Work Out Your Salvation

Let's get into Philippians tonight. Philippians chapter number two is where our portion of scripture is going to be. As we've been doing this study in um Philippians, uh you see our title here. It's joy in Christ. And it's so amazing uh as you read Philippians, you see that so evident as Paul is writing despite the fact that he's writing from prison and he's still uh emphasizing this word joy. Um, and he he mentions a little bit of it tonight uh in our in our reading. Um, what I wanted to do before we get to our portion, which our portion tonight is Philippians 2 uh 12-18, but I want to go back just to kind of establish context again.

I know we had um uh we missed last week and then um just want to I our portion of scripture tonight would make much more sense if we read from before our uh passage. So, Philippians chapter number one, uh, we're going to start. I'm I'll read and you can just read along with me, uh, in silent silently reading it. Um, but verse number 27, chapter 1 says this. Paul says, "Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.

And in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of part predition, but to you of salvation and that of God. For unto you it is given in in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which ye saw in me and now here to be in me. Chapter 2 verse one. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if if any fellowship of the spirit, if any bowels of and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in loneliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves.

Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. verse 5 to verse 11 is what uh pastor Peter uh challenged us on and uh what what a beautiful I wasn't here but I got to go back and listen to it. What a beautiful message on this portion. But Paul says this, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Wherefore God also had highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Um, this is one of Paul's uh warmest letters that he wrote to a church. Um, it's not like the letter that he wrote to the Galatians. It's not like the letter that he wrote to um the Corinthians where he had to like rebuke them. He had to like call them out and he had to uh do all of these things. But this is this letter that you u were reading here.

Paul um often refers to these Christians as my beloved or my joy and crown or uh it's it's as if Paul is using like par a parental tone as he's writing uh this letter. And you can hear it as he's writing it. Um at the end of chapter 1, we see that Paul acknowledges um these Christians as they're suffering in Rome and there is persecution during this time. And so as we're reading this, we have to keep that in mind that these Christians are facing uh persecution. Um but what he says is Paul tells them, you're you're suffering for Christ, but you're doing it together. And I think this is one thing that we also have to understand as we're reading the scripture and especially as we get into our passage tonight.

Paul isn't just writing to a specific individual. He's actually saying, "You're doing this together. You're in this together." So, he's writing to the church in Philippi. And so, he's he's making mention of all of these. Um and then in in chapter two he starts here and he says uh if there be any consolation he talks about like these blessings that Christians experience. So he's saying like if you experience the blessing of being a Christian, if you have the comforter with you, if you have just the blessings, the love, the mercies, all of these things, if you're enjoying all of these things, really what he's saying is then fulfill ye my joy and share it with everybody else.

And he's not talking about like the people outside of the church. He's actually saying share it with one another. Be like-minded. Um and he and he he goes on to talk about um how we are to be like-minded or how the these Christians are supposed to have the same love. They're supposed to have one accord. They're supposed to have one mind. Uh and the tone there when he says, "Fulfill ye my joy." Um it's kind of like a a parent telling um his child, "No, you know what would really make me happy is if you just got along." you know, like talking to Sila to his children and their um and just saying like what would really make me happy is if you actually love each other.

If you actually are understanding that you guys are related, you guys are siblings, you guys need to love each other. And um he goes on to say um what's interesting and I think what we need to point out although this church has been here for almost 10 years um and they should have some form of maturity and they do they've done well actually they sent um I always butcher his name. Epaphroditis is the guy that they sent to Paul to um with a gift. So they sent him with a a missions gift. It's financial gift to bring to Paul to help Paul in his situation. They sent um uh Epaphroditis to be able to minister unto Paul.

So, this church has done so much for Paul. They've sacrificially given to Paul and they've they've supported Paul even while he's in prison because they truly love Paul and this is the missionary that they're supporting as well. They understand that Paul is the one that started the church in Philippi. But despite the fact that they have some maturity in some areas, we see that Paul is calling out the areas that that they're lacking at. uh that there's still areas that they're not doing well in. And it seems to be the area of like relationships. Uh they're not doing well relationally. And I don't know if it's like the whole church.

