Joseph, please come. Let's give him a welcome. Good morning Church family. All right, let's start that again. Good morning Church family. There we go. I come from Africa. Thank you, Pastor Ted, for that introduction, and thank you, Church family, for really this opportunity to come and speak to you. I come a long way from Africa to bring you God's Word. Let me start by bringing greetings from Christ Baptist Church, from Christ Seminary, and Samaria Mission. You have been really part of these ministries, and I think that you would agree that it is a good thing to sometimes, or quite often, to see a face with all these ministries. There are many ministries where they say, we are supporting this and that, and they're like, but who are these people? We have never seen any of them. So this is one of them, right? have done that and you're doing well. Let me speak a little bit about the ministry that we're doing, which you are a part of, before I take you to Philippians chapter 2 this morning for God's Word. Maybe just mention three things that could be of interest to you because they are of interest to us. Number one, one of the greatest highlights for us at Christ Seminary is really the year-end graduation of our students. Just before we flew out on December 2nd, we had our year-end graduation on November 29th. So nine men graduated, some with a diploma in theology and others in bachelor of theology. I was just talking to Pastor Ted this morning, and the great joy about these men is that nine, eight of the nine are going straight into ministry. They are plugged into the church. They are serving some as pastors, some as associate or assistant pastors, and that gives us great joy because our desire is to have this man go out to the pulpit. Our mission hasn't changed. We still haven't broadened our scope yet in terms of what we train, we still train pastors. That's all that we want to do. I know that we have other institutions who are able, due to capacity perhaps and finance, are able to broaden and say we have this ministry and that ministry, but we believe in pastoral ministry. We believe in the pulpit. As Pastor Ted has said, and this is our motto, so goes the pulpit, so goes Africa, so goes America, so goes any other country, because we can only build on the pulpit. From the pulpit, when we open God's Word and we are able to say, thus saith the Lord. And that's what we are excited about to those nine men who just graduated. Part of the academic is that we as professors are to improve as well. I'm not used to that title, doctor, and I hope I don't get used to it. I rather prefer Joseph or Pastor Joseph. I think that's the title I like. because I think I am first the pastor that God has called me to be more than any other. But I understand that in the academics, those titles are helpful. And as I've said, some people say, so will you be called doctor? And I say, no, I will only pull that card whenever it's going to be useful. So that's one of the things that this year, the Lord has blessed us at Christ Seminary with three doctorates. So my doctorate was the third one. Pastor Charlie graduated with his doctorate in May at the Master's Seminary this year. We have Pastor Gerard Van Emenes who graduated with his PhD from one of the universities in South Africa. So we have four doctorates now on our faculty. The government that accredits us is happy with that, and so we can improve in terms of now offering a post-grad degree, and that's our desire. With that being said, we are working towards that, a post-grad degree. It's basically a degree after Bachelor of Theology in South Africa. It's called an honors degree. So we're working towards that. And if you are to pray for us, one big issue before us right now is that we need to work on our library space and books. And so we are raising funds towards that at the moment. We're thinking that we may have space, we can shift things around at Christ Seminary where we can create room for a bigger library and focus in buying books right now. So if you think of any prayer, pray for the lecturers, pray for the students. Next year we've already interviewed, what I can remember right now is 16 students that we have interviewed for the new year. We know that we may have more coming. We're hoping every year we pray for at least 24 students because that's our capacity for classrooms. If we can get 24 faithful men that could come and be trained at Creighton Seminary, that would be great. So you can be praying for maybe for those two things, pray for the incoming students and pray for our library. expansion because the government wants to see more books, bigger library, before they can give us accreditation for a higher degree. So those are the news that come from us, and I'm willing to answer more questions as they come about what is going on there. But I want to use the remainder of our time in just sharing God's Word with you. Amen? Let's open our Bibles to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2. I'm going to read from verse 12 to verse 16 of Philippians. If you may, I don't know if this is a tradition here or what, but I'm going to ask you that in honor of God's Word we stand as we read Philippians chapter 2, verse 12 to 16. we're going to talk about this title, sanctifying obedience. An obedience that sanctifies us, because that's what really the text is going to talk to us about. So, follow with me as I read Philippians chapter 2, verse 12 to 16. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world. holding fast the word of life so that in the day of Christ I will have risen to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. Let's pray together. Father, this is your word. We stand before you with fear and trembling because we are mere men, finite men, We have no capacity to speak for you. We have no capacity to stand in your presence if it was not by your grace. I, your servant this morning, stand before you, fully dependent on the work of Christ on the cross for protection, fully dependent on the Holy Spirit who dwells within us for utterance, and fully dependent upon you, oh God, to carry me and to speak as you would want me to speak. I pray that I would decrease and you would increase and that your church will be well equipped and instructed from the scriptures. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. We read Philippians chapter 2, verse 12 to 16, but my focus is going to be on those two verses, verse 12 and 13. I'm going to talk about sanctification here, sanctifying obedience. Now, I'm sure that you are like me. Perhaps in your journey as a Christian, you have asked yourself, out of frustration, what is God's will for my life? We have a new year coming. So many of us perhaps have started with our resolutions. And we are asking, there are changes in our lives coming up. And we're asking, what is God's will for my life in this next year? Right now, if you were to go to bookshops, you would see that bookshops abound with books that try to answer that very question. But what puzzles me, as a believer and as a pastor, is the failure of believers to open the divine book that contains all instruction that contains God's will for their lives—the Bible. The Bible speaks so many times. There are hundreds upon hundreds of commands or imperatives that God gives in the Bible which clearly tell us of His will for our lives. One of the clearly stated will of God for your life and my life is sanctification. 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 3, for example, explicitly says, For this is the will of God, your sanctification. If you are asking what God's will is for your life, there is one of those, our sanctification. With that being said, the well-known commands of Scripture that cause believers to pursue sanctification is found right here in Philippians chapter 2, especially in verse 12. The command is, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Work out your salvation is a call to deliberately work on your salvation until it reaches its ultimate end. Therefore, if we were to simply define sanctification, we could simply say sanctification is what we ought to be, but we are not yet. Sanctification is what we ought to be, but we are not yet. Right now, I want to assume that you are asking, what ought we to be? If sanctification is that what we ought to be, what ought we to be then? Good question. The biblical answer is simple. We ought to be like Christ. If we're talking about sanctification, if we ought to be something as we progress in our spiritual walk, we ought to be like Christ. That's the goal, the only goal. Nothing else matters in our Christian walk but to be like our Lord Jesus Christ. In explaining this sanctification to the believers in Rome, The Apostle Paul said in Romans 8, verse 29, We are to conform. We are to be like the Son, Jesus Christ. To the Corinthians, Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18, But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. We behold Christ so that we can become like him. Sanctification is all about that. For us Christians, sanctification means being like Jesus. Similarly, in Philippians 2, when Paul commands us to work out our salvation, he is commanding us to be like Christ. And I want you to notice that Paul begins Philippians 2 verse 12 with a connecting word, so then or therefore, in your Bibles there in verse 12. Now that little word, that conjunction, is used by Paul to draw the conclusion from the preceding context of this passage, more particularly verses 5 to 8. In verse 5 to 8, Paul points Christians to Christ as a model of humility, a virtue needed if the church is to work out her salvation. We need humility if we are going to work out our salvation. And in a broader context of Philippians, this sanctification, as you will see, applies to our oneness, applies to our unity together. Sanctification is a key towards the unity of the church. And that's a topic that the Apostle Paul would later expound as he has started in verses 1, that we are to be of the same mind. In chapter 1 verse 27, he begins that theme of unity there, but he realizes that unity can never happen in the church. Unless we look to Christ's humility, unless we look to Christ who came down from heaven and He became like us and obeyed God until the point of the cross. And the Apostle Paul says, now with that in mind, you have to be like Christ. And in being like Christ, you're going to have to work out your salvation to become like Him so that you can maintain the unity of the church. That's a broader topic or title of the Apostle Paul in this book. We are instructed to have the attitude of Christ in ourselves. Who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself taking the form of a burnt servant and being made in the likeness of man. In verse 8, Paul says, being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. And Philippians 2.12 is an application drawn from Christ's obedience. Christ did not only model humility for us, he also modeled obedience. Hebrews 5.8 tells us that although he was a son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered. Therefore, Paul is calling all believers to be obedient like Christ, because obedience is a means of sanctification. So this morning, we will look at one command we must obey in order to be like Christ. And that command is simple. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. If you were to go back to Philippians 2 verse 12 and 13 again, I want to take you through just a little grammar class this morning. Let's look at some grammatical structure of this passage in order to understand Paul's thoughts of this passage. Grammatically, the imperative verb, work out, in your Bibles, in verse 12, is the main thought of this sentence and of the entire passage. It is the main action believers need to take to be like Christ. But having observed that, it is also worth observing that Paul does not start the sentence with this command, work out your salvation. The Greek text places this verb at the end of the sentence. That verb, work out your salvation, actually is the very last word in Paul's sentence. Here is how it is literally constructed in the Greek text. Follow with me as I give you Paul's thought. Paul writes like this, "'Therefore, my beloved, just as always you obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence. With fear and trembling, your salvation worked out.'" That's how Paul constructed this sentence. So then, what do we learn from that construction? Here is the point. Before dishing out a command or instructions, Paul first affirms his love for this church in Philippi. He affirms his love. He commends these believers for their obedience, and he acknowledges their consistent obedience. What we learn from Paul's words is that loving encouragement stirs joyful obedience. So we are quick to dish out instructions. We are quick to rebuke. We are quick to tell people what to do. But before we are to do that, we need to learn from Paul that Paul has this affection for the church and he wants that to come out before he can tell them what to do. He tells them who they are to him and how he feels about them. and encouraging affection that the Apostle Paul had for this church, and that this church was so dear to Paul is felt in the affectionate address, my beloved. Paul dearly loved and longed for this church. He repeats this affectionate address in chapter 4, verse 1, where he addresses this church as, It is lamentable that this affectionate expression has or is dying off between fellow believers today and even between church and its leaders. What happened to this biblical language? of my beloved, my brethren, brothers and sisters in the Lord. It is how we relate to each other, that affection that will help us to steer one another towards this life or journey of sanctification. If we just see each other as guys, ladies and gentlemen, or whichever worldly language we have adopted, we fail to understand how we relate to each other as brothers and sisters. I think we need to get back to that biblical language, because that will stay in us, that affection, so that whenever you see your brother or sister not going right, you can go and say, brother, Sister, beloved, you need to work out your salvation. But it starts right there with this encouraging affection, affectionate addresses. that we see from the Apostle Paul, or this terminology, should take us back to that. Now, a desire should be there to see our fellow believers sanctified, but that desire should be based on the love that the Apostle Paul shows us here. Not only do we see his encouraging affection, but we also see his encouraging commendation, even before he gets to the work out your salvation. See, affection here in this passage is followed by a commendation. Praise! Paul helps the church on how to work out his salvation, and this is how. He says, just as you always obeyed. My beloved, just as you always obeyed." Now, this comparative clause tells us that there was a pattern of obedience among the believers at Philippi. In other words, they have been working out their salvation. One specific example of their obedience is their participation in the gospel. In chapter 1, verse 3 to 5, Paul says of them, I thank my God in all my remembrance of you always, offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. They always obeyed Paul's says, but they were not where they ought to be yet, because sanctification is there. What we ought to be, we are not there yet. Paul himself admitted to this fact in chapter 3 verse 12 to 14. Listen to the Apostle Paul as he is busy pursuing Christ and wanting to know him and understand his resurrection and his suffering. He writes in verse 12, not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. But one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Paul says, I'm not there yet, and you are not there yet. And to show that they are not there yet, Paul says, there are actually two women in your church who are not getting along. Look at chapter four, verse two and three. I urge you, dear, and I urge Syntyche. to live in harmony in the Lord. Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life." We have the likes of Yudia and Sintiki in every church today. and I bet you have one here as well, as we do at CBC. We have them. What does that tell us? We need sanctification. So Paul acknowledges that they are obeying him But he also acknowledges that they are not there yet. Encouraging affection, encouraging commendation, and encouraging acknowledgement before he gets to telling them to work out their salvation. What do I mean by encouraging acknowledgement? Notice that Paul not only commended the church for her obedience, he also acknowledged their consistency in their obedience. The words, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, tell us how and when the Philippian church obeyed. Paul is actually acknowledging and commending the church for not being man-pleasers. They obeyed much more in Paul's absence. Believers obey in the presence and in the absence of people. Amen? That's what we are called to. Not only when people are watching us. Not when only parents or pastors are watching us. Not when only fellow believers are around us. But even when we are alone, far away from home, we are to be obedient to God. They obeyed much more in Paul's absence. Obedience is not situational. It is expected all the time and everywhere. Its continuity is further emphasized in the present tense of the command we are about to look at when Paul says, work out your salvation. Now with the right affectionate tone set, commendation and acknowledgement for their consistent obedience given, believers are now ready to receive an encouraging command, work out your salvation. Now those of you who do physical exercise are familiar with the word work out. We know what it takes to work out our bodies, how hard we are to work to get into that shape that we're looking for a healthy as we wish to be. Now transfer that activity to your sanctification and you will quickly realize that just like a body, a salvation that is not worked out is not profitable. Now right now you're asking a question, what do you mean? Because salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone. Well, let's try and clarify the terms that the Apostle Paul uses here. Salvation here does not refer to justification, or else Paul would be advocating for wax salvation, a theology he refuted extensively in the books of Romans and Galatians. But by salvation, Paul looks at the sanctification phase. Hence, Paul involves our contribution. The only time we can make any contribution is when the Bible talks about sanctification, the sanctification part of our salvation. When it comes to justification, we are not involved. God alone justifies. When it comes to sanctification, we are not alone, but we are part of that. God is still working us, as we will see here, because our sanctification is not possible without God. But God wants us to work. We are at work throughout our journey here on earth. Last time I was here, I told you you're going to die. Today, I want to tell you how to live to prepare for that death. you live for Christ so that when he comes to take you home, whether through death or his return, you would be ready. Because he is busy right now sanctifying his bride. He's sanctifying his own church. And this passage is so true to us even today as we look at how we ought to live as we wait eagerly for his coming or to be transported home. We are to work our salvation. Sanctification is what God requires of each one of us, and we cannot sleep. We cannot let go. It's not easy daily. It's not the same every day. There are times or days where you feel like, I am not really doing well in my sanctification today. But that will be even more reason for us to look to Him who sanctifies us, because we do not sanctify ourselves. In Ephesians 2, 8-10, Paul tells us, "...for by grace you have been saved through faith and death, not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." And in verse 10, looking at the life of this after this salvation or justification, he writes, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. These good works that God has prepared beforehand that we would walk in them is what the Apostle Paul refers to in working out your salvation, is walking in those good works that God has prepared beforehand for us. In a word, it's obedience to what God has prepared for us as believers. Every saved believer has to work out his or her own salvation. Now, application. where would Paul like to see our salvation worked out the most? To answer this question, I want you to note again that this text fits within the context of unity that Paul began addressing in chapter 1 verse 27. And to help you see this, I want you to do some parallel to draw some parallel concepts between Philippians 2 verse 12 and 1 verse 27. So you can turn there to verse 27 of chapter 1. First, the command to work out your salvation in chapter 2 verse 12 is conceptually parallel to conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. In chapter 1 verse 27, there is that conceptual parallel there. Paul says, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. You