Philippians 2:12-18 | The Holder of Humility

We are continuing in the book of Philippians today

We are in Philippians 2:12-18

We have been looking at this letter that Paul has been writing to the church at Philippi.

Today we are looking at another level of what is required in the heart of a believer.

Now last week we looked at humility, and how humility is the tool that is required for the church to last and be strong in Christ.

But today we are looking at a character trait that needs to be present in the heart of not just a church, but in the hearts of believers to truly live a life that is fulfilled in Christ.

Philippians 2:12–13 NKJV

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now 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 do for His good pleasure.

This is a verse that has always caused a great amount of confusion in Christians.

and honestly the main reason for this is a misunderstand and difference in the English language and what the scripture was originally written in.

The New testament was originally written in greek, and as a result when it was translated into English, some of the words do not mean the same thing as they did in the Greek

This is not to the fault of anyone but rather just due to the difference in the nature of languages.

So when we read this verse we may initially think that we should live as anxious and scared believers

But when we look at the translation of this we see that these words of fear and trembling are not used in the dame way we would use them today.

The reference here of fear and trembling is used by Paul multiple times throughout the rest of his letters, and he uses it to describe a sense of reverence and seriousness.

He is not saying that we should be fearful and trembling that we will lose our salvation, or that we should live in a sense of anxiety, but rather that we would look at our salvation as something that is not an end, but a beginning

We are talking about something here called sanctification.

This the instant and continual separation of the believer from sin.

When we are saved we are made right with our sin by the sacrifice of Christ, but we still must deal with the effects of sin

That is the Christian life, working to separate ourselves from the hold and effects of sin in our life.

And the holy spirits continual working in us to separate us from our sin is called sanctification.

And this is not something we should take lightly.

This is precisely what Paul is saying

That we should look at sanctification as something that is serious and important.

Not that it is something we obtain and then forget, but rather it is something that begins a new life in the hear of the believer.

and he says the purpose for all of this is that God could continue to work in us to do his will and bring pleasure to him.

but where this passage takes a very interesting shifts in the next verse. We would expect more on how God works in us and how we should view or sin, but instead we see something very different.

Philippians 2:14 NKJV

Do all things without complaining and disputing,

Wow.

This sort of looks like last weeks message.

We saw last week how Paul gave them specific instructions and then narrowed them all down to just focusing on humility.

And now we see the command that follows with how we should view our salvation is simply, don’t complain, and don’t cause disputes.

But we can sit here for a moment and just see how important this command is.

We are commanded here as believers, to never do 2 things.

Complain

Dispute

for sake of understanding in our current language i am going to change the application of this word though.

Scripture is not saying that we can’t have disagreement and discuss disagreements, this word is talking about arguing or fighitng

Disputing with someone in a way that brings about sin, anger, name calling, pride, and disruption, not resolution

Can I stop here for a second and give some advice in this area.

Scripture is clear that any sort of dispute should have the intent of resolution

Whether that is prov9ng truth, whether that is settling an accusation, whatever that is a dispute should always lead to resolution

Whenever a disagreement gets to a point where no resolution is possible or it is not even desired, it is at that point the disagreement has turned sinful and without purpose.

When you have a disagreement with a spouse or a friend or a church member, the first question each of you should ask is, is there a resolution that can be found, and how do we get to that.

If either of you have no interest in doing that or there is no answer to either of those questions, it is a pointless disagreement and it should not occur

But I think the more simple one here is the complaining.

LISTEN: YOU ARE NEVER ALLOWED TO COMPLAIN

Ever

There will never be a pointing the life of a Christian that they are justified in complaining

So if you think you are doing pretty good as a Christian

You are checking off the boxes pretty well, let me ask you this...

How many times have you complained today

Not just vocally, but in your mind

I wish i had more money

I wish the temperature was a little different in here

I wish we would have sang this song

I can’t believe that person didn’t come say anything to me today

I can’t believe I have to work overtime this week

These are all things we think continually and it has become so commonplace in the life of the Christian w don’t even notice it any longer

Ungratefulness is a sin that has taken root so much in the life of the Christian that it almost goes unnoticed.

