Stop Misreading “Fear and Trembling” in Philippians 2

So this morning I want to look at a text That applies to every believer here because it speaks to sanctification The believer's sanctification, what are some verses that come to your mind That deal with the believer's sanctification in the new testament Not positional But progressive sanctification the ongoing work of becoming more like christ And you could also look at it verses that deal with perseverance Keeping on in the race. What are some verses that come to your mind? that are like they're really top verses on sanctification on the christian progressing to the end First thessalonians four. Yeah, this for this is the will of god your sanctification that you abstain from sexual morality And some other things there that are mentioned.

That's one. What's another? Uh, what's that say? Yeah Now what about in philippians? We're gonna be in philippians what verse in philippians? Deals with your ongoing growth in christ until the end. There's there's a couple But I want to look at philippians 2 Verses 12 to 13 and I looked at this many many years ago Um, but this passage matters Especially to me because I think it can be misread I think it could be misread And when we don't understand it It's not just you get confused But you you get driven into a type of christianity that does not produce healthy growth So your understanding of philippians 2 Versus 12 to 13 is very essential Because if you don't get it, right, it will affect your growth as a christian.

You understand what i'm saying? It will affect you um In a serious way. And so let's read the text. We're going to obviously consider the context one of the most One of the most important things to understanding a verse rightly is its initial context We all know that but for the sake of just seeing the text Let's read it philippians 2 12 to 13 Therefore my beloved as you have always obeyed So now not only as in my presence But much more in my that's paul absence And then look what he calls us to do Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling For it is god who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure So i'm sure all of you have heard this verse.

You've read this verse. You've thought on this verse I don't remember the last time it's been Preached on or taught here, but this is a very important verse and we've got to understand it. I mean right when you read that The the the big question surrounds.

What does it mean to work out my salvation with fear and trembling? Paul gives an attitude a posture that you and I should have what is it? What does I mean? Fear and trembling working out my salvation. What does that mean? And so that's really what I want to consider Uh this morning so you can you and I can rightly understand this verse and it'll actually Help us and be an encouragement in our growth Not the opposite something that hinders us. So let's pray and then we're going to consider this well father lord We thank you for the vast ocean of your word Lord we pray this morning that you would open our eyes To see wondrous things out of your law we pray lord that you would help us to not just see and understand But lord give us the grace To live it out And lord, we even have right in this text.

It's very encouraging thought That it is you who work in us to will to desire And to work for your good pleasure. And so lord, we're very very grateful for such Incredible words that you supernaturally are putting desires in our hearts And pushing us on in certain directions. And so we're grateful for that And so lord, I just pray would you you help right now? Would you give us understanding? Would you give me the teacher? Clarity of speech and mind that these dear saints your sheep would be fed Lord, you've told us to feed the sheep.

And so lord, I pray you'd help me to feed these sheep Who you purchased with the precious blood of your only? begotten son We pray this in christ's name. Amen So when you hear and maybe this isn't you but when many people here When many people here work out your salvation with fear and trembling they tend to react in one of two ways One of two ways they react And ask yourself. Do you tend to hear the command is condemnation or god's loving direction for you as his child? When you hear that verse work your salvation out with fear and trembling Does that sound tough Or does it sound like wow, that is a loving that is god giving me loving direction as one of his children What comes to your mind? Some hear it immediately and they turn inward.

They they ask questions like do I feel enough fear? Um Maybe you've walked out of a sermon wondering am I am I really a real christian or not because I don't feel enough I don't have a great enough fear of god I mean the one to whom the lord looks is one who trembles at his word. Do I not tremble at his word enough? And it's true. Some of us might not tremble at his word enough Some might Say is god displeased with me if I don't have enough of this fear and trembling Well, then it depends on how do you define the fear and the trembling? Are you you're you're hearing to have fear and trembling? But if you don't define what fear and trembling are correctly you're looking in the wrong way because you have a wrong Definition on what you're trying to find Others hear it and they tone this verse down Well, if god is loving then fear and trembling it can't it really can't mean that much at all Because god is a god of love.

