Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Read

philippians 2:12-

Obedience

Pray

Pray

Obey as you have always obeyed, working 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.

Growing up in Faith

I used Christianity for my own life and will, but never really tried his way

I went to ChurchObedience

I think too often we take scripture that we read, and apply it to our own plans and our own goals in life, never first considering WHO IS PAUL TALKING TO, AND WHY!?

Obedience

Obedience

I wanted to promises of God, but I hadn’t yet understood taht it

There

Obey as you have always obeyed, working 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.

Workout our Salvation in Fear and Trembling

In this opening passage, it shows the importance of both our own roll in the Christian life, as well as the roll of God.

It shows both the supernatural power of God in our lives, as well as the importance that we give God the ability to work.

God will never override our free will.

Obedience to him and his call will always be on our shoulders, but once we decide to let him work, the unspeakable Joy that Pauls expresses all throughout scripture is given to us.

The promise of an “Abundant Life” that I believe Paul clearly lived, is offered to us.

Peace amidst suffering, purpose, peace, love..

The things that all christians desire can be part of who we are, but only if we yield the the salvation process that Christ started in us.

Paul has more stories than we could ever dream of, yet expresses Happiness throughout all of his books.

It is not just simply accepting that we believe in Jesus that brings about the Joy that doesn’t make sense, it’s about living the life that he’s called us into!

Obey as you have always obeyed, working 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.

The powerful contrast both between our responsibility to Obey, and God working in us.

So what Paul is saying here, is that through Obedience, we should work out the completion of our Salvation.

but wait?? Aren’t we saved once and for all?

YES! but clearly

Sōzō often means to deliver from danger (such as drowning; e.g., Matt 8:25), to heal an illness (e.g., Matt 9:21), to free from an evil spirit (e.g., Luke 8:36), or to save from sins (e.g., Matt 1:21)

The part of this verse that we have to focus on, is obeying…

Our Responsibility and Gods responsibility

Recent years, and falling short.

It made me want to run from it all…..

I CAN”T DO THIS The things in life, that give me the most joy and happiness, I’m not finding in constantly falling short in Christianity.. Currently

Will we obey, letting God transform our lives so we can live the abundant life Christ promises us?

Daily struggle, not to look at whether or not I’m doing the things that a “leader” in the church is supposed to do..

Transformation is not automatic, we have a part to play, and that part in this verse is to Obey and workout our salvation.

We are not robots

Why don’t we Obey?

The World: I obey therefore I am accepted

Growing up with Legalistic Parents

Football Games

Zits

Obeying for me was about justification, it was about making sure that I was going to make it into heaven one day.

I was making sure I was good in the eyes of God

Rejecting the call in the back of my mind, or in my heart, because I never felt good enough to live for him

My acceptance, depended on my ability to Obey..

We continue to live by, as well as hold others to this standard..

We use this backwards model of obedience both in how we hold people accountable, as well as how we measure up with God.

Luke 10:29-

Jesus is telling them, in the most offensive of ways, that the people who you don’t think look right on the outside, who you don’t believe obey all of the rules like you do, actually may Love me with all of their minds…

Homeless Person

How many times have you drove by a homeless person, and immediately you think: “If person would obey the rules after I give them money, then I would help them out”?

We don’t believe

Relationships

I would honor my wife more, if she wou

How often do we hold those close to us to a standards, that we ourselves are unable to live up to?

Husbands and Wives..

Friends

Our love so often than not, is based on their obedience and actions.

Our relationship to God..

We know we are called to a bigger purpose, but we continue to disqualify ourselves because of our lack of obedience.

I yell at my wife, beat myself up, and feel further from God.

I don’t pray enough, so I feel inadequate.

I don’t know enough about the bible.

Right, but the bible says to Obey.. Clearly.. Let’s read it one more time..

The Gospel: I’m accepted therefore I obey

Obedience comes out of a response to his love for us.

We believe that HIS HOLY WAYS are higher than our ways…

We have to trust

Jesus did what we could not do, and lived a perfect life, and gave himself up, BECAUSE WE were INCAPABLE OF OBEYING!

Establishing this truth is the most important thing, in living out our Christian life..

We have to stop disqualifying ourselves every time we don’t live up, or else we are counting the Cross as accomplishing nothing..

Those who are forgiven much, love mucE

MORE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

MORE FORGIVENESS

MORE TIME!

MORE RELATIONSHIP!

These are the things we need in order to Obey, so he can work in us..

An accepted life, is a repentant life..

You will continue to not measure up, but accepting the unconditional love of Christ means that you are real about who you really are, and when you mess up.

Living a repentant life, acknowledging where God is still working in you, allows you to see others through that same lens..

Suddenly when I walk down the road and see the dirty homeless person, I’m not asking if he/she has obeyed or is going to obey, in fact I know they most certainly have not, because they are just like me..

I move with compassion, and I give them something to eat.

The more the Gospel works in and on us like the, the more we begin to Obey the commands that Christ has given to us.

“I think all Christians would agree with me if I said that though Christianity seems at first to be all about morality, all about duties and rules and guilt and virtue, yet it leads you on, out of all that, into something beyond.

One has a glimpse of a country where they do not talk of those things, except perhaps as a joke.

Everyone there is filled full with what we should call goodness as a mirror is filled with light.

But they do not call it goodness.

They do not call it anything.

They are not thinking of it.

They are too busy looking at the source from which it comes.”

― C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Our goodness is not in us, it’s in Christ alone the author of all Goodness..