Week 8 :: Philippians 2:12-18

12 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,

13 for it is God who works in you,

both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without grumbling or questioning,

15 that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God

without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation,

among whom you shine as lights in the world,

16 holding fast to the word of life,

so that in the day of Christ

I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

17 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.

18 Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

What a joy, what a blessed joy, it is to know that once the Lord calls us and justifies us, He doesn’t leave us on our own! After we are justified He is still at work in us for His good pleasure (not my life ideal!).

He wants us to obey, but He gives us the power to obey. He commands us to be holy just as He is Holy, but He sanctifies us.  So in our daily walk with the Lord we are called to obey and at the same time we can rest assured that our Salvation doesn’t depend on our performance.

MacArthur says,

“In Philippians 2:12–13, Paul presents the appropriate resolution between the believer’s part and God’s part in sanctification. Yet he makes no effort to rationally harmonize the two. He is content with the incomprehensibility and simply states both truths, saying, in effect, that, on the one hand, sanctification is of believers (v. 12) and on the other hand, it is of God (v. 13).”

One of the things we must do daily to work out our own salvation is as “simple” as stop complaining!

Read carefully verse 14,

“Do all things without grumbling or questioning”

When we live in discontentment we are definitely more prone to grumble all day and question every thing that comes to our lives. 

When we stop giving thanks to God we start to look at all the circumstances around us with a bittered spirit and we then stop growing in grace; and instead, we start to grow more impatient with our husband, children, parents, etc.


The next verse ties this up with strong cords… 

What is OUR MOTIVE for not grumbling and questioning everything around us? 


The only acceptable motive is this: A strong desire to please a Holy God; to be blameless and innocent before Him.


Seems like an impossible thing?  Yes, it is impossible for the unregenerate, but the children of God have hope; we can pursue a life without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation. We have hope because God is still at work in us, and because when everything around us seem to be shaking and falling apart we can hold fast to the Word of Life and not perish. What a wonderful news this is! O how, my heart leaps for joy!

Now I want to share a few notes to ENCOURAGE you to memorize a whole book of the Bible…

1. It takes time, but NO more than you would think; no more than the time it takes you to visit few blogs, or check facebook… so, if that is what you need to leave on the side in order to pursue this great blessing, do it!

2. Carry it around. It is great to have the book you are memorizing printed and pasted in a Moleskine because you can carry it around all day, everywhere. Timmy Brister has put together Philippians and Ephesians for this purpose.

3. Write it down. My friend Anne, who is also memorizing Philippians suggested this to me, and it has proved to be a great help. I have a journal fr that purpose and I try to write from memory several times the verses or chapters several times. (at least once a day).

4. Mutter it all day long. While cooking, folding laundry, driving.. fill your mind, your heart with the Word; meditate on it day and night and you’ll see how much your speech and thoughts will change!

5. Study it. This is a very important and profitable thing to do; buy a commentary of the book you will be memorizing and study it along. I study the comments on the verses I will be memorizing that day as part as my devotions. This not only helps me to get the most of the book, but it also helps me remember the verse. As I repeat it during the day, word by word, slowly so I won’t skip a word here and another one there, I know the meaning of those words, I understand the context and the purpose of those verses more clearly. For this purpose I bought the Journible that corresponds to the book of Philippians, and I copy the verses I have memorized and on the left  pages,  I jot down the notes from the commentary I am studying. (Read more of the Journibles here and  here)

6. Be transformed by it. Let the Word change YOU!
 

Because I really want to encourage you to start this wonderful discipline of memorizing whole books of the Bible; I want to give away the Journible for you to start copying and jotting down your study notes.

*Just leave a comment here and be willing to DO IT (memorize any epistle, or any other book that has a Journible to accompany it see the options here just mention which Jounible you would like to have).

* Please, don’t sign in if you plan to put this in a dusty bookshelf 🙂 (Only US, Canada and Mexico, please. If you live in a different country than these, and you own a Kindle, you can participate also… I will give you something else but related!)

* If you are already memorizing Philippians and would like to participate, you are more than welcome to do so!

* You can invite friends you think might be interested in memorizing the Scriptures  to participate in this giveaway. Feel free to pass the voice around!

I will choose a winner next Saturday, March 5… be sure to come back then!

Under His Sun,