- He gives us the desire — When we want to obey God, that desire is a gift from Him. He softens our hearts, opens our eyes, and creates in us a hunger for righteousness.
- He gives us the power — Even when we have the desire, we lack the strength. But God doesn’t leave us to our own resources. He empowers us by His Spirit to actually do what He calls us to do.
One example of this is Romans 6:22 — we have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, and the fruit you get is sanctification leading to eternal life. Sanctification is both the gift of God and the calling of God.
Don’t Waste Your Salvation
The servant who buried his talent thought he was being safe. But faithfulness doesn’t mean hiding what God has given us — it means using it for His glory, even when it’s risky. The Christian life is not meant to be lived in a bunker. It is meant to be lived on mission, in community, in service to others.
Colossians 3:1 reminds us that since we have been raised with Christ, we should seek the things that are above. Our salvation isn’t just a ticket to heaven — it’s a call to a new way of living, right now, in the power of the Spirit.
The world tells us to look out for ourselves, to hoard what we have, to play it safe. But the gospel tells us something different: we have been saved, not to sit on our gifts, but to invest them. We have been loved, not to retreat, but to go. We have been forgiven, not to bury it, but to extend that forgiveness to others.
Working Out — Not Working For
There is a crucial balance here. We are not saved by works. We are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). But we are saved unto works. God has prepared good works for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). Our works don’t make us right with God; they are the evidence that we are right with God.
“Therefore, my beloved… work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
— Philippians 2:12-13
This is the paradox of the Christian life: we work because God works. We strive because God enables. We run the race because Christ has gone before us. It is both our responsibility and God’s gift.
Looking Forward — Hebrews 12
At the close of his letter to the Philippians, Paul circles back to this theme of endurance. In Hebrews 12:1-3, the author writes:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.”
— Hebrews 12:1-2
The Christian life is described as a race — something that requires endurance, discipline, and focus. And the reason we can run that race is because Jesus is both the founder and the perfecter of our faith. He started the work in us, and He will bring it to completion.
But the race is still ours to run. God works in us; we work out. Christ enables; we obey. The Spirit empowers; we submit. This is the divine partnership that Scripture consistently presents — and it is the calling of every believer.
Your Part
So what is your part? It is to take seriously what God has entrusted to you — your time, your talents, your resources, your relationships, your influence — and to invest them faithfully for His kingdom. It is to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that God Himself is at work in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.
Don’t bury what God has given you. Don’t waste your salvation in safe, self-focused living. God has called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. He has placed you in this church, in this community, in this moment in history, for a purpose. Seek Him. Obey Him. Invest what He has given you. And trust that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.
Because in the end, it is God who works in you — both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Scripture References
- Philippians 2:12-13 — Work out your salvation with fear and trembling
- Matthew 25:14-30 — The parable of the faithful servant
- Titus 3:4-7 — Justification by God’s grace through the Holy Spirit
- Romans 6:22 — Sanctification: set free from sin, slaves to God
- Colossians 3:1 — Raised with Christ, seek the things that are above
- Philippians 3:20-21 — Our citizenship is in heaven; Christ will transform us
- Hebrews 12:1-3 — Run the race with endurance, looking to Jesus
- Ephesians 2:8-10 — Saved by grace through faith, created for good works
Pastor Josh White challenges us with a question that cuts to the heart of the Christian life: What is your part in salvation? While God has done everything necessary through Christ’s finished work on the cross, each of us has a role to play in the ongoing story of our redemption. This sermon walks through Philippians 2:12-13 and the parable of the faithful servant to show how God commands us to work out our salvation while He works in us to give us the desire and the power to do it.
The Three Parts of Salvation
When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, God does a remarkable work in our lives. But here’s the beautiful tension Scripture presents: we are saved by faith alone, yet genuine faith produces works. Our salvation has three main parts:
- Justification — God declares us righteous the moment we trust Christ. He credits us with Christ’s righteousness and forgives our sin. One powerful prooftext is Titus 3:4-7, where Paul writes that God’s goodness and loving kindness appeared, bringing salvation. Through the Holy Spirit’s work, God pours out His love into our hearts and raises Jesus from the dead so that we might be justified by His grace.
- Sanctification — This is the ongoing process of being made more like Christ. It happens daily, as we yield to the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.
- Glorification — When Christ returns, our bodies will be resurrected and we will be fully like Him. Philippians 3:20-21 reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven, and when Christ returns, He will transform our humble bodies into the likeness of His glorious body.
These three aspects are woven throughout Scripture, and each carries profound implications for how we live each day.
Philippians 2:12 — Work Out Your Salvation
The central passage of this sermon is Philippians 2:12-13:
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
Paul writes to the Philippians — and to us — with urgency. The word “therefore” looks back to the magnificent Christ-hymn of chapter 2, where Paul describes Christ’s humility and obedience unto death. Because Christ humbled Himself, we are to live in a way worthy of the gospel.
The command is clear: work out your salvation. But what does this mean? Does it mean we earn our salvation by our efforts? No — Paul immediately clarifies. The reason we can work out our salvation is that God is working in us. There is a divine partnership at the heart of the Christian life. God provides the willingness and the energy; we provide the action.
