Work Out What God is Working In

12 Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.

Philippians 2:12-13

Greetings from the saints at Antioch Bible Church. It is a privilege and joy for me to preach to you this morning and to serve you in this way. Please open your Bibles to Philippians 2. We will be looking at verse 12-13. I’ve entitled this message, Work Out What God is Working In.

Allow me to introduce to you two people. Both have a problem. Today, my goal is for you to discern their problem and to solve it. Meet Carl. Carl sprawls his limbs out on your living room sofa. After some small talk you get straight to the point. You ask him about his prayer life, his Bible reading habits, church attendance. He says he doesn’t need church anymore since coming across this life-changing, gospel-centred approach to sanctification. “It’s all about grace, brother. Surrender it all to him. Spiritual disciplines? People who waste their time with those things are just legalists. Let go, let God do all the work.”

Now, on the other hand, meet Tanya. “There must be more I can do,” Tanya says, pacing about. You gesture for her to sit. “Maybe I need to read my Bible more, and pray longer this week,” she mutters, slumping onto the sofa. “Has God given up on me? I’ve tried everything to please him, but I just keep failing. There must be more I can do!” Suddenly her countenance drops. With teary eyes, she says “Maybe I should just give up, what’s the point anyway.”

Did you pick it up? Both Carl and Tanya have fallen into a ditch. Both have adopted a faulty approach to sanctification. Carl is what we might call a “Couch-Potato Christian.” Carl believes that sanctification comes by “letting go, and letting God.” Carl refuses to take responsibility for his Christian growth. Tanya is what we might call a “Tired-but-Trying Christian.” Tanya believes that sanctification comes by her own blood, sweat, and tears. Tanya works independently when it comes to her Christian growth.

As a result of their beliefs, one is complacent and comfortable. The other is despondent and distraught. Carl the Couch-Potato Christian believes that God must do all the work. Tanya the Tired-but-Trying Christian believes that she can never do enough work. Before we get comfortable, we need to realize that sometimes we look a lot like Carl, and at other times, we look a lot like Tanya. Some of you are like Carl – idly watching and waiting for God to zap you into holiness. Others of you are like Tanya – frantically working in your own strength to earn God’s favour.

If we were to leave Carl and Tanya, it would not be long before we find Carl, drifting off into antinomianism, believing that the Christian can live however he wants apart from any obedience to God’s commands. Give Tanya enough time, and she would descend into legalism, earning her salvation through her own efforts. Two ditches, both equally dangerous. If we are not careful, we can also fail in our approach to sanctification. Today’s message will teach you how to get out of whichever side of the ditch you have fallen into and equip you to pull others out as well.

With that said, stand in honour of God and his Word, and let us read our passage. I will be reading from the ESV. [READ + PRAY] Heavenly Father, open our eyes that we may behold wonderful things from your word. May you soften the hearts of my listeners that your word may be planted deep within them. Fill me by your Spirit that I may communicate clearly and faithfully. Work through your Word this morning, that Christ may be exalted and formed more fully in all of us. In Christ’s name I pray, Amen.

Paul’s focus in this passage is sanctification, more specifically, progressive sanctification. In the previous verses, verse 5-11, Paul focused on the humility and obedience of Christ. Our Saviour humbly obeyed the Father; servants of Christ should therefore humbly obey their heavenly Father.

The will of God is that we grow in our obedience, we grow in Christlikeness. That really is the definition of sanctification: sanctification is the life-long process of being transformed into the image of Christ.

If you are taking notes, our outline for this morning is: Two aspects of sanctification to grow in Christlikeness. 1. You Work (v.12) 2. God Works (v.13) 1. You Work – The Command (v.12) v.12 – “Therefore, my beloved…work out your own salvation…” The main verb in this sentence is ‘work out.’ You heard Paul, work out! No, Paul is not prescribing physical exercise here. The command is not to work out our muscles, but rather our salvation.

Paul does not say we must work for our salvation. That would contradict the entire teaching of the Bible. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works…” God saves sinners by his grace, not through their efforts. Paul is not telling the Philippians to earn or add anything to their salvation, for this is impossible. We are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

As a side note, it may be helpful to distinguish between justification and sanctification briefly. These two doctrines must be clear in our minds. Justification is an instantaneous, once-for-all event that takes place at the moment we put our faith in Christ for salvation, whereby God declares us to be in right-standing before him. It is the language of the courtroom – the Judge declares us right before him.

Sanctification, on the other hand is an ongoing transformation into Christlikeness. It is the language of the temple or sanctuary – the Purifier sets us apart for his purposes. At justification, Christ enters the house and takes up ownership. In sanctification Christ dwells increasingly within the house, permeating every room more and more with his presence, purifying every dark corner.

