"Keep On Keepin' On"--Philippians 3:12-16

One of the sobering realities that we have to deal with as we get older is that we’re not physically capable of doing many of the things that we could do when we were younger. As we age, our bodies start to wear down—we’re not as strong as we used to be or as flexible as we used to be. But of course, we usually don’t realize this until we’re out on the softball field trying to re-live our old glory days and we end up tearing something! It seems like our minds are always about 10 years behind our bodies. Our minds remember what we could do, and they haven’t quite come to terms yet with what we can do right now!

This has all kind of hit home for me lately because I’ve been trying to build up my muscles a bit in anticipation of holding my baby. I’ve discovered from holding other babies that it can get pretty tiring after a while, so I thought I would try to beef up a little bit to prepare for my own baby. Now I’m still a young man, so—as I thought—this should still be pretty easy, right? Yeah, right! My mind is still ten years in the past—back then I could look at a set of weights and put on five pounds! But now I actually have to pick them up and work out, and not just once a week, but three or four times a week. It’s like I’m on some kind of treadmill, and if I don’t keep moving forward, I immediately start to lose ground.

You know, that same kind of feeling holds true in our relationship with God, doesn’t it? It’s hard to grow spiritually in areas where we are weak, and sometimes we let down for just a moment—maybe we give in to a temptation that we’ve said “no” to a dozen times—and suddenly its like we’ve lost all that ground that we had gained.

This morning as we study the book of Philippians, we are going to read as Paul describes the mindset that we need to have in order to keep moving forward in the Christian life, to keep growing more and more like Jesus in every way. We will also discover that there is a prize to be won by those who faithfully serve Jesus and carry out His will for their lives. What we will learn today is this:

The prize for faithfulness is won through a continuous pursuit of maturity.

I think this lesson is so important for us to take to heart, especially for churches like ours that believe in the doctrine of eternal security. According to our doctrinal statement, we believe the Bible tells us that once a person is saved, their salvation cannot be lost. In other words, once a person has placed his or her faith in Jesus and has thus received forgiveness from God and has been adopted into God’s family, that person is absolutely secure in that position; it can never be lost.

I think that is an absolutely glorious doctrine that should bring us a tremendous amount of comfort. But sometimes that doctrine can lead to an attitude that sounds something like this: “Well, it sure is nice to be saved! Now that I’ve got that settled, I guess there’s not much else to do but wait around until I can go to heaven.”

Obviously, that is a far cry from the attitude that we should have, because what we have to realize is that even after you have been saved, there is still an aspect of your future destiny that has not been settled. It doesn’t have to do with where you will spend eternity; rather, it has to do with the role that you will play after Jesus returns and sets up His kingdom on earth. There is a very real possibility that you might miss out on a reward that God wants you to have, so that is why we need to take this lesson to heart today.

Let’s read our passage for today, and then we’ll see what it has to teach us [READ 3:12–16]. Let’s study what Scripture has to tell us about pressing forward in our relationship with Christ.

I. We must continually press forward in pursuit of the prize for faithfulness (vv. 12–14)

In v. 12, Paul states that he does not feel that he had yet achieved the goal that he mentioned in v. 11, which was to know Christ intimately so that he could become part of that unique group of resurrected believers that will hear Jesus say on the day of judgment, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” That was Paul’s goal, but he didn’t think he had achieved it yet, so he writes in the rest of v. 12, “but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.” Paul reminds us here that when Jesus saved us, He did so with the goal that we would grow spiritually and reflect his character. Let me take you on a quick tour of the book of Ephesians and I’ll show you what I mean:

[READ Eph. 1:3–4, 2:8–9, 4:12–13, 5:25–27]

So Jesus has the goal in mind for us that we would be spiritually mature, and in v. 12 Paul says that he is “pressing on” toward that goal. The Greek word that is translated “pressing on” here has an interesting connection to Paul’s former life before he was a Christian. This word refers to running after something or chasing something, and its often used in a literal way to refer to persecuting someone. In fact, in the book of Acts when Paul described how he used to hunt down Christians to throw them in prison, he used this word. Now it obviously has a much different application for Paul, but by using it its like he’s saying, “I’ve taken the same intensity with which I used to hunt down Christians, and now I’m using it to chase after spiritual maturity.” What a word picture!

Paul’s wording tells us that spiritual growth is an active process. It is not something that you passively receive by sitting in a pew on Sunday morning. Growing spiritually is not like catching a cold—it doesn’t happen by accident. It is something that requires action on your part; an intense, focused exertion of effort to deny your own sinful desires, to take the attitude of Jesus for yourself, and to follow Him. Nor will it come through casual effort. There must be a pursuit of spiritual growth if we are to lay hold of it.

And to describe this pursuit, Paul uses the image of running a race in vv. 13–14. He writes, [READ v. 13–14]. Now, I never ran track when I was in school. I tried when I was in 7th grade, but I got shin splints after two weeks and decided I had better things to do with my time. So I may not have run track, but even I know that you don’t run a race with your head turned back, looking over your shoulder.

Paul uses this rule of running to make an important spiritual point—the proper mindset for spiritual growth is not one that is focused on the past. Focusing on our past is a distraction, a hindrance, because the goal is still on ahead of us. Like many lessons in the Christian life, I think this one is both a comfort and a challenge. I think it is a tremendous comfort because it means that we don’t have to be shackled by what we’ve done in the past. It is so easy to allow our past failures and disappointments to continue weighing us down. We allow ourselves to be haunted by the sins that we’ve committed in the past, but the glorious message of the Gospel is that those sins have been forgiven. As Rom. 8:1 says, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Psalm 103:12 says, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us,” and Micah 7:19 says that God has cast all of our sins into the depths of the sea.

So we don’t need to let our past sins continue to be a hindrance to our spiritual growth today. We don’t have to think that God can’t use us today because of what we’ve done in the past. It would have been very easy for Paul to think that way, but he chose not to. When God called him to preach almost immediately after his conversion, he could have said, “God, surely I’m not fit to do this! I was opposing you just days ago; I’m not the right one for this task.” But instead, Paul chose the perspective that he describes here—he didn’t look back, but chose instead to look ahead and press on to grow spiritually.

But this lesson also provides a challenge for us, because if our focus is not supposed to be on what we’ve done in the past, then that means we can’t rest on our past spiritual accomplishments, either. Even if we’ve been serving the Lord and growing as a Christian for years, we can’t look back and say, “Well, that’s good enough,” and then stop pressing forward to grow as a Christian.

But I fear that there is a growing trend to do just that today, especially as people approach and enter the retirement years. It seems like more and more people are also retiring from church when they retire from their jobs—not that they necessarily stop attending church, but they stop serving, they stop pressing forward in order to grow. It’s almost as if people are saying, “Well, I’ve put in my time at the church. Let’s just let the younger generations take over.” Then these folks go buy an RV and their churches hardly ever see them anymore!

If I can speak to our senior saints for just a moment, I urge you not to stop pressing forward in your spiritual growth and your service for Christ in the world and in this church. I understand you may not have the energy or the physical endurance that you used to have and that’s fine, because your physical strength isn’t your greatest asset anyway—its your wisdom! If you’ve been growing in Christ throughout your life, then you have a wisdom that these young people around you badly need. So focus on building relationships with them. Find some kids who don’t have grandparents nearby and be grandparents to them. Go to their games; buy them presents on their birthday; pray for them and then tell them how you prayed for them. Tell them what you’re asking God to do in their lives. Please don’t look back and say, “That’s good enough.” Keep pressing forward!

And for all of us as we think about how we might spend the latter years of life—let’s focus our thoughts on how we can center that time around service for Christ. Don’t focus on how you can spend the last 15, 20, or 25 years of your life focusing on yourself. Keep pressing forward, because as Paul reminds us here in v. 14, there is a prize waiting for those who will press on toward the finish line!

Over the years people have debated a bit over what Paul is talking about here in v. 14. Some people have said that he is talking about the Rapture, but that doesn’t make sense to me because of the language that Paul uses here. The Rapture is not a prize that we have to win—it is a guarantee, a promise from God for all of his children. So because Paul speaks of a prize here I think he is talking about the rewards that are held out to us in Christ’s millennial kingdom—specifically the reward of serving in a position of leadership and authority in Christ’s kingdom on earth.

I think Paul is continuing the imagery of a runner here by drawing on the picture of a victorious athlete in the Greek athletic competitions. The person who won the race would be called to appear before the judges in order to receive the prize, and I think that’s what Paul is talking about here. When he stands before God to be judged for his deeds in the Christian life, he wants to be called up to receive the prize, to hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” and to serve under Jesus to reign in his kingdom.

That is why Paul won’t look back, but keeps pressing forward, keeps striving to win the prize. And of course, if we are going to press forward, that tells us that…

II. We must not slip back on the path of spiritual growth (vv. 15–16)

In the final two verses of this paragraph, Paul writes, [READ vv. 15–16]. Now v. 15 introduces a little bit of confusion because Paul seems to be contradicting what he said in v. 12 about being perfect. In that verse he had said that he has not already become perfect, but then in v. 15 it sounds like he’s saying that he is perfect. Your translation in v. 15 might say “mature,” which is an accurate translation, but it in Greek, Paul uses the same word in v. 12 as he does in v. 15. So what are we to make of all of this?

Well, we need to make note of the verb tense that Paul uses in v. 12. We can see that he’s using a tense that talks about a completed action that has led to a settled state. He writes, “not that I have already become perfect,” as though he had become perfect and some point in the past and was now settled in some kind of state of perfection. As we see, Paul believes that he needs to keep pressing forward to know Christ better, so it seems that what he is saying in v. 15 is that those who are perfect (or mature, or complete) in the Christian life are those who realize that they are not perfect, those who understand that they are still a work in progress. So I think Paul is simply adjusting our perspective of what it means to be mature as a Christian—it means that we understand that we still have work to do. In other words, if we think we’ve arrived at some kind of final state of Christian maturity, that attitude is proof that we haven’t!

