06 What Does It Mean to ‘Work Out Your Salvation with Fear and Trembling’? (Philippians 2:12–13)

Speaker: Good morning. This is Krisan Marotta. Thank you for downloading the Wednesday in the Word podcast. Today we're studying Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 to 13. This talk is the sixth form of our series on the book of Philippians. If you'd like to follow along with lecture notes, you'll find them on our website. Just go to wednesdayintheword.com slash Philippians 6. Thanks so much for listening. Well, we are in Philippians chapter 2 today. As I outline the book, we finish the introductory section and we're in the first section of the body of the letter. As always, I want to start with a little review. The Apostle Paul wrote this letter from prison. Most likely he wrote this from his first Roman imprisonment, which would date the letter to around 60 to 62 AD. The Philippian Church has sent him a gift of financial support, and he wrote this letter back as a response to that gift. Paul had three purposes in writing the letter, and we saw all of them in chapter one. First, he wants to thank them for their generosity in sending the gift. Second, he wants to update them on his current situation as a prisoner, and third, he wants to encourage them to persevere in the gospel. So in the first verses of chapter one, he prayed that they would have a genuine faith that would manifest itself in wisdom, which would lead them to love one another, and that they would persevere in this faith until the end. In spite of his circumstances he rejoiced because the gospel was going forward, even though he wasn't able to go out and proclaim it himself. Then in one hundred twenty seven he began the body of the letter, and right up front he states his main point. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. That's the main point of the section, which begin in one hundred twenty seven and is going to run to the end of chapter two. The overall theme is conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. So his main concern is that they continue to embrace the gospel, whether he's physically present with them or not. The Philippian Church is under some kind of persecution or pressure from a group Paul calls their opponents, and he wants them to stand united in their commitment to the gospel. He's urging them to see each other as part of the same family in Christ. Conflicts develop when each person's consumed with their own self-interest, and he's been encouraging them to serve one another selflessly on the basis of their common faith. So last week we looked at the section where he used Jesus Christ as an example of this kind of humble attitude, and Paul made the point that although Jesus had the rights and authority of God, he voluntarily gave up those rights to become our servant and die on our behalf, and he exhorted the Philippian Church to have that same attitude. Then he says in verse twelve, 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. You'll recall from our introductory talk that Paul is on good terms with the Philippian Church. He has a warm relationship with them, and this is in contrast to some of the other churches he wrote, for example, the Corinthian church. In Corinth there was a major faction in the church who thought that Paul didn't have any authority as an apostle and they didn't want to listen to anything he said. Unlike Corinth, the Philippians have been supporting Paul financially, and they have shown continuous concern for him and his ministry. So Paul is not approaching them in this letter with a straighten up and fly right kind of exhortation. Overall things are good, he has a few concerns, and he's just encouraging them to continue in the face of persecution and the difficulties confronting them. So he starts by saying, Therefore, just as you've always listened to me, yes, I'm pleased you've responded positively to everything I've told you up to now, but now I've got something to say, there's a problem, I want you to listen to it with the same kind of receptive obedience you have always shown me in the past. I take that phrase as you have always obeyed as a kind of please hear what I'm saying. So in 212 he says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only is in my presence, but much more in my absence. This is the second time in our section that Paul has highlighted the idea that he wants things to go well for them, whether he is physically present or not. When Paul comes to visit, everyone most likely will be on their best behavior, they'll hide any strife or contention in the closet, and they'll present their best face to Paul. Typically, we don't like to advertise our conflict, and I think the Philippian Church would be the same. They wouldn't want Paul to see them not getting along. They would probably suspect that Paul wouldn't like it, and they would be embarrassed, and so they wouldn't let him know what was going on. The Bible calls being overly concerned with what other people think of you as the fear of man. If my motivation is what other humans think of me, then I'm fearing men. Paul doesn't want them to be motivated by what he might see when he comes to visit, such that they act in a way that pleases him only when he is physically present, and then when he's not there they have no motivation to change their behavior. Fearing Paul is fearing the wrong thing, and that leads him to make his next very famous statement. