Transcript

Ignace Jan Paderewski, the famous Polish composer-pianist, was once scheduled to perform at a great American concert hall for a high-society extravaganza.

In the audience was a mother with her fidgety 9-year-old son. Weary of waiting, the boy slipped away from her side, strangely drawn to the Steinway on the stage. Without much notice from the audience, he sat down at the stool and began playing “chopsticks.”

The roar of the crowd turned to shouts as hundreds yelled, “Get that boy away from there!” When Paderewski heard the uproar backstage, he grabbed his coat and rushed over behind the boy.

Reaching around him from behind, the master began to improvise a magnificent countermelody to “Chopsticks.”

As the two of them played together, Paderewski kept whispering in the boy’s ear, “Keep going. Don’t quit, son, don’t stop. Keep going son, don’t stop, don’t quit.”

And so the Master works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Through our surrender and submission to Him, God takes our humble service and labors for Him, and by grace the God of all glory uses it and He uses us.

And He tells us “Keep going, don’t quit, don’t stop, be faithful, be consistent, keep following Me, continue serving, and He who “makes all things beautiful in His time” works in and through us and makes our work good, beautiful, and magnificent in His sight. He can make our lives a masterpiece as we allow Him to work in and through us.

Philippians 2:12 says, “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye 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.”

Paul begins verse 12 with “Wherefore.” And this is a very convicting “wherefore.” It points back to our Savior’s example in verses 5-11 of this chapter.

In light of God the Son’s humility, selflessness and love in coming from heaven’s glory to this dark, sin-cursed world, in light of Him becoming a man and taking on flesh for us; in light of His perfect obedience to the Father, in being obedient to death, even the death of the Cross in dying for our sins, Paul says “Wherefore.”

Thus, in light of Christ’s perfect example of obedience to God’s will, Paul calls for the Philippians’ personal obedience to God’s will as well.

And in light of Christ’s mind of humility and selfless love, the Philippians needed His mind to carry out the important instruction of these verses.

Paul’s instruction here is direct, but tempered with love. He speaks to them as “my beloved.” And we learn in Philippians how much Paul cared for this church.

Paul commends the Philippians that they had “always obeyed” God’s instruction as taught to them by Paul. They had done so willingly and promptly in his presence when he was in Philippi. They had a good track record in obedience, and he wanted them to keep going.

And demonstrating true obedience, they had obeyed Paul’s teachings, not just in his presence only, but even “much more” in his absence. They were continuing to obey and grow in their faith, not depending on Paul’s presence for their spiritual progress.

It reminds me, as a parent, how when our children listen and are well behaved in our presence, we are pleased. On the other hand when they have that same behavior when we are not around them, it fills us with pride and joy that what they have been taught has reached their heart. This is how Paul felt about his spiritual children, the Philippians too.

The Philippians were living their Christian lives not just in eyeservice for man or to please man, but genuinely for God, out of a willing heart and for His glory.

Their obedience, like Christ’s, was to God. And God desires the same for all of us in the Body of Christ, to willingly obey Him, and His will and His Word.

Paul praises their faithful pattern of obedience, and he uses this as a basis for anticipating their obedience regarding what he was about to tell them, that “as ye 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.”

Paul’s special desire and request for them was that they “work out your own salvation.”

At one time or another, you might’ve seen the Christian slogan, “Exercise Daily. Walk with the Lord!” Essentially, that is what the Apostle is calling for when he requests for the Philippians to “work out your own salvation.”

When Paul gives this instruction, he has already acknowledged that he is writing to “saints.” Philippians 1:1 says, “Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi…”

Saints are believers who are positionally in Christ, and being in Christ, in God’s sight, we are set apart from sin and set apart to God in Him. And we belong to God eternally.

Paul does not say to “work for your own salvation,” but to work “out” the salvation God had already given them. Scripture is clear that salvation today is a free gift. It is all of grace through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Salvation must first be worked IN before it can be worked OUT.

When we trust the perfect provision for our sins made for us by Christ’s death and resurrection, salvation is worked IN by the Spirit (Titus 3:5).

And salvation is worked OUT by the Spirit through our faith and obedience to God’s will and His Word, rightly divided.

