Sermon Tone Analysis

*God promises that you will work out your salvation* \\ \\ *Philippians 2:12-16Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.Do everything without complaining or arguing,so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universeas you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.*

\\ \\ *What does it mean when Paul says we are to work out our salvation?

Does this mean we can lose it?

Is it not free after all?

Rest assured that it does not mean we can lose our salvation or that it’s not free.

Our salvation was freely given to us, but many seem to look at their salvation as though it is like a free ticket to heaven.

They get their ticket, put it in safe place where it sits until the day they die when they figure they will get it out and use it.

That is not how it works however.*

\\ \\ *Over the years I’ve given my children many gifts.

Some of the gifts were things like Lego’s.

When they got the lego’s, they didn’t empty out the box and sit and look at them, expecting the lego’s to jump into place on their own.

They spent hours buildiing all kinds of great things with their legos.

The legos were free, but they required work in order for them to be of any use at all.

This is very similar to what our salvation is like.*

\\ \\ *When we become saved, the Lord gives us a new spirit and we become a new creation.

We die to our old self and now have the “new self”.

The question then is what are we going to do with that “new self”, that new creation?

For many the answer is, nothing at all.

They seem to think that their new self should just automatically be able to know everything and do everything needed.

They wonder why their life hasn’t changed much.

They probably go to church every Sunday and think that is all that God ever expects from them.

So when things get tough, they may even fall away because God didn’t work for them.

They fail to realize that the legos aren’t going to jump into position and make themselves into new and greater creations.

They fail to realize that they must work out their salvation, just as the child has to pick up the individual legos and connect them together and keep at it until his creation is complete.*

\\ \\ *While our salvation is assured from the moment we’re saved, we cannot partake or experience all the great things that the Lord has in store for us if we are not doing our part.

The passage above gives us some clues as to what “our part” is in this.

The very first one that tends to catch our eye is the world “obeyed”.

Paul reminds them that just as they always have, they must continue to obey God.

We are told that we are to put into practise in our daily lives the things God shows us and works in us.

We are to cultivate and grow the things He gives us and works in us.

We need to be reading His Word and reflecting on it daily as this is the food and drink that will cause us to grow.

When Paul says we are to do this as we hold out the word of life, He means that as we grow we are to share our testimony and His Word with others and tell them how they too can be saved.

* \\ \\ *Our salvation then is secure, but it is also something which we need to work on.

I like to think of it as a seedling that’s been planted.

We need to water it, feed it, nurture it, and protect it so that it will grow.

When we do that, then we are like shining stars in a dark world.

What a wonderful way to think of how the light of Christ shines through us to reach others!

Throughout this week we’ll continue to look at how God expects us to work out our salvation, what our part in this is; what happens when we do this, as well as what happens to those who don’t do this.*

\\ \\ \\ *Romans 13:11-12 And do this, understanding the present time.

The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.

So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.*

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*This week’s promise: God promises that you will work out your salvation* \\ \\ *Philippians 3:10-16 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.

And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.Only let us live up to what we have already attained.*

\\ \\ *Paul makes several important points in the above passage that are helpful to us who are working out our salvation.

I have posted a little “extra” here simply so we’ll be reading it in context.

He starts out saying what all who are saved feel that he wants to really know Jesus closely and personally, through experience and not just “head knowledge”.

He wants to know the power of His resurrection, which now dwells in us, sharing in His suffering and becoming more and more like Him in all ways.

The text reads “becoming like him in his death”, but Paul isn’t saying that he wants to die like Christ did.

The words “becoming like him” translate to mean “being transformed inwardly in one’s experience to something”.

As Jesus died /for/ sin, believers are to die /to/ sin.

We are to daily cut ourselves off from our old sinful ways, setting ourselves apart from them, and live our new lives by the power of Christ’s resurrection.

This then is a very good description of what our “work” is and of how we are to “work out our salvation”.

* \\ \\ *Paul says He wants this and hopes that he will somehow be able to attain the resurrection from the dead.

What he is actually referring to here is the rapture!