Think about that: God gives us the desire to obey. And He gives us the power to obey. Our part is to cooperate with what God is doing. We are called to work out — to apply, to live out, to put into practice — the salvation God has worked in.
Why “With Fear and Trembling”?
The phrase “with fear and trembling” might sound like terror, but it actually describes a posture of humble reverence. It’s the awareness that we are dealing with something infinitely precious and infinitely serious — our souls and the holiness of God. We don’t work out our salvation casually. We approach it with seriousness because we understand the weight of what God has done.
This fear is not the fear of a tyrant but the fear of a child who knows they are loved but also knows they have a responsibility to honor their Father.
The Faithful Servant — Matthew 25
To illustrate what it looks like to work out our salvation, Jesus tells the parable of the faithful servant in Matthew 25:14-30:
“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.”
— Matthew 25:14-15
The master represents Christ. He entrusts His servants with resources — spiritual gifts, time, money, opportunities — according to each person’s ability. The question is not “How much did you receive?” but “What did you do with what you were given?”
The first two servants doubled what they were given. They worked faithfully with what their master entrusted to them. When the master returned, He said to both: “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.”
The third servant, however, buried what he was given out of fear. He didn’t trust his master or take any risk. His excuse revealed his heart — he thought his master was a hard man, reaping where he didn’t sow. But the master’s response cuts to the heart of the matter:
“You wicked and slothful servant… ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.”
— Matthew 25:26-27
The servant’s fear — that he might lose the talent — became the very thing that prevented him from being faithful. He avoided risk, but in doing so, he wasted what was entrusted to him.
God Works In Us — The Divine Partnership
What enables us to be faithful? Paul tells us in Philippians 2:13 — it is God who works in you. This is the other half of the divine partnership. Without God’s work in us, our efforts are worthless. But with God’s work in us, our efforts matter.
God works in us in two ways:
- He gives us the desire — When we want to obey God, that desire is a gift from Him. He softens our hearts, opens our eyes, and creates in us a hunger for righteousness.
- He gives us the power — Even when we have the desire, we lack the strength. But God doesn’t leave us to our own resources. He empowers us by His Spirit to actually do what He calls us to do.
One example of this is Romans 6:22 — we have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, and the fruit you get is sanctification leading to eternal life. Sanctification is both the gift of God and the calling of God.
Don’t Waste Your Salvation
The servant who buried his talent thought he was being safe. But faithfulness doesn’t mean hiding what God has given us — it means using it for His glory, even when it’s risky. The Christian life is not meant to be lived in a bunker. It is meant to be lived on mission, in community, in service to others.
Colossians 3:1 reminds us that since we have been raised with Christ, we should seek the things that are above. Our salvation isn’t just a ticket to heaven — it’s a call to a new way of living, right now, in the power of the Spirit.
The world tells us to look out for ourselves, to hoard what we have, to play it safe. But the gospel tells us something different: we have been saved, not to sit on our gifts, but to invest them. We have been loved, not to retreat, but to go. We have been forgiven, not to bury it, but to extend that forgiveness to others.
Working Out — Not Working For
There is a crucial balance here. We are not saved by works. We are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). But we are saved unto works. God has prepared good works for us to walk in (Ephesians 2:10). Our works don’t make us right with God; they are the evidence that we are right with God.
“Therefore, my beloved… work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
— Philippians 2:12-13
This is the paradox of the Christian life: we work because God works. We strive because God enables. We run the race because Christ has gone before us. It is both our responsibility and God’s gift.
Looking Forward — Hebrews 12
At the close of his letter to the Philippians, Paul circles back to this theme of endurance. In Hebrews 12:1-3, the author writes:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.”
— Hebrews 12:1-2
The Christian life is described as a race — something that requires endurance, discipline, and focus. And the reason we can run that race is because Jesus is both the founder and the perfecter of our faith. He started the work in us, and He will bring it to completion.
But the race is still ours to run. God works in us; we work out. Christ enables; we obey. The Spirit empowers; we submit. This is the divine partnership that Scripture consistently presents — and it is the calling of every believer.
Your Part
So what is your part? It is to take seriously what God has entrusted to you — your time, your talents, your resources, your relationships, your influence — and to invest them faithfully for His kingdom. It is to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that God Himself is at work in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.
Don’t bury what God has given you. Don’t waste your salvation in safe, self-focused living. God has called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. He has placed you in this church, in this community, in this moment in history, for a purpose. Seek Him. Obey Him. Invest what He has given you. And trust that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.
Because in the end, it is God who works in you — both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Scripture References
- Philippians 2:12-13 — Work out your salvation with fear and trembling
- Matthew 25:14-30 — The parable of the faithful servant
- Titus 3:4-7 — Justification by God’s grace through the Holy Spirit
- Romans 6:22 — Sanctification: set free from sin, slaves to God
- Colossians 3:1 — Raised with Christ, seek the things that are above
- Philippians 3:20-21 — Our citizenship is in heaven; Christ will transform us
- Hebrews 12:1-3 — Run the race with endurance, looking to Jesus
- Ephesians 2:8-10 — Saved by grace through faith, created for good works