So Working out your salvation with fear and trembling that really doesn't mean much So those are two directions you could take this text. Those are two ditches That if you understand this verse wrongly, you could end up in one of those two ditches And you don't want to be in either of them You could turn the christian life into anxious self Examination where you never rest in christ There are people who take this verse and they would teach that you can never have assurance of salvation Because you've always got to be working out your salvation with fear and trembling Therefore they don't really believe there's a place for assurance in the christian life The book of first john would make it very clear. There is very much a place for assurance in the christian life or you could turn this verse into something where you take The christian life in a light and a casual way and you minimize and you take the edge off the text So either way we miss what paul intends.

So our goal right now is we want to understand what paul's actually saying here So it has a right effect On our lives and therefore on our sanctification that is a help not a hindrance to us So one of the first things just to think about for a minute is this Work out your salvation Why would he even tell us? To work out our salvation if our salvation is finished at the cross And I realize most of you you understand this but for those who are maybe newer To the christian life. I think it's important to mention that even though justification is once and for all and you Were saved the bible also teaches you are what you are being Saved where does it teach that? first corinthians 15 Yeah that we have not labored in vain There I mean clearly there's a progressive being saved our text right here teaches that um And then it mentions you will be saved which is glorification right being delivered from sin's presence at the end So work out your salvation paul saying bring into daily life what god is already working in you Because you already are his this is a proof that you're the lord's A refusal to work out your salvation with fear and trembling would make someone wonder whether the person's profession is really genuine or not So we realize one of the evidences that my faith is real this is a faith that continues all the way To the end you guys have experienced it enough being in a church. There are people who are among us They say they're christians.

They fall away. They abandon the faith even some people who seem to be the most promising End up being the ones who end up not being genuine Right and it and it puts a living picture to jesus's words in matthew 10 22. What does he say in matthew 10 22? He who endures to the end will be saved so there's a final salvation That a whole long list of people I know Have abandoned that pursuit and that's that that should give us ears to hear what paul is saying here About the salvation is that which needs to be worked out even though what christ has done on the cross is finished Um and and this should give us assurance this shouldn't take it This doesn't mean you can't have assurance in the christian life because you got to make it to the end So we got to be careful here.

So It's the first thing why work out your salvation the bible teaches We must persevere to the end Now the next thing I want us to look at here is we're going to try to define Some of these phrases is let's look at the flow And what does verse 12 start with Yeah, therefore My beloved as you have always obeyed Now if you can see what type of obedience have they always been obeying Up into this point or maybe I could ask it in this way What obedience in the context of chapter 2? Because the therefore is pointing in this case to what was said before What obedience is he calling them to at the start of chapter 2 these first 11 verses what obedience is he wanting these christians to have? Yeah humility And specifically that humility happens when what happens? Something goes on in their mind What goes on the mind of christ? All right, they have the mind of christ and it's pretty practical you see it in verse 3 If you have the mind of christ, he just said be in full accord of one mind you do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit that implies We all could be doing things today in selfish ambition or conceit just like this healthy church at philippians We could all fall into that but instead of being conceited and full of self. He says in humility We should count others more significant than ourselves Let each of us look not only to his own interest but also the interest of others and then he says have this mind Among yourselves, which is yours in christ jesus, and then he talks about the humiliation the humility of christ So you can't interpret work out your salvation without verses 3 to 11 It's all going together, right? It's all going together here. So when paul says just as you've always obeyed He's not talking about rule keeping the obedience paul's thinking about is an obedience of your thought life and your Imitation being that of a person who's Often looking to christ seeing the humility of christ and seeking to be like christ So this obedience here don't think rules think christ his person Our obedience should be shaped by the mind of christ.

He's not thinking about the ten commandments It's not about obeying the ten commandments It's about obeying a light that is far fuller and fall greater than the decalogue and that light is christ and his person And anytime you get around people are going to overly emphasize the law or the mosaic law and they're going to emphasize that They're getting your eyes off christ. It's not what paul is doing here in philippians 2 He's pointing us to the person of jesus christ as he talks about how you've always obeyed He's thinking about us being the people who are interested in the interest of others because we recognize that christ was interested in our interest So much that he left heaven above and humbled himself to save us So this is important to interpret what he means by work out your salvation with fear and trembling Because what what he's wanting to work out in your life and in my life It has a particular direction. He wants us to conform more to the start of Philippians 2 and what comes after verse 14 Being a people who are not a grumbling people being a people who are blameless being a people who shine as lights being a people Verse 16 who hold fast to the word of life being a people who verse 17 verse 17 is basically paul expressing Something that is very christ-like if I am poured out as a drink offering I'm glad and rejoice with you all.

