Learning to be God's community

Philippians 2:12-13

LEARNING TO BE GOD’S COMMUNITY

By: Scott Grant

Unity of the Spirit

Biblical scholar Bruce Waltke says this: “I am a member of a church where I submit to women leaders, whom I trust and respect, because, even though I disagree with the practice, I am called upon to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit until we come to the full knowledge of Christ (Ephesians 4:1-13). It is wrong to divide the body of Christ, which confesses Jesus as Lord and believes in its heart that God raised him from the dead, on such non-moral and non-essential issues for the unity of the church as modes of baptism, eschatology, forms of government, and belief in the continuation or cessation of gifts.”1

The heart expressed in these words is one that is committed to the community of God and to working things out in it rather than sniping at it or running from it. It is the kind of heart the Apostle Paul is looking for in Philippians 2:12-13. In these verses we are called to be God’s community by learning to live together, serve one another and love one another despite our differences.

In Philippians 2:12-18, Paul applies the story of Christ, which he presented in poetic fashion in verses 5 through 11, to life in Philippian church. Paul wants his readers to respond to the story of Christ, so he begins verse 12 with the word “therefore.” The story illustrated obedience (verse 8); now he wants the Philippians to be obedient, just as they have always “obeyed” (verse 12).

Throughout verses 12 to 18, much of Paul’s phraseology is rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures, particularly the story of the exodus. Even the story of Christ, the way Paul tells it, contains allusions to the exodus. Christ’s exodus from the grave, so to speak, resulted in his enthronement (verse 9), just as the exodus from Egypt resulted in God’s enthronement in the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34-35). The exodus is probably invoked in verses 12 through 18 order to convey that the church, having been freed from sin, is now the wilderness people of God.

Philippians 2:12-13:

[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.

Work out your salvation

Paul addresses his readers tenderly, as “my dear friends,” or, more literally, “my beloved” — loved by him and loved by God. He grounds his appeal to obedience in tenderness of affection. He speaks from his heart — and from God’s heart — to their heart.

This is the same kind of approach the Lord himself took when giving the 10 commandments — literally, the 10 “words” — to Israel. Before giving his people the commandments, the Lord said, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Exodus 20:10). The Lord reminded the people of his loving care for them as expressed in the exodus. In so many words, he was telling them, “Therefore, my beloved ... ” The commandments, and the entire law, was given to Israel as a great gift that expressed the Lord’s best hopes for his people. The law was a love letter. God’s appeal to obedience, and his appeal to obedience through the apostle in this passage, is based on his loving care for us as expressed in the new exodus. God, through Christ’s death as the Passover Lamb, rescued us from slavery to sin and death. God is saying to us, “I love you. Here’s how to respond to my love. And if you respond, you’ll be blessed.”

Paul’s appeal is also based on their history of obedience. He wants them to obey “as you have always obeyed.” Their obedience began with their acceptance of the gospel when Paul first visited Philippi (Acts 16:14, 31-34) and has continued to this point (Philippians 1:5).

Their obedience has remained steadfast whether Paul has been with them or away from them. He wants them to see his current absence as even greater incentive for obedience. Obedience is easier when the one calling for obedience is present; it is more difficult when that person is absent. Yet Paul wants them to demonstrate that their obedience is sincere, and not dependent on his presence. Thus he expects his absence to inspire them all the more. In this respect, he expects them to be quite different from the nation of Israel after the exodus. When Moses was absent, the people became disobedient (Exodus 32:1-10). Paul sees himself in the Moses role, as presenting the commandments of God and as being at times present with the Philippians and at times absent.

Paul has just proclaimed that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that “Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10-11). Obedience does not mean following rules. Obedience means coming under the lordship of Christ and following him. If you start out looking at obedience as a set of rules to follow rather than a Lord to love and follow, you’ll follow a well-worn path that leads to spiritual deadness. Jesus is our Lord. He loves us. We love him. If he tells us to do something, we do it because he loves us and because we love him. He speaks from his heart to our hearts. The story of Christ, in which he demonstrates his love for us, is both the inspiration and the pattern for our own obedience. That’s why you can hardly get out of here any Sunday without hearing something about Christ.

Paul defines the obedience he’s looking for in this case. He wants his readers to “work out your salvation.” Paul is writing to people who he believes are saved. He’s not appealing to them to somehow, either by works or faith, get themselves salvation. He has already equated obedience with working out their salvation. This is what saved people do: they obey God; they work out their salvation. In so many words, Paul is saying: “God has saved you. Now get on with it.” But what, specifically, does Paul have in mind? His concern throughout Philippians 1:27-2:18 is unity in the church for the sake of the gospel. He further expands on this in verse 14, where he tells his readers to “do everything without complaining or arguing.” God has saved people in Philippi and created his community within the city. Now these people have to work out this salvation. They have to learn to be a community: to live together, to serve one another, to love one another.

They must do so “with fear and trembling.” This is a phrase is used in the Hebrew scriptures to convey the response of people when they’re in the presence of God. Paul uses the phrase elsewhere of response to the presence of others (1 Corinthians 2:3, 2 Corinthians 7:15, Ephesians 6:5), although in Ephesians 6 the presence of Christ is ultimately in view. Inasmuch as Paul in the next verse speaks of the presence of God, most likely the phrase in verse 12 is used to communicate human response to God’s presence. The Philippians are to work out their common life before God. Paul may be absent, but God is present. The proper response when one is in the presence of God is “fear and trembling,” which means a posture of holy respect and reverence and awe and wonder.

