Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Paradox of Sanctification: Working Out What God Works In (Philippians 2:12-15)

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The Paradox of Sanctification: Working Out What God Works In (Philippians 2:12-15) · Reformed Thinking

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You know, when we think about the simple biological act of
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breathing, there's this necessary, unavoidable rhythm to
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it. Oh, absolutely.
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Yeah, I mean, you inhale oxygen into your lungs and then by the
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sheer design of the human body, you just have to exhale.
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Right. You cannot hold onto it forever.
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Yeah. If you only focus on the inhale,
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holding your breath indefinitely because you like the feeling of
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full lungs, you will eventually pass out.
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Your body just cannot sustain that state.
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For sure, and on the flip side, if you try to only exhale
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without ever taking in new air, pushing until your lungs are
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completely empty, you just collapse.
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It is a biological absolute, really.
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You cannot separate the taking in from the letting out.
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Yeah, you absolutely need both the intake and the outflow to
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sustain physical life. Yeah, it is an inseparable
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system. They are distinct actions with
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entirely different muscular mechanisms involved, but they
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belong to a single unified system of life, right?
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The diaphragm pulls down, the lungs expand, the oxygen enters
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the bloodstream, and then the direct opposite mechanical
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process happens to expel the carbon dioxide.
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Yeah, you need both to survive. And then you step into the world
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of Christian theology, specifically regarding how
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believer grows in personal holiness, and suddenly people
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want to hold their breath. They really do.
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They want the inhale of divine grace, taking in all that
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forgiveness and mercy, but they resist the strenuous exhale of
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daily obedience. Or they do the opposite, right?
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Yeah, looking at the other extreme, they try to exhale
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constantly. Oh yeah, exhausting themselves
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with rigid moral performance. Striving and sweating without
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ever inhaling the grace that actually makes obedience
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possible. We are looking at a theological
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landscape that is honestly just full of massive extremes.
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We see the Church constantly swinging wildly between legalism
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on one side and a passive kind of mysticism on the other side.
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Legalism is that constant, exhausting exhale.
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The individual believes their sheer exertion is keeping them
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in good standing with the Almighty.
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Right, like they are earning it. And the mystical side is the
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perpetual inhale where the individual sits back, completely
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passive. Assuming that because grace is
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free, no exertion is required on their part at all.
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Well, welcome to Reformed Thinking.
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I'm so glad you are joining us today for this deep dive.
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Glad to be here. We have a massive stack of
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notes, commentaries, and theological analysis sitting
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right here on the table. It is quite a stack today.
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It really is. Our core subject is a famous and
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honestly frequently misunderstood passage of
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Scripture. Philippians, chapter 2, verses
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12 through 15. We are going to examine the
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theological paradox of sanctification.
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We are going to look at how believers are called to work out
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what God has already worked in. The mission of our deep dive
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today is to break down how sovereign grace actually fuels
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our daily pursuit of holiness. Right.
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We want to help you avoid those equal and opposite dangers we
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just mentioned. You do not want to fall into the
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ditch of legalism where you think you are earning God's
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favor through your own sweat. No, definitely not.
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But you also want to avoid the ditch of passive mysticism.
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Where you just sit around waiting for spiritual ZAP before
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you decide to obey a clear biblical command.
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OK, let's unpack this because Philippians 2 verses 12 through
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15 does not exist in a vacuum. Not at all.
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It's it's right in the middle of a massive theological context.
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When you read the letters of the Apostle Paul, you always have to
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look at what comes right before the passage you were studying.
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The human author, the Apostle Paul, is writing to the church
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in Philippi, and to grasp the weight of this letter, we really
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have to understand the city itself.
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Right, Philippi was a Roman colony.
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Yes, it was heavily populated by retired Roman soldiers.
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So it was a culture steeped in pride, civic duty and a really
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strong sense of personal achievement.
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And the verses we are looking at directly follow what scholars
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call the Christ Hymn in verses 5 through 11.
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Let's talk about that hymn for a minute, because it is daggering.
