Work out your salvation

Okay, we're now recording, so watch what you say. That's good, a little comedy relief there. Okay, so let's kind of, as we usually do, review the last two weeks of teaching here, which was Philippians 2, 8 through 11, that's related to Christ's exaltation after his humiliation. So let's kind of summarize that. Right? Oops.

All right, the first point I think to review over the last couple weeks is although outwardly the Lord Jesus Christ appeared as a man, and that's, if you will, his humiliation from leading the right hand and coming to earth as a human, and the cross, both very humiliating in terms of the right hand of God.

And inwardly, however, he was fully deity. Interesting contrast, isn't it? Fully man, but yet internally fully God. His exaltation, I think, was a consequence of his given task, which was fully accomplished. So the exaltation, I mean, he was already part of the triune God, but yet the exaltation that followed his coming as a human or as a man and then being crucified really raised him to glorification and for eternal, you know, position after that event. And one day all must bow their knees and confess with their tongues that Jesus is both Lord and Christ. So that's a bit of summary. Anyone want to add anything to that? to summarize the verses of 8 through 11. All right, let's move on then.

Philippians 2.12, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation which you are trembling.

All right, so what's therefore, therefore? Sound like Jay Bernard McGee. I'm sorry, but what's therefore therefore? Or Peter, I think you read wherefore, right? No, it was there. Let's see. for in this generation? Well, wherefore and therefore, I think, could be interpreted similarly here. So what's wherefore? I'm not going to say, what's it wherefore? I'm going to say, what's it therefore? What's it therefore? What's typically therefore for?

Well, it's in view of the previous verses. Absolutely. I mean, it seems simple, but we need to look back at what we just looked at, right? So that's what it's there for in terms of what the Lord Jesus Christ went through in terms of the humiliation and ultimately exaltation from his earthly existence, his crucifixion, and his resurrection. Okay. Therefore, okay, my beloved, he loves the brethren, right?

That's to whom he's addressing the church at Philippi. As you have always obey, aorist, active, indicative. How should we interpret that in terms of a language? As you have always obeyed. Is aorist a fact? Fact, okay. And by the way, fact, I think it can be misinterpreted, could be present, could be historical, or even relate to something in the future. So aorist can be one point in time and indicative of factual, right? But it also means that presumably it's something that happened at one point in time that's continued. It's not kind of perfect tense, which has an ongoing implementation going forward, but errors just can't happen once, but has an impact on what follows, okay? So Paul's saying you guys and gals have always been pretty obedient out there. How should we interpret always obeyed? What's the obedience to for us today? The faith. It's obedience to the faith. And what's our faith based on? The word of God.

Very, this is Christianity 101 here today right now, okay. Okay, so this in part relates to Philippians 127, which states, only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. Their obedience was Paul's challenge to them to make their conduct worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come or see you or I'm absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast and one spirit with a mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. Pretty noble purpose that Paul is giving them. Seems like that obedience, he's calling them to a real substantial task by faith. All right, do you agree with Macaulay? who says that verse 12, the verse we're studying right now, points to a weakness on the part of the believers of Philippi. They tended to be a bit lax in their Christian lives when Paul was not present. Do you agree with that? Do we need to go back and read the verse again? Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, Not as in my presence only, but now much more my absence. Work out your own self.

I don't agree with Macaulay. The only reason I put that up is it just suggests that commentators, you know, it's not that I'm smarter than Macaulay for sure. I would never go there. But the idea that I think we have to look at in context what Paul is saying. And I think he's implying that maybe once upon a time they were lax, but now he's stating you've always obeyed. So I tend to think, Ultimately, the Macaulay is perceiving that at one time they were not obedient.

But anyway, I'm putting that up just to give you an idea that when we teach or look at and study the Word of God, the commentators can be helpful, but we need to be on our own Holy Spirit led to interpret the Word. And to what is the obedience? And we've already kind of addressed that. It's to the faith. And notice as Paul desired, as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. All right, what does that mean? Well, this is frequently quoted, isn't it? I mean, in the body, you often hear work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. So what does that mean? Well, what doesn't it mean? It's certainly not to work for your own salvation, right?

I mean, we'll support that scripturally here in a second. The recipients here have already been saved, have they not? I mean, he's talking to the body, beloved. So we have to assume that we're talking to the church. Salvation, by the way, is a work of God, not of man, right? I mean, we have to respond by faith to accept the gospel, but yet it's God's work, not ours. And finally, ultimately, here's some scriptural proof of that.

