Who is really at work? (Philippians 2:13)

Philippians 2:13

GBCCR DATE 6/2/24

Introduction

You can do anything you set your mind or you can be anything you want to be is one of the worst pieces of so called wisdom in the past few generations

It is not true on a statistical sense

If it want to be a professional basketball player only 0.02 to 0.03 percent of high school players end up playing in the NBA or WNBA

It is not true in a geographic sense

I had no choice in being born in the USA in the 20th century with all it’s blessings compared with the soviet union

It is not true from a physical sense

No matter how much I flap my arms I cannot fly

Nor how much I add hormones, I cannot change my chromosomes from male to female

You can only be who you are

And that’s really bad news for sinners, especially when we deal with consequences of our sin

Jeremiah 13:23- “Can the Ethiopian change his skin Or the leopard his spots? Then you also can do good Who are accustomed to doing evil.

That is unless God changes you with the new heart

And that is the greatest hope

Christian, You may not be able to be whatever you want to be, but you will become whatever God wants you be.

Review

*Notice the “for”

another a connecting word. This gives the why you can work even you your terror should immobilize you.

Paul told them his life mission was to see the message of who Jesus is and what he did (the gospel) going to people

In chapter 2 we learned about the call for humility/considering others

Calls us to open our eyes and see others’ needs

Comes from looking at the example of Christ

Calls us to see that lowering ourselves to the point of merely being the platform Christ stands on is what will bring us the most exalted position along with Christ.

and then Paul uses this very important word…So then…therefore…work out your salvation

We’ve already showed how the bible denies salvation by works and that this is for those who have already believed and obeyed… this is growing away from the persuasion of sin after you’ve been saved from the power of sin.

So let’s see today how

Prop: Your exertion for spiritual growth depends on God’s divine work in you. 4 W’s of God’s work

The following section is wonderfully defined by 4 of the 5 W’s

Who does your work come from? God

Explanation

Better translation of this sentence is:

God is The one working in you.

God’s name comes first in the sentence

Thus all the focus is on that powerful conquering one who every knee will bow

Work is a different greek word than work oyt

It means To be at work, to be effective, operative

This is a power that cannot fail to accomplish it’s goal… it will succeed

Romans 8:11 -“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

It was the spirit he started life in you by faith and made a heart of rock beat with life

It is the spirit who is at work in you to grow.

You are transformed when you look at how glorious and wonderful God is

Illus

We have a strong and powerful God to work in us

Remember I talked about the child who was told to push the lawmower last week?

You need sufficient strength and energy to push a lawnmower, right?

Who fed that child, protected that child, raised that child? The father who is requesting the child push

Who will be there to help that child when he trips and bangs up his knee while pushing?

When the child is too weak to push that lawnmower, who will come behind and push alongside?

And who will not take the lawnmower and just push it himself because he loves the child and wants the child to grow? The father.

Look at the that God who comes behind you and pushes with his strength.

But he still demands you push

Appl

Often, it easy to just focus on ourselves too much

But obedience results from seeing how worthy God of being obeyed….

Often the battle against drunkness or porngraophy or self harm requires Studying theology,

You need to read about who God is so you can trust Him… talk to your elders about what specifically you may need

Trans: God is the one working, so where is that working happening

Where does the work happen?- In us

Explanation

The you is plural. While this can mean just “all you guys” notice the context again

The commands Philippians are getting are how to live with each other and in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

This is work at God is doing in the church made up by many individuals

But it is a change from the inside out in each one of us

Moses commanded the people to circumcise their hearts, to change who they were

Deuteronomy 10:16- “So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.

But he also clearly stated they could not, so they needed god to do it

Deuteronomy 30:6- “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.

THe promise of the New covenant was a new heart as the law wouldn’t be written on their hearts

Jeremiah 31:33- “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

And less we think that this is just an individual change, let us remember the next line

the Philippians were not to murmur and dispute among themselves

but for that to happen it must begin "in you," that is, in the resolve of each of them to see to it that God's purposes

Illus:The work happens in each of us because each person effects all of us

The image of the body is helpful because each part of God’s church is a member of one another (1 cor 12)

So God is working in the whole body of Christ, and sometimes uses one cell to influence another. Just as the brain sends electrical signals down your spine to the rest of the body, so God uses things that you do with each other to work out your salvation.

