Gospel Exercise

Introduction

Well, good morning! If you have a copy of God’s Word, go ahead and up it up with me to Philippians chapter 2. We’re gonna be continuing our sermon series this morning “Bridge Builders”…walking through the letter that Paul wrote to the church of Philippi. If you were with us last week, we went through one of the greatest pieces of Scripture in all the Bible…and so, how are we supposed to follow that up? I mean, the truths we talked about last week and of course the scope of those truths really should leave us with awe and wonder at the incarnation of Christ and the example that Paul gave us. But as we come to our text this morning…Paul begins with a “therefore.” Meaning, everything we looked at was really meant to point us to something else. There’s a link between those passages we dug into last week and the passages we’re looking at this morning. Paul’s looking back to what was said about Jesus and preparing to give us some strong exhortations here. And that exhortation is for us to work out our salvation. In fact, our text this morning, it’s one of the greatest passages there is on Christian discipleship and the idea of sanctification.

Sanctification, now that’s a churchy, right? What’s it mean? What’s it mean to be sanctified? Well, when we become Christians…when we’re impacted by the power of the gospel, there’s a process that starts in us…and it doesn’t stop until the day we die. And that word “sanctification,” it’s used to describe that process that takes place. It’s a process of growth. From the moment of salvation until the day we enter into glory, we’re being shaped and molded into the image of Jesus. The example Paul gave us last week, it’s the picture we’re all striving to become. Sanctification’s all about growth and maturity. It’s about growing up in our faith…becoming stronger and more disciplined…just like everything else in our life.

Listen, when we’re born, we’re expected to mature physically, right? We go from being an infant to a child to a young adult, and hopefully to a mature adult that’s able to take care of ourselves and provide for ourselves. That’s what’s expected. And when things don’t go that way, typically something’s wrong. Maybe there’s some kind of developmental issue or maybe it’s a disease or whatever.

But listen, it’s not just about our physical maturity…even in our relationships with other people, we’re expected to grow. When it comes to our significant others, it’s normal for us to go from courting to dating to marriage, right? And even within our marriages, we learn to grow in our love for each other. I love my wife infinity more today than I did the day I married her (I’m really hoping that gets me some brownie points). But listen, you guys understand what I’m saying? We’re expected to grow in the things that’s important to us…to mature in those things.

Even in the things that aren’t as important, we naturally grow. I think about my new found love for golf. Larry jokes with me all the time about how much I go...but listen, I go because I really hope to get better…and of course with practice and discipline, I will. I think about Lacey learning to play the saxophone. I’ll never forget the day she brought that thing home…I thought I was gonna kill the band teacher that convinced her to play it…But guys, over time…with practice, she’s learned to play it…and with even more time, she’ll get better…she’ll grow in her ability.

Guys, in the same way with our salvation, we’ll grow in the light of God. That’s why 1 John says that when we have fellowship with Him, we walk in the light…allowing that light to expose the very depths of our being…pulling us, over time, out of darkness entirely. Sanctification’s all about the process in which we become more and more like Jesus. And listen, if you’ve been a believer for any length of time, then you CAN look back and see a change that’s taken place in you. That’s the results of sanctification. And it’s continual until the day we die.

You know, it was Martin Luther that said the church was like a drunken peasant, always falling off one side of the donkey or the other. And listen, he said that to illustrate the extremes that the church tends to go. The church has always struggled to keep a biblical balance. And we can see evidence of that in almost every area of doctrine. I mean, for four centuries the doctrine of the person of Christ was being hammered out. On one side, we had these groups that were so focused on the deity of Christ that they completely denied His humanity…but on the other side, we had these groups that over emphasized His humanity removing His deity…We’ve seen divides in the doctrine of justification, in the doctrine of atonement…and listen, we’ve seen it in the doctrine of sanctification…which again is the doctrine of the Christian life. How we live the Christian life.

Specifically, concerning sanctification, on one hand, we have groups that emphasize our effort so strongly that they become moralistic in nature…it’s all about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps so to speak…it’s about your effort…what you do in the Christian life. But then, on the other side, we have these groups that so emphasize the work of God and the dependence of God that they de-emphasize the importance of our own personal effort. And so, the idea for those groups is, “Let go and let God,” right?

But listen, when we look to the Scriptures, (which is always necessary in any debate, because that’s all that matters)…what we find is this balance. There’s a biblical balance between what we’re required to do…our work…and what God promises to do…God’s work…and we see that in our passage this morning.

