Work Out What He Is Working In

Philippians 2:12-16

When we go to the gym or the fitness center, we commonly refer to our activity as ‘working out’. What do we mean by this phrase? Though it may encompass lifting weights or running, it is speaking of working our muscles and our lungs. We are trying to work the excess fat out of our system and bring the excellence from our bodies to the surface. This truly profits us, if we are dedicated and devoted to bringing about results, but there is a greater exercise.

The saint is in a daily battle, not with the devil, for he is a defeated foe, but with ourselves. We will fight our old habits, thought-processes and tendencies more than anything else that we will face. As someone once said, ‘We are our own worst enemy’.

While Christ has finished the work at the cross, we feel unfinished and unpolished in our daily walk. Who we are in Christ and who we appear to be on the surface do not always go hand in hand. We are His righteousness, regardless (2 Corinthians 5:21), but I have never met a Christian who does not want their outward man to line up with the Jesus of their heart.

“Work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12), has been used for generations to try to convince people that their salvation should be handled with kid gloves. The insinuation is that you should constantly be on guard to losing your soul and that there should be a continuous fear of God’s judgment that prompts you to live right, coupled with a healthy dose of Godly trembling. Fear of God and trembling at His might did not cause the children of Israel to live right in the wilderness. What makes us think that this will be any different for us?

The verse following “work out your salvation” says, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). We ‘work out’, for it is God which is ‘working in’ us. There is nothing good within us, if God is not there. We have no righteousness or goodness or holiness apart from the finished work of Jesus Christ. If He is there, then God is working His will inside of us, demanding only that we ‘work it out’.

How does one ‘work out’ their salvation? Paul tells us next to “Do all things without murmurings and disputing: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life” (Philippians 2:14-16).

With our mouths we represent the Jesus that is working inside of us. If we murmur and complain we are playing the role of the children of Israel in the wilderness, not living up to their calling as the chosen seed of Abraham. When we govern this type of talk, we have no blame and are ‘harmless, the sons of God’. Though we are in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, we will be lights when we hold forth the message of God’s grace.

Do some spiritual exercise today. Hold forth the good news as a light to a darkened world and show how God is working in you.

Think Like Jesus

Philippians 2:5-8

One of the most important factors in how believers live begins with how believers think. When Paul told the Roman church not to be conformed to the world, but rather to be transformed, he said the way to do that was to renew their mind (Romans 12:2). Changing the way we think is key when it comes to living for Christ, because while our spirit is brand new, and He lives in our heart, we control our mind, with the lusts and the affections thereof.

Satan cannot read your mind, but he can certainly throw things across your path. If you dwell on them, they begin to plague you, and your entire emotional makeup can be affected. Your thoughts about who you are in Christ, either a filthy sinner that needs judged, or a redeemed child of God who is perfectly sanctified, affect how you live as well. It is for this cause that the Apostle Paul spent so much time reminding the believer, as to who they were in Christ.

When he is confronted with Christians suing Christians in 1 Corinthians 6, he asks them, “Don’t you know that you will judge angels?” He is appealing to what they know about who they are, in order to get their walk straightened out. Later in that chapter, he confronts fornication by asking, “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” Again, he reminds them of who they are, appealing to their knowledge of the truth to bring righteousness out of them.

In Philippians 2:5, Paul tells the church to think like Jesus, and then in verse 6, he tells us what Jesus thought:

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:”

Notice what Jesus thought; that it would not be wrong to consider himself equal with God. Now we know that Paul is not insinuating that we are little gods, but he is telling us to think of ourselves as Jesus thought of himself.

Jesus knew His position with His Father, and He was perfectly secure in what His Father thought of Him. Paul is encouraging the believer to be perfectly secure in their standing with God. You are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), thus, you are one of the sons of God (John 1:12). When you know that you are just as Jesus is (1 John 4:17), you begin to live up to that status.

As soon as you realize who that you are in Christ, your actions will begin to line up with your faith. The righteousness of God is revealed in us from faith to faith (Romans 1:17), meaning that His righteousness is already in us, but it awaits our daily faith in order to show itself in our day to day walk.

As I say to the people in my church, when you learn to think as Jesus thought and view yourself as He did, then sin will just feel stupid! You will view failure as an embarrassment to your position, as if the very thought of it is beneath someone of your stature. Christ in you will truly be showing up on you.

