Philippians 2:12-30, What Kind of Work Do You Do?, Dr. John B. Carpenter

Philippians chapter 2, be reading from verses 12 to 30, hear the word of the

Lord. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.

Likewise, you also should be glad and rejoice with me. I hope in the Lord Jesus to send

Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you, for I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare, for they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

But you know Timothy's proven worth, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.

I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, and I trust in the

Lord that shortly I myself will come also. I have thought it necessary to send to you

Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.

Indeed, he was ill, near to death, but God had mercy on him and not only on him, but on me also, unless I should have sorrow upon sorrow.

I am the more eager to send him, therefore that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.

So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his holy word. Well one of the common questions we ask new people when you first meet them is, what kind of work do you do?

We figure it's an easy way to learn a lot about the person, about who they are, are they a restaurant worker, a restaurateur, a student, a teacher, a retailer, a homemaker, a software engineer, a shopkeeper, a physical therapist, a barista, a custodian, an editor.

So the culture says our work to some extent defines us. Sure we'd like to have time off from work, we need a day off per week, and we look forward to vacation so we get some time off from being defined by our work.

For just a few days we could be something else, a vacationer, a camper, a tourist, a diver, a diner, a spectator.

But then when the vacation is over, a lot of people are secretly happy to get back to work.

Now sure work may be a headache sometimes, the daily grind, but doing nothing feels meaningless.

Once the vacation is over, some think, I could go back to work. After all,

I am a restaurateur, a student, a teacher, a retailer, a homemaker, a software engineer, a shopkeeper, a teacher, a physical therapist, a barista, an editor, a custodian.

Even if your current job isn't your dream job, still most people feel that there's something missing if they aren't working.

Work defines you, or at least what the culture tells us that it does, that it defines us.

If work defines us, then what happens then when you don't have any work?

Do you have no definition, no identity? Being unemployed doubles a person's chance of depression and increases the risk of suicide.

You'd think that being without work, you'd be free. Now I can have all this free time to do all the things I enjoy, but they found that unemployed people often isolate themselves socially, so in other words, they're all by themselves, and they end up where they don't enjoy the things they once did enjoy when they were employed.

Have you ever noticed that when you have less to do, you get less done? Well, what kind of work do you do?

Here at Philippians 2, we see the work we should be doing in three parts. First, the work, second, the kind of work, and then the workers.

Verse 12 begins with, therefore, our therefore, following God's therefore in verse 9, the

Lord Jesus had the form of God, that's the glory of being God, and yet he became a servant. Therefore, because of that,

God the Father highly exalted him. So now, therefore, because of God the

Father's exalting Jesus, now, verse 12, we work. It's a command.

Work, work out. Verses 12 and 13 tell us four things about this work, about who, what, how, and why.

Who does the work? Well, some Christians are so afraid of sounding like we're talking about works, about legalism, that they'll say, no, we don't have to work.

You can if you want, but you don't really have to. Let go and let God. Just let it flow and be on the go.

Working is unbelief, they'll tell us. You don't need to discipline yourself, to read your Bible, or to pray, or to deny yourself, to keep away from temptation.

You don't have to go to church or to do anything that you don't feel like doing. All that, they think, is just dreary rules.

We're into a relationship. And what do you do with a child who, instead of doing his chores, says, you know, ah, mom, dad, don't be so much about rules.

You know, taking out the trash, and mowing the grass, and cleaning my room. Let's just have a relationship.

Get to work. Well, who has to work? We do. You do.

If salvation has been worked in you, you need to work it out, and a real relationship with God will get you to work.

What? Work out what? Well, it says, work out your own salvation.

Notice it doesn't say, work for your salvation. That's what many people assume, that they can work for it.

Of course, that's legalism. And if there's one thing many people now understand, it's that legalism is bad.

And so they think, working hard is legalism. High standards is legalism.

But working a little bit, you know, low standards, just like saying that salvation is just by repeating a prayer, it's just getting baptized, even if you're not changed at all, that's, well, that's light work.

And so that's not legalism, they think. And their salvation depends on that. Light work, they think.

So grace now means easy work. That's what they think.

In our very indulgent day, people have very low standards, and so they don't think they're legalists.