But notice that Paul does acknowledge in v. 16 that as we grow in the Christian life, we really do make progress. He says, [READ v. 16]. Even though we still need to grow, its not as though we’re on some kind of spiritual treadmill, where we strive and strive for spiritual growth but end up stuck in the same place. We really do grow and mature; we really will find ourselves getting the upper hand on temptations that plague us right now. We really will find our knowledge increasing and our love for God growing, and what Paul is telling us is to make sure that that progress doesn’t slip away once we’ve attained it.

If I can use a military metaphor here, what Paul is saying is that once we have gained ground spiritually, we must never give up that ground. We must hold that position and then press forward to new territory. We must always be on the advance, never on the retreat, never yielding the spiritual growth that we have already obtained.

And so, what remains for us today is to take to heart Paul’s command in v. 15 to adopt this attitude as our own. And notice that he offers something a promise with that as well when he says “and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you.” It is not an easy thing to tell if our attitude is off-base. As the Lord said through Jeremiah, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart, I test the mind (Jer. 17:9–10).”

So let’s ask the Lord to do exactly what Paul said here, to show us if our attitude is not what it should be, to show us if we’ve let up in our pursuit of knowing Him. Let’s ask God to show us if we are keeping ourselves shackled by the past—if we’re allowing ourselves to be held back by unnecessary guilt or an unhealthy sense of satisfaction over what we’ve already done. May we keep our eyes on the reward that God offers us for faithfulness to Christ, and press forward to win the prize.

"Getting to Know You"--Philippians 3:8-11

When I was in first grade, I had the opportunity to be in my local high school’s production of the musical “The King and I.” I played one of the many children of the King of Siam, which introduced a slight problem—I was supposed to be Oriental, but I had extremely blonde hair at the time. But of course, in theatre, they have ways of overcoming such obstacles, so they just sprayed my hair with this black gunk every night and away I went. I had only one line in the whole production: toward the very end, when Miss Anna was preparing to head back home to England, I stood up and said “We will be afraid without you!”

One of the most beloved songs from that musical is the song “Getting to Know You.” Even if you’ve never seen the musical, I’ll bet you’ve heard at least a portion of that song. One of the more famous verses of that song says, “Getting to know you/getting to know all about you/Getting to like you/getting to hope you like me.” I think that verse captures very well the excitement and the uneasiness that are both present as you’re getting to know someone for the first time.

Getting to know someone can be a very exciting process. You get to learn about a new person, find out about their life story, perhaps find out about some common interests that the two of you might have. But it can also be an uneasy time as well because we all want to be well-liked and accepted by other people. The other person is getting to know us as well, and we want them to like us.

I think this excitement and uneasiness also exist as we get to know Jesus more and more. Obviously, there is excitement as we learn more about His deep love for us and the peace that we can experience in our lives by following His example. But there’s some uneasiness as well as we get to know Jesus—not because of what He learns about us, because we know that He already knows everything about us. No, there’s some uneasiness because of what we learn about ourselves in light of Him. We start to realize how sinful we really are; we see our attitudes and our actions in light of God’s holiness, and that can be a very unsettling thing.

But however unsettling it may be to gain a more intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ, according to Scripture the value of such a knowledge far surpasses anything that might be compared to it. In our study of Philippians today, we are going to see the value of knowing Christ in every manner of life. We’ll see that:

Knowing Jesus in every way is worth more than everything.

Would you turn with me please to Philippians 3:8–11? Last week we saw how Paul had a change in his values when he became a Christian. He used to think that his religious resume was a source of gain in his relationship with God. He used to think that his heritage and his own accomplishments had made him right with God, but when he embraced Christ he realized that his former perspective was actually a net loss to him because it was actually a hindrance in his relationship with God. Today we will see what Paul now considers to be valuable in his Christian life. Let’s start reading in v. 7, and then we’ll study the message of vv. 8–11 [READ 3:7–11]

Let’s take a look first of all at the value of knowing Jesus, and then we’ll look at what that knowledge involves.

I. Nothing compares to the value of an intimate knowledge of Jesus (vv. 8–9)

In v. 7, Paul had said that he now considers his former mindset about his religious resume to be a hindrance to his relationship with Christ. He broadens that idea now in v. 8 when he says, “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Now note carefully what Paul is saying here—he is not taking an ascetic view of life which says that nothing has any value. He’s not saying, “Possessions? Relationships? It’s all worthless.” No—he’s talking about comparative value. He is saying that whatever value we may assign to the various parts of our lives, there is an infinite chasm between the value of those things and the value of an intimate knowledge of Jesus. (Now Paul is obviously talking about a born-again person gaining a more intimate understanding of Jesus. The idea here is not conversion but spiritual growth for someone who is already converted).

You can picture in your mind a set of old-fashioned scales where two objects were placed on either side of the scale to determine its weight as compared to the other object. What Paul is saying is that if you could place an intimate understanding of Jesus on one side, there is nothing that you could place on the other side that would even come close to the same value—not material things, not a fat bank account, not social status or power, not even earthly relationships.

And Paul goes on in the rest of v. 8 to describe just how wide the gulf really is. We see that the actions of his life show it when he says, “for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.” If Paul was exaggerating here, it wasn’t by much. Paul had lost pretty much everything in his service for Jesus. He had once had a pretty good social standing within the Jewish community, but he lost that when he embraced Jesus. He seems to have lost whatever possessions he may have had throughout his life. He may have lost his relationships with family members when he converted. At this point, he had lost his freedom as we awaited trial in Rome.

Paul really had lost everything, but his attitude reveals that he still had his sights set on the most valuable thing of all—knowing Jesus through and through. At the end of verse 8 he says, “[I] count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.” The old King James Version says, “I count them but dung.” That really captures the graphic nature of this word. He is basically thinking of household waste—be it human waste, table scraps, spoiled food—anything that is fit only to be thrown out and discarded. So when Paul contemplates the possibility of gaining a more intimate knowledge of Christ, that’s how he thinks about everything else so that there will be no competition in his mind with the goal of knowing Christ.

Now that sounds pretty extreme to our modern minds, but perhaps that’s just because we’re constantly told to place our highest value on other things. We are bombarded every day by a billion-dollar industry called the advertising industry that tells us how much value to place on everything from a new car to deodorant. It’s hard for us to cut through all of that, but perhaps that’s why the Lord allowed Paul to lose everything—so that he might see clearly in order to teach the rest of us.

Now in v. 9 he goes on to reiterate that he doesn’t want to slip back into his old mindset of basing his standing before God on his own efforts to obey the rules [READ v. 9]. Here again is the fundamental difference in mindset that Paul described in v. 7—the basis for his relationship with God was faith in Jesus Christ, not his own efforts to follow the rules. And Paul wanted at every moment to be found in Christ—to be found in that mindset of dependence on Jesus.

So now we’ve seen the value of knowing Jesus, but what does that knowledge involve?

II. Knowing Jesus involves understanding and embracing the attitude that carried Him through His life, death, and resurrection (vv. 10–11)

Let’s read again what Paul says here in vv. 10–11 [READ vv. 10–11]. Here again in v. 10, Paul expresses his desire to know Jesus, and throughout this passage Paul has been using the Greek word that describes knowing someone through an intimate relationship with them. It is the kind of knowledge where you know what another person is thinking, you know how they will react in certain situations because you’ve been with them through the up and downs of life. It’s like the knowledge that you sometimes see that elderly couples have of each other. They’ve been together perhaps for 45 or 50 years, and they’ve shared every conceivable circumstance together, and now they can finish each other’s sentences because they know what the other one is thinking.

That’s the way that Paul wants to know Jesus, so that He would know what Jesus would think in a given situation; so that He would know how Jesus would react in a particular circumstance. And Paul goes on to further clarify this knowledge by saying that he wants to know “the power of His resurrection.” Jesus certainly exhibited tremendous power throughout his life, but never more so than when he rose from the dead. For all of our advances in this world, for all of the ways that we’ve learned to harness the power of nature and the human body, we have not and will not gain power over death. But Jesus had that power, and Paul said that he wanted to know that power in his own life, certainly in the resurrection that he looked forward to, but also in the moments of weakness in life that we all encounter. He wanted to know that power of Jesus in his moments of fear and fatigue and weakness and sickness and doubt—the same power that carried Jesus through His life and allowed Him to remain faithful to God the Father at every moment.

But then Paul says that he also wants to know “the fellowship of His sufferings.” This idea doesn’t sit with us quite as well as the idea of power does. We like the sound of power! We’d love to share in the power that Jesus had, but we don’t want the pain, do we? But nevertheless, suffering was a real part of Jesus’ life as well. He was rejected by some of His own family members, betrayed to death by one of his closest friends. He sacrificed some of the comforts of life in order to conduct his ministry. He put up with gossip and rumors and false accusations, and of course he ultimately endured even beatings and crucifixion, all because it was the plan of God the Father to show His great love for us.

And dare I say, that one of the reasons that we may lack this deep, relational knowledge of Jesus is because we don’t want to share His sufferings. We don’t want to be rejected by other people for choosing to serve God rather than choosing to make them happy. We don’t want to give up some of the creature comforts that we enjoy in order to serve other people. That whole way of thinking rubs us the wrong way because it doesn’t resonate with our sinful nature, but if we want to have a deep, relational knowledge of Jesus, sacrifice and suffering are part of the package because that was part of His life, and if we are to imitate Him, then that will part of our lives as well.

But then, I think Paul answers perhaps the biggest question we have at this point—how can we have a knowledge of Jesus like this? How can we get to know Him in this intimate way? I think the answer lies in the last phrase of v. 10—“being conformed to His death.” I really think this should be translated “by being conformed to His death;” in other words it can read “that I may know Him by being conformed to His death.” That’s a subtle part of the Greek grammar that I think is fully appropriate to bring out in the translation here.

So in other words, Paul is telling us how to gain this knowledge of Jesus—we can do so by being conformed to His death. Now I don’t think Paul is saying that we have to actually experience crucifixion; I think he is pointing our thoughts back to 2:5–11 where he described the humble attitude that Jesus had in His death, His willingness to follow the plan of God the Father even though it lead to a painful and humiliating death like crucifixion.