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only is 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. People often quote this verse as if Paul's main point is to highlight this paradox of you work out your salvation because God is at work in you. And we're going to talk more about that so-called paradox later. In context, it seems to me that Paul's concerned by their motivation. What is their motivation to pursue the implications of the gospel? Is their motivation pleasing Paul? Or is their motivation because they have embraced that the gospel is true and they now want to live like it's true? How are they getting along with each other? Are they in conflict because they're being selfish? Are they standing united in their commitment to the gospel? Whether Paul is present or not, it should not change or influence what's driving them, because it is God who is at work among them. I think what he's saying here is I want you to be working out your salvation in the fear of God implied, not the fear of me. If you're more inclined to do the right thing when I, Paul, am there watching you, then you're fearing the wrong person. You should be working out your salvation in the fear of God. Let's talk about this fear and trembling, and let me remind you of two aspects of our relationship with God. First, we need to take him seriously, and second, we need to trust in his grace. And that first part, taking him seriously, is I think what Paul means here by fear. He is my God and my creator. He holds my eternal destiny in his hands. He holds every moment of my life and every breath I take on this earth in his hands, and he is holy and I am not. Jesus said in Matthew ten, twenty eight, and do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. I think this is part of what Paul's saying here. Paul is not my judge, other people are not my judge. Only God is my judge. He is a holy and righteous and just judge, and he is the one I should fear and take seriously. If I could convince everyone to be my best friend, it would do no good if God is against me. And conversely, as Paul says in Romans 8 31, if God is for us, who can stand against us? It should be the great, all encompassing goal of my life to be right with God. My greatest fear should not be losing my life or losing my friends or losing my health or wealth or beauty. My greatest fear should be not having the favor of God. I need to recognize that I have to face the author and the creator of the universe. It doesn't matter whether Paul or my pastor is around to see me slip up because I'm dealing with the Almighty God who has my destiny in his hands. That ought to inspire a healthy dose of fear and reverence and humility. So working out my salvation with fear and trembling is that idea. I have to remember who I'm dealing with and the seriousness of the issues involved. But we don't want to stop there. After I take Paul seriously, after I realize that He alone is my judge and he holds my life in his hands, I have to ask what kind of God is he? Who am I dealing with? And I discovered through the gospel and the life of Jesus Christ that the God I'm dealing with is merciful, forgiving, and generous. I do not need to fear that I'm not good enough to be saved because I'm not. That question is not open to debate. Left to myself I'm a miserable sinner and I deserve condemnation. Yet I am a miserable sinner that God will generously and graciously forgive because of the blood of Jesus Christ. If I seek him sincerely and believe in his Son, then God will not turn away from me. Both parts are necessary, the taking him seriously and the comfort of his grace. So I need to take God seriously, I need to take my sinfulness seriously, I need to take his holiness seriously, and I must fear him more than I fear anything else in creation. And yet I must also believe him when he tells me I can find forgiveness through his son. I can let my fears go and trust in his grace. In this passage, in this context, I think Paul is emphasizing the take God seriously aspect, though in other passages and other contexts I think he sometimes emphasizes the rejoice in your hope and grace aspect. Here I think his concern is to take God seriously, not me, Paul. Fear God, not me the apostle. Well that still leaves us with the question, what does it mean to work out your salvation? I don't think the context suggests that Paul is moving on to a new topic. If we look at the whole exhortation from 127 up to this point, this looks like a conclusion. 212 starts with therefore, in light of everything I've just told you, here's what I want you to do. So I don't think he's switching to a new topic, and we should not expect him to suddenly switch to a new discussion. So let's review what we've seen so far. Remember 127 was the thesis. Let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. Conduct your life as if the gospel is true, and then in 2 2, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. And then in 5 through 11, have this mind among yourself, which is yours in Christ Jesus, and he goes on to talk about his humility. And then in context of all of that comes our statement about working out your salvation with fear and trembling, and he's going to go on in the next verse to say, do all things without grumbling or questioning, holding fast to the word of life. Notice that context. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling is right in the middle of all these exhortations. So whatever it means, we ought to expect it to be related to those other ideas. So to work out your salvation is related to conducting your life in a manner worthy of the gospel, standing firm in one spirit, striving to be humble and self-sacrificing like Jesus and holding fast to the word of life. The very next verse says, Do all things without grumbling or questioning, and we would expect that to be an implication of what he has just said in 12 through 13. What does it look like to work out your salvation with fear and trembling? Well, one implication is doing all things without grumbling or disputing, which sounds suspiciously similar to what he said in 2.3. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Now we have to ask the question, how are these ideas related? How is working out your salvation related to not grumbling or disputing? How is it related to avoiding rivalry and conceit and counting others more significant than yourselves? What's the connection? Well that brings us to the larger theological question of the relationship between faith and works. So what's the relationship between what we believe and how we live? If we don't think this through, I think these two verses could be a very scary passage because I'm well aware that I've grumbled, I've disputed, I've been selfish, and I suspect I'll do it again today and tomorrow. Who among us can face a passage like this and say, oh, check, I've got that. Grumbling? No problem. Conceit? Got it covered. Look out for the interest of others, yeah, I can mark that off my list. Well none of us, none of us can say that. Does that mean our salvation's in question? If I get into a dispute tomorrow morning with someone because I think they're doing something the wrong way and we ought to do it my way, am I in trouble? Does that mean I wasn't really saved in the first place? Well, thankfully, I don't believe that's the case. The gospel is all about God forgiving our sins and our moral failures. And I think there are many other passages in Scripture that teach that our salvation does not depend on our ability to be morally good and upright and holy. So we can rule that out. In some ways, we've already talked about this from the beginning of chapter two, where he said, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full according of one mind. I argued that he meant that the gospel tells us about Christ, about his mercy, his grace, his sacrifice, and he's saying, Do you find encouragement in that? If so, this is how you should live. If these things are true of you, then let them become the grounds of unity and for being of the same mind. If you're a believer, these things ought to be true of you. You ought to find encouragement in the sacrifice of Christ, you ought to find comfort in God's love poured out for you, you ought to see the Spirit at work in your life, and you ought to have affection and compassion for God's people, so let these things unite you. The fact that I'm forgiven for being the kind of person who grumbles and disputes becomes the basis for less grumbling and disputing. I know that I'm someone who needs to be forgiven, and that inspires me to forgive others, because there's no standard by which I can condemn others that does not also condemn me. How can I condemn anyone else without being a hypocrite? I know who is ultimately in control of my life. I know who holds my destiny. I can let go of insisting on my rights and getting my way because God's taking care of all that. I can give up getting my way because God's in control and there are other things and other issues that are more important. Because I believe in the gospel of grace and that the grace of the gospel covers me, I am free to give up rivalry, conceit, grumbling, disputing, and insisting on getting my own way. And if I know you believe that same gospel, I can see you in that same light and know that ultimately we're running the same race side by side and we share the same hope. Now we're all sinners, so we're going to get into disputes and grumbling and we're not going to get along at times this side of heaven. But if I'm growing in awareness and understanding that my only hope is found in the gospel, and your only hope is found in the gospel, then I can learn to think about you differently and myself differently in light of that hope. I can realize we have the same Father, the same Lord, and we're in this together. So we're working on our salvation in the sense that we are believing in that salvation more firmly and living more consistently as if that salvation is true. We want that salvation, we increasingly understand what's truly important in this life and what isn't. We increasingly understand what's worth fighting about and what isn't, and as we learn to focus on the hope of the gospel more, we ought to get along more in the unity of that shared belief. The more the gospel means to me, the more you, as my fellow traveler on this road, mean to me. The point is not merely that they get along. We're not saved