I mean we should be we want to be at that place Lord, you could pour my life out unto death For these christians and i'm fine with that because that's what you have done on that cross um, so He's got a direction. He wants to work out the mind of christ in you He wants us whatever fear and trembling is get this it's going to make you have more humility Whatever it means to work your salvation out with fear and trembling paul's already shown us He wants us to have more humility. So it's gonna what however we define those terms.

It's going to have to fit With us having the mind of christ and having more humility in our lives If you define fear and trembling and it doesn't lead to that You're you're not interpreting it right in his context would be my argument Whatever fear and trembling is it should lead you to be more sensitive to count others interests more significant than your own If how you define fear and trembling He's wanting you to have fear and trembling to lead to greater obedience and the obedience is the mind of christ and looking out for the interest of others So if it doesn't lead to that you're not defining fear and trembling correctly Question of application right here. Who's the person you most resist counting more significant in your life right now? Or who's who's a person in your life you struggle the greatest to hold their interest is more significant than your own I'd remind you christ He died for his enemies So god help us to love those that we struggle to love Um So but this connection Helps us with the next phrase Paul again paul's not just saying work your salvation out Separately and then have fear and trembling, but it's all going together So fear so fear and trembling is the posture in which this christ-like obedience Is being lived out That and that kind of sounds odd to me and that's why we need to define fear and trembling Fear and trembling there's this attitude you're bringing in to seeking to live like Christ so I would say fear and trembling cannot mean you have a nervous dread that turns you inward Because the whole context of the chapter is pushing you outward and pushing you to look to jesus christ Do you know what i'm saying? The context pushes you and I to christ And i've heard this verse taught on where it totally points you to yourself it points you to How much you fear god and i'm not saying there isn't going to be an aspect of that And at the same time, yeah, this can't mean something casual. It has to mean something weighty um, so the context Matters All right.

So when we ask fear and trembling fear and trembling about what? We have to answer this in a way that matches Paul's flow that we just saw a humble servanthood that obeys And so we're going to look at this We're going to now move on to defining our terms and i'm just going to tell you what my summary A partial summary of my definition is right at the start okay So this is as we look at the usage of this phrase. This is my partial definition working out our salvation Means living out the mind of christ in the church With a holy seriousness that refuses self-reliance because god is at work in us That's going to be the aspect that I want you to see that really matters to me Is that it matters to paul is this working your salvation out fear and trembling? It's a refusing to rely on yourself and Look at verse 13 Just see this Before we actually go and study this a little more notice what he does here He says work your salvation out fear and trembling and then he gives you a reason why to have a mindset of fear and trembling And what is the why? Because it's god who works in you Well, if so, let's fill in what i'm trying to define this in part to me Work out your salvation relying upon the lord Because it is god who is the one working in you to willing to work for his good pleasure you see that fits It fits in With what he's saying here Work your salvation out with a weightiness and a seriousness of god and a distrust of yourself and a reliance upon god Because god is the one working in you So we're a lot get in a position where his work in you is not being hindered By your pride by your self-confidence by your lack of faith and trust in him so that's That's part of what I mean. I believe this text is saying I need to prove that to you Or you're going to rightly have a problem with me So to understand what paul means by fear and trembling i'm not going i'm not going to go right to the old testament Where should we go? to understand fear and trembling We've kind of already looked at the context some i've tried to make the point that however you define fear and trembling It's not disconnected from the start of chapter two And him leading us to the same obedience, which is obedience to the mind of christ, which is having humility Which the definition I just gave deals with having a humble mind But we're going to look at the same author in other places.