So therein lies the key to this intimate knowledge of Jesus—it comes as we embrace the same humble mindset that carried Him through every moment of His life. If we will embrace that mindset that made Jesus willing even to die in order to obey God the Father, then we will start to learn to think how Jesus thought about life; we will come to know what His attitude was; we’ll gain insight about how He would react in the situations that we face, and in so doing we’ll come to know Jesus more and more.

Paul then wraps up this thought in v. 11 by stating one of His purposes in gaining this knowledge of Christ. He states that he desires this knowledge “in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Now this statement sounds a bit unusual at first, as though Paul isn’t certain whether or not he actually will be raised from the dead. But if we look a bit closer, we can see that Paul is not doubting the fact of his resurrection, he is simply uncertain about the nature of his resurrection. In other words, as we know from other passages, Paul is confident that he will be resurrected, as we will all be resurrected, but he just doesn’t know yet precisely what the resurrected life has in store for him. Let me point out a couple of things that will help you understand this.

First, in this verse Paul uses a Greek word for resurrection that is slightly different from the usual Greek word for resurrection. Paul added a prefix to the word that seems to indicate that he is thinking about a smaller, unique class of resurrected people, and when we read this in light of the context of vv. 12–14, we see who Paul has in mind. In vv. 12–14, Paul talks about his passionate desire to receive the prize that God offers for faithfulness to Jesus Christ.

The New Testament makes it clear that we as God’s children will receive rewards for our faithfulness to Jesus when he establishes His kingdom on this earth. So what Paul is saying in v. 11 is that he wants to know Jesus intimately so that he might be part of that unique group of resurrected souls who hear Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Paul wants to gain those rewards in the resurrection life, and in order to do that he desires to know Jesus deeply so that he might know how he should live.

Friends, I hope you have been captivated by the vision of what it means to know Christ and the value of that knowledge. I think we can all agree that we want to pursue something in our lives that truly counts, something that has real lasting value. We don’t want to wake up one day and realize that we’ve spent our time chasing things that don’t really matter. But we can be confident that if we will pursue an intimate relationship with Jesus more than anything else, we will have sought for and found the most valuable thing upon which we could possibly base our lives, something that has value not just in this life but in the next as well.

So I think the challenge for us today is to make sure that we don’t allow anything in our lives to compete with the value that we place on our relationship with Jesus. The other aspects of our lives do have their own value, but their comparative value is nothing when we weigh them against the value of knowing Jesus. So ask the Lord today to help you see where your perspective may need to be changed, and ask Him to help you keep your value system correct.

"Wanted: A Relationship with Christ--No Resume Required"--Philippians 3:1-7

How many of you would say that you just love to go through a job interview? Or how about a scholarship application process? Experiences like that are always nerve-wracking, not just because of what’s at stake, but because it’s virtually impossible to know how to answer some of the questions that you’ll face. Obviously we need to be honest in those moments, but with some questions it’s possible to be honest and still have several possible ways that you could answer. And invariably, the person performing the interview is going to ask one of those annoying questions like, “Why should I hire you and not one of these other people?” The sarcastic side of me has always wanted to say, “I thought it was your job to figure that out!”

Now imagine for a moment that you had to go through a similar process to get into heaven. Imagine that you passed away, and stood before God, and He asked, “Why should I let you into heaven?” And this is all hypothetical of course, but imagine that you didn’t have Christ’s payment for sins to rely on—imagine that His life and death and resurrection had never happened, and you really did have to try and convince God to let you into heaven based on nothing but your own accomplishments. Talk about a nerve-wracking experience!

But fortunately, we know from the Bible that that’s not the case. We don’t have to take our resume to the pearly gates, because our entrance into heaven isn’t based on anything that we accomplish—its based on what Jesus accomplished. But nevertheless, its very easy to slip into that mindset of thinking that our relationship with God is all based on the things that we can accomplish in our spiritual lives. And along with that comes the temptation to think that we really are a little better than others—a little closer to God because of some of the things that we’ve done in our lives. But in our study of Philippians today, Paul is going to steer us away from that mindset with a lesson that is easy to understand, but not always easy to live by. Our lesson today is this:

Rejoice over what you have in Christ; don’t place your pride in your own achievements.

Turn with me if you would to Philippians 3:1–7. Let’s read these verses, and then we’ll talk about a little bit of historical background that will help us understand these verses [READ 3:1–7].

Now let me mention just a few things about the historical setting of this time that will help us understand what Paul is talking about in these verses. One of the realities that the early church had to deal with was the fact that Christianity was born out of Judaism. Jesus was Jewish, as were all of the apostles, and the church that Jesus founded was the fulfillment of the Jewish religious system in the Old Testament.

But at this time, there was some racism that existed between Jews and non-Jewish people (or Gentiles), so when non-Jewish people started to become part of the church, this created some conflict. Initially, some of the Jewish Christians felt that non-Jewish people needed to adopt the customs of the Law of Moses before they could join the church. This matter was settled at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 when the apostles declared that God had accepted non-Jewish people apart from the Law of Moses, but after that Council there were still some unbelieving Jews who tried to bring the Gentile Christians under the Law of Moses. So that’s the background to what Paul is discussing in these verses.

Now, let’s look at the two parts of our lesson.

I. Rejoice over what you have in Christ (v. 1)

In v. 1, Paul returns to a theme that he has already mentioned several times in this letter—the theme of rejoicing. It’s not hard to see why he may have mentioned this after what he just wrote in chapter 2. We just saw that the Philippians had been distressed over hearing that their friend Epaphroditus was sick. But by the time they would read this letter, Epaphroditus would be with them again, and they would have reason for rejoicing.

But what’s a little more interesting here is the function that rejoicing has in light of what Paul writes in vv. 2–7. At the end of v. 1, Paul writes, “to write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.” Apparently, Paul viewed rejoicing in the Lord as a safeguard against the temptation that was being presented to these Gentile Christians—namely, the temptation to think that they needed to follow the traditions of the Jews in order to draw close to God. These Gentiles could be tempted to think that they were missing out on something by not following the Law of Moses, even though in reality the death and resurrection of Jesus made it unnecessary to follow the Law of Moses any more.

So rejoicing in the Lord would counter the temptation to think that they were missing out because it would remind the Philippians of all that they had in Christ. The same idea is true for us. Rejoicing in the Lord reminds us that we have everything we need in Christ. We are not missing out on something that is necessary to draw close to God; Jesus is all we need.

Now in our corner of the world, we certainly understand what it is like to encounter people who tell us that we are missing out on something in our relationship with God because we don’t follow certain traditions and rules. But we don’t need to be shaken by such a thought, because as Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:3, God “has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” and rejoicing in that fact will help us counter the thought that we are missing out on something.

So rejoicing in the Lord is a safeguard for us because it reminds us that Jesus is all we need. Jesus has given us every spiritual blessing; Jesus has made us accepted by God. It is not anything that is based on our own achievements. That reminder forms the second part of our lesson today.

II. Don’t place your pride in your own achievements (v. 2–7)

In v. 2, we find that Paul obviously never had training in how to be politically correct, because notice how he describes the Jewish people who were trying to persuade these Gentiles [READ v. 2]. He refers to them here as the “false circumcision” because even though they were physically circumcised, they were not right with God because they had rejected God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Circumcision was a tremendous source of pride for the Jewish people because it was the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham, a sign which God had told the Jews to practice. But the physical, external act of circumcision means nothing by itself—it was supposed to be a sign that the people were embracing the same faith that Abraham had in God. But by this point in history, for many Jewish people the external act was not accompanied by the faith; thus, their circumcision did not mean that they were right with God, and that’s why Paul calls it a “false” circumcision here.

Now you dog lovers out there may be wondering why Paul first said, “beware of the dogs.” Was he one of those cat lovers or something? Did Paul have something against dogs? Well, no—we simply need to understand that dogs back then were not the cuddly house pets that many of them are today. At that time, dogs were not widely domesticated in that part of the world. They were wild animals and were mostly scavengers, feeding on trash and dead animals. They often travelled in packs, so they behaved much more like what we know from wolves today. Thus, they were fairly dangerous creatures that humans tended to avoid—and that was obviously Paul’s point with this analogy here. These false teachers were people to be avoided.

But in contrast to these false teachers, Paul describes the believers this way in v. 3 [READ v. 3]. That last statement really captures the difference between the believers and the false teachers well. The false teachers had their confidence placed “in the flesh,” or in other words in their external behavior. They thought they were right with God because they were going through all of the right motions. But the believers, on the other hand, did not have their confidence in any set of religious traditions, but in Jesus Christ. Their glory—or in other words, their boast and their hope—was in what Jesus had accomplished, which is an expression of worshipping in the Spirit of God, and not simply worshipping in external acts.

Now all of this is not to say that our external behavior isn’t important. It is important, but if our external behavior is going to be truly pleasing to God, it has to flow out of an internal faith. It has to come from the right motives and attitudes, and this is what the false teachers were lacking.

Paul then goes on in vv. 4–6 to give a personal testimony that is something of a challenge to the false teachers. He is basically saying that he could beat them at their own game. If any of the Jews had reason to think that they were right with God simply on the basis of external acts or heritage, it was Paul. Let’s take a look at his resume here, and I’ll briefly describe Paul’s qualifications.

First, Paul says he was “circumcised the eighth day.” This was a requirement for every male child under the Law of Moses, and for Paul, this meant that he was brought up under the Law from his earliest days. There was never a time that he did not live under the Law.

Second, Paul says he was “of the nation of Israel.” This means that he was ethnically Jewish. He was not a convert from a Gentile background or anything like that. He had Jewish blood flowing through his veins.

Next, he says he was “of the tribe of Benjamin.” This was a special thing because in the Old Testament, the tribe of Benjamin was one of only two tribes who remained loyal to the descendents of King David after the nation of Israel split into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

Then Paul says that he was a “Hebrew of Hebrews.” This meant that Paul’s family had remained loyal to the culture of the Jews. Paul wasn’t actually born in Israel; his family had immigrated to another country. And as you know, sometimes immigrants will adopt and embrace the culture of their new homeland, and sometimes they will retain their ethnic culture. Well, Paul’s family had retained all of the culture of the Jewish people. So Paul was Jewish through and through, both ethnically and culturally.

