For those of you with kids, have you ever left them home alone and come back to find they followed every rule and did exactly what you wanted? That's a great feeling, right?
Well… I've never felt that.
My boys are great, don't get me wrong, but leaving them home alone usually doesn't go all that well. I remember one night when my boys were 13 and 10, and Shauna and I figured we could go out to dinner for a date night without hiring a babysitter. Maybe they were ready to handle being home alone for a few hours? We talked with the boys and set rules and boundaries for what they could and couldn't do while we were gone. We drove to a restaurant, ordered drinks and food, and before our food even arrived, we got a call from a neighbor about 5 houses down.
This neighbor had just landscaped his front yard. He hired a landscape architect who came up with a modern, very cool Palm Springs-style design. The yard had a decomposed granite path that made an oval around the yard and then went up towards the side gate. Well, my boys thought this oval decomposed granite path would make the perfect racetrack for their BMX bikes. They moved the dirt around to create little jumps for their bikes. Within 30 minutes, they did a good amount of damage to this beautiful new yard. Needless to say, our neighbor wasn't happy; he yelled at our boys and at us over the phone.
Paul is used to this feeling. Not too long after he started the church in Corinth, things started to go wrong; people weren't following the instructions he laid out. Like me, Paul knew what it was like to leave and have things go wrong while you're gone. But the Philippian church, to his great joy, is different. Paul left them, and they continue to thrive. Let's jump back into chapter 2 of the book of Philippians; we'll be starting in verse 12.
Obedience Looks Like Love
Paul says: "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence…"
Paul is clearly proud of the Philippian church's obedience, obedience that has occurred while he has been away. What a great feeling that must be, and it clearly is causing him to feel joy.
But what are they obeying? What does it look like for a church to be obedient? How is Paul evaluating this?
I suspect Paul is referring to Jesus' words. Jesus very clearly told his disciples to obey his commands. In John 14:15 Jesus says, "If you love me, keep my commands." Pop quiz: what are Jesus' commands?
Glad you asked; it starts with two: Love God and Love Others, and then Jesus narrows it down to one as he gives the only command of the New Covenant, saying in John 13:34-35, "A new command I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another."
So…what does it mean for a church to obey? They love each other. Sounds simple, but it's easier said than done. The Philippians are the only church Paul commends for doing this well. His letters to the other churches often confront their struggle to love all people well in the church, but the Philippians are doing the most important thing correctly.
The Mystery of Salvation: Faith, Works, or Both?
And then Paul says one of the more famous verses in the Bible, in the second half of verse 12: "…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."
These verses are among the more theologically complex in the Bible. The church has had much confusion, misunderstanding, and debate over these verses for a couple of thousand years.
Especially over the last 500 years, since the Reformation, there has been a great debate over whether our faith saves us, or our actions/works save us. Is it what we believe that leads to salvation, or how we behave? People have felt pressure to pick a theological side. Many Catholics and some Orthodox traditions have leaned more toward the idea that your actions matter most; they see your actions as the true window into the authenticity of your belief. More Reformed or Evangelical traditions have leaned on the idea that it's your faith and faith alone that justifies you.
It's a fierce debate because Scripture gives us conflicting messages, verses that seem to contradict one another.
Faith-alone people will quote Ephesians 2:8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast."
However, the "your actions matter more" people will quote James 2:24: "You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone."
These two verses in some ways say opposing things. Hence the confusion.
In our text today, verses 12 and 13 get right to the heart of this mysterious theological issue. In verse 12, Paul tells the Philippians to work out their salvation. This verse emphasizes our role; our actions matter in the process of salvation. This aligns with James. But in verse 13, Paul says that God does the work in us to achieve his good purposes. This aligns with the faith-alone verses: we just must have faith, and God will do the rest. It's God's work.
Okay, here's my view on all this. I don't know how it all works. I think it is mysterious and beyond our capacity to grasp how God brings about our salvation. I do lean toward the answer being both; it's not one or the other. Both our faith and our actions are part of the process of our salvation. I gently reject the pressure to pick one or the other; it's a mysterious combination of the two. I don't think Scripture is clear enough for us to be certain and dogmatic.
It's also important to look at how Jesus handled this topic. We studied the Centurion a few weeks ago, a man who had amazing faith. Faith greater than anyone in Israel. Jesus told this man that his faith had saved him. However, when we analyze the components of the centurion's faith that Jesus is admiring, we see both what he believed and the actions he took to act on that belief. I believe Jesus was admiring the centurion's faith and his actions. It seems to me that Jesus defines faith as both what people believe and how we act. True faith makes those two things virtually inseparable. One wouldn't exist without the other.
Think of the existence of your salvation as being similar to your existence as a human. God created you and made you a human. He gets credit for that. But you have a responsibility to work at being the best version of yourself. God helps you in that process, but you also have actions and responsibility in it. I think the same is true about your salvation.