Actually, later on, we find out that there's two ladies um that Paul has to say, I need these two ladies to come together because this church is going to it's there's disunityity. And so Paul talks about the disunityity here in the uh the earlier part of chapter 2. He talks about how pride is really the the root problem here. because there's pride, there's this uh disunityity, there's it's easy for people to bicker and fight and strife and all of these things. And so Paul gives them the the perfect example to follow in order to be like-minded, in order to um love one another, to have these bowels of mercies, and to care for one another.

And that's what Pastor Peter preached about in uh verses 5- 11. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. Isn't that crazy that the creator of this world like came down and became obedient unto death but he didn't do it for himself. This is the perfect example of humility. Christ took his eyes off of himself and put it on us. And that's exactly what he Paul is trying to tell the Christians at this church.

Hey, if Christ can do it, then you should be able to do it, too. Like, you should be like-minded. You should have these things. And I I'm not trying to preach repreach what that was already that section there, but this goes into what our portion is going to be tonight. And so when Paul reaches verse number 12, he says, "Wherefore," and really when we when we look at that word, um one of my professor in um Bible college, he always said this um what is wherefore, therefore? And so we have to question ourselves like why is Paul going to say the following words? And we just went back, we read the context, and here is what our portion of scripture says for tonight.

Paul says, "Wherefore, my beloved," again, you can hear that that parental tone, uh, "My beloved, as you have always obeyed," it's kind of like when your kids when when you are around, your kids are so good at obeying. But then he says, "But not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." And then he goes on to say, "For it is God which workketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings, that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.

Yay. And if I be offered upon the sacrifice in service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me. So the first thing we see in verse number 12, we see here he says, "Work out your own salvation." And we have to clarify um there's a misunderstanding that comes from reading just this passage out of context. If you read it, you might think that Paul is saying that you have to work for your salvation, but the wording there is work out your salvation. So Paul isn't actually saying that this is a way in which you get saved. Paul is actually saying you're already saved.

Now work it out. Um and so let's break down what does work out mean? What what does it mean to work it out? And that word just means to bring into completion. And so what God has already started, it should be evident on the outside. So God did, he saved you. It's completed. You're secured. You're on your way to an eternal relationship with you already have this relationship with God and you have the benefits and the blessings of being with him forever after this life. But because you're here and you're saved, that should be evident in your life. And it the key word here is actually in that same verse where it says in in verse um verse number 12 it says as ye have always obeyed.

I think this that's the key word to what he's saying work out your own salvation. It's obedience. It's not talking about how you get saved. It's talking about because you're saved it should show in your life. And I think we we understand that because if you claim to be something, then it should be evident that you're that something. And and in Christianity, it's no different. If you are saying that you are a child of God, then you should act and live like a child of God. Now, all of that comes back to the word of God. If you know the word of God, then your life will resemble the word of God. So if you know what the word of God is, then you would know what is truth.

You would know what is not truth. And therefore, it would be easy for you to be able to act and live like a Christian. There is things that are good, but they're not technically what the word of God says. That's not what we're measuring what we look like against. or measuring working out our salvation against what the word of God actually says. So it does make sense that we understand what God's word is in order for us to work out what it is that he saved that who he is that he has saved. Um in verse number 13, Paul it seems like he puts this safeguard. He says it is God which workketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

He's it's it's God that does the saving and it's God that allows you and enables you to be able to work out that salvation. He says here in verse number 13, he says, "For it is God which workketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Ultimately, God is the one that gets the glory from what you're able to do with what he has all like saved you from and and the the the regeneration that you are now a part of his family. Ultimately, God will get the glory for uh you becoming more like Christ, but you still have to become more like Christ. And that's that's what Paul is saying here that you you do have a part in this and that you do have to prove that you are a Christian not because you're trying to earn it and not because you're trying to keep your salvation simply because it's real to you.

Like if you're actually a Christian and it's real and you're you've accepted Christ, you believe in on Christ and you have salvation, then the reality is that you should be able to live that out. And so you should live different. You should look different. You should live as if you have a transformed life because later on Paul is going to address this that you have a testimony for Christ. And if your testimony does not please God, then why is it not pleasing God? Paul goes on to say in uh verse number 14, he says, "Do all things without murmurings and disputings." It's very interesting. Um Paul could have just said, "Here's how you work out your salvation."