Paul was hoping that he would still be alive when the rapture happened, and who can blame him?

I think just about every believer ever born has hoped for that.

I know I certainly do!* \\ \\ *Basically in the above passage, Paul is listing his goals and ambitions, in the hope that others would understand better what the Lord was asking of them, and would imitate him.

Knowing that many believers put him up on some kind of pedestal, Paul also lets them know that he hasn’t attained his goals yet, but is instead steadily working toward them which is exactly what we are supposed to be doing.

He didn’t want people to read his words and think that it was all good and well for Paul to do these things because he was special or had more power or something.

He was telling them that he was no different then anyone else, and that all should be working toward these goals.*

\\ \\ *Once he’s sure that we understand that we are all to work toward these things, he then tells us how to work toward them.

First he says that he forgets what is past.

This is no easy matter as most of us know.

Satan is often bringing up our past to us and telling us how awful we are because of it.

Paul is telling us that if we are going to be effective that we must not allow ourselves to get entangled with our pasts again.

All of that is behind us; it’s over and done with and we’ve already been forgiven for it so there is no reason at all to be going over it in our minds any longer.

Instead he says that we are to strain toward what is ahead for us, press on toward our goal.

What is our goal?

What is God’s goal for us?

(they should be one and the same thing) Our goal, just as Paul said his goal was, is to be transformed so that we are becoming more and more like Jesus every day.

* \\ \\ *2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.*

\\ \\ *The Lord works this transformation in us as we work toward it by studying His Word, praying, and constantly cutting ourselves off from our old sinful ways, the ways of the world and living by the spirit in God’s Ways.

The last thing Paul says is that all who are mature in Christ should have this viewpoint.

This then is a mark of spiritual maturity and yet anther way we can tell if someone is still a baby Christian or if they are indeed working out their salvation and becoming mature as we are supposed to be doing.

Paul even puts an end to any discussion about this, basically saying that this point isn’t negotiable and if they think differently that the Lord Himself would show them the truth of what he’s said.

His last point is that if nothing else we should at the very least live up to what we have already attained.*

\\ \\ *What is it that we have “already attained”?

Even a brand new baby Christian has attained salvation and knows the Truth that Jesus is the only way, the truth and the life, and that they are a new creation and heaven bound.

So even brand new Christians should at the very least be continuing on the narrow path of salvation, holding onto what they’ve already learned, applying it to their daily lives and always striving to learn more.

Tomorrow we’ll take a look at what Paul says next.

For today though let us all strive to press onward toward our goal of spiritual maturity.*

*This week’s promise: God promises that you will work out your salvation* \\ \\ *Philippians 3:17-4:1 Join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.

For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame.

Their mind is on earthly things.But our citizenship is in heaven.

And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.Therefore, my brothers, you whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, that is how you should stand firm in the Lord, dear friends!* \\ \\ *Yesterday we looked at some of the basics of working out our salvation.

Today we’ll look at how Paul ended this particular portion of advice to us.

Remember, he had just told them that if they didn’t agree with him that God would make it clear to them, so he was quite sure of what he was saying.

Of course today, knowing that this is part of God’s Word, we know that what he said is being said with the full authority of Christ behind it.

He then finished by telling them to at least live up to what they had already attained.*

\\ \\ *Today’s portion begins with Paul saying that they should follow his example, as well as the example of the others who live according to the pattern of pursuing Christlikeness he has just given them.

The next sentence comes as a bit of surprise, because Paul now tells us that the reason he wants us to live this way is because there are so many false teachers!

Even back then this was a problem!

We know that during our time this problem is even worse though simply because Jesus Himself told us it would constantly get worse until He comes to get us.

Are you wondering if I’ve jumped to a conclusion thinking that these are false teachers?

I wondered that myself so I had to do a little research.

Paul talks about these same people here:* \\ \\ *Romans 16:17-18 I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned.

Keep away from them.For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites.

By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.*

\\ \\ *This verse alone makes it clear that they were masquerading as Christians.