Skip to main content

Daily Devotion: Philippians 2:12-13

By

Philippians 2:12-13    "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.  (13)  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."

Before looking at these verses, let us consider eternal salvation. We know it is a gift from God. Right? We know eternal life is not the result of our works; rather it is accomplished by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. He shed His righteous, holy blood to pay the debt of sin that was against us. According to Hebrews chapter 9, Jesus offered His blood to the Father on our behalf. We know God the Father accepted that offering. How do we know? Jesus came out of the tomb alive. If the Father had not accepted the blood of Jesus as full payment, He would not have risen from the dead.  If Jesus paid it in full and the Father accepted that payment, then what is left for us to do in order to gain eternal life?  If the work is finished. If payment was accepted. What could I possibly do to make that work more finished?  The answer is nothing.

So, if my salvation is paid in full, what is under consideration in the two verses we are looking at today?  God's Word specifically says, "work out your own salvation." Doesn't it?  We could easily take a wrong turn here if we were to take those words out of context. One of the greatest keys to understanding Scripture is to consider it within the context it is written. We are not permitted to take a word here, another word there, a phrase here, a phrase there and then build our theology on something out of context.

Let us now look at the context. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. FOR it is God which worketh in you..."  Did you notice anything now when it is taken all together? How can you or I work anything out if God has not already worked it in you?  I submit to you that verse 12 is not speaking of eternal salvation; rather, it is speaking to us of the daily deliverances that we need from situations and circumstances in life. Paul's subject concerns our being in the will of God as we live each day. God works into us the desire and ability to please Him. If God does not first work into us, there is no way we can work out something that is not there.

I spoke of context. Looking back at the previous verses, we see that we cannot "have this mind in" (verse 5) us unless the Lord works it into us. We cannot truly humble ourselves unless we have seen the degree to which Jesus Christ humbled Himself in order to secure our eternal life. We cannot even declare Him as our Lord unless the Holy Spirit has revealed His majestic greatness to us.  

Paul is speaking to us concerning our walk of obedience with the Lord. He is exhorting the Philippian Church, and each of us, to walk in humble obedience unto the Lord. Work it out each day because our natural being is such that we want preeminence. Work it out because our natural tendency is to seek self exaltation. Work it out because true peace and joy only comes through walking by faith with the Lord.

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Daily Devotion: Psalm 88:1-4

By
Psalm 88:1-4  A Song or Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite. "O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:  (2)  Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;  (3)  For my soul is full of troubles: and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.  (4)  I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength" I've said this before and I will say it again (and probably more times before we get to the end of the Psalms) - I love the Psalms because I can surely identify with them. Most Psalms start in a low place and as the writer expresses his thoughts, the Lord begins to lift him up out of that dry place.  Though this entire Psalm is a fervent cry unto the Lord, the Psalmist tells us specifically in three verses that he cried daily unto the Lord. Just a few Psalms ago, we were reminded that God always hears our prayers. ...
Read more

Daily Devotion (Video): I Will Fear No Evil - Psalm 23:4

By
Read more

Daily Devotion: Knowing God By Bearing Fruit

By
Some will notice the title is not “Bearing fruit because we know God,” so to avoid getting sidetracked with that, we can start with the fact that we won’t bear any godly fruit unless our heart has been changed and the Holy Spirit dwells within us. Also, to avoid confusion, I’ll be using the terms “bearing fruit,” “good works” and “service” interchangeably.  I took this article’s title from Part 7, of John Piper’s “Look at the Book” session on Colossians 1:9-12. I greatly encourage you to view that short video to get his excellent exposition on this subject.  When I saw the title of the video earlier this year, I got kind of excited because that’s the direction my thinking has gone in the past several years. My thinking was founded Biblically with verses on good works like Matthew 5:16 – “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father, who is in heaven.” But I couldn’t expand it to expla...
Read more