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It really is. It is one of the highest points
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of Christology in the entire New Testament.
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The hymn details the voluntary humiliation and the subsequent
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sovereign exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Paul writes that Christ, though he is in the form of God, did
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not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.
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Instead, he emptied himself. He took the form of a servant
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being born in the likeness of men.
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And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming
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obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
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And because of that obedience, God highly exalted him and
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bestowed on Him the name that is above every name.
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And the very next word kicking off verse 12 is there for or you
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know, in some older translations where for.
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What's fascinating here is that Paul uses divine logic.
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He establishes the cosmic victory of Christ first, right?
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That majestic High Christology forms the absolute necessary
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groundwork for everything he is about to command the believer to
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do. Christian obedience is never
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detached moralism. No, it is not just a list of
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rules floating out in the ether, disconnected from the savior.
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It is the visible, practical fruit of your union with the
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obedient Christ. It makes me think of a royal
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there, actually. Oh, I like that.
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Go on. Imagine a young Prince or a
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Princess growing up in a palace. They are expected to act with
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immense dignity to follow strict royal protocols.
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Right to govern their behavior in public with absolute
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precision. But they do not act with dignity
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in order to earn the crown. No, of course not.
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They act with dignity because the crown has already been
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secured for them by the King. The status of royalty is a
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settled reality. They were born into it.
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Their behavior, their posture, their grace under pressure, all
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of that is simply the visible expression of that settled
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reality. That is an incredibly helpful
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way to frame the situation. Thanks.
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The Philippians are not being told to start acting like
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Christians so that God will finally decide to adopt them
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into his family. Right.
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They're being told to press on in their obedience precisely
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because they already belong to Christ.
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The command is covenantal. Paul is addressing them
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affectionately as his beloved. He praises them because they
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actually have a track record of obedience.
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He. Is taking the massive cosmic
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reality of Christ's victory the reality that the King has
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secured the crown? And applying it to their mundane
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everyday trials. Let us look closely at the
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actual command in verse 12, because this is where the
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strenuous human imperative really hits a square in the
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chest. Paul writes Work out your own
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salvation with fear and trembling.
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I know that phrase has caused a lot of heartburn over the
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centuries for people trying to understand grace.
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Oh for sure, it causes confusion, mostly because people
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isolate it from the rest of the sentence.
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To understand this text accurately, we have to look at
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the Greek verb Paul employs for the phrase workout.
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Right. The word is categorize this.
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It is a present middle imperative.
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I am going to ask you to step away from the academic lectern
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for a second. Fair enough.
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Break that grammatical terminology down for us.
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What does a present middle imperative look like in the real
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everyday life of a believer? Well, let us take it piece by
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piece. The present tense means it is a
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continuous ongoing action. It is a daily minute by minute
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reality. Yes, it is not a one time event
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that happened at an altar call 20 years ago.
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And the middle voice. The middle voice suggests the
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believers personal active involvement in the process.
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You are the one doing the acting.
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And the action has a direct effect back upon you, right?
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And the imperative move means it is an unyielding command.
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It is not a helpful suggestion for the Super spiritual elite.
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No, it is the required posture for every single child of God.
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The term itself means to bring something to its logical
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conclusion. To finish a task that is already
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underway. The source material brings up an
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analogy of cultivating a field. Let us hear it.
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Let us say someone hands you the deed to a massive fertile farm.
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The farm is yours. You did not buy.
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It you did not clear the land yourself.
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Right. It was a completely free gift
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from a generous benefactor. The legal standing is settled.
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You own the farm. But now that the farm is yours,
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you have to get out there. You have to grab a plow, sweat
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in the hot sun, pull up the weeds, plant the seeds and
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cultivate the land to bring forth a harvest.
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You are working the field that has already been deeded to you.
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That captures the dynamic perfectly.
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The legal ownership is a gift, but the cultivation requires
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strenuous effort. Our source notes are very firm
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about guarding against theological errors on both sides
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of this equation. On one hand, we have systems
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like Roman Catholicism and Arminianism.
