Sanctification Part I: Change Is Possible (Philippians 2:12-18)

Philippians 2:12-18; Key Verse: 2:12b-13

"...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."

The 1 point of my 2012 New Year sermon is: "Because God works in you (accepts you/saves you), you can change and you will change." Are you changing? Stated differently, the 1 point is: "Because God accepts you, change is now possible." Thus, there will always be change in a Christian's life, and it will always work itself out in our lives daily. This is salvation. Salvation never means, "I save myself by my repentance, my faith, my decision and my will." Rather, salvation always means, "God saved me, even though I am (completely) helpless to save myself."

West Loop UBF Church has prayed that 2010 may be the year of the Gospel and that 2011 may be a year of Grace. For 2012 we pray that it may be the year of Sanctification. (This sounds scary, especially for me!)

What is sanctification? What does it have to do with salvation?

There are 3 stages of salvation: Justification, Sanctification, Glorification. Justification removes the penalty of sin (hell). Sanctification removes the power of sin (the pattern of sin in one's life). Glorification removes the presence of sin (perfection), which does not occur till Jesus 2nd Coming. In Christ, God accepts us and adopts us in Justification, changes us in Sanctification, and perfects us in Glorification. All 3 stages fully involve the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Spirit (2 Cor 13:14). J. I. Packer summarizes the gospel as,

"God saves sinners. God—the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Spirit; three Persons working together in sovereign wisdom, power and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen people, the Father electing, the Son fulfilling the Father’s will by redeeming, the Spirit executing the purpose of Father and Son by renewing. Saves—does everything, first to last, that is involved in bringing man from death in sin to life in glory: plans, achieves and communicates redemption, calls and keeps, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies."

Before his martyrdom in Ecuador in 1956, Jim Elliot wrote in 1949, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." He has written other memorable quotable words as well, such as, "God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus." (1948) Also, "The will of God is always a bigger thing than we bargain for." (1952) Elliot understood the primacy of God in sanctification. He understood that because God is working in him, his life will work itself out and count toward the kingdom of God.

My 3 point sermon on Sanctification is as follows:

1. What it is.
2. What it does.
3. What it's like.
   

I. What is Sanctification (Php 2:12-13)? How does it work? Why it works?

Php 2:12-13 is 1 of the most important passages in all of the Bible about sanctification. Sanctification is a technical term that theologians and Bible teachers use to describe what it means to grow in Christian maturity.

The NT talks about sanctification in many ways: becoming more and more like Jesus, imitating Jesus, emulating Jesus, becoming more godly, having the fruit of the Spirit, having the law of God written in our heart by the Holy Spirit, being reshaped in the image of God, which was not lost, but marred, not erased but effaced by sin. In sanctification God is addressing that marring, and healing it and restoring it to its former glory so that we would be what He intended us to be in the 1st place: the very image and likeness of God Almighty.

Paul begins in Php 2:12 with "Therefore..." which should prompt the question, "What is 'therefore' there for?" Paul is pointing back to Php 2:5-11, which is the humiliation and exaltation of Christ. Thus, "therefore" is there for encouraging Christians to live in light of Jesus' humble obedience in his humiliation and exaltation.

What is the difference between our work and God's work? The Greek word for man's "work" (Php 2:12) is katergazesthai, which always has the idea of bringing to completion. Paul does not want us to stop half-way, or burn out, or suffer from CFS - Christian Fatigue Syndrome. No happy Christian ever thinks, "I've arrived. I'm there" (cf. Php 3:12). Instead, every Christian knows that "I am a work in progress. I am still under construction."

However, the Greek word for God's "work" in us (Php 2:13) is energein, a word which is always used of the action of God, and it is always used of effective action that cannot be frustrated, nor can it remain half-finished; it must be fully effective. This is not an excuse for failure or apathy. Instead, how comforting and reassuring it is to know that God's work can never fail, and will never fail, even if my work fails and falls short all the time.

II. What Sanctification Does (Php 2:12-18)? The 9 signs/evidences of Sanctification (Salvation) are:

1. Obedience: "as you have always obeyed" (Php 2:12; 3:12-16). Pursue godliness/holiness.
   
2. Perseverance: "continue" (Php 2:12).
3. Awe: "fear and trembling" (Php 2:12).
4. Purpose: "his good purpose" (Php 2:13).
5. Gratitude: "without complaining or arguing" (Php 2:14).
6. Purity: "blameless and pure...without fault" (Php 2:15a).
7. Evangelism: "shine like stars---hold out the word of life" (Php 2:15b-16a).
8. Sacrifice: "poured out like a drink offering" (Php 2:17a).
9. Joy: "I am glad and rejoice" (Php 2:17b-18).

How are these 9 signs and evidences of sanctification working themselves out in your life?

III. What is Sanctification Like (Php 2:16b-17)? Sanctification is like:

1. An athlete racing/competing to win the prize (Php 2:16b, 3:14; 2 Tim 4:8; 1 Cor 9:24-27).
2. An offering poured out to God (Php 2:17-18; 2 Tim 4:6).
   

