Philippians 2.12-13
Our text may not be a well-known favorite, but I think that it's fair to say that you've heard of it before. Here's the background. Paul is in prison. While there, he writes a very uplifting letter to this group of Christians in Philippi with whom he had a very close relationship. In this letter he aims to allay their concerns about his situation, speak to them about the joy of being a Christian and also deal with some problems that their church was facing. After giving some instructions about some of those problems, Paul writes our text. And I think that he is quite clear. In effect, he tells them, 'You need to obey what I've told you. You've obeyed when I was there with you, and now you need to do it while I'm not. There are things to be done. Do them. In this way you will enjoy Jesus more.' And so, you see, our text is a call to obedience.
It's at this point that the importance of little words once again makes itself felt. This time it's the little word 'for'. In our Bibles this 'for' is at the beginning of verse 13. For Paul, it was in the middle of his sentence. After telling the Philippians that they need to obey him, he writes, 'for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.' Do you see what Paul is saying? 'My dear Philippians, you need to obey. And, in fact, you can. And the reason that you can is that God is at work in you. He makes it possible for you to obey. You can obey my instructions and accomplish what I've commanded because of what God is doing.' Paul is connecting his call for obedience to God's grace. Underlying Paul's command is the promise of God's favor. He will make it happen. That's what Paul is doing in our text.
Now, this is all well and good. I've laid things out with a certain degree of logic and a measure of clarity. But we need more than a certain degree of logic and a measure of clarity. We need this to be crystal clear because that's the only way it will become practical. What would help is a story to illustrate what Paul is talking about. And God, knowing us so well, has provided us with plenty of stories. I have four stories from the Old Testament. These will show you what Paul is getting at from both sides of the coin, what's right and what's wrong.
Here's the first one. It's the time of Moses. The people of Israel have received the Law from God at Mount Sinai. It's time to enter the Promised Land. They send in the twelve spies who, after a month and a bit, return with their report. This is what ten of them say. 'First, the good news. The land is as good as God had told us. In fact, it's better than we expected. It is simply beautiful, flowing with so many good things. We've brought back just a little to show you that God wasn't kidding. But there is some bad news. There is no way we can conquer this land - absolutely no way. The people are strong. Their cities are fortified. We could never win. Never.' Then there is the minority report of the two other spies. 'Yes, we saw the same things that the ten did. The people arestrong and the cities arefortified. But the land really is as beautiful as our God has said. And He has promised us victory over these people. We can do this! He has promised! , let's obey what our God has told us. Let's trust Him and go conquer the land.' As you know, the people reacted badly. They sided with the ten. They start to complain and even talk about returning to Egypt. In fact, at one point there was talk of lynching Moses and those with him. Now, what is this but an obvious expression of disobedience. God had said, 'Go and conquer. I will make it happen. I will give you the victory. Go.' But the people refuse. 'Forget it! It's impossible. They're too strong for us. We can't win, so we're not going.' And how does God respond? His first thought was to wipe them all out and start fresh with Moses. But Moses persuaded Him not to do that. [And that, incidentally, says a lot about the power of prayer.] So, God went with His second option. The ten spies with the faithless report were to die and the people are to spend forty years wandering in the wilderness. Their children would enter the land, but they wouldn't. They would all die in the desert, one by one. That's the first story, a story of disobedience.
Now the second story. This one starts soon after the first. Reality hit. God pronounces His judgment on the nation. The ten spies die by a plague. The people see what happening and have a change of heart. 'You were right, Moses. We should have obeyed. We're sorry, and we'll never do that again. We'll go and attack. We'll obey now.' And how does Moses respond? 'Don't go now. It's too late now. God has withdrawn His promise of success. He will not go up with you to fight against the people. The Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of His presence, will not go with you. Don't go. If you do, you will utterly fail.' And to this the people say, 'No, Moses. We really are sorry. Really. We're going to go and conquer. We think we can do this - even if God stays here.' And what do the Scriptures say at this point? '...they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord Moses departed out of the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah.' They put their hope in their own abilities and they failed. 'We can do it on our own if we try hard enough.' This is a story of presumption.