App:

We are supposed to be about each other’s growth and change into Christlike

The Apostle Paul explained his great calling to the Galatians saying

Galatians 4:19- My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you—

Do we have this desire for others?

While we know only Christ can form himself in others, just like only God can create life, we labor to see people formed

So, you rough and tough man who can do everything by yourself…. You need other believers

You stay at home overwhelmed mom, you need to make time for other believers

Tim Challies, wrote, “Sanctification is a community project. There are many reasons that the Lord puts us in Christian community in the form of the local church. I need to grow in holiness not just for my own sake but out of love and concern for those around me. If I love the people in my church, I will grow in holiness for their sake.

I need to grow in holiness not just for my own sake but out of love and concern for those around me. If I love the people in my church, I will grow in holiness for their sake. “.”

Trans: God is at work in us, but what he is doing?

What is God changing?- Our Willing

Explanation

God is working in you both for you desire and your ability to work

Will = favor or desire to do something

It often refers to the decisions that people make

Paul even uses it to refer to those times when you struggle with the want to do the right thing but you’re not doing it

Romans 7:18- For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

Thus God is working to make you even to want to do something in the first place

John lays it out that we love God because he loved us

1 John 4:19- We love, because He first loved us.

This comes from the new birth Jesus promised

John 3:3- Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Jesus liberates believers will from moral slavery to sin to believe in and go after kingdom values

Our wills changed

The change required is at the level of the will, or the want, the very heart of a person

Because of the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart

Luke 6:44–45- “For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.

Jesus says there is something wrong with the way people are born

David said that his sin went back to his conception in his mother’s womb

Psalm 51:5- Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.

it is from that sinful heart that come all our thoughts, words, and deeds (Matt. 7:17–20)

Let’s do a little tree theology here because this really blow apart much of our discussion on free will

Often, we want to believe that someone can not be guilty of something unless they could do differently

some propose, our freedom consists in the power of contrary choice, regardless of our hearts and characters, we are always free to choose either good or evil”But this

But this quite unlike what Jesus has taught us

We freely choose only what we already are

Thus, a unbeliever may choose to have big sin thorns, or little sin thorns, but he will only produce thorns… even the fruit has thorns in it

Illustration point- God is the one who changes our very wills because that direction our actions

Our wills function, according to Jesus, as agents of our hearts. Out of the abundance of our hearts, we choose to speak what we will.

If our hearts are filled with love for fishing or golf or computers or cars, of this we will speak.

Our choices and actions and words and plans betray what we are on the inside.

And that’s the big problem… we are what we are

Free will is not I choose to be an apple tree when I’m a thorn bush…but it is I will choose the thing I want

Jonathan Edwards called this our "freedom of inclination

We always choose what we want, but want we want is limited by who we are

For change to happen there has to be a change of of want we want, something the bible says God does

Application

To the unbelievers among us… I know you do not care….. My prayer is that God will give you that will to care…only he can

The bible clearly says that the will of unbelieers is captured and only God can free it’

2 Timothy 2:24–25- The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,

But this is not a discouragement to your work with freeing people but an encouragement

That very passage gives the Christian’s responsibility to unbelief

Teach, patience, correction

And Trusting God with his role

When Paul was in Corinth, the Lord appeared to him one night in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man shall attack you to harm you; for I have many people in this city” (Acts 18:9–10).

Fatalism says, God is going do to do what he will do…so whatever

Paul would have thought that he may as well pack his bags and leave!

Faith says How can I be a part of what God is doing? if God has chosen many people, then it will probably

if God has chosen many people, then it will probably be through the means of Paul’s preaching the gospel that those many people would be saved.

Therefore Paul makes a wise decision: “And he stayed a year and six months teaching the word of God among them” (Acts 18:11

Trusting God has a plan leads to action in the bible

God chooses not just the ends, but the means as well

One pastor during the civil war talked mightily about God’s providence and protection

Many made fun of him then during the battles for hiding behind a hill or cart… saying, where is your providential god

And he said, Placing the very defense for my life before me

So, we must trust God’s providence by doing what he says

Trans: And if it’s true that God is working, he is working in you, and he is changing you will, then you have hope for the future becuase

What is God changing?- God works in our working

Exaplnation

Work is the same word as God’s work.