And so, if you’re there with me…let’s stand together as we read our text. Paul writes this, “12 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, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

You may be seated…listen this morning, there’s four main points about the process of sanctification that I really wanna cover with you guys…four things I really see come out our text…1.) the foundation to sanctification, 2.) our responsibility in sanctification, 3.) The motivation that initiates sanctification, and 4.) the power that drives sanctification.

1.) The Foundation to Sanctification

First of all, the foundation to sanctification or the foundation of the Christian life. It’s all found in that first word and, really, the phrases that follow. Paul says, “Therefore...” That’s the connecting word, right? It connects us to what went before it. And we’ve all heard that saying, “Anytime time we see a ‘therefore’ in the Bible…,” we do what? We see what’s it there for, right? It’s connecting us to the previous verses.

You guys remember what we talked about last week? We literally looked at one of the most amazing pieces of passage in all of Scripture…A passage that gives us one of the clearest descriptions of who Jesus is and what He came to do. I mean essentially it was one of the clearest passages about the gospel message. And Paul told his reader, have that mind among themselves which is there’s in Christ Jesus. He told us to adopt the mindset of Christ…and then he went on and gave one of the most beautiful and comprehensive outlines of the gospel. He talked about Jesus…who was in the very form or the morphe of God. He was equal with God…but you remember what Paul said? He said Jesus didn’t count equality with God a thing to be exploited. Paul said Jesus made Himself nothing and in that nothingness, He humbled Himself further to the point of death…death even on a cross. He was in the likeness of men…in the likeness of human flesh…and because of those things, Paul said the Father highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name. And what we saw was this powerful summary of the gospel....and Paul gave that example…He shared the gospel to show us that we’re to pattern our lives after Christ.

That’s why in our verses today it starts with a “therefore.” He says, “Therefore (because of who Christ is and what He came to do)…work out your own salvation.” In other words, “What I want you to see here is that the gospel itself is the foundation for living the Christian life.”

I absolutely love the way the Puritan John Owen put it. He said, “Gospel truth is the only root whereon gospel holiness will grow.” If you want the fruit of transformation, if you want the fruit of gospel holiness, if you want the fruit of a sanctified life...the only way you’re gonna get that is through the gospel itself. You have to have that foundation. That’s why Paul starts with, “Therefore.”

But notice he says, “Therefore, my beloved...” That’s important because before he tells them what to do he shows them his affection for them. They’re beloved. He loves them, right? And probably what he means is that they’re also beloved by God. He doesn’t want them to be like children afraid they’re gonna lose the love of their parents…He doesn’t want them tiptoeing around afraid to rock the boat so to speak. That’s a love that’s conditioned on how well I’m doing, right? That’s not the love Paul’s showing here. He wants to affirm them.

And then, he affirms there obedience. Paul writes, “…as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence...” Again, remember the context of this letter…Paul’s in prison…He’s in Rome, they’re in Philippi. They’re separated…and I’m sure there’s this anxiety they have because of this separation. And Paul’s saying, “Listen, you’ve been obeying…you obeyed when I was there…do it now in my absence.” Now he’s not calling them to a sinless life. He’s not saying they have to be perfect in any way. But he wants their lives to be characterized by obedience to Jesus. He says, “…as you’ve obeyed, keep on obeying. Obey even though I’m not with you.” And he says, “work out your own salvation.” Listen, there’s the foundation…it’s the foundation of the gospel, the love of God…this affirmation of what God’s already done. He’s already brought us to a point of obedience. There’s the foundation...that leads us straight into our responsibility to “work out our own salvation.”

2.) Our Responsibility in Sanctification

And listen, that word “salvation,” it’s a pretty broad word. Of course, as Paul’s used it on multiple occasions, it almost always has a past and future definition tied to it…Meaning, salvation was something God brought to us and had planned for us even at the foundations of the world, right? That’s the past tense meaning of it…Jesus dealt with our sins through His atoning work on the cross. But salvation’s also something that’ll come to completion only when we enter into eternity. There’s a past tense meaning to it typically and a future tense meaning. But in today’s passage, when Paul says, “Work out your own salvation,” there’s now a present tense meaning to it.

When we become Christians…when we place our trust and faith in Jesus Christ and when we repent from our sins…we enter into that sanctification process where we’re being more and more fully delivered from the dominion of sin in our lives. And that dominion is decisively broken (He breaks the power of cancelled sin and He sets the prisoner free, right?)…But the outworking of that in our lives practically’s a process.