They think they're low standards of work, they're light work. It's not legalism. They don't believe in vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and living in a monastery all your life, and doing nothing but praying, and chanting, and rituals, and self -flagellation, and fasting, and all that.

But they're still legalists. They're just legalists with low standards, as long as they're usually the way they think, as long as I'm usually faithful to, quote, my partner, most of the time, as long as I haven't killed too many people,

I'm not like a serial killer. Well, I'm all right, they think. And so their work is being not too bad, and kind of barely religious, and they will still honestly believe that's good enough.

That's enough work for salvation. And they'll say they're not legalists, but they are legalists.

They're just legalists with very low standards. But here, we aren't to work for a salvation we don't have, but to work out a salvation we already have.

Now, some people try to work out what they don't have. They try to work, they try to read their Bible, and to pray, and to be part of a church, and to avoid temptations, but because they have no love of God Himself, no love of His Word, no real desire for a relationship with the

Lord, and no love for the body of Christ, and they really do love those temptations, the sexual immorality, the drunkenness, or whatever, they can't do it.

Salvation doesn't come out of them because it's not in them. Oh, they might be able to keep themselves moral or religious, but they can't work out salvation.

Instead, for them, it just works, and someone needs to tell them, you can't work out what hasn't been worked in.

By phrasing it, work out, like Paul does here, work out, he's implying that there is salvation already in you, that now you need to work to get it out.

Christ is in you, and you need to work to get more of Him out of you in the way you live. You need to read the

Bible, you need to pray, you need to come to church, you need to cultivate your new nature to be more like Jesus, and so you deny yourself some things, maybe some movies, some cable

TV shows, some relationships, or drinks, if you feel that they bring out of you what is not like Jesus.

But salvation has to be in you first. If it's not, all the work will be for nothing.

How? Verse 13 tells us how to work. With fear and trembling, be aware of your own weaknesses, and your sins, and your fallibility, your blind spots, and how easily you could be trapped and fall.

Be afraid of how vulnerable you are to slip into sin, then tremble at the judgment and the destruction that you could bring on yourself if you do.

The Lord Jesus warned us, do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear

Him who is able to destroy both the soul and the body in hell. Are you susceptible to sexual immorality?

Well, then don't put yourself in situations where you could be tempted. The former Prime Minister of Singapore wanted so much to avoid even the appearance of scandal that he had only male secretaries.

He's not even a Christian, so he wasn't fearing God, wasn't fear and trembling at God, he was only fearful of scandal.

But that was enough, and for us, fear of our weaknesses should be more than enough. Scandalizing God should be more than enough to move us to work.

If you have a weakness for pornography, have someone you're accountable to, someone who has access to your computer and your browsing history, covenant eyes, yes, it will take some work, and it will mean some sacrifice, but that's what it means to work out.

Are you vulnerable to greed, to a love of money and things, or work on being generous?

I've criticized some Christian leaders for having multiple houses and millions of dollars and net worth, and some of them reply to me, well, that's not wrong because they made all that money selling books or conference speaking or whatever.

And I say, well, it's not making the money that's the problem. You're free to make all the money you can.

That's great if you make a lot of money. I hope you all make a lot of money. The problem is keeping it. Don't store up treasure on earth and bank accounts and stocks and houses and stuff.

Fear the snare of greed, of materialism, of living for things.

Fight it by giving. Finally, why? Why work?

Does it grace mean no work? A lot of people just assume that. We're saved by grace.

Why should I work? Verse 13 says, you can work because God is at work in you. We work out what

God in His grace has already worked in, and He's working right now.

There are two opposite ideas that are equally wrong that tell us that we don't have to work.

There's two opposite ideas out there people are saying means you don't have to work. And one says, well, because salvation is by grace alone, which is true.

We can relax in our spiritual hammock and do nothing, which is false.

Some people take the command here in verse 13, work out. It's purely optional if you're into that kind of thing.

But they say, you can still be saved even if it's never worked out. And that idea, that doctrine is called antinomianism.

Now ask yourself, why does almost everyone know what the word legalism means, but very few know what antinomianism means?

Well, the reason is we don't know the word anymore. It's because that's so common that many people actually think that is the gospel.

It's like water to a fish. You ask a fish, why are you on all this water? The fish goes, what?

