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From the Pulpit

Commentary

¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

1. Salvation
   
   
   1. “It has sometimes been said that preachers frequently select very unpractical themes. No such objection can be raised to-day, for nothing can be more practical than this; nothing more needful than to urge you to see to “your own salvation.” -Spurgeon, Sermon 1003, “Your Own Salvation”
      
      
   2. Salvation is the most important thing for every human on Earth, regardless of age, race, title, continent, or any other division.
      
      
   3. “If individuals live only seventy years, then a state, or a nation, or a civilization, which may last for a thousand years, is more important than an individual. But if Christianity is true, then the individual is not only more important but incomparably more important, for he is everlasting and the life of a state or a civilization, compared with his, is only a moment. -C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Bk. 3, Ch. 1
      
      
   4. There are many today that consider talk about salvation a selfish abstraction about one’s own feelings, rather than anything that could be a real benefit to the world.
      
      
      1. On the charge of selfishness
         
         
         1. Would a person be selfish for brushing their teeth?  Or eating healthy?  Of course not.  Caring for what you’ve been given is healthy.
            
            
         2. We are more than just bodies; we’re souls.  There’s a spark of self that we know that’s boundless in its ability to ponder and grow.  Once we recognize that, we’re obligated to care for it.
            
            
         3. The only source to cleanse and strengthen our soul is the God that made it.  That’s what salvation is all about: caring for our souls.
            
            
      2. On the charge of pointlessness
         
         
         1. You don’t stop a problem with more problems.
              
            1. If a building is on fire, you don’t add more fire.  You add water.
               
               
            2. If a classroom is crazy, you don’t send in a hyper kid.  You send in a teacher.
               
               
            3. If there’s a problem, you don’t add more problems.  You add the solution.
               
               
         2. Sin is the problem in this world, but we’re a part of that problem.
            
            
            1. We’re selfish.
               
               
            2. We do wrong things.
               
               
            3. We are sinful and can’t change that on our own.
               
               
         3. God is the solution.  He can purify us, and then we can allow him to work in us so that we can help be a part of the solution, rather than a part of the problem.
            
            
2. “…work out your salvation…”
   
   
   1. Christians often think about salvation purely as the moment of justification, or the moment when we first put our faith in Christ and ask to be forgiven of our sins, but God’s salvation goes beyond that.
      
      
   2. Salvation isn’t just a one-and-done affair.  It’s not fire insurance you buy just in case.
      
      
   3. After justification, God draws us towards him through sanctification.  Through the Holy Spirit, God makes us holier and recovers his image and likeness (Gen 1:26) in us.  That is what Paul is referring to here.
      
      
      1. We don’t work FOR our salvation.  We work OUT our salvation.
         
         
      2. Working FOR our salvation implies we’re capable of forming ourselves through our own actions in ways that redeem us, which Paul will explicitly deny in Phil. 3:9.
         
         
      3. Working OUT your salvation is exercising the Holy Spirit’s power in your life, living what you believe.
         
         
      4. Our heart is like a field.  God wants to plant a garden there to grow the fruits of the Spirit in our lives, but if we don’t allow the soil to be plowed and weeded for God’s work, nothing will grow.  Stay receptive.
         
         
   4. “[H]is influences are not to supersede, but to encourage, our own efforts. Work out your own salvation – Here is our duty. For it is God that worketh in you – Here is our encouragement. And O, what a glorious encouragement, to have the arm of Omnipotence stretched out for our support and our succour!” -John Wesley, Wesley’s Notes on the New Testament
      
      
3. “…fear and trembling…”

1. 1. Paul is writing this having found joy in prison.  He doesn’t want severe anxiety and terror in us.
      
      
   2. Paul wants us to take God seriously.  It isn’t light work.  We won’t stumble into holiness.
      
      
   3. Consider the magnitude of the claim.  God is at work in us during every mundane day.  The Alpha and the Omega is actively shaping us.  Are we allowing Him to do so?  Do we even remember that in the average day?

¹⁴ Do everything without grumbling or arguing, ¹⁵ so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky ¹⁶ as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.

