Am I being a Christian in His presence only or am I going to choose to be a Christian
when I'm surrounded by friends?
In this episode we're talking about becoming a mature believer and the two verses I will
mainly be talking about are verses 12 and 13 of Philippians chapter 2. So let's turn there and
just read them real quick.
Before we even jump into that I want to set this episode just well. In the first
11 verses Paul is challenging us of the right heart. He's telling us have a humble heart,
have the same mind that was in Christ which was the mind of humility. That's the challenge in
the first 11 verses and then after we have a right heart, now we can begin to grow in the
kingdom of God. The heart is the root, it's the foundation and if your foundations are not set
well then there's nothing else that you could do after that that will make you successful.
So the first 11 verses of chapter 2 is him encouraging and employing us have the right
heart and uses Jesus as an example how he had the right heart. After we have the right heart
now he starts telling us how we can now mature as believers and the verse I want to look at is
in Proverbs 4 23. It says,
This verse echoes the importance of having a healthy heart because that is how we grow in
the Lord. Paul was challenging them and us today to have a humble heart because that is the
healthiest type of heart. Once you have a humble heart now you can grow in the Lord
and in these two verses you kind of see a glimpse because the rest of the chapter talks about
growing in the Lord but in these two verses you kind of see a glimpse of how to grow.
Let's jump to verse 12 of chapter 2 and let's look at the first part of verse 12
and this is probably every pastor's dream, every pastor's desire that what you teach your people
they will take it home and leave it out. In the church today we have a lot of part-time Christians.
Christians who are Christians, very strong Christians in the church or in front of people
but when they go home where they're alone they're a completely different animal. They're mean,
they're rude, there's not the love of God that they put front in the church is nowhere to be
seen. Paul is commending the Philippians here saying, he's saying this is what I'm gonna repeat
that, Therefore my beloved as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only but much more
in my absence. Who you are at home or in private is who you truly are. If you're mean in private
that's who you are but all the other faces that people put on when they get out their houses
that's not them and it's very tiring. It's exhausting to have to pretend to be something
that you're not and I want to encourage this. Be who you are. Let the Lord change you into His image
so you can be that everywhere you go. For me the longest thing for the longest time that I
would struggle with in private I was a good Christian but in public I was trying to put
forth this image of a rebellious just party dude and that was never me and I would be exhausted
because I would try to pretend to be something that I'm not and then one day the Lord just
challenged me and He didn't even say anything and I was just studying the word and this
understanding just came into my heart. It was like a download and the Lord was just saying
are you going to stay who you are or are you going to change depending on your environment
and there was no words. He didn't say anything. I didn't say anything. I just sat there with my
arms folded and I just was quiet. I was probably quiet maybe I was quiet for 30 seconds but it
felt like I was quiet forever and I just sat there and I just began to process and understand
am I being a Christian in His presence only or am I being or am I going to choose to be
a Christian when I'm surrounded by friends. That's the challenge. Are you going to stand
on the truth of God's word regardless of what's around you. Remember Paul is writing this letter
in a prison. He's not in his house with people helping around that's and he's
saying, live out who you are, whether he's there or not there.
So that's what I was talking about in the two episodes ago.
There's a lot of people who paid the price for this gospel,
and we cannot flip-flop and choose who we want to be around who.
If you're a Christian, be a Christian.
And that's how you become a mature believer,
by growing in who God says you are,
and being that everywhere you go,
not changing based on your environment.
So now let's go to the latter half of verse 12.
And I'm going to read that latter half in three different translations,
because they all bring out something very interesting.
In the New King James, it says this,
In the complete Jewish Bible, it says,
In the NLT, it says this,
Obeying God with deep reverence and fear.
Now, before we go any further,
the Greek word of the word salvation is the word soteria.
And it means this,
That is why salvation is more than just being saved.
When we're added into the kingdom of God,
there are a lot more things that are available to us.
And so I feel sad sometimes when all we talk about,
about salvation is just being saved. That's a piece of the pie.
There are other slices in this thing.
And we limit ourselves to just like, I'm saved. That's all I need. And I'm good.
But we must grow from salvation into other different things.
It starts with salvation, but it doesn't end with salvation.
When Holy Spirit says, work out your own salvation,
He's talking about the full benefits of salvation,
which is more than being saved. If you're struggling with anxiety,
work out the peace of God that comes through your salvation of fear.
If you're struggling with sexual sin,
work out the purity of God that comes through your salvation of a
lust. If you're struggling with pride,
work out the humility of God that comes through your salvation of a
self. If you struggle with health issues,
work out the healing power of God that comes through your salvation of a
sickness. Salvation is more than being saved.
In Psalms 103,
you see other benefits of salvation.
I'm going to read it real quick.
Bless the Lord all my soul and all that is within me bless His holy
name.
Bless the Lord all my soul and forget not all His
benefits, who forgives all your iniquities,
who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction,
who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies,
who satisfies your mouth with good things so that
your youth is renewed like eagles.
That's all part of salvation.
It's not just being saved.
So now let's talk about working out our own salvation.
