“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 is the topic of this passage?
It is sanctification. Growing in likeness to Christ. Growing in holiness. To “work out one’s salvation” is not working for salvation. Paul is not teaching salvation by works. He is teaching that we should work out what God has worked in.
This is similar to the concept that James taught in James 2:14-26 when he taught that good works are the fruit of salvation. Good works are not the root of salvation but the fruit of salvation. Good works are not the cause of salvation but are the effect of salvation. You can profess salvation and not possess salvation if you have no good works to vindicate your faith.
Paul was writing to believers not unbelievers. Paul could not be speaking about working for salvation because that is not consistent with everything else he wrote about salvation. Throughout his writings, he emphasizes that salvation is not by works but by grace through faith. Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” But also in Phil. 3:2-11, he teaches that salvation (righteousness) can only come through faith in Christ not by any human effort such as keeping the Law. 3:9 - “And Be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”
Let me be very clear. No one will go to heaven by their good works. You are not saved because you do right. We can only be saved by realizing we can’t do right. We are sinners. We are not a sinner because we sin. We sin because we are a sinner. So we throw ourselves at the mercy of God and admit our sin and trust in Christ to save us. That is the way a person is saved - by faith, not by good works which we conjure up on our own.
Salvation is from start to finish the work of God. We do not work to be saved. But there are 3 aspects of salvation. We have been saved from the penalty of sin, we are being saved from the power of sin, and we will be saved from the presence of sin. The salvation from the penalty of sin (which is justification) is all God’s doing. But the salvation from the power of sin requires that we labor together with God. We don’t just have a passive approach to “let go and let God." We actively must pursue holiness.
How does this text fit into the the book as a whole?
The main message of this book is to call us to rejoice because of the Gospel. A form of the word “joy” is found 20 times in this little book.
Paul is in prison for preaching the Gospel when he writes this book. And in 1:16 he rejoices that the Gospel is being advanced throughout the imperial guard because He is in prison.
Through this book, Paul is teaching us that our joy is not found in our circumstances. Our joy is found in Christ and in the Gospel being advanced.
But we can rejoice that regardless of our circumstances, God is at work in us making us like Christ. Look at Philippians 1:6 - I am sure of this that he who began a good work in you (justification) will bring it to completion (sanctification) at the day of Jesus Christ.
And the more we learn to rejoice in our conformity to Christ instead of our circumstances the more we grow into the likeness of Christ.
Now, let’s look at what the text says about sanctification.
Sanctification is a result of obedience even when not supervised.
"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed….” Paul connects their obedience to Christ’s obedience in 2:8 and 2:12. Because Christ was obedient to the Father’s will, those who are in Christ (2:1) are to be obedient to the Father’s will. Specifically we are to obey Christ by living in unity. (1:27-2:4). We are to obey His command for us to follow Christ’s example of humbling ourselves.
“So now not only in my presence but much more in my absence…”. Paul wanted their maturity to be such that they did not need to be supervised in their obedience. They would do this because they wanted to please the Lord and not just Paul.
Why do we do right? Is it merely to look good. Is it to please others and get glory for ourselves? These are the wrong motives. We should want to do right so that God is pleased and so that He is glorified in our lives.
It is sad to see some Christians stop serving God because someone they admired failed or left to go to another ministry. If I fell into sin or left this church to go serve in another church, how many of you would stop trying to serve God? What if I were absent? Would you still be here? When I go on the Sabbatical in 2020, will you just not show up for three months? I certainly hope not. That would not only grieve me, it would grieve God!
What do you do when you are alone? Do you sin because you have no one to supervise you? If so, you are an immature Christian. God is always present. He is always watching. “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” (Proverbs 15:3). Hebrews 4:13 says no creature is hidden from God’s sight but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
Paul has just talked about how Christ has been declared Lord by God the Father and one day every knee will confess that Jesus is Lord. (2:11) Well, those of us who are saved are to not only confess that He is our Lord, but we are to make Him the very Lord of our lives. And how can we say that Jesus is our Lord if we are not obeying His commandments or if we only obey when others are watching? In Luke 6:46, Jesus said, ““Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” In Matthew 7:21, Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
Sanctification is the result of us putting forth effort.
“Work out your salvation.” Sanctification is hard work. We have to put forth effort. We have to work at putting our sinful desires to death. Hebrews 12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
Just like it takes effort to develop physically, it takes effort to develop spiritually. 1 Peter 1:5-10 says “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.”
Peter says succinctly that if we are to grow spiritually, we have to put forth effort. We can’t be passive. We have to keep increasing these qualities.
Look at Philippians 3:13, 14, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Paul says we have to strain and press to grow spiritually.
In point 4, we will talk about some of the things we need to put forth effort in to grow in holiness.
Sanctification is the result of us understanding God’s holiness.
“With fear and trembling…..” This is a reverent awe of God’s holiness. It is fear of his correction such as we would fear our human father’s correction if we disobeyed. We should tremble at the thought of God having to chasten us to bring us into submission to his will in being obedient. (Hebrews 12:5-11). (Go and read this passage)
Causing disunity within the body should cause us to fear and tremble. When we do this, we are disobeying God and opening up ourselves to his chastening hand.
