God-Centered Obedience - Philippians 2:12–13

Perhaps some of you are familiar with British preacher and theologian James Innell Packer, known as J.I. Packer. I quote him from time to time in my preaching. Dr. Packer went home to be with the Lord this week. He was 93.

I was introduced to his writing about 20 years ago when I was encouraged to read his book titled Knowing God. In the preface of the book, where he gives the reasoning behind writing it,

he says, “The conviction behind the book is that ignorance of God - ignorance of both his ways and of the practice of communion with him - lies at the root of much of the church’s weakness today.” 

Packer’s summary in the book of the Scriptures’ teaching on God himself was for me, as it has been for so many people, foundational in my understanding and in my ministry. Above all, the book is pain-stakingly biblical. I had not realized before reading Packer that the Bible is not primarily a book about people; but rather, about God: who he is and what he’s done and what he requires of people.

Of course, J.I. Packer was just a man. He was a sinner. He was mortal. But what a grand goal - to know God - to contemplate Him - and to help others do the same. Early in the book, Packer quotes Charles Spurgeon, who said, “No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God. But while the subject humbles the mind, it also expands it.” 

Knowing God. The Bible is God-centered because all of existence is God-centered. Man’s existence is God-centered. The Westminster Larger Catechism, that old summary statement of the Scriptures, question and answer number 1, says, What is the chief and highest end of man? Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever. Among the passages of Scripture which this statement summarizes is Romans 11:36. The apostle Paul writes, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.” And Colossians 3:17, “whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Our lives find, as their first cause, God and His holy decree. Life is a God-centered endeavor.

This is why the Scriptures describe obedience to God as thoroughly God-centered. Like all other things, our obedience to God is “from him and through him and to him.” But corrupted by sin, we turn God’s command to obey into a man-centered exercise. How so? Well, because, at the fall, man lost all ability to please God. Only through the saving work of Jesus Christ is the ability to please God restored. Only through Jesus is God-centered obedience possible.

And so, in order to live for God as mature disciples, we must treat obedience as the entirely God-centered effort that it is. But how do you do that? The apostle Paul addresses the question here. You can find an outline of these verses on page 6-7 of the worship guide.

Mature disciples of Jesus must make every effort to produce the results of God’s salvation, dreadfully aware that we are devoid of all good apart from Christ; and mature disciples of Jesus can rest assured that, by His grace and power, Christ has enabled us to desire and act according to God’s sovereign will.

Now, Paul writes, “Therefore,” and in doing so, he connects this statement to what he said just before. He urges the congregation in Philippi to humble themselves toward each other based on or following the example of Jesus Christ. Jesus refused to exploit his advantages as a person of the Triune God and became like a slave, surrendering his rights out of obedience to God the Father in order to save His people from their sins. 

This is what Jesus did; “therefore,” church at Philippi, “therefore” churches throughout the Roman empire in the first century, and “therefore” church through the ages, even to this very day, in light of the humble example of Jesus, obey and “work out your own salvation.” 

“Work out” here in verse 12 is interesting. It’s not the same Greek wording as “works” or “work” in verse 13. The word in verse 12 which is translated “work out” reflects the concept of producing a result of change, whereas the word used twice in verse 13 refers to the actual effecting of change - the work that makes the results possible. So, produce the results of your salvation.

In the full biblical sense, “salvation” is more than just the moment of conversion. Salvation includes election, God’s calling, regeneration, faith, the process of becoming more like Christ in holiness (which we call “sanctification’), and finally “glorification” with God in eternity (that time at which those who are born again enter immortality) Yes, there is a moment at which a person is born again, crossing over from death to life; but all of that is, according to the Scriptures, “salvation.” Salvation is not yet complete, which makes sense. If you’re born again, you still feel the weight of sin and the pain brought on by its corruption of all things. Salvation culminates after this life is over.

This is similar to how Jesus’ work of redemption includes not only his time on the cross, but also, his being born, his living of a sinless life, all his suffering, his death, resurrection, and his eventual return on the Last Day. It’s all for the salvation of His people. All of that is his redemptive work. 