What does Paul mean then, in Philippians 2 when he tells us to work out our salvation? Well, he is not talking about our justification, he is talking about our sanctification. The Greek word for “work out” means to accomplish, to finish, to labour strenuously and put in the effort to achieve a particular outcome. It is the picture of the athlete, rising early, training for the prize. The Philippians needed to exert energy and strength in their obedience to God, and the same is true for you.

This means that you are not a passive sail waiting for the Holy Spirit to blow and carry you along to heaven. No, sanctification is an active process that requires hard work. You need to put in effort in your relationship with God. Beloved, don’t be mistaken, obedience is not the cause of our salvation; it is the result of our salvation. We don’t obey to contribute to God’s work; we obey in response to God’s work. Some of you may be thinking, “What’s all this talk of work and effort? This sounds so serious, this must be legalistic. This sounds like me earning my salvation.”

Well, friend, the apostle Paul seemed to have no problem using this kind of language. Later on in Philippians 3:13-14 – “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching [or straining] forward to what is ahead, I pursue [I press on] as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus.” (CSB) Paul commends the Thessalonians for their work produced by faith, their labor motivated by love, and their endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 1:3 CSB) Galatians 6:7-9 – “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

Many Christians mock God. Day in and day out, they sow to the flesh, thinking that magically they will reap a harvest of spiritual fruit and righteousness. Do not be deceived. Proverbs 13:4 – “The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied.” Our lives are dominated by the same sins. There seems to be little signs of spiritual growth. Friend, I must ask you: what effort have you made? Are you putting off worldly passions and putting on the Lord Jesus Christ?

Beware of spiritual laziness and apathy! Watch out if you have the soul of the sluggard! Jesus Christ did not die for you to wallow in the vomit of your sin. Christ died so that you could walk in newness of life. Romans 6:11-12 – “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.”

The Christian life is a fight to keep Christ reigning on the throne of your heart. Brothers and sisters, we are engaged in a war with Satan, the world, and our flesh. Pick up your sword, pick up the Word of God and use it! v.12 – “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Paul lived among the Philippians; he could testify to their obedience. But now, Paul challenges them to consider the motivation for their obedience. What drives them to obey? Why do you obey God? What audience are you trying to please? To simplify Paul’s point, let’s look at two motivations for working out your salvation.

Two motivations for working out your salvation. These are two sub-points under our first point, You Work. Two motivations. You can work out your salvation either 1) to please man; or 2) to please God. Let’s look at the first option: 1) to please man; working before man – and this is the wrong motivation. v.12 – “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence…” It’s easy to behave when the apostle Paul is around. In fact, throughout this letter, Paul pours out compliments to the Philippian church for their obedience. They had graciously sent to him Epaphroditus, “[their] messenger and minister” to Paul’s need (2:25); even the women whom Paul rebukes in chapter 4, Euodia and Syntyche, Paul remarks how they have “laboured side by side with [him] in the gospel” (4:3); since the day that Paul planted the church, the Philippians have been partners with him “in the gospel from the first day.” (1:6)

They were known for their obedience. “But,” Paul says, “are you obeying just because I’m around? Your obedience should not stem from wanting to please me.” There’s a lesson here: obedience done for the sake of pleasing spiritual leaders only, is not pleasing to God.

We can put on a bold face before man, coming to church every week, serving in various ministries and yet, in our hearts, to be doing this just to please the elders. This is not the right motivation. This is not working out your salvation before God but building up your name before men. Beware of man-pleasing.

Here’s another application from this verse. It has to do with accountability. Don’t get me wrong, accountability is helpful and the Lord knows that we need it. But if the only time you obey Christ is when someone is looking over your shoulder, that’s a problem. We know the excuses, “If only I had an accountability partner, then I’d stop this particular sin.” You do have an accountability partner; his name is God! And he is watching you all the time!

Human accountability is futile if you disregard divine accountability. Dear friend, daily you see the face of man, but one day you will stand before the face of God – and he will uncover every sin and reveal every motive. Lord help us! Teach us to live Coram Deo, “before the face of God.”

This leads us then to the second motivation, which is: 2) to please God; working before God – and this is the right motivation. v.12 – “Therefore, my beloved…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…” The Christian fears and trembles because he lives before the throne of the Holy God. Isaiah 66:2 – “…this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”

The fear of God must triumph over the fear of man. The approval and praise of God is what we long for. We work out our salvation with our eyes on the pages of Scripture and our hearts humbled before the King of heaven, submitted to the work of the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:18 – “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”

“Nothing,” John Owen writes, “nothing will so much excite and encourage our souls…as a constant view of Christ and his glory.” The more we behold him, the more we become like him. Your sanctification depends on your beholding God. It’s up to you to gaze.