He says the same statements Right, where else does paul use the term fear and trembling? Yeah, first corinthians 2 is one place The first we're going to look at is just a little left in your bible ephesians 6 Let's go to ephesians 6 turn there. Why don't you see this with your own eyes? We got to look at the what where does he use the same phrase and in the context? Let's try to define his words And the reason we're not primarily just looking at usages in the old testament Because who says it's being used in the same way? in the old testament So we need to start here in the new with the same author and so ephesians 6 verse 5 verse 5 Bond servants or slaves obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling So you got the same you got a few similarities right obey As you have always obeyed philippians 2 said that And then he says work it out with fear and trembling and here obey your masters with fear and trembling Now what comes right after fear and trembling? What's the very next thing he says? With a sincere heart does that now that's interesting It's almost like he's adding he's that definition with sincerity has to Go with fear and trembling this all goes together here Which is with a sincere heart and then he says as you would obey christ And then he gives the negative gives what people do to at times Not by way of eye service as people pleasers, but as bond servants of christ doing the will of god from the heart Rendering service with a goodwill as to the lord not to man And then he goes on so right here fear and trembling Working out with fear and trembling, what is it? What how can we define fear and trembling here? It's pretty simple, right? It means you're you're I have I should have fear and trembling right now in this pulpit That there's a sincerity in what i'm sharing to you. There's a sincerity of my motives where i'm not here to please People i'm not here to get credit from you.

I'm not here self-conscious. I'm not here self-aware About what you all are thinking or all of that, right? You're being And that deals exactly with philippians 2 Christ came and he was not self-conscious self-focused self whatever and christ came and his love was fully sincere Right if anyone ever let their love be genuine as romans 12 said it was the man christ jesus who let his love be genuine So Obey your earthly master. There's a wrong way to obey your earthly masters just as there's a wrong way to obey christ If you don't have sincerity and if you're doing it to please people if you're doing it for the approval of man If you're doing it by way of eye service, which eye service just means you're only doing that if someone's looking right You wouldn't be doing it, but someone else is there seeing you do it and therefore you do it Well fear and trembling There's a seriousness Where you recognize i'm not gonna i'm gonna mess around with that i'm gonna serve with a reverent sincerity before god I don't want my obedience to be staged fake none of that.

I want it to be real um So sincerity obedience doesn't turn on and off depending on who's in the room Because the one you're seeking to serve is christ And that's interesting because that's exactly what he says in philippians 2 Obey me not only as in my presence, but much more in my what? absence So very similar ideas in ephesians 6 and philippians 2 Paul wants you and I Obeying the lord regardless of who's around with a sincere heart And working it out with having fear and trembling this definitely In context in part means awaiting us about living before the eyes of god alone All right, that's definitely part of this meaning Of fear and trembling there. It is the fear of god. It is being gripped with being in the presence of god um Should so fear and working our salvation on fear and trembling should mean a very genuine sincere obedience And then as he says and we can go back to philippians 2 And it's happening because god the spirit is working in you both the will and the work for his good pleasure So that's the first place now, let's go to second place second, uh, first corinthians 2 Let's turn in our bibles first corinthians 2 And again, we're looking at other places Paul uses the same type of language to see if there's any hints in the context about how he's using that language so we can understand What does he mean in philippians 2 when he tells us to work our salvation out with fear and trembling? First corinthians 2 1 to 5 when I came to you brothers when I came to you brothers did not Did not come proclaim me to you the testimony of god with lofty speech or wisdom For I decided to know nothing among you except jesus christ and him crucified.

You can see this is all about christ And I was with you in weakness And in fear and much trembling Huh, I was with you in weakness And In fear and much trembling much trembling Okay Paul you're telling us To work our salvation out fear and trembling Boy would be really helpful if paul would show us somewhere in the bible what it actually looks like when a man has fear and trembling Guess what? We're about to read it. Look what he says I was in weakness and much fear and trembling and look what happened to paul My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of god Isn't that interesting? a man comes in an attitude of fear and trembling And he links that to coming in an attitude of weakness and guess what came forth a demonstration of the spirit and the power of god That's very consistent with philippians 2 have this attitude this posture of fear and trembling why For it is god who works in you both to will and work for his good pleasure Doesn't this sound like god? Is it working a man right there in first corinthians 2? Absolutely. It sounds like there's a demonstration of power Why was there a demonstration of power the demonstration of power might not have happened if paul would have come in what way? strength and no humble uh trembling in fear You see if he would have come in his own power In self-confidence, there's no demonstration of the power of god But because he came in fear and trembling reverent sincerity of god not worrying about what people are going to think about him Because he came in weakness recognizing he doesn't have a power in himself And he needs god to work in the will into him for his good pleasure.

