Philippians - Joy In All Seasons
Week 13 - The Joy of Emptying

In Philippians 2:12 Paul says a line that has caused much speculation today: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” This line is in the midst of an entire letter that starts and ends elsewhere. Paul has already told us about how God’s family is meant to live with one another. Paul uses the word “therefore” to remind us that he is basing what he is saying on what he has already shared about Jesus: Phil 2:1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ—it starts with Jesus!

Do nothing from selfish ambition – Other translations use the word rivalry, as in a competition. This can look like competing in our hearts to make sure our own needs are met—not the needs of others.

Conceit: Believing we deserve better things than others.

Humility: Why do we start to count the needs of others as more significant than ourselves? Because that is what Christ did for us.

• Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus…

Think about what it means that Christ is for us. The world says you change through punishment; God says you change through grace. Paul believes God’s people, as a collective entity called the Church, are a thing of beauty even in the midst of a world that is full of ugliness. This beauty comes by living out the Gospel with one another. We are to be the beacon of hope that people see, the sign of God’s beauty in a world that has defaced it.

• …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.

Work Out – the word “work” that Paul uses is an imperative verb that means to work thoroughly at something, to take pains in laboring at it. Steven Lawson wrote, “The downward compression of Christ’s self-humiliation followed by the explosive upward vault of his super-exaltation demands our awed contemplation.” We should be amazed by how Jesus came to save us. Let us never diminish that reality by trying to think we can add to our salvation because it was/is a gift.

Salvation – this is the word Soteria.

Your own – “Your” is plural in the text, which means he is talking to the whole church in Philippi. Paul says that he is giving explicit directives as to how we must live…AS A COMMUNITY. This is not about the salvation of individual believers, but the working out of our salvation within the Church, the body of Christ. The application of this text is corporate.

Fear – There is a healthy awe and fear when we realize the majesty and glory of God.

Trembling – God is a lion who loves us, but His love does not mean we can ever domesticate Him.

God who works in you – This is how Paul pulls this back together. God has given us these many wonderful gifts. Now, Paul says it is time for us to live in cooperation with what God has already done in us.

His good pleasure – In respect to the Philippian church, what pleases God is an end to the dissensions among them. The amazing truth of how God’s Spirit works in us is that He is working that same mind of Christ into our own minds. He brings a deliverance from the division and strife that plagues His people.

CONVERSATION GUIDE:

Opening Questions:
• When was the last time you worked on a group project? What made it successful or challenging?

• How do you typically respond when someone asks you to change your behavior or attitude?

Discussion Questions:
• Paul talks about “working out your salvation” in community. How does this differ from our modern individualistic approach to faith?

• What does it mean to you that God is working “both to will and to work for His good pleasure” in our lives?

• How does understanding grace change the way we approach conflicts and relationships in the church?

• What role does humility play in working out our salvation together as a community?

Personal Application:
• Reflect on a time when you needed to resolve a conflict in the church, in your home, in a friendship. How did you approach it?

• Consider areas where you might be resisting God’s work in your relationships with others.

• Identify one relationship that needs restoration and plan specific steps toward reconciliation.

Group Focus:
• Share experiences of seeing God work through difficult relationships in the church.

• Pray for specific relationships that need healing in your life, including your church community.

• Discuss practical ways to support each other in living out the Gospel together, having the “same mind.”