With that said, here is how I would humbly summarize my position: God's grace and the work of the Holy Spirit empower us to have faith in Jesus and to live as Jesus commands. That combination of belief in Jesus and actions that imitate Jesus shows the process of salvation at work in our lives.
Before we move on, let's review our first two points real quick:
1. To be a church that obeys is to be a church that loves each other well.
2. The work of salvation is God's work, but we get to participate in it through both our belief and our actions, not one or the other exclusively.
Salvation Is a Process, Not Just a Moment
I want to take another look at the second half of verse 12 again; it says: "…continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling." I want to touch on two more points about this verse.
First, continue to work out your salvation. I love this way of phrasing. Paul is highlighting a truth that is often misunderstood. Salvation is an ongoing process. Salvation is not exclusively a one-time event. Many of us were taught that we are saved the moment we prayed the sinner's prayer, accepted Jesus in our heart, and became a true Christian because we believe in Jesus. You get your salvation the moment you have enough faith. This positions salvation as a one-time transaction between you and God. God accepts your belief, and you go to heaven when you die.
However, Paul does not frame salvation this way in this verse or anywhere else in his theology. For Paul, salvation is a beautiful process we choose to continue participating in every day of our lives. Salvation is a broad term that includes justification, sanctification, redemption, and victory. That's why he tells the Philippians to keep working out their salvation. Most of the Philippians reading this letter had chosen to follow Jesus and were baptized years ago, but Paul is saying, keep working out your salvation.
Throughout Paul's letters, he uses the past, present, and future tenses of the word salvation. The truth is that you were saved in the past. You are being saved in the present. And you will continue to be saved in the future.
I think part of the misunderstanding is that many of us were taught to think of salvation individualistically. When we think of salvation, we're thinking about our personal salvation, like I get saved and go to heaven.
Paul, though, is not talking to an individual person. Paul is talking to a group of people. For Paul, and even more clearly for Jesus, salvation is a way bigger concept than whether an individual person gets to go to heaven.
My understanding of how Paul and the whole New Testament frame salvation is that it is cosmic in scope. Paul believes Jesus will save the whole world; all of creation will be redeemed and restored. Jesus began the process of the kingdom of heaven coming to earth. That process is salvation; it's the process of everything being saved, restored, fixed, and set right. So, I believe salvation isn't solely a personal ticket to heaven when we die; it's God making everything new, and that process is happening around us every day. That process does involve the forgiveness of your sins and your personal reconciliation to Christ, but it's not just that.
I love this quote from theologian NT Wright: "Working out your salvation isn't earning salvation, it's figuring out what this business of being saved means in practice."
Fear and Trembling: Not What You Think
Okay, one last thing on verse 12. We have to talk about the fear-and-trembling part of the verse because it has confused or scared many Christians since the Bible was translated into English. Work out our salvation with fear and trembling. That is a scary way to translate this verse. At face value, it implies our salvation is at risk, like if we don't work it out well enough, it could be taken away from us. We could lose our ticket to heaven if we don't do a good enough job. This verse's wording can create insecurity about our relationship with Jesus. It begs the question: Are we supposed to worry about whether we really have faith?
The simple answer to that is no, I don't think so. Based on the way it's written in the original Greek, and interpretations from scholars I trust, I think this is a better way to say what Paul was intending: "Work out your salvation with all seriousness, making it your #1 priority." I believe Paul is challenging the Philippians to keep the work of the gospel as their highest priority. Take it seriously; this is the most important thing. More important than your job or anything else in your life. So, you don't need to be worried about your salvation; Paul is simply encouraging everyone to prioritize the work of heaven coming to earth.
Let me review again; I've made 4 points so far:
1. To be a church that obeys is to be a church that loves each other well.
2. The work of salvation is God's work, but we get to participate in it through both our belief and our actions, not one or the other exclusively.
3. Salvation is the ongoing process of God restoring and redeeming all that is fallen, including us.
4. Fear and trembling are better understood as meaning we should take this incredibly seriously and make it the highest priority.
All right; we've covered two verses! We're flying through this text!
No Grumbling, No Arguing
Let's move on to verse 14: "Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure…"
Paul echoes the Exodus story, when God's people grumbled in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land. This grumbling greatly affected what they could achieve, and God was disappointed.
The Greek word we read here as "arguing" is often translated as disputing. Elsewhere in the New Testament, the word means an inward doubting of God. It's like an inward grumbling. So, Paul is basically saying, don't grumble outwardly with your words, or even inwardly with your skepticism about how God is doing things.