Next, Paul says “as to the Law, a Pharisee.” The Pharisees were a religious and political group within Israel that was known for their strict observance of the Law. They had even added laws of their own to the Law of Moses that were supposed to help them avoid violating the real laws.

Next, Paul writes, “as to zeal, a persecutor of the church.” Like many other Jews, Paul that the church was a threat to Judaism before he was converted. But unlike some other Jews, Paul decided that he was going to take it into his own hands to wipe out the church, so he personally arrested Christians and threw them in prison. This zeal proved how devoted he was to the Jewish way of life.

Finally, Paul writes, “as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.” Here he’s basically saying that if someone had judged his life by the standards of the Law, he would have passed the test.

But then he reveals his new perspective in v. 7 [READ v. 7]. At one time, Paul had had the same viewpoint as the false teachers—he thought he was right with God because he had gone through all of the motions. His resume of religious deeds was impeccable, and he thought that his resume had brought him close to God, but when he (literally) saw the light and accepted Christ, he realized that his old perspective had actually taken him further away from God. His way of thinking had actually been an obstacle between him and the Lord.

And what we need to realize is that even as believers, we are not immune to that way of thinking. We can also fall into the trap of thinking that God is pleased with our lives as long as we’re going through the right motions. And so I want to ask you—what are the things in your spiritual life that could become potential sources of pride? Or to think of this another way, if you had to put together a Christian resume—like Paul did here with his former life—what would it look like? Perhaps it would sound something like this: “I was born again at a very young age; raised in a devout Christian home; I went to Sunday School every week—I even went to AWANA and finished every book. I went to a Christian college and married a Christian spouse. I’ve taught Sunday School for the last ten years; I’ve served on the board (or the music team or the pulpit committee or the women’s ministry)

And the list could go on and on. Now notice that all of things that I mentioned were good things, but if we have the wrong perspective about them—if we think God was pleased simply because we did them, whether or not we had the right motivation—then it could very well be that those things have actually become an obstacle in our relationship with God, rather than something that actually draws us closer to Him.

So the lesson for us is this—we must not place our pride or our confidence in any such things as this. Our confidence should rest solely upon the work of Jesus Christ. We can rejoice in what he has done, and when we do we will be freed to simply serve Him in love—not to earn His affection or pad our Christian resume or anything like that, but to simply live to honor him because of what he has done for us.

Pastor Timothy Keller once described the growth process that helped him learn this lesson, and I want to read his testimony to you as we close:

When my own personal grasp of the gospel was very weak, my self-view swung wildly between two poles. When I was performing up to my standards- in academic work, professional achievement, or relationships- I felt confident but not humble. I was likely to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. When I was not living up to standards, I felt humble but not confident, a failure. I discovered, however, that the gospel contained the resources to build a unique identity. In Christ I could know I was accepted by grace not only despite my flaws, but because I was willing to admit them. The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. It undermines both swaggering and sniveling. I cannot feel superior to anyone, and yet I have nothing to prove to anyone. I do not think more of myself nor less of myself…so often.*

That’s the kind of peace of mind that this lesson offers us. So rejoice over what you have in Christ; don’t place your pride in your own achievements. You won’t be tempted to think that you’re missing something that you need to draw close to God, and you’ll be freed to serve Him simply from a heart of love.


*Timothy Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, (New York: Penguin Group USA, 2008) pg 180-181.

"The Key to National Greatness"--Proverbs 14:34

Today, as you all well know, we remember and celebrate the independence of our nation—we remember the events that led to the founding of the United States, and we celebrate the freedoms that we enjoy in this country. For Christians, this is always a very appropriate time to praise God for the blessings and the prosperity that He has given to our country.

But this year, in 2010, we celebrate this holiday at a very interesting time in our nation’s history. It is not hard to see that the United States today is divided by deeply held opinions on many different things. Politically, we are re-living some of the same debates that took place after 1776, dealing with questions like: What is the role of the federal government? What is it supposed to provide for the citizens? What does the Constitution mean? What sort of activities does it allow or not allow?

We are living in interesting times in this country, and I get the sense that as most American Christians look at the nation, our most common response is that of worry. By and large, we are somewhat worried about our country; we see that it has problems, and we want them to be fixed, but we’re not quite sure of how to do that. We want our nation to remain a “city on a hill,” a strong and prosperous place that is a force for good in the world. But what can be done to make that happen? What is the key to national greatness?

I want to direct your attention to a short proverb that offers us the key to national greatness. It is Proverbs 14:34, and it says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” Here we find the key to national greatness stated very simply—it is righteousness, or godly character. In other words, our strength, our stability, our progress as a nation lies in our moral character. Moral character forms the true foundation of a nation because nations consist of people and the interactions between those people. Thus, no matter what kind of appearance a nation may put on, its moral character determines whether or not it is on a firm foundation—whether it will be “exalted” and built up, or brought to shame.

Think with me for a moment about all of the other things that we might be tempted to insert into that verse in place of the word “righteousness”—all of those things that we might think form the foundation of a nation and give it strength. Some might say, “a strong economy exalts a nation,” but this thought is really putting the cart before the horse. A strong economy is built upon honest transactions between people, and once we start to talk about honesty, we’re back to the idea of righteousness, aren’t we? So I think we can argue that righteousness is necessary for a strong economy.

Or some might say, “military might exalts a nation.” Well, that may appear to be true for a short period of time, but a country that is founded upon military might has often sown the seeds of its own destruction. Once the military gets into the hands of unprincipled people, that nation often experiences extreme turmoil. But wait—I mentioned principles, didn’t I? That means we’re back to the idea of righteousness once again!

Or some might say, “godly leaders exalt a nation.” Now godly leadership is very important, but there’s still a problem—the people may not follow their leaders! The leaders of a nation can be very godly people, but if that godliness does not extend throughout the rest of the population, then those leaders often have a very limited impact.

No, my friends, it is righteousness that exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people. This proverb was written by King Solomon, a man who knew a thing or two about leading and building a nation. But what most people in our country today don’t realize is that our own leaders in America have long spoken about the importance of national righteousness for the strength of our nation. I’m going to run the risk of trying your patience for the next few minutes, because I want to read for you a series of quotes from our presidents down through the years that highlight the fact that godly moral character is the only sure foundation for our nation.

Let’s start with George Washington. George Washington, of course, was the first president of the United States and was known to be a devout Christian. In his first Inaugural Address in 1789, he said, “the smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.”1 Later, in 1795, President Washington issued a proclamation calling for a national day of Thanksgiving. In that proclamation he wrote that we must “humbly and fervently [ask] the kind Author of [our] blessings graciously to prolong them to us; to imprint on our hearts a deep and solemn sense of our obligation to Him for them; to teach us rightly to estimate their immense value; to preserve us from the arrogance of prosperity, and from [risking] the advantages we enjoy by delusive pursuits, to dispose us to merit the continuance of His favors by not abusing them, by our gratitude for them, and by a corresponding conduct as citizens and as men.”2

How about John Adams, the second president of the United States? In 1776, just a few days before the Declaration of Independence was signed, he wrote, “Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure, than they have it now, they may change their Rulers and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty.”3 Later, after he was elected as president, John Adams addressed the military on October 11, 1798 and said, “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge…would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”4 Then later, in a personal letter dated August 28, 1811, Adams wrote, “Religion and virtue are the only foundations, not only of republicanism and of all free government, but of social [integrity] under all governments and in all the combinations of human society.”5

Let’s fast forward now a few years to the 1830’s. This next quote comes not from a president, but from someone who observed America as an outsider. In the 1830’s, a Frenchman named Alexis de Tocqueville came to America to study what made America a great nation. Here is what he wrote: “I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors…; in her fertile fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”6

Let’s now move forward a little later into history, to President Teddy Roosevelt. In 1910, President Roosevelt gave a speech in which he said this: “Just in proportion as the average man and woman are honest, capable of sound judgement and high ideals, active in public affairs—but, first of all, sound in their home life, and the father and mother of healthy children whom they bring up well—just so far, and no further, we may count our civilization a success. We must have—I believe we have already—a genuine and permanent moral awakening, without which no wisdom of legislation or administration really means anything.”7 He then said: “Every thinking man, when he thinks, realizes that the teachings of the Bible are so interwoven and entwined with our whole civic and social life that it would be literally impossible for us to figure ourselves what that life would be if these standards were removed.”8

And now a little later into history, to President Gerald Ford. Just a few months after taking office, President Ford said this: “Without God there could be no American form of government, nor an American way of life. Recognition of the Supreme Being is the first—the most basic—expression of Americanism. Thus the founding fathers of America saw it, and thus with God’s help, it will continue to be.”9

Now closer toward our own day, to President Ronald Reagan. In a speech at a prayer breakfast in 1984, he said, “Without God there is no virtue because there is no prompting of the conscience…without God there is a coarsening of the society; without God democracy will not and cannot long endure…If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a Nation gone under.”10 President Reagan was not alone in recognizing the need for national righteousness during his administration. In 1983, Congress passed a resolution declaring that year to be the “Year of the Bible.” A portion of that resolution said this: “Whereas the history of our Nation clearly illustrates the value of voluntarily applying the teachings of the Scriptures in the lives of individuals, families, and socities; whereas that renewing our knowledge of and faith in God through Holy Scripture can strengthen us as a nation and a people: now, therefore, be it resolved…that the President is authorized and requested to designate 1983 as a national “Year of the Bible” in recognition of…our national need to study and apply the teachings of the Holy Scriptures.”11

As you can see, there is a continuing testimony from our leaders down through the years that bears out the truth of Proverbs 14:34—“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” If our nation will no longer listen to the Bible, we should at least listen to our own leaders who have taught us the same lesson time and time again! And more than anyone, we as Christians need to take their testimony to heart. I fear that we often think that if we can simply elect the right leaders or pass the right laws that our nation will turn around. But our hope does not rest in leaders or in legislation—our only hope is in the Lord, in embracing the Lord Jesus Christ and living out his teachings as a nation. Our hope is not in the halls of Congress but in the homes of Christians across this land, that we would act in a righteous way and would teach others to do the same by spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ once again throughout this nation.