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Author of our notes argues that these systems mistakenly teach
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that we work for our salvation. In the Roman Catholic framework,
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grace is often viewed as something infused into a person.
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Giving them the ability to do good works which then merit
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eternal life. The author argues this turns
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grace into a wage to be earned. And it treats the cross as a
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mere down payment rather than a finished, complete reality.
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I have to offer a little push back here, or at least ask the
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clarifying question that I know someone listening is asking
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right now. Go for it.
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If we hold strictly to the Protestant belief that
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justification is by faith alone, doesn't telling people they need
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to work out their salvation sound dangerously close to
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telling them to earn it? That is a very fair question.
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Where is the line between cultivating the field and trying
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to buy the field? That brings us to the crucial
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distinction we must make between justification and
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sanctification. Justification is a completed
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monogistic act of God. Let us pause on the word
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monarchistic. Mongerjism comes from 2 Greek
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words meaning one and work. It means God works alone.
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Justification is a legal declaration taking place in the
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courtroom of Heaven. Where God declares the Sinner
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righteous based entirely on the imputed righteousness of Christ.
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Imputed means it is credited to your account.
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You have 0 righteousness of your own, so Christ's perfect record
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is credited to you. You do not contribute a single
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drop of sweat to your justification.
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However, sanctification is entirely different.
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Right. Sanctification's the lifelong
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process where the believer is actually made wholly in their
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daily conduct. In sanctification, the believer
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exerts strenuous, exhausting effort.
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You are actively fighting sin. You are actively resisting
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temptation. You are making difficult moral
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choices every single. Day.
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But the critical factor is that this striving is still happening
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under the umbrella of grace. We are not sweating to keep our
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justified status. We are sweating because our
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justified status demands a change in our behavior.
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Spot on. We can look to the Westminster
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Confession of Faith for tremendous clarity here.
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Chapter 13. Gills specifically with
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sanctification. It declares that for the
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believer the dominion of the whole body of sin is destroyed.
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The absolute tyranny of sin. Its ability to dictate your
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every move is broken. Yet the confession also states
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there remains A continual and irreconcilable war within the
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believer. The.
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Fletcher lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against
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the flutch. The Saint must wage war against
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remaining corruption. So it is a war.
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It is an active battlefield. It is not a vacation on a cruise
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ship. That directly confronts the
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other error our sources mention. The modern antinomian or
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quietest spirit. Antinomianism literally means
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anti law. It is that let go and let God
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mentality that tells Christians to just stop trying, stop
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striving. And let the Holy Spirit handle
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everything while they passively float along, waiting for some
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mystical wave of motivation to wash over them.
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The explicit command to workout your salvation completely
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shatters that passive mysticism. You do not drift into holiness.
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No one ever accidentally stumbled into a life of rigorous
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purity. Sin is not mortified by
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accident. You must labor.
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You must cut off the hand and gouge out the eye,
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metaphorically speaking. And the text tells us precisely
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the posture we should adopt in this labor.
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We are to do it with fear and trembling.
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Now fear and trembling sounds terrifying.
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It really does. It sounds like I should be
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cowering in a corner, worried that God is going to strike me
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with lightning if I read my Bible for only 10 minutes today
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instead of 15. It sounds like a posture of
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sheer panic. It does sound that way to modern
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ears, but we have to define those terms biblically, not
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emotionally. This is not the slavish terror
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of a peasant standing before a cruel, unpredictable tyrant who
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might execute them for a minor mistake.
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Right. It is not a doubt filled anxiety
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about whether you're actually going to make it to heaven.
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We already established that justification is settled.
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Instead, this fear and trembling is a holy filial.
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Reverence Filial meaning the reverence a child has for a
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loving father. Correct.
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It is the trembling of a soul that has suddenly perceived the
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blinding holiness of God. And the sheer weight of the
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glory set before it. When you realize the infinite
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gap between your own remaining corruption and the dazzling
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purity of the Savior who bought you with his own blood, well,
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the only appropriate response is a sober, serious reverence.