are expected to have that conduct. that is worthy of the gospel of Christ. Both those commands are given in the context of striving and maintaining the unity of the church. Paul wants to hear that the church's conduct leads them to standing firm in one spirit and with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel. I want you to take time during your spare time just to read from chapter 1 verse 27 all the way to the end of chapter 2 of Philippians, and you will see that theme, because Paul continues with that thought. Second, I want you to notice that in both passages, Paul wants the church to obey regardless of his presence or absence. And thirdly, maintaining unity in the church, then, will happen where believers work out their salvation, which is equal to conducting ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. So in this context, therefore, unity serves as a first proof of our sanctification. You ask, how will I know that I'm working out a sanctification? I want you to perhaps just look at that one thing. united am I with fellow believers? How closely tied am I with other believers? I want to assure you that if you are living alone, if you are living far from the body of Christ, that would be the first sign that your sanctification is ailing. you need to work out your sanctification or your salvation, and you can only do that really within the body. Because this is where sanctification will happen. This is where you will be able to see that, I am not really doing well. This is not how I am to live. In relationships, that's where we see the need for sanctification. See, when we were single, we thought we were doing okay. Until you get married and you have children, you realize you need to work hard on your sanctification. Is that not true? So it is the same in a church. So you can test your sanctification by how you relate to fellow believers. Now that is difficult, indeed. What is that saying? I've had this saying here in the States about the saints above and the saints below, right? It's going to be glory with the saints above. And they say that to live with the saints below, it's another story. It is hard. How are we able then to attain that? The truth is we do not have the will nor the ability to obey the command to work out our salvation. Our hearts are selfish, prideful, and are prone to look out for our own interests. Hence Paul said we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling. With fear and trembling because we are weak and disobedient, and our disobedience offends the Holy God. We fear and tremble because we acknowledge our personal inabilities to work out our salvation. We also fear and tremble because we do not always have the desire to obey. If sanctification was solely left to us, we would not make even the slightest progress. But we can make progress in our sanctification because we have the divine help from God. God is there to help us obey as Christ obeyed. And this is where verse 13 comes in. Verse 13 tells us this. This is the theology, really, of this passage. Our sanctification is built right here in these words of verse 13. For, see, Paul says, let me tell you why. You are to work out your salvation with fear and trembling for God. It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. See, it is a fact. Without God, sanctification is impossible. Our workout depends on God's work in us. Verse 13 is the reason for verse 12. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Why? Because God is at work in you. And that's a great relief, isn't it? This gives us hope that our salvation is workable with God's divine enablement. Our activity is possible only because of God's activity in us. And this is where we clearly see man's responsibility and God's sovereignty. Some might say, if God works, why should I work? He will complete His work in me anyway. Why should I be working if He's at work? That thinking, brothers and sisters, contradicts Scripture and is tantamount to disobedience. God's working in us is not suspended because we work, nor are working suspended because God works, but because God works, we work. That's how it is. We work because God is at work. If God was not at work, our working would be in vain. But we are able to do so because God is doing that work in us. Now what does God work in us? What is it that God is doing in us? See, God sees to it that we have the will to work. and that we get to work. He doesn't work for us. We still have to work, but he gives us the desire and the ability to accomplish the work. That's what God does. He doesn't do the work for you, but he will give you the will because it's not there. He will give you the joy. He will give you whatever is needed for you to work. Now again, let's apply this to our unity context. Paul says we are to be of the same mind. Our response is, that's difficult and impossible for human beings. Paul says, yes. It is difficult and impossible, but because God works the will and the ability in you to do this, you can work this part of your sanctification out. God knows we struggle with selfishness in our relationships. So, the injunction, do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, in the beginning of this chapter 2, is impossible unless God works in us the will to be selfless and humble, and unless he enables