A Life Worth Pouring Out Philippians 2:12-18
Notes
Transcript
Title: A Life Worth Pouring Out
Subject: Maturity
Theme: Maturity Through Surrender
Thesis:
As God matures us in Christ, we see that surrendering our lives to God is worth the cost because of what He accomplishes through us.
Principle:
Trusting God's goodness frees us to surrender our lives to Him, even when obedience is costly.
Introduction
Introduction
There's something in all of us that wants to be further along than we are.
You know, I think that's one of the most common aches in the Christian life.
We look at where we are, and then we look at where we think we should be, and there's a gap.
Maybe you feel it this morning.
You think, I should be more consistent by now.
I should've put this thing down years ago.
And once that voice of comparison gets going, it doesn't take long before we're discouraged.
We start to wonder if we're growing at all.
But there's a consistent concern running through this whole letter.
Paul wants believers who already belong to Christ to increasingly live in a manner consistent with that relationship.
That's a common thread.
He's not writing to people who need to get saved.
He's writing to people who are saved, and he wants their lives to catch up with their identity.
And that raises a question we might ask ourselves.
According to what Paul says in this passage, what would distinguish someone who's simply been a Christian for a long time from someone who's genuinely growing in maturity in Christ?
That's worth sitting with, isn't it?
Because those are two very different things.
You can sit in a pew for thirty years and not grow an inch.
Time and maturity aren't the same thing.
So what's the difference?
What does Paul say actually marks a person who's maturing?
What if maturity isn't something we manufacture?
What if it's something God produces in us as we surrender to Him?
That's where Paul takes us in Philippians 2.
He's writing to a church he loves, a church he's partnered with in the gospel from the very start.
And he's calling them to keep living out what God is already doing inside them.
He isn't telling them to try harder.
He's telling them to trust deeper.
As we walk through these verses, we're going to see three things.
God's work in us.
God's work through us.
And the joy of a life offered back to Him.
Underneath all three there's one principle.
Trusting God's goodness frees us to surrender our lives to Him, even when obedience is costly.
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. 17 Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. 18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
1. Trust God's Work in You (vv. 12–13)
1. Trust God's Work in You (vv. 12–13)
Verse 12 begins, therefore my beloved.
Paul connects what he is about to say with the example of Christ we looked at last week.
Notice how he begins speaking to the Philippians - my beloved.
He reinforces the special relationship they have with one another through his use of this word.
The root of this word is the agape love - true endearing, full of affection.
And then Paul says, as you have always obeyed.
Paul has been calling the Philippians to make some bold decisions so far.
He is reaffirming that they are capable of the things that he is calling them to.
He's not rebuking them for failing to follow Christ.
He's encouraging them to continue growing in the faith they've already demonstrated.
That is an encouragement I feel we need to hear today as well.
I look at our church and see many people, faithfully seeking to follow Christ.
But as Paul is doing for the Philippians here, we also need pushed out of our comfort zones.
Pushed to consider and grow in our walks with the Lord.
I like the picture of a fish in a stream.
A fish can either exert just enough energy to stay where it is or it can move up stream, but what happens to a dead fish?
The same is true in our walks with the Lord.
We can exert just enough energy to remain where we are, but Christ is calling us to swim up stream.
And that is what Paul is pointing to in this passage.
And he is calling the Philippians to a life of integrity as well.
Paul is in prison, he can’t be with them, but he wants to remind them to keep going when he is not watching.
We can fall into that trap, can't we?
We behave a certain way when we know someone is looking, and then something shifts when we're on our own.
Paul says maturity means the obedience continues either way.
Because the One who's always watching is the One doing the work.
Look where he goes next.
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
This is a difficult verse for us to understand.
Because we know in Ephesians, Paul also wrote that salvation is what?
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
The Bible does not contradict itself, and neither does Paul.
So we know that this does not mean work for your salvation.
It doesn’t mean earning or achieving your salvation—it means actively pursuing the spiritual growth and transformation that flows from the salvation you’ve already received.
Paul uses language that suggests developing or bringing to completion what God has begun in you.
The Greek word translated "work out" carries the idea of bringing something to its intended result.
And the command is given to the whole church.
Paul wants the salvation God has given them to increasingly shape how they live, both individually and together.
We don’t earn it or grind our way into it.
The phrase points to sanctification—the ongoing process of becoming holy and Christlike.
Paul describes similar effort in other letter.
1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
Thinking back to Ephesians as well Paul goes on in verse 10
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
This establishes the foundation: your salvation is secure, but you’re now called to actively participate in the holy living that flows from it.
We must realize that knowing the truths of the gospel isn't the same as allowing those truths to shape our decisions, attitudes, and relationships.
The word behind "work out" means to accomplish, to carry something through to completion.
It's not the word for earning. It's the word for finishing.
The next verse tells us why.
13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
The Greek work we get works in you is where our word energy comes from.
God is energizing us. He's the power supply. We're the ones plugging in.
Paul is not saying, "Try harder until you become the kind of Christian God wants you to be."
We work it out because God is working it in. That's the order.