This means that our hope for national greatness lies at the feet of Christians in this country. We must see to it first of all that we are living in a godly, righteous way in our lives and then we must beg God to bring about a revival in our nation. A firm foundation for our future can only be built upon righteousness, which means that if we do not work first and foremost to promote righteousness among the people, all of our political efforts will be useless. As John Adams said, “if [virtue] cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure, than they have it now, they may change their Rulers and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting liberty.” And so on this national holiday, my challenge to you is to remember that it is righteousness that has made us great, and righteousness is the only path upon which we can turn our country around.


All quotations taken from William J. Federer, America’s God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations (St. Louis: Amerisearch, Inc., 2000).

1. p. 652 2. p. 656 3. p. 8 4. p. 10 5. p. 12 6. p. 206
7. pp. 540–41 8. p. 541 9. p. 237 10. p. 530
11. pp. 709–10

"The Cream of the Crop"--Philippians 2:19-30

If movies are an indicator of cultural trends and values, then it’s safe to say that superheroes are pretty popular right now. Superhero movies have had great returns at the box office lately, and by all appearances that trend is just going to go “up, up, and away!”

As far as I can tell, superheroes first started to become popular in TV and the movies in the 1960’s with the Batman franchise. The trend picked up a bit in the 1970’s with characters like Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk, and The Six-Million Dollar Man, and then the trend really took off through the 1980’s with the series of Superman movies that came out. Then, through my childhood, Batman was revived again with a new series of movies, and now today a person would need superpowers just to keep up with all of the superhero movies that are being released. In the last decade or so we’ve had The X-Men, Hulk, Iron Man, a few more Batman movies, The Incredibles, Spiderman, and soon a version of The Green Lantern.

Superheroes are extremely popular, and it’s not hard to understand why. Superheroes exist in a world of fantasy where they always emerge victorious. They have supernatural powers that allow them to overcome their enemies and win the day. We enjoy watching them succeed—and usually doing so with style—perhaps because deep down we wish that we could enjoy that same kind of success. We know their superpowers are the stuff of science fiction, but we wish we could have the same kind of notoriety and make the same kind of impact on the world.

Even though superheroes are not real, our admiration for them is. We have to live in the world of reality, which brings up an important question—what kind of people should we admire in the real world? What kind of people embody the qualities that we should desire to have? And for us as Christians, what kind of people show the character of Christ in their lives, the kind of character that we should strive for? In short, we could ask:

Who should our spiritual heroes be?

I think this question is very important for two reasons. First, the people that we consider to be our heroes become people that we want to imitate. There is something about their lives that is desirable to us, and thus we find ourselves wanting to be like them.

Second, within Christianity, we probably have more people held up to us as potential heroes or role models than ever before. With the growth of radio and TV ministries, the Christian publishing industry, the Christian music industry, and the Internet, we are surrounded by more preachers, teachers, authors, and artists than ever before. But how do we know if their lifestyle is one that we should really seek to follow? How should we gauge if they are good examples?

In our study of Philippians today, we are going to encounter two men who really fit the role of a spiritual hero. In fact, after describing their character, the apostle Paul commands us to “hold men like them in high regard” (2:29). Let’s read about these men, and then we’ll take a closer look at the character that makes them spiritual heroes. In Phil. 2:19–30, Paul writes about his desire to someday return to Philippi himself in order to visit the church there, but in the meantime he was planning to send a couple of men to them, whom he describes here [READ 2:19–30].

Let’s take a look at the character of these two men as we answer the question, “Who should our spiritual heroes be?”

I. People who are genuinely concerned for the welfare of other believers (Timothy, v. 20; Epaphroditus, v. 26)

Both Timothy and Epaphroditus model this characteristic for us. You might be a bit more familiar with Timothy than you are with Epaphroditus. Timothy was a young man whom Paul had met during his second missionary journey. According to Acts 16, Paul wanted to take Timothy along with him as a co-worker, so Timothy joined up with the apostle Paul and became one of his most trusted associates. Eventually, Paul would ask Timothy to lead the church in Ephesus, and Paul would write the letters of 1 and 2 Timothy to him while Timothy was serving in that church.

Now we see at this point, of course, that Timothy is with Paul in Rome—not in prison with Paul, but serving as a messenger for Paul. And when Paul decides that he wants to send one of his co-workers to Philippi before he himself is able to make the trip, he selects Timothy because he says in v. 20 [READ v. 20]. Paul knew that Timothy was like-minded with himself, and he knew that he could trust Timothy to have a real concern about the Philippians well-being.

He knew that Epaphroditus had the same concern for them as well. Epaphroditus was actually from Philippi; he was the one whom the Philippians had sent to Rome to deliver their financial gift to Paul. But Paul was now eager to send Epaphroditus back home to alleviate the concerns that had arisen about an illness that Epaphroditus had contracted during his trip. The Philippians were worried about his health, and Epaphroditus was worried because they were worried, and so Paul decided it was time for him to return home because he could see the heartache that Epaphroditus was feeling over the Philippians concern for him.

So we can see that both of these men had a genuine concern over the well-being of the Philippians, and this concern is the embodiment of what Paul had asked from the Philippians in 2:4—“do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” A true concern for the well-being of others is a hallmark of a godly character. James 1:27 says, “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

This kind of concern for others is a far cry from the character that we see in our society’s heroes today. To a small extent, we still view firemen, policemen, and soldiers as heroes, and many of them embody a genuine concern for others, but most of our heroes today are athletes and celebrities, and in the world of sports and entertainment, everything is focused on me, me, ME! Athletes no longer simply think about their careers today—they think about their brand, about how they can sell their names and images for more advertising dollars. And if you want to see the self-centeredness of Hollywood, just look at the condition of marriage among celebrities today. Those who even choose to get married will often experience several divorces in their lifetime because they’re on a quest to find someone who will make them feel fulfilled.

But as far as we’re concerned, our admiration should be reserved for people who keep their focus on others. And along with this focus comes the second trait that our heroes should possess.

II. People who pursue the interests of Jesus Christ, not their own interests (Timothy, v. 21; Epaphroditus, “fellow soldier,” v. 25)

In v. 20, Paul described Timothy as a “kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare.” Then in v. 21 he contrasts Timothy to some others that he may have chosen for this trip [READ v. 21]. Now when Paul says, “for they all seek after their own interests,” it’s unclear exactly who he’s talking about. He doesn’t name anyone else who’s available for this task, so we don’t know precisely who he has in mind, but we can see that what made Timothy stick out is that Paul could trust him to have the interests of Christ in mind, not his own interests.

The same seemed to be true of Epaphroditus. In v. 25, Paul describes him as “my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier.” Now the role of a soldier is not to pursue his own interests, but to follow the orders of his commander. It’s clear from Epaphroditus’ actions that his utmost desire was to live out the commands of Christ, to see the work of Christ carried on, and when he was given a part to play in that work, he wanted to fulfill his role no matter what.

This is a helpful character trait for us to assess when we’re thinking about whom to admire and look up to, especially in the Christian community. If someone is engaged in some kind of ministry activity, do they seem to be doing it out of service for Christ, or are they trying to serve themselves? Now a word of caution is in order here because it’s nearly impossible for us to know someone’s motives. Thus, we don’t want to go around claiming that everyone has false motives.

But we can assess someone’s actions, and if a person’s actions appear to be self-serving, then perhaps that’s exactly what they are. And it doesn’t matter if those actions look spiritual. Preaching, serving, leading worship, teaching—all of these things can be done in a self-serving way.

So our heroes should be those who are seeking to serve Christ, not themselves. And what is the third characteristic?

III. People who have a servant’s heart (Timothy, v. 22; Epaphroditus, v. 25)

In v. 22, Paul writes this about Timothy [READ v. 22]. There’s such a note of tenderness here with this picture of a father and son working side by side. Perhaps Paul is saying that Timothy was eager to serve, the way that a child is sometimes eager to follow dad around and “help” with projects. Or maybe Paul is saying that Timothy really wanted to please him the way that children want to make their parents proud.

But Timothy was very willing to serve, as was Epaphroditus. In v. 25, Paul says that Epaphroditus was the Philippians “messenger and minister to my need.” Apparently, after Epaphroditus delivered the Philippians’ financial gift to Paul, he stayed with Paul to help him in any other way that he might need assistance.

This willingness to serve speaks highly of both of these men, and it is a trait that we should look for in the people that we admire. A willingness to serve says a lot about a person. It gives you an idea of what they think about themselves, whether they think that certain things are “below” them. It also gives you an idea of how they view other people—do they expect to be served, or are they willing to humble themselves and serve others in order to meet their needs?

People who are willing to serve should be highly respected in the church. After all, even Jesus took on the role of a servant, as we saw back in 2:7. He said of himself in Mark 10:45 that “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” We tend to measure greatness by how many servants a person has, but in God’s eyes true greatness is shown through service, and we should have that same perspective.

The final character trait of a spiritual hero is modeled by Epaphroditus.

IV. People who are willing to make personal sacrifices for the work of Christ (Epaphroditus, v. 30)

In v. 30, Paul tells the Philippians that they should hold Epaphroditus in high regard [READ v. 30]. Apparently Epaphroditus had grown sick as he traveled from Philippi to Rome, and as Paul tells us his sickness became very serious and severe. But Epaphroditus apparently refused to turn back, choosing instead to put his life in danger in order to complete his task of delivering the Philippians gift to Paul.

Paul says he was “risking his life.” The word “risking” translates a Greek participle here, and the noun form of that participle was later used as a title for Christians who would care for the sick during epidemics and plagues. They were known as “The Reckless Ones” because they exposed themselves to the disease in order to care for the sick and dying. They took the chance that they would also die, but they did so to show compassion in the name of Christ.

They risked their lives, just as Epaphroditus did to serve Paul, and Paul says that he should be held in high esteem for his willingness to make that sacrifice if need be. Spiritual heroes are people who are willing to make sacrifices for Jesus Christ, people who are willing to risk personal loss and suffering in order to obey the Lord. I think we often find ourselves willing to help other people as long as there is little risk that they will take advantage of us. We are very willing to offer up prayers from the comfort of our living room! But spiritual heroes are willing to make sacrifices in the service of Christ; they are willing to take risks in order to carry out God’s commands, and when we see such people in our midst, we should hold them in high regard. We should treat them as valuable members of our congregation and seek to follow their example.

