Leaning into Sanctification

Introduction

This morning our text is Philippians 2:12-18. And this morning we are continuing Paul’s thoughts on how it is that we live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Philippians 1:27 “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ,

And now for the past two weeks we have been walking with Paul as he as been unraveling what that looks like in our lives.

Today we come to the important topic of sanctification. What does it mean? How do we do it? That’s what this text is about.

And this morning we’ll see I. Our Work in Sanctification, II. God’s Work in Sanctification, and III. Practical Ways to Apply Sanctification. Let’s read the text and then we’ll jump in.

Philippians 2:12–18 ESV

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, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 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, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

I. Our Work in Sanctification (12)

As we begin looking at our text today we must notice who Paul is talking to. He says,

Philippians 2:12 “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed...

Paul is talking to the beloved—the church— He’s not speaking to unbelievers here. And this is important because this text is talking about sanctification—the act of becoming more and more like Christ—and if we apply this text to unbelievers then we’ll give the false impression that people must work for their salvation.

So it’s important this morning that we know that Paul is talking to us and not our unbelieving neighbors and friends.

And to the church this morning Paul is telling us that the path of sanctification follows obedience. If we are to lean into the process of our sanctification then we must know the path which it follows. And the yellow brick road of sanctification is obedience to God’s Word.

All our steps are to be in alignment with God’s Word. This doesn’t mean perfection but instead that there is no area of the Christians life that is off limits to God.

Charles Spurgeon said, “If Christ has died for me, I cannot trifle with the evil that killed my best friend.”

And it seems that this is what the Philippians were doing—Paul says you have always obeyed—it seems that for the Philippians there was a habitual lifestyle of obeying the word.

Can the same be said of you and I? Are we habitually obeying God’s word?

If perfection isn’t the mark we are looking for what is? Are you seeing a desire to obey God from the new heart that is yours in Christ? Are you seeking in your life to be increasingly obedient—or are you coasting?

Transition: As we continue in the verse we see further how far the pursuit of sanctification is supposed to reach into our lives.

Paul says, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence,

Obedience is not just a private affair, but extends to the public life.

Paul says, “You’ve been on the path of obedience and just as you do so in my presence I want you to much more in my absence.

And this is a reminder that you and I need.

It can be easy to display holiness when you have an audience.

But how we act when we don’t have an audience—who we are when we are alone—is who we really are.

If you are a much different person when you are alone or around non-Christians then this is a clue to you that you are not interested in obeying God—you are just interested in avoiding accountability from God’s people.

We are to be the people of 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

And we aren’t just talking about lofty goals here. We are talking about what defines a believer.

What defines a believer?

1. Uncompromising commitment to obeying the word. Again, not perfection, but that nothing is off limits. IF you can be shown what God’s word says then you will start to move in obedience to that word no matter what it costs.

2. Serious repentance when you fail. 1 John 2:3-6 “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

Do you see these things in your own life?

Listen, my goal is not for you to walk away questioning your salvation—but I do want you to understand that this life we are called to is an active life of obedience—it’s not passive—we don’t sit around on the grace of Christ waiting for sanctification to happen. We pursue it. Look at the rest of our first verse.

Philippians 2:12 “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,”

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling Paul says. What does this mean?

We’re not talking about earning our salvation so what are we talking about here?

When we look at salvation in the Bible we see that it is talked about in past, present, and future. It’s talked about in justification, sanctification, and glorification.

All three of those words are referring to salvation.

Define Justification

Define Sanctification

Define Glorification

So here when Paul references work he is referencing the present. He is referencing our sanctification.

And Paul uses the word work becuase this is not passive friends. Prayer, Bible study, obedience takes serious work on our part. If we are spiritually lazy we should expect little in the realm of spiritual growth.

Let me ask you. Are you working hard at growing in grace? What does that look like in your life?

Transition: Sanctification is hard work and when we have a hard task we need the right motivation to continue on that task. What does our text say that motivation is?

Fear and trembling. How is that motivating? Sounds negative.

You and I are to work out our salvation with reverence and awe of God. This is what it means to fear and tremble.

To fear God means to take him seriously—we are not to mock our God—we are not to think that Jesus is a joke—a ticket for salvation but no real king. Fearing God is to take very seriously the fact that we are dealing with the Holy God of the universe.

I love what C.S. Lewis says about God in the Chronicles of Narnia

Susan, nervous about meeting a lion asks if Aslan, who is the image of God in Narnia, is safe. "Safe?" said Mr Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”

We are to know that when we are dealing with God we are dealing with someone who is not safe, but he’s good. We should have a healthy fear of God.

And this fear—this awareness of his Godness—should have a physical outworking in our lives. Just as standing before a real lion may cause us to physically tremble.

You and I, in the face of our God’s greatness, should have a physical outworking—a physical response to the one whom we owe obedience to.