To understand how to work out your own salvation,
you must know that we are spirit being,
we have a soul and we live in this physical body.
And in the last episode I talked about that.
So I'm not going to really go into much depth about that.
The day we get saved,
only our spirit is made righteous or saved.
Our soul is being made saved or righteous and our bodies will be
made righteous or saved on resurrection morning.
So it's a continuous thing and you'll hear a lot of people say already,
not yet. And that's why they say that. We are already saved,
meaning our spirit is saved.
Not yet in terms of our soul is not yet saved because we have to renew our
mind. We have to do all these different things and our bodies will be saved
on resurrection morning or when we go to heaven and we get our new bodies.
So it's a progression. It's not a one-time deal.
Look at James one verse 21,
therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness and
receive with meekness the implanted word,
which is able to save your souls.
This letter was being written to believers.
It was not just written to everybody.
This was a letter for believers and he's telling them the implanted word of
God can save their souls.
What James means is this. Our spirit is saved. Awesome. Great.
But your soul has to be saved by the word of God.
So when Holy Spirit says to work out our own salvation,
he means to manifest our salvation from our
spirit into our soul and into our body.
Work out what has happened within you to your outsides because nobody can see
you being saved. How can people tell you're saved? By your fruit and that
fruit is produced with a renewed mind. Our soul is made up of our mind, will
and emotions. We work out our salvations to our souls by renewing our mind
according to Romans 12 2 and this is what it says. And do not be conformed to
this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. When you renew your
mind you're proving what is a good acceptable and perfect will of God and
that's how you work out your salvation. You read the scriptures, you renew your
mind and then you see God tells me through his word to walk in love. So what
do I do? I meditate on that. I study love. I study what does love look like in the
kingdom. It's very unconditional and then once I have that understanding I begin
to walk it out. So that is me working out my salvation. When you renew your mind
according to the Word of God, your will will be changed and your emotions
will be tamed. When you renew your mind according to the Word of God, this is
remember the process of becoming a mature believer. This is how we work out
our salvation. When you renew your mind according to the Word of God, your will
your decision maker will be changed and now you begin to want to do things that
God wants to do and your emotions will be tamed. You're not just gonna do what
you feel like because now there's a higher power within you. You're gonna
express your emotions according to the Word of God and your emotions will be
tamed. Do you know that a lot of crime are done out of passion? Out of
unrestrained emotions? Because that's then the emotions have not been tamed and
the only way to tame the emotions is through renewing your mind. In chapter 12
of Romans verse 1 says this,
I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your
reasonable service. So if the task for the soul is to renew it, the
task for our body is to sacrifice. I'm gonna repeat that. If the task for the
soul is to renew it, the task for the body is to sacrifice. We cannot let our
bodies do what they feel like doing. We cannot let our bodies go in a sin. We
have to tame. We have to sacrifice. We have to bring it in and say no. In 1
Corinthians 9 27 Paul says this, I put my body under subjection so that I
myself might not be a castaway. He had to bring his body, bring his flesh and tell
you will not sin. This is what you're going to do. We are going to pray. So if
you renew your mind and then you are bringing your body in a subjection
you're becoming a mature believer because you're not just acting willy-nilly.
You're letting the leadership of the Holy Spirit lead you. We cannot let our
bodies be involved in sin. We have to choose to not to do that. It's our
decision. God is not gonna decide it for us. He gives us a will so that we can
tell ourselves no. You are going to study the Bible and you are going to pray. We
must set our bodies apart from sin and present it to God for his purpose. That's
why you bring your body under subjection. You work out your own
salvation by renewing your mind and making your body a living sacrifice and
setting it apart from sin. And verse 13 is probably a relief for me and I'm
appreciating it for a lot of people. It reminds us that God is right there with
us in this journey of becoming a mature believer. For it is God and this is what
verse 13 says. For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His
good pleasure. It is Him. So this is how it works. We renew our mind. We study
the Bible. We tell our bodies no you're not gonna sin. And as we're doing this
the Holy Spirit is working in us. He's changing our hearts. He's taking the
words that we are studying and giving us a revelation. He's taking the sacrifice
so we can pray and making the prayer time a powerful time and a sweet time.
That's how we do it together. That's how we partner with the Holy Spirit. Holy
Spirit tells us that it is He who works in us to give us the will to do His good
pleasure. There have been times in my personal life where the last thing I've
wanted was to spend time with the Lord. But because of
of the Holy Spirit working with me.
He helps me give me the confidence.
He helps me remind myself like,
hey, this is more important than watching TV.
This is more important than hanging out with my friends.
We become mature believers by working out our salvation
and by trusting Holy Spirit to work in us.
That's the journey of becoming a mature believer.
We study, we pray, and we partner with the Holy Spirit
in that journey.
Becoming a mature believer is a process
that does not happen overnight.
On this journey, you will have highs and lows,
but the most important thing we must remember
is that we are not alone.
We have God, the Holy Spirit with us
throughout the whole journey.
That's why I love verse 13.
And I'm just gonna read again
because it just blesses my soul.
For it is God who works in you,
both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Amen?