May 27, 2001

Philippians 2:12-30

How to Find a Higher Purpose in Life

  1. Introduction
    1. Illustration - Bill Bright, in How to Be Filled with the Spirit, tells this story of a famous oil field called Yates Pool: During the depression this field was a sheep ranch owned by a man named Yates. Mr. Yates wasn't able to make enough on his ranching operation to pay the principal and interest on the mortgage, so he was in danger of losing his ranch. With little money for clothes or food, his family (like many others) had to live on government subsidy. Day after day, as he grazed his sheep over those rolling West Texas hills, he was no doubt greatly troubled about how he would pay his bills. Then a seismographic crew from an oil company came into the area and told him there might be oil on his land. They asked permission to drill a wildcat well, and he signed a lease contract. At 1,115 feet they struck a huge oil reserve. The first well came in at 80,000 barrels a day. Many subsequent wells were more than twice as large. In fact, 30 years after the discovery, a government test of one of the wells showed it still had the potential flow of 125,000 barrels of oil a day. And Mr. Yates owned it all. The day he purchased the land he had received the oil and mineral rights. Yet, he'd been living on relief. A multimillionaire living in poverty. The problem? He didn't know the oil was there even though he owned it. Greg Asimakoupoulos adds, Many Christians live in spiritual poverty. They are entitled to the gifts of the Holy Spirit and his energizing power, but they are not aware of their birthright.
    2. Context – Philippians 2:12-30 can help us so walk with God that we will always be aware of our birthright and of our higher purpose in life. Let’s read it together.
  1. Scripture Passage
    1. Philippians 2:12-30 - 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 according to his good purpose. Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16 as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. 17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. 18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me. I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. 20 I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. 21 For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22 But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. 23 I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. 24 And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon. But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. 26 For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. 27 Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. 28 Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety. 29 Welcome him in the Lord with great joy, and honor men like him, 30 because he almost died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for the help you could not give me.
    2. Notice how this passage starts with the word "therefore"? That means it is intimately connected with the preceding passage, the one about having Jesus’ attitude of humility. Understanding this is a real key to understanding how to find a higher purpose in life.
  1. Working Out
    1. Paul says that because of Jesus’ attitude and actions, and as a continuation of the way you’ve been obeying in submission as a result of listening, continue to work out your faith with fear and trembling. That is a rather intriguing line, because we like to think we have it all figured out. We like to think we have all the answers. But if we have the same attitude as Christ, then we won’t feel like we have our acts together. So what does it mean to work out our faith?
    2. Matthew Henry wrote that the word translated "work out" "signifies working thoroughly at a thing, and taking true pains… We must not only work at our salvation, by doing something now and then about it; but we must work out our salvation, by doing all that is to be done, and persevering therein to the end." In other words, we can’t earn our way to heaven, but we can work to integrate our faith into every aspect of our life. In The Interpreter’s Bible, Ernest F. Scott writes, "All Paul’s letters center around his discovery of this twofold working of the will of man and the will of God. Like all his forebears, and multitudes of his successors, he first thought of morality as rules of behavior or laws, imposed upon us by a moral ruler who required obedience and administered punishment to those who disobeyed. Then it dawned on him in a conversion that God is always trying to give us his life, his Spirit, if we would only put self out of the way and make room. God’s so-called requirements are simply the demands of our own nature, which he created to receive his Spirit and be transformed by it." Working out our salvation with fear and trembling, or a nervous anxiety to do right, involves working with Him to put ourselves out of the way in order to make room for Him.
    3. Paul uses the metaphor of a Christian’s walk with God being a runner in a race for good reason. Working out like a runner prepares us to run the race to win. Finding a higher purpose in life simply means preparing ourselves to run the race in such a way that we find God. The only higher purpose in life that matters for eternity is God as found through His Son Jesus Christ. No other purpose matters. No other god satisfies. Jesus is the only way to eternal life.
    4. So how do we prepare ourselves for eternal life? How do we work out our salvation with fear and trembling? Our primary preparation is to realize that none of us have our acts together spiritually. Not a single person in this room has arrived spiritually. Not you. Not me. So we must do those things that enable God to plant Jesus’ attitude of a servant within us. Then we will be able to, as verse fourteen says, "do everything without complaining or arguing." It’s a command, not an option, for those who want to follow Jesus. So how do we work out?
    5. Using again the metaphor of a runner, let’s go through some steps in the workout that will help us run to win and to help others along the way. If we take these steps, and take them for the sole purpose of becoming more Christ-like, we will be able to run the race so as to win the prize.
  1. The Work Out Routine