1. “.Do everything without grumbling or arguing…”
   
   
   1. After talking about something as large as salvation, Paul follows up by talking about one of the smallest pieces of our lives: words.
      
      
   2. We work out the grandeur of our salvation in the tiniest moments of taming of our tongue.
      
      
   3. “First, he points out two ways to act, namely, without murmurings and hesitations. For virtuous works are very difficult and offer a fertile field for grumbling:” -Aquinas, Commentary on Philippians, C2, L4 79.
      
      
2. God’s words are powerful:
   
   
   1. Genesis 1: God speaks creation into being.
      
      
   2. John 1: Jesus is the Word.
      
      
   3. Genesis 1:26 We are made in the image and likeness of God.  Our words are powerful too.
      
      
   4. We can speak things into being too.  Disunity.  Anger.  Fear.  Frustration.  We can create a world we ourselves don’t want to inhabit.
      
      
3. Speak life, not death; hold firmly to the word of life to shine like stars.
   
   
   1. “And the reason for this is given there, ‘among whom you shine as lights in the world,’, for however the world may change, their lights in the sky remain bright.” -Aquinas, Commentary on Philippians, C2, L4 79.

¹⁷ But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. ¹⁸ So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.

1. “But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering…”
   
   
   1. Paul models the taming of the tongue in hard circumstances. He is imprisoned, wondering if he will be executed, but he writes with joy and hope.
      
      
   2. If you were in prison, what would your communications look like?

¹⁹ I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. ²⁰ I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. ²¹ For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. ²² But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. ²³ I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. ²⁴ And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.

1. “I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare….”
   
   
   1. Paul shows Timothy’s leadership credentials by focusing on two things: 
      
      
      1. How he loves Jesus.
         
         
      2. How he loves others.
         
         
   2. Notice that it wasn’t his intelligence, his speaking ability, his leadership capacity, or any other thing that got presented as the reason to get excited.  Timothy loves Jesus and others.  A lot of people don’t do that very well.  He WILL be a blessing.
      
      
   3. The old Sunday School acrostic serves us all well if we remember it: Live a life of JOY
      
      
      1. J- Jesus comes first.
         
         
      2. O- Others come second.
         
         
      3. Y- Always put Yourself last.
         
         
   4. Timothy led a joyful life.
      
      
   5. “Oh, what longing had he toward Macedonia! …[H]ere he says, “I hope to send Timothy that I may know your state,” which is a proof of excessive care: for when he could not himself be with them, he sent his disciples, as he could not endure to remain, even for a little time, in ignorance of their state.” -Chrysostom, Homily 9 on Philippians.

¹⁹ I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. ²⁰ I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. ²¹ For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. ²² But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. ²³ I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. ²⁴ And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.

1. “…it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, co-worker and fellow soldier…”
   
   
   1. Epaphroditus is a member of the church at Philippi.  He came to help Paul and offer the financial support gathered by the congregation.
      
      
   2. This was a long journey: from modern Greece to Rome!  And Rome was hostile to Christians under Nero.  This was a dangerous journey for Epaphroditus.  And to top it off, he nearly died from an illness that he contracted during this journey.
   3. Notice that Paul calls him “soldier.”  He is ready to respond to God, even to give his life if the Gospel cause should require it.
      
      
   4. “Here too he gives another reason for sending so late to them, not from any remissness, but he kept Timothy because he had no one else, (for, as he had written, he had no one likeminded,) and Epaphroditus because of his sickness. He then shows that this was a long sickness, and had consumed much time, by adding, for he was sick near unto death. You see how anxious Paul is to cut off from his disciples all occasion of slighting or contempt, and every suspicion that his not coming was because he despised them. For nothing will have such power to draw a disciple toward one, as the persuasion that his superior cares for him.” -Chrysostom, Homily 9 on Philippians

Full Transcript

So today we are talking about the most important thing we could possibly talk about. We are talking about something that is important regardless of your socioeconomic status, regardless of what you do for a living, regardless of your age. It’s just as important if you’re five or if you’re 55 or if you’re 105. Talking about salvation, your salvation.