Look what happened There's a demonstration of the spirit of god And he wasn't trying to say things in a nice way my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom Right that paul says that will empty the cross of its power so Paul's point is This fear and trembling drove him away from self-reliance and it drove him to rely on the spirit's power So if your definition of fear and trembling doesn't lead to a demonstration of spirit and of power Then you don't understand what it means to come in fear and trembling And if your definition of fear and trembling isn't can't be set side by side with coming in weakness Then you're not defining fear and trembling, right? There's an awe and irreverence of my absolute inability to do anything and my absolute necessity to rely completely on god and his power So fear and trembling here is not fear that god will reject you. It's not being overly introspective. It's actually repenting of being introspective It's the opposite To be fear and trembling who are the most introspective people the people pleasers Oh, you know, how did that person read my motive when I did that? Right.

That's the I mean, that's the bond. That's the introspective person working your salvation on fear and trembling is not self-examination The great emphasis on self-examination It's a great emphasis on examining christ and then when you see christ you realize you have no power and you say lord I can't do anything. I can do all things through christ who strengthens me Then you go and you do a good work relying on the power of christ looking to christ not worried about what people think And then there's a demonstration of the power of god in your life So this fear and trembling there's a posture of weakness and dependence so that god's powers at work in your life It's interesting i'm still amazed there's videos we've put up on the internet over the years about this clip of paul washer about uh, forget the title, but basically from the fellowship conference about being weak and god's powers at work and Yeah, god's creating weakness in your life i'm amazed how many david could you see it i'm amazed how many people's comments They're saying this is totally an unbiblical idea that god doesn't do things to create weakness in your life Like even among christendom people hate that idea paul loves that idea Right one of my favorite verses that i've quoted often is second corinthians one paul is despairing of life He feels like he's received the sentence of death And you're wondering why oh lord, would you put paul through all of this and crush him and then paul says it This happened so I would no longer What? This happened so I would no longer Rely on ourselves But we would rely on god.

He raises the dead and he has delivered us and he will deliver us again on him We have set our hope So paul was crushed and god broke him of self-reliance. We need this again and again in the christian life So this is fear and trembling there's a weakness It's not a failure, but it's a right recognition of your need for the power of god, which again That's exactly what he says when he's conjunction to have this mindset because god's working in you so back to philippians 2 Back to philippians 2 So to work out your salvation with fear and trembling Clearly means you're not working it out in self-reliance Yes, yes, it means you work with a serious awareness of your weakness Yes, it means you're refusing to lean on yourself we've seen that from paul Yes, it means you're consciously depending on god because god is the one working in you So fear and trembling means you're sincere this isn't a performance. It means you're a dependent person.

You're not self-confident You understand so that i'm trying to form a definition of these terms based on paul's usages of these terms So let's go to one more second corinthians 7 second corinthians 7 This is a humble seriousness before god. It's a distrusting of self-reliance Not distrusting of god Now this one is a very interesting Usage, we're just going to look at it for a second. Second corinthians 7 15 Or let's read 14 Um, he's talking about titus for whatever boast I made to him about you The corinthians I was not put to shame the boast I made to the corinthians about titus But just as everything we said to you is true.

So also our boasting before titus is proved true And an affection for you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of you all Now listen to this How you received titus with fear and trembling? Trembling I rejoice because I have complete confidence in you Have we ever had a guest preacher here? and we Thought afterwards and he said we received them with fear and trembling I've never heard anyone talk like that Yet paul talks this way And he keeps connecting it with their obedience Right, you got you got someone a part of the apostolic team and he's bringing the teaching Are you going to hear the guy? Are you going to come with a sloppy attitude? And he's saying you received them you're ready to listen up All right, you're ready to pay attention. There was some there was some fear and trembling We're going to hear from we're going to hear from god through this person Meaning they didn't treat titus and the message lightly All right, they didn't treat it lightly. They received him with humility with seriousness.