So the question is this, why?

Why is ungratefulness a sin that the Christian continually commits, multiple times a day, but yet we don’t even realize it?

Well I tell you why, and we have actually already answered the question, you just don’t realize it

Look at Philippians 2:15

Philippians 2:15 NKJV

that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

These are big stakes

You are saying that all it takes to be blameless and harmless, children of God without fault and to be lights of the world is to be thankful?

Well its not exactly the gratefulness that causes this, its the humility that comes as a result.

We explained humility last week as a hammer.

the tool that is used to build the church

EX: Now whenever I am working on a project for an extended period of time I will use a tool belt.

Its got clips and pouches and all sorts of holders for different things, but the the most important holder on the tool belt is the piece of leather or the metal circle on the side that holds the hammer.

And if you have ever built anything you know why.

You need a place to hold your hammer while you are putting things in place, getting the nails out, etc.

Now we have already established that the hammer represents the tool of humility, but I want you to look at the tool belt as thankfulness

Here is why....

EX; Imagine someone is building a house and they don’t have a tool belt. Every time they go to hammer in a board what do they have to do, look for their hammer

What the tool belt does is it allows the builder to have quick and ready access to the tool he needs, and humility and pride work very much the same way

The person without a tool belt is like a Christian trying to live a humble life without thankfulness

And once you think about it you see how this is really the case.

I want you to try and think of one thing you can do that is humble, and then think about how it would effect that action if you were unthankful

You see we often don’t make the connection, but ungratefulness directly effects any effort we have to try and be humble

Let me give you a few examples

Let say you are in complete humility desiring to compliment someone.

Maybe you really like their new car. If you are ungrateful, and you go up to someone and admire their new car and tell them how much you like it, it is o much more difficult for you to find humility in that, because you will inherently think, I wish i had one like it

Lets say you are in complete humility putting yourself at a disadvantage to try and help someone else,

If you are thankful, you will in pure humility desire to give that person what they need because you are looking at what you have as a gift that you are grateful for anyways. But if you are ungrateful, giving what you have to others your entire focus will be on having less than you even did before, and you can’t be in complete humility.

You can only have pure humility with true thankfulness.

A lack of thankfulness results in pride.

So yes these are big stakes

We have clear instruction that the path to living a blameless and harmless life without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generations, to shine as lights for Christ come through doing all things without complaining and disputing.

If this is the case, I think it would do us good to look at our epidemic of complaining and ungratefulness, and constant disputing as being so much more important than we usually see it.

You know the greatest thing that can happen to an ungrateful person is to have less.

The greatest thing that can happen to a complainer is for them to be put through more difficulty.

You want to know the greatest times in our nations history, during and immediately after a great trial.

You didn't have the complaining culture that we have today during the depression.

You didn’t have the complaining culture that we have today during the 1950’s following WW2.

You didn’t have the complaining culture that we have today following 9/11.

Why because the problems that looked so big when you are up on the mountain, look pretty small when you are thrown down into the valley.

There is a reason why men dressing up as women and using their bathrooms wasn’t exactly at the top of the list of most important issues when we had 100 young men dying everyday in WW2.

There is a reason why America all of the sudden didn’t care as much about climate change after terrorist flew planes into our buildings.

And there is a reason why those facing persecution around the world today with nothing to their names, are more grateful and humble than you or I will probably every be.

Because gratefulness doesn’t come from having more.

Gratefulness comes by seeing more in what you have.

And for the Christian that is ungrateful, they see very little in what they have, so it take smore and more for them to be grateful.

But for the Christian that is thankful, it takes far less for them because they see so much int he little they have.

The American, consumerism, entertainment filled, church today has an overabundance, but yet we are lacking in the one thing that matters, humility.

While the churches and believers that have nothing have far more of what matters, the humility and thankfulness.

Now one thing that is important to notice is that the passage does not just mention complaining, but also disputing.

These may seem like unrelated issues but can I show you how they are really the same thing.

We have this triangle of complaining, disputing, and pride that are all equally reliant on one another.

Let me share some verses that prove this.

Proverbs 26:21 NKJV

As charcoal is to burning coals, and wood to fire, So is a contentious man to kindle strife.