God is good, and God is your Father. View yourself today as His child, and rest in His goodness.

That I May Know Him

Philippians 3:10

If there is any one that ever lived that could claim to know the character of the risen Christ, surely it was the Apostle Paul. Yet, when writing to the church at Philippi, he says, “That I may know him”, as if there is more for him to know. How telling is this? If Paul had more to learn of the glorious Savior, surely we have a world of knowledge awaiting us!

The context of Paul’s request is a recap of his life prior to meeting Jesus. He counts all previous knowledge and law keeping as “loss for Christ” (Phil. 3:7), and “dung” (Verse 8), willing to exchange them “for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”. The thirst for knowledge is a recurring theme in Paul’s writings as he challenges believers to come to a fuller understanding of whom that they are in Christ. Notice his insistence:

“And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.” (Romans 15:14)

“That in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge.” (1 Corinthians 1:5)

“Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” (1 Corinthians 15:34)

These are just a few examples of Paul appealing to the knowledge of the believer. His belief was that there was no greater knowledge to be found than that which brings Christ into fuller light in your heart and mind. There was and still is, always something more to learn about our Savior.

The fullness of knowledge is linked to the fullness of spirit. Paul goes on to say, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12). The daily increase in his knowledge of who Jesus was led him to an apprehension of what it meant to be complete in Christ. The more that he learned of Christ, the more that he felt complete or “perfect”.

Jesus told us to “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me” (Matthew 11:29). Daily resting in Christ, whose yoke is “easy” and whose “burden is light” (Matt. 11:30), causes us to “learn” who He is. The more we rest in His finished work, the more that our awareness of His love and compassion is for us.

As you go about your day, take every available moment to dwell on the Father’s love for you. As you allow grace to wash over your soul, you place yourself beneath the yoke of Christ which is easy and light. Every moment that you rest under that yoke, you come into a fuller knowledge of who Christ is, which leads you one step further to living a perfect lifestyle. I do not insinuate that you will never fail again, but the goal in Christianity is to let Christ live His life through us, and that will be a life free from the stain and the failure of sin.

Beware of Dogs

Philippians 3:2

“Beware of Dog” is a sign that we might see on someone’s property to warn us that there is a guard dog on the premises. It is not a phrase that we would expect to see in the Bible, yet that is precisely what the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Philippi. He warns them of three things; all prefaced with the word “beware”: dogs, evil workers and the concision.

We can assume that Paul is not actually warning the church about ferocious dogs, but using the tried and true method of allowing the Bible to interpret the Bible, we find that there was previous precedent for this example. The prophet Isaiah wrote, “His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter” (Isaiah 56:10, 11).

In this example, Isaiah is talking about the watchmen, or the supposed men of God, who were supposed to hear from the Lord for Israel. With that in mind, we can assume that Paul is warning of the spiritually lazy leadership who will not “bark” to warn you when something is threatening. This apathy unfortunately is rampant in every church age.

He also warns of “evil workers”, which is different from the dog that won’t bark. These workers actually perform evil deeds, and they influence others to do the same. David said of them, “Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God” (Psalms 119:115). The actions of the evil workers will pull the saint further away from Christ and His finished work, causing the saint to slip into wickedness.

Finally, Paul mentions “the concision”. This is the token appearance of this word in the entire Bible, and it is a statement of sarcasm. The Greek word for ‘concision’ means ‘mutilation’ in English. The next verse in this sequence shows us what mutilation that Paul is speaking of, “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3). Paul is referring to the circumcision of the Jewish nation when he speaks of the concision. His warning is stern and must have struck a serious chord with the Jewish readers of that day. Circumcision was considered the single rite of Judaism that separated them from the rest of the world, like no other single act did. By warning the Philippian Christians to watch out for the ‘mutilation’, Paul was effectively lowering the act of circumcision to that of asceticism, taking all spiritual authority away from it.

In our modern age of political correctness, it is hard to fathom just how offensive and controversial that the Apostle Paul was with his preaching of pure grace. When he warned of “another gospel”, he was warning of a return to a religion of works and ordinances. When he said “Beware of the concision”, he was warning of placing your confidence in the physical act of circumcision to identify you as one of God’s chosen one’s. While there is nothing spiritually wrong with a baby boy being circumcised, Paul was adamant about all confidence being removed from the flesh and its abilities and into the finished work of Jesus Christ.

“Worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:3).