Our effort isn't the engine; it's the response.
We're not pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps into spiritual maturity.
We're participating in something God started and will faithfully finish, the same good work Paul mentions in Philippians 1:6.
And look at what He works in us.
"Both to will and to do." He shapes what we want, and then He shapes what we do.
God doesn't just change our behavior from the outside.
He changes our desires from the inside.
He goes down to the root.
And this is where this root and fruit idea comes in.
You can't fake fruit for very long.
You can tie an apple to a branch and it'll look right for a day or two, but it won't last.
Real fruit grows from a root. And God is tending the root.
He's not standing over us demanding better fruit.
He's at work in the soil of our hearts, shaping what we love and what we long for.
The fruit comes later.
We can pursue maturity because God is faithfully working within us.
You're not chasing something God is withholding.
You're walking into something He's already doing.
This week, perhaps try to recognize an area where you are resisting God’s direction.
Bring that struggle honestly before Him.
Ask him not only to help you do what's right, but to change your desires so that you increasingly want what pleases him.
We can continue growing in maturity, not because we're strong enough to change ourselves, but because God is faithfully working within us.
2. Reflect God's Work Through You (vv. 14–16a)
2. Reflect God's Work Through You (vv. 14–16a)
14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16 holding fast to the word of life,
Paul moves on in the next section to some very practical instruction, based upon the context of the book, very likely addressing an issues that he had heard about in the church.
Paul was concerned about three problems: disunity, suffering, and opponents.
Paul criticized the selfish ambition and self-centered attitudes in the church community.
He also spoke against their complaining and arguing.
Because of this, he repeatedly urged them to stay united in spirit and to share the same mindset.
Paul specifically appealed to two women, Euodia and Syntyche, to “be of the same mind in the Lord”, suggesting personal conflicts threatened church harmony.
When Paul addresses grumbling, the word he uses is the same kind of language that is used to describe the Israelites in the wilderness.
God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt, provided for their needs, and promised to lead them into a good land.
Yet when circumstances became difficult, they complained against God and against Moses.
Their grumbling revealed something deeper than dissatisfaction with their circumstances.
It revealed a struggle to trust God's goodness.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians -
7 Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.
Have you ever thought of complaining as a spiritual issue?
We usually file it under personality.
That's just how I am.
That's just how our family talks. But Paul puts it right next to our identity as children of God.
Because complaining says something about what we believe about God.
It says, deep down, that we think He got it wrong.
That we could've planned our day better than He did.
This isn’t to say that if there is an issue that it should not be brought up, but how it is brought up matters.
Complaining to another person is not the way.
We must go to the person that we have the issue with directly.
That is the patter Paul wants the Philippians, and us to repeat.
Is it intimidating, YES. But who goes with us into the conversation.
Notice where Paul goes in verse 15.
They are to live this way "that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation."
Paul is drawing on language from Deuteronomy 32, where Israel is described as a crooked and twisted generation.
But now he's calling the Philippians to live differently.
Blameless means no one can lay a charge against you.
Innocent means you're not the one stirring up trouble.
Think about a light in a dark room.
When you turn it on, does it argue with the darkness?
No, it just shines.
And the darkness can't do anything about it. That's what a surrendered life looks like in a grumbling world.
It stands out. It's different. Not weird different. Holy different.
They belong to God. And their lives should reflect the character of the Father whose children they are.
Think about how easily grumbling can enter our everyday conversations.
Maybe a decision gets made that we wouldn't have made.
Rather than talking with the person involved, we mention our frustration to three other people.
Before long, something relatively small has created tension among people who are supposed to be united.
And in the case of the church, united in Christ.
We may never think of that as a spiritual issue.
But Paul does.
Philippi was a proud Roman colony. Its citizens knew they were Romans, and they held onto that with both hands.
Yet Paul writes to them later in this same letter and says our citizenship is in heaven.
So when he says "shine as lights," he's saying something like this.
Your neighbors already know you're a colony of Rome.
Let them see you're a colony of heaven too.
When we serve together, when we worship together, when we live together, the world is watching.
And what they see is either a light or just more of the same.
Look at the last phrase of this section we are looking at, the first part of verse 16.
"Holding fast the word of life." That's our anchor. We don't shine because we're strong.
We shine because we're holding onto something that is.
Psalm 119 ties purity of life directly to storing up God's Word in the heart.
So the answer to grumbling isn't a personality transplant.
It's the Word of God taking root.
The same root that produces fruit in the first movement is the root that produces light in the second.
Our witness isn't merely about what we say we believe.
It's also about whether the gospel we believe is changing how we live.
Because God isn't merely working in us to make us better people.
He's shaping us into a people whose lives make his goodness visible to the world around us.
God's transforming work should increasingly become evident in every circumstance and relationship of our lives.
3. Rejoice in Lives Offered to God (vv. 16b–18)
3. Rejoice in Lives Offered to God (vv. 16b–18)
Paul has encouraged the Philippians to continue growing in obedience, allowing God's work within them to become evident through their lives.