The practical "real" problem in the Christian life is that we still have sin in us. Because of sin still in us, we either despair in fatalism that we will never change. Or we primarily change outwardly like a Pharisee, so that we try to look good in the eyes of others (Mt 23:25-28), not that this ever works. Paul's encouragement to us is that real heart change and real life change is possible because it is God whose work in us can never fail (Phil 1:6; 1 Cor 8:6, 12:6; 2 Cor 3:5; Eph 2:8-10; Rom 6:17; 2 Th 1:11-12; Heb 13:20-21; 1 Pet 4:11; Gal 5:22-23). This reminds me of a poem that expresses God's ever present grace to us:

I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew
He moved my soul to seek him, seeking me.
It was not I that found, O Savior true;
No, I was found of thee. (Anonymous)

Questions:

1. To what is "therefore" referring (2:5-11)? What does it mean to "work out your salvation" (12)? "...for it is God who works in you" (13)? What is the difference between our "work" and God's "works"? What is sanctification (1 Th 5:23; 1 Pet 1:2)? How does salvation "work" (1 Cor 8:6, 12:6; 2 Cor 3:5; Eph 2:8-10; Php 1:6; Rom 6:17; 2 Th 1:11-12; Heb 13:20-21; 1 Pet 4:11; Gal 5:22-23)?
   
2. Notice and discuss the "signs" of salvation in Phil 2:12-16a:
• Daily practical work (12; 3:12-16).
• Fear and trembling (12).
• Without grumbling or arguing (14).
• Blameless, pure and without fault (15a).
• Shine forth the word of life (15b-16a).
  
3. Notice Paul's use of athletic imagery: run and labor (16b; 3:14; 2 Tim 4:8; 1 Cor 9:24-27), and religious sacrifice: poured out like a drink offering (17; 2 Tim 4:6). What does this tell us about Paul's life (1 Cor 15:30-31)? How should the Philippians view suffering (18; 1:19)?

References:

1. The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, William Barclay, The New Daily Study Bible, 1975, 2003.
2. Live Life in Light of the Humiliation and Exaltation of Christ, Ligon Duncan, Php 2:12-13, Sermon 2/10/08.
   
3. Sanctification 101 and Missions, Ligon Duncan, Php 2:12-13, Sermon 2/17/08.
4. The One Thing Necessary, Thomas Watson, Phil 1:12: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."
5. B.B. Warfield on the Doctrine of Sanctification. A summary of a lecture by Fred G. Zaspel. 

Addendum:

Sanctification by Louis Berkhof: Sanctification is a work of the triune God, but is ascribed more particularly to the Holy Spirit in Scripture, Rom 8:11; 15:16; 1 Pet 1:2. It is particularly important in our day, with its emphasis on the necessity of approaching the study of theology anthropologically and its one-sided call to service in the kingdom of God, to stress the fact that God, and not man, is the author of sanctification. Especially in view of the Activism that is such a characteristic feature of American religious life, and which glorifies the work of man rather than the grace of God, it is necessary to stress the fact over and over again that sanctification is the fruit of justification, that the former is simply impossible without the latter, and that both are the fruits of the grace of God in the redemption of sinners. Though man is privileged to cooperate with the Spirit of God, he can do this only in virtue of the strength which the Spirit imparts to him from day to day. The spiritual development of man is not a human achievement, but a work of divine grace. Man deserves no credit whatsoever for that which he contributes to it instrumentally. In so far as sanctification takes place in the subconscious life, it is effected by the immediate operation of the Holy Spirit. But as a work in the conscious life of believers it is wrought by several means, which the Holy Spirit employs. 

1. The Word of God

In opposition to the Church of Rome it should be maintained that the principal means used by the Holy Spirit is the Word of God. The truth in itself certainly has no adequate efficiency to sanctify the believer, yet it is naturally adapted to be the means of sanctification as employed by the Holy Spirit. Scripture presents all the objective conditions for holy exercises and acts. It serves to excite spiritual activity by presenting motives and inducements, and gives direction to it by prohibitions, exhortations, and examples, 1 Pet 1:22; 2:2; 2 Pet 1:4.


2. The Sacraments


These are the means par excellence according to the Church of Rome. Protestants' regard them as subordinate to the Word of God, and sometimes even speak of them as the "visible Word." They symbolize and seal to us the same truths that are verbally expressed in the Word of God, and may be regarded as an acted word, containing a lively representation of the truth, which the Holy Spirit makes the occasion for holy exercise They are not only subordinate to the Word of God, but cannot exist without it, and are therefore always accompanied by it, Rom 6:3; 1 Cor 12:13; Tit 3:5; 1 Pet 3:21. 

3. Providential Guidance

God's providences, both favorable and adverse, are often powerful means of sanctification. In connection with the operation of the Holy Spirit through the Word, they work on our natural affections and thus frequently deepen the impression of religious truth and force it home. It should be borne in mind that the light of God's revelation is necessary for the interpretation of His providential guidance's, Ps 119:71; Rom 2:4; Heb 12:10.