Salvation and Upheaval

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

In the 1970s and 1980s, there was a mantra that filled the air. It was that God has a wonderful plan for your life. This was at the height and in the aftermath of something called the Jesus People Movement. In the early 1970s, a lot of hippies became Christians and it made the cover of life and it made the cover of time. Those were in 1971 and 72 right there, those two magazines. This idea that God has a wonderful plan for your life, it was the beginning of something called the Four Spiritual Laws. The Four Spiritual Laws was an evangelism technique that was developed by Bill Bright and many others. And really in the 70s, the four spiritual laws spread like wildfire. A ton of people were becoming saved. They were understanding that God loved them for the very first time. But there was a problem that not a lot of people saw at the time, but they saw it in retrospect. The four spiritual

laws kind of skips over suffering, right? If God wants a wonderful plan for me, if He has a wonderful plan for me, then where does suffering fit into that? And when you have a generation that grows up without a place for suffering in their theology, when they do suffer, when they do have a really big setback or when they're in upheaval, they go into shock. Suffering is foreign or evil to them. And this is why we need the letter to the Philippians. We need to reconnect suffering to generosity. We need to reconnect pain to confidence. We're moving through our series, Are We Variant? Confident generosity on a painful journey. And I wanna establish where we've been very quickly. In suffering and in upheaval, the enemy injects fear and condemnation and anxiety. Confidence, Christian confidence then, is embracing not only that upheaval, but it's embracing the bigger picture, that Jesus is moving everything, including our lives, including

our upheaval, he's moving everything forward for his glory and for our good. Suffering then is not punishment, suffering is part of the plan. Just like it was for Jesus himself who suffered on behalf of other people, there is no shame in suffering, Jesus can have confidence in suffering. He's given us reason for confidence. Our confidence is Jesus's victory on the cross when he defeated sin and death. This is what we call the battle of generosity. It's giving ourselves away, sacrificially loving other people, even when we're in the midst of upheaval. So in a way, the cross allows us to step over our upheaval and into his victory. Now at this point we need to take care because if we're not mindful we're gonna sound like suffering is no big deal and that it's a really grand thing. It's just so much fun to sacrificially love other people. That suffering kind of just melts away as we're sacrificially giving ourselves away.

No, I mean it hurts. It's called sacrificial for a reason. So we've got the mindset ready to go, but our expectations may not match reality. And so today we're going to be looking at Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 through 30. Philippians 2, 12 through 30, if you want to mark that in your Bibles now. Like newlyweds who are in their first year, and maybe they kind of have some fanciful ideas of what it's going to be to sacrifice for one another, what we need to do as Christians, as a church, is to face the difficulty of have sacrificially loving someone else. And Philippians 2, 12-30 helps us have a sobriety about this concerning the battle of generosity. And we're going to begin in verse 12. Why don't you turn there with me? Philippians 2, 12 says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only is it my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

If there were a top 10 of most confusing verses in the New Testament, this might make it. Because we see that line, work out your own salvation, and there's some worry that comes up in us. There's some questions that bubble up. Does it mean that we're not totally saved right now? Is my eternity not set? Am I not going to heaven? Do I need to do something? Do I need to earn eternal life with Jesus? Is that what this is talking about? What I wanna do is I wanna answer all those questions, hopefully all of them, by looking at what salvation is. And to do that, I wanna understand how salvation as the Bible defines it. So not exactly how you and I talk about it, but as the Bible defines it. And so to do that, we're gonna look at an extended illustration. we're gonna liken salvation to a road trip because we're used to using the word salvation in a sense that we got saved, right?

But in the Bible, salvation has multiple aspects to it. And so we're gonna look at that by comparing it to a road trip. All right, so I want you to imagine a road trip and we're gonna start in Seattle, Washington and we're gonna go to Key West, Florida. There is a point in that road trip that is the beginning where we get in the car, right? So we're in Seattle, it's cold, it's raining, it's dreary, there's three Starbucks within 10 feet of us, right? And salvation is similar in that it has a beginning. So just like a road trip has a beginning in Seattle right here. Salvation also has a beginning. The Bible says that we were justified by faith. So this is justification, saving faith, right? We are declared righteous by Jesus. We are set free at a specific, certain moment in time. And this is how a lot of us think about salvation, right? This is when we say we got saved