What water? I'm surrounded by it. What are you talking about? This is nature. We're surrounded by this antinomianism.

Well, the other error is perfectionism, entire sanctification that we can if we pray the right prayer or we have the right experience, we can finish the work on our souls.

And then I guess once you're finished, you're perfect. And then I guess, well, you retire, right?

Once your work's done, your spiritual work is done, you worked it all out, then you go into spiritual retirement.

So the work can end here and we can be perfect. But notice here in verse 13 that God is working.

It's a present continuous tense. He's still at work in us. And that's why we're to presently continuously keep working.

It's the same root word that we're to do both the same work. We work, he works, we keep working and we keep working out because God is right now working in us.

Now it doesn't say that he'll be working right up until we've reached sinless perfection. Then we retire, he retires and he moves on to the next person.

No, he is continuously working in us and we'll need to keep continuously working. When I ran my fastest 5K race at Mississippi State near my senior season,

I crossed the finish line beating some guy from Southeastern Missouri State who made the mistake of challenging me.

And I was elated, setting what they call a PR, personal record. And by a big margin, taking at least 19 seconds on my previous time and I was strutting on the track.

I was so proud. I've arrived, I beat Southeastern Missouri State.

And then my coach called out to me, from the stands where he was sitting, I was still on the track. John, you had so much left.

This still makes me crack up when I think about it. I had worked out a new personal best, but the coach said,

I wasn't finished. I had to keep working out. We keep working out because God is working and working in two ways for one goal.

First, he's working in us to will, that his will be worked in us.

This is, I think, a positive way of putting what he put negatively in Romans 9, verse 16.

In Romans 9, 16, he says, salvation does not depend on man's desire, human desire, our desire, or effort.

Desire, the word can be translated will, just like the word here, will. That's the negative way. It does not depend on our will.

Here he says, God is working in us to will, positively. If salvation does not depend on our will, what does it depend on?

Well, it depends on God's will. That he'd work in us to will. And he does this for the beloved.

So he called us at the beginning, you beloved, Paul calls them in verse 12. It's for God's people. He's working in them to will, which isn't everyone.

God is working in them to will. That's how now we have the desire to work out salvation.

We begin working it out by bowing at the high exaltation of Jesus.

We confessing that he is Lord, following him in baptism and joining a church. It's not that we're making ourselves do something, you know, by an act of sheer willpower.

We really don't wanna do, like having to get up early and go wanna do some exercise to lose weight.

I hate this, but I gotta lose the weight. No, it's something that God is working in us to will.

So that now we want to do it. We want to obey the Lord. Our will is just the preponderance of who we are.

It's just our nature. Not like a separate part of us that's a will. Our will is us. Our will now is being worked on by God so that we will what he wills.

Now that doesn't mean we have other tendencies dragging us the other way. We still have part of us that's the flesh, that doesn't wanna humble ourselves like Jesus, that wants to be proud, that likes the temptations, is drawn to them, and that doesn't wanna obey

Jesus, doesn't wanna be baptized and join the church and finds the word of God in the church to be boring.

We still have that tugging in us, but we have a will to obey because God is working in us to will what he wants, what he wills.

And second thing that God is working in us is to work, to cause us to work.

God is working in you to work. He's working in us so that we can work.

Our working comes out from his work in us and he's doing it, he's willing and working in us.

In verse 13, this is the one goal for his good pleasure.

Don't miss that. He does it because he wants to. It's not like a dreary duty.

Shouldn't be a dreary duty for us, it's not for him. Maybe you go on vacation, you go snorkeling or diving or camping or riding on rides at Disney World or carowinds or whatever, you go strolling the beach.

And if someone asks you, well, why do you do that? You might say, for my good pleasure.

And here, God isn't working in us, he's working in us to will to create in us what he likes.

Why does he do it? You ask him why he does it? He says, for my good pleasure. It's a great gift to enjoy your work, to be able to wake up and look forward to your job.

Maybe not every day is like that, but some days I hope it can be. Here, God doesn't ever have to wake up, he's always working.

He enjoys his work. He's a happy God. He enjoys what he does. He enjoys the work of having his will done in us, working in us so that we work.

That's the work. Then next, there's the kind of work. Notice that Paul first tells us to work, but then he doesn't give us a course of action.

