Untitled Sermon (15)

Intro

If you’ve ever had a conversation with me, it’s very likely that I’ve mentioned two things about myself: I play guitar, and I’m a huge fan of John Mayer. If you don’t know, John Mayer is in my very biased opinion one of the greatest guitarists alive today. As a kid growing up with youtube, I spent countless hours watching hundreds of different guitarists, but what has always struck me about John Mayer is that during the time I’ve followed him, he’s continually gotten better. He’s a naturally gifted musician, but he’s taken his gift and he’s worked at it. He’s worked it out. He’s always growing as a musician. Always putting his muscianship into action. So, like a musician who puts into action their natural gift, as followers of Jesus we are to work out our salvation as God works in us for his glory. Let’s look at

Philippians 2:12–13 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.

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling

Explain

Context

It’s important to note that Paul is writing this letter to the church from prison. And he’s checking in with the church to encourage them to continue living out the teachings of Jesus. Paul has said a lot up to this point. He’s told the church that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion,” he’s encouraged them to live lives that are worthy of their heavenly citizenship. And then these two verses come right off of this powerful passage where he has encouraged the church to humbly consider others as more important than themselves and to look out for each other’s interests, and then he commands them to be of one mind, to be unified, which is possible only through Jesus. Then he writes this beautiful hymn that describes how Jesus modeled humility and now God has highly exalted him above all things. So when Paul writes “therefore” he means that in light of everything he’s written, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

This command can and does function on an individual level, but Paul was writing to a church, a community of people who followed Jesus. And when he gives this command, it’s within this context of a community that he wants to remain unified. He’s commanding the church to work out their salvation corporately.

Workout Your Salvation with Fear and Trembling

And what Paul means by working out our salvation is to put the effects of our salvation into action in our daily lives.

Each of us has muscles. No one in here had to work for them. But for them to grow and become stronger we have to work them out. We have to use them. We’ve been given salvation, a gift that has brought us from darkness to light, from death to life, and a gift that will be brought to completion in the future. But it’s this gift that’s in us that needs to be worked out.

But isn’t salvation a Gift?

But wait, why do we have to work it out? Isn’t it a gift? Yes. It’s a gift. We aren’t working for our salvation, but we’re working it out. There is still an element of responsibility that we have. We aren’t naturally sinless, we aren’t naturally obedient, we don’t naturally love each other. Even if we’ve been saved, we have to be disciplined, and we have to be working towards these things as a community. To work this out means that our conduct changes. Our way of living as a church changes. The way we view each other changes. And it’s a process that all of us are to be obedient to. And it takes place with fear and trembling because we do this in the presence of and in awe of a Holy God.

Isn’t salvation a gift

God is at work in us

But, the key to all of this comes in verse 13. Paul writes for it is God who works in you, both to will and work for his good pleasure. The Holy God who we work out our salvation in the presence of is at the same time working this salvation within us. We have this command to work out our salvation, but we’re not left to ourselves to do it. The working out doesn’t come from anything we’ve done or are able to do, it comes from God who is already at work within us. God is aligning our wills to his. He’s working in us both to will and to act. To want to, to have the desire to, and then to do it. To put it into action.

What I imagine is a sponge. What a sponge does is it soaks in water and soap with the purpose of being used to clean. Now, if you go into the Phippen kitchen, you’ll see a sponge, full of soap and water, yet it hasn’t been used. An what happens is over time, the sponge starts to stink. It’s soaked up so much, and it’s never been squeezed out, it’s never put into action what was done inside of it. And now it stinks.

As a church, we know what Jesus has taught, but are we practicing it? If God is truly working in us, then we’ll be living out what we’ve taken in. If God is working in us, we’ll be loving towards each other. If God is working in us, we’ll be forgiving towards one another. If God is working in us, we’ll be making space for everyone, not just who we’re comfortable with. If God is working in us, we’ll be unified as a church and as a community, modeling our lives after Jesus’ example. And in this, God is glorified. All of these things take work, but we’re able to do them because God himself is at work in us and among us.

As followers of Jesus, as a church, we work out our salvation as God works in us for his glory.

But it’s this gift that’s in us that needs to be exercised. We arent naturally sinless, we arent naturally obedient. We have to be discplined, and we have to work towards those things, which