at a particular moment in time. And that's true and right and good and biblical, salvation. And so to follow the road trip a little bit, this part of salvation is where Jesus pulls up at the car and the keys and says, buckle up, let's go. All right, the second point on a road trip that I wanna talk about is the destination. So in this illustration, Key West Florida is the destination, and I'm sure that heaven is way better than Key West Florida. But I'm also sure that Key West Florida is closer to heaven than Seattle, Washington, okay? Salvation has an end to it, and this is what we call our glorification. The Bible calls this our glorification. And in places like 1 Peter 1 5 and Romans 13 11, salvation is talked about as not yet coming. It says that salvation is not revealed yet. Salvation is nearing us, right? Now, it doesn't mean that we aren't saved yet.

It just means that salvation is talking about the moment whenever we enter into eternity with Jesus. It's called our glorification. So salvation, like a road trip, has a beginning and an end. But salvation also has a middle. It has the actual journey of the road trip, right? So if you are in the middle of a road trip, you're not in Seattle, you're not in Key West, you're in the middle. And the middle of a road trip is pretty great, right? Sometimes it's not, but it's full of asking directions. It's full of laughing and arguing maybe, singing really dumb songs, telling stories, finding out about people, it's fun. It's where a lot of the memories are made. And if you kind of take the illustration, as you move from Seattle to Key West, you're gonna go through the Rockies and the majestic mountains there. You're gonna go through these golden harvest fields in middle America.

You're gonna follow and cross the mighty Mississippi into the Appalachians. Maybe you'd even kind of stop over and look at the Appalachian Trail for a little bit. Eventually, you're going to start to see palm trees, right? You're going to see Key West Florida is coming. You can kind of feel it, right? Salvation also has a middle, if you will. It's a journey, right? This is what we call our sanctification.

Our sanctification. Jesus right now is making you and I holy. If we have at one point been justified And we will one day be glorified with Jesus in between those two things. Jesus is making us more like himself right now. He's making us holy. And this is also what the Bible calls salvation. One section of the Bible actually puts a lot of this together and it's in Romans, Romans 8 29 through 30. Now listen for all these different aspects of salvation here. It says, for those whom he foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. So being predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son that's being made holy, that's being sanctified, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those who He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified.

that this is what many call the unbreakable chain of salvation, that it is justification, then into sanctification, and then finally ending in glorification. So in the Bible, the word salvation has a beginning, a middle, and an end. It's a journey. And in Philippians 2:12, we are in the middle of that journey. When it's talking about working out your salvation, it's talking about the middle of it, the sanctification part of that, that being made holy. Let's look at those verses again, verses 12 and 13, and let's read it as a journey. It says, Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. So you see it much more now as a journey. And so now that we know

working out our salvation is sanctification, is being made holy, the journey kind of makes more sense and a few more things come to light. Look at the beginning of the verse. It says, verse 12, it says, as you have always obeyed. The idea is that since you've always been obedient, since you've in the same way that you've obeyed, continue to obey by working out your salvation. So working out your salvation is this continuation of obedience. Now obedience is not just, you know, following the rules as it were. It really carries the idea of devotion, not perfection. In other words, when he says, as you have always obeyed. He's not saying they've never sinned. He's not saying they've never messed up. He's talking about their devotion. He's talking about not following rules but generosity. They display that generosity, the desire to give themselves away. Right? And so we're beginning to see this bigger picture

where what these verses are talking about says you've been generous in your devotion to me. Your heart is being changed. Jesus is sanctifying you. He's making you holy. Stay with that. Work that out. Listen, when I preach in a sermon, when I think about what a sermon should be and what I hope a sermon does, here's what I don't want. I don't want my sermon to be so convincing that you're going to live a holy life. That the words that I say or the way I put something it's just going to stir your emotions up so much that you're going to want to live a holy life forever. My hope is with a sermon is that you see Jesus working in you and that you cooperate with that. My hope is that you see the generosity of Jesus in your life and you are humbled by it. That you see the confidence that Jesus delivers to you and that you begin to live by it. It's not that I'm trying to convince you to do something like live a holy life. What

I want you to see is that Jesus is at work in you. Jesus is the one making you holy right now. He's sanctifying you right now and He's holding out His hand to you in a thousand different ways saying, be vulnerable with me. Let's go. let's do this, let's grow. And so we see that it's not just working out our salvation, but it's also with fear and trembling. What does that mean? It really just means that we shouldn't take it for granted, that Jesus is sanctifying you, and that we need to be appreciative of that, and we need to continue working in that. We need to continue striving. We see a little bit more in verse 13. It says, for it is God who works in you. This working out your salvation is engaging Jesus's work as Jesus is working it, as God is working in you, right? So he's saying keep working in your salvation, not keep working for your salvation. He's saying keep working in your salvation.