Work Out What He Is Working In

Philippians 2:12-16

When we go to the gym or the fitness center, we commonly refer to our activity as ‘working out’. What do we mean by this phrase? Though it may encompass lifting weights or running, it is speaking of working our muscles and our lungs. We are trying to work the excess fat out of our system and bring the excellence from our bodies to the surface. This truly profits us, if we are dedicated and devoted to bringing about results, but there is a greater exercise.

The saint is in a daily battle, not with the devil, for he is a defeated foe, but with ourselves. We will fight our old habits, thought-processes and tendencies more than anything else that we will face. As someone once said, ‘We are our own worst enemy’.

While Christ has finished the work at the cross, we feel unfinished and unpolished in our daily walk. Who we are in Christ and who we appear to be on the surface do not always go hand in hand. We are His righteousness, regardless (2 Corinthians 5:21), but I have never met a Christian who does not want their outward man to line up with the Jesus of their heart.

“Work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12), has been used for generations to try to convince people that their salvation should be handled with kid gloves. The insinuation is that you should constantly be on guard to losing your soul and that there should be a continuous fear of God’s judgment that prompts you to live right, coupled with a healthy dose of Godly trembling. Fear of God and trembling at His might did not cause the children of Israel to live right in the wilderness. What makes us think that this will be any different for us?

The verse following “work out your salvation” says, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). We ‘work out’, for it is God which is ‘working in’ us. There is nothing good within us, if God is not there. We have no righteousness or goodness or holiness apart from the finished work of Jesus Christ. If He is there, then God is working His will inside of us, demanding only that we ‘work it out’.

How does one ‘work out’ their salvation? Paul tells us next to “Do all things without murmurings and disputing: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life” (Philippians 2:14-16).

With our mouths we represent the Jesus that is working inside of us. If we murmur and complain we are playing the role of the children of Israel in the wilderness, not living up to their calling as the chosen seed of Abraham. When we govern this type of talk, we have no blame and are ‘harmless, the sons of God’. Though we are in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, we will be lights when we hold forth the message of God’s grace.

Do some spiritual exercise today. Hold forth the good news as a light to a darkened world and show how God is working in you.

Think Like Jesus

Philippians 2:5-8

One of the most important factors in how believers live begins with how believers think. When Paul told the Roman church not to be conformed to the world, but rather to be transformed, he said the way to do that was to renew their mind (Romans 12:2). Changing the way we think is key when it comes to living for Christ, because while our spirit is brand new, and He lives in our heart, we control our mind, with the lusts and the affections thereof.

Satan cannot read your mind, but he can certainly throw things across your path. If you dwell on them, they begin to plague you, and your entire emotional makeup can be affected. Your thoughts about who you are in Christ, either a filthy sinner that needs judged, or a redeemed child of God who is perfectly sanctified, affect how you live as well. It is for this cause that the Apostle Paul spent so much time reminding the believer, as to who they were in Christ.

When he is confronted with Christians suing Christians in 1 Corinthians 6, he asks them, “Don’t you know that you will judge angels?” He is appealing to what they know about who they are, in order to get their walk straightened out. Later in that chapter, he confronts fornication by asking, “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” Again, he reminds them of who they are, appealing to their knowledge of the truth to bring righteousness out of them.

In Philippians 2:5, Paul tells the church to think like Jesus, and then in verse 6, he tells us what Jesus thought:

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:”

Notice what Jesus thought; that it would not be wrong to consider himself equal with God. Now we know that Paul is not insinuating that we are little gods, but he is telling us to think of ourselves as Jesus thought of himself.

Jesus knew His position with His Father, and He was perfectly secure in what His Father thought of Him. Paul is encouraging the believer to be perfectly secure in their standing with God. You are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), thus, you are one of the sons of God (John 1:12). When you know that you are just as Jesus is (1 John 4:17), you begin to live up to that status.

As soon as you realize who that you are in Christ, your actions will begin to line up with your faith. The righteousness of God is revealed in us from faith to faith (Romans 1:17), meaning that His righteousness is already in us, but it awaits our daily faith in order to show itself in our day to day walk.

As I say to the people in my church, when you learn to think as Jesus thought and view yourself as He did, then sin will just feel stupid! You will view failure as an embarrassment to your position, as if the very thought of it is beneath someone of your stature. Christ in you will truly be showing up on you.

God is good, and God is your Father. View yourself today as His child, and rest in His goodness.