Having trusted Christ as their Savior, the Philippians already had God’s salvation worked IN by the Holy Spirit. Here they are told by Paul to work it OUT, by the Holy Spirit.

Working out your salvation is about living the way you were saved: by grace through faith in Christ (Col. 2:6). Salvation is found in a Person. Christ is our salvation.

At the moment of trusting Him alone for our salvation, Christ’s life is in-worked in us. Paul says in Colossians 1:27 that all who have trusted the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior have “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

After salvation from sin’s penalty, God desires Christ’s life to be outworked practically in our lives, so others see His life in our life.

As we do so by faith, through the Spirit’s power, in obedience to the Word, we work out our own salvation and our lives will exhibit Christ-like attributes, such as “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.”

Working out our own salvation basically is about our spiritual growth toward being more and more like Christ. That’s the direction the Holy Spirit always moves us from where we are spiritually to where God wants us to be.

That being the case also, working out our salvation is about living in victory over sin in our daily lives, experiencing salvation over sin’s power by Christ’s resurrection life and power within us. It is about living righteously in the freedom and power we have in Christ.

That’s what Paul’s desire was later in the book: “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection” (3:10).

Verse 12 shows us there is human responsibility to our Christian lives as we are told to “work.” Effort must be put into the Christian life, effort to grow, to know the Word, to pray, to serve, and to be in fellowship with other members of the Body of Christ.

And Paul further instructs the Body of Christ to work out our own salvation “with fear and trembling.” These terms of fear and trembling show us that the outworking of our salvation must be done realizing the seriousness of the Christian life in living before a world that needs Christ.

Working out our own salvation “with fear and trembling” also reminds us of our own weakness and inability to live the Christian life in our own strength. We should rightly fear and distrust our own ability to meet God’s will and instruction.

We need to guard against pride and humbly trust in Him and not in ourselves in order to live godly lives. This is how we were saved from our sins, by humbly trusting in Christ and not in ourselves, and this is the same way we are called to live. And by His power we can work out our own salvation and show Christ in us.

Philippians 2:13: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”

Paul is talking about the believer’s practical, daily sanctification here and he shows both the believer’s responsibility and God’s role in it.

Verse 12 could not be carried out without the reality of verse 13. We could never work out our own salvation and grow and mature to be more like Christ without God working in us. God Himself is our provision to strengthen us to work out our own salvation.

The Christian life is a process of “ins” and “outs.” We see in verses 12 and 13 how God works in and we work out.

As we grow spiritually in Christ by faith and obedience, God works in us. And the good pleasure He wills and does in us is to work out Christ’s life and light.

First Thessalonians 2:13 says, “the Word of God…effectually WORKETH…IN YOU that believe.” God works in us by His Word, and changes our will and desires as we grow and apply it. Our minds, attitude, priorities, worldview, and understanding of life are transformed by the Word of God.

Through it we learn to see the world through God’s eyes and feel with His heart. As God works in us by the Word, His “will” becomes our will, and we will “do” the things of “His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13).

And to will and do of God’s good pleasure is to “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others” (Phil. 2:4), and then to “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” In other words, to put the needs of others first, in humble love, like Christ did for us at the Cross.

In Ephesians 3:20, Paul wrote, “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that WORKETH IN us.”

In His Almighty power, God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, and Paul wrote that this power is the same power that works in us. And that teaches us that there are no limits for what God can do in and through a life yielded to Him.

It’s been said that “It’s hard to feel aimless when you see God at work through what you’re doing.” Living a yielded life of service to God by faith gives us aim and purpose in life and in it we find true joy.

Dale Durie writes, “One fall afternoon, my grandfather was at home with my grandmother and heard a knock on the door. The visitor was a neighbor lady who said to my grandfather, “I was out feeding the horses, and I felt like God was prompting me to come and say thank you for the difference you’ve made in my life.”

She sat down and began to tell stories about times when my grandfather had been merciful to her as a widow and cared for the cows and horses and done all of kinds of practical things. She thanked him for being so real.

She went through this litany of good deeds, including bringing peace in relationships with some of her children.

She finished with, “I just felt like God wanted me to tell you that.” My grandfather paused and looked at her and said, “It was Jesus Christ who did it.” There was a pause, and my grandmother struck up a conversation with this lady.