Transition: So, our responsibility is to seriously walk the path of obedience and to work hard at our sanctification—but this is difficult and we can rejoice as we continue in our text this morning that we are not alone in this pursuit. Let’s now look at

II. God’s Work in Sanctification (13)

Philippians 2:13 says, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

There is no better news in the face of our call to work hard in sanctification than the news that we are not working alone—God is working in us. HOw is he doing this?

1. The Father has sent the Holy Spirit to all believers to conform them to the image of his son.

Romans 8:28-30 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

2. God uses His poweful word to prune you and make you more fruitful.

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

3. The Father is commited to finishing the work He began in you.

He never ceases from this work—even when you are in low times and it feels like it is taking you years to produce a single spiritual fruit—the Father is actively working in your sanctification.

And this work that the Father is doing is deep heart work. God isn’t giving you a spiritual facelift—as Hebrews said this is work that cuts down to the essence of who we are. To bone and marrow, to soul and spirit.

Our text says God is “willing and working in you”

So you and I can be greatly encouraged because the same will of God that goverens the universe is at work in your own soul.

Your own soul is the field that God is tending and He will cause growth to take place.

The idea here is that God takes the initiative and is acting upon your own will. His divine work in you is drawing you to come alongside him and work with Him in your sanctification.

And verse 13 also tells us that this is to his pleasure.

The great loving and caring for your sould is no burdensome, managerial task to God. It brings him great pleasure to see holiness grow in His children.

When you are becoming holier and sin is being killed in your life it delights God.

All people are image bearers of God—we are created in His image—and when we grow in his holiness and look more like him it is pleasing to Him.

This is often a point of readjustment that is needed in the Christian life.

Possibly this morning, if you are honest, the reality is that you are not very interested in pleasing God. Your relationship has not been that of a loving child seeking to please their loving Father—it’s been something else, something lesser.

Friends, if that is you this morning—I want to encourage you to repent—this is not shameful and is wholly appropriate—if this is you I want to call you to stop holdling your loving Father at arms length and isntead embrace his good, pleasing, and perfect will for your life.

Let go of your fear of what your life will look like if you surrender everything to Him. The one who died for you has your best interest in mind and knows how to love you well. Trust Him. Love Him.

Sanctification, while hard work, is not supposed to be drudgery for the believer. It should bring us great pleasure—it restores us to be what we should be—and what our hearts truly long to be—free in Christ.

Sanctification is the greater expression of that freedom in our lives in the here and now. So lean into it. Work hard at it. Trust your God!

Transition: So we are to pursue the hard work of sanctification with the awesome knowledge that God himself is working in us towards this same goal. The rest of our passage gives us practical application for how we can pursue sanctification.

III. The Application of Sanctification (14-18)

1. Watch our mouths.

Philippians 2:14 “Do all things without grumbling or disputing,”

Paul’s point here is clear. In all parts of our lives we are to live out the Christian life without grumbling or disputing.

Grumbling refers to private complaining. The word means to murmur complaints under your breath in frustration or anger.

And Disputing referst to public complaining. This is outright arguing and debating.

And Paul means for us to apply this to all areas of our lives. Home, school, church, marriage, parenting, friendship.

So kids when mom or dad ask you to take out the garbage—or feed the chickens—if we are working with God in our sanctificaiton then we do this without the moaning and groaning and complaining. Your angry, annoyed, begruding obedience is actually disobedience.

Because the most important thing in view is not the task itself, but the way that your heart carries it out.

Adults this applies to us too. How are your responding when you are asked to do something that you don’t want to do? Maybe our kids grumble so much because they hear us grumble so much. I’m talking about your house, not mine.

There are lots of ways to apply this in our lives, but I don’t want us to miss the most present application in this passage. Paul after is writing to the church in Philippi.

So I’m not bringing this up because I know about grumbling and disputing that is happening right here in our church. But I know that this temptation is not far from us at any point and if our text addresses it so will I.

Friends, it is the product of a contentious heart that feels the need to continually question and grumble about what is done in church. And so if you find yourself always complaining in some measure about the decisions that happen in the church know that this is not a good thing.

And we are not talking about the inability to have concerns or voice those concerns, but what Paul is talking about here is the attitude of the heart and the tone of our voice when we express them.

And Paul is mentioning this because it is soo easy to fall prey to this in the church.

When we do this it is not a light thing, but is a serious assault on the unity of Christ’ church. When we do this we build walls in our own hearts toward others in the church and then when we share these complaints we invite others to do the same.

Friends we should not wiht our words tear apart what God has brought together. Amen?

We are to be known by our great love for one another, not by our frustration with one another.

2. Shine Our Light

Philippians 2:15 “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,”

We are supposed to shine the light of Christ.

We don’t want to look like the chosen and the frozen. Like we’ve been sucking on lemons all day.