because we've learned to become nice cooperative people and learn to comply and play well with others. The point is we work out our salvation as we begin to apply the gospel to our lives. As we learn to value what God values and think like God thinks and want what He wants, and we plant our feet firmly on that foundation stone of the gospel, we are working out our salvation. And part of what results from that is we accept and work with each other better because we share this same important hope. So our real differences are going to lead us to fight with each other and complain about each other. They're not going to disappear, but as we grow in maturity, we will begin to put them in proper perspective. So we have hints that the Philippian Church is under stress, that they're being persecuted in some way. Paul's talked about their opponents, and life is not easy for them, and stress and differences lead to disputing. Things that might otherwise roll off their backs suddenly flare up because of the stress and the pressure. None of those outward circumstances are likely to change after they read this letter. But what can change is the depth of their understanding of the gospel. What can change is remembering what they believe, clinging to what they know is true, and letting that bring them together. And as they remember that, they can get perspective back, to step back and stand firm in the gospel. They can come to see each other with more compassion and more grace and maybe cut each other some slack. There's one more phrase I want to talk about that phrase both to will and to work for his good pleasure. To will is the desire to do something and to work is to make it happen. The interpretive question here is who is doing the willing and the working? It could be the Philippians and us by extension, or it could be God. It could be translated, it is God who is producing in you the willing and the working for that which is well pleasing for his good pleasure. So he could mean God is making us the sort of people who both want to and actually do the things that are pleasing at God. So in this option we're the ones doing the willing and the working. God's behind it, but we are now willing and working things that are his good pleasure. Well the second option is it is God who's working in you in order that He might will and He might work for that which pleases Him. So in that option, God's the one doing both the willing and the working in us. He wants certain things and He's accomplishing them. Now I've always interpreted it with the second option, and I still believe that's the option. But as I was preparing for this, I was reading lots of folks who take it the first way, and at first I dismissed them, and I had to force myself to stop and think, okay, how do I know what I think is true? What about that argument fails to persuade me? And if I had to defend why I think it's the second option, how could I defend it? Well, here's what persuades me that 213 is talking about God doing the willing and God doing the working. First, the emphasis in the immediate context is on fearing God. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Who are we fearing? We're fearing God. Why are we fearing him? Because he's the one who's working in you, he's our holy creator. So the emphasis seems to be on looking at what God is doing in your life. And it seems natural to me that Paul would continue the thought of what God's doing in your life. He not only wills your salvation, he's bringing it about. His word is sure. What he says will come to pass. So he's bringing your salvation to its final perfection and maturity. This fits with the farther context, going all the way back to 1.6, where he said, and I'm sure of this that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Again, it is God bringing it to completion. He's the one bringing your salvation about. So who's bringing about this good work for you? God is. I'm confident that he began it and he will not abandon you now, he will bring it to completion. Those things together tip me in the direction that it is God doing the willing and God doing the working. But I want to talk more about this paradox of you work out your salvation because God is working things in you. Because I haven't addressed that question, and in some ways you could say I've made it worse by saying God's doing the working in the willing. We could understand why Paul might say, I should work out my salvation if it is my responsibility. To do it. If it's totally up to me, then it makes perfect sense that Paul would encourage and exhort me to say, do it, because it's your job. But if God's the one doing it, why would Paul urge me to work it out? If God's at work in me, why is Paul urging me to work out my salvation? The language seems to suggest that I need to pay attention to this thing and make sure it happens while God is the one making it happen. So how do I put those together? Let's think about what we know from Scripture. We know that Paul and the other New Testament authors believe there is a sense in which I must work out my salvation, and they also believe that it is God working it out in me. Both of these things are taught in the New Testament. I must choose to believe and work out my belief, and yet faith is a gift of God. God is making me the sort of person who can live a life of genuine faith. Paul speaks of that elsewhere as do other New Testament authors. Look at Romans 15, 5 and 6. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another and accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Notice this is the same topic of discussion we have here in Philippians 2. It is God who gives encouragement, it is God who gives endurance, and through those gifts he gives us the ability to live in harmony. Hebrews 13 21 May God equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. It's the same idea. There's something that God wants me to do that God is equipping me to do and is pleasing to him. I have no hope unless the Spirit of God is working in me to make me this new person, and yet there's a sense in which I must become this new person. I must live out the change God is working in my heart. Notice what this picture contains the same juxtaposition of fear and comfort. I need to take the issue of my salvation with great seriousness. He is holy and I am not, he's the creator, I'm the creature. I cannot hide from him or fool him or get away with anything. I must face him. And the fact that it is God who is at work in me is truly sobering and gives me fear and trembling. There's a real sense in which I must decide am I going to believe this gospel and live like it's true or not? And that's a fearful thing. But it's also comforting that God is at work because I can't do this by myself with my own resources. Where does growth and faith come from? Where does the wisdom to choose rightly come from? Where does the ability to turn the other cheek or give up my own selfish interest come from? Where does perseverance of faith and suffering through trials come from? It comes from the Spirit of God at work in me. It's a gift of God to me as He works to make me that kind of person. I won't fail in that growth because God in His loving kindness will not let me fail. unknown: R. Speaker: C. Sprawl uses this analogy to explain this concept. Imagine a father and a child walking hand in hand along a cliff. The father is holding tightly to the child's hands as they walk, and the child is holding tightly to the father's hand. It is right and proper to encourage and admonish the child to hold on tightly, because from the child's perspective, that's what she must do. Her task is to cling to the father's hand. But the reality is the father's never going to let go. And unlike any earthly father whose fingers may slip, our heavenly father is never going to lose his grip. He is not going to let go and he is not going to let us fall. If I stumble and start to fall, he may let me skin my knee to teach me something, but he will never let me plunge over the cliff. From my perspective, my job is to hold tightly to his hand, but the reality is he is not going to let me go. I strive to hold tightly, I strive to work out my salvation, and as I do this, I know that underlying all my choices and my actions and all my efforts is the certain hope that though I may fail today in the moment, God is going to see that I cross the finish line. So here's my expanded paraphrase. I've been exhorting you to stand firm in the faith, to be united in your commitment to the gospel, and to care as much about each other as you care about yourselves, precisely because you have this common commitment to the gospel. Let me be clear, I know that you have always responded well to the gospel when I was with you, but I don't want you to be merely motivated by the fact that I am there to watch you. You face this important choice. Do you believe the gospel so genuinely that you will actually live as if it were true? This is what it means to work out your salvation, and I want you to make these choices with fear and trembling, because whether I Paul see how you live is not the issue. You are dealing with the living God. He is the one who is working these things out in you, not me. He is the one who is bringing about these things that are well pleasing to himself. Let me close with another analogy. Imagine that you are a subject of a great king. You're a citizen of a kingdom ruled by a great and powerful king that you have never met. And then one day a friend invites you over and you say, Maybe I'll go, maybe I won't. Let me see how my day's going, whether or not I get my work done, and you end up never going over to your friend's house. But then the next week you get an invitation from the king asking you to attend him at the palace. This time there's no hesitation on your part. You drop everything, you clear your schedule, you leave a half hour early to make sure you arrive on time because this is not one of your buddies, this is the king. The king has your life and well being in his hands. He can bankrupt you, he can throw you in jail, he can make your business succeed depending on his whim, or he can make it fail. When you arrive, you're delighted to discover that the king is a kind and generous and wise king. He asks how you're doing, he asks what he can do to help with your little business in your town, he expresses sincere interest in your welfare, and you derive great joy and comfort that he is a kind and generous king. From this point, there are two ways in which you could go wrong. One, you could presume on the