October 5, 2007

SHINING LIKE THE STARS

Philippians 2:12-18

I discovered an ancient document in my files this week while I was preparing for this sermon. (Hold it up.) It is dated February 13, 1973. It is an assignment I did for a homiletics (preaching) course I took in seminary. That was long before the days of computers. It was done on a type writer. I was a poor typist, so I used the kind of slick, shiny paper that was especially designed for easy erasing. One of the comments, written in red by my professor, was that I needed to clean out the “o” on my typewriter. Now that’s a maintenance chore I haven’t thought about in a long time! I got a B+ on the paper. The reason I resurrected this paper was because the text for the sermon I used in this assignment was Philippians 2:12-18.

I said in my first message in this series, that because of my long history with the book of Philippians, it was like visiting an old neighborhood. But I also said that while I was renewing my acquaintance with some old friends, I was also looking forward to gaining new insight into familiar truths. Obviously, based on this ancient document, this passage in Philippians 2:12-18 is one of those old friends. But as I was reviewing and studying it again this week, something I read in a commentary caused me to see it in an entirely new light and from a different focus and perspective.

First of all, though, let’s consider Paul’s words. (Read Philippians 2:12-18)

When I have preached this passage in the past (and I have several versions in my files) I have always focused my application on the sanctification, spiritual growth and life witness of the individual Christian. I am not discounting that focus or suggesting that it was mistaken. I do think it is a valid application of these verses. But as I studied this week, I became convinced that it is a secondary application. The primary application when Paul wrote it was not to the individual Christians in Philippi, but rather to the community life and witness of the church at Philippi.

Two things clicked in to place to cause me to focus on this new emphasis. First is the context of the passage. “Wherefore” or “Therefore”: This word indicates that what he is about to say is closely linked logically to what has gone before.

As you have always obeyed: the implication is that they are to keep on obeying. But what exactly are they to obey? In the context, it is his previous exhortations: to be united in the face of conflict, to display the kind of unity that comes from true humility, to think and act like Christ did when he laid aside heaven’s privileges to become a servant and die on the cross. The whole context is about unity and humility and the kind of cormmunity life we are to display to the world.

The second thing that changed my focus was noticing the pronouns. They are all plural. That is not so noticeable in the English translations, because the pronoun “you” can be either singular or plural. But in the Greek language, there is a different form for the singular and the plural. And these are all plural. Now, I recognize that this is not fully determinative. An author might use the plural “you” when addressing a group regarding their individual responsibilities. But the plural form certainly allows for and is consistent with the collective or community focus.

I would like to go through the passage verse by verse, with this focus on the community life of the church in Philippi. Again, I am using the King James Version as my base.

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.

This verse has generated considerable discussion and debate about works and grace and their place in salvation. It is really rather straightforward. It does not say “work for” your own salvation. It says “work out” your own salvation. The emphasis of the word is to accomplish or bring something to completion. Imagine a child who has been sent to clean his room. The parent might use this word when he puts his head in the door to check on progress, and encourages the child to keep on working until the task is done.

We also need to consider carefully this word “salvation.” It is a word that is used differently in different contexts. It is used of our salvation from the penalty of sin, or what theologians refer to as our justification. When Paul says, “For by grace are you saved, through faith…” he is using the word saved or salvation in this way. This is a once for all salvation by faith in Christ’s sacrifice for our sins on the cross. But this word can also be used to refer to our salvation from the power of sin in our daily lives. This is what the theologians call sanctification. It is the process of spiritual growth and maturity, whereby we become like Christ as we keep in step with his Spirit. Incidentally the word can also be used in Scripture to refer to salvation or deliverance from some problem or dilemma in life.

So, how is Paul using the word in this context? I think it is actually a combination of the second and third. What do I mean? Remember the context of the passage: divisions in the church, the exhortation to unity via humility. Disunity is their earthly problem or dilemma to which they, as a church, needed a solution. But it is a dilemma that is very much related to their sanctification. As they become like Christ in humility (a key dimension in their sanctification) they would experience deliverance from their disunity as a church.

Now let’s take a closer look at this phrase “your own.” What is Paul’s point here? In laying this emphasis, is Paul saying that they have to do it themselves without God’s help? No! The contrast is not doing it with or without God’s help, as the next verse will show, but rather not waiting for Paul’s help! That is the point of the words, “not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation.” Don’t wait for me to come back. Sort this problem out yourselves. Work out your own solution, reflective of your salvation and your identity as the Body of Christ.