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The Christian life is not a casual hobby.
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You are dealing with the holy God of the universe.
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It is not a weekend club. It is a severe joyful calling.
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And I love how Paul frames this with pastoral tenderness.
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He does not bark this order like a drill Sergeant.
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No, he praises the Philippians for obeying while he was
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physically present with them. But he urges them to obey even
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more now that he is absent. He wants their faith to be
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completely independent of his supervision.
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He does not want their obedience to be performative.
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He wants it to be genuine, happening in the cry at moments
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when nobody else is watching. Hypocrisy asks who is watching
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me right now and what do they expect of me?
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True Faith asks, what has God commanded me to do and how can I
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honor him in this empty room? That brings us to the hinge of
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the entire passage. We have talked about the
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strenuous human imperative in verse 12, the command to work,
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to wage war, to cultivate the fields with reverence.
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But if we stop reading there, we are going to burn out by next
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Tuesday. The burden is just too heavy for
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frail human shoulders. Thankfully, verse 13 gives us
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the wings of divine grace. Paul writes for it is God who
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works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
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If we connect this to the bigger picture of Reformed confessional
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confidence, we see that verse 13 is the causal ground for verse
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12. It is the divine because.
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You work out your salvation because God is actively working
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in you. Your effort is the result, not
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the cause. Let us look at the Greek word
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used for God's working here. It is energon.
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Yes, energon is the root of our English word energy.
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In the ancient Greco Roman world, this specific term
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denoted an effectual, active, and highly productive strength.
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It was often used to describe the invincible operations of a
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deity. It means God is not a passive
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spectator sitting in the bleachers of heaven, politely
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cheering for you to make good choices.
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He is the primary actor, sovereignly bringing his
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purposes to pass within the very core of your heart.
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This makes me think of a sailboat.
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Oh, that is a classic illustration.
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Right. If you are sailing a boat across
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a massive body of water, you have a lot of hard physical work
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to do. You have to diligently hoist the
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heavy canvas sails. You have to tie the intricate
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knots. You have to hold the rudder with
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calloused hands and steer against the current.
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You are sweating, you are analyzing the weather, you are
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working continuously. But no matter how hard you pull
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on those ropes, no matter how perfectly you tie the knots, the
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boat is not going anywhere unless the wind fills the sails.
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The wind is the effectual energy that actually propels the vessel
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forward. That analogy perfectly captures
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the dynamic of sovereign sanctification.
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You are hoisting the sails. That is the command in verse 12
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to work out your salvation. You are putting yourself in the
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path of the means of grace, but the efficacious grace of God is
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the wind. The Westminster Confession of
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Faith in chapters 3 and 5 covers God's eternal decree and His
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Providence. It is a high Reformed truth that
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God's sovereignty extends to the very wills of men.
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He governs all creatures, actions and things from the
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greatest even to the least. That is a staggering concept.
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He does not just give us a moral compass, point us north and walk
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away to see if we can make it. He actually alters our internal
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desires. He changes the machinery of our
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will. The source notes quote the
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famous prayer of Saint Augustine, which captures this
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theological tension beautifully. Augustine prayed.
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Command what thou wilt, and grant what thou commandest.
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I could camp out on that quote for an hour.
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Grant what thou commandest. God gives the impossible command
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to be holy, to be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect.
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And then miraculously, he provides the very strength
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required to execute the command. He changes both the want to and
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the how to. The text says he works in you to
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will. That means he operates in the
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hidden realm of your desires, your affections, and your
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inclinations. He gives you a hatred for the
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sin you used to love, and He gives you a hunger for the
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righteousness you used to despise.
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But he does not stop up with your feelings or your desires.
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He also works in you to work or to do.
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He supplies the actual concrete stamina to perform the
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obedience. That completely crushes human
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boasting, doesn't it? It absolutely does.