Philippians 3.9, be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

And remember 2 Corinthians 5.21, so he made him who knew no sin to be made righteous as for us, that we ultimately may be made again righteous before him. So anyway, I think we all know that here. This is again, Christianity 101. Now we, yes.

I liked what Jameson Soplin Brown said about work out, which is carry it out to its full perfection. You know, okay, we said, by the way, lots of commentators, I must have looked at five or six, all say that that's kind of how to interpret this. The words work out are the translation of a Greek word, which means to carry out to a goal, to carry to its ultimate conclusion, which is what, which is Christ in us, the hope of glory, right?

So it's working out a goal setting kind of behavior. I don't know, do you, does anybody here set goals in terms of their Christian faith? What's the goal here? What's the goal of our lives as believers? To be conformed to Christ. I'm sure Mike's gonna talk about that this morning. To be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ is God's will for us to be conformed. But what does that do in terms of how others see our lives? Remember, Hal said, you may be the only Bible people ever read. So what does that mean? What does our life mean to an unsaved world or even to one another?

Jim, go ahead. Does that speak more towards our responsibility to focus on Christ? What is our responsibility? To focus on Christ. Or how about we have a new life in Christ? But what ultimately is the outcome that God is seeking from us as we live the Christian life by faith?

Sanctification. Well, we're going to come to that too today. I'm thinking, bring glory to God, right? Yeah. I mean, isn't that the bottom line? We're called to bring glory to God. And I think we get in the way of that because we have reasons to get in the way with lots of stumbling blocks along the way. Well, it's not to bring glory to ourselves. No. We can, I mean, you may meet people who are very pious and they think they're, you know, so holy or whatever, but that's not what it's about. It's about, like you say, bringing glory to God through us and as Hal pointed out, you know, through the way you live your life, how you deal with trials and how you deal with things that happen in your own life that are not pleasant.

And how do we deal with those things? And Bob, you made a comment a few weeks ago. I don't remember whether it was at our home or here in the Sunday school class about humility, right? You want to share that with us again? Well, I basically said humility is where you give respect to those that are higher than you. I'm not sure what all I said back then, but that's something I see here.

We're supposed to do this with fear and trembling. Okay. And fear and trembling is a Hebrew phrase, meaning with all to the goodness of God or to the glory of God. You know, looking to God as in his greatness. Well, You and Jim both know where we're going here in terms of how we're to interpret the scripture, in terms of responsibility versus sanctification, and fear and trembling, how we should interpret that.

But let's just look a little bit at what this working at our salvation by faith means. And to carry out a goal is to bring glory to God. So in 1 Corinthians 3, 9, for we are God's fellow workers. Now keep in mind, we're not working to bring self-righteousness to ourselves. You are God's field, you are God's building. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, are we not? And what we do by faith in this new creation we are in Christ Jesus, Holy Spirit led, is ultimately God's building being fulfilled in each of our lives.

First Corinthians 1558, therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. And then third verse, Titus 38, which I love. This is a faithful saying. And these things I want you to affirm constantly that those who believe in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good. and profitable to men.

Let's pause here. So what are good works? Those things that God does through our lives, in our lives or through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Okay, how are those measured, Patty? Your production. Are you saying something? Production. What you're producing. I still didn't hear, I'm sorry. What you're producing, your production. All right, but who's the judge of this? God is. Yeah, for sure.

But in the body, when we grow together, the fellowshipping we have one with another, we can sense the faith-driven behavior that we experience one with another, is it not? I mean, that's why we're here. That's why we have Bible studies. That's why we have fellowship. I mean, the fellowship we share ultimately is an evidence that good works are those with the spirit led lives that we all live. All right. Jim, this whole process is best described as sanctification, set apart in the life in Christ or of Christ that we all have. So what's sanctification?

What we know in salvation is I was saved, I'm being saved, and I will be saved, the three verb tenses. And why? Because we're saved from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and ultimately the absence of sin, or the presence of sin, right? So the three verb tenses of I was saved, being saved.

So the sanctification is second partisan, increasingly set apart. And that's a progressive thing. Once we're saved, we're always saved. That happened once for all. But in sanctification, this is a progression or a maturity that we gain from daily living for Christ. Yeah. You know, it's something we can't do ourselves. It only happens by God working out things in us. At verse 13, we're gonna get there.