“Fear” should be a result of realizing that God is always present. Paul had said earlier they should obey in his absence even more so than in his presence. Well, God is always present. When we sin in secret, we are showing that we do not fear God.
This is not a fear that we might lose our salvation if we don’t pursue holiness. We cannot lose our salvation if we did nothing to gain it. It is all the work of God. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. This is not a fear and trembling that we will lose our salvation or our status as God’s children. But it is a fear that we will displease the Lord or receive chastening from Him as His child. Psalm 119:120, “My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments.”
Sanctification is the result of God working in us.
“For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure……”. God works in us to save us. He works to convict us of sin. He works to give us faith and repentance. He works to regenerate us. And He works to give us a will to surrender to Him.
The Greek word that is translated “work” here is where we get our English word “energy.” God energizes us to serve Him and to fight our sin.
Where does this energy come from? It comes from the Holy Spirit that indwells us. Acts 1:8 says we will receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon us. Ephesians 1:18-23 tells us that the same power that rose Christ from the dead is at work in us.
God must work in us before He can work through us. This principle is seen all through the Bible. It took God 40 years of working in Moses before He could work through Him to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. Do you want God to use you? Then, you must allow Him to work in you.
But while God is working in us with the energy of the Holy Spirit, our flesh is also at work in us. Romans 7:5 says “our sinful passions are at work in our members to bear fruit for death.”
Let me show you some basic things God uses to work in us but at the same time these are things we have to put forth effort in like we talked about in point 2.
God works in us as we hear, read, study, meditate and apply God’s Word.
1 Thessalonians 2:13 says “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” God uses His Word to work in us but we must listen to, read, meditate on, memorize, and let the Word dwell in us. We cannot ignore His Word and expect for Him to work in us.
We must get into the Word not just for information but for transformation. Hebrews 4:12 says the Word of God is “living and active and it is sharper than any two-edged sword….discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” The Word of God is at work in us but we have to put forth the effort to take it in.
Also, God works in us as we pray and especially as we confess sin. We must discipline ourselves to pray. When Jesus told his disciples how to pray in the Lord’s prayer, he included confession. He said, “Say, Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.” Prayer that includes confession is powerful to work in us to make us like Christ.
Also, God works in us as we suffer. 1 Peter 4:12 says fiery trials come into our lives to test us. They bring out the best in us. They are called “fiery” trials because they burn away the dross from our lives like a precious metal has the impurities burned from them.
In Philippians 3:10, Paul prayed, “that I may know Him and the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings becoming like him in his death.” Paul saw a connection between suffering and becoming like Christ. If Christ suffered, how much more should we suffer who are following Christ. We may not explicitly pray for suffering but when it comes, we should not complain about it. We should embrace it as a means of God burning away the dross from our lives to make us more like Christ.
In Philippians 1:29, Paul says “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for His sake.” He says that suffering is a grant or a gift. Why should we look at suffering as a gift? It is because God uses it to make us like Christ. So what is the effort we have to put forth in suffering? It is the effort of rejoicing in our suffering.
Acts 5:41 “Then they left the presence of the council, erejoicing that they were counted worthy fto suffer dishonor for gthe name.
Romans 5:3 Not only that, but we frejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering gproduces endurance
Colossians 1:24 Now jI rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh kI am filling up lwhat is lacking in Christ's afflictions mfor the sake of his body, that is, the church
We must allow God to use fellowship to work in us. Fellowship is a prevalent topic in the book of Philippians as well. Sometimes the Greek word “Koinonia” which is translated most of the time as “fellowship” is also translated as “partnership.” This was the case in 1:5 where Paul thanked the church at Phillipi for their partnership in the Gospel.
1 John 1:3 says “that things we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.” When we fellowship with other believers, we are fellowshipping with Christ. And the more we spend time with godly people, the more we become like God.
God did not leave us alone to grow in Christlikeness all by ourselves. He put us in community. He established the church as a community to work in us through the fellowship of other believers. Hebrews 10:24 says “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
We must avoid the temptation to isolate ourselves from others. We must follow the model of the early church and do life together. We must make it a habit to open our homes to our fellow brothers and sisters and eat meals together, pray together, counsel one another, and bear one another’s burdens. We must care for one another and help one another.
The use of all these God-given means makes us laborers together with God in our own spiritual growth.
Conclusion:
Let us rejoice in the Lord today that what God has started in us, He will finish. He saved us and He will continue His work of sanctifying us.
However, let’s not be passive about our personal holiness. Put to use the God ordained means of holiness. Get into God’s Word and let it work to transform you. Spend time in prayer, confessing your sin to God, repenting of it. Do life together with your brothers and sisters in Christ bearing one another’s burdens and exhorting one another to love and good works. See suffering as a tool to conform you to the image of Christ and rejoice in it.
Live your life in constant awareness of God’s presence. Be the same person in private you are in public. Realize God is watching all you do and stand in awe of his holiness and in fear of his chastening.