But of course, spiritual heroes know that we can only speak of making a sacrifice for Jesus in a relative sense, because when all is said and done, those who sacrifice for Jesus will be repaid many times over. David Livingstone was a man who understood this. He was a British missionary to Africa during the early to mid 1800’s. You may have heard the phrase “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” That was spoken by someone who had found David Livingstone after Livingstone had moved deep into the bush to minister to the African people. Here was Livingstone’s perspective on his life’s work, as he put it in a speech at Cambridge University:
“People talk of the sacrifice I have made by spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be called a sacrifice which is simply paid back as all part of a great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay? Is that a sacrifice which brings out its own blest reward in healthful activity, the consciousness of doing destiny hereafter? Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought! It is emphatically no sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. Anxiety, sickness, suffering, or danger, now and then, with a [setting aside] of the common conveniences and charities of this life, may make us pause, and cause the spirit to waver, and the soul to sink; but let this only be for a moment. All these are nothing when compared with the glory which shall be revealed in and for us. I never made a sacrifice.”*

Indeed, that is the perspective of a spiritual hero. So if you want to have a real hero for your spiritual life, find someone who is willing to take risks for the sake of Christ, someone who is willing to serve, someone who will be concerned about the things of Christ and who will focus on the well-being of others. Hold such people in high esteem and follow in their footsteps—they won’t lead you astray!



*John Piper, Desiring God, (Multnomah Publishers, Inc. 2003) 243.

"Lights in the Darkness"--Philippians 2:14-18

Contemplating an individual’s last words has always been very fascinating for some people. Obviously, not everyone has the opportunity to say some last words before they pass away. Many people die suddenly and unexpectedly, so they don’t have an opportunity to gather friends and family around them and offer any last words. But some people do get that opportunity, and many people have found it fascinating to study their last words. Last words seem to offer a glimpse into the heart of another person, because we tend to think that they represent the thoughts and emotions that were most important to that individual.

This fascination with last words was captured well in the movie Citizen Kane. This movie follows the life of a fictional character named Charles Foster Kane, who made a fortune in the newspaper industry in the early 1900’s. The movie actually begins with Kane’s death inside the gaudy mansion he had built for himself called “Xanadu.” In the opening scenes, we witness Kane passing away, and on his death bed he is holding a snow globe and he utters a single word—the word “rosebud.” The rest of the movie follows a reporter as he tries to uncover the meaning behind the word “rosebud,” and we see a series of flashbacks that tell us about Kane’s life as the reporter interviews some of Kane’s closest associates. Ultimately, the meaning behind this word does in fact give us a window into the heart of this wealthy and powerful man.

Think about this idea of last words with me, if you will, in the life of Jesus Christ. I don’t think we should elevate any of Jesus’ words as being more important than anything else that he said, but on the night before Jesus’ died, we do find that he had a particular burden on his heart for those who would become his followers through the witness of the disciples—in other words, for you and for me. He had a repeated request that he mentioned in his prayer to the Father in John 17—namely, that we would live with each other in unity. Notice what the Lord asks for in John 17:20–23 [READ John 17:20–23]. There in the span of just a few verses, Jesus repeatedly prays that we would live in unity.

If this desire was in the forefront of Jesus’ mind on the night before he was crucified, then we shouldn’t be surprised to find the disciples emphasizing it in their writings. As we continue on in our study of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we will find again today that the apostle instructs them about living together in peace and harmony. This call for unity might start to sound like a broken record since we have already heard it before, but the reasons that Paul gives in Phil. 2:14–18 make these verses a helpful addition to Paul’s instructions. In these verses, we will see that…

We should avoid petty arguments for the sake of our witness to the world and for the sake of our mutual joy.

Let’s read these verses, and then we’ll take a look at the two parts of this lesson [READ 2:14–18]. We find the first part of this lesson in verse 14 down through the first part of verse 16.

I. We should avoid petty arguments for the sake of our witness to the world

Let’s read these words here one more time before we start to break this down [READ v. 14–16a]. As we look at what Paul says here, it seems clear—especially in the Greek words that he selects—that he is drawing from the Old Testament records of Israel’s wanderings under Moses. You may remember from the Old Testament that after God delivered the nation of Israel from slavery in Egypt, He led them up to the land that He had promised to give them, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates River. But the people at that time refused to trust that God would help them conquer the peoples that already lived there, and so as an act of discipline, God caused the people of Israel to wander around in the desert for 40 years until the generation that refused had died off. And you might remember that during that entire ordeal—from the time they left Egypt until they eventually settled in the Promised Land—the Bible says that the people were grumbling and complaining about various things. At one point, it says that they complained because they had no meat, even though God was miraculously providing bread for them every day (Num. 11). At another time, some of them complained about the fact that Aaron and his family had been chosen by God to do all of the priestly work around the tabernacle (Num. 16). These individuals wanted to do part of that work, too. Time and time again they complained about various things and said that they wished they were back in Egypt.

It seems that Paul in these verses is subtly drawing on that history to instruct us not to act the same way. The word “grumbling” here calls up thoughts of petty complaints and divisions, and the Greek word translated “disputing” focuses on the way of thinking that lies behind those arguments. So we are not to get caught up in petty disputes, and we’re not even to allow our minds to remain in that frame of mind.

And the purpose of this command is stated in v. 15, “so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent.” You might remember when we talked about the idea of being blameless back in chapter 1—its not the idea of being without sin, it’s the idea that no one can raise an objection against the way that you live. And the idea of being “innocent” here speaks of our inner motives and attitudes, that they would be pure and godly.

But then Paul goes on to mention that living in unity without grumbling and disputing is very important for our witness to the people around us. Continuing in v. 15, Paul says that such a way of living will show us to be “children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life” (or we might say, “by holding fast the word of life”). Paul really brings this issue to a head here by telling us that unity matters not just for our life inside the church, but for our witness outside of the church as well. He paints our mission here in stark terms, saying that we are “children of God…in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.”

Now Paul isn’t trying to insult non-Christians here; he is simply offering an assessment from God’s point of view. By God’s standards, those who are not his children are crooked and perverse—they are crooked because they are not “level” with his standards; like a picture that isn’t hanging straight. And they are perverse because they have taken his true standard of right and wrong and exchanged it for a false standard.

But according to this passage we have the opportunity to point out the way back to God. Paul says that among the unbelieving world we “appear as lights in the world by holding fast the word of life.” Some translations read “stars” here, and that gives us a good picture of Paul’s meaning.

Back when Paul was writing, the “lights” in the sky were used for navigation. During the day, people could watch the course of the sun and get their bearings from it, and at night the stars allowed people to chart a course and follow it to their intended destination.

So what Paul is saying is that in the spiritual realm, we can function in that way for the people around us—we can point out the path to God by holding fast (or holding forth) the word of life. But our effectiveness in this depends so greatly upon how well we carry out the command in v. 14—do all things without grumbling or disputing! If you remember what we heard from Jesus in John 17, He stated that our unity would add credence to our witness. In John 17:21 he prayed for us and asked “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” Then in v. 23 He says, “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

The reason that such unity adds legitimacy to our witness is that it is supernatural—it is not the norm in our world. Because of the selfishness that is in all of us, the norm in relationships is disunity—fighting and bickering and complaining against each other. So if we show the people around us that it is possible to live in harmony with each other, our witness to the world will be clothed in a spirit that is attractive and desirable, a spirit that will convince people that our message is true.

But if we fight and bicker with each other, we will do great damage to our witness in this community. As one author put it, “How will the world ever discover church again if what they see… is, in reality, people no different than themselves, living in what appears to be a fantasy?”* And that’s exactly what Christianity will look like if we can’t live in unity—a fantasy! We can talk all day about being brothers and sisters in Christ, but if we don’t live it out then we’ll simply be one more dysfunctional family, and many people already have that at home! They won’t want to join another dysfunctional family by coming to church!

So our success at living together in unity will gave a tremendous impact on our witness to the world. And obviously it will have a great impact on the joy that we share with each other. That’s the second part of this lesson that we need to consider.

II. We should avoid petty arguments for the sake of our mutual joy

In v. 16, Paul goes on to add a personal perspective to this discussion. As if the Philippians didn’t already have reason enough to follow this command, Paul asks them to do it “so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.” Paul is looking ahead here to the day that he will stand before Christ to receive his rewards, and in that moment he doesn’t want his ministry among the Philippians to turn out to be fruitless. He wants to be able to rejoice in that day as he sees the fruit that came from his ministry.

Perhaps this sounds like an unusual thing for Paul to ask—that the Philippians would obey so that he could rejoice—but other verses also talk about this idea as a good motive for obedience. Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.”

You can think of obedience to the Lord like a gift that you can give to your spiritual leaders. Perhaps over the years you have heard about different gifts that churches have given to their pastors. I heard about one church that gave their pastor something like an “extreme makeover” on his house. They sent his family away on vacation and did some remodeling for him while they were away. I’ve always gotten a little chuckle out of the reserved parking spots that churches sometimes give to their pastors. In my sense of humor, I wonder if the church is trying to gently tell the pastor that he’s handicapped or something!

If you would really like to give me a gift that will be special and priceless, then do this for me—just get along with each other! That will keep the hair on my head a little longer, and probably keep me from getting ulcers! Just love each other, and work together to serve the Lord. I would enjoy nothing more than to see that my ministry here is bearing fruit and making a difference.

Paul goes on here in v. 17 to make an interesting statement about the relationship between his ministry and their service for God. He says [READ v. 17]. Paul is painting a picture here that’s based on the sacrificial system from the Old Testament. The drink offering consisted of a cup of wine that was poured out with certain burnt offerings. With these sacrifices it was kind of the icing on the cake, the final act of devotion, and it could be that with this picture Paul was thinking about the possibility that he was going to lose his life as a martyr in his imprisonment. And it seems that Paul is saying, “Even if my life and ministry among you is just the icing on the cake of what your service for God will accomplish, I will rejoice in that and I’ll share my joy with you.” Paul longs to see continued fruitfulness from the Philippians, and even he plays just a small part in that, that’s enough for him to rejoice, and to encourage the Philippians to rejoice, as he does in v. 18.