Dwell at Calvary, see the Saviour crucified for thee; Look to the clouds, long for Christ who died upon the tree. Sadly, many Christians play in the world with their eyes set on earthly pleasures never giving their Saviour a second look. They dine at the feast of Satan and somehow they are surprised that they resemble the host.

Brothers, sisters, live Coram Deo, live before the face of God – whether at work, at home, or at church. In public and in private, do everything knowing that God is watching you. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For some of us, this sounds hard, and it is. Where is God amidst all of this? Is my sanctification only up to me? Well, this brings us to the second point… God Works – The Reason (v.13) (we’ve seen the command in v.12, now…) v.13 – “…work out your… salvation… for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” Lest the Philippians think that they are alone in their sanctification, Paul encourages them straight away! Work out your salvation, why? Because God is the One who is working in you, giving you both the desire and the ability to obey!

Sanctification is two-sided, it is a joint effort. On the one side of the coin we have the work of God and on the other we have the work of man. We work out what God is working in. We do not work in order for God to save us; we work because God has saved us. Ephesians 2:10 – “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works… that we should walk in them.”

Paul pointed this out to the Philippians earlier in the letter: Philippians 1:6 – “And I am sure of this, that [God] who began a good work in you [God] will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Paul explains this dual work of God and man in sanctification to the church in Corinth. Listen, and notice the balance he strikes: 1 Corinthians 15:10 – “…by the grace of God (God’s work) I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them (Man’s work), though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. (God’s work again)”

How is it though that God works in the believer? Well, Paul tells us that he does this in two ways. There are two ways that God works in us. Look at v.13 again – “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

Again, there are two sub-points here under our second point, God Works. Two ways that God works in you. He works in you 1) to will; and 2) to work, and all this he does for his good pleasure. Let’s consider the first way God works in us: 1) to will – God transforms us to desire the right thing internally. At the moment of salvation, God regenerates the heart, we are born again. God promised this in Ezekiel 36:26 – “And I (God) will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

God, the Master Cardiologist has performed a spiritual heart surgery on you Christian! He has removed your calloused, unresponsive, dead heart and replaced it with a heart that beats. It is alive! Romans 6:17-18 – Paul tells the Romans that “you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,”

With a new heart comes new affections, new desires. We hate what God hates; we love what God loves. Not only does God give us a new heart, but he also gives us his Holy Spirit who dwells within us. And at salvation, he gets to work! Renovations begin! “Sanctification,” R.C. Sproul writes, “is a cooperative process in which God works and we work.” Listen to what he says about the work of the Holy Spirit in this. “One of the chief tasks of the Holy Spirit is the application of our redemption; he brings to bear on our souls the fruit of our justification. He works in us to change our very nature, and we cooperate with him.”

Why did Christ condemn the scribes and Pharisees? They were people pleasers, looking righteous externally yet lacking change internally. Whitewashed tombs, with dead corpses inside. “For I tell you,” Jesus says in Matthew 5:20, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Christ was teaching about a righteousness that surpasses the external. A righteousness stemming from within. A righteousness not earned through external ‘obedience’, but a righteousness that is imputed, given, transferred to us by Christ himself. They needed justification.

My dear friend, before God can sanctify you, he must justify you! The Judge must declare you innocent and clothe you in righteousness before you can serve him in the sanctuary. God is working in you to create an obedience that stems from the heart.

Brothers, sisters, the longing, the desire you have for God, who put that there? The hunger and thirst for righteousness – to be at church, to love others, to read his Word, to pray – how did that get there? Be encouraged, this is not your work alone, beloved; this bears the signature of God. The fingerprints of the Holy Spirit’s work are upon you. God is the author of our salvation, and he is the finisher of our sanctification.

But, some of you might confess, “I don’t always feel like obeying God.” And that’s a relevant point. This excuse is poor though. Christians do not follow their feelings. Christians follow the Word. And yet, God is truly pleased when we are able to serve him from the heart, so ask him, plead with him to change and shape your desires. Brothers and sisters, hear me, you will never be happy till you are holy. And you will only grow in holiness through faith and obedience.

Often our feelings are driven by our thinking. Faulty thinking that leads to faulty feeling. When tempted to depend on your feelings rather than the truth, meditate on this passage. Consider that God is working to change your thinking, to change your desires.

Don’t wait for the feeling before you start obeying. Look to Christ who placed himself in submission to the Father. He obeyed perfectly with no sinful desire in his heart. Let his obedience be the example and the motivation and the reminder that strengthens you to fulfil your duty. Others of you might say, “but that’s not what I’m struggling with. I feel like obeying God, I really want to, but at times, it seems like I just can’t.” And I would agree: Wanting to do something is not the same as actually doing it.

