Good News: The Gospel Keeps Us Spiritually Healthy

Philippians 2:12-13

Philippians 2:12–13 ESV

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.

What if I told you that in about 20 minutes a day you could that lower your risk of major diseases such as cancer, heart disease, stroke and diabetes by 50%. And lower the risk of an early death by 30%. That in just 20 minutes a day you could reduce the risk of depression and feel happier, more energetic, more focused, more productive, and less stressed. If you could get all these benefits in about 20 minutes a day, would you take the time to do it?

Well, studies have shown that you can have all of these benefits by doing moderately intense aerobic workouts for at least 150 minutes a week. Now Moderately intense means that you heart rate is slightly elevated and you will breathe slightly faster. It’s described as, “You should still be able to talk, but you won’t be able to sing.” So this is not even talking about an all out vigorous exercise. If one were to add a strengthening routine and more vigorous exercise to their workout, the benefits would be even greater.

Working out can keep help keep us physically, mentally, emotionally healthy, but according to recent studies, only about 50% of Americans meet the 150 minute weekly recommendation. And only 23% of Americans meet the criteria for aerobic exercise and strength training. And about a quarter of Americans are considered to be physically inactive which means they don’t do any intentional exercise the only exercise they get is from the natural activities of living.

Now, most people know that their are benefits to getting a good workout in. So why don’t people do it? Glad you asked, because I have stats for that too. Here are the top 10 reasons that Americans said they don’t workout more often.

Top 10 reasons Americans more frequently

I don’t have time 42% I don’t have the motivation 35%

I don’t like exercising 25% Work gets in the way 23%

I feel too old 23% I don’t see results 22%

Don’t have equipment at home 21% It’s too expensive 20%

It’s inconvenient 19% Gym is too far away 18%

Now I could keep going with stats. Like the top excuses people use for skipping their workouts, but I’m done meddling for this morning. The point is, most people know there are benefits to working out, but there are many people who for whatever reason don’t want to put in the effort in order to obtain all of the health benefits of working.

Now, let’s think about this from a spiritual perspective. Are you willing to put in the effort in oder to maintain your spiritual health? In our text this morning, Paul gives the command to to work out our salvation.

Now Paul is speaking directly to the Philippian church. So everyone that he is writing to has already made the decision to follow Christ. These are all Christians. So when he tells them to work out their salvation. He is not telling them to work to earn their salvation. Jesus has already done all the work necessary for us to receive salvation through His death and resurrection.

Work out here means to produce something or accomplish something. It means to put something into effect entirely or thoroughly. So Paul’s command here is that the Philippians salvation needs to be put into full effect. He is saying that their faith needs to be exercised in order to experience it’s maximum potential. So Paul is again talking about sanctification. The lifelong process that Christians go through in which their life is changed more and more into the image of Christ. We know we are spiritual healthy when our hears, attitude, and character are increasingly looking more like Christ.

Just like with a physical workout, if we put the work in, there are benefits both seen and unseen that we get out of it. If you are a follower of Christ, Christ is now living inside of you. But Paul is telling us that if we are going to see the benefit of Christ living in us, we need to put in some laborious effort and work out the salvation that He has given us.

But just like the physical workout, we can come up with a number of excuses, or um. Reasons why we don’t put the effort in to gain greater spiritual health. It would be much easier to just be spiritual couch potatoes, but our grace and holiness will never grow. I know living the Christian life is not easy. Always striving to say the right thing, do the right things, think the right things, all while trying to avoid temptation. I know that in our world there are many things that we can consume that can really be a detriment to our spiritual health. It takes a lot of effort to live godly. But I have good news. The gospel can keep us spiritually healthy.

This morning, we are going to talk in more detail about how a gospel centered life can drive us to to workout our salvation and also eliminate some of the excuses that we may have for not consistently exercising our faith in Christ.

So let’s dig in here. First thing I want to point out is

I. God’s Workout Plan is Obedience

Philippians 2:12

Philippians 2:12 ESV

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,

Now anytime we see the word therefore, we need to see what it is therefore. It’s always referring back to something that was said previously. So what had Paul just finished talking about? In the last few weeks, we have been looking at Paul’s instructions to the Philippian church. This therefore is going back all the way to Philippians 1:27 where Paul says

Philippians 1:27 ESV

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,

Paul’s main instruction was that the believers needed to live a life that was worthy of the gospel of Christ. And all the verses after that start to tell us what it looks like to live that life worthy of the gospel.