A few seconds later they heard a cough and saw my grandfather slumped over and he was home with Christ. My grandfather’s last words were, “It was Jesus Christ who did it.” We can have this testimony as we allow God to work in us to do of His good pleasure.

Philippians 2:14: “Do all things without murmurings and disputings.”

Paul had just spoken of God working in us to do of His good pleasure. One thing we know is not pleasing to God or according to His good pleasure is murmuring. As we know, Israel was marked by their murmuring in the wilderness. And God wasn’t pleased by it.

In 1 Corinthians 10:10, Paul told the Body of Christ, “Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer,” speaking of those that perished in the wilderness because of their murmuring against the Lord.

“Murmuring” speaks of secret, muted, negative, discontented muttering. It speaks of something we do in the attitude of our heart. “Disputing” is something we do outwardly with others; it is arguing, vocal, outspoken expression of disagreement.

These things are based in the poisons of negativism and pessimism, and they reflect attitudes of dissension and discord. One often leads to the other, and both of these things steal joy, and quench God’s working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.

There was a problem with disunity in the Church, and Paul desired oneness among them. Paul says these things in light of verses 2 and 3 that they be “likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, let nothing be done through strife…”

Murmuring and disputing lead to strife and division. But Paul wanted them to work out their salvation and demonstrate love and Christlikeness which leads to oneness. And thus Paul says, by the power of God, “DO ALL THINGS without murmurings and disputings.”

A farmer started looking at his farm through negative, critical eyes, murmuring and complaining about it. Every place he looked it seemed that he saw something wrong. So he just decided to sell out and move somewhere else.

He engaged a realtor who came out to look the farm over and prepare an ad for the newspaper. But before running it in the paper, the realtor called the farmer and read the proposed ad to him over the telephone, saying, “See if this meets with your approval.”

The ad spoke of a good location, a well-maintained house, sturdy barns, lush pasture lands, a beautiful pond, fertile soil, and a great view. The farmer listened carefully, and then said, “Read that to me again, slowly.” So the realtor read it to him again.

Finally, the farmer responded, “Don’t put that ad in the paper. I think I’ll stay right where I am. I’ve always wanted a place like that.”

God doesn’t want us to look at things, situations, or others with critical eyes, but with His eyes, esteeming others better than self, being thankful for all things.

Philippians 2:15-16: “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life…”

As we work out our own salvation, and as God works in us, by His resurrection power we can be “blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.”

Paul gives a sobering reason for why believers should “do all things without murmurings and disputings”: for the sake of the unsaved. It’s for the purpose that as “sons of God,” we may “shine as lights in the world.”

God wants us to be “blameless” before the world, which speaks of giving others no occasion to accuse you of having done wrong, doing nothing blameworthy.

Blameless speaks of outward conduct and suggests a purity of life that is both undeniable and unhypocritical. And as we work out our own salvation, and as we allow God to work in us, we can live up to this instruction to be “blameless” in our outward conduct.

“Harmless” speaks of the inward character and mind in being innocent, unadulterated, unmixed with sin, inexperienced in evil, untainted in motive.

Putting the two together it’s not about being perfect, it’s just about being a godly man or godly woman, righteous in conduct and character, possessing integrity.

It’s about being real with your faith, living it out in a genuine way, being pure and loving, living a life that demonstrates that you belong to God and not this world.

Mary De Guzman told the following: “One day one of my 6-year-old students asked me if he was a child of God. I told him that having trusted Christ, he was. He looked puzzled, then responded, ‘Well I better get home and tell Mom and Dad, they think I’m theirs!’”

We are the children of God by faith. And it’s a blessing to belong to God and to be called the “sons of God,” as Paul calls the Body of Christ in verse 15.

In 1 John 3:1, John wrote his Jewish brethren about this blessing, and we find a principle that’s true for us in the Body of Christ too:

“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.”

It really is amazing love that God has bestowed on us, “that we should be called the sons of God.” We should have the same wonder at it as the Apostle John.

Being sons of God the world doesn’t know us, because they don’t understand us, nor the way we behave or think. We don’t have the same values, morals, beliefs, or principles. They don’t know Christ and they don’t know us who have the characteristics of Christ.