kindness of the king. You could think he's such a pushover and he's a softie, and so when he calls you to the palace again, you might hesitate and postpone and say, I don't know, maybe I'll go, maybe I won't, because now you think of him as one of your buddies and someone you don't have to take seriously. So you could take advantage of his generosity, forgetting the enormous power that he has in his hands. You could forget to fear him. So that's one way you could go wrong. The other way is you could get so overwhelmed by his immense power you could forget that he is a wise, kind, and generous king. You could be terrified of him and forget to trust him, and you could never bring yourself to trust him or count on the fact that his character is merciful and compassionate and gracious, and then you could become paralyzed with fear and just hope that the king will leave you alone. Well, in this simple way, those are the two ways we can go wrong with God. We can presume on the grace of God and forget to fear him. We can take our salvation for granted and forget that grace is not something we've earned, it's not something God is obligated to give us. We can forget that we are working on our salvation with the sovereign creator of the universe. Or we could be so paralyzed by fear and the compulsion to do everything right and be the best person we could in order to please him that we forget that he's the one working in us. He didn't save us and then walk away. He is with us, teaching us, growing us, he gave us the spirit to make us into the kind of people he wants us to be. I think this is the kind of warning that Paul is warning the Philippines against. Don't be concerned with what other people think about you, be more concerned with what God thinks about you. But fear him with the confidence and gratitude of a child adopted into his family who knows her father is taking care of her. Think how easily we get distracted by all the cares and pressures of life. We get so busy that we just focus on getting everything done and then making sure we get in our leisure time, and we forget that the gospel matters. We forget the real problem we face is not health, wealth, beauty, and resume stars. The real big deal in this life is am I living out my faith or not? We no longer have the sense that faith is so important that I ought to give my life for it. I think that's what Paul's exhorting them to do. Stay awake, stay alert. Remember there's eternal life and eternal death issues at stake here. And it's hard when we're distracting ourselves to death with being busy and being entertained. And after we've remembered to fear God, we can forget to trust him. And we want to avoid apathy, but we also want to avoid being stuck in guilt. God really means it when he says he intends to forgive us because of the blood of Jesus Christ, that he intends to bring our faith to completion because of what Jesus did. We can fear him and we can rest in the gospel. In some ways this contradicts the popular modern gospel of today, which seems to be you're special and God loves you. Don't worry and be happy because you're loved. It's all good because God is love and love will win in the end. You just gotta feel it. And I think Paul would warn against that kind of complacency. The gospel cuts deep into our lives. It matters, it makes a difference every moment of every day. And he's exhorting them, remember who you're dealing with. Jesus Christ is not your buddy and your BFF who's always there when you need him and then leaves him alone when you don't. He's the Lord of Word and the King of Kings. He has the power of eternal life and eternal death in his hands. He's the Son of Man, the Son of God, and He is holy. There is a right and proper sense in which we should fear him, but we balance that fear with the knowledge that he is generous, merciful, and compassionate. Think again about Paul's words from last week in light of this fear and trembling we just talked about. This is I'm going to read again Philippians two five through eleven. Have this mind among yourselves which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count a quality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. We fear him because he is holy and awesome and powerful and worthy and wonderful. But we fear him with gratitude and joy and confidence because he came to serve and die in our place. And that's Paul's encouragement. Embrace the fear and embrace the comfort. Don't fall into apathy, don't fall into guilt. Actually truly believe that the gospel is true and then live in light of what you believe. This is what Paul means by work out your salvation. Don't just say you believe it, live like it's true. Don't just sing about it and work up warm, fuzzy feelings. Don't just evangelize and tell others, live like it's true. How does a diverse group of people actually come to be of one mind? It happens when they believe the gospel. How do people overcome bitterness and strife and grumblings and disputes, which arise when everyone wants its own way? It happens when you believe the gospel. How does a simple group of believers come to care as much about each other as they do about themselves? They believe and embrace the gospel. And how do we walk in a manner worthy of the gospel? We believe and we live like it's true.