There's not like a detailed description here. There's no job description. You got to read so much of the

Bible every day and pray so many hours and detailed schedules to follow a regimen of spiritual disciplines that are guaranteed if you follow this plan to make you spiritual.

I like these ads to lose weight. You try my diet plan, we'll guarantee. Nothing like that spiritually. There's no job description.

There's no guarantees. It's not a course of action, but a kind of action in verses 14 to 18.

First, whatever you do, do it without grumbling. Don't think, well, you deserve better than to have to put up with this or with him or with her.

So you complain about it constantly like the Israelites in the wilderness, just released from slavery and complaining about the monotony of eating manna every day.

Oh, we're so tired of this. Wishing for the fine dining they used to have in Egypt without disputing.

You can disagree, but don't argue over small differences. Something's just different to the way you wanted it to be.

Like the famous argument over the color of the carpet. People just look at that. They're so petty. They make fun of that. People be so juvenile that they would argue over the choice of carpet.

These hypocrites, they're so small. They'll argue over such trivial things. We've reformed people to show us that we're so much more mature.

But just over a little over a dozen years ago now, we changed the floor tiles in this gym.

And I kid you not, I wish I could be kidding. Someone argued that we did it wrong.

Argued and argued. Didn't even see it done. And he reported us to the state that we broke laws about removing asbestos tiles.

And so we paid to have a professional air quality test done in this building, see if it was contaminated with asbestos.

It wasn't. But he wouldn't stop arguing, disputing and complaining. And so we left over that.

Nevermind the church covenant. You're seeking reconciliation. That's exactly what Paul here tells us not to do.

Work at being different than that. If you're truly saved, then

God is at work in you. And you need to work out without resentment, without guilt drivenness, without dreading it.

Oh, not another church service. So boring. Another chapter of the Bible. I ought to give another dollar pride out of my wallet.

Ugh, take me away. Work without the ugh.

In order that, here's the purpose in verse 15. You may be, notice this maybe, not a guarantee, like a diet plan.

You may be. This will make it possible though to be blameless and pure.

You can't be blameless with the grumbling, kind of ugh attitude. But if you work without grumbling and complaining, because God is working in you for his good pleasure, and that gives you good pleasure, then you'll stand out in contrast, dark contrast, like a light in the midst of darkness.

You'll stand out like lights in a dark world. The world, he says, it's crooked. It's twisted.

In other words, it's bent out of shape. Everything is there that should be there, but it's distorted. So it's not the shape it should be in.

It's crooked and twisted to skip worship of God, to make money, to value dollars over the kingdom of God.

But that's the way the world is. It's crooked and twisted, but that's the way it is. We should shine out like lights.

It's different in contrast in this dark world as people who aren't all about things and stuff and cash, because God is at work in us.

How do we work? Well, happily, shiningly. What kind of work?

In verse 16, the work of holding fast to the word of life, he calls it.

In other words, the gospel. Keep a firm grip on it. When people, even so -called

Christians, don't hold on to the gospel, then what happens? They begin to slip into various things, maybe into other experiences, what they can feel.

They lose grip on the gospel. They go for what they can feel, experiences, sensations. So worship becomes about the loud music, the shouting, the ecstasy, sensations.

And so life then is all about thrills. And if that's the way you think life is, there's nothing keeping you out of sexual immorality or intoxication, physical thrills, or it becomes about tradition, rituals,

Lent, Easter candles, ceremonies, trying to impress you, incense, smells and bells, trying to recreate something like the work of Christ is finished already or to get

God to work according to their will. Now, some people's view of religion, especially of the sacraments, is that it's a way to make

God work for us. So the sacraments, they think, get

God to infuse grace into you like a drug is infused to you through an

IV. And that is ironically, they teach that grace is something you earn with work.

Now, such views show a loosening of the grip on the gospel. So keep a firm grasp on the gospel.

Be amazed by it, intrigued by it, awed by it, provoked to worship by it, drawn to it so that you aren't easily drawn away to distractions like the mystic wooing you away into experiences or the sacramentalist trying to impress you with ceremonies or others just trying to get you maybe involved in politics or something, anything other than a firm grasp on the gospel.

Hold on tightly to the gospel, the word of life, so that it's not taken away from you. Work on your grip.