And so, when Paul says, “Work out your own salvation,” I think that’s what he has in mind here. We have to distinguish between the work God’s does for us and the work He does in us. God’s work for us, it’s done through Christ and the Spirit, right? But God’s work in us, it’s an ongoing thing. And because we’re His, because we’ve experienced salvation, that process has already begun... and now, He’s continuing that. That’s what Paul’s referring to here. That’s why he says in verse 13, “For God works in you.” This is God’s work in us...it’s God’s sanctifying, transforming work in our lives.

But again, notice Paul says, “Work out your OWN salvation.” Those words, “your own...” He’s writing to the church, they’re plural in nature, right? And so, this verse, it carries this idea of the body working it out together. But in order to work it out together, it’s necessary for us to have personal, individual application as well. Both are necessary. We work it out individually…and we have to work it out corporately. That’s our responsibility as believers.

I think the Greek word used here for “work it out,” it really helps us to understand the process Paul’s writing about here. That Greek word, it was used to explain the process of getting silver out of a mine…There would be a shaft in the ground, and there’s silver in the mine, there’s metal there, but it has to be worked out…it has to be mined out in order for the owner of the mine to actually bring it into possession. Does that make sense? The riches are already His, but He has to work to bring it out.

It’s the same word used to describe farming. The seed would be planted and then there’s the process of cultivating, and weeding, and watering, right? It has to be worked out.

I think about a physical work out. Listen, about two years ago, I realized I started gaining some weight. Guys, for years, I could eat whatever I wanted and it didn’t do a thing to me. Now, it’s a different story. I realize I can’t drink all that Pepsi and eat all those Christmas Tree Debbie Cakes. Of course my solution’s been to drink energy drinks instead but you know…Anyways, there was this moment where I said, I’m gonna start working out, right? That’s the only way I’m gonna control my weight and stuff…and of course, eating right as well. I have to be disciplined. I have to keep a routine that controls those areas of my life. Now…that lasted about two weeks but I’m trying. You guys understand my point though. If I wanna see results, I have to put in the effort.

Paul’s talking about a spiritual workout here. He want’s us to workout what we already have. Going back to a physical workout. The goal of that is to get muscles, right? But do you realize, the muscles, they’re already there. You’re not getting new muscles when you exercise…you’re just working out what’s already there. You’re developing them…strengthening them. You understand what I’m saying?

In a spiritual sense, it’s the same. God’s given you salvation, He’s given you grace…and nothing can take that from you. You’re a new creation in Him. You already have your new spiritual muscles…but now you have to work them out. Your faith needs to be strengthened…your knowledge needs to be exercised....your love needs to be tested. That’s what it means to “work out your own salvation.”

And so, how do you do that individually and corporately? Well, you need to be in God’s Word…Listen, Josh Mumau (one of our deacons) he wrote in our newsletter this week about how our church’s reading plan has impacted him this year…it’s caused him to grow. Just being in God’s Word consistently can impact your faith in ways you could never imagine. What about your prayer life? Are you devoting time to prayer…and not just asking God for stuff but praising Him and praying Scripture back to Him? Corporately, how are you pushing people in those areas? That’s exactly what our KNOT groups are all about. We meet 3 or 4 people…and we just go through Scripture and we pray together. Guys, that’s how we work out our own salvation. And listen, we constantly look for opportunities to use our gifts and to advance the gospel. And we do that individually and corporately. How are you serving in the church? How are you using your gifts? That’s what Paul means when he says, “work out your own salvation.”

And listen, before we move on…we have to understand Paul’s message isn’t to “save yourself, or to justify yourself, adopt yourself, it’s not to get yourself accepted with God by your doing.” Paul addressed that already. He’s saying be active with what you already have. Be active in your sanctification. You have to develop and strengthen those spiritual muscles, those graces of the Spirit, and you have to bring them into full exercise. He’s saying, “Now that your His, act like it…act like a Christian.” That’s our responsibility. That’s the part we do. But look at the motivation behind that.

3.) The Motivation that Initiates Sanctification

Paul says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling...” Fear and trembling…now that’s kind of weird thing to say when we think about a loving and gracious God, right? Paul says, “Let your fear be the motivation for you to wanna work out.” Almost as if, I work out physically because of the fear of my wife not thinking I’m attractive anymore, right? So it drives me to wanna work out…Do you really think that motivation’ll keep me motivated to work out in a physical way? NO…Listen, if whatever I do doesn’t hit me in a real personal way, then I’ll never be motivated to do anything long-term. It doesn’t matter how afraid I am…And if by chance, that fear of my wife not thinking I’m attractive does push me to work out…in the end, it’ll cause me to resist her. That’s not the fear Paul’s talking about here.

