I love it when
Scriptures come together like puzzle pieces showing a more extensive picture
than each one could reveal on its own. For a while, I have been considering how
God is working in us to will and to work for his good pleasure, and how the
church must respond to this by working out our own salvation with fear and
trembling. This morning this picture expanded as other pieces of the puzzle came
together to help me. Here are the two Scriptures.
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Philippians
2:12-13
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Philippians
3:15-16
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12 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, 13 for it is
God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
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15 “Let those of us who are mature think
this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also
to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”
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Both these Scriptures speak of something God
is doing in his church. The first tells us that God is working in us, the
second that God is revealing things to us. Together these verses show that God
works in us to reveal things to will and work for his good pleasure, and he
reveals things so we understand how to work out our salvation with fear and
trembling in keeping with whatever God is working in us to will and to work.
God’s working in us, and revealing to us, are wonderful characteristics of the
church’s relationship to God in the present age.
One
of the monumental changes that took place when Jesus moved us from the first
covenant to the new covenant in his blood,[1] is that we no longer live by the law, but by the Spirit. “But now we are released from the law,
having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of
the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.”[2] Instead of us trying to live by the rules and regulations of the
law, we are called to live by the abiding presence of God’s own Spirit. The
first covenant wearied people with what they had to do for God, while the new
covenant comforts people with the work that God has done for us.
What
Paul makes clear is that we are to see what God is still doing for us. In this
context of our relationship to the Holy Spirit, God tells us that he is working
in us, and he is revealing things to us. God is present, he is active, and he
is doing things in us that bring about things that we do, including the settling
of differences of thought in the church.
As
I consider the wonders of what it means that God works in us to will and to
work for his good pleasure, I see how this expresses something more of the
ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He is our teacher, and reminder;[3] but he is to be seen as the presence of God with us by the Spirit.
As Paul explained it, “In him you also
are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”[4]
When
Paul was calling the church to “think
this way” that he had been teaching in Philippians 3, he understood that
there would be some things that some of them would “think otherwise,” so he instructed them about what to do with that
as well. They were to “hold true to what
we have attained,” while trusting God to “reveal that also to you.”
Over
the years, I have often been saddened by the evidence of people splitting up
and dividing over differences of thought about Scripture. The common practice
is that, when we disagree we need to part ways and find churches that do agree.
What Paul shows us is that there is a relationship with God in which he is
working in us, “both to will and to work
for his good pleasure,” and this means that, even when we disagree with one
another in the meaning of Scriptures, “God
will reveal that also to you,” because of the way he is working in us.
We
should be able to look at the New Testament writings of the apostles and agree
with Paul that we “Let those of us who
are mature think this way.” No matter what we believe is the correct
interpretation of a text, we must have this over-riding belief that the things
the apostles have written are the way we are to think. When we wonder what to
do, or want to clarify the way the Spirit is working in us, we look at the
foundational writings of the apostles. As we welcome these writings as the
right way for all mature believers to think, allowing for the fact that
immature believers will find trouble-spots with Scripture that the mature do
not stumble over, we expect that God’s work in us, “both to will and to work for his good pleasure,” will show in the
way that he “will reveal that also to
you.”
When
we come to disagreements over Scripture, we are to work out our salvation with
fear and trembling because we know that God is working in us to will and to
work for his good pleasure. We are to treat disagreements as having to do with
everything about God, not ourselves. Disagreements are not about whether we get
our way, our pet doctrines are promoted, or we win debates. Everything is about
the fact that the apostles already tell us the way we should think, and we are
to treat differences as part of the work God is doing in us to will and to work
for his good pleasure.
In
other words, when we disagree, we cannot take matters into our own hands and
decide that we will fight to the death to protect our interpretation. That is
not the way God works. Rather, we are to submit to the work of God in us,
looking to what he is doing to reveal the truth to us all. We are to work out
our salvation with fear and trembling, looking at things God is doing in us to
shape Christlike character, not to give us doctrines to fight over.
So
the issue is about what God is working in us to will and to work for his good
pleasure, not about simply revealing the right interpretation of Scripture. There
is a right interpretation, but if we think of it only as God leading one side
to win the debate, we miss the point that God is working in us to be like
Jesus. Our expectation is that, while God is clearing up misunderstandings, and
teaching us truth in love, it will also bring about the Christlikeness that is
central to the work of the gospel.[5]
In
fact, when we make the connection between Paul’s teaching about God’s work in
us, and our working out of what God is working in, we can say that God is
working in us to will and to work the things Paul already mentioned.
What
are the things God is working in us to will and to work according to his good
pleasure? What would it look like for God to reveal these things to us if we
were thinking otherwise from what the apostle taught? The rest of Philippians
shows us things Paul taught in this letter that God will be working into us so that
we will and work for his good pleasure. He will also be working to reveal to us
anything about which we think otherwise, so we must expect that our own
thoughts will continually be clarified.
While today’s
journey with God included a consideration of how God works in us to will and to
work for his good pleasure in the specific area of revealing to us what we
should believe when we start out thinking “otherwise,”
the fact is that we can apply this picture to all of Scripture. No matter where
we are reading in God’s word, he is doing something to work in us to have a
will about the issues taught in those passages, and to understand how to work
in fellowship with him as any particular passage of Scripture reveals.
Because this
is the personal ministry of the Holy Spirit, we can expect to see God working
in us to have a will in regards to specific situations we are facing, and to work
out what God is working into us with fear and trembling in relation to God, not
fear of the people or circumstances before us.
And, when
churches have differences of thought about what Scripture reveals, people can
obey God’s word about staying together and living up to what we have already
attained, while expecting God to work in us to will and to work according to
his good pleasure in ways that settle how God wants us to think and act for his
glory.
Now to see how
we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling in relation to the
things God is working in us to will and to work according to his good pleasure
in the rest of the book of Philippians. It is quite an amazing picture as the
puzzle pieces fall into place.
© 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.)
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