So while when we are born again our salvation is secure, and while at the cross our sin debt is fully paid, we are not, like Dr. Packer, all the way home yet. There is more to “salvation” than the moment of conversion, and Paul has that in mind here. When he says “work out” he doesn’t mean “work out a deal with God.”

We’re trying to work out a deal for a long-term lease of this building. A compromise; a negotiation. That is not what Paul means. When Paul says “work out your own salvation,” he means, “produce the results of God’s work specifically in you.” Each one of us should continue to display what God generates by His transformative power. 

Maybe some of you have seen the Tesla car chargers at the Magnolia Mall. I had the opportunity recently to go for a ride in a 2020 Tesla Model X. It is fully electric. Zero to 60 in 3.3 seconds. A friend of mine recently purchased one. Loads of amazing features, including Auto Drive, which sounds scary, and it was. But as astounding as the car is, it needs a source of energy. An electric car needs a battery. A gas-powered car needs gas.

Have you ever run out of gas? You will have a new appreciation for gasoline when you find yourself on the side of the road with none. Have you ever been very low on gas and afraid that you might not have enough to make it to a gas station? It is a feeling of dread. You become dreadfully aware of how important gas is to making your vehicle run. I’m not sure what’s worse: running out of gas on the highway or in the middle of a lake. I have been present for both.

Why should the church approach obedience “with fear and trembling?” Why should we attempt Christ-like humility with trepidation, with a kind of uneasiness? Because according to the Scriptures, we are naturally devoid of all good.

In Romans 7, Paul says, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” When Adam fell into sin, and we all fell with him, we lost it all. 

We lost it all. We are naturally dead in our sins. Apart from being made alive in Christ, even the seemingly-good things we might do are corrupted by man-centeredness. Our noble acts are naturally contaminated with self-interest above all else. That is Biblical Christianity. 

If you don’t think mankind lost it all, what do you make of the world in which we live? How bad was Adam’s offense? Well, how bad were the consequences? How bad was the suffering of our Lord Jesus? This is the gospel: that we lost it all, but through Jesus, we get it all back. 

Look at verse 13, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”

It is God who supplies the power to live a God-centered life. Mature disciples of Jesus us make every effort to produce the results of God’s salvation, dreadfully aware that we are devoid of all good apart from Christ; but also, they can rest assured that, by His grace and power, 

Christ has enabled us to desire and act according to God’s sovereign will. Like I said before, in and through Jesus, we get it all back. We don’t earn it back. It’s a gift, not by works so that no one can boast! This was prophesied in the OT by the prophet Ezekiel. The LORD God said this 

through the prophet: “A new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”

“Both to will and to work.” In other words, both the inclination and the power to please God. Both the desire and the ability to satisfy God’s demands. Both the “want to” and the “doing” comes from God, according to his “good pleasure.” His benevolence, his kindness in making us able to do what we could never do. John Calvin interprets this verse and writes, “Paul has it in view to ascribe everything to God and to take everything from us...He teaches that the whole course of our life, if we live right, is regulated by God and that too from his unmerited goodness.”

Certainly, this is puzzling to the human mind. How much is human responsibility and how much is divine sovereignty? It’s hard to understand. But there is a God-centered answer. Giving all glory to God, and depending fully on him, we move forward in obedience, but not with self-confidence; rather, with dread of who we are apart from Jesus, and yet with deep resolve in who God is to us. 

I think it’s only right to turn to J.I. Packer once more this morning. He said this about the obedience of Jesus, who was both fully God and fully man at once: “The obedience of the God-man to the Father while he was on earth was not a new relationship occasioned by the Incarnation, but the continuation in time of the eternal relationship between the Son and the Father in heaven. As in heaven, so on earth, the Son was utterly dependent upon the Father’s will.” Jesus did for us what we were and are unable to perfectly do for ourselves: live a thorough and complete life of God-centered obedience. And so we look to him, we turn from sin and worship him. 

Have you reached out to him by faith? Have you trusted in the God-centered obedience of Jesus, to make you right with God and able to live for God?

Let’s pray together.