Third story. This one takes place in the days when Samuel was still young and his mentor, Eli, was a judge in Israel. The people of Israel faced the Philistines in battle, and they lost. They returned to camp and asked, 'What happened?!? Why didn't we beat those Philistines?' Now, the right answer to that question was clear. They weren't being obedient to what God had commanded them. The spiritual life of Israel was not good. But did they say, 'Hey, we need to repent. We need to obey our God'? No. They opted for the religious-looking thing to do. This is what they said, 'The reason that we didn't beat those guys was that we didn't have the Ark of the Covenant with us in the camp. If the Ark's with us, then we'll crush those guys. That's got to be it. That's the solution to our problem.' And so, they went and fetched the Ark, brought it into their camp with great cheers. And the next day they got beat even worse than the first time. They believed that acting religious eliminates the need for obedience. And they were wrong. This is a story about acting religious instead of being obedient.
Now the last story. This one takes place in the days of Joshua, after the forty years of wandering in the desert. The people of Israel have crossed the Jordan. They have set their sights on Jericho. Now Jericho is one of those fortified cities that the ten spies had talked about. It's a city surrounded by strong walls. The only way to defeat such a city is to lay siege to it. You surround it and don't let anyone in or out. Then, wait a year or two until the food runs out and the people give up. That will work, unless, of course, one of their allies surprises you with an attack of his own. So, Jericho is a fortified city. What's the plan to take it? This is God's plan. 'I want you to march around the city once on each of the next six days. On the seventh day I want you to march around the city seven times. And then, I'll get rid of the wall so that you can charge and clean up whatever resistance remains.' That's the plan; God's plan. And what do Joshua and the others say? 'Okay, let's go.' And in one week Jericho was theirs. This is the story of obedience based on trust.
So, here are our four stories. The first was about the ten spies and their report: a story of disobedience. The second was about obedience to God's command based on mere human ability: a story of presumption. The third was about using the Ark of the Covenant as a magic wand: a story of being religious instead of being obedient. The fourth was the conquest of Jericho: a story that could be titled, 'Trust and Obey'.
It's that fourth story that portrays what Paul is talking about in our text. 'There are things you need to do. So, do them - obey. And you will be able to do them as you believe God's promise that He will give you success. Trust and obey'.
Now, all of this gets a bit clearer and a bit more relevant to us when we consider exactly what it is that Paul wanted the Philippians to do. What was the obedience that he was calling for? He wanted them to work on their relationships with each other. Listen to what he wrote at the beginning of this section of his letter. 'So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.' And then there is this in the very next sentence after our text. 'Do all things without complaining and arguing.' The church in Philippi had some issues when it came to obeying Jesus' command, 'Love one another as I have loved you.' Paul applies this command to them and then calls them to obedience.
How interesting. At issue is not some immorality to avoid or the importance of holding to some cardinal doctrine of the faith. Paul calls the Philippians to work at their relationships within the church.
Now, those folks in Philippi had at least four ways to respond to Paul's words, matching our four stories. They could have chosen not to obey, claiming that it was too hard, impossible in fact. 'Paul, we just can't do this.' As a second choice they could have said, 'Okay, we'll obey. We know that it will be hard, but we can do it if we just try hard enough.' Or again, they could have told Paul that they don't need to worry about obedience to such things. 'Paul, as long as we do the right religious kinds of stuff we're okay. God will bless us.' And then, there's the last. 'Let's obey, trusting Jesus to make it happen.'
This all speaks quite clearly to us. Every time we are reminded of the call to work at the relationships we have with the other people in this room, to lower the walls a little more, to be the Church as Jesus has defined it - every time that happens we are faced with the same four stories. And the fact is that we don't always choose well. We don't always decide to follow the example of that fourth story: 'Trust and Obey.' But, thanks be to God, that's not the end of the world. Our God is a very forgiving God. He can be forgiving because of Jesus. So, whenever the Spirit points out how you've opted to imitate the wrong story, just remember: repent and believe the Gospel. Admit your sin, and be specific. Resolve to obey, and again and be specific. And then come again to Jesus for forgiveness and change. As we do that, our disobeying Jesus' command to be His kind of Church will be forgiven. And the Spirit will do a little more of His amazing work of changing our hearts so that we can do a little better at obeying Jesus' call to love one another. As we work at this, trusting Jesus to make it happen, we will see, in time, some impressive fruit. We will see FRC becoming more like the Church that we're supposed to be. And that will make Jesus look really good.