So we get such a great glimpse of Paul’s heart in these verses, both for the world and for the Philippians. So much joy, and so much potential for ministry awaited the Philippians if they could just serve together without complaining, without grumbling, without falling into petty disputes with each other. And the same things await us if we will conduct our ministry in this way. We can have a mutual joy that will become infectious and give legitimacy to the message that we preach to a watching world. How can we really claim to represent the Prince of Peace if we can’t live at peace with each other? But if we do, we can show the people around us the way to peace.

So I want to ask you today to think about the people who are sitting in the pews around you right now. As you think about your brothers and sisters in Christ, are you struggling through a strained relationship with any of them right now? Is there something between you that is keeping you from being at peace with each other? Do you need to ask their forgiveness for something? Have you pulled away from them because they’ve offended you in some way? I ask you today, not to let these things go, but to resolve them. Ask for forgiveness where its necessary; offer forgiveness where its necessary. Don’t settle for a cold relationship with a brother or sister in Christ when you could share joy with each other, and when restoration in your relationship could be just the thing that God will use to bring someone else to himself.


* Bob Lewis and Rob Wilkins, The Church of Irresistible Influence (Grand Rapids; Zondervan, 2001), pg. 25.

Revelation--Bringing Good Things to Light

When I was a kid, I never really enjoyed staying home from school sick, because that was a guarantee that my mom wouldn’t let me play outside later that evening no matter how good I felt by then. But one thing that I loved about staying home from school was getting to watch “The Price is Right.” That show is the best! I can still remember lying on the couch in the living room thinking, “Wow! All those poor souls at school are probably doing some boring worksheet right now, and I’m at home watching ‘The Price is Right.’”

The best part of that show was right after someone would win the initial pricing game. They call those four contestants up to the stage for that initial game, and then someone wins and gets to go up on the stage with Bob Barker. And that’s when Bob really starts to build the suspense. He directs their attention to a set of doors off to one side that are closed, and he says, “Wouldn’t you like to see what’s behind those doors?” And sometimes he would drag it out while the contestant is standing there in agony, just dying to see what’s behind those doors. And then Rod Roddy’s voice would come over the speakers and say, “It’s a new car!” and the doors would fly open and the crowd would go crazy, and there would be a brand new car, just waiting to be won.

Now I want you to keep in mind this picture of the doors opening up to allow the contestant to see the prize, because that picture will help us understand the idea behind the word that we’re going to look at tonight—the word “revelation.” As we continue in our series “Breaking Down Bible Words” we’re going to approach this word the same way that we have approached the others—first, we’ll define the word revelation and then we’ll talk about what the idea of revelation means for us.

I. What does the word “revelation” mean?

We can see what the word “revelation” means by looking at its root word—reveal. When you reveal something, you are uncovering something, you are bringing something that was hidden out into the open. So the idea behind the word “revelation” is the idea of unveiling or displaying something that was previously hidden. Think again of when those doors opened on “The Price is Right”—the prize was hidden from the contestant; the contestant didn’t know what it was until those doors opened to reveal what was behind them.

We can see this idea of revelation in a couple of familiar stories in the Old Testament. Turn with me if you would please to 1 Samuel 3. Here we find the story of Samuel as a little boy when he first heard the voice of God [READ 3:1–7]. Here we see the first part of this idea of revelation. Samuel was confused here because the Lord had never spoken to him before. Prior to this, he had not had any communication with the Lord. But now God was speaking to Him for the first time, and you probably all know that God went on to have a conversation with Samuel about Eli the priest and Eli’s family, so that by the end of the story it says down in v. 21, “And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, because the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.” So here we have the other part of this idea of revelation—God had been unknown to Samuel but now He was known, he had revealed Himself to Samuel because He had spoken to Him.

We see this same idea again over in the book of Daniel. Turn with me to Daniel 2. You probably know this story—in this chapter, King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream but he doesn’t understand what the dream is supposed to mean, so he calls upon his magicians and his sorcerers and commands that they tell him what the dream was and then interpret it for him. Well, the magicians and sorcerers try to tell the king that his request is impossible and that they couldn’t possibly know what the king had dreamed. And that point, the king became furious with the magicians and sorcerers and issued a decree to have them all killed. That’s when Daniel and his friends enter the story [READ Dan. 2:17–19]. So here we see the idea of revelation again—the dream and its interpretation had been hidden from Daniel. He didn’t know what it was any more than the magicians and the sorcerers did. But God revealed this information to him so that it was no longer hidden from him. And after this, Daniel went before the king and gave him the information of this revelation that he had received.

So these stories illustrate the meaning of the word “revelation”—something that was once hidden has now been unveiled or revealed. Now its important for us to recognize at this point that the concept of revelation tells us that there are limits to human knowledge. Not only are there things that we simply do not know—there are things that we cannot know unless God reveals them to us. And we have to admit that there are some things that God has simply chosen not to reveal to us. Let’s think about a couple of these things for a moment. First, we know that God has not chosen to tell us the precise reasons for all of the suffering that we face in life. Many times throughout our lives, we will grapple with difficult, painful events and we won’t know exactly why these things are happening. Now God has told us a lot about suffering in a general sense. We know that pain and suffering were introduced into this world by sin, and we know that suffering and adversity can help us grow spiritual in astounding ways, but we simply don’t know why God allows an earthquake to strike Haiti. We don’t know why God allows us to contract cancer, or why he allows two members of a family to die in an accident while the other two are spared. We cannot know these things unless God chooses to tell us.

Second, we know that God has not chosen to tell us some of the precise details about our future. God doesn’t tell us exactly where we’re going to go to college; he doesn’t tell us how long we’ll be working at one job, or how long we might have to wait before another one comes along.
Transition—So what are we to make of all of this? If this is true, then what does the idea of revelation mean for us?

II. What does the idea of revelation mean for us?

A. It drives us toward humility before God—Matthew 11:25–27

When we realize that there are things that we simply cannot know unless God reveals them to us, it reminds us that we are and must be dependent upon God. This idea is a powerful antidote to pride. If we understand truth about God, it is only because He has allowed us to understand it. Turn with me to Matt. 11:25–27. Here Jesus is talking about a divide between those who do believe in Him and those who don’t [READ Matt. 11:25–27]. Notice that Jesus points out here that the truth about who He is has been hidden from those whom the world considers to be wise and intelligent. In contrast, it is those who are as infant, lowly and dependent, who receive the truth about Jesus.

Do you ever find yourself getting frustrated with people who just can’t seem to see the world from a biblical perspective? Perhaps there’s a social or political debate that you can think of where the biblical perspective seems so clear to you, but other people just can’t seem to understand it? In such moments, we need to guard ourselves against becoming proud because its so easy for us to think that other people are just stupid, and an arrogance can start to creep in to our lives that makes the truth look very unattractive.

Friends, we must remember that if we can understand biblical truth, it is only because God has allowed us to understand it. It is not because of any great thing in us, or any degree of wisdom that we possess—it is only because God has broken through the blinding power of sin and given us eyes to see and ears to hear, as Jesus so often called for in the gospels.

So what does the idea of revelation mean for us? First, it drives us toward humility before God. And second,

B. It gives us confidence in the source of our faith—Galatians 1:11–12

Think about this for a moment—if we can only understand spiritual truth by God’s revelation, then spiritual truth must come from God Himself. There are many people today who try to say that Christianity is just a man-made religion, that it is not really divine truth. But the idea of revelation contradicts such a belief. Let me direct your attention in particular to what the apostle Paul says about the source of His teaching. Turn with me to Gal. 1:11–12 [READ Gal. 1:11–12].

This is a very important point to note, especially in light of the things that people teach about Christianity and the apostle Paul today. If you watch television specials about Christianity or Christian doctrine, you’re liable to hear something like this: “While Jesus was alive, he taught a simple, ethical message about loving each other and turning the other cheek. But after he died, Saul of Tarsus saw the dedication of the early Christians and recognized an opportunity to become their leader. So Saul became the apostle Paul and he hijacked the simple message of Jesus and turned it into a full-blown religion with all sorts of doctrines and dogmas that took Christianity in a whole new direction.”

Or in other words, to sum all of that up, what these critics are saying is that Christianity did not come from God, it was essentially the brainchild of the apostle Paul. But notice that Paul claims that precisely the opposite is true—he didn’t twist the teaching of Jesus, he received his message by a revelation from Jesus!

The idea that Christianity is a man-made religion doesn’t make any sense. Christianity does not bear the marks of a man-made system of belief, particularly when we think about what Christianity teaches about God. If you want to see what man-made gods look like, look no further than the gods of Greek and Roman mythology. Those so-called gods are just human beings on an exaggerated scale! They have all of the same problems that we do!

But how could anyone dream up a God like the God of Christianity? How could we, who celebrate our birthdays every year, conceive of a God who has no beginning? How could we dream up a God who is a Trinity? How could we who are filled with hate invent a God of such love that He would die for the very creatures who spurned Him? Why would we make up a God who commands us to control some of our natural desires, like desires for revenge or fame and glory? Why would anyone make up such a God, and who would believe the person who did? The only answer that makes any sense is that the God of the Bible is real and we know about Him because He has told us what He is like.

So the concept of revelation gives us confidence in the source of our faith. The message of the Bible is a message that truly is from God. It is not a myth, it is not a legend, it is truth that has been revealed to us by God. So when we choose to believe in doctrines like the virgin birth and resurrection of Jesus, or the doctrines of heaven and hell, we can know, as Peter said, that we are not following cleverly devised fables, but the very truth of God.

In light of all that we have discussed, we can be so thankful that God has decided to reveal His truth to us. We would know nothing about God unless He had revealed Himself to us, and we can be so thankful that He did, particularly after the human race fell into sin. Even then He did not leave us in the dark, but he continued to reveal Himself to us, eventually even sending us His own Son to show us what he is like. All of this speaks to the tremendous grace of our God and His persistent love for us.

