The Gospel Makes a Difference

Geoff Box

Philippians • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Genesis 1:14–15 ESV

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.

Prayer

Introduction

You may have noticed from the bulletin that the title of this sermon is “The Gospel Makes a Difference”. I realize that is a very obvious and broad statement, but we will be focusing on the difference it makes in the life – specifically in the behavior of a believer.

Passage

Our passage this morning is . If you are able, please stand for the reading of God’s Word. We do this to show appreciation to God for His Word and in recognition that these words are among the most important we could possibly hear today. says,

Philippians 2:12–18 ESV

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.

“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, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, 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, 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. 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. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.”

Thank you, you may be seated.

Our passage this morning starts with the word, “therefore”. That is such a helpful word. It reminds us to make sure that each section we look at is connected to what came before. As the old saying goes, “When you come across a therefore, you need to stop and ask what it is there for.” In this case, it is there to tie this passage to the Christ Hymn in verses 5-11. And those verses are massively important verses.

Last time, we looked at those passages and I spent a great deal of time on the concept of “imperatives and indicatives”. In case you were absent that week or you’ve forgotten, I want to touch on it again very quickly, because the concept is so important.

An imperative is a command. Do this. Act this way. Don’t do that. The Ten Commandments is a list of imperatives. Our passage this morning is also heavy on the imperatives. Paul is commanding the Philippians to act in certain ways.

An indicative, however, is a statement of fact. It indicates the way things are. This thing is true. The important thing to remember is that God does not give commands or imperatives without first grounding them in indicatives – grounding them in the truth of what He has done.

I know we have discussed this before, but it is such an important concept that I want to make sure that we automatically start thinking in these categories. When you read your Bible and you come across a command, I want it to be second nature for you to ask, “What is the truth about what God has done behind this command?”

In our passage, the “therefore” helps us to do that automatically because it ties the commands in this passage to the gloriously completed work of Christ in the previous passage. Paul points the Philippians to the Gospel – to the glorification of Christ – to the certain victory and completion of all things

Since these things are true, then obey. Just like you always have in my presence, keep obeying. Since Christ is glorified and victorious over every power, be faithful.

Not to just passively sit back and be faithful. That is a concept which is foreign to the Scriptures. They are called to work out their salvation with fear and trembling. I know that we as Baptists get nervous when we start talking about works and salvation at the same time, but we really shouldn’t. The people Paul is writing to are already believers. Paul is not telling them to acquire salvation through hard work. Indicatives and imperatives matter. Paul has already made clear – indicated - that they are believers.

No one ever can earn or work enough to merit salvation. It is absolutely impossible. Works do not bring salvation, but – and this is important – works always accompany salvation. It is not different than in when John the Baptist is rebuking the Pharisees and he tells them,

Matthew 3:8–10 ESV

8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Working out your salvation with fear and trembling is the work of cultivating the good tree. Pruning branches that may be hindering production. Making sure the ground is well watered and fertilized with prayer and Scripture and other means of grace.

Ultimately, it is God working in you both to work and will for His good pleasure. Our works that accompany our salvation are by God and for God. The cultivation of the tree that we do is ultimately empowered by God and it is ultimately for the glory of God.

This is exactly what Paul teaches in as well.

Ephesians 2:8–10 ESV

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. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

We who are saved by grace through faith are literally created for good works that God prepared for us to walk in. All that to say, works and working out your salvation should never be a scary concept. We should embrace the call to work out our salvation and rest in the fact that God is bringing it about.

The theological term for what we are talking about is sanctification. Sanctification is simply the progressive growth of holiness and righteousness throughout the life of a believer. With sanctification there are two ditches on either side of the road that we must avoid.

We’ve already mentioned both of them, but I want to make sure we are clear. The first ditch is the idea that we earn salvation through our good works. This puts sanctification before justification and is a terrible error. It is simple works based righteousness and works based righteousness is no righteousness at all.

The second ditch is to not do much of anything to increase in our holiness. As Baptists, I think we tend to find our way into this ditch more often than the other. We see these verses that say it is God who works in us to will and to work His good pleasure and we think we don’t need to do anything. We can end up with a “let go and let God” attitude towards our spiritual growth. But that is dangerous because we have been commanded to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

The proper approach is to work hard – to exhaust ourselves in sanctification. Striving hourly to good works. Diving deeply into the Word of God. Meditation on it. Praying. Killing sin in our hearts violently and with prejudice. Doing all that while recognizing and resting in the fact that it is Through the indwelling Holy Spirit that we are able to and even desire to be more righteous. To look more like Christ.

For the Philippians, one of the areas that they needed to work. An area of cultivation that needed some attention was their interactions with one another. So Paul calls them to do all things without grumbling or disputing. Paul knows that their righteous lifestyles – their sanctification will cause them to look different than the world around them. It will cause the Philippians to stand out like lights in the darkness.

In our modern world, we tend to take light for granted. We stay up late or get up early with little thought to whether the sun is up or not. If we want to see something, we simply turn on a light or shine a flashlight somewhere. We should be thankful for those conveniences.

However, in our passage, the light that Paul is talking about is not light in a broad or generic sense. Paul is calling the Philippians to be stars in the night sky. Biblically speaking, when God created the lights of the heavens – the sun, moon and stars – He did so with purpose. Let’s look at again,

Genesis 1:14–15 ESV

“And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.”

