Philippians 2:12-15, Working out what God has done.

Work out your own salvation

Read Philippians 2:12-18

This passage starts out with a statement from an elder believer to the church at Philippi and us with a phrase, “my dear friends”.

He begins this passage with a term of endearment. A word pronounced “Agapitos” in Greek which means beloved, or dear friends. We are beloved friends.

In Christ, we are not just beloved friends with other believers, we are brothers and sisters.

As we are born again into Jesus, we become part of a new family.

John 1 verses 10-13 go this way:

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

10 He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.

As we begin this passage tonight, we must approach what we are about to read out of the knowledge that we are loved, and we are family. We can know for certain that this message is written to us if we know and trust in Christ for our salvation. He has declared us righteous by what he has accomplished on our behalf.

Work out your own salvation

In this passage, Paul commands us to do something. He states that we should work out our own salvation, and we are to do it with fear and trembling.

As believers, we are called to live in righteousness. We are called to work out our own salvation.

What does it mean to work out our own salvation?

First, it does not mean that we are to work to obtain our salvation. We know this very clearly from other places in scripture.

Here are a couple of places that talk about how we have earned or obtained our salvation:

Ephesians 2:1-10

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 2

2 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

Titus 3:4-7

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 3

4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 5 he saved us—not by works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy—through the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit. 6 He poured out his Spirit on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs with the hope of eternal life.

And there are many more places throughout scripture that talk about our obtaining of salvation. Never is salvation obtained through our working.

So, if this passage is not asking us to obtain our salvation through working, what is this asking of us?

It is asking of us to work out- what God has done in us already.

In fact, the very next verse here in Philippians 2 says that we are to do this because it is God who is working in you both to will and to do work according to his good purpose.

As believers, God has placed a new heart in our beating chests. This heart is a heart of flesh, not of stone. This heart of flesh is not like our old heart that hates God and does not desire to serve Him. This new heart of flesh causes us the will, or the desire to do what is good. And this new heart has that will because God is working in us.

So, we are to work out the salvation that God has accomplished on our behalf.

Personally, I have to tell you that I only find victory over sin, or the strength to do what I know is right rooted out of the rest I find in Jesus. When I have been reminded and when God reminds me of what He has done for me, I find great joy in giving over myself to him.

That being said, when I started to prepare for this evening, I read the passage and I wondered what to say. In so many ways I know that I am still not working out fully my salvation. God still is working in me, and I still need reminded to work this out with fear and trembling.

That is why we need scripture and each other. We need brothers, like Paul to encourage us as beloved siblings and friends to work this out! Whenever we find ourselves not working out this salvation, we need to repent immediately and ask God to remind us of what he has done for us, and to will and to work in us the ability to do what he has asked of us.

Now, I want to also bring notice to verse 12 again. This passage encourages us of something that I think is very important to consider. This obedience to our brother, to work out our salvation should be done even more in our secret place.

It is easy to work out our salvation with other friends, with others that love God, with others that are also being called to work out their salvation. It is much more important though to work out this salvation in the secret place.

What is the secret place?

This starts in our heart. In Mathew 15:18 Jesus said that what comes out of our heart is what defiles us.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 15

18 But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies, slander.

Tonight, we all should walk away with this calling to work out this salvation in the secret places of our hearts.

If we find ourselves hating someone God has created in His image, or lusting after someone that is not who God has given us in marriage, we must repent!

Tonight, if we find ourselves sinning in the secret places when no one is around, this passage is a calling to repent.

And if you find yourselves never desiring to do good, then this is a time that God is asking of you to repent. And the repentance that he is asking of us, is to open the doors of our house, our hearts and to let Him in. Jesus said he stands at the door and knocks! If anyone hears open up!

When we open up, when we give our lives in devotion to Christ, in belief and trust in His work for us, he is working. He is working!

When this happens, we shouldn’t be surprised when conflicts of our minds begin to happen. This is because we then are called to work out this salvation.

According to his good purpose

This working out of our salvation is towards something. This means that our lives will begin to take on a new identity. One of a good purpose.

Did you know that God has a good purpose in mind for you?

God’s purpose is one of goodness. This is good news.

What does working out our salvation look like?

As a new creation in Christ, each day, we should do everything out of what God has done for us.

For example, we ought to start the day with a grateful heart, not a grumbling heart. Here in verse 14 it commands us that exactly- Do everything without grumbling or complaining, and it gives us a promise- that we may be pure and blameless, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation.

Quite simply, this generation is messed up! The text is not denying that, in fact it states that as the facts. While saying that, it also asks of us to do this working out in joy.

Our days should start and end with the knowledge and rest in what God has done for us. Here remember this text again says that we are children of God. Therefore, our joy is not one of falsehood or fakeness, but one of hope that God is working it all out for our good purpose and his glory.

When we do our days in remembrance and trust in the work of Christ on our behalf, it will give strength to us in otherwise hard situations. And when things get too hard, we are not called to say the untruth that they are not hard, but to say that they are hard, but God is good.

Tonight, I want to urge you and all of us to work out this salvation that Jesus has started and will complete in our life. If you have been living a life of disobedience to God, turn to him now. If you have the desire to do what is right, do whatever it takes to do that, rooted in the truth that God will help you.