Philippians 2:12-13 12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Command: Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling (worship and respect)
Why? Because God is acting through the lives of believers. God operated in the life of the believer:
God's Spirit gives both the desire and teh strength to live for the Lord.
Action - What is it that I believe? What is challenging me in my current situaion? And what would it look like in my life if I believed God's truth?
Truth: God is in control. I trust in God's sovereingty
"The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, "Surely, as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. And as I have purposed, so it shall stand." Isaiah 14:24
Nothing is random or comes by chance.
"I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand and I will do all that I please." Isaiah 46:10
"All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as He pleases with the power of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him "Waht have you done?" Daniel 4:35
Unlimited in power, unrivaled in majesty, and not thwarted by anything outside Himself, our God is in complete control of all circumstances, causing or allowing them for His own good purposes and plans to be fulfilled exactly as He has foreordained.
We can rejoice in our God's sovereignty because it is overshadowed by His goodness, His love, His mercy, His compassion, His faithfulness, adn His holiness.
We can't trust someone we don't know. But we can know Him because He choses to reveal Himself through the Holy Spirit and through His word. If we drink deeply of His word, and let it fill our minds and hearts, the sovereignty of God will become clear to us, and we will rejoice in it because we will know intimately and trust completely with God who controls all things for His perfect purpose. (Notes taken from Got Questions: How can I learn to trust that God is in control?)
"Oh that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know Him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring" (Hosea 6:3 NLT)
- we are to continue in ongoing obedience to waht we have already been taught, to show the results of our salvation.
- this is not to work for salvation but to live out - to practice, demonstrate and exhibit the salvation we have in Christ.
- I am to put the truth of my belief into practice
- what I am in Christ needs to be "worked out" through my actions and attitudes
Why? Because God is acting through the lives of believers. God operated in the life of the believer:
- First - to "will" His good pleasure - to lead a believer to serve the Lord in what pleases Him
- Second - to "work" for His good pleasure. This is not legalistic obedience but obedience based on a love for God because of the Spirit living within the believer.
God's Spirit gives both the desire and teh strength to live for the Lord.
Action - What is it that I believe? What is challenging me in my current situaion? And what would it look like in my life if I believed God's truth?
Truth: God is in control. I trust in God's sovereingty
"The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, "Surely, as I have thought, so shall it come to pass. And as I have purposed, so it shall stand." Isaiah 14:24
Nothing is random or comes by chance.
"I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand and I will do all that I please." Isaiah 46:10
"All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as He pleases with the power of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him "Waht have you done?" Daniel 4:35
Unlimited in power, unrivaled in majesty, and not thwarted by anything outside Himself, our God is in complete control of all circumstances, causing or allowing them for His own good purposes and plans to be fulfilled exactly as He has foreordained.
We can rejoice in our God's sovereignty because it is overshadowed by His goodness, His love, His mercy, His compassion, His faithfulness, adn His holiness.
We can't trust someone we don't know. But we can know Him because He choses to reveal Himself through the Holy Spirit and through His word. If we drink deeply of His word, and let it fill our minds and hearts, the sovereignty of God will become clear to us, and we will rejoice in it because we will know intimately and trust completely with God who controls all things for His perfect purpose. (Notes taken from Got Questions: How can I learn to trust that God is in control?)
"Oh that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know Him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring" (Hosea 6:3 NLT)
PHilippians 3:10
http://www.jesuswalk.com/paul/11_knowing.htm
Paul knows he is "in Christ," that he is united with Christ. But you sense in Paul a quest that isn't fully satisfied. He has an insatiable hunger, a passion, a longing to know Christ more, to experience his presence more fully, less interrupted by life's circumstances.
Paul is hungry and thirsty for even more. He can't get enough of intimacy with Christ. For Paul, to know Christ was worth giving up everything.