He then adds, ‘with fear and trembling.” His point here is simply that this is a very serious matter. Don’t put it off. This is urgent. Do it immediately.

Now comes the clincher in verse 13. “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” This is why it is so urgent, and it is also how Paul knows that they can do it without waiting for him. God is the one who is at work. Rely wholly on him. He is the one who produces the desire to do the right thing, and also provides the actual ability to do the right thing.

It is God who works in you. This is where I always read this verse from an individual perspective. “God is at work in you and in you and in you as individuals.  But this phrase could equally be translated, “God is at work among you (plural),” to heal your divisions, to bring harmony, to create oneness. God takes great pleasure in the unity of his people. This truth goes right back to the Old Testament. In Psalm 133:1 we read, “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity.” And the psalm concludes in verse 3 with the words, “For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.” When God “works among us both to will and to do of his good pleasure,” he will produce unity!

The next verse continues this emphasis. Do everything without murmurings and disputings. We see here that Paul is still pursuing the matter of disunity and disharmony, don’t we? These two traits or behaviors are both unity busters. They create discord and conflict. They do not reflect “God’s good pleasure.” They are indicators that our salvation has not been adequately “worked out” in our relationships.

So, as God works among us, as these wrong behaviors are weeded out and replaced by the humility and unity which God desires, what will be the results? So that ye may become blameless and harmless, children of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation/generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life.

The result will be a clear corporate and individual witness to the Gospel of Christ. The uniqueness of Christian humility and unity will cause the church and individual Christians to shine out like stars in the blackest night sky. That uniqueness and contrast to the world in which we live will enable us to hold forth the word of life, the Gospel, which the world so desperately needs.

Paul goes on to say, if you do that, I will be able to boast in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. “I will know that all my labor for the Gospel there in Macedonia was worth it. It was not empty effort.”

In fact, he goes even further: “Yea and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy and rejoice with me.”

Paul is referring, a little obliquely here, to the possibility that he may be executed. The word “offered” is the word for being poured out as drink offering. In both Jewish worship and in pagan worship in Paul’s day, there was the practice of pouring wine or a libation out as part of a sacrifice. In the image Paul uses, the Philippians are the priests. They are offering up to God, “the sacrifice and service” of their faith. If they live and serve God in harmony and unity and effective witness, then Paul says he is ready to die and to die joyfully, like a drink offering poured out over their sacrifice.

So, how does this different focus on this passage change things at the end of the day? On one level, it doesn’t change it a great deal. Our community or corporate sanctification is always going to be a function of our individual sanctification. God’s working in the group (among us) is always going to be an outgrowth of what he is doing “in us” as individuals. Our corporate witness will always be an expression of individual character transformation as you and I learn to walk with God.

But on another level, I think there is a very significant difference when we understand the passage from this faith community perspective. When we think of sanctification as a purely individual journey, we sometimes see a very small picture: getting rid of some bad habits and acquiring a few Christian disciplines like prayer and Bible reading. This “small picture” of sanctification is sometimes reflected in the idea that a person can be a good Christian and never participate in fellowship with other Christians. “I am a Christian, but I just don’t do the church thing,” people sometimes say.

This passage, understood in its context and its primary application, would urge us to paint our sanctification on a much broader and wider canvas; to see and experience our salvation, not just individually, but within the fellowship of the Body of Christ. To be a Christian means to be a part of the Body of Christ, and to demonstrate humility and true unity and a clear testimony. Then that testimony will be so much broader and more powerful than any individual voice could ever be. Jesus himself said, in John 13:35: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Love and humility are the foundation of true unity. That is what it means to “work out our salvation” within the context of the community of faith. Then our witness to the world moves to a new level. Too often, I think we conceptualize our witness for Christ like the evening star, shining brightly but alone in the evening sky. I think God’s design is for us to be like the Milky Way, and entire galaxy of stars, holding forth the word of life.

Work out (as a community of faith) your own salvation (in humility and unity)…that ye (as a body) may be blameless and harmless, the children of God (together) without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine (corporately) as lights, (a galaxy of stars) in the world. That’s our calling, as individuals and as a church.