Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing. But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrificial service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. In the same way you should also be glad and rejoice with me. Philippians 2:12-18
There are three applications that follow in this section: practical Christianity (vv. 12-13), positive steadfastness (vv. 14-16), personal joy (vv. 17-18). Verses 12-13 tell us that obedience is directed to God, not Paul, who hoped his potential death would not dampen Christian enthusiasm. The phrase “work out” means to apply salvation, not to earn it. The phrase “fear and trembling” means to have proper respect in response to God’s blessing, because true obedience comes from reverence, not fright. And verse 13 (For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose) provides us with an even deeper incentive: Christians are recipients of God’s initiatives of motivation and empowerment.
Verses 14-16 deal with positive steadfastness. In verse 14 Paul tells us to “do everything without grumbling and arguing”, because both of those traits come from selfishness and vainglory. The phrase “so that you may be blameless and pure” (verse 15) introduces the metaphors that Paul is going to use to describe positive steadfastness. The first metaphor he uses says this “children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation”. What Paul is telling us is that we as believers are to be straight models for distorted lives. The second and last metaphor Paul uses says this “among whom you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life” (verses 15-16). Paul is telling us that are brilliance must contrast with the darkened world. Paul then finishes his instruction on positive steadfastness with these words “Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing” (verse 16). Paul is telling us the real reason that we should remain steadfast in our faith and in our “labors” for God is because we are not “laboring” or “working” for ourselves or for an earthly reward. But instead we are “laboring” or “working” for a heavenly reward that we only receive when our physical life on earth is over. That is why we are to be faultless in a crooked and perverted world and to be a shining star in the world.
In the last two verses of this section (vv. 17-18) Paul is dealing with personal joy. And this what Paul wrote: “But even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrificial service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. In the same way you should also be glad and rejoice with me.” Paul here is referencing or recalling the Old Testament sacrificial system, with Paul himself being the substance that is being offered up or “poured out” for these believers. Paul is telling us that he did not work as hard as he did for the Philippian church and for all of his other churches that he was an instrumental part in starting for himself, but rather he did it so that God’s plan could be fulfilled through him. That is what Paul meant when he wrote “but even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrificial service of your faith”. If you will notice the very next phrase tells exactly Paul’s true feelings about his hard work in preaching the gospel to everyone who heard his message. Paul writes, “I am glad and rejoice with all of you”. Paul’s contentment was not found in the reward of seeing the lives change of everyone who heard his message, but it was found in spreading the message that he had been sent to deliver. However, that does not mean that Paul did not celebrate the changes that happened in the lives of all those who heard his message. That is why Paul was able to write “I am glad and rejoice with all of you”. Paul was able to rejoice that those who were once part of a crooked and perverted world had now become the shinning stars who would help bring light to a dark world. Just as the Philippians were to rejoice that the same thing had to Paul and just as we are rejoice when the same thing happens to those around us. But we must remember that true life change does not through us but through the power of the Holy Spirit, who can make the dead things come back to life again.