They were teachable Uh that they had they dealt with titus as people who realized god speaks through his word And we want god to speak to us and we want god to deal with us through his word But I think you see here fear and trembling is not an anxious uncertainty about whether you're saved It's a reverent seriousness that produces willing obedience Right, just like if we received a guest preacher here and we were we said wow We received them with fear and trembling we were ready when stewart olliott came We were praying for months. What is he going to preach and then as he's preaching or pat horner at the men's retreat Pat horner had some very applicable things to say for our church at our men's retreat I mean he talked about he said very specific statements that dealt with very specific things that were going to happen months later Did we receive him with fear and trembling did we have ears to hear what pat was saying and articulating Right or were we there sleeping in our chair Um, so there is that that's part of what this fear and tremble there is a there is a sobriety a seriousness All right now back to philippians 2 we'll kind of wrap some of this up So what is what does fear and trembling mean? And we'll read the verse again Therefore my beloved as you have always obeyed So now not only is in my presence, but much more my absence work out your own salvation with fear and trembling much more my absence Isn't that something paul felt like he needed to say that You know paul's just acknowledging the reality We can kind of be motivated to do stuff when others are around He's not he's not saying that's a horrible thing He's just acknowledging that's reality Part of fear and trembling. It's just me and god What am I going to do with me and the lord? Just talking to brother before the sermon about Being in a situation where it was controversial.

He could say something evangelistically right and Imagine it's just you and that person. Do you say something evangelistically or do you not? If you got 10 other christians in the room, it's a lot easier to obey and do Say something, right? um All right, where am I at? Oh, we're reading the verse and I pause but much more in my absence Work out your own salvation, right? We are in the process Of making it to the end and we should have an attitude. What is that attitude? Work it out with fear and trembling And so that's what i've been trying to define and as I already showed you the very next statement Is have this attitude because god is the one giving you the desires And the one working in you to willing to work for his good pleasure.

So what attitude? Is going to gel perfectly with a god who's working in his people And i've tried to say part of that attitude is as a people who are very much listening and they're taking very serious The word of god and part of that attitude is a people who come in weakness realizing They don't have the ability to live out the christian life And that posture of humility, which is what he's already called us to throughout the whole chapter two of philippians Is having a humble mindset Is vital For god to work in us to willing to work for his good pleasure So this what what is fear and truth is a serious humble reverent posture of obedience Because you're living before god and this god you totally depend on him to work in you Apart from me you can do nothing Right. This is consistent with john 15 So this is not a panic, but it's an all this isn't performance focused, but it's about be sincere This isn't about self-reliance and pick yourself up in your own power But it's about total dependence on god and this isn't about having a casual spirit when you receive titus But it's about receiving him with a spirit of fear and trembling and having a teachable obedience to hear something and live it out And so verse 12 is laying out our human responsibility There is a call for you and I to work out our salvation But verse 13 gives the grounds and the reason for us to work it out and this because god is working in us So we've got to hold all of this together And so this just simply needs to be plainly said fear and trembling is not a I don't this is not a fear That god's going to reject you because you can't produce a certain feeling Fear and trembling in this text is not you over analyzing. How much do I fear god this week? Yes, it is you asking When I read his word when I hear his word right now as james is talking right now Does this have any seriousness in my heart in my life? And if you're hearing the things that i'm sharing and there's no sense of well this matters to me You don't have fear and trembling You're not receiving titus with fear and trembling right This fear and trembling is a fear of treating god lightly While he is actively at work in you So when we hear paul say work out your salvation with fear and trembling this is one way we could say it And it's kind of repetitive but just trying to make it clear what I how I presently understand this statement Work out your salvation with a serious humble obedience before god not for people Distrusting yourself and depending on his strength It means receiving his word with a teachable heart Which would lead you to be a people who stay watchful in prayer And you're doing all of this Under the grounds under the reality that you know.

God is the one working in you to willing to work for his good pleasure Right. This is all the lord because what happens when a man tries to get holiness and self-reliance trusting his own strength his own Wisdom his own resolve what happens? What's the first thing that happens when he does that what does he look like initially though it looks really good Most often it looks really good The self-reliant guy the person or woman or whoever kid girl child relying on themselves initially it looks like a rocket took off But then what happens? It explodes and it falls to the ground and the slower rocket is the one that ultimately makes it into orbit But when a man feels the weight of the work when he stops trusting himself when he comes in weakness like paul who said when? I am weak Then I am strong When you have that attitude That's that's a right fear and trembling before god. It's not relying on myself It's recognizing my need for the power of god has taken his word seriously.