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If I managed to resist a stubborn temptation today, or if
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I show incredible patience to my kids instead of yelling at them
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when they break something. You cannot look in the mirror at
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the end of the day and say, wow, I am a really spectacular,
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disciplined, holy person. No, I have to look up and say
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thank you God for supplying the wind for the sails today.
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Thank you for generating the desire to be patient and the
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restraint to hold my tongue. It absolutely eliminates pride.
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Any progress in holiness is a reason for gratitude, not
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arrogant self congratulations. But equally, it provides immense
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comfort to the weary St. When you feel the heavy burden
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of God's moral law. When you look at the 10
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commandments and realize how far short you fall, you do not need
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to plunge into despair. The same God who issued the
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terrifying law on Mount Sinai is actively dwelling inside you
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through the Holy Spirit. Generating the capacity to
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fulfill it. This thoroughly refutes the
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modern self help moralism that floods our evangelical
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bookstores today. The answer to your persistent
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struggle with sin is not to simply grit your teeth and try
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harder, relying on your own fleshly resolve.
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The answer is to trust more intensely in the Sovereign Lord
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who is working within you, for His is good pleasure.
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So we have the cosmic set up with the Christ to him.
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We have the strenuous human imperative to cultivate the
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field. We have the sovereign divine
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enablement acting as the wind in our sails.
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Now the text takes all of this lofty, majestic theology and
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drags it right down into our messy living rooms are crowded
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office spaces and our church lobbies.
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Verse. 14 moves from the internal mechanism of grace to
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the external concrete evidence. Paul writes Do all things
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without grumbling or disputing. It is a staggering transition.
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It really is. After outlining the mysteries of
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the divine will, the incarnation of the Son of God, and the
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sovereign mechanics of grace, Paul targets the most ordinary
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daily attitudes imaginable. He targets our tongues and our
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tempers. It is almost jarring.
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You expect him to say, therefore go be martyred for the faith, or
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therefore sell all your possessions and give everything
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to the poor. Instead, he says stop
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complaining. Let us examine the specific
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words here because we tend to minimize these sins.
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What is grumbling in this specific biblical context?
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The Greek word is gong gizmos. The word itself sounds like what
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it means. It refers to a muttering
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dissatisfaction, a low level resentful unrest of the soul.
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It is the speech of a heart that is fundamentally displeased with
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Providence. When you grumble, you are not
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just expressing frustration about the weather or traffic.
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You are essentially attacking the wise, sovereign ordering of
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God's plan for your life. You are saying God you got this
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wrong. I deserve better than this.
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And the second word is disputing, which comes from
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Dialogismos. Refers to an argumentative
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spirit, an intellectual rebellion.
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It is a posture that fractures church unity because it
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prioritizes self will. And the desperate need to be
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right over the peace of the brethren.
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There is a massive Old Testament backdrop to this, isn't there?
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The notes point us to Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 5.
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If you want to understand Paul, you have to read your Old
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Testament. Yes, Paul is making a
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deliberate, unmistakable allusion to the generation of
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national Israel that wandered in the wilderness.
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Think about their story. They witnessed the parting of
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the Red Sea. They saw the Egyptian army
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swallowed by the water. They were led by a pillar of
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cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
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They ate miraculous bread from heaven every single morning yet.
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Despite all of that divine provision, they perpetually
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murmured against Moses and by extension, against God.
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They complained about the lack of water, they complained about
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the lack of meat. They romanticized their slavery
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in Egypt. They failed their wilderness
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tests through grumbling. Paul is setting up a stark
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contrast. The Church, as the new covenant
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people of God, is called to succeed where Israel failed.
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I have to point out an observation about our modern
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church culture because this hits incredibly close to home.
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Oh def. We are incredibly quick to
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condemn certain visible sins if someone in the congregation is
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caught in financial scandal or commits outright theft.
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Or falls into obvious marital infidelity.
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The church discipline is swift and severe, as it should be.
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But we tolerate chronic complaining.
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We tolerate negativity. We excuse a combative
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argumentative spirit by saying things like while I am just a
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straight shooter. Or I'm just being authentic
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about my feelings. Or that is just my personality.
