To Will And To Do
Our Bible passage, introduction to Sunday 5th July service and hymns are below.
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Our principal verses are:
Php 2:12 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.
Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
To Will And To Do
Paul has been advocating humility of heart and lowliness of mind in the Lord’s people. Such a manner of life becomes the Lord’s little ones because it accords with our own dear Saviour’s example, ‘Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus’. Christlikeness is a believer’s rule of life. It is our desire and delight to emulate the character and attitude of our Lord and Saviour. Modesty and meekness suits those who profess to be Christ’s followers.
Spiritual qualities
Now the Apostle goes on to highlight other governing principles that characterise our actions and shape our attitudes as God’s people. Brotherly love and Christian affection are guiding principles we have already seen in verse two of this present chapter. Paul knew the love these believers harboured for him and the feeling was mutual. Here, therefore, Paul calls the Philippians ‘my beloved’. He is showing his own tender feelings for them and confirming that personal affection for the saints in this congregation is the reason for his writing and the motive for the instruction he gives.
A mark of true faith
Similarly, the apostle expresses his admiration for the sincerity of the Philippian believers. He notes how their lives, routines and practices have remained consistent regardless of whether Paul be present with them or absent from them. The faith of these men and women was constant and true. There was no pretence or hypocrisy amongst them. They remained obedient to their calling. The ‘obedience’ of these saints to which Paul refers likely means their obedience to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel Paul had taught them and preached amongst them.
No contradiction
The Apostle’s phrase that the Philippians, ‘work out your own salvation with fear and trembling’, has been used by some to suggest that here Paul’s otherwise unswerving commitment to sovereign grace wavers and he leans into human works for salvation. It hardly seems necessary to contradict such foolishness. Paul’s gospel was clear, constant and founded four-square on free grace. He had already spoken of these saints ‘being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ’.
Sanctified in Christ
As with all of scripture it is important to notice who is being spoken to when we come to apply the text. Is it believers or unbelievers who are being addressed? Here it is obviously believers. These men and women are Christian brothers and sisters; they are born-again in Christ. They are called ‘the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi’. Paul is not speaking to them at all about how to obtain salvation. He is teaching them how to live as believers, in obedience to Christ and for the glory of God.
Standing fast, striving together
Paul has already made this clear. He has set forth the route of their spiritual growth and development, not by a set of rules but in following the desires of their renewed hearts and the promptings of the Holy Spirit in their lives. He has told them he is hopeful their ‘love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment’ (1:9). He longs that they, ‘may approve things that are excellent’, and, ‘may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ’ (1:10). He trusts they will ‘stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel’ (1:27).
A function of Christian liberty
Yet Paul knows their resolve to live like Christ, to live according to His example as they work out their own salvation, will be tested by challenges without and within. Satan has been removed from the throne of a believer’s heart but he has not withdrawn from the battle. As believers we all need to be guarded and mindful of temptation to sin. Fear and trembling does not imply cowardice but vigilance and caution. This, of course, is an intrinsic part of our Christian liberty. The life of a believer is not a life of rule-keeping but a working-out of our salvation. Superficially, at least, legalism is easy. Christian liberty is more nuanced.
Christ in you
Yet, Paul ends with a great encouragement for these saints. They are not alone in their labour. They do not serve in a vacuum. God works in them. The Father, Son and Holy Ghost have made their abode with the redeemed sons of men. We are His workmanship, even if often we feel like we are still work-in-progress. Knowing this inspires humility and discourages pride. The Lord God is accomplishing His perfect purpose and doing His will in our lives.
Grace received
Our Saviour is both willing and doing His good work in us. By nature we have no desire to honour God. By grace, as new creatures in Christ, we have new desires, a new, sanctified will to honour and follow Christ. Everything of the old man is marred and tainted with sin. Everything of the new man is holy and blameless in the sight of God. All we have that is spiritual and good is of the Lord. In ourselves we have nothing for which to glory. The Lord working in me shows my natural deficiency and His complete sufficiency.
Amen
Hymn 674
“Power belongeth unto God.” Ps. 62. 11; Phil. 2. 13
J. Berridge 148th
1
How sinners vaunt of power
A ruined soul to save,
And count the fulsome store
Of worth they seem to have,
And by such visionary props
Build up and bolster sandy hopes!
2
But God must work the will,
And power to run the race;
And both through mercy still,
A work of freest grace;
His own good pleasure, not our worth,
Brings all the will and power forth.
3
Disciples who are taught
Their helplessness to feel,
Have no presumptuous thought,
But work with care and skill;
Work with the means, and for this end,
That God the will and power may send.
4
They feel a daily need
Of Jesus’ gracious store,
And on his bounty feed,
And yet are always poor;
No manna can they make or keep;
The Lord finds pasture for his sheep.
5
Renew, O Lord, my strength
And vigour every day,
Or I shall tire at length,
And faint upon the way;
No stock will keep upon my ground;
My all is in thy storehouse found.
Hymn 188
Evangelical Obedience. Rom. 7. 9; Phil. 2. 13
W. Cowper C.M.
1
No strength of nature can suffice
To serve the Lord aright;
And what she has she misapplies,
For want of clearer light.
2
How long beneath the law I lay,
In bondage and distress!
I toiled the precept to obey,
But toiled without success.
3
Then to abstain from outward sin
Was more than I could do;
Now, if I feel its power within,
I feel I hate it too.
4
Then, all my servile works were done
A righteousness to raise;
Now, freely chosen in the Son,
I freely choose his ways.
5
What shall I do, was then the word,
That I may worthier grow?
What shall I render to the Lord?
Is my inquiry now.
6
To see the law by Christ fulfilled,
And hear his pardoning voice,
Changes a slave into a child,
And duty into choice.
The Apostle Paul is not implying that men and women can work towards their own salvation in these verses. Rather he is showing that the God who lives and dwells in the hearts and lives of His people is willing and doing His purpose in our lives to the glory of His name.