It's receiving his word with fear and trembling One brother puts it in this way this is Lightly revised but henry ward beecher. He says this What paul means by fear and trembling is the opposite of pride The opposite of being too sure of yourself or simply not caring When a man thinks he's already fine and has nothing to be concerned about god warns him Do you see a man who's wise in his own eyes? There's more hope for a fool than that man But when a man sees how much he lacks When he feels how serious the work is When he knows he must be taught of god then he has what the passage calls fear and trembling It is a clear-eyed carefulness It's a focused seriousness And it includes this a holy concern that we would not lean too much on ourselves And that we would not lean too little on god So if you're leaning too much on yourselves, i'd say you don't have fear and trembling Right And that would mean you're leaning too little on god So that's that's how I define the point that's how that henry beecher defines the point This this phrase consistently means a humble seriousness that leads to sincere obedience and reliance on god The fear leads to humility before god not uncertainty about god I think if a lot of people their idea of fear of god, it leads them to feel uncertain about god and his view of them That's not at all what paul is talking about I know it's I have a different view on philippians 1 6, but if you take the normal view I'm sure this he began a good work and you will bring it to completion the day of christ. Jesus I mean, however, you take that paul is confident That that verse is talking about I'm sure of this.

I mean he's certain about these people that whatever god is doing in them It's going to make it to the end And so this is this is a verse that should give you assurance Some think of this some lack assurance because they don't have enough fear and trembling Defined according to the way paul defines it You don't have enough reliance on god enough seriousness about his promises about your love for you See sometimes we think about well I need to have a seriousness about about certain verses in the bible and we tend to think we need to take what verse is more serious verses that deal with hell Right or the wrath of god. I would challenge you What if some of your problems you're not taking serious enough verses in the bible to talk about god's what for you? his love Right, you're failing to take those in a serious way Don't just approach with fear and trembling the verses on the wrath and judgment of god approach with Serious fear and trembling the verses on god's love for you christian And that's going to lead again to assurance it's going to lead to the fact I can rely on this god And then he's at work in you And stuff happens in your life because you've given up on trying to do it on your own power so See again the whole flow in this passage Verse 12 began Begun with therefore paul is drawing a conclusion Because the humiliation and the exaltation of christ his deep humility is costly obedience god's exaltation of him That's not a passage about doubt and mistrust or spiritual panic. It's a passage about certainty And so fear and trembling it fits right into that context It's you saying i'm not playing games.

I'm going to follow a crucified lord I'm going to look out for the interests of others obedience is serious and i'm weak so i'm not going to trust in myself I'm going to lean completely on the lord And that's just like paul saying he had to learn not to rely on himself, but on god But where does your obedience drift into eye service? Is when it does you need more of the seriousness of living before god alone and not worried about people Paul does not say work out your salvation because you're on your own He's saying work it out because you've got god working in you. I mean that is absolutely an incredible Reality and that four there gives us the reasons it gives us the grounds god's work in you God is at work in you. Therefore you work out What he's already working in your life So don't let's not miss verse 13 For it is god who works in you both to will And that word can be the word desire Desire God who works in you both to desire and to work for his good Pleasure, so god's not only giving you the strength think about this think of this this hit me a few years ago You don't miss this You're just living your life That that sounds cheap You're not just living your life.

You're seeking first the kingdom the lost people just live their lives I mean one way we are just living our lives with our new regenerate hearts Right think have you ever had a desire to do something righteous just come upon your heart? Yeah, if you're a christian you've had that happen do you ever think why did that even happen Or have you ever connected that with this text I mean here I am going along and I all of a sudden I become I have this desire to do some good for some christian You should have this text come to your mind. You should step back and say Did god just work to will In my heart for his good pleasure Where did this desire even come from? I didn't it wasn't me. It wasn't my devil wasn't my flesh My flesh is saying lay down and take a nap Did you ever find righteous desires rising up new wantings for prayer purity humility Obedience that is the lord.

That's exactly what he said. God is working in you both To desire well, man, you know he put the desires he gave me. It's just too impossible for me to do it It's too hard.