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Play devil's advocate. We treat grumbling as a quirky
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character trait rather than a serious rebellion against the
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sovereign God. That is a very perceptive
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critique of our current landscape.
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We tolerate it because it is socially acceptable.
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It is the air we breathe in our culture.
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But the text does not offer us that loophole.
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The command is sweeping. Do all things without grumbling
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or disputing. There is no compartmentalized
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obedience allowed here. You cannot be perfectly orthodox
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in your theology, quoting the Puritans and understanding Super
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Lipsarianism while remaining perpetually sour, bitter and
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combative in your daily disposition.
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These sins reveal a heart that is actively resisting the wise
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hand of God. If God is truly working in you
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to will and to do His good pleasure, then that massive
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grace must become visible. In how you respond to daily
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inconveniences, frustrations, and disagreements with other
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people. So the concrete evidence of
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sovereign grace, It isn't just a theological exam score.
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It is a peaceful disposition when your flight gets delayed by
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4 hours. Or when someone takes your
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parking spot in the rain. Or when a committee meeting at
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church runs late because people are arguing over carpet colors.
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That is right, and that leads directly to the cosmic purpose
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behind this distinctive purity. Verse 15 explains the why behind
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the command to stop grumbling. Paul says we are to do this,
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that you may be blameless and innocent children of God without
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blemish, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation
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among who you shine lights in the world.
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Shine as lights. Let's look at that word lights
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because it is not talking about a candle on a table.
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The Greek word is fosters. Fosters specifically refers to
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celestial bodies. It is the word used for the sun,
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the moon and the stars, piercing the absolute blackness of the
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night sky. The goal of sanctification is
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not just private moral improvement so you can feel
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better about yourself. God sanctifies his people so
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they can bear His family resemblance.
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Children of God without blemish. And stand out in sharp,
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undeniable contrast to a warped society.
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Paul describes the surrounding society as a crooked and twisted
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generation. That language feels incredibly
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relevant right now. The contrast between the pure
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church and the warped society is supposed to be stark.
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Our source material brings up a very specific cultural
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application here that we need to address carefully.
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The author explicitly rejects modern liberal theology and
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brings up modern cultural debates.
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Specifically, the text points out frameworks like Critical
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Race Theory. The author argues that these
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frameworks actually fuel the forbidden disputing and
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grumbling that Paul is condemning.
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Because, in the author's view, they foster a spirit of
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division, constant grievance and outrage.
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And we must state clearly to you right now that we are neutrally
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reporting the author's viewpoint from the provided text.
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As hosts, we are maintaining strict political impartiality.
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We are not taking a side on the cultural or political merits of
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those movements, neither endorsing nor rejecting them.
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We are simply explaining the author's theological argument as
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it appears in our notes. The author's position is that
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true reformed piety finds its strength not in modern social
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justice agendas or political outrage.
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But in the reconciliation of the Sinner to God through the blood
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of Christ, which then produces a quiet, blameless and unified
25:15
life. The broader theological point
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the author's making, regardless of this specific political
25:20
example, is about contrast. The Church is not supposed to
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mimic the crookedness, the anger or the constant grievance of the
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culture. We are called to radical
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unlikeness. So what does this all mean for
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the modern church landscape? We have an entire industry built
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around church growth strategies. So much of the modern seeker
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sensitive movement is built on the premise that if we just look
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a little more like the culture, if we sound a little more like
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the culture. If we adopt their entertainment
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models, their corporate leadership strategies and their
25:49
metrics for success, we will be able to win them over.
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We try to be relevant by blending in.
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The text completely inverts that pragmatic strategy.
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The goal of the church is not to blend in.
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You do not shine by painting yourself the same color as the
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dark sky. The effectiveness of our witness
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is found in our unlikeness to the world.
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In an age characterized by absolute entitlement and chronic
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complaining, a Christian who suffers setbacks without
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grumbling is a shocking anomaly. People will stop and stare.
