Today we are considering Philippians chapter 2, verses 12 through 18, Living Out Our Salvation. Beginning at Philippians 2 in verse 12, “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. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.”

The Apostle Paul gives us a wonderful example here of how best to address brothers and sisters in Christ when we are getting ready to exhort them. Notice what he says, he says, therefore my beloved as you have always obeyed. He affirms his deep feelings for His beloved, the Church of God at Philippi. Paul feels deeply and compassionately for the men and women who have believed the truth here and he affirms and encourages them by saying that they have always obeyed and what that does is it shows that the apostle is sincere. That he’s genuine and that he has a deep love for the Lord's people in Philippi. Remember, that's a church that the Apostle Paul himself planted. And he encourages them by saying they have a history of obedience and that’s something from the outset we want to remember when we’re going to exhort and encourage other people, to affirm our love for them and to remind them of the good things that they have already done it Christ. Relationally, it makes any kind of exhortation easier.

Now, let's begin with point one that we are to work out our salvation or live out the details of our salvation in our daily lives. Verses 12 and 13, “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.” The apostle is telling the Philippians to work out their salvation for it is God who works in them, to will and to work, according to His good pleasure. We know that scripture tells us that salvation is a gift of God that we receive by grace through faith. So when Paul says work out your salvation, he doesn't mean do works to achieve or to earn your salvation. He means that because you are already saved by the grace of God in Jesus Christ through faith, work out the implications, work out the consequences of the salvation that is already yours in Christ Jesus.

So we are saved by grace but that isn’t all. Salvation by grace, that initial experience, is important but it goes on. Christianity is an entire life and God continues to work in us by His grace. Verse 13 says, “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” This is true for all of us who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. God continues to work in you. To will and to work for His good pleasure. Now, what does that mean for us? It means as Christian people God has given us His Holy Spirit and as his Holy Spirit works by and with the word of God in our lives, God changes our will. He changes our desires. He changes the things that we enjoy doing. The ways that we speak. This things on which we place our affections. He works within us to will in accordance with His will. It’s a supernatural gift and a supernatural power. God is constantly at work in us.

The Christian life is not static or stagnant, it's dynamic. We are always moving ahead. We’re well rooted in the past, but we're moving ahead as Christian people. If we’re stagnant or stale or we haven’t grown in our faith, we’re not endeavoring out into some kind of Christian service, we have to question where are we really? What do we believe? God should still be working in us. He changes our wills and He works within us for His good pleasure. This is one of the most exciting things about our faith. God not only made us and re-made us in Christ but He's continuing to work within us. That should make us feel incredibly passionate about the Christian life, incredibly comfortable being of children of God because we have not been left alone. God is at work. The living God who made the universe and sustains the same by the word of His power is it work within you. He’s at work within me. But, that's not all.

He goes on to say that we must work out the consequences or the details of our Salvation. Verse 12, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, to will and to work according for His good pleasure.” Just because God is at work within us to renew our wills and to work for His good pleasure, it doesn't mean we are bystanders. It doesn’t mean that we're fans who are just watching from the sidelines the game that we call Christianity. No. It says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. So God's sovereignty is compatible with our responsibility. God's at work within us, that doesn't absolve us of our responsibility. We are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling but we don’t do it alone. We can’t do it alone. We wouldn’t have the power or the strength or the desire to do it alone. God is at work within us so therefore we work in conjunction with His power to work out our Salvation. To implement the Christian faith into every area of life. Now, this is hard work even though the grace of God is working in us, but this includes all settings. Work out your salvation. Christianity is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. So we work out our faith in our homes, in our most personal and intense relationships with our spouse, with our children, with our parents, with our siblings, in the workplace, with our peers, as we enter into hobbies in all areas of life. The Lord is Lord of all. He’s Lord of the universe. He’s Lord of the details of our lives and everything we do is under the Lordship of Christ and we’re to work out the details of our faith in life. We are to be thinking people and discerning people, distinguishing between good and evil in the world as we apply God's word to the details of life.

Well, since then, therefore, that God is at work within us and we are to work out the details of our salvation in daily life, let's look at these verses and see the two things specifically that we should be doing. The first is that we should be shining as lights in the world. Verse 15, “among whom you shine as lights in the world.” Now, let's look at that whole passage, that whole verse. That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the world of life. We are to shine as lights in a dark world. We are the light of the world. God said in the beginning when there was darkness, let there be light, and out of darkness came the light. The light shines against the backdrop of darkness. Paul says here, you shine as lights. One translation is against the vast expanse. Think of the night sky in which there are billions and millions and trillions of stars against the backdrop of darkness and we shine as stars against the backdrop of darkness, which is this unbelieving culture that Paul calls a crooked and a twisted generation.

In John chapter 1, verse 5, “Jesus is the light who shines in the darkness.” So that's the call of Christians, to shine as lights in the world. Now, there's only one way we can do that and that is if we hold fast to the word of life. We shine as lights in the world holding fast to the word of life. Verses 15 and 16, “We can't shine as lights in the world without holding fast to the word of life.” In and of ourselves we won't shine. We don't have the power to shine. We shine as we hold fast to the word of life. The light that we have is the light of Christ working within us. And that's it. That's the only light that we have. So we have to hold fast to the word of life, Jesus Christ the living word, the scriptures, the written word and as we hold fast to this we're going to shine. Think of our light moving from just a flickering, to a bright flame, to a big lamp and then getting brighter and bigger. The more able we are by the grace of God to be changed by His word and to trust in Christ we will shine more brightly for Him in a very dark world. What does this show us? It shows us that the whole person is involved. It's not just one aspect of the human being that changes. It's not just our heads pump filled with knowledge. It’s head, it’s heart, it’s hands.

Paul says in another passage, ‘you obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine or the form of teaching that was given to you.’ The teaching comes to the mind then it arouses our affections. It makes us excited for Christ. To be known by Him and to know Him. And we can feel that our hearts is pumping faster, the blood is coursing through our veins. We want to get to know Him more and more and more and yet that also, you obeyed from the heart. When the heart that desire and that interest arouses within us, it leads from head, to heart, to hands and feet. And so we obey Him in the details of life. In order to do this, we have to hold fast to the word of life and as we do that we will shine even as brightly as the stars against the backdrop of the dark night sky. May God grant us the grace to do this as we live for Christ in this world. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for your truth and we ask for grace, to obey it, to hold fast to the word of life that we might shine as lights in this world. In Jesus’s name, amen.