I mean doesn’t Scripture tell us that God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear? It says…He’s given us the opposite…a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind. The Scriptures tell us that a perfect love actually casts out fear. So what does Paul mean here? I think he has a particular kind of fear in mind. It’s not the cowering kind of fear that a slave had for their master…or a fear that leaves a person afraid of another. No…it’s the reverent fear that a child has for their father. It’s a sense of awe that we have before the majesty of God.

The Greek words used here for fear and trembling is phobos (Pho-bos) tromos (Tra-mos)…which together literally means to have a reverent awe or terror that causes one to shake or tremble. And listen, both of these reactions are the appropriate responses to the understanding of our own spiritual weakness and the power of temptation in our lives. Meaning, we work out our own salvation because it humbles us before the only person that can deliver us from those things. It’s a realization of who we are and who God is…and it causes us to revere Him. It’s an attitude that we’re supposed to have as God’s children.

When Paul uses these words to describe “fear and trembling,” it’s the same words he used in his letter to the church of Corinth when he said he came to them with “fear and trembling.” Listen, Paul wasn’t afraid of the Corinthians in any way…Paul used these words because of the awesome task he had in preaching Christ crucified. That’s what it meant…there was a reverence there…he was in awe.

Marius Victorinus (Mair-re-us Vic-tor-ren-us) said this, “The fear is to be referred to the soul, the trembling to the body.” And Chrysostom (Chris-sa-stom), “For without fear no one can accomplish anything noble or remarkable…If the goods of life cannot be attainted without fear, how much more true is this of spiritual ones? For tell me, whoever learned letters without fear? Who became skilled in a craft without fear?” In other words, our fear and trembling become our motivation that initiates the sanctification process in us. It causes us to wanna grow and become more and more like the God that’s saved us.

Even when we go to the Old Testament, it gives us a clear description of what a godly person looks like. It’s the fear of God…the fear of God’s the beginning of wisdom…it’s the beginning of knowledge…and the godly man is always characterized by his fear of the Lord. And so, Paul’s telling us to continue obeying…work out our own salvation in reverent humility of the living God…because Paul’s been talking about Jesus being what? Humble, right? And so, as we grow in grace, He wants us to be humble and get humble-er. And listen, if we don’t have fear in our hearts…if we’re not afraid to grieve the Spirit of God…then it probably means we already have. It probably means you don’t care about growing closer to Him. It probably means you’re drifting or that you were never His to begin with…Guys, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” That’s our motivation.

4.)The Power that Drives Sanctification

But do it with the understanding of where that power to change comes from. Verse 13, “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” You guys see the balance here? Listen, we work out, because God’s worked in. It’s not all up to you…yes, you have a responsibility…but God does something too. He works in us. It’s an awesome reminder of Philippians 1:6, right? Paul says, “He who began a good work IN you…will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” God’s begun a work…but notice what Paul said there…He said, He’s working IN you. He’s working in your heart....in your soul....he’s working in your life. And guys, because He’s working in you, you work it out.

This is the reason we work out…it’s because we have a sobering realization that God’s working in us. God’s work in us provides both the motivation and the ability to do His good pleasure. And what Paul’s saying here is that God initiated both…He initiated the interest we have for Him. Paul’s point is that without God initiating salvation, these Philippians would’ve never had the opportunity to work out their salvation because they would’ve neither wanted to do it or have been able to do it. But it’s also that because God started this work in them, they now have a responsibility to steward what God gave them…meaning we’re supposed to steward the gift of salvation. Understanding God’s work in us, it means we’re to handle the gift of salvation with the upmost care.

Paul’s giving em an illustration....We’re God’s showcase to the world…and the way we handle our salvation reflects on the God who gave it to us. Guys, we’re his handiwork…His workmanship…created in Jesus to do good works which He’s prepared beforehand for us, right? We talked about that when we went through Paul’s letter to Ephesus. So what is it that God does when He’s working in us? Two things…He works on our desires…the internal pieces of us....and He works on our actions…the external pieces. That’s what Paul means when he says, “He works in you ‘both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

That word “to will,” it means to desire or determine or resolve. It also includes both the affections, the choices; it covers our motives…our desires…inclinations…literally all those things. Charles Spurgeon said this, “He works in us to will—the desire after holiness, the resolution to put down sin, the pang of grief because we have sinned, the stern resolve that we will not fall into that sin again—all, all is of God.” He works in us to will.

Guys, every inclination you have for God, it comes from Him. Every desire you have to crack open your Bible…guys, that was born in your heart by the Spirit of God. Every sense of longing for His presence and prayer, do you know where that all comes from? It comes from the Spirit of God in you! He works in you to will, to desire; He inclines your heart toward Himself.

