Philippians 2:12-18 - Shine Brightly for Christ

Last week we started Philippians 2 and read verses 1-11. In scriptures 1-11 Paul was focused on unity in the Body of Christ. How Christians need to avoid being prideful and selfish and instead be humble and look out for the interest of others. The second half of those scriptures were focused on the humble and exalted Christ. How He came to live among humans in the flesh and pay the debt he did not owe on the cross. He is our example on how to live and serve. And He is on the heavenly throne at the right hand of God.

This next section that we’re going to go through today starts out with “Therefore”, depending on which translation you’re using, so we know that this is a continued thought from the previous scripture about Christ.

So now let’s read verses 12-18. This section is focused on how we should walk the walk as a christian and shine brightly for Christ.

Philippians 2:12–18 NLT

12 Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. 14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. 16 Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless. 17 But I will rejoice even if I lose my life, pouring it out like a liquid offering to God, just like your faithful service is an offering to God. And I want all of you to share that joy. 18 Yes, you should rejoice, and I will share your joy.

Here at the beginning Paul acknowledges that those in Philippi followed his instructions while he was with them. He helped them start the Church. But he emphasizes in his absence it’s even more important to listen and obey the will the of God. In some translations where he talks about faith in this first verse, it’ll read “Work out your faith”, which might make it sound like a works based faith he’s proclaiming, but we obviously know that is not what he was implying. Here in the NLT it’s a pretty clear translation, “work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.” He’s not saying do these thing to be saved. But because your saved, show the results. Now how can we do that? How can we show the results of our faith? Paul makes it clear in verse 13, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”

Now a little bit ago I mentioned this section is about “walking the walk as a christian and to shine brightly for Christ.” What does that imply? Obedience. Now, back in the previous section from a few weeks ago when Paul was focusing on Christ, the scriptures mentioned how Christ was obedient to the father’s will. And we know he lived a perfect life of no sin. Now we as broken and corrupt human beings because of sin, have 0 chance of pleasing the father God. But by placing our faith in Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit and have the power of Christ in us and now can do the will of the Father. But only because of the work that is done in us by God. That’s what Paul is saying in verse 13, God’s work in you is giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. We cannot be obedient at all to God without faith in Christ because he has to be living inside of us, doing a work in us.

And I like that Paul points out that we don’t just get the power to be obedient to God, but also the desire. Christians that live the life a Christian ought to, obviously not perfect, but maybe better than others, and at the same time make it look easy and joyful, is not because they tried REALLY REALLY hard. They didn’t take on those behaviors by themselves. They took on those behaviors by the transformation process of the Holy Spirit living inside of them. God has been working in that person, changing their desires and aligning them with His. God changes you from the inside and that Christian life just comes out. If there’s something you know God wants you to do, whether it’s stopping some habitual sin, or maybe it’s not a sin at all but something God has on your heart to start doing, but you just think man I don’t want to. I have no desire to do that. The answer is not to try harder, the answer is to rely on God. Ask him to change your heart. Closeness with God is the way to live an obedient life.

2 Peter 1:3 NLT

3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.

Now Paul gives a practical example of how we can live out our Christian life. How we can show the results of our salvation and obey God. After everything mentioned previously you’d probably think Paul is going to drop some big super spiritual goal for them. He says do everything without complaining and arguing. There’s something powerful about that. There’s a lot of ways to serve God, and I think sometimes it’s easy to undervalue our daily behaviors that may seem insignificant. Mission trips, Helping out with Church outreach, volunteering for ministry events, all great ways to serve the Lord. But we can’t forget about all the areas in between, the days where it’s just a normal work day. Sometimes those days are the biggest opportunities for ministry and it may not be because of something we said, but because of things we did not say. Ways we did not behave. Those might be the most fruitful ways we show the result of our faith for that day.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had plenty of challenges with complaining and grumbling. Complainers and grumblers are not fun to be around, it brings other people down. If someone really wanted to, they could probably find something or someone to complain about at any time. It can become a bad habit. I even complain if I get stopped at a silly red traffic light. Everything’s fine and I just need to wait 30 seconds to move, but that won’t stop me from complaining.

Now complaining and grumbling might sound all harmless and just more-so annoying for others to listen to. But let’s look at Deuteronomy 32:5. Many scholars believe that Paul’s reasoning for bringing this point up, is because he’s referring to the Israelite’s behavior after God rescued them from Egypt and they were on their way towards the promise land. If you remember it at all, there were a lot of complainers and grumblers. They acted like God had done a disservice to them by freeing them from slavery. God would give them water, food (manna and quail), and they would constantly complain. There was always something else they wanted. Always some reason why everything was “better before”. And then even when they got to the promise land, they were scared to enter because they thought everyone would conquer them. So they cry all night and complain to Moses that God should have just killed them in Egypt.

Those Israelites can be described here in:

Deuteronomy 32:5 NLT

5 “But they have acted corruptly toward him; when they act so perversely, are they really his children? They are a deceitful and twisted generation.

Complaining may sound harmless, but it can be a result of a big issue. Complaining can imply that God is not providing what we need. He has put us in a bad situation that we don’t deserve. And this leads to all sorts of other issues.

So with those Israelites as our example, which Paul seems to use here, don’t be like them.

We want to live blameless lives bringing glory to God. Verse 14 says, “shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.”

As mentioned earlier, we have Christ living in us, who is God but also what was one way that Christ described himself that relates to this scripture? He said I am the Light of the World.

John 8:12 NLT

12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”

Now in verse 16, he emphasizes the importance of knowing scripture. Clinging to it and obeying it. He says “Hold firmly to the word of life”. Some translations read “Hold fast”. Now it’s important not to just read the Bible. But really understanding it and uses at as our guide in life and following what’s in the scriptures. Understanding them as the very Word of God. In the the Greek language, “Hold fast”, means two things:

Hold your position

Hold your gaze

It’s more than just reading it. Focus and meditate on it. Memorize it. Live out what’s in the Word.

Verses 17-18 is Paul re-emphasizing how no matter what happens with him in his situation, he’ll rejoice. Even if that means death for him. He refers to his life as a drink offering being poured out. This is an interesting reference. In the old testament times, normally animal sacrifices would be accompanied by the pouring out of wine, oil, or perfume. This was referred to as the drink offering. It was a sign of giving all. And that’s the way Paul lived his life for God. Giving all to His service, even to the point of death. He was all-in on God’s plan, and that’s why he was going to rejoice no matter what. And he refers to the Philippians faithful service as an offering to God as well. And that’s what he’s trying to encourage them to continually do. And then they can both rejoice