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In an age of performative outrage and constant online
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disputing, a church that handles internal disagreements with
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supernatural peace, patience and humility becomes a blinding
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light. That is incredibly convicting.
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Our lack of outrage is actually our best apologetic.
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Our contentment in the face of suffering is our greatest
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evangelistic tool. This raises an important
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question regarding the diagnostic application of this
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text. How do we take this massive
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theological framework, this high view of God's sovereignty, and
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apply it to our actual messy lives?
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In reformed theology, we often talk about applying truth to the
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head, the heart and the hands. Let us break that down for the
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listener, For the head, we need a sound, robust understanding of
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sanctification. We need to believe
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intellectually that our effort does not earn our salvation.
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But it is the necessary, inevitable fruit of our union
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with the living Christ. We are justified by faith alone,
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but the faith that justifies is never alone, It always produces
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works. We need to get our theology
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straight before we can live it out.
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For the heart we must cultivate that fear and trembling.
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We need a soul stirring vision of God's holiness that produces
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deep, overwhelming gratitude for His sovereign indwelling.
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We need to feel a holy jealousy for the honor of Christ.
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We need our affections stirred so that we actually hate the sin
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we are fighting. And for the hands, we need
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meticulous obedience. This requires the brutal
27:46
mortification of our sins, particularly the sins of the
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tongue. We have to stop the complaining
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and the arguing. We have to actively choose
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different words. This is what the reformers
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called the third use of the law. I think we should clarify the
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uses of the law for those who might not be familiar with that
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historical terminology. Absolutely.
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The first use of the law is civil.
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It is meant to restrain evil in society through the threat of
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punishment. It keeps the world from
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descending into absolute chaos. The second use of the law is
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pedagogical. It acts like a mirror, showing
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us our sin, proving we cannot keep God's standard.
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And thereby driving us to Christ for salvation.
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But the third use of the law is for the believer.
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Once you are saved, once you are justified and secure, the moral
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law functions as a guide. It shows you how to live a life
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of grateful obedience that pleases the Father.
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Is the family rules for the household of God?
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If we connect this to the bigger picture of our internal
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struggles, we have to identify what is blocking us from
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following that guide. What specific idols in our
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modern hearts does this passage confront and smash?
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The source notes identify 2 primary idols.
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The first is the idol of self sovereignty.
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Self sovereignty. That is the delusion that I am
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the captain of my own soul, the master of my own spiritual
29:04
progress, and the author of my own success. 100% when things go
29:09
well spiritually, when we have a good week of reading our Bibles
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and avoiding overt sin. Self sovereignty leads to pride.
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We pat ourselves on the back and look down on others.
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When things go poorly and we fall back into old habits, it
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leads to crushing, paralyzing despair.
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Because we think our salvation depends entirely on our own
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resolve. Philippians chapter 2 replaces
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that idol with a robust dependence on the good pleasure
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of God who is working within us. And the second idol, the text
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conference, is the idol of Comfort.
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Comfort is the root soil of all grumbling.
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We grumble because we believe deep down in our bones that we
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are entitled to an easy, friction free life.
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We think we deserve a smooth path, but Paul points out that
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our purpose in this crooked and twisted generation is not our
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own ease. Our purpose is to shine as
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lights for the glory of Christ, and that often requires enduring
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friction. Let us run this through some
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real world scenarios from the material.
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Imagine a mother at home. It is 3:00 in the afternoon.
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The toddler is screaming because he refused his nap.
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The washing machine just broke and flooded the laundry room.
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And she has slept maybe 4 hours a night for the past week.
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The idol of comfort demands that she grumbles against her
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circumstances. It tells her she is a victim.
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It tells her to lash out at her kids or harbor bitter resentment
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toward her husband, who is at work.
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But if she attacks that idol and relies on the energy God is
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actively supplying within her, she can care for her family
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without murmuring. She can clean up the water and
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comfort the toddler with grace. Her mundane kitchen becomes a
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glorious theater to display the patient character of Christ.