That I May Know Him

Philippians 3:10

If there is any one that ever lived that could claim to know the character of the risen Christ, surely it was the Apostle Paul. Yet, when writing to the church at Philippi, he says, “That I may know him”, as if there is more for him to know. How telling is this? If Paul had more to learn of the glorious Savior, surely we have a world of knowledge awaiting us!

The context of Paul’s request is a recap of his life prior to meeting Jesus. He counts all previous knowledge and law keeping as “loss for Christ” (Phil. 3:7), and “dung” (Verse 8), willing to exchange them “for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”. The thirst for knowledge is a recurring theme in Paul’s writings as he challenges believers to come to a fuller understanding of whom that they are in Christ. Notice his insistence:

“And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.” (Romans 15:14)

“That in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge.” (1 Corinthians 1:5)

“Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.” (1 Corinthians 15:34)

These are just a few examples of Paul appealing to the knowledge of the believer. His belief was that there was no greater knowledge to be found than that which brings Christ into fuller light in your heart and mind. There was and still is, always something more to learn about our Savior.

The fullness of knowledge is linked to the fullness of spirit. Paul goes on to say, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12). The daily increase in his knowledge of who Jesus was led him to an apprehension of what it meant to be complete in Christ. The more that he learned of Christ, the more that he felt complete or “perfect”.

Jesus told us to “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me” (Matthew 11:29). Daily resting in Christ, whose yoke is “easy” and whose “burden is light” (Matt. 11:30), causes us to “learn” who He is. The more we rest in His finished work, the more that our awareness of His love and compassion is for us.

As you go about your day, take every available moment to dwell on the Father’s love for you. As you allow grace to wash over your soul, you place yourself beneath the yoke of Christ which is easy and light. Every moment that you rest under that yoke, you come into a fuller knowledge of who Christ is, which leads you one step further to living a perfect lifestyle. I do not insinuate that you will never fail again, but the goal in Christianity is to let Christ live His life through us, and that will be a life free from the stain and the failure of sin.

Beware of Dogs

Philippians 3:2

“Beware of Dog” is a sign that we might see on someone’s property to warn you that there is a guard dog on the premises. It is not a phrase that we would expect to see in the Bible, yet that is precisely what the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Philippi. He warns them of three things; all prefaced with the word “beware”: dogs, evil workers and the concision.

We can assume that Paul is not actually warning the church about ferocious dogs, but using the tried and true method of allowing the Bible to interpret the Bible, we find that there was previous precedent for this example. The prophet Isaiah wrote, “His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter” (Isaiah 56:10, 11).

In this example, Isaiah is talking about the watchmen, or the supposed men of God, who were supposed to hear from the Lord for Israel. With that in mind, we can assume that Paul is warning of the spiritually lazy leadership who will not “bark” to warn you when something is threatening. This apathy unfortunately is rampant in every church age.

He also warns of “evil workers”, which is different from the dog that won’t bark. These workers actually perform evil deeds, and they influence others to do the same. David said of them, “Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God” (Psalms 119:115). The actions of the evil workers will pull the saint further away from Christ and His finished work, causing the saint to slip into wickedness.

Finally, Paul mentions “the concision”. This is the token appearance of this word in the entire Bible, and it is a statement of sarcasm. The Greek word for ‘concision’ means ‘mutilation’ in English. The next verse in this sequence shows us what mutilation that Paul is speaking of, “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3). Paul is referring to the circumcision of the Jewish nation when he speaks of the concision. His warning is stern and must have struck a serious chord with the Jewish readers of that day. Circumcision was considered the single rite of Judaism that separated them from the rest of the world, like no other single act did. By warning the Philippian Christians to watch out for the ‘mutilation’, Paul was effectively lowering the act of circumcision to that of asceticism, taking all spiritual authority away from it.

In our modern age of political correctness, it is hard to fathom just how offensive and controversial that the Apostle Paul was with his preaching of pure grace. When he warned of “another gospel”, he was warning of a return to a religion of works and ordinances. When he said “Beware of the concision”, he was warning of placing your confidence in the physical act of circumcision to identify you as one of God’s chosen one’s. While there is nothing spiritually wrong with a baby boy being circumcised, Paul was adamant about all confidence being removed from the flesh and its abilities and into the finished work of Jesus Christ.

“Worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:3).

