Co-operating with God
Philippians 2:1-18
The idea of people cooperating with God is an interesting one. Does God have to rely on us in some way to do his will? Is it possible for me to somehow get in God's way so that he needs me to help him do something? "Oh dear, if Stuart doesn't get this sermon right, then we won't receive from God all that he wants to give us!" Or worse still, "If Billy Graham doesn't get the words exactly right, this person will never become a Christian and will therefore be lost for eternity!"
It's seems like a crazy idea that God would be limited in this way because, after all, he is the one who simply spoke this entire creation into being. Is he now somehow dependent on human beings? Well, of course he is not. He doesn't need us to run his world. His plans are not thwarted or foiled by our human failings. His purposes for mankind are all completed through Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, his promises are all certain in him.
But, as we'll see in Philippians 2 today, God does still call us to cooperate with him. He commands us to put our efforts into his work. In fact, this idea is at the heart of our passage today. We are going to be focussing on verses 12 and 13, which say:
"…continue to work 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."
From this whole passage, just one and half verses hold the key to the way that God changes us to become more like Jesus. But notice how verse 12 begins. It begins with the word, 'Therefore.' As my old English teacher used to say, 'Therefore we need to find out what the 'therefore' is there for.' You see, to make sense of verses 12-13, we need to look first at verses 1-11. So we're going to take a few moments to take in the forest before we look at the trees.
The Big Picture
Philippians 2 is actually structured in four parts: 'if', 'then', 'like this' and 'therefore'. (i) Verse 1 says 'if' these things are true, (ii) verses 2-4 say 'then' these things ought to follow. (iii) Verses 5-11 describe what those things ought to look like—they say, 'like this'. (iv) and fourth comes the section which begins at verse 12 with the word 'therefore'. Therefore introduces the command to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling," grounded in what has been said in verses 1-11.
If…
Listen again to the 'if ' section in verse 1.
Phil. 2:1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,..
There are four 'if' statements piled up on top of each other. And actually the way they are written in the original language implies that 'of course they are true'. It's a bit like saying 'if the sun comes up tomorrow, if the earth is round,and if the Pope's a catholic and as sure as eggs, death and taxes…' then these things ought to follow.
So these four 'if' statements, four certainties, motivate Christian living.
The first certainty is that the Christian is united with Jesus. It's a profound insight. What the writer is saying is that a Christian is not someone who is good, or nice or even religious. He means that what defines being a Christian is that you have been made one with Christ through faith. A Christian has been so united with Jesus that whatever Jesus has done has been credited to them, and vice versa.
Let me explain. You know that feeling of pride when your country does well in sporting arena? What's going on there? Our chest swells with pride when we're winning the cricket. We all rejoice in a gold medal. At the Olympics it's not just Ian Thorpe that celebrates. We all share in the victory. Why? Because that's our team. They are our representatives. We are in some sense united with them. We share in what they have done.
Now in a far greater way the Christian is united with Jesus and shares in the spoils of his victory over death on the cross. So is there any encouragement in being united with Christ? There sure is. All that was ours has become his and that is his has become ours.
The second reality in verse 1 is the comfort of Christ's love. When you know that someone cares so much about you that they would give up their life for yours, that's real security. That's comfort. That's the kind of love that Christ has for us. And you know that it is a reality because he's already gone to the cross for you .And so from the complete security of Christ's love for us we are enabled to love others, we are in a position where God is going to be radically changing us to become like Jesus.
The third reality that drives Christian love is fellowship with the Spirit . The Christian's friendship with God is so rich and tangible because God himself has made his home with us in the person of his Holy Spirit. We can love and serve one another because we are sharers in the Spirit. He empowers us to do it.
And the fourth certainty is the tenderness and compassion of God . God's attitude towards you is absolute kindness and grace. He is not some cosmic killjoy who can't wait to send hopeless sinners to hell. He loves you with tenderness and compassion. It is because we have experienced such incredible kindness and compassion from God that we are ready for God's transforming work in our lives .
Then…
So, says Paul, if these four statements in verse 1 are true, and they most surely are, then, reading verses 2-5 again:
2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
We've had the four big motives for change, and now here are the kinds of changes God wants to bring about in us.
Notice here first that Paul is concerned primarily about our thinking and attitudes in relation to one another. He says that the overarching characteristic of relationships between Christians is to be unity. We are to be united in our thinking, sharing a common purpose, and having the same love.
So of course, there is no room for selfishness or vanity. Of course we make our decisions based not on what's best for me, but also what's best for others.