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Or consider an employee dealing with a genuinely unjust,
30:46
frustrating boss. The cultural norm, the expected
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behavior, is to dispute. It is expected that you will
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gossip in the break room, form factions, complain on social
30:55
media and foster a spirit of subtle rebellion.
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But the belief is called to work diligently without grumbling,
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recognizing that God has sovereignly placed them in that
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specific difficult cubicle to be a light.
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Their quiet diligence becomes a massive testimony.
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Or think about a church officer, an elder or a Deacon facing a
31:15
bitter division within the congregation over a secondary
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issue. It is so easy to fall into
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fleshly disputing matching anger with anger.
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Defending your turf and trying to win the argument at all
31:26
costs. That they are called to lead by
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sample demonstrating a spirit that is blameless, patient, and
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free from the corals that fracture the body of Christ.
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In everyone of these scenarios, for the kitchen to the cubicle
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to the boardroom, the believers lack of grumbling is a loud,
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undeniable proof that they bow to a different king.
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As we bring this deep dive toward its conclusion, we have
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to look to Christ. Every imperative in Scripture
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must, at the core, rest on the indicative of the gospel.
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Every command is built on what Jesus has already done.
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We have spent a lot of time today talking about human labor,
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about cultivating the field, about working at our salvation
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with fear and trembling. But we must fix our gaze
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entirely upon the person and work of the Lord Jesus.
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Jesus is the ultimate blameless and innocent Son of God.
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When the terrifying cup of divine wrath was placed into his
32:14
hands in the Garden of Gethsemane, he sweat drops of
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blood. But he did not murmur against
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the Father's Providence. When he was mocked, beaten and
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spit upon, he did not dispute with his captors.
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He went as a sheep to the slaughter, silent, resolute and
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perfectly obedient. Our standing before God rests
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completely on His act of obedience.
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He fulfilled the law perfectly in our place.
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He never grumbled. He never disputed.
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And our daily strength to obey our daily wind in the sails,
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flows entirely from his risen, indestructible life.
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We can work out our salvation only because he cried.
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It is finished on the cross. If you are an unbeliever
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listening to this, the message is clear.
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Do not try to work out a salvation you do not yet
32:56
possess. Do not try to cultivate a field
32:58
you do not own. You must first repent and
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believe in Christ so that He may forgive you and begin His saving
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work within you. But to the believer, this text
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offers immense, unshakable comfort.
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The God who sovereignly works in you to desire holiness is the
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very same God who will confirm you to the end, presenting you
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blameless on the day of Jesus Christ I.
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Want to leave you with one final thought to ponder as you go
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about your week. It builds on the brilliant
33:25
imagery we found in the source material.
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We noted that the Greek word for lights refers to the stars in
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the night sky. Think about how stars actually
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work from our perspective here on Earth.
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You cannot see the stars at high noon.
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The sun is too bright. The atmosphere obscures them.
33:41
Stars only become visible. They only become useful for
33:44
navigation and beauty when the sky turns pitch black.
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The contrast is what makes the light visible.
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Without the dark background, the star is hidden.
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Right. So if you look around at our
33:54
culture today and you see the increasing hostility, the moral
33:57
twisting, the darkness creeping into to every institution.
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Your natural fleshly reaction is going to be fear or outrage or
34:05
grumbling. You will want to complain about
34:07
how bad things are getting. But what if the increasing
34:09
blackness of our cultural sky is not a threat to the church?
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What if this dark sky is the precise, necessary condition
34:17
required for the church to finally shine with its greatest,
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most brilliant witness? The darker the night, the
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brighter the stars. The crookedness of the
34:26
generation is the canvas for the purity of the Saints.
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So take a deep breath. Inhale the sovereign,
34:32
efficacious grace of God who is working in you for His good
34:35
pleasure. And then step out into your week
34:38
and exhale. Work out your salvation with
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reverence. Put away the complaining, Put
34:42
away the arguing. Go out and shine.
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Thank you for joining us on Reformed Thinking.
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We will see you on the next deep dive.