And if you think about it, that's what, you know, nobody has a perfect life. Nobody goes through life unscathed. And so the Lord, you know, brings these things about in our lives for this very purpose. Well, you know, one thing that comforts me and I think it would comfort all of us is Paul in his last epistle. said, I'm the greatest sinner of all time. Here he's lived the life that brings glory to God.

And remember last week or maybe two weeks ago when we talked about Paul's only time where he fell on his knees? Does anybody remember what that circumstance was in Ephesians? He fell on his knees to thank the Lord for choosing him to really found the church and all the doctrine of the flesh. Isn't that amazing? And he says there at the end of his life, how humbled I am because I'm the greatest sinner of all.

I mean, so we need to not use that in a depressing manner, but we need to realize, as Margaret says, it grows this process and it occurs through the failure, the impact of Satan, the world system and our own sin nature. All right. Now, fear and trembling, let's look at that in a little more detail. I like this. This is not a slavish terror, but a wholesome caution. This fear is self-distrust. It's a tenderness of conscience. It's vigilance against temptation. It is the fear which inspiration opposes to high-mindedness and the admonition. Be not high-minded with fear. It is taking heed lest we fall. It is a constant apprehension of the deceitfulness of the heart and of the insidiousness and power of the inward corruption. It is the caution and circumspection which timidly shrinks from whatever would offend and dishonor God and the Savior." And he quotes Vincent's quoting word law from Proverbs. And Jim, this he calls, tweets calls this human responsibility. So human responsibility, what is our responsibility?

I mean, an issue that comes up often, and Doyle and I have been back and forth on this a little bit, and I like what Mike says here, we have a choice, but a choice can be made in the flesh. If we make right choices in the flesh, why do we make right choices in the flesh?

Because the consequences of a wrong decision. can be substantial. I mean, think about this, the consequences of a white lie may have no impact whatsoever, but the consequences of adultery has substantial consequences. I mean, I'm just using those as, you know, black and white extreme examples, but the self can make those decisions because of the consequences. We think a white lie, that's not going to have any impact, but here, We're talking about a choice, and so the choice to live by faith is what the choice is.

It's not between right and wrong. It's a choice to use biblical truth to impact our day-to-day faith-based decisions, the word of God, which is the truth. Everybody okay with that? The choice is to live by faith. That's what human responsibility is. It's not to try harder or be better or follow a set of rules. is to live by faith in the Word of God.

Now, do you think this command is for the individual person at Philippi, or for us, or is this for the church body as a whole? What do you think? Paul's writing to the church at Philippi. I think it's both. Okay, all right. Okay, why might it be both? Well, the whole context is for people to be like-minded. A unity. A unity. A unity, okay. Like-minded, the mind of Christ, beyond that. But that applies to each of us individually, too, doesn't it? Yes. So I think it does relate to both. One of the commentators, I think, thought it was more directed towards the body only.

I'm not going to quote him. All right. Mayer explains this responsibility, this human responsibility, based on what Paul has already stated earlier in chapter 2. Do nothing through pride and vainglory. Look on the things of others. Count others better than yourself. Work at what, excuse me, God's working is working purity and vanity, but you must consolidate each holy impulse in speech and act. I mean, I think it really hits the nail on the head in practical terms and value. Your thoughts about any, either what we, or what Meyer has said. So what's our human responsibility? To live by faith, based on the word of God. That's a human choice to live by faith. All right, let's go to verse 13.

There's the balance now. It's nice to kind of put your pillow, your target on a pillow that really is this. So it's God who works, present active, that means he's doing it right now, and you both to will and you do for his own good pleasure. I really like the end of Olivia Greig says on behalf of his goodwill. rather to do his good pleasure, it's on behalf of his goodwill, both the will and to do for his good pleasure. Best interpreted, I think, on behalf of his goodwill. All right.

God who works present active. And by the way, the Greek really emphasizes the zeal of this, which implies work effectively, just not work out, let's get a job done. But we're talking about the outcome is really what's implied, and this working of God in our lives. Now, from works of the Greek, we get the word energy.

Isn't that interesting? And multiple commentators have commented on this. I went back to the Greek, and that really is a term that stems from the Greek term that says work, worked, or worked out. How does this happen? And so we've kind of dealt with this. If this is a choice, what kind of choice?

So I kind of jumped ahead here, but yeah, I think a life lived by choice is not the right interpretation because it simply says you'd make a decision what's right and wrong, but that can be done for self, either because of consequences of making the wrong decision or again, for self or for good. But we're talking about now the right choices to live by faith, that ultimately God would be glorified by these choices. Not getting much interaction today. Maybe I'm not giving you time enough to give me your wisdom out there. All right, no comments.