Our text may not be a well-known favorite, but I think that it's fair to say that you've heard of it before. Here's the background. Paul is in prison. While there, he writes a very uplifting letter to this group of Christians in Philippi with whom he had a very close relationship. In this letter he aims to allay their concerns about his situation, speak to them about the joy of being a Christian and also deal with some problems that their church was facing. After giving some instructions about some of those problems, Paul writes our text. And I think that he is quite clear. In effect, he tells them, 'You need to obey what I've told you. You've obeyed when I was there with you, and now you need to do it while I'm not. There are things to be done. Do them. In this way you will enjoy Jesus more.' And so, you see, our text is a call to obedience.
It's at this point that the importance of little words once again makes itself felt. This time it's the little word 'for'. In our Bibles this 'for' is at the beginning of verse 13. For Paul, it was in the middle of his sentence. After telling the Philippians that they need to obey him, he writes, 'for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.' Do you see what Paul is saying? 'My dear Philippians, you need to obey. And, in fact, you can. And the reason that you can is that God is at work in you. He makes it possible for you to obey. You can obey my instructions and accomplish what I've commanded because of what God is doing.' Paul is connecting his call for obedience to God's grace. Underlying Paul's command is the promise of God's favor. He will make it happen. That's what Paul is doing in our text.
Now, this is all well and good. I've laid things out with a certain degree of logic and a measure of clarity. But we need more than a certain degree of logic and a measure of clarity. We need this to be crystal clear because that's the only way it will become practical. What would help is a story to illustrate what Paul is talking about. And God, knowing us so well, has provided us with plenty of stories. I have four stories from the Old Testament. These will show you what Paul is getting at from both sides of the coin, what's right and what's wrong.
Here's the first one. It's the time of Moses. The people of Israel have received the Law from God at Mount Sinai. It's time to enter the Promised Land. They send in the twelve spies who, after a month and a bit, return with their report. This is what ten of them say. 'First, the good news. The land is as good as God had told us. In fact, it's better than we expected. It is simply beautiful, flowing with so many good things. We've brought back just a little to show you that God wasn't kidding. But there is some bad news. There is no way we can conquer this land - absolutely no way. The people are strong. Their cities are fortified. We could never win. Never.' Then there is the minority report of the two other spies. 'Yes, we saw the same things that the ten did. The people arestrong and the cities arefortified. But the land really is as beautiful as our God has said. And He has promised us victory over these people. We can do this! He has promised! , let's obey what our God has told us. Let's trust Him and go conquer the land.' As you know, the people reacted badly. They sided with the ten. They start to complain and even talk about returning to Egypt. In fact, at one point there was talk of lynching Moses and those with him. Now, what is this but an obvious expression of disobedience. God had said, 'Go and conquer. I will make it happen. I will give you the victory. Go.' But the people refuse. 'Forget it! It's impossible. They're too strong for us. We can't win, so we're not going.' And how does God respond? His first thought was to wipe them all out and start fresh with Moses. But Moses persuaded Him not to do that. [And that, incidentally, says a lot about the power of prayer.] So, God went with His second option. The ten spies with the faithless report were to die and the people are to spend forty years wandering in the wilderness. Their children would enter the land, but they wouldn't. They would all die in the desert, one by one. That's the first story, a story of disobedience.
Now the second story. This one starts soon after the first. Reality hit. God pronounces His judgment on the nation. The ten spies die by a plague. The people see what happening and have a change of heart. 'You were right, Moses. We should have obeyed. We're sorry, and we'll never do that again. We'll go and attack. We'll obey now.' And how does Moses respond? 'Don't go now. It's too late now. God has withdrawn His promise of success. He will not go up with you to fight against the people. The Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of His presence, will not go with you. Don't go. If you do, you will utterly fail.' And to this the people say, 'No, Moses. We really are sorry. Really. We're going to go and conquer. We think we can do this - even if God stays here.' And what do the Scriptures say at this point? '...they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord Moses departed out of the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah.' They put their hope in their own abilities and they failed. 'We can do it on our own if we try hard enough.' This is a story of presumption.