That’s why the Psalmist in Psalm 119 says, “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain.” Guys, is that your prayer? “Lord, bend my heart towards you…bend it towards you because I feel bent the other way.” That’s the internal pieces that Paul’s talking about here.

But on the second level, God works in us to work. He uses the Greek word that means to empower or to bring an act to completion. It’s where we get our word for “energy” or “energize.” And what this means is that God doesn’t just give us new desires and inclinations…but He gives us the power to carry those things out. And listen, this is the emphasis of Paul’s letter, there’s balance between what you do and what God does. It’s not, “Let go and let God,” and it’s also not pull yourself up by the bootstraps. Paul’s not tolerating passive Christianity here. You’re called to be active....active with dependence on God to work.

Guys, if your Christian life’s been all about your discipline and no dependence on God, you’re not going to grow because you’re going to lose your motivation…there’s no fear there. And if your Christian life’s been all about depending on God, but you never lift your finger to open and read your Bible, you’re not going to grow because you’re not working out what God’s given you. There’s a balance. And it’s all over Scripture. Listen, some of you thought I was this hyper Calvinism or something, right? Guys, you have responsibility because you recognize God’s responsibility. And that’s why I hate those terms, Calvinism and Arminianism. People just don’t understand either. One overemphasizes our need to do and the other overemphasizes our need to depend. There’s a balance that exists in our walk and we should ‘work it out,’ as Paul suggests, and we do that because we depend on the work of God.

Guys, if God’s working in you, it’s because God chose to work in you. It’s because God willed to work in…because it’s God’s good pleasure to work in you. God doesn’t do something He doesn’t wanna do. And guys, that should drive us to humility. The God of the universe desires to work in us…And listen, that means we can absolutely and entirely depend on Him and it should lead us to act in Him as well.

Closing

I’ll close with this…if all these things are true then it means we need a workout plan, right? It means we need to get ourselves spiritually fit…and I think Paul’s given us a four step plan here so far. He said, “Start training…Just start.” If you haven’t already…start. Open your Bible. Read it. Start to exercise. That’s how we train ourselves for godliness as he says in 1 Timothy.

Number two, follow the trainer. Again, when we go to Scripture…we’re given a clear example, right? Isn’t that just what Paul did in our prior verses? Follow the trainers example. Number three…you gotta eat right. In a spiritual sense, that’s a healthy intake of God’s Word and fellowship with other believers. Number four, you gotta remember the goal…Our goal isn’t to impress people, right? It’s to grow closer and closer to Christ and ready ourselves for His return. Guys, that’s our workout plan. That’s what Paul’s charging us to.

Listen, as you reflect on what we’ve read…will you close your eyes and bow your head?

Guys, I want you to think about the moment you experienced salvation…Not a day where you said some prayer or came to the front…if that was the day then great…but I’m talking about the day your heart changed…what’s changed about you since that day? What’s different about you? Guys, if you’re the same…what’s the evidence that God’s at work in you? Listen, this is serious! How have you grown?

What about this? What’s your desire to grow look like? What’s your desire to open up the Bible? What’s your desire to come and fellowship? What’s your desire to wanna grow? Guys, when we’ve given the gift of salvation…it comes with a desire for God. He plants those desires in us…He changes our inclinations. How are you different?

Listen, maybe even now you’re sitting there and you’re thinking…there isn’t anything different. Guys, that’s serious…and I’m pleading with you to repent and believe. Turn from yourself…turn because your heart’s wicked and sinful. And without a Savior…you’ll have to pay the penalty for your sins. You’ll have to experience the punishment. So turn…turn to Jesus…who willingly took that punishment on for you. Guys, all you have to do is turn and believe in the message of the gospel. The message that Jesus, the Son of God did in fact step into this world and took to Himself the likeness of man. Believe that He lived a sinless life and went to the cross to die for you…all so that you wouldn’t have to experience the wrath of God…Believe that He experienced that for you…and that He rose three days later. Believe!

And listen, if you’re here today and you’re certain in the gift you’ve received…then guys “work it out...” “Work out your own salvation.”

Listen, whatever it is…while our deacons come and we prepare the elements for the Lord’s Supper this morning…you spend some time getting your hearts right. Don’t take this communion with an unclean heart. So you take this time now.

[Prayer]

1 Corinthians 11:23-24 says, “For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” [Pray for the bread – eat the bread]

Continuing in 1 Corinthians 11, verses 25 through 26 say, “In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” [Pray for the juice – drink juice]