And let me list off all the things that you need to do in order to work out your salvation. Um but instead he goes straight to the number one thing that this church is struggling with and it seems to be murmurings and disputings. Let me take a step back because I just I bypassed one uh part of verse number 12. It says work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Um the word fear and trembling here Paul uses it uh elsewhere. He actually uses it in 1 Corinthians chapter number 2:3 uh when he was when he's describing his own posture and ministry. He said he said this I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling and what he was saying was I took it very seriously when I was with you guys being careful in how I am around you guys because my testimony for the Lord mattered.

And so the word fear and trembling here doesn't necessarily mean that it's it's terror in the sense of like we're afraid that if we don't work out our salvation, we're going to lose it. The fear and trembling here, I I love what Pastor John said. He gave an example of it's like a grown man that fears disappointing his mom. And so he does his best to make sure that he pleases his mom. And you know what? That's really what it is when it when it comes to working out our salvation. It's not because we like at first I think that's usually the case cuz we know and we understand that if we're parents, we have children, we we kind of have to instill that fear in them so they obey us.

But eventually later on it'll pay off because they'll love you because they love you. They'll obey you because they love you. And that's that's the the reality with us Christians, too. Maybe at first we might be fearful of God, but ultimately we'll realize that it's not the fear that motivates us to serve God. It's our love for God. It's the fact that he loves us so much. He gave himself for us. And because of that love, we're able to reciprocate and we're able to do the things that he said in his word because we love him back. Because God truly matters in our lives. It's not it's not fake. It's not something that we're we're afraid that we might displease him, but it's it's because we love him, we don't want to disappoint him.

So fear and trembling is very important. um because it carries the idea of it's a weighty responsibility like this this really matters and you you can't take it lightly. If you're a Christian and you're in the world every single day, you have to take your Christianity seriously. Can't be acting like you're not a Christian because the truth is what Christ did for you is way beyond our comprehension. The fact that he would give him him himself for us, that's amazing. And we go out in the world, we leave church, and we're like, "Yeah, he doesn't really matter in my life." Can Can you honestly call yourself a Christian if you're not devoting yourself to him?

Now, I know there's times that we doubt our salvation because maybe there is a sin and there's sometimes that we doubt our salvation because maybe something else is happening. And and the thing that we need to go back to is scripture. cripture says if we truly believe in Christ, he has saved us. And so sometimes our mind can play tricks on us. But the reality is if you are saved, you should be able to live it. You should be able to live as if you're saved. Verse number 14 again says, "Do all things." And again, I want to emphasize this. He says, "Do all things without murmurings and disputings."

Uh the word murmurings here, it's um it's grumbling. It's like complaining. Um, it's a lot of scholars, they believe that this this echoes what the type of murmurings that the Israelites uh were doing in the in the wilderness. In Numbers chapter number 14 27, the Bible says this, "How long shall I bear with the this evil congregation which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel which they murmur against me." Um the the word murmuring it's it's usually quiet. Um it's like it's muttered discontent. It's the kind of complaining that you would use under your breath or even behind someone's back.

Uh and it it carries the idea of like it's it's internal almost like you're you're it's it's in your it's there but you haven't really showed it. You haven't really shared with anybody. Um the next word is disputing and this word is arguing. Um this is like open contentious back and forth. It's it's when it goes from murmuring like complaining and when you're complaining so much it's it's so easy for bitterness to come in and when you're bitter it's so easy to attack people because like you think that they don't care about you or they're not meeting your expectation and and disputing and arguing goes beyond just the murmuring and now it's relationships are broken because you're you're you're fighting and all of these things are happening.

And when we put those two together, grumbling and open arguing, we have um we see what Paul already said in verse number three and chapter 2. In chapter 2:3, he said, "Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory, but in loneliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves." Uh if you think about it this way, strife and vain glory in verse three are are the internal motives what's really happening in the heart. Whereas murmuring and disputing here in verse 14 are what those same motives sound like once they come out of our mouths. And it's the same root problem. It's it's just described twice here.

But the ultimate problem is that there's it's self-centered. It's self at the center instead of others. And this is what it looks like in real life. We we feel offended. Things are aren't going our way. We don't like how something is being handled. And we're not talking about non-Christians here. Paul is writing to Christians. And he's saying there's murmurings and disputings in this church, which ultimately goes back to you guys are not being like-minded. You guys are not loving each other. So, so what is the solution to this though? And I think the solution just goes back to what Paul had already said in verse 5-11.