To do and to will are present active infinitive, and when implemented, predicts a good outcome. It's interesting, the infinitive modifies the present active, that God's doing it, but really the infinitive mood, if you will, really anticipates a good outcome to follow. But you know, in thinking about this, you say a good outcome.

You know, sometimes it's not a good outcome. Give us an example. I mean, you know, we're trusting the Lord. Okay. what do you consider a good outcome, right? Yeah, I mean, sometimes, you know, what the world would think is a good outcome is not what the outcome is. Well, we're not there to please the world. No, but my point is, you know, the good outcome is what the Lord has for you, I mean, for whatever reason. And I think sometimes we, you know, in the world system, We may not think that that's a good outcome.

Well, could a good outcome result in a trial from God? Why? Well, you know, trials are basically what sanctification is all about, right? It is. Well, all things work together for good. So we may not think a good outcome has taken place, but God is in control. And whatever happens is a good outcome to God. That's it.

And in our flesh, it could be very disappointing to us. We may have a different view because we put ourself in it too much. And that's my point. And in the world system, whatever that outcome is, you know, may not be what the world would consider is a good outcome.

But like you say, all We don't know what the Lord has in mind for us down the road. And if we put our trust, if we put our trust in Christ, verse 14, there's no reason to grumble or complain or dispute. OK. And again, look here, it's to do for his good pleasure. That means he's the judge of this outcome. Yeah.

But just the reason for trials. come into our lives. What we want for an outcome of those trials is totally different than what God has planned for them. And we sometimes find that out sometimes the hard way and other times just by being patient and waiting. And that's sometimes a tough curve to learn on, isn't it?

You know, if you think about what's gone on in your life in the past, for me, 70 years or more, you think about there were a lot of bad things that happened. But looking back now, they were all for my maturity in Christ. Everything. I didn't want to get drafted in the army, but they drafted me. But now, looking back, one of the greatest things that ever happened. So all these trials and tribulations that we go through just causes us to mature in the Lord. So well stated. Other comments or thoughts? All right, good.

McCauley, the words to will point to the Lord's desire for us to will to decide to make quality choices is not the will of the Lord to crush the believer's volition. We still make choices and I'm trying to encourage all of us to make our choices based on the word of God by faith. There can be consequences of that. We in our human condition don't understand, but nevertheless, that's what we're called to.

All right, thank you. Yes, and again, I think re-emphasizing this, and this choice is to live by faith and His power who enlightens us and has us live in the new creation we are in Christ Jesus. This is a new existence. We're not rubbing up the old man here to make him better. We have a new life in Christ Jesus. I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, and it's this new life in Christ. All right, and 2 Corinthians 3, 5, it's nice for this. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, but that God's will working in us to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.

Now, you know, I always pause here because I think Many of us have had earthly responsibilities with jobs or being parents or whatever else. And ultimately, the sufficiency of God ultimately gets dismissed a bit because we're so bogged down with the responsibility to live a human life that the world systems depended on, right? So has anybody else been troubled with that? If you think about your career in the workplace, you know, you have responsibilities to meet goals or demands that the workplace really has brought you to. But yet, how's our sufficiency from God for that? Thoughts? Well, look at Christ's sufficiency in God.

He always prayed, I'm only here to do the will of the Father. So that relationship is to do His will. And if that isn't a good example, I don't know what is. Well, keep in mind, I mean, here I think we need to really come back to the fact that Christ was human in His human form, but truly God. We are positionally made righteous. So I think our citizenship's in heaven, not here. And that should really influence our choice to live by faith. And we're in a foreign land down here.

But yet, let's say, you know, I mean, Ultimately, Peter deals with numbers day in and day out. He has the job responsibility to make sure everything's appropriate for the company he works for based on tax returns across the country. So he's a numbers guy, but doesn't he have a role in that himself? So where's the sufficiency from God for these day-to-day activities? You want to comment on that, Pete?

Well, I think you live the life. And it's still in the workplace. It's because we're an example. People see our work ethic, they see how we deal with people. Christ is coming through us, even in the workplace. We live in a world system. That's right. And His grace is sufficient. Okay. All right. All good.