There in verse 27 he says we should be standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side for the faith in the gospel and continuing into Philippians 1:28 that we should not be frightened by any of our opponents.

Philippians 1:28 ESV

and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.

Then in Philippians 2:2-4 we get more commands concerning our unity, humility, and selflessness. Like “Be of the same mind, have the same love, be in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition, in humility count others more significant than yourself. Look not only on your own interests, but on the interests of others.

Philippians 2:2–4 ESV

complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Then in Philippians 2:5 we have the command

Philippians 2:5 ESV

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

In which Paul calls the believers to imitate the example of Christ who was a selfless servant obedient to death on the cross.

So now, when we get down to verse 12, Paul is calling the believers to remember all the instructions that he had just given them, and obey. The main instruction being, live a life that is worthy of the gospel.

Now, Paul wants them to continue in their pattern of obedience in the things he has just said to them, and that’s what he means by working out their salvation. Paul had revealed to them some weaknesses in their spiritual lives, and he wanted them to put in the effort to strengthen themselves in these areas by being obedient to the instructions to he had just given.

One of the main reasons that I hear from people who don’t work out is that they don’t know what to do. They don’t know how to put together a workout plan with the right exercises and they hear people talk about sets and reps and they just get all confused so they just don’t workout.

But God has left us a clear plan for working out our salvation. It’s obedience. Obedience to God’s Word is the key to sanctification. He is not asking for us to make up something new. As we obey what is taught to us in the Scriptures, our lives will look more and more like Christ and the Jesus that is in us will start to work its way out in our lives.

And the best part is, we have an example of what complete obedience looks like in the example of Christ.

Maybe you’ve experienced this. You are trying to learn a new exercise or improve your form on an exercise, so you watch demonstration videos on how to do the exercise and try to follow their example. Like their is an entire market dedicated to demonstrating to others workouts so they can copy them.

Hey, that’s what Jesus was for us. He’s already mastered the workout. So if you are trying to figure out what does it look like to grow in my faith. What do I need to do to workout salvation. Paul gave the example already. Philippians 2:5-8

Philippians 2:5–8 ESV

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Take those principles of humility, selflessness, servanthood, and sacrificial obedience apply those to your life, and I feel like you are going to do OK. Obedience is God’s workout plan.

Before we move on, I want to highlight two more things.

One, is that this command to workout is for all believers. As we previously stated, the Philippian church was for the most part, a good church. They weren’t a church gone wild like the Corinthian or Ephesian church. There was no major moral issues that Paul makes mention of. But still, Paul said that these believers needed to work out their salvation and walk worthy of the gospel. This tells us that this process of sanctification is never finished. There is always something in our lives that we can change to look more like the image of Christ. From the baby Christian who is still learning what it means to live holy, to the most pious Christian that you know. We must continually be on the path to reflect the image of Christ on our lives.

The second thing I wanted to note is this. Check out the similarity in Philippians 1:27 and Philippians 2:12

Philippians 1:27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,

Philippians 2:12 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,

In both of these verses, Paul says that whether I am there or not, He wants these things to be true. Whether he is there or not, they need to continue in obedience and workout their salvation. Not only did Paul challenge their obedience. He challenged their integrity. Integrity means to be principled, trustworthy, consistently moral.

Do we need to have someone constantly watching over us to be obedient to God’s Word? Do we act one way around our church people, but act completely different around others? It shouldn’t matter who is watching over us. We need to live according to God’s Word. Remember this Proverbs 15:3

Proverbs 15:3 ESV

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

Sure Paul was absent, but God was still present. Everything we do is really for an audience of one. So keep that in mind as you seek to workout your salvation.

Transition: So Obedience is the workout plan. Here’s the second thing I want to highlight this morning.

II. Fear of God is a legit motivator

For many people, their greatest motivation for working out is fear. They go to the doctor and the have high blood pressure, diabetes, or maybe heart issues due to being overweight and the doctor tells them that if they don’t start getting more exercise, their health will be at risk. So many people begin exercising just because they understand that they are in danger if they don’t.

Philippians 2:12

Philippians 2:12 ESV

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,

In Paul’s command, he tells them to work out their salvation with fear and trembling.

Now as many of you would probably guess, the word fear here is referring to reverence or respect for God. And trembling means shaking or vibrating rapidly out of awe. So Paul is not saying that we need to necessarily be afraid of God. But we should have a respect and awe of God that makes us take God seriously. The fact that God is almighty and all powerful should grip our souls and motivate us to obedience.

