The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost --- 28 September 2014

Philippians 2:1-13

1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death -- even death on a cross.

9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling

• The apostle Paul wrote to the church at Philippi because it was a church in trouble. There were arguments, factions, and a breakdown in the unity of the church there.
• The church at Philippi was the first church founded by Paul on the continent of Europe. The congregation was composed of people of all classes of the society of the city, but generally the church was seen as a poor one money. Still, they contributed to Paul's collection for the sisters and brothers of the church in Judea. Paul had a very large soft spot in his heart for the Philippians and so was quite disturbed to hear of their troubles.
• We don't know if Paul was in prison when this letter was written. The letter hints at it but says nothing specific. He does say that the Philippian Church was suffering and this could refer to internal splits and factions, to misguided teaching, or to external persecution.
• Paul makes it clear that he wants the church to be united - be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. What we hear in today's reading includes Paul's great canticle on Jesus' emptying of himself for the salvation of the world. It may be that Paul is quoting a early Christian hymn that the Philippians would recognize. Using this, Paul tell the Philippians to Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, This, then, would assure the unity of the church far more than any other thing.
• Paul then tells his readers to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling... This could be confusing to us today. It sounds as if we are to take charge of our own salvation and work it out for ourselves. It also sounds that this is to be done in an attitude of “fear and trembling” rather than joy and confidence. Taken at face value, it sounds like what classical Lutheran theology called “works righteousness” which could be called an earned salvation which trusts in our own doings. In our own age, this appears in various Christian groups where salvation depends on either good deeds that can be counted up and “cashed in” for a place in heaven or where salvation depends on each person's decision to take Jesus as their “personal saviour.”
• So as you can see, some explanation is necessary here.
• Paul says each disciple must work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Add to this the passage from Ps. 111 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Ps. 111:10) We can also add the words of the Small Catechism's explanation of the first commandment:

                        You shall have no other gods.

                        What does this mean?
                        Answer. - We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.

• We are all familiar with the idea of the Fear of the Lord. Fear in this context is not terror (although it is.) There is a word in the English language that carries with it what phrase means and that word is “awe.” That word is terribly over used (and cheapened) these days. It really can be fear but it is also the sensation one gets when seeing the ocean, looking down from a great height, standing at the foot of a mountain, or looking up at a starry sky. That speechless sensation or emotion is awe and that is what the Hebrew expression we translate as “fear of the Lord” means.
• The trembling Paul speaks of is not necessarily shaking with fear although can be and often is.
  What it more than likely refers to is humility and the acknowledgement that we are less than we pretend to be and God is more than we could ever imagine. So work out your own salvation with fear and trembling comes to mean standing before God with awe and humility to accept the gift of salvation from our awesome God. It is not an exhortation to take charge of our own do-it-yourself salvation in the face of a ferocious God, but a call to live in humility and constant dependence on God's help.
• If we don't read further in this passage, we encounter the danger of taking a verse or a part of a verse out of context. What follows the exhortation to work out our salvation is the reminder and proclamation of grace - for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
• ...for we might forget that grace is always the original and final movement. But Paul did not! In this part of the letter, he urges the Philippians to trust in the grace of God to complete all that God wants for them.
• What does God want of the Philippians? The same thing God want of us here today in Aylmer:
• ...be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.... Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death -- even death on a cross.
• If any of us here – and first of all, your pastor – wonders and wants to know what God's will is for each of us, this passage is the place to begin.

Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.