I mean, I think we can ponder this too often. We need to carry ourselves, since we are Spirit-led, in making right decisions that are right to human responsibility, that often could bring glory to God. And we could list the things, I mean, what was avoided according to what, I think, who said that in the last slide. Meyers said, I think, is really that those things that are all the flesh, those things are not part of the spirit-led life. All right, let's see what Wiest has to say. He said, it is God the Holy Spirit who energizes the saint, making him not only willing but actively desirous of doing God's sweet will.

In verse 12, we have human responsibility, Jim, and in verse 13, divine enablement, a perfect balance which must be kept if the Christian life is to be lived at its best. It's not a let go, let God. That's one thing that you hear people criticize, kind of what we think about in our doctrine here. Probably it's, well, you let go, let God. No, it's not that. It is take hold with God in His business. Amen. Isn't that neat? That's excellent. That's profound, I think. It's not let go, let God. We need to live by faith. Anything that's not faith-driven is not of God. So again, this is not let go, let God. It's an act of faith in God's well-being. implemented in our lives. So some verses to close here.

Ephesians 111, in him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Whether we make mistakes, whether we fail, that's to the counsel of his will to learn from that, isn't it? Ephesians 320, now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask to think. according to the power that works in us. That's Holy Spirit-driven power to live the Christian life. And finally, Philippians 1-6, which we studied probably several months ago now, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fill his good purpose. A nice view of the uncertainties that lay before us, but also trusting him to work through the wilderness, if you will, that's cloud coverage in terms of where we're going. Great section of scripture, huh?

Good at balance, so neat that we spring it up. Okay, I'm going to stop there. Let's hear some thoughts or questions or comments. That's why positional truth is so important. Yeah, if you don't have a sense of our position, then the condition really is a lot of self-righteousness attempting to live it out. Or it's overwhelming. Yeah, it's impossible. Yeah.

I mean, I think that's what so many people that I know who are believers, but they've never heard this kind of teaching. And so they're just struggling all the time. They feel guilty because they don't feel like they're measuring up. Well, the other ultimate outcome, honey, is that they have a self-righteousness kind of mindset. I think that's another thing. And I think when the positional truths are not really understood to begin with in doctrine, then ultimately you're under some sort of a legal system, aren't you, Doctor?

And that's what we've been studying in the sanctuary about Romans. We live by faith, by the power of the spirit. Well, you know, it's the difference in like in Romans chapter eight, living according to the flesh or living according to the spirit. You know, if we're going to live for the spirit, we are going to take hold with God, you know, by faith, what he has for us. So let's think that point through a little further. So the decisions on a day-to-day basis, and we make so many on a day-to-day basis that we make, how can we get a sense of whether the decisions are made to bring glory to God and the power of the Spirit? I think it's the love that comes out of what we are doing. Well, that'd be one manifestation of that.

I think we could jump ahead to Philippians 3.10, that I may know him. and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings may conformable unto death. And we're gonna study that probably two months from now. But I think knowing him is really what we're about. So being in the word of God, I think is so critically important to learning him.

And that way our decisions may be led more commonly by the Holy Spirit and not ourselves. And that's a personal thing, isn't it? I mean, a one-on-one personal relation. I have a question. There is a mandate in God's Word that we are to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And how does that fit in with what we're talking about today? Well, Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit, was he not? Yes. We looked at that Monday or Tuesday. So is that something we work on? Well, this is not intellectual, is it?

I want to be filled by the Holy Spirit. Come on, let's get it done. I think being filled is probably a gradient term, is it not? We could be minimally filled or maximally filled, but yet we're still saved. And that's what we call sanctification, I think.

Bob, what are your thoughts about this? Well, I've always felt that Stephen's filling of the Holy Spirit and those in that early, like in Acts chapter two, when Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, That is not... They were filled for a particular purpose, but when we're mandated to be filled with the Holy Spirit, I would say we are either filled or we are not filled. It's a continual...

All or nothing, huh? Yeah, all or nothing. And a synonym for that would be we're either in fellowship with Christ or we're not in fellowship. We're either walking in the light or we're walking in darkness. So then how would you define sanctification? Well, set apart by God. Is that not a process? So maybe let's say I'm being filled with spirit 40% of the time rather than 20% of the time based on your yes or no kind of maybe that's sanctification where you're being filled with spirit more often than you're not being filled with if it's black or white.

One way to think about that. Well, anyway, I think the bottom line here is knowing him, that I may know him. Jim, closest in prayer, please. Father, we thank you for the ability that we have to think about these things and to work out what they mean in our lives. We thank you so much for this study and the interaction we have in this class. We just give you all the glory. This is in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen, thank you.