Your Daily Workout

How many of you have ever had a workout? I don’t necessarily mean going into a gym and pumping iron. I mean doing something that gets your blood flowing. That gets your muscles tired because you put energy into something?

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Why is that good for you? It keeps you healthy right? What happens to those who literally do nothing? Sit around all the time and don’t lift a finger? Now if you can’t for some health reason, I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about those who are able. What happens? You get all out of shape, bad things start happening to your body. And before you know it, you might be ill.

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The same thing is true in the family of God. If we don’t work at this thing we call the Christian life, we will have problems. We won’t be healthy. And ultimately the entire body will be sick. That’s why the Apostle Paul gets very serious here about working out in the Christian life. He’s not referring to a good workout at the gym. Although that probably wouldn’t be bad for most of us. Let’s take a look at what he says.

Philippians 2:12–13 NKJV

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now 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 do for His good pleasure.

Remember last week we talked about the “mind of Christ”? The attitude Jesus had when He gave up His glory He shared with God for a time so He could become one of us? We called this the “submissive mind”.

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Paul has some work in mind for the Philippians. Would they exhibit this submissive mind by gladly obeying the apostle even though he wasn’t there with them? He challenges them to “work out”.

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But what does that mean? Does it mean we have to work for our salvation? For those watching this or listening to this message some time in the future, do you know what salvation is?

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Share gospel:

Romans 3:23 NKJV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 6:23 NKJV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 5:8 NKJV

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 10:9 NKJV

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 10:13 NKJV

13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

And what are the results of becoming part of the family of God?

Romans 5:1 NKJV

1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Is this good for all time?

Romans 8:1 NKJV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Romans 8:38–39 NKJV

38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

My friend, the gift of salvation is available for you to receive right now. Will you humble yourself before God and receive new life in Christ by simply trusting Jesus as your Savior?

If so, here is a simple prayer you can pray to God. Saying this prayer is a way to declare to God that you are relying on Jesus Christ for your salvation. The words themselves will not save you. Only faith in Jesus Christ can provide salvation!

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"God, I know that I have sinned against you and am deserving of punishment. But Jesus Christ took the punishment that I deserve so that through faith in Him I could be forgiven. With your help, I place my trust in You for salvation. Thank You for Your wonderful grace and forgiveness - the gift of eternal life! Amen!"

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Have you made your decision to trust Christ this morning for the first time? If so, please let us know. If you’re watching this or listening online, please text the word “life” to 337-474-3758 to let us know that you’ve placed your faith in Jesus. We’d love to partner with you to help you grow as a new follower of Jesus and part of the family of God.

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Now, let’s get back to this potentially confusing challenge of the Apostle Paul...

Philippians 2:12–13 NKJV

12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now 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 do for His good pleasure.

What is Paul telling them to do? - “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”

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What is Paul not telling them to do? - “Work for your salvation”

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Who is Paul writing to? - People who were already saints (1:1), they were already saved.

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The verb “work out” carries the meaning of “work to full completion” for example, a math problem. In Paul’s day it was also used for “working a mine” or getting out of the mine all the valuable ore possible, or “working a field” so you can get the greatest harvest possible.

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What does God want to get out of us? “Christlikeness”. We will have problems in life, like the Philippians were having. But God will help us to “work them out.” Our lives have tremendous potential, like a mine or a field, and He wants to help us fulfill that potential.

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So I believe we have the “work out” part down. Paul didn’t say “work for your salvation”. He said work it out to completion. Stick with it.

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That brings us to the next phrase… “your own salvation”

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God has a plan for everyone’s life. He wants to work His will out in your life. But you see, the thing is, He doesn’t have the same plan for everyone’s life. Yes, the same ultimate plan, be Christlike, but it will look different for everyone.

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God had a different plan for Paul’s life than He had for Peter’s. They both ultimately got to the same place, but followed different paths God had set out for them.

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In order to work out his salvation to completion, Paul had to be the Apostle to the Gentiles, be beaten, imprisoned, write the majority of the New Testament, and so on.

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Peter on the other hand, had to target the Jews to live out God’s plan for his life.

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The phrase “work out your own salvation” probably has reference particularly to the special problems in the church at Philippi; but the statement also applies to the individual Christian. We are not to be “cheap imitations” of other people, especially “great Christians.” We are to follow only what we see of Christ in their lives. “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). Every “great saint” has feet of clay and ultimately may disappoint you, but Jesus Christ can never fail you.

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Now we come to verse 13. The principle God lays down is this… God must work in us before He can work through us.

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A preacher was reading this verse from the Bible in the morning service. A little girl whispered to her mother, “Mother, you can’t work out salvation unless it has first been worked in, can you?” Now that is a very good question. Verse 13 answers it.

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Too many Christians obey God only because of pressure on the outside, and not power on the inside. Paul warned the Philippians that not his presence with them but their desire to obey God and please Him was the important thing (Phil. 1:27; 2:12).

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So God works out what He has worked in.

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If God has saved you, He has saved you by faith—plus nothing. God is not accepting any kind of good works for salvation. But after you are saved, God talks to you about your works. The salvation that He worked in by faith is a salvation He will work out also.

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John Calvin expressed it this way: “Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone.” James states it like this: “Even so faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone. Yes, a man may say, You have faith, and I have works: show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (James 2:17–18).

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Only God can see the heart; He knows our true condition. He knows if I have saving faith; He knows if you have saving faith. But your neighbor can’t see your faith. The only thing he can see is the works of faith. True faith will work itself out so that the people around us will be able to tell that we are different, that we are Christians. We don’t need to wear a placard or some sort of symbol to identify ourselves as Christians.

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While we must not believe in salvation by works, we must certainly believe in a salvation that works.

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What does all this mean?

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A. Make sure you’re trusting in Jesus alone for your salvation. That’s where it begins.

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B. Don’t be copying anyone else because of external pressure. Be working out God’s will for your life until He calls you home.

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C. Rely on God’s Holy Spirit power to accomplish His will in your life.