I know we as Christians often don’t like to talk about fear being a motivator for obedience. But Paul thought that it was legit. And so did David and Solomon in Psalms and Proverbs. The fear of the Lord is one of the major themes in both of these books. In Psalms we read verses like

Psalm 2:11

Psalm 2:11 ESV

Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

In Proverbs 16:6

Proverbs 16:6 ESV

By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.

And these are just sample verses. All throughout these books there are verses that indicate that the fear of the Lord. That reverence, that respect for who God is a great motivator for obedience to His word.

As Christians today, it is important that we never lose our awe of God. Yes, God loves us and wants to have a close relationship with us. Yes, God is our friend that sticks closer than a brother. But we cannot forget that God is also the Creator and Sustainer of this world. He is is the ultimate Judge. He is the Master. We can’t forget what Paul said in the previous verses. Every knee is going to bow, and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. God is Supreme. There’s a real danger in becoming so familiar with God that we lose sight of who He really is. And we must be careful to never lose our awe of God.

The sad truth is that many Christians have replaced their fear of God with the fear of man, fear of circumstances, fear of failure, fear of rejection, or the fear of shame. If these are our greatest motivations for obeying God, we are obeying to protect ourselves not glorify God. May the fear and awe of God be the motivation that we need to work out our salvation and glorify God.

Transition: The workout plan is obedience, the fear of God is a legit motivation, and the third truth that I want to point out is that

III. God Makes Provisions for Our Work Out

Philippians 2:13

Philippians 2:13 ESV

for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Now this is a great verse. Paul gives this command to work out our salvation by being obedient to all these commands that he gave. Living worthy of the gospel, being humble, beings selfless, having the same attitude as Jesus. These are not easy commands. This is a tall order. And left on our own, with our sinful, self-centered hearts it would be impossible.

But Paul gives us a little comfort here. We do not have to do this on our own. God is working in us as we work out our salvation. Remember, Paul told us already in this book that God is working in us to bring our our salvation to maturity. Philippians 1:6

Philippians 1:6 ESV

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Here are three provisions that God gives us to workout our salvation

Philippians 2:13

Philippians 2:13 ESV

for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

A. He provides the energy

The Greek word for the word work in the phrase “for it is God who works” is the word energon. That is where we get our word energy from. It means to implement or to cause something to function in the right way.

Many people that workout frequently take what’s called a pre-workout. It’s usually a blend of vitamins and way too much caffeine that give you a boost of energy to really go in and kill your workout. Now I use pre-workout every day. I don’t drink coffee so I had some before I got here this morning. But, on most days, if I don’t have my pre-workout. My workout is bleeeh. Like that gives me the boost that I need to get in there and get it done.

And what Paul is saying here is that God provides the pre-workout. He provides the energy. He gives you that kick that you need in order to live obedient and workout your salvation. God works in us. He provides this energy through the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 40:28-31

Isaiah 40:28–31 ESV

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

B. He provides the desire

There are days when I have 0 desire to go into the gym and workout. Those days are always tough. Because I know I need to go, but when I get there I’m thinking the whole time. I really don’t want to be here. I really don’t want to do this. And often that affects the intensity of my workout. Desire is a serious obstacle to overcome.

Paul says that it God that works in us to will. The word used means a strong desire or wish. It is God the gives us the desire. The want to. The determination for us to be obedient and work out our salvation. You see God doesn’t want us to be begrudging servants. He wants us to be willing servants. I like the way John puts it in 1 John 5:3

1 John 5:3 ESV

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

God does not want us to be burdened by obedience. He wants our joy and delight to be living in obedience to Him. And that’s is one of the things that God changes in us at salvation. He gives us the willful desire to start living in obedience to Him

C. He provides the ability

Maybe you’ve heard someone use the excuse “I’m just not an athletic person” and that’s why they don’t get proper exercise. They feel that they lack the ability, and therefore they do nothing. That’s not really a good excuse because everyone can do something even if it is just simple exercises.

Ability is not having a ability is not a good excuse for not working out our salvation. I’ve heard Christian’s say before that I can’t - insert whatever sin that they seem to struggle with. But according to God, we can.

God works in us to will and to work. Now the word used for work here is slightly different. Same root word energeo. But the word used here means to function properly. The idea here is that something or someone is fulfilling their purpose. God gives us the ability to function properly. To live in accordance with His Word. So we need to change our mindset, there is never a command in the Bible that we can’t follow. It’s not that we can’t. It’s that we won’t. It goes back to the will or desire that we talked about before.