Why would Paul invoke this phrase at this point, when he is speaking about community life? Because the most awesome and holy thing that this awesome and holy God does is create a people through whom he displays his glory to all creation (Isaiah 49:3, Ephesians 3:10). To create a worldwide people through whom he displays his glory, he creates communities of his people all over the world. When God creates one of these communities, and if it’s his work, not his presumed work, it’s an awesome thing. Although it is true that God dwells in individual believers, the greater biblical truth even in the New Covenant is that God dwells among the community of believers (1 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Ephesians 2:19-22).

Paul bases his appeal to obedience on the love of God, but he also includes the fear of God. This love is coming from One to whom every knee will bow. We are to work out our community life together with the knowledge that we are in the presence of a holy God. An awesome and holy God has does his best work in creating the church — and churches. God, especially where his community is concerned, is watching. How we view and treat each other within this community, and how we view and treat the community itself, is serious business.

Because God loves us, and because we recognize the awesomness of his being and of his creation of spiritual community, we work out our life together. We seek to live together, serve one another and love one another.

As most of you know, my wife Karen had surgery a week and half ago. I’ve been overwhelmed by the prayers, support and acts of kindness that have risen up from the PBC community. I thought I would have to expand my culinary repertoire, but instead a woman in the church took it upon herself to sign people up to bring meals to our house for a month. She sent me this note: “If you need the meals to continue, don't hesitate to ask, I have the all of the Young Adults Fellowship to tap into.” I guess I should have expected such a response. These are the people of God, and this is his community. In contrast to what Karen and I have experienced, I’ve recently become aware of others who have become ill and are not part of such a community. There is a vast difference between their experience and ours.

God is at work

Why should we obey God and work out our salvation? Because God is working in us — in the community. We might think that we should obey God because if we don’t, God will judge us. In verse 13, we don’t find God judging us; we find him helping us. As noted earlier, God’s greatest work is the creation of his community. Therefore, he takes great interest in it. It makes sense, then, that he would help his community do what he wants it to do.

Some of us conclude that this community life stuff is just too hard, so we disobey the command. We wear our wounds proudly and we snipe at the community and certain individuals in it. We remain bitter and factious and aloof. Others of us try to obey the command but think it’s all up to us. If there’s a problem, we think we can fix it. If someone’s attitude needs to be changed, we think we can change it. There is a better way. That way is to believe that God through his Holy Spirit is working among us and to act on the belief and to look for signs of his work. God wants us to work out our life together, and he helps us work out our life together. Stop fighting him. Let him work. Let him have his way.

Paul says that God works among us “to will and to act.” He puts the desire for community in every human being. Everyone, even a hermit, desires a community. It’s just that hermit is trying to kill the desire. God gives followers of Jesus a desire for a spiritual community. Then, through his Holy Spirit, he gives us the desire to work out our salvation within a spiritual community. Our minds are being renewed by the Spirit.

If you are a follower of Jesus, God resides in your heart through his Holy Spirit. That means God is doing great things, beautiful things, in your heart. Did you know that? Sometimes you’ll feel those desires. Sometimes, perhaps, you have to search your heart for them. Sometimes, because you don’t see them so well, someone else will point them out to you.

One of those beautiful desires is the one to be part of a spiritual community and thereby to be part of something much bigger than yourself. The biggest thing you can be a part of is a spiritual community through which God displays his glory to the world. For God to display his glory to the world through the community, those in the community must work out their salvation: They must learn to live together, serve one another and love one another despite their differences.

Paul says God is working among us to will this and to do this — to want it and to accomplish it. It can therefore be said that God is working in your heart to love even someone you’ve been in conflict with. This “will” is in your heart. In recognizing that God is working among us, we let him have his way. He is working among us by working in each of our hearts. Stop fighting your heart. Let your heart have its way.

God not only gives us the will, he gives us the way. He gives us the ability to act on our desires. He blesses the acts. He adds to them. He encourages us to keep acting. He fans the spark into a flame.

God’s work in us is “according to his good purpose,” or his good pleasure. It pleases God to help us. His ultimate pleasure is to display his glory through the community that he is working among. God exalted Christ for the sake of his glory (Philippians 2:11). He lifts up his people for the same reason.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the famous British preacher, told a story of a spiritist that illustrates the power of God at work in the community of God to bring glory to God:

“She was ill one Sunday and could not go to keep her appointment. She was sitting in her house and she saw people passing by on their way to the church where I happened to be ministering in South Wales. Something made her feel a desire to know what those people had, and so she decided to go to the service, and did so. She came ever afterwards until she died, and became a very fine Christian. One day I asked her what she had felt on that first visit, and this is what she said to me, ... ‘The moment I entered your chapel and sat down on a seat amongst the people, I was conscious of a power. I was conscious of the same sort of power as I was accustomed to in our spiritist meetings, but there was one big difference; I had a feeling that the power in your chapel was a clean power.’ ... This is a mysterious element. It is the presence of the Spirit in the heart of God’s children, God’s people, and an outsider becomes aware of this.2

God is at work in each of us and among us in a powerful way to give us the desire to love and he is at work among us to bless our acts of love in order that his glory might be revealed to the world.

Work it out

In this passage, Paul calls for obedience, which he further defines as working out our salvation. In verses 14 through 18, which we will consider next week, he will get even more specific in applying the Christ story, further defining what he means by working out our salvation. For now, we’re called to work it out with God’s help: To learn, sometimes with great difficulty, to be a community.

SCG / 2-10-02