The Process and Fruit of Becoming Like Christ (Philippians 2:12-18)
Introduction: The Process and Fruit of Becoming like Christ
When Elizabeth Prentiss wrote this hymn is uncertain. Biographers believe she wrote it following the deaths of her 5 year-old son, Eddy, and her newborn baby Bessie who died within a couple of months of each other.
Let’s reread verse 2 of Hymn 385 –
Once earthly joy I craved,
Sought Peace and Rest;
Now Thee alone I seek,
Give what is best.
This all my prayer shall be:
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee, More love to Thee!
How many of us would be able to write these verses after this experience? Her focus was not on herself; it was on Christ. She was willing to be shaped by Christ, to become like Him.
This morning, we will talk about “The Process and Fruit of Becoming like Christ.”
The phrase, “Follow the Recipe” connotes something different for each of us. We may think of an experience when the recipe was set aside, only to later discover we had forgotten key details so needed to go back and reread it.
In some recipes, you make a well in the flour and add the whole egg. Other recipes you beat the egg yolks and whites separately. If the recipe says to fold in the egg whites, is it OK to get my beater out and beat them in?
Have you ever asked why you are supposed to shake a can of paint but must not shake a can of Varathane? Maybe you shook the can only to have an experienced person tell you that you have to wait for the bubbles to dissipate before continuing. Whether you are making a souffle or putting the final finish on an heirloom piece of furniture, we must follow the instructions if we want the desired outcome. Paul is giving the Philippians a recipe for Christian living individually and as a church here in Philippians 2.
Let’s turn to Philippians Chapter 2.
As Justin said last week, it is difficult to step out of Ephesians and into Philippians without understanding a little context.
Our first introduction to Philippi is provided by the narrative in Acts 16. Luke records the salvation and baptism of Lydia and the Philippian jailer and their households. These households are probably still part of the church. Paul has been in the Roman prison for about 3 years. It has been five years since he last visited Philippi and about 10 years since the church was planted. Paul is sending Epaphroditus back to Philippi with this letter to encourage and exhort the saints to persevere together.
Chapter 1:29-30 says, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.” They are a persecuted church. Epaphroditus had told Paul that Euodia and Syntyche, two sisters who had labored side-by-side with Paul were now at odds. Persecution and anxiety had hit the Philippian church.
Let’s read Philippians 2:12-18.
Last week Justin went through Chapter 2:1-11: Christ is presented as our example.
This morning, we have three main points as we learn about,
“The Process and Fruit of Becoming like Christ.”
Vs. 12-13: How to Become like Christ – The Recipe
Vs. 14-15: Evidence of Becoming like Christ – The Fruit
Vs. 16-18: Purpose of Becoming like Christ – The Goal
First – Vs. 12-13: How to Become like Christ – The Recipe
Verse 12:
The verse begins with a “Therefore” or “So that.” It is important that we understand why Paul inserts this here. Let’s go back to Chapter 1:27 to get the beginning of the thought – “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 by your opponents.” Their manner of life, their day-in, day-out way of living was to be worthy of the gospel. It was to reflect that they were Christ’s. He did not want them to change their behavior because he was planning to visit them, but rather that they live out who they are. They were to put their confidence in God and not be dissuaded from their Christian lives by persecution. Chapter 2:2, he refers to the same mind and same love, Verse 5: this mind to be among them is theirs in Christ Jesus. We learned the details last week.
Therefore, because as Christians, they want to live lives aligned to their salvation, and they have a perfect example in Christ, they are to obey the gospel. Paul reminds them in Chapter 1:3 that he thanked God for every remembrance of them, in verse 4 they were always in his prayers with joy, verse 5 they are partners in the gospel, v7 he held them in his heart and then the ultimate in verse 8 He loves them with the love of Jesus Christ. This is a close, loving relationship.
The Philippian saints had a history of obedience. That is why Paul could call them partners in the gospel. They obeyed the gospel when he was there but even more so now while he was away. The fruits of the Spirit were evident even in the gift they sent with Epaphroditus. Paul is reminding them of their past obedience as he gives them the recipe they are to follow to become like Christ.
