Co-Operation in Salvation - A study in Philippians - week 6

Philippians 2:12-18 (NIV)

Over the last few weeks we have been looking at Paul's appeal to the Philippians to live in unity this passage not only strengthens his appeal it encourages both the Philippians and us to live a life which will lead to salvation.

No where in the New Testament is the work of salvation more succinctly statedVerse 12b and 13Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Paul is urging us on, he is saying don't stop half way but go on until the work of salvation is fully shaped in you. No Christian should be satisfied with anything less than the total benefits of the gospel.

Salvation is always the action of God and it is always effective action. God's action cannot be frustrated, nor can it remain half-finished.

Salvation is of God

• It is God's working in us the desire to be saved. The beginning of the process of salvation is awakened by God.
  
• The continuation of that process is dependent upon God, without his help there can be no progress in goodness, without his help no sin can be conquered and no virtue achieved.
• The end of the process of salvation is with God, for its end is friendship with God, in which we are his and he is oursThe work of salvation begun, continued and ended in God.
  

Salvation is of Man

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling Paul demands. Without your co-operation, even God is helpless. Any gift or benefit must be received or claimed. If you are ill and you go and see the doctor and he prescribes the drugs that will make you better, but you stubbornly refuse to take them you will not be cured.

• It's the same with salvation. The offer God is there, without it there can be no salvation, but if you don't receive salvation and answer God's appeal to you then you won't enjoy the benefits of salvation .
• It is never God who withholds salvation; it is always us who deprives ourselves of it.

The opening words of verse 14 come like a shock of cold on a hot day. Paul's emphasis (verse 13) has been on the total work of God and has not prepared us for a command that we should do everything! This is the principle set out in verses 12–13. Our obedience is the way we enter into the totality of what God is doing in us. As he is doing all, we must do all: it is our total response to the fact that he is everything that is needed.

Have you heard the saying 'Let go and let God" Well this statement is totally contrary to biblical teaching. Our new nature is ours by gift of God, but the start of that new nature in terms of new character and new conduct is through the responsive work of obedience, the hard graft of the daily warfare.

As soon as we have got over the shock of 'Do everything" Paul has another surprise waiting for us.He does not outline a course of action but calls for a kind of action: without grumbling or questioning.

He does not specify a set of rules for life but the sort of person: blameless … innocent … without blemish.

He focuses attention not on social involvement, nor social exclusion but a social contrast: a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights.

Verse 15-16 without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life - in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labour for nothing.

Paul now speaks of the setting in which we live in as crooked and depraved and, of the contrast between the us and that setting and of the means by which the contrast is achieved.

Shine as Lights

'Light" is a beautiful illustration of something that does what it has to do by being what it is meant to be. It is therefore very appropriate in Paul's argument in these verses.

We are responsible for the world around, outreach, making an impact, telling others about Jesus. We are not told anything specific about the world-darkness in which the light is to shine. The description crooked depraved comes from the LXX of Deuteronomy 32:5, a general phrase for people turning away from the Lord and finding other gods, living the upside-down life of those who do not believe.

By contrast, we 'hold fast" to the word of life.The word of lifeThe word of life is the message which both tells of life and also imparts the life of which it tells. It stands broadly for the total message of the Bible, and specifically for 'the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation'. Without this life-giving word Christian character is impossible. But at the same time, the light of Christian character is just a nice person if we do not speak about Christ.

Equally, speaking about Christ is futile if our lives do not back up what we say.The brightest and most glorious light was that of Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God and equal with God, brought his light into this poor world for the sake of sinners, like you and me who are under the curse.

It is the very life of Christ which the life-giving word imparts to us. This life must have its way, shining out into a crooked and perverse generation, exposing and condemning, illuminating and transforming.

Christian incentive: the day of Christ

The Christlike life, is a life of work, character and testimony. Testimony – I don't mean sharing something at church, I mean the way we live and how we talk about Jesus, that is testimony and it is part of becoming Christlike. When Jesus lived out his distinctive life he had the encouragement of the joy that was set before him, and Paul does not leave us without the encouragement of the forward vision as we seek to imitate our Saviour.

Philippians 2:17 (NIV)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.

Paul shows us the essential worth of the life he has outlined. He refers to the sacrifice and service coming from your faith. The word offering points to our status as priests. The sacrifice of a life of obedience, character-building, holiness and witness, this is our priestly service to God.

1. Paul encourages us in following Christ by expressing his own approval of this sort of life. We must remember that his death was at this time a distinct possibility. He speaks of it here as his being poured as a drink offering. The regulations for this part of the sacrificial system are not absolutely clear, but we can at least say that the drink offering was the accompaniment of a larger sacrifice; it was the small thing which brought a major offering to completeness.
2. Paul says that he would count it all joy, if he has not run or laboured for nothing. If by this means he can 'put the finishing touch" to their appointed sacrifice of work, character and testimony. He could hardly have rated more highly the life to which he calls them.
   
3. Paul express a still higher value as he encourages us on our way, by showing that the life of Christ-likeness is acceptable before Christ himself in the day of his coming.
   

Paul looks forward to the joy that will be his when Christ returns (verse 16), if only his Philippians have held on to the course which he has outlined for them.

Could he rejoice if Christ had to rebuke them at his return, if there was no 'Well done'?

But what joy will be his if and when he beholds Christ's favour towards them and approval of them! And the road towards that day and to a joyful standing before Christ at his appearing is: a road of obedient work, patient pursuit of a holy character, shining testimony to a dark world.

Recommend this blog entry to a friend