Sermon Tone Analysis

Christ’s Example Motivates Us To Work Out Our Own Salvation

The Philippians were very faithful in their obedience in the past when he was with them.

We remember that Paul had visited them on three different occasions.

On his first visit he started a church, and he came back a second and third time to support and encourage them.

Here Paul reminds them of how faithful they had been to obey God’s Word while he was with them.

Now his concern is their continued obedience in his absence.

WHY??

Because most people tend to work less hard when the leader or the boss is away.

We are not paying as close attention to what we’re doing when no one is watching us.

Most of us have heard the saying...

When the cat’s away, the mice will play.

This is a proverbial saying that means when the person in charge or authority is not present, people will take advantage of their newfound freedom to behave as they please, and thus will disregard and break the rules.

In other words, when their boss is not around, employees will not do their work or will break the rules.

Last week, I was reintroduced to a guy I remembered working with as a teenager.

We had the joy of corn-detassling.

Many of you have probably done this job at some point in your life as well.

Detassling corn is done to create a hybrid between two varieties of corn.

The tassle from one variety is removed to allow the seed from the other variety to pollenize it.

This creates nicer looking corn, as well as a higher yield.

But more importantly for young teenage boys at least, the tassle itself can become a weapon!

Many of you know what I mean.

The tassle has a harder piece at the bottom, and if you whip it just right against the bottom of your shoe, that piece breaks off and launches fast and far.

We had to be constantly reminded not to do it because it could actually be quite dangerous.

But when the cat’s away… As we would get to the end of the row, you would begin collecting tassles from the last few plants, and start firing tassle missiles at your friends.

Paul now urges them to obey “much more in my absence.”

He is no longer there to teach them, to guide them, to correct them, to watch over them.

They are now on their own.

Rather than working less though, Paul is trying to motivate them all the more to work hard.

He does that by showing them that they are owners/leaders of their own salvation.

He says, “Work out YOUR OWN salvation.”

Last week in our time of singing we read John 10, where Jesus call Himself a shepherd and speaks of His willingness to lay down His life for the sheep.

This is because they are HIS sheep.

The hired hand flees when he sees the wolf coming.

He is not willing to risk his life for the sheep because they are not his.

This is exactly how Paul is encouraging them to think of their salvation.

You must take ownership of your own salvation

When Paul says, “work out your own salvation”, he is not in any way talking about working FOR salvation.

Remember that he is writing to the SAINTS in Philippi.

They are already Christians.

Besides that, Paul will go on in Philippians chapter 3 to say that he puts no confidence in the flesh.

He desires to be found in Christ, “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ,”

What Paul is saying, is BECAUSE God has saved you, work out your salvation.

True faith never remains passive; it immediately goes to work – not as a means of earning divine favour but as a consequence of having received the grace of God that works mightily within us.

– John MacArthur

God has poured out His amazing grace on us, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to do.

This should lead us to making every effort to work for the glory of God.

Paul goes on to say that we should work out our own salvation with “fear and trembling”

We need to have a healthy fear of offending God.

We pursue godliness with the utmost awe and respect for God.

We don’t take His grace and mercy lightly.

As if we didn’t already have enough motivation to work out our own salvation, Paul goes on to give the Philippians one more reason...

“for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

God is working in you to make you the man/woman HE wants you to be.

We’ve all worked with someone who doesn’t pull their weight.

It’s frustrating!

If you are a believer, God has already done the work of salvation in your heart.

You now have the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart, and therefore have all you need to live victoriously in Christ.

you have the same power that raised Christ from the dead.

you will never be tempted beyond what you can bear

You have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly pl

So if we are struggling in our spiritual lives, what’s the problem?

We are reason we aren’t growing in our spiritual lives

Are you frustrated in your spiritual life?

Are you discouraged in your Bible reading, your prayer life?

Do you feel linadequate as the spiritual leader of your home?

Do you constantly feel like you are disappointing God?

WHAT ARE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?

If you were to honestly evaluate the amount of time you spend working toward your spiritual growth as a disciple of Christ, VS how much time you spend on your phone, watching tv, working on projects… or however you typically spend your time… what would you find?

You are your own worst enemy!

I am my own worst enemy!

We are the reason we aren’t growing more in our spiritual lives.

If you are a believer, God has already worked in you giving you salvation, and now He is working in you by the power of His Holy Spirit, giving you the desire to obey, and He will continue to work in you to form you into the image of Christ, but He’s not going to do it for you.

God loves you enough to send His Son to die on a cross for you, but He is not going to twist our arm into obedience.

He has given us His Holy Spirit who prompts us, reminds us, teaches us… the problem is our flesh.

We need to determine to work our hardest for our spiritual growth!

You will not be motivated to change until you get so sick and tired of being where you’re at that you will make major changes in your life.

The good news is that God is working in us.

He is on our side.

He is for us!

He wants us to grow, and will work alongside us for that growth.

Let’s not leave Him hanging!

CHRIST’S EXAMPLE MOTIVATES US TO WORK OUT OUR OWN SALVATION

Christ’s Example Motivates Us To Shine As Lights

Philippians 2:14–16 (ESV)

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life

Paul has encouraged the Philippians to work hard for their own salvation, and here he tells them how.

“Do ALL THINGS without grumbling or disputing”

What things?

ALL THINGS… without grumbling or disputing.

We remember the Israelites and all of their grumbling and complaining at what God allowed them to experience.

The reason we must avoid this sort of attitude, is because

A person who grumbles, complains, and argues, is rejecting God’s providence, will, and circumstances for their life.

God has allowed that circumstance into your life.

You may not know why, but to grumble and complain about it shows that your heart is not submissive to God’s sovereignty in your life.

The attitude of a servant of Christ is to be willing to do anything that doesn’t violate God’s law and cause you to sin.

We could probably find many reasons/excuses from our human perspective why we would justified to grumble or argue about something, but when we think of Christ’s example, it all falls flat.

Pastor Jake talked last week about how Jesus humbled Himself.

He said, “The gap between His place as God in heaven, and Him hanging on the cross is greater than we may ever know.”

If Christ was willing to humble Himself that much for our benefit, then how much more willing should we be to lower ourselves to serve others?

John Flavel, an English Puritan Presbyterian Minister once said,