Here is the point of the therefore: The end of verse twelve, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. I thought that salvation is a gift from God, we know from Ephesians 2:9 that it is not result of works. Here Paul is saying, “Work it out.” Let’s go back to Chapter 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” In Galatians 3:3 it says, “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” The word “begun” in Galatians 3:3 and Philippians 1:6 means the granting of our salvation, the point of redemption in 1 Peter 1:18, when we move from being slaves to sin to alive to God in Romans 6:5-11. Paul writes in Gal 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” This salvation is “not of works” in Ephesians 2:9. So how do I reconcile this? I am reading here in Philippians 2 to work out my salvation.
It is a matter of chronology, of time ordered events. He wants to see them grow individually and collectively to have the mind of Christ. Consider Ephesians 2:8-10. This is special. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” This is what we were talking about - our salvation is not a result of works. Verse 10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
We cannot separate verses 9 and 10. The “For” at the beginning of verse 10 ties it back to the preceding verses. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works. James 2:14 “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?” James goes on in verse 18: “But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
Let’s quickly get an example of this from Lydia and the Philippian jailer in Acts 16. Let’s start with verse 14: “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. And she prevailed upon us.” She immediately expressed her faith by being baptized and then compelled Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke into her home to stay with her. Let’s drop down to verse 33. The Philippian jailer “took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.” Isn’t this wonderful! Works follow salvation. We cannot separate them. They follow immediately.
Let’s return to Philippians 2:12. This working is carrying out of what God is working in us. It is what yields the fruits of the Spirit, without fault. It is what James is talking about when he wants to see works. The desire and ability to perform these works are given by Jesus. We are not to fall into the ditch of legalism; where I think I gain additional favor with God for living according to an external rule, or even the other ditch of quietism; where I just need to let go and let God do the work. We carry it out with fear and trembling. We will please God who is awesome and deserves reverence. When we do this, we follow the recipe correctly.
Verse 13
I want to read verse 13 from the NET Bible translation – it says: “for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God.” Isn’t that amazing? Do you not just want to fall in awe, reverence fear and trembling altogether at once? God is at work in me! He is at work in you! He is working among us. The Holy Spirit gives us the desire; he gives us the energy. James 4:5 says, He yearns jealously over the spirit (this is our spirit, not the Holy Spirit) that he has made to dwell within us. He wants our hearts, he wants the outworking of our salvation, he wants our sanctification. And James 4 says that He gives more grace! God gives more grace to increasingly become like Jesus and serve Him.
Since you are Christ’s, your new life desires that you be sanctified. Not only is the desire there, but also the ability. Our new life in Christ is energized by the added grace, that divine enablement to complete those works for him.
Let’s turn briefly to Romans 12: 4. A whole industry sprung up several years ago to help you identify your gift.
“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”
Notice the phrase – according to the grace given to us. God gives us the divine enablement to perform exactly what he has for us. Dr. Abner Chou says, “God’s grace is His unilateral intervention in the most hopeless situations, personally intervening in our lives in a way that He alone can act with results that He alone can produce.” God’s grace is what delivers results in and through us.
We do not need a program to tell us what our gift is. Paul says just do what God in his grace has given you the ability to do. If you are comfortable talking to strangers, be a greeter, if you have a strong back, pack and unpack the sound system, load the trailer. If you enjoy little children, help in the nursery, if you are an empathetic and merciful person, volunteer to call and/or visit someone who cannot make it out on Lord’s Day morning. Don’t waste your time and money on a program, get before the Lord, ask counsel of leadership and do, do the work of the Lord. As one person put it, “We work because He works in us.”
As we get older, we sometimes fall back on the saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” God’s grace changes us. God’s grace will change us. If you know that you have habits that do not align with scripture, fall in awe and reverence before our loving God and Father work out your salvation.
Vs. 14-15: Evidence of Becoming like Christ – The Fruit
Verse 14: Characteristics
Do all things without grumbling or disputing.
