connect notes
Week 25 - Philippians 2:12-13 WORKING OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION12 THEREFORE, MY BELOVED, AS YOU HAVE ALWAYS OBEYED, SO NOW, NOT ONLY AS IN MY PRESENCE BUT MUCH MORE IN MY ABSENCE, WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION WITH FEAR AND TREMBLING,
Paul has just finished explaining the heights to which Jesus Christ has been raised because of the depths of his humility revealed ultimately through his becoming a human and dying a criminals death on a cross and taking the punishment for our sins that we deserved. He lived a perfect sinless life and was the only human that has ever lived that should not have died on that cross.
Paul now turns to us the church and says what is our response to Christ's glory revealed through his beautiful sacrificial humility that has saved us?
The reality is every believer that has been saved by grace has a responsibility to God and any responsibility a Christian leader puts on another believer should only point to what God wants from each believer. That is what good leadership does. Points to Christ and points to the responsibility that comes with being saved by grace.
Paul is challenging the Philippians to live in obedience even when he is not with them. This is important for us as individuals that we take responsibility for the faith that God has given us through Jesus.
Paul says to work out our OWN salvation. He is not saying that we have to work to be saved or to continue to be saved, for as we know we are righteous only by believing in Christ not by being good or working to be right. However because we are born again, we now desire to live holy just as Christ's example to us is holy, we desire now what he desires, we will what He wills. The battle that exists is between our new nature in Christ and our old nature that is in our flesh. This is why obedience and trust are essential for the Christian walk for they are the two things that enable us to overcome our old nature. Trust and obedience are a giving into the spirit of Christ that now lives inside of us, who is the Holy Spirit. When we trust His spirit He empowers our will to choose what He wills, and God always makes the right choice, with every word, thought, action and motivation. That is why we live by faith and not by sight. For we cannot see His spirit at work within us but we know by faith that He is working within us His plan of salvation and He will bring it unto completion. (Philippians 1:6)
So what does Paul mean by working out our own salvation. If it doesn't mean we have to work for our salvation what is he saying?
Maybe an analogy might help. Say a business man gives you a piece of land as a gift. He tells you that below the surface of the soil and the dirt this land is rich in mineral resources and if you take the time to dig and unveil these resources through the process of mining you will discover this reality and it will make you a great success. You did nothing to put those resources in that land, they were already there, the richness of these resources was already defined, God in His creative work had put them into the ground without yours or anyone’s help. Your job was to simply unveil and reveal what was already in the ground.
In the same way we can liken our salvation to this analogy. Before time God saved you through His plan of salvation through Christ Jesus. The day you accepted and believed was the day that Christ and all his fullness and richness dwelt in you. Everything that God has designed and purposed through this salvation is already there because of the work of the cross and His resurrection by the spirit of Holiness. Our job is to trust that it is there and then be obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit to unveil it and reveal it. This happens very practical ways. Through reading the word we unveil the reality of what God has done inside us and this in turn builds faith. Through prayer and thanksgiving we discover more of who God is and in turn what work He has done within us as believers. Through giving to each other and to the work of His church we put Him first which develops a greater level of trust in Him and not in the temporal or earthly things of life, like money. Through serving we discover challenges that dig at our pride and challenge us to humble our self just as Christ humbled himself. Through attending and being involved in connect group we learn from others and discover more of what God has done in us by submitting to one another and staying teachable. The list goes on and on...suffering, trials, success, attitude, relationships, work...all these things are opportunities for us to work out our own salvation by choosing the Way of Christ and in turn unveiling the work of salvation that Christ has done in us. Paul says for us to do this in fear and trembling, what does this mean? Does this mean we should be afraid of God or anxious? No God has not given us a spirit of fear but of love, power and a sound mind. So why does Paul say this then? Paul is talking about reverence for God and an awe of God. This is direct connection and reference to verses 9-11 just before this verse, for Paul knows that it is so easy for us to not work out our own salvation. He knows that we could want others to do it for us, so we look to great podcasts, or speakers or leaders in the wrong way and think that they will work out our salvation for us. But if we understand the beauty, the weight, the glory, the significance, the humility and the awe of what Christ did on the cross then perhaps we will understand the level of reverence we should carry as we endeavor to work out our salvation. In our world that is so casual about many things, we should be a generation and a community that should not be casual about God and what He did for us at Calvary.
13 FOR IT IS GOD WHO WORKS IN YOU, BOTH TO WILL AND TO WORK FOR HIS GOOD PLEASURE.
To confirm what Paul says above is not about us working for our salvation, Paul here shows us that it is actually God who works in us. Why?
Our will on it's own cannot be trusted, David said to God in the psalms "search my heart oh God..." David knew that he could not even trust his own heart or will, so he asked God to search it for him and work in him.
When we trust and obey God it aligns our will to His and by faith enables God to work for His own will and good pleasure for us, in us and through us. This is amazing because what God wills and wants is the best thing for us. Even though it will have some immense struggles and hardships connected to it, we must understand through the scriptures and through our relationship with Him that His will working in us is the greatest gift any human could ask for. For this is the only way salvation will have it's complete work in us. God works not for our good pleasure but for His good pleasure. This is important because our good pleasure his flawed because of sin and the fall. But Gods good pleasure and His glory is perfect in every way. The beauty however is that as God works for his good pleasure in us it is truly the only beneficial thing and ultimately the most pleasurable thing for us. For what He is doing is making us more like Christ everyday, until that perfect day where we meet Him face to face and we are seen as perfect as the image of His own son. This is the greatest news and this why it is called the gospel! For it is very good news for you and for me and all who will believe. This why we must share it, live it and serve people with the love of Christ so they too will believe. For without God working in us we will be dead in our sin and our mistakes. Now through Christ we have new life, a life so great it is eternal and we will never die but live in perfect relationship with Abba Father, Daddy our loving God.
I am praying that you spend the time to meditate and understand these two verses and my notes. Even if you don't get it all initially don't give up. Let's help each other in discovering more of what God has done in us through His wonderful son Jesus!
Praying for you always,
Josh Kelsey
P.S. Come to our Gospel night this Wednesday night 7pm start. We will be having acoustic worship and a gospel message to encourage everyone. This meeting is for all of the LOVE IS Community, all leaders, members and friends, so come along and spend an hour in worship and Gods word. Invite some friends, it will be pretty chilled and a lot of fun.