29 Dec Work Out What God Works in You
Read: Philippians 2:12-18
Over the last three Sundays we have considered the eternality, the incarnation, and the exaltation of Jesus from Philippians 2:1-11. This Sunday Pastor Ken will close out our series, Jesus the Christ, with Philippians 2:12-18. As you prepare your heart for our corporate gathering, let these words from Oswald Chambers encourage you as you continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
Heart Preparation
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. – Philippians 2:12-13
Your will agrees with God, but in your flesh there is a nature that renders you powerless to do what you know you ought to do. When the Lord initially comes in contact with our conscience, the first thing our conscience does is awaken our will, and our will always agrees with God. Yet you say, “But I don’t know if my will is in agreement with God.” Look to Jesus and you will find that your will and your conscience are in agreement with Him every time. What causes you to say “I will not obey” is something less deep and penetrating than your will. It is perversity or stubbornness, and they are never in agreement with God. The most profound thing in a person is his will, not sin.
The will is the essential element in God’s creation of human beings— sin is a perverse nature which entered into people. In someone who has been born again, the source of the will is Almighty God. “…for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” With focused attention and great care, you have to “work out” what God “works in” you— not work to accomplish or earn “your own salvation,” but work it out so you will exhibit the evidence of a life based with determined, unshakable faith on the complete and perfect redemption of the Lord. As you do this, you do not bring an opposing will up against God’s will— God’s will is your will. Your natural choices will be in accordance with God’s will, and living this life will be as natural as breathing. Stubbornness is an unintelligent barrier, refusing enlightenment and blocking its flow. The only thing to do with this barrier of stubbornness is to blow it up with “dynamite,” and the “dynamite” is obedience to the Holy Spirit.
Do I believe that Almighty God is the Source of my will? God not only expects me to do His will, but He is in me to do it.
June 6th reading: “Work Out What God Works in You,” in My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers.
Song List for Sunday
- This Is Amazing Grace, Shane and Shane Arrangement
- I Stand Amazed, Aaron Keyes Arrangement
- Reign in Us, Shane and Shane Arrangement
- Every Knee Shall Bow, Crosspoint Music
- From the Inside Out, by Hillsong United