Grumbling and arguing have the effect of beating the egg whites into the batter instead of folding them in. And like shaking the can of Varathane just before brushing it on. In the first example, you remove air bubbles from where they are needed, in the second case, you add them where you do not want them. We will be defective when we do them.
To grumble is an emotional rejection of God’s providence in our lives. Arguing is to question or dispute God’s will. Is he really doing what is best for me? We sit here on Sunday morning and rejoice in the sovereignty of God, his plan of salvation, his wonderful works throughout history, and even look forward to the end when we will be with Christ. I ask you, do we do the same on Monday morning? Work does not go the direction we planned; our children do not want to get up, it’s snowing, it’s sunny, etc.
The children of Israel were judged in the wilderness when they murmured. They questioned God’s purposes as He cared for them. Miriam, Moses’ sister, challenged Moses’ leadership which, by extension, challenged God’s leadership. God judged that rebellion by striking Miriam leprosy. The people grumbled when they heard about the giants in the land. Their grumbling and murmuring kept them out of the promised land. They died in the wilderness.
In case you say, “Ah, that is just God in the Old Testament.” 1 Corinthians 11: 29-33 provides a New Testament example, “Many are weak and sickly; some have even died.” People partook of the Lord’s supper while living in habitual and unconfessed sin. Their pattern of life is not aligned with the gospel. The point is that each of us is to be judging and confessing our sins, even the sins of grumbling and complaining. These sins are a direct affront to our Lord, and they have a negative impact on the church’s health and external testimony. The people around us will look at us, not as those who serve a sovereign God but as just another hypocrite.
Verse 15: Fruit
The world loves to inspect the Christian’s progress to become like Christ. They are the first to notice that the souffle is not rising correctly. Or they see the bubbles in the Varathane on the brush, before it is even applied to the table. They are the first to say, “They will never turn out” about us.
The next phrase in verse 15 is: “that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish”
To be blameless is to be free from defect. Innocent implies unmixed, simple. It is a consistent life between belief and practice. It is a life that is aligned to the truth, to the Gospel.
The phrase “Children of God without fault” reminds me of babies. It is normal for us to look at a new baby, such as Jeremiah or Micah, trying to identify some physical characteristics they inherited from their parents. Their parents’ mannerisms soon become theirs. We may even say, to their chagrin, as teenagers, you remind me of your mom! That is the thought here.
Do we live our live so that others will see Christ in us. Are we moving on from our initial salvation to a position of consistency in our lives. Do our lives reflect that we are firmly committed to God and His word.
The next phrase is “in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation”.
This reminds us of Jesus’ prayer in John 17:15-16: “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” Or 1 Thessalonians 5:22-23 “Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus knew that we would be in the middle of the crooked and twisted generation. Our sanctification, the working out of our salvation occurs in this environment.
The Greek word for crooked is the word from which Scoliosis is derived. It means to be morally corrupt, surly, deviating from the divine standard.
Twisted or perverse has the thought of being distorted and plotting against the saving purposes of God. An example is the psychology of the world. To try to mix Psychology with Biblical Counseling is like using a blender to fold in egg whites. It will not work because it is fundamentally opposed to the purposes of God.
So, as we consider our behavior as we follow Jesus’ example, we are to live a life that does not question God’s goodness and mercy. It is a life that is consistent in all areas, work, home, church, entertainment. There is to be no grumbling or an argumentative spirit. The result will be that even those who are completely twisted, morally corrupt and are plotting against God’s purposes will be unable to point the finger of blame at us to convict us of sin.
We are in the middle a completely foreign group of people to shine as lights, the NIV reads, “shine among them as stars”.