He's not saying keep working for your salvation as if you're earning it. He's not saying work out your salvation because if you don't work it out then you won't be saved. Then you're not you're not gonna you need to earn it. This is important because if we think that we're earning our salvation then we are missing the gospel entirely. The gospel is that Jesus has already done the work on our behalf and we walk in that work. That's the gospel, right? We, and so we get the picture here, he's saying, he's saying to the Philippian church in 12 and 13, continue in this generous devotion to Jesus as Jesus sanctifies you, as Jesus makes you holy, as you're working out the salvation, you humbly strive in the work that Jesus is doing in you. So now that we've seen what this verse is saying about salvation and sanctification, we need to look at what it's saying about

the work exactly. And we're going to start with the why. Why should we do this work? And to see that, we're going to be looking at verses 14 through 60. Philippians 2, 14 through 16, it says, do all things without grumbling or questioning that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God, without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ, I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain." Working out your salvation, we see the why. It's so that we may be blameless, so that we may shine as lights in a dark world. And so to the Philippians church, Paul was saying, look, stay at this obedience, stay at this devotion. Jesus is working in you to sanctify you. He's working in you to grow in generosity. He's working you to grow in confidence and

when those things happen, your church will be like a city on a hill. And I think the encouragement for us right now with this is, listen, don't think that your obedience, don't think that your devotion is for nothing. We're not doing spiritual gymnastics to see more holy to one another. There are lives at stake. Our obedience, it does not earn us salvation, but it does help people see that Jesus is real. And again, it's not our perfection, it's our devotion. Jesus Himself prays for us in John 17. He prays for a church to be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you, that they may also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. Your obedient devotion to Jesus, your confident generosity with one another amidst upheaval, is nothing short of a living testament to the power of Jesus. As we church, as we South Boroughs and Baptist Church gather together and hopefully that's coming soon with open

services, as we gather together, as we love one another, as we sacrifice, as we give ourselves away to one another, sacrificially loving one another. This is a testament to the world about the power of Jesus. And so we've seen so far, we've seen salvation. It's a journey where we're joining Jesus in His work. This work is is important because it shows people who Jesus is. Now, one more thing about the work, let's look at exactly what this work is. Because if we're talking about God's work, that's kind of a broad thing, like what God is doing in the world. Let's see exactly what his work is. And we get a clue in verses 17 and 18, and we develop it a little bit further as we go. Philippians 2, 17 and 18 says this, Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me."

The work here that we're talking about is the same as Jesus's work, the work that he did in his ministry here. We see a few verses earlier. These are the verses that we looked at last week, Philippians 2, 6 through 8, and it says that Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, but thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Our work, Jesus's work, the same work that we're all in here is generously giving ourselves away for the benefit of others and the glory of Jesus. And as Paul describes it so well here, it's pouring out our lives, verses 17 and 18, pouring out our lives for other people's progress and joy. Pouring out our lives as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith.

So Paul is saying, I'm pouring out my life as you pour out your life for me, that we pour our lives out to each other, with each other, for the glory of Jesus. Paul is encouraging the church to do what he's doing. Paul is encouraging the church to do what Jesus did, that spending our lives or other's progress and joy in the faith. In other words, our sanctification, the work that Jesus is doing in us, it involves us making disciples. That making disciples is the work. Making disciples is the work. And often when we think about making disciples, we might think about just evangelism. You know, if I'm going to go make disciples, well then I'm going to go knock on doors, I'm gonna go in a street corner with a with a megaphone or I'm gonna you know, hold a Bible study at work look What I mean by making disciples is not just evangelism. It's actually way more fundamental than that