But it’s this separation from the world that God desires to use for the Church to reach the world. God wants His sons to speak to those outside of Christ with our lips and with our lives, with our lives telling them we are God’s people.

Because we live “in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation [or literally generation].” A crooked and perverse generation speaks of the whole unbelieving world. “Nation” or generation speaks of the populace in broad terms.

And the unbelieving world is “crooked” which speaks of being wicked, twisted, bent, who are not aligned with God and are crooked when compared with His straight, perfect, righteous standard. “Perverse” speaks of being distorted, warped, and corrupt.

This world is twisted, wicked, and corrupt in mind, heart, and action, and what these terms show us is that they desperately need Christ.

“In the midst” and “among” lost humanity in this dark world, we the Church shine as lights. We don’t hide from the world, we shine in the midst of it and among mankind.

We are in the world, but not of it. As we are in contact with the lost in this life, God would have us as Psalm 96:2 says, “shew forth His salvation from day to day.” God would have us show our salvation and tells others about salvation.

We are not told to shine here, by the Apostle, instead we are reminded that we already do. Having trusted Christ as our Savior, we are light in the Lord; we are children of light, we are possessors of the “true light,” Jesus Christ.

We already shine as lights, the question is how bright? How bright is our light for Christ?

The challenge here is to let our light shine out all the more brightly as it is unhindered by sinful actions or a selfish life, to let our light shine brilliantly by a pure life, in not murmuring or disputing, but by being blameless, harmless and without blemish.

God wants us to so live that we are bold, blazing, intensely brilliant lights for Him, so all know that we have Christ and His life and light within and that we are God’s.

The word for “lights” here is “luminaries.” In other words, we are to shine like “stars” to this world. Hollywood has nothing on us. We, in the Body of Christ, are the true stars, God’s stars, His lights to this world.

Our citizenship is in heaven. We are God’s heavenly people, and God sees us as heavenly bodies, shining as stars in this spiritually dark world.

As His lights we’re to reveal God’s character of love and light to this world, and we are to radiate His truth, that we might illumine the way to Christ and the salvation in Him.

As stars are so obvious and visible and bright in a dark sky, so God would have our lives and testimony stand out among the world and be obvious, so we might be a powerful witness for Christ, impacting and influencing the unbelieving around us.

And by living blameless, harmless, without rebuke lives as the sons of God, we will stand out all the more clearly against the dark background of this world.

One commentator wrote: “Christians who live with an attitude of joy rather than grumbling and whose pure lives shine like lights in the world will be the talk of the town. They’ll transform the morale at the office. They’ll become agents of change at school.

“And if the church as a whole focused on fueling the lights of joyful Christlikeness rather than feeding the fires of mean-spirited conflict, imagine what that could do for our nation or even our world!”

Within each believer is “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,” and “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:4,6).

Having the light of the gospel and the knowledge of it in us, it is God’s will is that we hold forth His Word of life. The world has nothing to offer us, but we have something to offer it. We hold out the Word of life and its message of salvation through faith in Christ alone.

As God works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure, and we see this world with His eyes, and our wills become one with His, we’ll see the great need of people who are dead in their sins who need God’s life. His Word reveals God’s salvation and the life that is found in Jesus Christ alone.

And as Christ’s lights and ambassadors, He wants us to hold it out to, to present it to others, to tell others the good news about Christ, offering God’s salvation to the lost.

The following are the current number of followers for different world religions: Islam 1.8 billion, Catholicism: 1.2 billion, Hinduism 1.05 billion, Buddhism 550 million, Pentecostalism 700 million; Judaism 14 million, Mormonism 13.5 million, Atheism 138 million, African and Chinese native religions: millions upon millions.

All of them wrapped up in superstition, emotionalism, legalism, mysticism, idolatry, works, pride, trying to earn their way to what they believe is “heaven.”

Nothing whatsoever of God’s grace, or faith alone in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the Cross. And our hearts should break.

The world is full of dark beliefs and philosophies, and people are spiritually dead in their sins, and they need the Lord, and they need the Word of life.

And we NEED to shine as lights as brightly as possible and hold forth the Word of life boldly so people find life in Christ alone.