Work Out What He Is Working In

Philippians 2:12-16

When we go to the gym or the fitness center, we commonly refer to our activity as ‘working out’. What do we mean by this phrase? Though it may encompass lifting weights or running, it is speaking of working our muscles and our lungs. We are trying to work the excess fat out of our system and bring the excellence from our bodies to the surface. This truly profits us, if we are dedicated and devoted to bringing about results, but there is a greater exercise.

The saint is in a daily battle, not with the devil, for he is a defeated foe, but with ourselves. We will fight our old habits, thought-processes and tendencies more than anything else that we will face. As someone once said, ‘We are our own worst enemy’.

While Christ has finished the work at the cross, we feel unfinished and unpolished in our daily walk. Who we are in Christ and who we appear to be on the surface do not always go hand in hand. We are His righteousness, regardless (2 Corinthians 5:21), but I have never met a Christian who does not want their outward man to line up with the Jesus of their heart.

“Work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12), has been used for generations to try to convince people that their salvation should be handled with kid gloves. The insinuation is that you should constantly be on guard to losing your soul and that there should be a continuous fear of God’s judgment that prompts you to live right, coupled with a healthy dose of Godly trembling. Fear of God and trembling at His might did not cause the children of Israel to live right in the wilderness. What makes us think that this will be any different for us?

The verse following “work out your salvation” says, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). We ‘work out’, for it is God which is ‘working in’ us. There is nothing good within us, if God is not there. We have no righteousness or goodness or holiness apart from the finished work of Jesus Christ. If He is there, then God is working His will inside of us, demanding only that we ‘work it out’.

How does one ‘work out’ their salvation? Paul tells us next to “Do all things without murmurings and disputing: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life” (Philippians 2:14-16).

With our mouths we represent the Jesus that is working inside of us. If we murmur and complain we are playing the role of the children of Israel in the wilderness, not living up to their calling as the chosen seed of Abraham. When we govern this type of talk, we have no blame and are ‘harmless, the sons of God’. Though we are in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, we will be lights when we hold forth the message of God’s grace.

Do some spiritual exercise today. Hold forth the good news as a light to a darkened world and show how God is working in you.

Think Like Jesus

Philippians 2:5-8

One of the most important factors in how believers live begins with how believers think. When Paul told the Roman church not to be conformed to the world, but rather to be transformed, he said the way to do that was to renew their mind (Romans 12:2). Changing the way we think is key when it comes to living for Christ, because while our spirit is brand new, and He lives in our heart, we control our mind, with the lusts and the affections thereof.

Satan cannot read your mind, but he can certainly throw things across your path. If you dwell on them, they begin to plague you, and your entire emotional makeup can be affected. Your thoughts about who you are in Christ, either a filthy sinner that needs judged, or a redeemed child of God who is perfectly sanctified, affect how you live as well. It is for this cause that the Apostle Paul spent so much time reminding the believer, as to who they were in Christ.

When he is confronted with Christians suing Christians in 1 Corinthians 6, he asks them, “Don’t you know that you will judge angels?” He is appealing to what they know about who they are, in order to get their walk straightened out. Later in that chapter, he confronts fornication by asking, “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” Again, he reminds them of who they are, appealing to their knowledge of the truth to bring righteousness out of them.

In Philippians 2:5, Paul tells the church to think like Jesus, and then in verse 6, he tells us what Jesus thought:

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:”

Notice what Jesus thought; that it would not be wrong to consider himself equal with God. Now we know that Paul is not insinuating that we are little gods, but he is telling us to think of ourselves as Jesus thought of himself.

Jesus knew His position with His Father, and He was perfectly secure in what His Father thought of Him. Paul is encouraging the believer to be perfectly secure in their standing with God. You are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), thus, you are one of the sons of God (John 1:12). When you know that you are just as Jesus is (1 John 4:17), you begin to live up to that status.

As soon as you realize who that you are in Christ, your actions will begin to line up with your faith. The righteousness of God is revealed in us from faith to faith (Romans 1:17), meaning that His righteousness is already in us, but it awaits our daily faith in order to show itself in our day to day walk.

As I say to the people in my church, when you learn to think as Jesus thought and view yourself as He did, then sin will just feel stupid! You will view failure as an embarrassment to your position, as if the very thought of it is beneath someone of your stature. Christ in you will truly be showing up on you.

God is good, and God is your Father. View yourself today as His child, and rest in His goodness.