"Workin' For the Man"--Philippians 2:12-13

Have you ever received a gift that made you want to be a better person, or that made you want to strive to do your very best? That’s a very common response when we receive a gift that overwhelms us because of the generosity behind it. Oftentimes a gift like this has nothing to do with money—it could be the handing down of a family heirloom, or an act of service or sacrifice.

Perhaps you’ve heard war stories that have captured this phenomenon. Sometimes we hear of acts of heroism where one soldier sacrifices his life to save another soldier, and the surviving soldier is so moved by this act that it affects the rest of his life. The surviving soldier lives the rest of his days remembering the gift of life that he received, and he is moved to live a good life because of it.

This phenomenon is also captured beautifully in the story Les Miserables. Perhaps you have seen the movie or the musical versions of that story. The story follows the life of a convict named Jean Valjean, who is given his parole after 19 years in prison and is told to report to a particular town. As he travels to this town he spends the night one evening with an elderly bishop, and when Valjean sees the valuable silverware that the bishop has, he steals it and runs away. The next day, Valjean is caught by the police and returned to the bishop for identification. But rather than press charges against Valjean and send him back to prison, the bishop tells police that he gave the silverware to Valjean as a gift and that they are to release him at once. Valjean is so moved by this gift of grace that he spends the rest of his life trying to do good for other people.

I’m sure you can see how the idea of responding like this to a gift is right at home in the Christian life. According to the Bible, we have been given an extraordinary gift by God—the gift of salvation—and in light of this gift we are to live in a different manner than before, in a manner that will honor God, who gave us the gift. In our study of Philippians thus far, Paul has expressed this idea clearly 1:27 when we wrote, “Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.” The gospel is the good news about the gift of salvation, and we are to live in a way that is worthy of this glorious gift.

As we continue on today in chapter 2, we are still unfolding what it means to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel. We have seen so far that it means to willingly endure persecution for Jesus’ sake; it means to live in unity with fellow Christians; and it means to embrace the humble mindset of Jesus. But lest we think that we’re doing this on our own, we receive an important reminder today in 2:12–13, where we will see that…

The Christian life calls us to live out the work that God is performing in us.

Would you turn with me please to Phil. 2:12–13? Let’s read these verses, and then we’ll take a look at the command in these verses, the attitude that we’re supposed to have with this command, and the reason that we’re supposed to follow this command with this attitude. [READ vv. 12–13].

Let’s take a look first of all at the command in these verses…

I. We must work toward spiritual growth in the Christian life

Paul starts in v. 12 by commending the Philippians for their continued obedience to God even though he wasn’t there watching over them at the moment. They weren’t behaving the way we did at times when we were children—mom turned her back for five minutes, and we were trying to eat the cookies that we weren’t supposed to touch. No, the Philippians were obeying even though Paul wasn’t there, and he commanded them to keep it going by telling them to “work out your salvation.”

Now this command has caused a lot of confusion because it seems to contradict what the Bible says about receiving forgiveness from God. What does he mean “work out your salvation?” Doesn’t the Bible tell us that we can’t earn salvation by our works? Wasn’t it Paul himself who wrote in Romans 4:5, “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness?” What are we to make of this command?

I think this confusion can be cleared up by comparing the way that we use the word “salvation” to the way that the Bible uses the word “salvation.” What we will find is that we tend to use the word in a more restricted way than the Bible does.

In the Bible, the word “salvation” is used at various times to refer to three different aspects of one unified process. The first aspect is the one that we normally mean when we use the word “salvation”—it is the moment that we receive forgiveness from God by placing our faith in Jesus. The fancy theological term for this aspect is justification. This refers to the moment that we receive forgiveness, are reborn spiritually, and adopted into God’s family, and I cannot stress enough that good works have nothing to do with us receiving this aspect of salvation. This is the aspect of salvation that is described in verses like Eph. 2:8–9—“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

The second aspect of this process is what we usually call spiritual growth or “living the Christian life.” The theological term for it is sanctification, and rather than being a one-time, momentary thing like the first aspect, this aspect is an ongoing process in our lives. This aspect does involve good works as we live out our calling to be ambassadors for Christ. But what you may not realize is that the Bible uses the word “salvation” to describe this aspect of the process as well. We see this in verses like Phil. 2:12 here and in verses like 1 Peter 2:2 which says, “like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”

The third aspect of this process occurs when we receive our resurrected, heavenly bodies. The theological term for this is glorification. We see this aspect in verses that talk about salvation as something that is still to come in the future. A perfect example of this is the last part of Romans 13:11, which says, “for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.” Now perhaps you’re thinking, “Wait, don’t we have salvation when we believe?” The answer of course is “yes”—we have the first aspect of salvation and we set out on the second aspect of salvation, but while we’re alive we’re still waiting for this third aspect of salvation, which is what Paul has in mind here. We see this aspect also in 1 Peter 1:5, which says, “[we] are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

Now, to help us clear up any confusion about this command in Phil. 2:12, we need to note how we generally use the word “salvation,” because normally when we use it, we are referring only to the first aspect of this process. Thus, as we read Scripture and encounter the word “salvation,” our thoughts generally turn toward this first aspect of the process, but as you can see that will create some confusion for us in verses like this, because here it seems that Paul is talking about the second aspect of this process. So if that’s the case, then he’s not telling us to work to earn forgiveness from God; rather, he’s telling us to work to grow spiritually, or as Eph. 2:10 puts it, he’s telling us to live out the “good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

So that is what we are commanded to do here, to put our salvation to work, you might say. And as we do, Paul says that we are to do so with a certain attitude…

II. We should work toward spiritual growth with an attitude of fear toward God

In giving his command, Paul also instructs the Philippians to have a certain attitude. He tells them to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” and we see from v. 13 that he is talking about a fear of God. If you have read much in other portions of Scripture, you’ve probably run into this idea of fearing God quite often. In fact, the Bible repeatedly praises an attitude of fear toward God as a healthy spiritual mindset. The book of Proverbs in particular talks frequently about the benefits of this mindset. Why don’t you turn with me to Proverbs and we’ll read a few of the verses that praise this attitude:

[READ 9:10; 10:27; 14:26–27; 15:33; 16:6; 19:23; 22:4]

So it’s not hard to see that the fear of the Lord is a very beneficial thing, but what kind of attitude is this exactly? It sounds kind of strange to say that we should fear God because one of the glorious truths of the gospel is that when we place our faith in Jesus, we are established in a relationship of peace with God.

So what does it mean to fear God? It doesn’t mean that we fear that he’s going to harm us. He certainly will discipline us when we need it, but remember, that is not for our harm. We can compare the fear of the Lord to that melting feeling that we experience when we meet someone important and powerful, like the governor or the president. If you’ve ever had an experience like that, its very common to feel weak and uneasy, and psychologically to feel very small in comparison to that person.

A few years ago I had the experience of seeing President Bush’s motorcade drive past my former church in Kansas City. I was able to walk right up to the road as he went by. I didn’t meet, and in fact I didn’t even see him, but I experienced that feeling because I felt very small and insignificant compared to the tremendously powerful and influential man who passed by me.

That’s the idea behind the fear of the Lord—it’s the proper recognition of who we are in relation to God. One author put it this way: “To fear god means to acknowledge His superiority over man, to recognize His deity and thus respond in awe, humility, worship, love, trust, and obedience.”* This attitude is well illustrated by the disciples in the gospels, when the authors tell us that when Jesus performed some of his miracles the disciples became afraid or amazed. They weren’t afraid that Jesus was going to hurt them, but they realized that they were dealing with someone who was much greater than themselves.

So we are called to have this attitude toward God, and as we see in v. 13, it’s not simply because we are dealing with God, but because God is dealing with us. In v. 13 we discover why we should have this attitude and why we should obey this command.

III. We should have an attitude of fear toward God because of who He is and what He is doing in us

Let’s read v. 13 again, and let me begin reading from the command in v. 12 [READ v. 12b-13]. Here is the reason that we should work out our salvation; here is the reason that we should fear and tremble—because God himself is dealing with us! God is giving us godly desires and the strength to act upon them. What we have here is both an encouragement and a very sobering reality. It’s an encouragement because as we strive for spiritual growth, we’re not doing it alone—in fact we’re simply cooperating with the work that God is doing in us. But its also a very sobering reality because we see that God wants to accomplish his good pleasure in this world through us, which means that we have a very important role to play, and we don’t want to be found neglecting God’s work within us.

This lesson means that when we have godly desires, it is not merely our upbringing coming out, or some vague notion of seeking the welfare of our community—it means that God is at work in us and we therefore need to act!

If I may say so, friends, I believe this lesson reveals that the Christian life is a dreadfully serious matter! If we don’t think that living out our faith is a serious matter, we’re not just “missing out”—we are resisting the work of God! That is a very sobering thought, and as Paul says it should lead us to have an attitude of astonishment and wonder, an attitude of fear as we understand who we are in relationship to God.

Now when I say that our faith should be a serious matter, I don’t mean that the Christian life should be grim or gloomy. Philippians reminds us that there should be joy in the Christian life, and joy oftentimes produces happiness and light-heartedness. But Christian joy is not the same as ignorant bliss. If you’ve seen the movie Finding Nemo, do you remember the character of Dora, who joined up with Nemo’s dad? That is ignorant bliss! Or you can think of the character Goofy from some of the Disney cartoons. Christian joy is uplifting to the soul, but our souls should always be anchored by the sobering reality that God himself is working in us to accomplish his good pleasure in this world.

So although we might take ourselves lightly, we must not take our calling as Christians lightly. God is leading us to join in his mission in this world against sin and Satan, with all of the sacrifices that such a mission requires of us. We are called to be ambassadors for Christ in a world that does not want to hear our message, a place with a ruler in the Devil who will oppose us at every turn.

But we should remember the encouragement of this passage as well, that as we seek to work out our salvation, we are merely cooperating with God’s work in us. God is on the job, and when the struggles of this life overwhelm us, we will find in God both the desire and the strength to live for what pleases him, so that we might continue on the way.


* Roy B. Zuck, “A Theology of the Wisdom Books and the Song of Songs,” in A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, ed. Roy B. Zuck (Moody Bible Institute, Chicago Illinois. 1991) pg 215.