Now I know there are those out there who would doubt whether that’s all that’s important to talk about. It’s about your salvation. You want to make a difference in the world. Stop being so selfish. Focus on someone else for a change. Don’t worry about your sense of spirituality. That doesn’t matter. That’s not going to fix anything. Go out and do some good for someone else. And I want to take that concern seriously. Because I think if you don’t have a Christian background, if you don’t understand what salvation is, it can be hard to understand the value in it. And while I imagine a lot of us in this room have a Christian background and understand the need for salvation, there are people in your life that don’t. Whether it be someone who doesn’t believe in God at all, or someone who, the last time they thought about their salvation, they were in eighth grade going through confirmation class, and they haven’t looked back since.

So let’s talk about it. Why is thinking about your salvation worth your time? Well, it’s certainly not selfish or pointless. To the contrary, it’s healthy, and it’s critical if you want to make a difference in the world. As to the first part, is it selfish? Let me just ask you: If you saw someone brushing their teeth in the morning, would you say, “Yikes! They could have been using that time to go help someone else, and instead they’re focusing on themselves. Shame on them!” Like, of course not, right? No, it’s good to brush your teeth. You should do that. You don’t want to get cavities, so you take care of your teeth. It’s a good thing. Or if you saw someone eating healthy, maybe they’re eating a nice salad. You look at them. Would you really think that is the most self-obsessed person I’ve ever seen in my life?

No, they’re taking care of their body. That’s a good thing. You want to stay healthy. You want to be able to live long without getting any problems with your body because you didn’t eat right. When you recognize that humans are more than just skin and bones, that there’s something underneath all of that, this spark that is who we are, this sense of self, this ability to think and make decisions, a self that can think on the deep things of life—that’s our soul. And if we have a soul, taking care of it, well, that’s incredibly important. How do we take care of our soul? How do we make sure there’s no rot in our soul? How do we make sure it doesn’t atrophy?

Can’t do it on our own, but we can go to God. God can cleanse our soul. God can make our souls strong. Talking about salvation, thinking about our salvation—it is certainly not selfish. It is just taking care of what you’ve been given by going to the God who made us and loves us, and asking Him to help take care of the most critical part of our being.

Now, as for whether or not it’s going to help anybody, is salvation helpful to others, or is it pointless? It’s more than just a sense of spirituality. It’s more than just warm fuzzies. It’s like I was talking to the kids earlier. If you are someone that wants to make a difference in the world, you don’t solve a problem with more problems. You don’t try to put out a fire with more fire.

You don’t try to calm a rowdy classroom with another rowdy kid. If you want to make a difference in those situations, you get a teacher for the rowdy classroom, and you get water for the fire. When we see ugly things in this world, and I know that you do, because you can watch the news or you can just live in this world and know that there’s death and sin and cruelty and poverty. There’s so many things in this world that are problems. Unfortunately for us, on our own, we’re a part of those problems. If we want to make a difference, we go to the one who can solve the problem—God. We ask Him to start with us, and with His Holy Spirit inside of us, working on us, transforming us. We can slowly, not only cease being part of the problem, but go out and help others, and help reclaim this world and redeem it.

Now, a lot of times when we think about salvation, we tend to think of a very certain part of it. The fancy church word for it is justification. It’s that moment when you first ask Jesus for forgiveness and put your trust in Him. That’s a good moment. It’s important.

But there’s more to it than that, because going to God, it’s not like fire insurance—just something you get and you keep around just in case something goes wrong. God wants more than that. God wants to work in us to make us holy, to recover His image and likeness within us. That process is called—the fancy church term is sanctification. God slowly making us what we’re supposed to be, and that’s what Paul’s talking about when he says we need to work out our salvation. The way it’s phrased is a little strange. I mean, I don’t know about you, but when I hear “work out,” I think about someone lifting weights at the gym, right? And it’s not entirely different from that. What Paul’s getting at, he’s saying you need to exercise the Holy Spirit’s power in your life. You need to live out what you believe. You need to allow God’s power and God’s mercy to work within you, so that you can start to be what God’s calling you to be. You can start to become holy.