We see in that passage three broad and basic purposes for the lights God created. First, to separate day and night – light and dark. Second, to demarcate times and seasons – to help figure the passage of time. And third, to illuminate the earth. I’m going somewhere with this. I promise.

The life of a Christian does the same. When a Christian is growing in holiness, is being sanctified, is becoming more righteous, they function in a way similar to the heavenly lights God created.

First, because they – we – are blameless and innocent in a crooked generation, we stand out. We are separated from the darkness. We are fortunate to live in an area where there is not much light pollution. Many of us can step outside on a dark night and look up and see thousands upon thousands of stars. They stand out against the dark background of the sky. They puncture the darkness. A Christian who is working out their salvation in fear and trembling does the same. They puncture the darkness and stand out against the backdrop of a very crooked and twisted world.

Second, Christians mark the passage of time – kinda. This thread is a little tougher to follow, but I’ll try to explain it succinctly. As we progressively grow in holiness, we point forward to the day of Christ. Our incremental growth marks the passage of time, but more importantly we point to a day when we are finally made fully pure and holy. There is a day in the future that we are ticking towards and every step towards holiness is a step towards that day.

Third, the life of a Christian illuminates the world around them. We shine a light - we reveal - what right moral behavior is. But more than that, we reveal, we point people towards Christ through our righteous behavior. “Let you light so shine among men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.” We show people who God is and what He is like through our words and our actions.

The glorification of God through the sanctification and obedience of believers is worth it to Paul. Paul is striving and laboring and teaching and begging and doing whatever he can to help the Philippians to hold fast to the Word of Life. Really, all Paul is calling the Philippians to do is to be obedient and if it costs Paul his life, he is willing to offer that up if it means that Christ is glorified. Not only that, but Paul rejoices at the idea. And so too should we. When our brothers and sisters in Christ grow in Christlikeness, that is an instance for joy. How much more so when we have a hand in helping them to grow in Christlikeness. We are supposed to help each other in our walks with Christ. That’s what teaches – that we should stir one another up towards love and good works.

Being a light in darkness is difficult. Growing in holiness is hard work. I’m not about to suggest that what I’m talking about is all puppies and rainbows. Dying to self, hurts. If it was easy, we wouldn’t have to be commanded over and over and over again to do it. We will not drift towards holiness. We will drift towards sin, destruction and death. We must paddle upstream constantly, but if Christ is glorified, it is worth it. And even joyous.

I have a few closing thoughts to hopefully tie this all together. Because our sanctification is instigated by God through the Holy Spirit, we will become more Christlike in time. This is an important point. If we are in Christ, we are a new creation. We do have the Spirit of God dwelling in us instigating our good works. God is working in us to will and to work for His good pleasure. That is really good news for the believer! God is helping us to paddle upstream. We will be bright shining lights in this world. We will work out our salvation with fear and trembling.

But there is also a negative to this. What if you don’t shine in the darkness. What if you like drifting downstream and have no desire to paddle against the current. I mean, you don’t want to be a serial killer, but you do love this world and the things of it. Maybe you love money or possessions. Maybe it is relationships or family. Maybe honor and prestige. Ultimately you have greater love for yourself than you do for Christ. If that is you, you should be concerned. If you don’t have a real desire for holiness or success in becoming more holy, it is likely because you do not have the Spirit of God in you. It is likely you are not a Christian. Not saved. Good works cannot save you, but you will not be saved without them.

Let me put it all more simply. The Gospel makes a difference. If we believe and trust Christ, then our lives will show it. The Gospel makes a difference in our behavior. Likewise, our actions say something about what and who we love. God or self.

Conclusion

Maybe you are here this morning and you know you are a believer. You trust Christ ad His completed work and perfect righteousness, but you have found yourself in one of the ditches we talked about earlier. You certainly cannot earn your salvation. If you are in Christ, you already have it. At the same time, not striving towards holiness is sin. It is disobedience and laziness. Frankly, it is a sin that we are all prone to. It is so easy to take a break from paddling for a season. Brothers and sisters do not slack of. Press on to that day. Shine bright in this dark world. Repent of you negligence towards holiness. And take heart that God is working in you to His glory.

Maybe you are here, and you know that you aren’t a Christian. You might have called yourself one. You might have acted like one by being baptized or leading in church, but you know that you have had no stomach for the hard work of sanctification. It can be very easy to hide your sinfulness behind a mask of morality, but God sees through it. God demands and deserves for you to love Him more than you love yourself. If you don’t, you must repent. Turn away from your love of sin and self and turn towards Christ. Trust Christ and His finished work. If you do that, you will find Christ to be a perfect savior. You will notice a new desire to live according to God’s standards. Repent now before it is too late.

We are about to transition to a time of response. We believe that any time a person hears the Word of God, they respond in one of two ways. In rebellion or in worship. Worship may look like repentance and brokenness over sin – in fact it usually does. It may look like joy because what God has done for us – in fact it usually does. Whatever your response, please make sure it is Christ glorifying and not self-serving.

I will be on the front row worshipping with you. If you need someone to talk to or to pray with, I would be happy to do that with you. Don’t be shy, just come on up and talk to me. I will also stick around after the service and would be happy to talk with you as long as you need. The front is always opened if you’d like to pray here as well.