For us to live obedient and workout our salvation God must energize us, act upon our will and give us the ability. In Ezekiel 36:26-27 God says to His the nation of Israel

Ezekiel 36:26–27 ESV

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

I believe that this is a great description of the work that God is doing in each of our hearts as we are are being remade into the image of Christ by being obedient to His will through the power and influence of the Holy Spirit.

And we are told that God works in us for his good pleasure. Some version may say for his good purpose. The thought here is that it brings God pleasure to see His people living in obedience and conforming to the image of Christ. In Hebrews 11:6 the Bible says.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

So if living in obedience, working out our salvation brings God pleasure, and without faith, it is impossible to please God. What does that tell us? There must be a connection between faith and obedience. We could say this. Obedience to God is our response to our faith that God is working in us. If we truly believe that He who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete, we need to live in obedience and work out the salvation that He has given us.

Here is the main thought I want you to remember today.

For our salvation to be worked out, we must act upon God’s work within.

For us to be more like Christ, human responsibility and God’s activity must be working together. You see while God gives us the desire, he never forces His will upon us. God gives us the ability to choose whether or not we will live in obedience. God is at work, but we are to act upon the grace that is working within us. The companion verses to this is Hebrews 13:20-21 which says

Hebrews 13:20–21 ESV

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

God is going to equip us with everything that we need to do His will. He gives us the workout plan, he gives us the motivation, he gives us the energy, the desire, the ability, but we must choose to humbly obey.

In a sense, God is like the personal trainer. A personal trainer is typically someone who is already in good shape and will work with you to help you improve your health. A good personal trainer is going to create the workout for you. They are going to demonstrate how to do the exercises. They provide the motivation - sometimes they can even be a little scary. Their job is to keep you energized and help maintain a desire for better health and wellness. They will even point out things in your diet that will keep you from getting the results that you want. And as you keep working with that trainer, your ability increases and you start seeing yourself doing things that you never thought you could do before. - But here’s the thing. You still have to do the workout. If you don’t show up or make excuses, you don’t get the benefits of working out. They aid you in every way possible, but they can’t do the workout for you. If you want to reap the benefits, you have to put in the work.

And on a much grander scale, God provides everything that we need to live in obedience and workout our salvation. But we still have to do the work. Speaking about his work to the Colossians, Paul said Colossians 1:29

Colossians 1:29 ESV

For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Paul said he toiled. he struggled. But he did with the energy of God that was working within him. I know it is not easy to live the Christian life. Just like with our physical health, there are no shortcuts. There are no magic pills that will automatically make you be healthy. You have to put in the work. I know that it’s going to be a struggle, but we are not alone in the fight. God is working within us, and we must only respond in obedience to what He is going in our hearts.

For our salvation to be worked out, we must act upon God’s work within.

Quickly, I just want to give you three major areas that we need to live in obedience as Christians.

Disciplines

We need to be practicing spiritual disciplines in our lives. We need to Read, Meditate, and memorize God’s Word. We need to spend time with God in prayer, and when led by the Spirit fasting as well. We need to spend time worshipping God and fellowshipping with other believers. So come to church, but worship and fellowship can and should be done outside of the church as well. And We need to give generously to God’s work. And perhaps there are some other disciplines that you can think of, but we need to committed to following Christ by discipling ourselves to do these consistently

2. Disciple making

And when we talk about disciple making, we are always break it down into to facets. There’s evangelism sharing the gospel with those that do not know Jesus. And then there is discipleship Teaching and training other believers to follow Christ in obedience.

3. Development of Character

Our lives should by increasingly looking more like Christ in Philippians 2:5-8 . As God changes our hearts, we should change our thoughts and actions. We could be labor this point but I’ll keep it simple here. Be humble and be holy.

I think if we can being obedient in these three areas are good benchmark to see if we are working out our salvation. So examine your relationship with God. Maybe you need to be more obedient in the area of spiritual disciplines. Perhaps you are lacking in making disciples. Maybe there are some character issues that need to be developed. Start putting in the effort. God is working in you already by revealing that weakness, now respond to God’s work and act in obedience. Work out you salvation. Be spiritually healthy.

Maybe you were listening this morning and you do not yet know Jesus. You have never committed your life to following Christ. I want to encourage you to make today the day of your salvation. I know as we said this morning, being a Christian isn’t easy, but I promise it’s worth it. God loves you so much that He sent His son Jesus to die on the cross for your sins and raised Him from the dead, so that we could reap the benefits of a relationship with Him. God wants to change you from the inside out. So if you have never given your life over to Jesus...