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November 23, 2003 |
"Philippians"
Know Him, Knowing Joy |
Pastor Brian Shimer
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"Working It Out"
Philippians 2: 12-19
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12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—
continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you.
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| I. |
When King Henry the VIII had William Tyndale burned at the stake in 1536,
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Tyndale's final words were this prayer, "Lord, open the king of England's eyes!" And God did. Just three years later the Bible for which Tyndale died was distributed by this same king throughout England and thus began true Biblical liberty. As the common people read the Bible, they wanted to live it and see it made manifest in their society.
By 1547 many wanted to cleanse the Church of England, just 13 years old, of her errors and ungodliness. Since these reformers wanted to purify the church, they were called Puritans.
In 1553 Queen Mary began a bloody persecution of these reformers, and so many Puritans fled from England to Geneva where God had prepared a place for them to be taught true civil liberty. They would return to England when Mary's sister Elizabeth became queen 5 years later. Queen Elizabeth I refused to allow any further reform of the Church of England, so the Puritans felt their only recourse was to leave. They separated from the church, so were dubbed Separatists.
One of these was a young man named William Bradford who left the Church of England in 1602. He decided: "To withdraw from the communion of the parish assemblies and engage with some society of the faithful that should keep close unto the written word of God, as the rule of their worship... although the provoked rage of his friends tried all the ways imaginable to reclaime him from it, unto all…his answer was, "Nevertheless, to keep a good conscience, and walk in such a way as God has prescribed in his word, is a thing which I must prefer before you all, and above life itself."
(Historical notes from American's Providential History, by M. Beliles & S McDowell, c.'89, pp 53-57).
Bradford traveled from England to Holland in 1608, and from there he and these Separatists, the Pilgrims came to New England to establish a colony where they could worship freely. William Bradford was one of their main leaders and governed Plymouth for 33 years.
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| II. |
The story of the pilgrims is one of faith being put into action. They saw what
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was missing in the church, they stood against it, some gave their lives for the sake of the Gospel, they then took a huge risk and traveled into unknown places in order to serve God.
A. I admire the obedience of the pilgrims.
In v. 12 Paul connects salvation and obedience saying, "as you have always obeyed… work out your salvation with fear and trembling."
Jesus connected salvation with obedience in the Great commission where he said: "Make disciples… teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…" The word "obey" means to listen intently or listen and respond!
Jesus says don't make converts make disciples, people who will live the faith by obeying what I have said. To live salvation is to "work out salvation." Paul is saying, "don't stop halfway; don't be satisfied with a partial salvation. Go on until the work of salvation is fully and finally wrought out in you."
We don't do this alone. Paul is not writing this to each individual living in Philippi, but to the whole community. The "YOUR" in the phrase "your salvation" is plural. We work salvation out in accountability to one another.
In August, another Honor Academy intern, was on a bus en route for church in the seat in front of our daughter Anna and a roommate. He overheard Anna talking to this friend. Anna was worried about several things and in the conversation quoted the Scripture from this book, saying, "I know the Bible says, 'Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God,': but I am really struggling to trust God." And this other intern turned to her and said, "You'd do yourself a big favor by living the word instead of just quoting it." At first Anna was furious with him for jumping in with his comment, but then the Holy Spirit got a hold of her heart and she knew he was right. He had spoken the truth and it hurt. She was talking about God instead of obeying Him.
This young man's rebuke assisted his sister in Christ in working out her salvation. We are not to just memorize and quote the bible, but live it.
Who speaks the truth to you? They are your allies in the journey of salvation.
nbsp; nbsp; I have my wife Karen, my accountability partners, many of you in my life!
Tell someone nearby: "this is where I need you too!"
B. Not only do I admire the obedience of the Pilgrims, but also their perseverance. And it takes perseverance to work out salvation. It is a lifelong process. Paul says this work will be with fear and trembling, because we are inadequate for the task! As a toddler is shaky in his first steps, so steps of faith are shaky at first. In addition, it is God who is working in you all the time. We bring out into our lives the saving power of God worked into us. This is a faith walk!
For the pilgrims this faith walk took them into a foreign land. Imagine the challenge to faith as over half their company died that first winter! They had to persevere and trust.
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| III. |
Your character matters as you work out your salvation, indeed your choices
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in this realm are a means God has given to work out
salvation. Hence my reason for having the reading on attitude by
Chuck Swindoll. And also why I admire the character of the
pilgrims. They lived with such hope and joy!
"Do everything without complaining or arguing," Paul told the Philippians. "The words describe the low, threatening, discontented muttering of a mob who distrust their leaders, and who are on the verge of a rebellion and an uprising against them,… and the useless, and sometimes ill-natured disputing and debating and doubting and wavering" (The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, Barclay, p 54).
Paul's language connects this text to the grumbling of the Israelites in the wilderness when they never were willing to just trust God.
If the pilgrims had disputed with their leaders, fought for the lead, battled among themselves, rather than basing their daily lives on worship and prayer and submission to authority, they would never have lasted. We would not have had thanksgiving to celebrate this week had they done so. Instead these forefathers walked through incredible trial all the while with hope in God, and then new how to celebrate with great joy God's bounty and love! Their 3-day thanksgiving potluck party with races, contests, games, and harmony rivals anything we have experienced!