It's the humility of Christ. If you look at Christ and you see that Christ was able to humble himself and come down and die for us and and esteem us higher in that sense that he would give his life for us, then we should be able to have that same humility. And it's that humility that breaks down that murmuring and that disputing because you're not just thinking about yourself, you're thinking about others as well. Now, that doesn't mean that you agree with every opinion, but it does mean that you agree on what scripture is and what the Bible is saying and and what the humil humility of Christ is being shown here.

Without humility, it's it's really hard not to murmur and dispute. And the fix isn't to just try harder. The fix is to look at Christ. In verse number 15 to verse number 16, um Paul now moves from the internal the church relationships. And now he's looking to the outside facing in and he's looking at how the the world sees the church. And he says here in verse number 15 to 16, he says that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run not run in vain, neither labored in vain.

From here we see that Paul looks away from how we treat each other as Christians to now how is our testimony to the world. And Paul really cares about the Philippian church and their testimony to the world because it's a testimony not for themselves but it's a testimony for Christ. They are to testify of what Christ has done in their lives. And if Christ has truly changed their lives, then it should be evident on the outside. And if it's evident on the outside, then the people that are looking in would be able to see it. And that's what he's saying here. The word um just to break down these words here, the word blameless comes from the idea of of uh not having any handles.

Um meaning that if somebody was to accuse you of anything, it wouldn't stick. They wouldn't be able to drag you down because it's not true. Um the word harmless uh carries the idea of like pure heart. Um, so there's no wrong motives. Um, I think this is this is so challenging even in our service to the Lord. Like what's our what's my true motivation for serving God? Am I serving so that I could have this motivation of being seen by people or am I truly serving because I want to serve the Lord and I want to I want God to use my life. And he says the sons of God. I think that's pretty clear that if we are children of God, then we ought to live as if we're children of God.

And then he says without rebuke. And this is more of a sacrificial language. Um he's talking about nothing visible for outsiders to be able to criticize. This again I I believe this fits for individuals. But I think Paul is writing to the church. Is Ohana Baptist Church blameless? Is Ohana Baptist Church harmless? Are we the sons of God? Is is Ohana Baptist Church without rebuke? You know what's really what's really um challenging is that we we have a testimony like our testimony is the church's testimony because it's not the building, it's us. So when we're outside of the church, people can only judge the church according to your testimony.

And how is your testimony? Like are you blameless? because or are you hindering the testimony of the church which is not just about the church it's ultimately about Christ are you impacting Christ's testimony and so Paul says that look if you want to be blameless if you want to be uh um without rebuke and harmless or the sons of God then it hould be true that you do not murmur and you have no disputings I think that's the first thing that needs to be out. If there is any of those things, then I think everything else that Paul just said disqualifies us and we cannot be blameless. Then Paul goes on to say, he says in verse number 16, oh, in verse number 15 still, he says, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.

And that's really what the church is. The Christ is the ultimate light. He's the one that we direct people to. But Christ is in heaven. He has he has allowed us to be the ones that share that light to everybody else. And so we are the light in this world. The Bible says in Matthew chapter 5, ye are the light of the world. Um and so because we are used as lights in this world, our testimonies will direct people to Christ. But in this verse, it's more of a passive sense. So if the church is the light, it's just there. But then he goes on to say in verse number uh 16, holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice in the day of Christ.

So Paul goes on to say look your testimony shines if it shines it shouldn't just shine it actually should go and be active. So when he's saying holding forth the the word of life what he's saying is you're not just grabbing hold of this and keeping it to yourself because you're left on this world not just so you can get saved and then live your Christianity and one day you'll go to heaven. That's not the purpose of why you're still left here. The purpose is that you would continue what Paul had started a long time ago. He gave it to Timothy. He gave it to the Philippian church. And pretty soon now we know that we have that same gospel word life.

And that word of God that we are now entrusted to pass on to the next people. And so we're left here not so that we could just live for ourselves. Again, it goes back to what Paul has been saying. You're here to live for the each other, for Christ ultimately, but then also so that you would be a instrument to share that gospel with others in the world. And here we see that Paul is saying he's challenging us not just to stay silent as we're in the world. But people should know that we're Christians and they should be curious and we should be ready and willing to share why we're different. Like we should be ready and willing to share the gospel with every anybody that ask us of the hope that is within us.