What is contention. Its causing disruption or division because you are unhappy about something.

Because you don’t have something you wish you had.

Maybe that's recognition from the person

Maybe that's a certain attitude you expect from that person

Maybe its a lack of respect

Maybe it has nothing to do with the other person, but you are so ungrateful in your life that you cause division with everyone else

And can I tell you where this shows more prevalently than anywhere else.

In the marriage

Proverbs 21:9 NKJV

Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop, Than in a house shared with a contentious woman.

Scripture says that a contentious man is like the wood that kindles a fire, and a that it is better for a man to go live in the corner than in a house with a woman who is always causing contention.

I find it interesting that scripture describes contention a little differently between men and women.

Contention or strife caused by the man or the husband is often pictured as a fire, like an explosion, an instant intense moment of destruction.

But for the woman, or the wife it is described as a continuous annoyance.

Proverbs 27:15 NKJV

A continual dripping on a very rainy day And a contentious woman are alike;

So the contention caused by the man is like a small fire that builds and buiild and builds and then consumes everything, while the contention caused by the woman is sneaky, continuous, and hidden.

And I can tell you I have seen this to be so true in the church.

When I have had contention or issues with a man, it often comes up completely out of the blue, and there is some major blow up in an instant.

But when i have contention or issues with a woman, it often follows a small word here or there, a dirty look, slander, sabotage, lies, that slowly creep in over time.

The contention of a man is destructive, while the contention of a woman is torturous.

But in the end they both tear everything down.

And I mention this because I think in the American church specifically our greatest temptation is ungratefulness, and that ungratefulness leads to contention, and that contention is embodied by pride.

And you want to know what the result of this can be.

Philippians 2:16 NKJV

holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

When you get to the end of your life, there is one thing you can look back on, one test, that will show the measure of worth in your life, one test to show if you have ran the race in vain.

And that is if you did it all for you

We have broken it apart, but I can read all this, that notice is one sentence, everything is within the same point.

Philippians 2:14–16 NKJV

Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

Its all related

The complaining, disputing, shining as a light in the world, looking back a the worth of your life, its all the same.

And it all starts with a small seed of ungratefulness, and it grows into a life ran in vain, all for yourself.

Paul had the right mindset.

He is sitting in prison with nothing, not even the promise of another day of life, and he is content, and thankful.

And notice what he says makes him content and thankful

Philippians 2:17–18 NKJV

Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me.

Paul is referencing here an offering God had commanded the Israelites to take part in

Exodus 29:40–41 NKJV

With the one lamb shall be one-tenth of an ephah of flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of pressed oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering. And the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; and you shall offer with it the grain offering and the drink offering, as in the morning, for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

This practice of pouring out a drink offering is called a libation.

And what Paul is saying here is his joy is found in the fact that he can serve as a literal libation, pouring out himself on the altar of persecution to serve as an offering to him.

Paul received more and more joy, the less and less he received.

He focused more on Christ, and less on himself, more and more, the less and less he was given.

But scripture tells us in Hebrews that the sacrifices never took away sins.

The drink offerings, the blood of the animals, it never paid for sins.

It was merely a placeholder, a picture of the future single sacrifice that would pay for sins.

And that is the picture we are given here and throughout the rest of scripture of what true humility look slike, and in turn thankfulness.

Ephesians 5:2 NKJV

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

This is our example, true joy, true fulfillment, true thankfulness and satisfaction comes in sacrificial humble love.

You see continual sacrifices were made day after day for centuries all pointing toward the ultimate sacrifice, but now we are to become a continual picture of that sacrifice that was made for us.

Romans 12:1 NKJV

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

And sacrifice can only be made in one way.

If humility is the hammer that builds the church, sacrifice is and putting others first, putting God first, is what builds this church, it is the tool blet of thankfulness that holds that hammer ready to access and put to work at a moments notice

We serve now as the continual picture of what Christ did for us, by pouring ou this blood as the final offering, the final sacrifice to pay for sins once and for all. And we do this by continuing to pour out ourseles, in humility for one another. And the only way we can do that is through completel thankfulness of what God has given to us.