Work Out Your Salvation

A Sermon on Philippians 2:12-18

ME — Looking Up at the Night Sky

On a dark night here in Northern Michigan, if you look up and the sky, you will see the wonder of the stars above you. We are blessed to live in a place that is dark enough that when you step into your back yard, or take a short dive out of time, you are able to see quite a few stars in the sky and on a really good night see the milky way. To look and and stand in awe of God and the beauty of the night sky that he has created.

You need the contrast of the dark blackness of a dark sky to see the brilliance of the light.

Those stars are always there. The light has been arriving at our planet for years. You just couldn't see it because of the Sun overpowering them in the day or the clouds obstructing your view on a overcast night.

WE — The Darkness around us

We live in what Paul calls "a warped and crooked generation" (v.15).

We know that warp. It’s not hard to look around us and see that things are not the way they are suppose to be. We even fear turning on the news, because we know it’s not going to be good. We have neighborhood disputes. The family text threads that we dread the next notification in. The cultural sky is black.

The church can fall into this back darkness as well. With grumbling. With arguing. With status concerns dressed up as principle that are held over others.

The Philippians had Euodia and Syntyche. We have our own.

The question of the passage: in a dark world, “in a warped and crooked generation,” how does a church shine?

GOD — God Working in You

God works in you

“Therefore" — Paul has just walked us down through Christ's descent and exaltation (2:5-11). Everything that follows is downstream of that.

"Continue to work out your salvation" — not work for. Work out. Bring to completion what is already true. The Greek (katergazesthe) means to bring to its intended end.

"With fear and trembling" Reverent seriousness. The posture of someone who knows what's at stake.

The key of working out your salvation: v.13. "For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”

The desire is from him.

The doing is from him.

The pleasure is his.

Gospel is here: This is not a sermon about striving or working harder. Sanctification is God's work that we are responsible to walk in.

God works through you

Without grumbling or arguing (v.14).

He's naming the thing that clouds the sky and blocks Christ’s light from shining in the darkness.

Why live without grumbling or arguing? To be "blameless and pure" (v.15).

Amemptos — above reproach, beyond legitimate criticism.

Akeraioi — unmixed, unadulterated, like wine not watered down.

Together: a witness others can't fairly accuse, and an integrity in how you live.

"Children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”

Where Israel failed in the wilderness, the church gets to be what Israel was supposed to be.

Not because of us, but because of Christ in us.

“Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky.”

You don't shine over the crooked generation. You shine in it.

Darkness isn't the obstacle to your witness — it's the context that makes it visible.

"As you hold firmly to the word of life" (v.16).

The Greek (epechontes) carries both senses: hold firm and hold out, like offering wine to a guest.

You shine by offering Christ.

God works among you in joy

Paul flips to sacrificial imagery: "poured out like a drink offering" (v.17).

In the temple, the drink offering was poured over the main sacrifice — perfuming it, completing it.

Paul casts his suffering as completing their worship.

And his response to being poured out? "I am glad and rejoice with all of you.”

Then the call: "So you too should be glad and rejoice with me" (v.18).

The Christ-shaped life is joyful. Joy is what burns so that others might see the light in the darkness.

Gospel — See the light God is bringing about in our World

Picture a clear night sky over Lake Michigan. Then picture the church that way.

Every faithful saint who held firmly to the word of life is a point of light in that sky. All across the world. A constellation giving light to the dark world, pointing to the joy that is found in Christ.

You shine as part of God’s beautiful redemption.

Christ himself, by his Spirit, doing his good work, to make you shine as the stars in the sky.

That is what we are part of when we work out our salvation before God.

YOU — Stop grumbling

Paul names grumbling first for a reason. It is the most common way the church clouds its own sky.

The question to take home: Where is the grumbling in my life right now, and what would it look like to lay it down this week?

Because grumbling obscures the light God is trying to shine through you.

Practically: the next time you notice the grumbling begin in your heart, pause. Remember v.13. God is at work in you. Let him work this out.

WE — Shine Stars in the Darkness

We witnessed the first step of working out salvation today when we Baptized Emery.

A few minutes ago, when we baptized Emery. Before she has worked anything out, God has claimed her as his own. That is the gospel. That is v.13 made visible.

And the rest of her life will be the working out of what God has worked in today.

That's our life too. That's what we're doing here every Sunday, week as we shine like the stars to those around us.

We are a small church in a small town in a dark world, a warped and crooked generation. 

And that is exactly where stars are most clearly seen.

Hold firmly to the word of life. Let us shine the light of Christ bright to those in our lives and not cloud that light by our grumbling or arguing.