Why are you like, why are you that way when you just lost somebody you care so much about? Why do you not bite back when your co-workers are just being mean to you? Why are you so different and it's like nothing offends you in the sense that you're not biting back? Why is that? And your testimony should be so in accordance to what the word of God says so that people would be curious and they'd want to hear why you're different. Not in a in a bad way. Although the Bible does say that we're peculiar people, but that it should show that we're different because we're children of God. We're different because we're Christians.

were different because my savior humbled himself and became obedient unto death so that I could have eternal life but not only me even you and the Bible says that the church is to be the light that shines but also it's holding forth the gospel so that everybody else could have that opportunity to be able to come to know him as Lord and Savior and Paul goes on to say here in verse number 16 that I may rejoice in the day of Christ. I think Paul is just looking forward to when Christ takes him home on that day when he gets to meet Christ again. And the reason why he's saying is is in verse number 16, he says that I have not run in vain neither labored in vain.

Paul has worked tirelessly for the Philippian church. He has shared the gospel with them. Um right now he's in prison, but he's still writing to them. He's still encouraging them. like these Christians would be pretty much Paul's spiritual children uh that they came to know Christ because Paul shared that gospel with them and Paul is saying as your father as your spiritual father it would really make me happy one day that you as a church you as a Christian made it. Now, obviously though, if you're if you're a Christian, you you you're able to go to heaven because that's what the Bible says, but what Paul is saying is that you've you've worked out your salvation.

That you haven't wasted it. That your testimony doesn't look like the world. It looks like what the Bible says. That you actually did something with what Paul has given them, the the word of life. And in verse number 18 or verse number 17, he says, "Yay, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice in service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all." Verse 18, "For the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me." This here's a very interesting uh picture that Paul is writing here. So Paul is thinking that this church in Philippi is is kind of like his his sacrifice unto the Lord. And he's saying that if you do, if you are blameless, that's why you use the word without rebuke.

This is a church that he's offered to God. And Paul says here in verse number 18, he said in verse number 17, he says, "If I be offered upon the sacrifice," the word offered is a reference to an Old Testament, the Old Testament um sacrificial, it's a sacrificial language, but it means to be poured out and it car and in the Old Testament wine would be poured over um a sacrifice. It's not the main sacrifice, but Paul is just saying, I would be so glad to be poured over your sac this sacrifice, your faith. And and it's amazing because Paul is doing what exactly what he's telling this church. You should be humble and serve one another because Christ himself humbled himself.

But me, too. And he's not bragging about his humility, but he's just saying, I'm not the main thing. That's like it's you. It's your faith and I get to be p I would be I would gladly be poured over the sacrifice that I'm offering to the Lord. And that's why he's saying, look, I don't know if I'm going to die because I'm in prison. In fact, Paul thinks that he's going to die. He thinks that he's going to be executed. And that's why he's he's trying to encourage this church. Look, even if I'm absent, I want you to continue on and to work out your salvation. It reminds me of my u my grandpa. Uh two years ago I got to um record a video of him and it was it was a video that I wanted to share with with my kids when they're older.

But I just pretty much asked my grandpa, could you talk to your kids and tell them any last like any last word? Now this was 2 years ago. I it because traveling is so hard. it. I knew that it'd be hard for us to have those moments together. So, I just wanted to have something that I could remember my grandpa for. So, I I recorded him and uh in his um farewell speech, so to speak, um he messed up a lot. Uh he was like, "Why are you recording me?" and stuff like that. But um he he actually said um I asked him, "Could you say to your kids you love them?" And so he said, "I love you." And later on he said something and he said, "I want you guys to love each other."

And then he went on to say, "And I want you guys to follow Christ." And I played that and um I played that to my family and they got to see my grandpa's farewell. And his last words, he said in his words, "My dying wish is that you would serve God." And I can see Paul's heart. He doesn't want the Philippian church to mess up as a father looks at his children. But the question for us is what is our testimony? Have we even been working out our salvation? I hope we can apply the truths that Paul is saying to this church and apply it to even our church. The two questions that I have um as we dismiss today, let me find it here. My first question is, where does murmuring or disputing show up most in your own life, especially when you think no one's paying attention? And then the next one is people outside this this church don't see the congregation, but they see you. What is your life telling