Grumbling is the meeting after the meeting. It is people complaining behind the scenes without having direct conversations with the appropriate people. Grumbling quietly erodes unity. Grumbling can happen quietly for a while, and everything kind of seems fine. But by the time you realize there is a problem, it may be too late; too much unity is already gone.
This verse makes me think of two different men; I won't mention their names for obvious reasons, but I'll tell the story. One guy served on the Cornerstone Board for a few years. He disagreed with some of Cornerstone's theology and some of our ministry methods. He would talk with us leaders about what he was thinking and feeling, and we would always have constructive conversations. We didn't always agree, but we stayed united. He served our church faithfully for so many years; he never let other people know he had any disagreements. He never grumbled. He never mentioned things he didn't like about Cornerstone to the people in his Bible study. He cared so much about loving us pastors and keeping unity in the church. Because of all that, I respect and admire this man so much.
During the same time, there was a Pastor on our staff who positioned himself as fully aligned with us as a church. To your face, he was fully on board. However, behind the scenes (we found out later), he was consistently grumbling to the people in his ministry. To the point where the people in his ministry started writing letters to our leadership team complaining about how things were going. We wondered where these people were getting their information. It took us a while to realize this Pastor was grumbling behind the scenes and had riled up a whole group of people against our church. All these people ended up leaving Cornerstone over issues that shouldn't really divide us; we could have resolved them through direct conversations, but grumbling behind the scenes destroyed unity and hurt a bunch of people.
Two men disagreed in our church over similar issues and handled it in completely opposite ways. I hope I can grow to the maturity of the first guy; as an older brother in Christ, he set a great example for me.
Shine Like Stars
That unity Paul is describing has a purpose; look at verse 15: "Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life."
Our unity and humility should make us stand out in stark contrast to the broken world around us, like the beauty and brightness of all the stars in the sky. The world expects the church to be as broken as everything else. They expect infighting, gossiping, exclusion, and division. My hope is that as people encounter us, they experience what Paul is commending the Philippians for: that we are a shining light in a dark and broken world because of the way we love each other.
Paul mentions the word of life in verse 16. People often think this means the Bible, but it doesn't. The Bible didn't exist when this was written, and Paul is clearly not referring to Hebrew scriptures here. This phrase, word of life, can mean the gospel message of Jesus, or it can mean Jesus himself. I think both are accurate and, in many ways, one and the same. Jesus is our gospel message. So, Paul rejoices that the Philippians are holding firmly to the message of Jesus, who is often called the Word.
Three Men Who Modeled Christ
Okay, let's finish chapter 2 today so we can start digging into chapter 3 next week during neighborhood church. In the rest of chapter 2, Paul tells of three men who set a great example of living out everything he taught in chapter 2.
Paul: The Drink Offering
Verse 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. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me."
Paul mentions himself as an example of pouring himself out, as Jesus poured himself out. A drink offering means something specific. Often, in Jewish history, when an offering was made at an altar or on the temple grounds, there was an animal sacrifice, and alongside it was a drink offering. The animal sacrifice was the main event, but the drink offering (wine poured over the animal sacrifice) played a supporting role in the sacrificial ritual. Paul says the Philippians' sacrifice and service is the main offering, and his sacrifice is meant to support and complement theirs. He's placing himself in the role of supporter and servant of the Philippian church. He's not trying to flex his authority; rather, he sees himself as supporting their incredible work.
Timothy: Genuine Concern for Others
Verse 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. I have no one else 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."
Paul writes this reference letter to the Philippians; they don't know Timothy, so Paul describes Timothy's qualities. Notice that Paul doesn't list any impressive skills, like that he's a great teacher or has a brilliant mind. Paul describes Timothy as a person who "shows genuine concern for other people," and a person who cares most about the interests of Jesus. Timothy is another model for us about what it means to be humble and value others above ourselves.
Epaphroditus: Risking His Life for the Work
And the third person who serves as an example for us is Epaphroditus: "But I think it necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, co-worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. For he longs for all of you and is distressed 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."
Once again, Paul highlights the unglamorous parts of ministry. The sacrifice, the consistent faithfulness, the loyalty and trustworthiness. Epaphroditus was willing to give his life for the mission of the Church and nearly did. These are the people we should honor and hold up as models. All too often, the church idolizes the great speaker, the person with an amazing singing voice, or the person who can claim power and authority. However, those aren't the attributes we see Paul admiring, and I think we would be wise to take a similar viewpoint.
All three of these men—Paul, Timothy, and Epaphroditus—modeled the behavior of Christ. Men who obey Jesus' command to love others. Men who are united in their belief about who Jesus is, men who are clearly humble because of the way they value others above themselves. These behaviors create unity within the church and bring joy to everyone.
Okay, we covered all of Chapter 2. That was a lot of info; hopefully it connected with you. Next week we'll pick up where we left off, starting in Chapter 3.
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