Philippians Sermon Notes - Week 5
Thoughts:
Verbiage:
Human energy could never accomplish the work of God, yet God did not accomplish his purposes without it.
If it is the glory of Christian ethics to summon us to be what we are, it is one of the glories of Holy Scripture both to tell us what we are (children of God) and to declare our characteristic way of life
Themes
The “Why”
He loves you because he loves you! It is no explanation, and yet it is the greatest of all explanations, for it means that, though the reason is hidden from us, it is a reason which makes sense to him. He will never give us up.
Obedience
Our obedience is the way we enter, in experience, into the totality of what God is doing in us.
Phil 2:12-13
The Philippians were to make salvation work in their lives
In 2:12 Paul means “salvation” in terms of progressively coming to experience all of the aspects and blessings of salvation. The Philippians’ continued obedience is an inherent part of “working out” their salvation in this sense.
But as v. 13 demonstrates, these works are the result of God’s work within his people. both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Even the desire (“to will”) to do what is good comes from God; but he also works in the believer to generate actual choices of the good, so that the desires result in actions. (On fear of God, see notes on Acts 5:5; 9:31.)
Using a play on words, Paul said they were to “work out” because God “works in.” God’s work in them provided both the motivation and the ability to do his good pleasure.
Just as God assessed and then reacted to the worth of his Son’s life of obedience (verses 9–11), so the Christian must ponder the example of Christ and determine upon a worthy response (verses 12–18).
Phil 2:14-15
He does not outline a course of action but calls for a kind of action: without grumbling or questioning; he does not specify a rule of life but a sort of person: blameless … innocent … without blemish; he focuses attention not on social involvement but on social contrast: a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights.
The ungrumbling, unquestioning conduct of the Christian has an aim: that you be (better ‘that you may show/prove yourselves to be’) children of God. The great glory of Christian ethics is that it calls us to be what we are.
Children of God describes neither wishful thinking, nor a fond hope, nor a target for supreme endeavour, but a present reality waiting to be worked out in our conscious, responsive behaviour
Phil 2:17
The sacrificial terminology of these verses supplies another metaphor to explain. Three words recall the sacrificial system: “poured out” (spendomai), “sacrifice” (thysia), and “service” (leitourgia). “Poured out” refers to a drink offering that accompanied the sacrifices. “Sacrifice” was the actual offering, and “service” accompanied the offering. These last two appear to combine to speak of a sacrifice; the first, “poured out,” definitely referred to a procedure of pouring a drink offering either before or after the offering itself.
Words
Work out
Salvation
In 2:12 Paul means “salvation” in terms of progressively coming to experience all of the aspects and blessings of salvation. The Philippians’ continued obedience is an inherent part of “working out” their salvation in this sense.
Fear and Trembling
In addition to obedience, the Philippians were to be sober. The precise words are “fear and trembling.” These words reminded them of their relationship to God and that they were to conduct their lives with a seriousness and reverence due him. After all, he worked in them.
Hold Fast (to the words of life)
Holding fast means both believing God’s Word and following it.
Word of life
By contrast, the Christian both ‘holds fast’ the word of life, just as a lantern hold within itself some radiant element, and also ‘holds forth’ the word of life, just as from a lantern a bright outshining dispels the surrounding darkness.
The word of life has thus two distinct sides. It is the message which both tells of life and also imparts the life of which it tells. It stands broadly for the total message of the Scriptures, and specifically for ‘the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation’.24
Without this life-giving word Christian character is impossible. But at the same time, the light of Christian character is an uninterpreted parable if we do not speak about Christ. Equally, speaking about Christ is futile if our lives do not back up what we say.
It is the very life of Christ which the life-giving word imparts to us. This life must have its way, shining out into a crooked and perverse generation, exposing and condemning, illuminating and transforming. Testimony is part of becoming Christlike.
Sacrificial gift
Understood this way, the “sacrifice and service coming from your faith” would be that which their faith produced. Thus their response to God in faith produced the sacrifice of the gift to Paul.