Christian author, Catherine Marshall, one day stumbled upon this verse. She is the one who wrote the famous book Christie, the story of her mother's work among the people in the Appalachian Mountains. She also was a pastor's wife to one of the most famous pastors in the nation, Peter Marshall, living in Washington D.C. "Do everything without complaining and arguing," she read. The Holy Spirit prompted her heart and she stopped. She read the passage again. And then read it again. And her many words came flooding back. She realized how much what she spoke came with a bitter, murmuring attitude. She made a covenant with God not to speak unless she could without complaint or argument. She wrote that she was quiet most of that day.
What comes out of your mouth? How do you speak?
One of the keynotes of this whole book is the testimony of rejoicing and joy -- the invitation "rejoice with me" "rejoice in the Lord" is a continuous refrain. Is that the refrain of your life? It was much of the refrain from the life of the Pilgrims. It is not so often as I want the refrain of mine.
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| IV. |
Do you see the purpose in all this? God has a goal in mind for us.
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His goal is to make us blameless! That those around us in the world would not find anything in our lives of which to accuse us!
His goal is to make us pure! That within our hearts there would be nothing diluting our faith, that our eye would be single -- focused upon Jesus!
His goal is to make us without fault before Himself! That God would not find any fault in us because of the blood of Jesus and our acceptance of His righteousness.
God wants to make us like Daniel with whom his accusers could find no charge except in relation to serving God! Like Daniel who served God faithfully in a foreign land, we are children of God who stand out in our generation.
A. First, God's children provide light. Paul says "We are the stars in the universe," and he is not talking about the bricks on the sidewalk down in Hollywood. Paul used the term used in Genesis 1 of God's creation on day four of the lights to govern the day and the night -- the sun, moon and stars. Those luminaries governed and separated the light from the darkness. And we are to do the same-- govern the day, show the Way! And separate light from darkness by being the "light of the world."
Where do we need to provide light?
1. I saw the article written by my friend and yours Skip Heiney, pastor of Dayspring around the corner from us, in the Oregonian on the question of whether a marriage amendment is necessary.
Skip shone his light by writing this article. Should we define marriage as involving only one man and one woman? Yes! "This is not about accepting the gay person as a fellow citizen, nor is it about tolerance for an 'alternate lifestyle.' This is about the fundamental… building-block of our entire culture, the family," wrote Skip. Indeed, the family is the building block of all culture. When it crumbled in ancient Rome due to rampant homosexuality, so did the society.
We stand up for marriage, because it is not a governmental institution. We say this in every marriage ceremony that "Marriage was established by God." We have no authority to redefine it to include same-sex couples.
2. For years Christians have been providing light into the question of the sanctity of human life, and whether we have the right to determine any person's date of death. Whether we are speaking of a child in the womb or an older person or a mentally retarded person, is it right to kill them because they are inconvenient, or unwanted, or a hassle? No, it is not.
We cannot legislate morality. If abortion were outlawed, there would still be those who would seek it out or try to do it to themselves. But, we are light. We need to provide truth for people. Too many women believe the line told by the Planned Parenthood industry, that there is no "baby" in there, just tissue. They believe the lie that an abortion would carry no consequences for them. They don't know the long-term damage done to the mom's heart and often her body.
And what of the child, the living person who needs and deserves a home? Does he or she not matter, or because invisible to the eye does this child not have a voice in the matter of his or her life? We are that child's voice.
The euthanasia arguments need light -- suffering does not mean lack of life and lack of meaning. How can we assist people, be with people, love them, learn from them even while suffering with them? Our society with satanic lies is rushing toward the pre-war Germany search for the perfect race.
Couples are asked if they want to test if the baby will have any kind of difficulty so they can "terminate" the pregnancy, meaning kill the baby, before it arrives. Are we saying that a handicapped child does not have quality or meaning? Speak to any parent of a Downs baby and you will hear of the preciousness of these children, not the curse.
3. Christians provide light. No it is not okay to ordain a practicing homosexual man as a bishop. That was a political move in New Hampshire. It had nothing to do with his credentials, and is causing rifts across the nation. And no, it was not okay for a bishop in Canada to perform a same sex union ceremony. This bishop has been under fire from the worldwide Anglican Communion, and from ten parishes in his diocese who have withdrawn and placed themselves under another Bishop's oversight.
4. Christians provide light to restore prayer to schools, keep "under God" in the pledge and "in God we trust" on our money. We need to provide light to keep the 10 commandments, the basis of all our laws, in public places. Our nation wants us to provide light. So we vote -- we stand up -- we speak out. Do you know that over three-quarters of all Christians in Oregon do not vote?
B. And hold to the Word of Life -- this is the gospel message -- the Bible. First we cling to it in our lives. We check truth by it. We hold it fast. This week
was the 20th anniversary of the Jonestown Massacre. This happened because a group of people stopped testing truth by the Word. They did not know their Bibles and were led astray and to their deaths. Cling to the Word not to man. Why didn't people leave this deranged man when he threw down his Bible one Sunday and said, "You are looking too much at this and not enough at ME!" This ought to have been a clue.
We see the Pilgrims clinging to God's Word, but that was not all, and it is not all for us. We don't only hold fast to it, we hold it forth to others-- we bring the truth.
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Are we willing to be pilgrims today? Are we willing to be people who stick together in a perverse generation, in a society needing light and truth? Are we willing to stand in the church and say: "This is wrong" and stand for what is right no matter the conflict? I see we are in a situation today in the UMC that is very like England so long ago. We are like the early puritans desiring to purify the church of her errors and ungodliness. So far we have freedom to speak. Before we lose it are we willing to risk all for the sake of the Gospel?
This is what Paul is calling you and me to do as we work out our salvation.
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