us to do nothing from selfishness, we will remain selfish. The bottom line is we need God from the beginning of our salvation to its end. Without Him, we can do nothing. And further good news is that God gets His pleasure from his work in us. And if that's the case, you can be sure, take it to the bank. God will work in you because he has to get pleasure out of your sanctification. He will work it. That's why we are so proudly Calvinist, right? In understanding that we contribute nothing. We're not in control. Even a very sanctification, He controls it. He is at work and he'll make sure that we get to work. Notice again the end of Philippians 2.13, for his good pleasure. This purpose is consistent with that of Ephesians chapter 1, verse 6, verse 12, and verse 14. Salvation's purpose from justification to sanctification to glorification is for or to the praise of the glory. of God. He takes pleasure in our salvation and in seeing to it that it works to accomplish its purpose. This is the confidence we have in God. As Paul would say in Philippians 1 6, for I am confident of this. of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. Each believer seated here, you can be sure you will work out your salvation with fear and trembling, because God is at work. He never stops to work. We should never stop to work. And He will accomplish His will. Because God is at work in you, work out your salvation with the assurance that it will be perfected by God Himself. Are you looking for a New Year's resolution? There is one. Sanctification is what we are to be like Christ. Let us go and work out our salvation in order to be like Christ and tested with the unity in the church. How do you relate? Are you showing the humility and the obedience that Christ showed when he went to the cross? We are to be like Christ. Amen. Thank you, Brother Joseph, for bringing the word to us. And I wanted to take this opportunity to allow us not only to pray over this passage for ourselves, but also to pray for Joseph and his family, for Christ Seminary, the students and their needs there. Can you stand with me as we pray? O Lord God, we stand here in unity with our brother from another continent, having the same word written for us, able to understand it by your spirit, gathering us together in a gathering like this. Lord, we give you praise for the rescue of our soul, for this salvation that you have given to us, made available in the world through your son, but not just left on the ground for some to come by, investigate and pick up. But you have sent your spirit into the world to open our eyes and our hearts to the truth of the gospel. And you have given us a status of brothers and sisters with Jesus Christ himself, beloved by you. And Lord, we stand here and we ask for this great work. that Paul referred to here, this work of sanctification, making us holy, making us like your son. We ask that you would give us the will and the ability just as you have promised you would. Oh, Lord, what hope it gives us that this is your joy. You take your happiness when we live in obedience and love for your son and your glory. Lord, we bow our heads. And we ask for the humility of Christ. We ask for the obedience of Christ to be in us, to define our lives. Lord, as we stand on the brink of another year, we acknowledge that we do not know that we personally will make it through this year or that this may not be the year that you return in glory. So, Lord, we ask that you would give us the faith to walk in obedience to your word. For your pleasure, may we be truly little Christ's Christians by name. Or we pray for our brothers and sisters in South Africa as well. Lord, may you sanctify the churches there, make them holy in your word, help them not to stray, help them not to be drawn aside by the same secular humanism that infects the West, that infects South Africa, that is spreading across that continent. Oh, Lord, we pray that you would help us to resist this. You would help our brothers and sisters there to resist. And that we would take our identity from Christ alone and our commonality with one another. Help us to strive to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Lord, we pray that you would meet the needs of Christ Seminary for the library that they have. Lord, all the resources that you need for your work are available. And we just pray you would release them for this work, that they would be able to expand their influence in South Africa, and they would be able to continue the work of training men to lead your church. Oh, what a great need. Lord, even as we ourselves are looking for a pastor, we pray that you would provide our needs and we pray that you would provide the needs of churches in Africa, that they would have men capable to lead, to preach, to counsel, to live as an example before your people so that you might do this work that they have purpose to do. Lord, we pray for Joseph and his family as they finish their travels here Lord, give them joy in the fellowship they have with brothers and sisters. Keep them safe as they travel home. And Lord, as he gets back to his classes, as soon as he arrives, Lord, may he not only preach with power and with passion, but may he teach and equip others to do so. We ask these things for the glory of Christ in this world. Amen. Amen.