I would love to fly. Desiring to fly will not result in the ability to fly. I can guarantee you that I won’t be jumping off of any buildings to test my flying abilities. That is a one-way ticket to a hospital on a good day. I concede, there is a huge gap between my desiring to fly and my obvious lack of wings. In our sanctification however, there is no gap. You see, not only does God give the desire to obey, but he also gives us the wings, the ability to obey. This leads us to our second sub-point.

The second way that God works in us is: 2) to work – God empowers us to do the right thing externally. God gives us the ability to carry out his will. God saves us so that we can do the good works that he has prepared beforehand, that we might walk in them (again, Ephesians 2:10). God empowers us to obey his Word.

Allow me to illustrate. This is like a son, picking up a hammer to drive a nail into the wall. On his own the nail just doesn’t budge. But right before the next blow, his father’s hand comes from behind him, grasping the hammer, dad’s hand over the son’s. And with one stroke, BAM, into the wall the nail goes. Delighted, he looks up at his father’s face. “Well done son!” his father says, “you nailed it!” That is the picture – the Father, by the Holy Spirit, laying hold of our feeble efforts and making them effective. Like a mother who takes up the hand of her daughter, and shows her how to write, forming the letters on the page.

God works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. God has not abandoned you, beloved, to figure out the Christian life. No, his Holy Spirit works within, equipping and teaching us daily. And this internal change must lead to an external change. For without godly desiring, there will be no godly doing.

Obedience, beloved, that does not originate from within is not Christ-like obedience. Anyone may be compelled to obey from an external constraint, but that is not Christian obedience. Christian obedience stems from inside a man, from his new nature. Remove the external constraint and he would still obey because of the internal compulsion.

We’ve said much about sanctification this morning. Some of you might be looking for something practical. Here’s something I found immensely helpful in Thomas Watson’s book, A Body of Divinity1. Watson gives five ways that sanctification can be attained. That is, five ways that we grow in holiness. I’ve adapted them here for the sake of time. 1) Dwell in the Word of God – John 17:17 – “Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth.” Listen to the Word, read the Word, meditate on the Word. Join the NT Bible reading plan starting this week Friday! 2) Have faith in the Son of God – Christ’s blood alone has the power to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and forgive us when we sin. 3) Walk by the Spirit of God – we overcome the sinful desires of the flesh by the sanctifying power of the Spirit. 4) Spend time with the people of God – Proverbs 13:20 – “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise.” Make disciples and be a disciple. 5) Pray for sanctification – let David’s prayer of Psalm 51:10 be yours this morning, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” 1 Pg. 249

Two aspects of sanctification to grow in Christlikeness: 1. You Work – The Command 2. God Works – The Reason In conclusion, I had to add this in, Jerry Bridges in his book, The Transforming Power of the Gospel, summarizes Paul’s entire message, indeed, this entire sermon in two words. (Really, you made me sit for half an hour when you could’ve summarized everything in two words?) Yeah, two words: Dependent Responsibility (Repeat). That’s it. What does sanctification look like in the Christian life? How do we grow in Christlikeness? Depend on God, and remember that you are responsible.

As the Puritans of the seventeenth century would say, “Work as if it all depends on you, yet pray as if it all depends on God.” Labour to become more like Christ, yet pray. Pray, knowing that without the Holy Spirit to make your labours effective, it is all in vain.

Remember Carl the Couch-Potato Christian? Remember Tanya the Tired-but-Trying Christian? How would you help them? Can you get them out of the ditch? Carl must be exhorted to start working out his salvation with fear and trembling. He must take responsibility. Tanya needs to be encouraged to continue to work with the knowledge that God is working in her. She must be dependent.

Are you like Carl? Apathetic to what is preached week in and week out from this pulpit? Happy to hear, but reluctant to do? Are you like Tanya? Striving in your own strength, seeking to earn favour with God through your obedience?

Wherever you are, come to Christ today. Christ was the only one who walked perfectly between the two ditches: perfectly obeying God, perfectly depending on God. Confess your apathy to him, plead with him to cleanse you of your self-reliance. Ask the Lord to give you more of that holy fear and reverence so that you would humbly walk by his Spirit before his face. Then get to work. Work on beholding Christ and becoming like Christ knowing that God is working in you for his good pleasure.

Father, thank you for your Word. Let these two words, dependent responsibility, be branded upon our hearts until the day you call us home. May we work as you work within us. Convict and comfort your people now by your Spirit. In Christ name I pray, Amen.