Now, at the end of verse 16, Paul says he wants them to remain faithful so that, on the day of Christ, he can be proud that he did not run or labor in vain.
At first glance, that almost sounds selfish, doesn't it?
But Paul's concern isn't about protecting his reputation or proving how successful his ministry has been.
His concern is for the spiritual growth of the Philippians.
What first appears as self-focus actually reveals profound humility about his role within the larger work of God.
Paul invested his life in these people.
He's preached the gospel to them, prayed for them, and encouraged them to grow in Christ.
And what does he want to see come from all that effort?
He wants to see them faithfully following Christ.
He wants their relationships, their obedience, and their witness to reflect the gospel they've received.
Their continued faithfulness would demonstrate that his labor among them had not been wasted.
Look at verse 17: "Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all."
To better understand this we need to more fully understand the sacrificial system.
When Paul speaks of potentially being “poured out,” he’s not centering himself but rather positioning his suffering as supplementary to the Philippians’ primary offering.
When an offering was brought before God, it could be accompanied by a drink offering.
Wine was poured out before the Lord as part of that offering.
Paul is using that picture to describe his own life in relation to the Philippians.
The Philippians' faith and service are the sacrifice, and Paul pictures his own life being poured out alongside theirs.
He's saying that their lives are being offered to God, and he's willing to give his own life in service to their faith.
The way Paul builds his argument shows what he truly cares about.
This connects with what Paul writes in Romans 12:1, where he urges believers to present their bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God.
Our lives are meant to be offered to God in worship.
And that's what Paul sees happening among the Philippians.
Their obedience, their faithfulness, their service, and even their suffering for Christ are all part of a life offered to God.
Think about what it takes to raise a child.
There are sleepless nights, plans that have to be changed, things you want to do but don't get to do, and countless little sacrifices that nobody else ever sees.
And much of that sacrifice happens without any guarantee that your children will recognize or appreciate what you've given up for them.
Sometimes you wonder if any of it is making a difference.
But you keep giving of yourself because you love them and desire to see them grow.
And when we approach parenting as something God has entrusted to us, even those ordinary, unseen acts of love become part of a life offered to him.
The value of that service isn't determined by how much recognition we receive or how quickly we see results.
It matters because of whom we're ultimately serving.
That's how Paul views his own circumstances.
Even if his imprisonment ends in death, he can rejoice because his life is being spent in service to Christ and for the spiritual good of others.
And he doesn't keep that joy to himself. In verse 18, he calls the Philippians to rejoice with him.
They are partners in the gospel, partners in sacrifice, and partners in joy.
That's a very different way of looking at surrender.
We tend to think of surrender as loss.
We think of it as giving up something we'd rather keep.
But Paul shows us it's the opposite.
When we surrender, our lives become part of something that lasts.
Something with eternal weight.
Something offered to God's good purposes.
Even costly surrender is worthwhile because our lives are being offered in service to God's good purposes.
Lastly Paul says "rejoice with me."
Not alone. Together.
Paul and the Philippians, separated by prison walls and hundreds of miles, are still joined in the same offering.
That's what partnership in the gospel means.
Their surrender and his surrender are the same sacrifice, and they can both be glad.
So what does this look like for us this week?
First, if you've been discouraged about your growth, hear this.
God is working in you. Right now.
Even when you can't see it or feel it.
Your job isn't to manufacture maturity.
Your job is to keep showing up, keep obeying, keep trusting.
He's tending the root, and roots grow underground long before anything green shows up above.
Second, look at the ordinary places.
Where are you grumbling? Not the big stuff. The small stuff.
The commute. The budget. The person who's been hard to love.
Name it honestly before God. That's not a small thing.
That's the very place He wants to shape you.
Third, get into the Word.
Not for information this time, but to hold fast to it.
If grumbling is the fruit, a shallow root is underneath it.
Read a chapter a day.
Memorize one verse this month.
Let the word of life get down where the root grows.
Fourth, ask what you're holding onto that you haven't surrendered.
Your plan. Your timeline. Your comfort.
And then ask the real question underneath all of this.
Do I trust that God is good enough to hand it over?
Surrender isn't about giving up.
It's about trusting that the One asking is good.
Finally we have to remember we can't do any of this on our own.
We can't manufacture a Christlike life.
We can't white-knuckle our way into maturity.
We can't surrender ourselves by sheer willpower.
If we could, we wouldn't need a Savior.
But thankfully, we have God's grace.
And the reason we can trust God's work in us is because of what He's already done for us.
Jesus didn't cling to His rights.
He didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped.
He humbled Himself and became obedient, all the way to death on a cross.
He was poured out for us before He ever asked us to be poured out for Him.
And because He did, God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name above every name.
The foundation of our surrender isn't our effort.
It's His finished work.
God is gracious and He is good, and He continues to draw us to Himself.
The cost is real. It always has been.
Surrender means something gets poured out.
But so is what He accomplishes through us.
A life that shines in a dark world.
A life that rejoices even when it's costly.
A life someone else will look back on one day and say, that wasn't in vain.
We don't have to see the end of it.
We just have to keep walking in it.
And that's where the gospel happens.