    1. First, we start with the warm-up. We prepare for the race and run it with prayer. So warm up by thanking God. Thank and praise Him for Who He is and what He has done in your life. Thank and praise Him for answering prayers that you or others have offered up to Him. This gets you warmed up.
    2. Second, start running on level turf. This means making the way easier by getting off of your chest anything that is between you and God. It’s called confession. If we confess our sins and turn from them, He will forgive us and cleanse us and restore us to right relationship with Him. Then we are prepared for the road ahead.
    3. Next, the road takes us to the foothills. Then part of the road where we begin to pray for God’s will in our lives and in the lives of others. We begin to intercede, and it’s easier at first but then the work becomes a little more difficult.
    4. Which brings us to the road up the mountain. We know we’re on our way up that ten-mile, fourteen-percent grade when we begin to agonize in prayer for our needs or the needs of others. Prayer becomes hard work. We are crying out to God and pleading with Him to change the unchangeable, to make possible the impossible. We cry and we weep and we grieve and we get mad and we are totally emotionally involved in our prayers.
    5. But then we get to the peak of the mountain and start down the backside. We’ve hit what runners call "the wall." We can’t go any farther uphill, so we yield to God and say, "Okay, You’ve heard how I want it done. Do it your way, Lord, however You choose." Then comes the peace of knowing it is in God’s hands. There may be many mountain climbs and runs down the backside in prayer, but once you’ve prayed like this, you’re ready to move on. This kind of prayer is the only kind I know of in which we can really connect with God and are able to surrender to Him. I recommend a minimum of a half-hour a day of prayer time at a stretch to allow time for this kind of prayer.
    6. One thing my brother always told me when he would go running is that running down hill wears out different muscles than running uphill or on a level surface does. So guess what? We can’t run downhill all day. It’s time to start running up the mountain of the Word. After earnest prayer time, it’s time to spend at least fifteen minutes reading the Bible devotionally. Some people can just read it and get something out of it. Some people have to have a handy commentary nearby in order to understand it. That’s okay. No one is better than anyone else in that way, because we all learn differently. But running up the mountain of the Word means that we read the Bible and figure out what it means. It may be one verse read repeatedly in its context to understand what it means. It may mean going through several chapters to get a feel for what the book is saying. But it is imperative that we run up the mountain of the Word because we need to read it if we want to work out our faith.
    7. Then we come to the peak and the downhill run. The peak comes at the moment when the truth of what the Bible is saying dawns on us. Then we start the downhill run of understanding how it applies to our lives. Remember, running down a mountain uses a different set of muscles. Those muscles help us figure out what difference the verses we’ve read will mean to our lives today. The Bible is an immensely practical book. And there are a lot of good Christian books around to help us figure out how to apply the concepts that we have the most trouble with.
    8. We’ve run across a flat and through foothills. We’ve run up and down mountains in prayer and Bible study. Now we’re getting back into the foothills. That’s where we praise and thank God for the time He’s spent with us teaching us and renewing us through prayer and Bible study. It’s where we ask Him to help us to actually take what we’ve learned and apply it to our lives today. Not tomorrow. Not "sometime in the future." Today. And we commit ourselves and our day to Him.
    9. The final stretch in our day is ahead. The flat stretch toward the finish of the day. The stretch where runners dig up every last ounce of strength and willpower they can muster to try to win the race. It makes up most of the day. It’s the part where we actually do what we’ve learned. Where we actually rely on God to answer our prayers and to work out His will in our lives. Where the truth of the Word is actually applied to our lives. This is the hardest part because we’ve already had a couple of mini-mountaintop experiences. But without doing what we’ve learned, the rest of the race is worthless. That’s why Paul included these verses about Timothy and Epaphroditus. They are examples of how to run the race in such a way that we can win the prize. Their selflessness and their dedication to helping others were merely the outflow of the race they were running within. That is how we should run. So that Paul would be able to say about us the same thing he wrote about the Philippians in verse sixteen – in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.
  1. Conclusion
    1. How are you running the race? How well are you working out your salvation with fear and trembling? One thing that I have discovered through helping people work through their problems is that the problems started because they either did not have a relationship with Jesus Christ or because they did not have an adequate daily devotional life. How are you running the race? Do you want to finish the race, or do you want to drop out?
    2. If you are not having a daily devotional life like I described, with honest prayer and devotional Bible reading, sooner or later you are going to fall. You may or may not be able to get back up, depending on how hard you fall. Jim Bakker eventually got back up and is in the race again. Judas Iscariot didn’t.
    3. Or maybe you run this kind of race and spend this kind of time, but God is calling you to move up from the 5K to the 10K or to the marathon. Are you willing to step up your training? One question remains for all of us to ask ourselves: what is God asking me to do about this and what am I willing to do about it?
    4. With every head bowed and every eye closed, if you are willing to follow God’s leading in running the race at a higher level than you ever have before, and you’re willing to do whatever it takes to get you there, please respond by raising your hand or coming forward as a sign of commitment to God. Don’t let this chance pass you by.
    5. Let’s pray.
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