Working out your salvation is not at all the same thing as working for your salvation. We can never be good enough on our own. We are not capable of being so good that this disease of sin suddenly just vanishes from us. God has to come in and do His work, and that’s the great news. Salvation is not a work we do alone. God is at work in us, and that’s one of those things you hear in church constantly. You’ve probably heard it many times through your life, so sometimes it can sneak right by you. What a big deal that is! So I’m going to say it again: God is at work in you. Think about that. The Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, is at work in you. Think about what you were doing yesterday.

What were you up to? Did you recognize that God was at work in you? Were you allowing God to shape you and mold you? They were. Look at that. They were ready for it. You got to be conscious of it, though. You don’t stumble into holiness by accident. If you want to work with God, you have to be receptive to what God is doing.

Imagine your heart like a patch of soil. God wants to take that heart and plant the seeds in it that are going to grow into magnificent trees that produce the fruit of the Spirit in your life—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, all that good stuff, all the virtues. That’s what God wants. But we have to till the soil. We got to pull the weeds. We have to make sure that we are receptive to what God is trying to grow in us. That is why Paul says we do it with fear and trembling. And Paul does not mean that we should be terrified 24/7 and super anxious. I mean, you can see this is a letter written by a guy who was imprisoned by Romans. It is remarkably delighted. Most people would not be nearly this comfortable and happy.

Paul is not someone who’s this anxious, freaking-out kind of guy. Paul’s just trying to say, take it seriously. Don’t just assume you’re going to stumble into holiness because God’s at work in you and you can just forget about the whole thing. Be receptive to it. Be mindful of it. Allow yourself to continuously be aware of what God wants you to become, and work with God to become what He’s pulling you towards—to be holy.

Now that’s a big idea. When I think about big ideas like salvation, I tend to think of those big mountaintop moments, right? Think about salvation, and I imagine someone talking about, you know, at one time I was at church camp, and I felt led to go to the altar, and I went up there, and I could feel the presence of God, and I gave my whole life over to Him, and started weeping.

Which is kind of weird that I think that way, because I didn’t have any experience like that. But it feels proper. It feels like a big moment that a big idea like salvation is worthy of. But Paul follows up with the most mundane, tiny thing you can possibly imagine. Paul follows up by talking about words, the little words that we speak every day. How many of those do we say in an average day? How many of those do we really think about before we say them? Paul follows up, saying, “Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Yeah, things are bad in this world, but we’re meant to shine.

But we’re never going to shine like we’re supposed to. For grumbling, for picking fights, our words matter. They’re powerful. Just think about all the way back in Genesis, right? In the beginning, God does what to create everything? Someone can get it. He speaks. God speaks in the beginning. He spoke things into being. Jesus is even known as the Word. God’s words are powerful. We are made in God’s image and God’s likeness. Our words are powerful. We can speak things into being. If we speak and we argue and we use our words like that, we can create hostility, frustration, and ugliness.

If we speak by grumbling, we can take a world where God is at work doing good things all around us, and make the people around us feel that it’s just hopeless, and there’s nothing good happening, and nothing’s good enough. And here’s one that Paul does not mention, but I think is very much in the same spirit about gossip. That’s an easy one. We can use our words to divide people from each other and to obscure the truth.

I know, just listening to. So the other day, the conference superintendent, one of the bigwigs in the denomination, was here. His name’s Dan Guildner. Felt like he was a really good guy. Excited to work with him. He was talking a little bit about his hopes for the church, and he said, “We started this denomination because we thought that people weren’t really taking the Bible seriously. We wanted to take the Bible seriously, and we’re really good at that, at some parts.”

Really bad at other parts. How many of our churches have grumbling or gossip, despite many passages in the Bible about that? If we want to see God’s power at work in our communities, we have to listen to the whole Bible. We have to speak life and not death. That’s what Paul wants. He wants to see people using words beautifully to create the goodness in the world that we want to see so much. He continues on saying, “Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky, as you hold firmly to the word of life. Then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.”

So you too should be glad and rejoice with me. We immediately get to see Paul working out his salvation by paying attention to his words, because it would be very easy if you’re talking about don’t grumble, don’t argue, to make it sound like a scolding. But the way he puts it, it’s just beautiful. He just wants you to shine like stars in a dark world.