Do you mind if I probe that point for just a moment. When it comes to our Christian community here at church, do you make your mind up based on what's best for everyone, or on what suits you best? For example, if you saw that your regularly established pattern of coming to church and doing church in your usual way was preventing others from coming to God, would you be prepared to change? We say that we are committed to welcoming newcomers, but what if that gets uncomfortable? The new people who come to church might not like the music that we like, they might not want to do church the way that we're used to. For their sake, would you be ready and willing to change for their good?
I know a church in another part of Sydney that was small and struggling. The congregation that met there were almost all 'Anglos', and mostly over the age of 60. Yet the suburb they lived in was changing rapidly—it was growing with young families, mostly of an Asian background. Not all spoke English fluently. The forms and customs of this church were very strange to them. Humanly speaking, the church was irrelevant to most of the people in that suburb and so it was doomed to a slow but comfortable death, as numbers fell one by one.
So what did that church do? They made a decision based on a common purpose, looking not only to their own interests but also to the interests of others—even those who weren't even in their church… yet. That group of Christians decided to employ a young Asian pastor. They changed the time of their service, and they style of their meetings. They began to reach out and open up to people who were quite different. In short, they did as Jesus did. And as a result, it is now a thriving multi-cultural church with many families and young people.
You see that is how Philippians 2 is calling all us to be like Jesus ChristWe are to have the mind of Christ Jesus. We are to think and act after his pattern. We are to become like him.
Like this…
But in what way are we to become like him? Paul spells it out for us in verses 6-9. We've had 'if', and 'then', now we're shown what it looks like.Listen as I read again, starting from verse 5:
Phil. 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!
In what way are we to become like Jesus Christ? We follow his example, his model, of emptying himself in order to serve us. At the beginning of verse 7, it says that Christ “made himself nothing”, the word that Paul really uses is that Christ “emptied himself”.
This mightn't seem important at first glance, but there's an important question here. Of what did Jesus empty himself? There's a popular Christian song that says 'he emptied himself of all but love' but I don't think that's quite accurate.Whatever it was he emptied himself of , he did not, could not, empty himself of his divinity. He was and always is God.When he come to this earth he truly displayed the nature or form of God in the nature of a slave— a slave without any rights to self interest, the true Servant of the Lord. Jesus who has always been fully God with the Father in eternitywillingly took on this role of slavein order to express something essential in the nature of God: the nature of his love for us.
So what are we saying? God emptied himself, poured himself out, sacrificed himself, on our behalf. And he did this, not by shelving some of his divinity in order to become human. God sacrificed himself for us as a fully divine human person, Jesus Christ.
And it is the mindset of this person that we are to cultivate amongst ourselves.
When we sacrifice ourselves for each other the way that Jesus did for us, we don't loose our true dignity and value as a person. Yes, our glory is set-aside for the moment, just as Jesus did for us. Indeed, it takes real character— it takes guts— to do it. Giving yourself up for another person does not mean that you become some worthless wimp. Loving one another like Jesus loves us is the most courageous of actions. That's what committed love does: it always acts in the best interests of the other no matter what the cost .
These are the kinds of actions that follow from the four certainties Paul reminded us of in verse 1. We are united with Jesus Christ, we are comforted by his love for us, we have fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and we enjoy his tenderness and compassion. And so our lives are changed.
Therefore,…
And now, at the beginning of verse 12, that's what the 'therefore' is therefore.
Therefore…continue to work 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. (Phil 2:12-13)
continue to work out your salvation
This verse shows us what we mean by cooperating with God. The main verb of this sentence is 'continue to work out' . We are commanded to do something and it is in the present tense: this is what the Christian person does now.
Before we go on, I want to point out something very obvious but very important. Notice that it is our salvation that we are working on here. Our ongoing growth, our changing to become like Jesus Christ, this transformation we have been talking about, is integral to our salvation.
You don't become a Christian and then say, well that’s done. Put the insurance policy in the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet until the annual policy renewal comes around, usually sometime around Christmas. Not at all; this becoming like Jesus, is intimately connected with and is part of your salvation. If you really are a Christian, we are talking about your core business, the purpose of your life, the reason that you live. On the other hand, if radical transformation to become like Jesus is not your agenda, but more of a fashion accessory, then maybe some re-evaluation is needed. Paul is saying, its time to get moving.