Make disciples is a way to live to situate your life For other people's progress and joy in the faith. Let me say that again Making disciples is a way to live your life for other people's progress and joy in the faith. And when you see your generosity giving life to other people, when you see Jesus doing that in other people, when you see Jesus inviting you into that work, you are drawn into making disciples and you start looking for ways that you could pour out your life for other people. You start looking for opportunities to mentor someone. You start looking for opportunities to help people see that salvation is near to them. You want to help people understand how to grow in what Jesus is doing in their life. You want to show those people how to help other people find salvation and grow in it. This aim of making disciples, this is this this is part of

sanctifying work that Jesus is doing in us and part of that sanctifying work that he's calling on us to work out with fear and trembling. This comes into focus in the next two parts where we start talking about Timothy and Epaphroditus. Philippians 1, excuse me, Philippians 2, 19 through 24. Yeah, Philippians 2, 19 22, excuse me, it says, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon so that I too may be cheered by news of you, for I have no one like him, this is Timothy's talking about, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare, for they all seek their own interest, not those of Jesus Christ, but you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel. Paul is saying, look, I'm pouring out my life for your progress and joy and I want to send you Timothy. Why? Why does he want to send Timothy to this

Philippian church? It's so that they can see him, they can imitate him, they can understand his genuine concern for their welfare. Timothy seeks the interests of Jesus. And so to the Philippian church he's saying, work out your salvation with fear and trembling just like Timothy. Look at Timothy working out his salvation with fear and trembling. How's he doing that? He is devoted, genuinely concerned for your welfare. Look at Timothy's heart. Timothy's heart, it bleeds for you. He wants you to grow in salvation. He wants you to be sanctified. Making disciples is what Timothy is about. Making disciples is not about having all the answers, it's about the desire, it's about the want to see other people grow. You have a love for other people. And again, this is the same work that Jesus did. Jesus made disciples. He poured into people. And what happened? Those people

poured into more people. And the Spirit blessed that and the church grew. This This is the same work Jesus did. This is the same work that Jesus is doing in you. And it's the same work that He wants you to do with Him. Make disciples. Let's read a little bit about Epaphroditus. I'm not going to read all of it, but just a few verses. Verses 25 and 26. It says, I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. So Epaphroditus, like Timothy, wants to see this Philippians church, the Philippian church, he wants to see their progress and joy. He wants to see them grow. He wants to see them make disciples. This is the work that we're working out. This is how we're working out our salvation,

by making disciples. And it's not about a quota, it's not about somehow like you're starting to make disciples now. It's about beginning with the mindset of giving yourself away. And so I wanna end with a few questions. Whose progress and joy are you aiming for? On whose behalf are you praying? Who is serving alongside you in gospel work? We often look at questions like these and pretend like they're for the spiritually elite. We often read about people like Timothy and Epaphroditus and maybe Christian missionaries or pastors, preachers, and we read about their lives and think, oh, I could never, I could never do anything like that. Like they're spiritually elite. Like their Christianity is on the top shelf, but that's not true. This is for everyone. Philippians has written to the entire church.

Paul is saying, look, I want all of you to pour out your lives for each other. I want all of you to make disciples. We can all make disciples. And we all, you don't need to be satisfied attending a building, or in this case, watching a service online. This is great, but this is not the end of Christianity. You don't just listen to good sermons. You don't just give your offering to the Lord. Jesus is doing a work in us right now. He's doing a work through us. He desires us to work with him. Answer that call. Answer it today. Follow Jesus. It is not just the best cause that you can sign up for. It is the most fulfilling thing that you can do. It's what you were created to do, is to work in concert with your Savior. If you want to answer that call, if you want to make a decision to follow Jesus today, then there's going to be a link in the comments to a Connect card.

Just click on that link and you can fill it out and I will contact you personally. I want to help you take that next step. I want you to see where Jesus is calling you and I want you to obey. I want you to be devoted to Him. I want to see you make disciples. Let's pray. Jesus, thanks so much for the way that you love us, the way that you care for us, the way that you call us out to make disciples. But more than that, that you change our heart to love other people, to sacrificially give ourselves away to the people that you have given to us. Help us to identify who those people are and to love them well, to give ourselves away, to work for their progress and joy and faith. As you sanctify us, help us to make disciples, help us to disciple other people. And that's your name that we pray.