And he talks about his imprisonment, not in a way that’s fearful or distrusting, but in a way that has total faith in what God is doing. In a way that expects good things to come from even the darkest moments. Ask yourself this: If you were in prison, no phones, no emails, and you wrote a letter to people on the outside, how much of that letter would be griping? Let me just tell you, I assure you, a fair bit of mine would be. That’s something I could stand to work on. That’s precisely why Paul’s letter is so beautiful. Why it’s so impressive to see how he’s working out his salvation? Because even in these dark moments, you see someone filled with joy and excitement. He moves on and he talks about two other people here.

Timothy and Epaphroditus. These are two men that embody that very thing that he’s talking about. He begins by talking about Timothy. Now, this is the same Timothy that First and Second Timothy in the Bible are written to. So he says to this church, he says, “I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. I have no one like him who will show genuine concern for your welfare. For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know that Timothy has proved himself because, as a son with his father, he has served with me in the work of the gospel. I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me, and I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.”

Saying, “Look, I can’t be there right now, but I’m really hoping I can send Timothy, because here is a Christian leader that is smart as a whip. He is brilliant. He’s going to blow your minds with his teachings.” No, he didn’t say that, right? And he doesn’t say, “Oh, here’s Timothy. He speaks so well. He’s so eloquent. You’re just going to be hanging on every word he says.” He doesn’t say that. He says, “I’m going to send you guys Timothy, and I know he’s going to be good for your community because he’s going to care about you.” And he puts Jesus first. That is the qualification that he touts more than anything else for this strong Christian leader—for all of us.

Especially those in leadership. How often do we think about that? How often do we put Jesus and others first as the most important thing? Reminds me of a lesson that I had back when I was in school. When I was a kid, there was a church about five minutes down the road, a little Christian school, and I went there for school from grades one to seven, and I’m not gonna lie. I don’t remember a lot of what they taught me in religion class, partially because it was just a really long time ago, and also partially because I don’t know how receptive I was every day of the week. I definitely remember being the only kid that got caught cheating on their Bible memorization tests.

Which, thank God, Jesus washes our sins away. Because if I died as a pastor that cheated on his Bible memorization, I think there’s like a special hell for that, right? No, I don’t remember a lot, but I do remember one lesson. And maybe you had it in Sunday school. It’s not especially hard or especially deep, but in other ways, it is very hard and very deep. They just talked about living your life with joy, and they made a cross stick out of the word joy. J-O-Y. Jesus, others, yourself. That’s the order. Put Jesus first in everything. Put others second, and put yourself last. That’s the kind of guy Timothy is. He puts Jesus first even when nobody else does. He puts others second, so you can trust that he’s going to be great in any community he is in, because he wants to help people and love them. He doesn’t worry about himself.

Not only do we get to see Timothy, but we get to see Epaphroditus. Verse 25. “But I think it’s necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, coworker, and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs, for he longs for all of you in his distress, because you heard he was ill. Indeed, he was ill and almost died, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but also on me to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. Therefore, I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again, you may be glad, and I may have less anxiety. So then, welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor people like him.”

“Because he almost died for the work of Christ, he risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give me.” Epaphroditus is a member of the church at Philippi. They sent him with the money that they were giving Paul so that he could sustain himself while he was in prison. And that’s a long journey, right? Not only did he travel from modern Greece all the way to Italy. And they did not have planes or cars, right? Not only is that a long journey, but Paul is literally imprisoned because of his faith. Rome is not a safe place for Christians. But even so, Epaphroditus went. He went and even got sick on the journey, very sick.

His church back home heard about it. They were worrying. But notice how Paul calls him a soldier. This is someone who answered the call readily. This is someone who acted immediately. This is someone who is ready to fight against the evils of this world with the goodness and mercy of God. He is certainly not worried about himself.

Paul is happy to send him back, knowing that this is a good guy that will be wonderful for them to have again. And so, for us this week, as we think about working out our own salvation, think about people like Timothy, people who put Jesus first, others second, themselves last. Think about Epaphroditus, someone who is a soldier for Christ. And think about the Holy Spirit at work in you, because God wants to make you holy. If we’re receptive, we can see how He’s molding us and shaping us to recover the image of Jesus that we were made in. Amen.