We are to be “blameless and innocent” and again this doesn’t mean sinless---what it means is that you and I as followers of Jesus, empowered by God are to be without obvious moral defect or blatant ethical blemishes.

Like if you are a Christian who cusses all the time, that is like a spot on an otherwise clean rug. People’s eyes will be drawn to it.

Church when people look at our lives they should be able to tell that we are children of God—they might not be able to call it that—but they should be able to see that there is something different about us—because if we are saved in Christ there is actually something different about us.

3. Proclaim the Word

Philippians 2:16 “holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”

Another application of our sanctifcation is that we would be “holding fast to the word of life”

As we shine our lights and people turn to take notice we hold fast the word of God and we hold forth the gospel message of God’s word.

1 Peter 3:15 “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,”

Sanctification is taking up the work that God has given for us to do—we are to be about gospel living and gospel sharing.

If someone asked you today what they must do to be saved—could you tell them? If you can’t there’s a lot of easy ways to do it and I’d love to show you. Just ask.

Transition: The rest of verse 16 shows us the supremacy of this gospel task in our lives.

Philippians 2:16 “holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”

How long are we to hold fast to the gospel and hold forth the gospel? Until the day of Jesus Christ.

As long as we are on earth we are to join the Father in the work of drawing people to the Son.

And Paul says that the Philippians would do this is the mark of sucess for Paul as a minister of Christ.

How much does the individual holiness of the beleiver matter to Paul? He says that if those he’s ministered to go through life grumbling/disputing/ and hiding thier light/ not holding fast to the word of God—that He has run and labored in vain. His work only has merit as it is shown in the life of those that he has been called to shepherd.

Paul says if this happens he’ll not have cause to rejoice on that day when he must give account for those that he’s shepherded.

Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

Friends, you and I have all been ministered to and shepherded by someone—likely by someones. Our goal as the people of God is that when these pastors give account on our behalf—that there would be much to rejoice over.

When we think about the temporary nature of this world and the endlessness of our eternity what really matters is how we live out these Christian lives that we have—our obedience to God and His Word will be the cause for much rejoicing in heaven

So let us prioritize our lives by what matters most—and not the ephemeral things that waft away in the wind.

You can be a big shot, accomplished CEO with a huge portfolio. You can have vacation homes in mulitiple places and dream cars. You can be able to extravagantly take your family on trips and provide for everything they could every want---and while the world would look at you and say that you have been sucessful—

in the economy of heaven there is someone, somewhere with none of these things, but they will loom over you as a spirtitual giant as they actively pursued their sanctification and prioritized their life according to the things of God. What matters is the lasting things!

Transition: Another way we can pursue sanctifciation practically in our lives is to

4. Serve the Church

Philippians 2:17 “Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.”

This picture is from the sacrificial system the Philippians would have been familiar with. A drink offering is an offering of wine that would be poured on or in front of an animal sacrifice. The win would evaporate and rise up as a fragrant offering.

Paul is saying as the Philippians are living their lives sacrificially unto the Lord—He is joinging with them

This is hard for us to see because we are so individual, but the point here is that the chruch together is a sacrifice of worship to the Lord.

When we serve one another and seek out, selfless ambition for the good of each other it is the result of sanctification.

Paul was serving the Philippians through his prayers and letters and guidance & they were serving Paul by their prayers, and finances and physical helps.

When we prioritize one another over self we are working out and living out our sanctification.

So when you get an opportunity to serve do it with joy because this is an opportunity to live your life sacrificially to God which is our good pleasure.

So let me ask you, are you serving the church? Are you giving of your time and talent and resources for the good of the body here at Covenant Life. If you aren’t—why not?

You might need to do something about that.

5. Share your joy.

Philippians 2:18 “Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.”

Usually when we talk about serving the church—we think about practical acts of service—and Paul and the Philippians were doing this...

But what Paul focuses on here is the service of “sharing his joy”. He says, “you also be glad and rejoice with me.”

Friends—in this weary world—what the church needs most is a prevalence of the joy of Christ.

Our churches, our lives need more than anything else the joy that comes with being saved in Jesus Christ. This joy lasts forever and is attainable in the worst of circumstances. It can never be taken away from us.

If you have nothing that you can share in terms of resources with the church—you still can share what is most valuable and that is your joy in Christ.

Let us be a people who are joyful because we are saved. Let the joy of Christ shine in us when we gather, when we celebrate, when we grieve.

Let the joy of Christ define our worship and play. Let us be a people that exude the joy of Christ to the honor of God in all things.

Conclusion

So what’s our main takeaway today?

This Christian life that we are living in is not a passive life. If you and I want to grow spiritually then it takes hard work. We have to fight our flesh and reach for the things of God. But here’s the good news, God wants this too and is calling you to do it. And he’ll give you what you need to succeed.

What I want us to do this morning is to leave seeking where we’ve been passive in our relationship with God and then commit to changing that.

Let’s pray.