What would your answer be to that? He doesn't just give the desire, but he works in you to work Isn't that great? God gives you the desire for the good and then he enables you to go and do do the good So guess what you and I have absolutely no excuses We should be doing all a bunch of good But what prevents that we don't have enough fear and trembling We don't have enough humble weakness and reliance on the power of god and we do things in our own strength We do things not by faith in the lord and therefore nothing gets done You see you see this is how it all connects in my mind And this is very encouraging to me As a christian it gives me assurance because I can look and say i've seen that in my life i've seen thousands of desires that god has worked in my heart and then in faith i've went i've done that even when it felt impossible to Do and god gave the grace And that's this verse being lived out and therefore you look and you say this is true in my life. I'm a christian God's working in me So I would ask you what do you do with those desires? Do you smother them Do you just kind of look at them as well, they're just good things and Look at them as god just worked in me to will and to work It's not a random spam email It's something from the ceo And it's not on a whim it was very specific God working in you that specific desire at that specific moment Are we going to do it rely on god regardless of what people think? I'm telling you self-consciousness Turns us into eye people pleasers Where we do things for eye service, we'll avoid obedience because we're just managing Our impression. How am I? How do I how do I appear to people? But paul says to you and I right here obey much more in my absence Obey when no one sees Obey when people misunderstand like I looked at two weeks ago a woman breaking This alabaster box and pouring all this wealth upon the lord.

Jesus christ. She was very much misunderstood So if fear and trembling has turned you into someone who's anxious and full of self-examination without christ you do not understand this verse You're missing it Paul means to drive you off of self-reliance and onto god And so the point is not live in doubt. The point is put away your pride your self-reliance obey sincerely listen seriously to the lord Yes fear god, but that fear of god should lead you to be dependent on god It should lead you to be teachable when we receive a guest preacher with fear and trembling um And you should do all this knowing god's the one working in me.

He's not left me on my own He's going to put in me righteous desires when he puts those righteous desires in me He's going to work in me to actually do it and that's very consistent with the new covenant promises in ezekiel 36 Right. He says I I will take out that heart of stone. I will give you heart of flesh I will cleanse you from all of your idols and the was he say I will cause you To walk and obey my statutes Same thing here God is working in you to will and do work for his good pleasure Maybe the last thought for his what? Good pleasure Huh? You mean we can bring god pleasure? God takes pleasure We want to please people you can give god pleasure today When he puts that righteous desire in your heart Rather than oh, yeah, I can't Obey it Look to him for power And strength and god's gets pleasure That's amazing.

We can bring the lord pleasure And you know, I mean why we have a couple minutes want to add one more application If you're doing all this you should not be a grumbling person verse 14 And you're going to be blameless Wow And this all deals with verse 16 holding fast to the word of christ leads to much joy And then he yeah, we've hit on this before you keep reading. What's he deal with next he deals with an example timothy Who's genuinely concerned for your welfare as we've pointed out. She makes the sad statement verse 21 For they all seek their own interests not those of christ, but you know timothy He's approved.

He has proven word. How is the son with the father? He has served with me in the gospel And so there you go Paul's saying a lot of guys are just eye pleasers Timothy he was the real deal All right. Let's pray Father lord, we want to be the real deal Lord we want you to crucify The passions of our flesh that wage war against our bodies Lord, we're thankful for your son his humility Lord, I do pray you help all these dear brethren to work out their salvation with fear and trembling Lord to work out their salvation with a serious attentiveness to your word and a humble reliance upon your power And a distrust of self and a total trust in you For it is you who work in us to will and to work for your good pleasure lord.

I pray you You keep working in us to will Work in us to desire Lord even give different brethren desires in the in the days ahead Where they could just see this verse practically lived out lord that desire comes And they go and they obey it And they can do it relying on your power And they just they realize Lord, you're in my life. This isn't natural lord. We are not to be a natural people lord I pray even as we're so many are going to be around family Lord in the next week lord I pray that there would be just an evidence of the supernatural power at work in our lives That can only be explained by you the living god Lord we do not want to trust in ourselves.

We want to rely on you Help us lord to rely upon you Lord, we thank you. You're a good god. You're faithful.

You love us. We love you help us to love you more in christ's name amen All right. Well, we're dismissed and we'll start back up around 11 20 You