This
morning I continued looking at how these two puzzle-pieces come together to
broaden the picture of what it means for us to join God in the work he is doing
in our lives and churches.
|
Philippians
2:12-13
|
Philippians
1:27-28
|
|
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always
obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, 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.
|
Only let your manner of life be worthy of
the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may
hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving
side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by
your opponents.
|
As
Paul elaborates on how our “manner of
life” must “be worthy of the gospel
of Christ,” the characteristic he wants to hear of the Philippian
Christians is “that you are standing firm
in one spirit.” Since the gospel of Christ has made “in himself one new man in place of the two,”[1]the Christians were to think of themselves as “one” body of believers. They were to have the mindset that they
were a “new man” who replaced “the two” divided groups of Jews and
Gentiles.
If
the church correctly understands that we are a “new man,” we will accept that all the old things no longer apply.
If we understand that we are “one”
new man, we will appreciate the togetherness that belongs in the church, no
matter how many churches exist. If we understand that this “one new man” replaces “the
two” groups that had historically despised each other, we can appreciate
that none of the things we bring from being Jew, or being Gentile, can be added
to the church. If we understand that Jesus made this one new man “in himself,” we will look to him for everything
it means to be this one new man. Instead of living like Jews, or like Gentiles,
we must “try to discern what is pleasing
to the Lord.”[2]
Since
the church is one new man, living worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ requires
that we “are standing firm in one
spirit.”[3]There is “one spirit” because
we are this one new man, and we are “standing
firm” in this one spirit because we are now in Christ, not in the world.
Once
again we are confronted with the corporate togetherness and belonging of the
church. We can only think of living worthy of the gospel as this one new man.
Every individual must have a mind for how they fit in to this one body of
Christ. As soon as we think that, just because we are in a different group from
other Christians, that Jesus is making a whole bunch of autonomous churches
that are free to decide their own doctrinal and practical distinctives, we are
losing both the “one spirit” that
belongs in Jesus’ one new man, and the “standing
firm” that can only happen when we are standing together.
Elaborating
on this in a positive statement, Paul continues, “with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel.”[4]This is a beautiful counterpart to the “one spirit” of the “one new
man.” The “one new man” of Jesus’
church is to live worthy of the gospel of Christ and, to do this, must stand
firm in “one spirit,” and must have “one mind.”
The
only way that the church of a city can have “one
spirit,” and “one mind,” is if we
see all of us as the “one new man”
that Jesus has made “in himself” through
“the gospel of Christ.” As soon as we
start thinking that we are free to do things our own way, or to ignore the
teachings of Scripture about how to deal with differences, or how to know the
over-riding characteristics of the church, we lose what it means to be the one
new man created by Jesus Christ.
Since
the church is to live worthy of “the
gospel of Christ,” everything we do is “for
the faith of the gospel.” The good news that is proclaimed throughout the
world is that, by faith in Jesus Christ we are born again, adopted into the
household of God, brought out of our sin, led out of our heritage, and into
this one new man that is the church. It is by faith from first to last.
With
this in mind, that we are constantly aiming to live worthy of the gospel of
Christ, and that this puts us in a battle for “the faith of the gospel,” our identity as the “one new man” Jesus has created in himself means that the only way
we can live is “side by side.” Even
though the Philippians were in a different city than the other churches, they
were still part of the one new man. Their identify came from the work of
Christ. They did not have a distinctive calling from one group to another. They
were one new man; they had one spirit they were to stand firm in; they had one
mind directing this one new man in how to strive side by side for the faith of
the gospel that brings people into this one new man. Everything is about being
one in Jesus Christ, and so striving side by side was necessary to living
worthy of the gospel.
While
the positive way of stating what it looked like to stand firm in one spirit was
that, “with one mind striving side by
side for the faith of the gospel,” there was also the problem of dealing
with “opponents.” The church was not
only dealing with whether Paul was with them or absent, but that there were
always going to be plenty of opponents no matter whether there were apostles
there to help them, or they had to carry on without apostolic leadership.
The
way the church is to face such things is by having that over-all way of life
that is “worthy of the gospel of Christ,”
applying this by “standing firm in one
spirit,” and, “with one mind striving
side by side for the faith of the gospel.” Doing that, they would not be “frightened in anything by your opponents.”
The
question now is, how does this help the church to work out our salvation with
fear and trembling because God is working in us to will and to work for his
good pleasure?
Everything
God works in us to will and to work will be the things that lead us to live
worthy of the gospel. Since living worthy of the gospel includes “standing firm in one spirit” as the “one new man” Jesus has created in
himself, we can expect God to give us the will to stand firm with other
believers in our community, not just those in our distinct gathering.
As
our standing firm in one spirit unites believers, we watch for ways that God
gives his people in our community “one
mind” that expresses the mind of Christ.[5] We anticipate that he will show us specific believers to strive
side by side with, and give us the will to unite where we may have previously
been reluctant to do so.
While
God is working in us to will and work for the unity and harmony of the one new
man, we can watch for ways God is working to give us a will that is fearless,
and to do things that we wouldn’t think of if we were “frightened” by our opponents.
Since
it is our response to God that we work out our salvation with fear and
trembling, we must watch for options that will require us to choose between
that which honors the flesh, and that which is worthy of the gospel. There will
be things we can do to stand firm with other believers in the one spirit of the
one new man, and things we can do to waste time, distract ourselves from what
is important, resist the Spirit, and occupy ourselves with things of the world.
We must sift through this options with fear and trembling, consciously choosing
those things that are worthy of the gospel, and in fellowship with the specific
ways God is working in us to will and to work the things that honor him and his
gospel.
There
is an interesting connection between these two passages because both speak of
the way we live no matter whether Paul is present or absent. He expected the
believers to live worthy of the gospel in the ways he describes because,
whether he came to them, or was absent, he wanted to hear how they were uniting
as the one new man that was created through the cross of Jesus Christ. He also
expected that the believers would be just as obedient in his absence as they
ever were in this presence, and so he used his letter to encourage them to work
out their salvation with fear and trembling because they genuinely cared that
God was working in them to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Since
there is no possibility of Paul coming to check how we are doing, our
motivation for doing what we read in these Scriptures is solely based on the
work of God in our lives through his word, through his grace, bringing about
faith that joins him in his work. We still have “the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation
through faith in Christ Jesus,”[6]so we must work out our salvation with all the wisdom that comes
from the written word of God.
© 2015 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517,
Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted,
Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English
Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good
News Publishers.)
No comments:
Post a Comment