For Paul, their clinging to the gospel is what will keep his work for them from being useless.

If they let go of the gospel, the word of life, then on the day of judgment, what he calls the day of Christ in verse 16, his work for them will have been in vain.

The day of Christ is coming and everyone's life is laid open and judged.

And he says, if on that day of Christ, on the day of judgment, I lay out everything I did and it turned out the people

I preached to didn't hold onto the gospel, then everything in all my life, he's saying, Paul, this is what he's talking about, my life will be for nothing.

It'd be in vain. He doesn't want the race he ran to be for nothing. They say the hardest work the body can do is running, sprinting.

Paul compared his work to a run here in verse 16. He worked as hard as he could, didn't hold anything back.

And it will all be useless, he's saying, if you, church, let go of the gospel, if you fall into moralism, into legalism, even if it's legalism with low standards or into superstition or sacramentalism, the idea that we're saved by rituals, by religion.

Have they? Have you? Kept hold of the gospel. That's what kind of work you're to be doing.

What kind of work? Well, the work also of rejoicing. Rejoicing can be hard work sometimes.

Maybe you're depressed. Maybe you're tired. The command in verse 18, you should also be glad and rejoice.

To some people, that can sound like taunting. It's like saying, you know, dunk a basketball, run a four minute mile.

Well, you drop your head and sigh, you know, I would, if I could. But I have so many problems, so tired.

How can I rejoice? But rejoicing doesn't come from outside.

If it did, Paul would be miserable. You read Philippians and it's so cheery and so rejoice and rejoice with me.

And what should I choose? Everything is great. You kind of forget he's in prison. He's chained up to a

Roman guard. And this is not like a cozy prison. Cold stone walls. It's miserable.

But he rejoiced. He's facing a possible death sentence. I forget that. And he knows it. He says in verse 17, even if I'm to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith.

Even if you read that, you kind of think that sounds picturesque. Pour it out. I'm giving myself. No, he means getting his head cut off.

Even if that happens, their faith in the Lord is the big offering. And his possible coming death is only a drink offering.

It's a supplement. It's an extra on the side. And even if he's about to be beheaded, he's saying, I am glad and rejoice.

If he can have joy chained to a Roman guard facing a possible death sentence, we can have it with our problems.

What gave him joy was that they were holding on to the gospel. That they were working out what

God was working in. Finally, the workers. In verses 19 to 30, the great examples of those who worked successfully.

The Bible and church histories are just about theology and commands or work, but examples of how it has been done and done well by others so that we can be encouraged to do it too.

Here, there are three examples of good workers. First is Paul. Now, Paul doesn't lift himself up as a model here.

He's too selfless for that. But it's exactly the selflessness that is an example.

In verse 19, he wants to send Timothy to them for them. He says that he has no one like Timothy.

He says he has relationship with Timothy is like with a son. Timothy has proven his worth.

And yet he hopes to send him. Send him away to them, to the

Philippians. He says in verse 23. Now, think about that. The situation Paul is in and what he's saying.

Who hopes, he hopes to send, not like I have to do it,

I don't want to do it, but he hopes to do it. Who hopes to send away one of their best friends, one of their loyal supporters, a needed assistant in a time of my own personal great need.

Who does that? Well, those who care more about others than themselves.

Verse 21, he says, others, other than Timothy, other than Epaphroditus, other than himself, others seek their own interests.

They're in it for the money or for the glory, for the rivalry, like he mentioned in chapter one. They're not seeking the interest of Jesus Christ, which here, notice verse 21, the interest of Jesus Christ is the same as the interest of the church, your welfare.

Timothy seeks your welfare, which is the same as the interest of Jesus Christ, showing that as you seek what's best for the body of Christ, you're seeking to serve

Christ. In verse 25, he has already sent Epaphroditus to them. Paul calls him my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier.

He is at the end of verse 25, a minister to my need. He's someone Paul needs. Now imagine

Paul is confined. He's chained up. He's away from family. It's not like a support system around him. He's in a strange city, probably

Rome, and yet he's just sent one loyal helper away to the church, to the

Philippians, and he's planning on sending another one. He sent Epaphroditus away, his fellow soldier. Now he wants to send

Timothy away. You almost want to say, hey, wait a minute, Paul. Think about yourself some here.