It is different than the work out of salvation commanded above because there is a definite result to the work

It refers to the energy God provides for you to work out what is already within.

Paul is not satisfied with just saying that God gives us the will, but now Christian, you take it from there and do the work

The work comes from God and that is why we can be assured that our future sanctification will come about

Philippians 1:6- For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.

God is creating something in his children, he is growing a seed that you that can sprout into a glorious giant tree.

As one old dead guy wrote, “He brings, therefore, to perfection those pious dispositions which he has implanted in us, that they may not be unproductive, as he promises by Ezekiel,—“I will cause them to walk in my commandments.” (Ezek. 11:20.)”

Illustration point- He makes the work actually work

He provides the nourishment needed within and the water and sunlight needed from without.

God is working to make sure our work is accomplished

Application

This is so helpful when you struggle to be what you should be

You know the right thing to do, but there is a battle as Paul states

Romans 7:19–20- For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.

Romans 7:24- Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?

But there is hope that God is working in you

Romans 7:25–8:1- Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Performance, although a helpful barometer, is secondary to the objective promises of God’s work in our lives

You may feel a certain way… maybe you’re struggling with sin

Or perhaps your emotions are controlling you in a way that is making your life hard

You can become discouraged and frustrated and many people just give up

Instead, may I offer a very helpful thought for you to repeat… “I cannot do this on my own”

You need God to work in you and trust him with his timing

Parents, trust him with God’s timing and methods on your kids, not jumping to the world’s methods of fixing

Lastly, and quickly

Why is God doing this- His’s pleasure (13b)

Explanation

What is the purpose for you to work hard, and more importantly why does He work so you will succeed?Because he loves it!

Because he loves it!

Pleasure means great enjoyment or satisfaction

God does great things in us because it makes Him happy

And God made the world for His glory, to show how great he is

Isaiah 43:6–7- …Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made.”

The proper understanding of everything in life begins with God.

He created us “in His image” so that we would image forth His glory in the world.

John piper helpfully describes it as, “We were made to be prisms refracting the light of God’s glory into all of life.

And this is why when we do any good work, it brings him glory

Ephesians 2:10- For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Another way of describing workmanship is trophy

Does the trophy say anything about itself or does it say about the one who competed?

Whose trophy is it?! God’s!

Illustration point- God loves to work in us

A lesson I’ve had to learn in my failings many times

I love to think as I run, it’s a helpful time for me to focus

I remember clearly in seminary going for a run and just crying, I’m sorry God, I’m sorry, I can try to do better

I talked to one of my shepherds who used a phrase he often did…

Remember, because of the gospel, God the father always has a smile for you because Jesus died in your place, even your smallest act of repentance is beautiful to him

But he’s also not done with you

So let him continue to change you

Why are we confident God is at work? HE LOVES IT

Application

This means that even when you sin, God wants to provide you the ability to turn back and is pleased when you grow

This should take our eyes off ourselves and look at God in humility

Those of you who have been convinced of doctrines of grace should be the humblest of all

There is nothing more common nor dangerous as someone who has discover a new theology and become incredibly arrogant

Christian, how amazing is it that God loves you not because you are so lovable, but becusae he Loves his glory

You fail, but God loves you

Therefore

Since we have seen (Cohesion)-

The Who- God is at work

The where.. in every believer together

Changing what? Our willing and our working

And the why- For His undending pleasure

We know we must (Resolution)- A will bound to God is the only way to find true freedom in love

This is similar to a groom who is to be married.

He limits himself for his bride willingly, not just because he is obligated to. He loves his bride so has no problem putting himself in this covenant relationship that has stipulations.

So it wonderful to be limited in will to God’s ways

When he comes to transform us from the kindgom of darkness to the kingdom of light, when He makes our heart of stone into a heart of flesh,

we willingly believe and obey His commands.

It is our delight to do so.

So, humbly delight Christian that is God’s work in you

Closing prayer

Lord, work in our hearts to your glory