Debbie and I enjoyed climbing mountain peaks in CO that exceed 14000’. We would often be on the trail well before the sunrise to beat the early afternoon thunderstorms. The only light we had was the little beams from our headlamps. Sometimes a beam of light would flicker ahead or behind us. It was dark. My point is, whether you think of the stars in the sky, or little headlamps bouncing along a dark and dangerous trail – Paul is illustrating it here. Our sanctification is not just for us individually or even within the church. The church benefits when each member is working out their sanctification. Verse 12 can be applied to us as individuals or to the local church. Our sanctification is also for the world. Our lives are to be beams of light, evidence of Jesus saving grace in and to the dark and perverse world around us.
Vs. 16-18: Purpose of Becoming like Christ – The Goal
The unsaved people around us do not see the inner workings of the Holy Spirit. They do not see the day-by-day Habits of Grace that are formed to enable us to be on the path to become like Christ. What they see is whether our daily external patterns align with who we say we are. They see the bubbles.
Holding fast the word of life in verse 16 is not the thought of defending the faith that we get in Jude 3. The thought is that as individuals and the church our sanctification and subsequent consistency support the holding forth of the gospel. We are to shine as lights; we are to be who we are: “Children of God.” One of the largest barriers to being a testimony for Christ is inconsistency.
Paul goes on to say “so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”
The day of Christ is what is also called the judgment seat of Christ or Bema Seat. The Philippians would have known it as the raised platform where awards were handed out at sporting venues. It is a day of reward. On that day, we will see everything perfectly.
Paul is taking a low place here, he knows that when they persevere through to the end, he will rejoice in God’s greatness and power in them. We know from Revelation 4 that any reward or crown we receive at the Bema seat will be cast back at his feet in praise and wonder. We will fully know that it was only him working in us and through us that enabled us to bear fruit.
Let’s read verses 17 and 18: “Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me.”
Paul is referring to Old Testament sacrifices. A drink offering was poured on top of the main sacrifice. He is saying that he will rejoice in that day if all that he gets to be is a little addition to the Philippians’ large sacrifice. His life was being poured out for theirs. What a spirit of wonderful humility. He is stating that he is rejoicing with them, that they will complete their sacrifice. He also asks them to rejoice with him, even though he was in prison, for the Lord was working through his circumstances for the good of the saints in general. So, for us, as we grow together, are we willing to be an augmentation of someone else’s work for the Lord? Are we willing to take the low place of ministering to others? This is what we are being called to do.
Conclusion:
In summary, as we move from the Christmas season into the New Year, let’s be reminded that Jesus is our pattern. Romans 8 says, “Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.”
This path of sanctification will move us from who we were before salvation, before that Grace burst into our lives into being like Christ. Don’t you want to be more like Christ, the one you love? Working out our salvation is how it is done, start or continue being in the Word and Prayer, the fundamentals.
What characterizes me, what characterizes you? Are the fruits of the Spirit evident? This includes marriage, family, work, individually, and together as a church body. Are our gifts being practiced among us?
Let us each live lives of confession. Confess and forsake the sins of grumbling and complaint. Strive together so the unsaved see us as blameless. A group of Christians who make mistakes but is becoming like the one she loves. We will be shining lights if we do this.
Keep your eyes fixed on the goal, the Lord Jesus. We want to be always weighing Jesus’ evaluation of our decisions and actions. I am not asking for New Year’s resolutions, this is heart work.
Each one of us is loved. We have covenanted together that we will exercise spiritual watch care over each other. So, when someone comes up to us and in so many words says, “Don’t shake the Varathane,” or “Folding egg whites into the batter requires time and patience.” Let us be ready to listen, take the counsel to the Word and pray about it. It may be that God is using that brother or sister to help conform us to the one we love.
Here is a quote attributed to Elizabeth Prentiss, the lady who wrote the hymn we sang a few minutes ago: “I believe the highest, purest happiness is known only to those who have learned Christ in sickrooms, in poverty, in racing suspense and anxiety, amid hardships, and at the open grave.”
The path to glory is through suffering. We will develop more love for Christ and desire more love for Christ the more we get to know him. Do not pray to escape the suffering but pray for added grace to serve God as you go through it. Let’s go serve him with joy this week focusing on the fundamentals of becoming more like Him, counting on His grace.