I know life is really cushy in that prison cell, chained to that guard, but think about yourself some.

You have needs too, but he's working out exactly what he told them earlier in verse four, looking out for their interests.

Remember verse four, don't look out for your own interests, but for the interests of others. Here he's doing that. He's a great model of it himself.

He says that even if it means sending away his personal help, he'll be cheered in verse 19 if they are better off.

It's a cheer that comes from seeking the welfare of the body of Christ.

That's what a good worker works for. One of the secrets to overcoming depression is to get out and do something for others.

The temptation is to retreat, to isolate yourself, to do nothing, to be involved less, to give less, kind of hold on to everything you already have because you're afraid you're going to lose it.

But that makes things worse. You want to have joy, then live with and for other of God's people.

Well, second example is Timothy. What sets him apart as a worker? Paul says in verse 20, he is genuinely concerned for your welfare.

That's exactly what makes Timothy of such proven worth. He really cares. He cares for the church.

It's not enough to be well -schooled in theology, a great speaker or a powerful presence. Do you care about the people, the fellow believers, good workers?

Care. And the third example, the third worker is Epaphroditus. Like Paul, like Timothy, he cares.

Notice verse 26. He has been longing for you all and has been distressed.

Why is he so distressed? Notice why. Because he was sick?

No, because you, church, heard that he was ill. Did you get that?

Think about that for a second. Epaphroditus is sick. He's very sick. He was near to death. It says in verse 27, he's in real trouble.

He was on what he thought might be his deathbed. And what's worrying him is he thinks he may be approaching death.

What's he concerned about? What's he distressed about? His own health, his own possible death? No. But that the church might be worrying about him.

He's worrying, if I die, they'll be hurt. I don't want to die because I'll hurt those people. So please don't let me die because I've hurt their feelings.

Epaphroditus was a good worker because he took a risk. Verse 30 says he risked his life for the work of Christ. Something he did, and we're not told exactly what it is, but something he did to help

Paul was dangerous. He was a fellow soldier, like a good soldier going out, exposed enemy fire to rescue another fellow soldier.

He was like that. We don't know what it was exactly. Maybe he caught a disease when visiting Paul in prison, or maybe he was lashed for being a

Christian and got an infection. Maybe he was just working himself until he collapsed. Maybe he got arrested for preaching like Paul.

It was also threatened with death. We don't know, but we do know that he risked.

Honor such men, in verse 25. Not necessarily the popular, the charismatic, the flamboyant.

Honor those who risk their lives for Jesus. Now someone to serve a safe Jesus who will not require any risk from us, who guarantees safety and success now, to be popular and prosperous.

But that's not real. There are no such guarantees. You might spend decades cleaning up after kids here in this gym and never get so much as a plaque or a handshake in recognition.

You might prepare your lesson well and pray earnestly and spend time making striking slides to get the kids' attention.

And they still, most of them don't pay attention. People still take risk for the gospel and sometimes they lose their lives.

In Ethiopia, we knew a missionary lady, Andrea Buheitel, the mother of three girls who took the risk of being far out in a nearly inaccessible area.

Do you know what happens if you have a health crisis far out where there's no hospitals, no medical care?

Do you know what happens to you? She lost her life because of it. You can think, well, what a horrible thing.

But what sacrifice, what commitment would it take if there was no risk, good workers' risk?

What kind of work do you do? People say, well, don't be defined by your work. But if your real work is working out what

God has worked in, then you should be defined by that. You're one of the beloved in whom

God has worked and is now working to will.

So your will is like His will and to work for God's good pleasure.

So you risk your time and your money, your reputation, risking to be known as one of those crazy people that goes to church in that gym.

You do the really hard work of caring. You might have some sleepless nights as you're distressed for some fellow

Christian who's in danger. You'll do what seems like sometimes the impossibly difficult work of rejoicing.

You don't wanna sing. You'll just wanna crawl in a hole and hibernate. But you hold on to the gospel.

You work at gripping it tightly as you remind yourself what God has done to save you for His good pleasure.

He's enjoying His work and so should you. What kind of work? The work of serving the

Lord in everything without grumbling, with fear and trembling, working out what

God has first worked in. Of course, first, has

He worked salvation in you? If so, rejoice.