is speaking about a progressive obedience in our lives that come from within, given by God. He’s not talking about obedience from outside pressure, whether from the public, from your peers, from your parents or from your pastor. Paul is talking about obedience as a result of God’s power from within. Yet, he is not talking about being passive and letting God use us as puppets. The idea of "let go and let God" is more an expression of trust than a measure of participation.
What Paul is talking about is our aggressive surrendering to what we know is God’s will and God’s power. When we fail to be obedient to God, we have used our will power to satisfy our self-will instead of God’s will. Again, the solution is to aggressively surrender our will and our power and pursue what we know is God’s will with God’s power.
When I get into a disagreement with my wife, I know God’s will for me is to forgive my wife and the power needed to forgive my wife is the same power that allowed Christ to forgive those who crucified Him. Yet, I often fail to forgive immediately because my will wants to be right and to win. My power is used to protect myself, and not my wife, whom I vowed to protect. Unless I aggressively surrender to God’s will and power, I am powerless against myself to be obedient.
I don’t mean to sound like a mystic, but working out our salvation is somewhat mysterious. Obedience to God is not achieved by self-will, but by fear and trembling and by letting God work in us. Whatever is keeping us from being obedient to God, whether in a relational struggle or an on-going temptation, we can respond in obedience to God if we will surrender our will to God’s will and God’s power. The combination of choosing to fear God and letting God work in us will bring the expected progressive obedience to God.
If we are saved, and we are not making the progress in our obedience to God as expected, we are either not choosing to fear God or we are not letting God work in us.
