Sermon Tone Analysis

Prayer

Prayer

Prayer

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,

“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,

“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.

“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.