Sunday Sermon – Philippians 2:12-13

Work Hard, Trust God: Philippians 2:12-13

The email asking summer preachers to pick a text said to ask what truth in the Bible ignites your heart like a burning fire. As an overthinker, I started and stopped many sermons and considered about 50 texts. I landed on Philippians 2:12-13: “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.”

If you are a Christian, you have been saved, you are being saved, and you will be saved. The Bible uses the word salvation for all three. In the past you were saved, justification. You took hold of Jesus, and his righteousness was credited to your account, so the Father declared you not guilty. In the present you are being saved, sanctification, becoming more like Jesus and saved from the power of sin. And in the future you will be saved, glorification, when Christ returns and you are saved from the presence of sin. This verse is about sanctification, which many say is the most important passage in the Bible on the subject. I used two headings: man’s part, and God’s part.

Why It Feels Impossible

In about 25 years of pastoral ministry, I have never heard a Christian say the Christian life is easy. We live in a cursed world, surrounded by tragedy, pain, loss, pressures, distractions, and temptations. In that, we are called to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love others as Jesus loved us, to never complain, and to make the most of every opportunity. The Christian life is not hard. It is impossible. So how do we do it? Sanctification is a cooperative effort between you and God. If you don’t work, no growth. If God doesn’t work, no growth.

Man’s Part: Work Out Your Salvation

“Therefore” points back to Jesus humbling himself in verses 5 through 11. Paul calls them “my beloved,” and that includes you: beloved by God. Obey, sincerely, not only when Paul was present but in his absence. People behave differently depending on who is around, like children when Mom and Dad leave or an employee when the boss is away. Who am I when no one is watching? Then the main exhortation: work out your salvation. This is not justification, which was purely grace, as Ephesians 2:8-9 says. But Ephesians 2:10 says we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. Some think, because I’m saved by grace it doesn’t matter how I live, or say, let go and let God. No: sanctification takes work. If you hear anything about your part, hear work. Ecclesiastes 9:10, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. Romans 8:13, by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body. First Timothy 6:11, flee, pursue, and fight the good fight. “It’s work It’s a Grind it is toil it is a race it is a fight.”

With fear and trembling. This is not the fear of a prisoner that drove you from God, which Martin Luther called servile fear. Romans 8:1 says there is no condemnation. It is filial fear, not that God will yell or lose his temper, but a fear that you’ll displease him because you love him so much. It drives us to God, not away.

God’s Part: He Works in You

Verse 13 begins with for. It is not just an explanation. It is the encouragement to do verse 12. Verse 12 convicts, and verse 13 encourages. Four observations. He works in you, not around you. It is in the present tense, ongoing and continuous. The word means to energize or cause. And it goes deep, to your will and your actions, heart-level work no one else can do. John Owen wrote, “he works in us and with us not against us or without us.” Gordon Fee said God empowers not only the doing but the willing that lies behind it.

So put a banner over your life: work hard, trust God. Trust him for the strength, because I am weak, and trust him for the outcome. Proverbs 21:31: “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord.” It is both. We don’t trust in horses, but we get the horse ready. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:10, “I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me.” I don’t know what that is other than work hard and trust God. One saying goes, “we work like an Armenian but we sleep like a calvinist.” George Müller started orphanages that saved the lives of 10,000 children, became a missionary at 70, and at 92 led a prayer meeting, went to bed, and was found dead the next morning. He said the secret of successful service is to work as if everything depended on our diligence and yet not to rest at all on our exertions but on the Lord.

For His Good Pleasure

Why does God work in us? “For his good pleasure.” He does it because he enjoys it. What if it said he works in you when you get your act together, or when you want him to, or if you show progress? We would be finished. Alec Motyer wrote that if that were true, none of us could entertain any hope of reaching the goal. Do you ever feel you are not growing as fast as you want? Sometimes my Christian life looks like a height chart: lots of growth some years, and I’ve been six feet tall spiritually for 27 years. Be encouraged. God never says, I believe in you, good luck. Philippians 1:6 says he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. John Newton said, “I’m not who I should be, I’m not who I want to be, I’m not who I will one day be,” but by the grace of God, I am not who I once was.