So what are the implications of Paul calling us to work out our salvation? He does not mean that Jesus left a few loose ends; that he requires a bit of help to get us over the line. Jesus saving work on the cross and his resurrection from the dead assure us of eternal life, but since we are united with Jesus (as Paul says in verse 1), we've got to start living that way now. Since we are made one with Jesus in his death and resurrection, the only life we have is his life. It's not as though we have a Christian life and some other life in this world. No, that life-of-this-world died when Jesus died and the only life we have is that which Jesus shares with us; his life—salvation life.
So it is this salvation that we are to 'work out' and this implies effort on our behalf. We don't just kick back, expecting the transformation to be automatic or forced upon us. We have a part of play. Our will, our energy, our minds, our passions, our body, our strength—everything we've got—is involved.
The power for change comes from God but, like a Father working with a son, because of that relationship, he calls for our involvement.
It's like a Dad working in the garden with his five year old. Dad's shovelling some dirt or whatever in the garden, but he calls his son alongside him to help him. Perhaps he gets out a little yellow plastic wheelbarrow and a spade and shows his son what to do. The son learns to mimic the Father, he spends time with him; they raise a sweat together and that bond between the two is strengthened and deepened. If it was only about getting the dirt moved from A to B, the father would have done it faster and more efficiently by himself. But it's not; the Father calls the child alongside and involves him in what he's doing—to work out his salvation.
with fear and trembling,
The next phrase of our passage is an interesting one. We are to work out our salvation 'with fear and trembling'. The question is, 'who or what are we to be afraid of'? Should we be nervous or anxious about our salvation and working it all out? Why do we do this with fear and trembling; and is it so scary after all?
for it is God who works in you
The reason for this fear and trembling is explained in the next phrase. It begins with the word, 'For…' Here is the reason. We are to work out our salvation with a holy and reverent fear because God himself is at work in us.
In our casual culture where we refer to the Queen as Liz, our Prime Minister as Little Johnnie, and our Governor-General as 'umm, whats-his-name'; it's difficult for us to understand holiness. We pride ourselves in treating everybody the same. No airs and graces, no class distinctions. We say, 'all men are equal'.
But that's precisely Paul's point: all men might be equal, but they are not equals with God. He is not just one of us. He is pure, perfect and different; wholly other than us. He has all power and authority, throughout this universe and in every realm. He sees all things, knows all things. He was then, is now, and will be forever more. He is God and he is holy. His holiness is like a fire that consumes anything that is impure, tarnished or compromised with sin.
In the Old Testament, people died when they came too close to God. Remember the Ark of the Covenant—it was a special box that represented God's presence among his people. The High Priest only went near it once a year, and only then after special purification ceremonies and lots of sacrifices to cover his sin and the sins of the people. There was a time when a group of 250 men decided that they deserved the right to come near The Covenant Ark too—but God consumed them all with fire (Numbers 16). There was another bloke named Uzzah who, while the Covenant Ark was being transported, reached out his hand to stop it falling off the wagon: God's holiness also broke out against him and killed him (2 Sam 6). So Holiness is not something to take lightly.
And that's why we respectfully treat God's work in our life as a thing of awe. We fear and tremble because it is this same Holy God who is at work in us, who is changing us to become like Jesus. God's work in us is not taken lightly, its not blasé or just a cruisey thing. The Holy and Living God is at work in your life: so sit up and take notice. Beware. He is not be trifled with. He means to change you into the likeness of Jesus, so join in that process with fear and trembling.
to will and to act according to his good purpose.
So what is it that God is at work in us to do? To will and to act according to his purpose. It's a cooperative activity, isn't it? We are called, commanded even, to work out our salvation. But at the same time, God is the one who is at work in us. It's a co-operative effort. We do it and God does it.
The truth is that we often don't want to do the will of God. Sometimes we don't feel like loving another person, like giving up our rights or emptying ourselves like Jesus. Our sinful nature is such that we just don't have the will to do as Jesus would and we can't artificially manufacture it from within. It's at the point that we find God is at work within in us, both to want to do his will, and even in actually doing it—to will and to act, according to his good purpose.
God is committed to changing us, and it is his power that does so; but he calls us to enter in to what he is doing; this work of transformation is in that sense a cooperative venture: God does it and we do it.
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When Jesus Christ died in 30ad on a Roman cross
he was there doing that for you and me;
bringing upon himself the judgment our sins deserved.
He suffered so we won't have to.
Elsewhere in the Bible it says this:
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
The first three are qualities of God and so it's pretty clear that Paul is referring to the tenderness and compassion of God for us.
The results of Jesus doing this for us are set out in verses 9-11:
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