Third story. This one takes place in the days when Samuel was still young and his mentor, Eli, was a judge in Israel. The people of Israel faced the Philistines in battle, and they lost. They returned to camp and asked, 'What happened?!? Why didn't we beat those Philistines?' Now, the right answer to that question was clear. They weren't being obedient to what God had commanded them. The spiritual life of Israel was not good. But did they say, 'Hey, we need to repent. We need to obey our God'? No. They opted for the religious-looking thing to do. This is what they said, 'The reason that we didn't beat those guys was that we didn't have the Ark of the Covenant with us in the camp. If the Ark's with us, then we'll crush those guys. That's got to be it. That's the solution to our problem.' And so, they went and fetched the Ark, brought it into their camp with great cheers. And the next day they got beat even worse than the first time. They believed that acting religious eliminates the need for obedience. And they were wrong. This is a story about acting religious instead of being obedient.
Now the last story. This one takes place in the days of Joshua, after the forty years of wandering in the desert. The people of Israel have crossed the Jordan. They have set their sights on Jericho. Now Jericho is one of those fortified cities that the ten spies had talked about. It's a city surrounded by strong walls. The only way to defeat such a city is to lay siege to it. You surround it and don't let anyone in or out. Then, wait a year or two until the food runs out and the people give up. That will work, unless, of course, one of their allies surprises you with an attack of his own. So, Jericho is a fortified city. What's the plan to take it? This is God's plan. 'I want you to march around the city once on each of the next six days. On the seventh day I want you to march around the city seven times. And then, I'll get rid of the wall so that you can charge and clean up whatever resistance remains.' That's the plan; God's plan. And what do Joshua and the others say? 'Okay, let's go.' And in one week Jericho was theirs. This is the story of obedience based on trust.
So, here are our four stories. The first was about the ten spies and their report: a story of disobedience. The second was about obedience to God's command based on mere human ability: a story of presumption. The third was about using the Ark of the Covenant as a magic wand: a story of being religious instead of being obedient. The fourth was the conquest of Jericho: a story that could be titled, 'Trust and Obey'.
It's that fourth story that portrays what Paul is talking about in our text. 'There are things you need to do. So, do them - obey. And you will be able to do them as you believe God's promise that He will give you success. Trust and obey'.
Now, all of this gets a bit clearer and a bit more relevant to us when we consider exactly what it is that Paul wanted the Philippians to do. What was the obedience that he was calling for? He wanted them to work on their relationships with each other. Listen to what he wrote at the beginning of this section of his letter. 'So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.' And then there is this in the very next sentence after our text. 'Do all things without complaining and arguing.' The church in Philippi had some issues when it came to obeying Jesus' command, 'Love one another as I have loved you.' Paul applies this command to them and then calls them to obedience.
How interesting. At issue is not some immorality to avoid or the importance of holding to some cardinal doctrine of the faith. Paul calls the Philippians to work at their relationships within the church.
Now, those folks in Philippi had at least four ways to respond to Paul's words, matching our four stories. They could have chosen not to obey, claiming that it was too hard, impossible in fact. 'Paul, we just can't do this.' As a second choice they could have said, 'Okay, we'll obey. We know that it will be hard, but we can do it if we just try hard enough.' Or again, they could have told Paul that they don't need to worry about obedience to such things. 'Paul, as long as we do the right religious kinds of stuff we're okay. God will bless us.' And then, there's the last. 'Let's obey, trusting Jesus to make it happen.'
This all speaks quite clearly to us. Every time we are reminded of the call to work at the relationships we have with the other people in this room, to lower the walls a little more, to be the Church as Jesus has defined it - every time that happens we are faced with the same four stories. And the fact is that we don't always choose well. We don't always decide to follow the example of that fourth story: 'Trust and Obey.' But, thanks be to God, that's not the end of the world. Our God is a very forgiving God. He can be forgiving because of Jesus. So, whenever the Spirit points out how you've opted to imitate the wrong story, just remember: repent and believe the Gospel. Admit your sin, and be specific. Resolve to obey, and again and be specific. And then come again to Jesus for forgiveness and change. As we do that, our disobeying Jesus' command to be His kind of Church will be forgiven. And the Spirit will do a little more of His amazing work of changing our hearts so that we can do a little better at obeying Jesus' call to love one another. As we work at this, trusting Jesus to make it happen, we will see, in time, some impressive fruit. We will see FRC becoming more like the Church that we're supposed to be. And that will make Jesus look really good.
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