"So that, my beloved, just as you always obeyed, not as in the coming of me only but rather now much more in the absence of me, with fear and trembling be working out one’s own salvation."
-’so that’... what paul is about to tell us derives from what he has just told us. obey. yes, do what God wants no matter who is looking, and do so with fear and trembling - but we do what God wants with fear and trembling BECAUSE we have a perfect Savior Who is the risen and exalted Lord before Whom every knee will bow and Whom every tongue will confess to be the King of the Universe. He has all authority, He has all power, and while right now we have almost no concept of what that looks like, we need to do our best to let that truth unsteady our knees and soften our hearts and necks to live lives of obedience and reverence. we need to learn to awe Who Jesus is, and then go with it.
-all the imperatives paul has been giving thus far fairly constitute what God wants His people to do. one-souled, striving together for the progress of the Gospel, going low and living into others-first others-better - this is what God wants us to do, and doing what He wants connects with the concept of obedience. it is quite simple - we show our love for the Lord and our true yieldedness to Him AS Lord in how we obey Him and do the things that He asks us to do (1john 5.3, john 14.15, john 14.21). these philippian believers apparently had always been quite obedient when paul was present with them, but now he is not there and is communicating what God wants them to do via letter. and this is really the true test of a person’s faith, is it not? do i still do what God wants when nobody is around, when i am not aware that anybody is looking? of course God sees everything we do and knows our every thought, but we can be quite expert at conveniently forgetting that fact. thus one of the goals of discipling and mentoring and coaching and parenting is to position those God has placed within our purview to carry on and thrive when we are not there to help them do so. it is why john says he has no greater joy than to hear that his children in the faith are actually walking in the truth in his absence (3john 3-4; cf galatians 4.19). it is why paul is saying that these believers can actually fill up his joy - he so much wants them to be all in for the things that God wants, and that holds true even and especially when no one is there to watch over them. so, question: who are you when you think nobody is looking?
-the actual word for ‘obey’ in the greek is hupakouo, which literally means ‘to listen under’. the prefix is hupo, or hypo, which means ‘under’ (think hypodermic, meaning ‘under the skin’). it is the exact opposite of hyper (which means ‘above’), the word we’ve just been looking at in philippians 2.3 and philippians 2.9. we are really talking about two antithetical positions and directions. we are talking about being under, a lowering of ourselves, going low in how we relate to other believers and most certainly in how we relate to Jesus. He went low, put Himself under what His Father wanted and obeyed perfectly, and as a result is now above all things. so the whole concept of God’s people obeying Him dovetails perfectly with the idea of going low. in order to obey, you need to choose to place yourself under the authority and rank of the person you will choose to obey, and to give them a place above you. you not only hear what they are saying they want, but you rank yourself under them, you subjegate yourself to what they want and you comply. you do what they want. this is obedience. this is how we are to relate to the God Who made us. or should, at least. it is indeed the path of wisdom (psalm 111.10) as opposed to foolishness (psalm 14.1).
-’work out’... it means to carry out to the goal, complete, bring to pass, accomplish, produce (cf romans 7.8). it is present tense, so we are talking something constant, day by day, moment by moment. not as in procuring something we do not have, but rather in substantiating the salvation we have already received. this is our role, carrying out to the goal the salvation which we have received from the Lord. ours is a long obedience, a marathon and not a sprint. each day of the thousands God gives me is full of new opportunities to substantiate what He has done for me and in me by obeying Him, by going low and doing whatever He wants. each day must begin anew as if nothing yet has been done for Christ, not resting on any perceived laurels nor putting confidence in anything i may have accomplished or experienced yesterday, nor being deterred by it (cf job 2.10). no, each day must begin where i freely decide to rank myself under Jesus as my Lord and King. each and every day i am abiding in Christ and trusting Him for fresh power and guidance and i am going low, saying no to what i want, to self and my flesh and to the world and the enemy and i am saying yes to the Lord and what He wants.
-true salvation is not a faith that fizzles before the finish. it perseveres until the end, through suffering and hardship as well as through blessing and joy. it keeps running hard after Christ every day, trusting Him, obeying Him, even when no one is looking. it is something that God initiates in us to be sure, and He continues right alongside us and in us every step of our journey, but ours is not a wheelchair or a gurney. we walk. we run. we run with endurance. we run to win (hebrews 12.1, 1corinthians 9.24).
-and we do it with fear (phobia) and with trembling. these two seem to go hand in hand (cf mark 16.8, 1corinthians 2.3, 2corinthians 7.15, ephesians 6.5), particularly when God is either present or in mind. we need to be constantly reminded of Who it is we are dealing with. we’re not talking about some docile benign heavenly grandpa. we’re not talking about some fluffy Jesus with baby bunnies bouncing around, or a few cute, harmless little cherubs. in fact we are told that it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of this God Who is truly alive and is not silent (hebrews 10.31). He tends to have that effect on people (matthew 14.26, matthew 17.5-6, luke 24.4, revelation 11.13, deuteronomy 34.12, isaiah 2.19, exodus 34.30) - when He shows up and is present, there tends to be great terror and fear. God is the original ‘shock and awe’. but the truth is that He really is here. He is always present and accounted for. proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (proverbs 1.7; cf exodus 9.30). a healthy fear and awe of the living God is a prerequisite for godly living (exodus 18.21, exodus 20.20, deuteronomy 5.29, deuteronomy 10.12, psalm 33.8). fear and obedience go hand in hand, to be sure (genesis 22.12, deuteronomy 31.12). when we obey someone, we do so in part because we are wisely afraid to incur the wrath of the one we would disobey. there is a double thrust of motivation - we do what God wants in order to bring Him pleasure, but also to avoid His wrath. ours is not a safe God. of course He is good, but He is not safe. the fact remains that God is always watching and present, even when nobody else is around. it is the highest of wisdom to learn to conduct myself and live my life with circumspect reverence and the awareness of the very real presence of Almighty God, to always seek to do what He wants in part out of proper fear and respect for Him. i still have a looooong way to go...
’...and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, unto [the] glory of God [the] Father.’
-the end, the final outcome is glory. the whole reason why any of this has taken place is to show off the magnificent splendor and breathtaking goodness of Almighty God. it is the all-encompassing why behind all that He has ever done or ever will do. He has taken the path of glory, the one which will in the end bring Him the most glory. it is all about Him. this theme resounds throughout Scripture. it is all about bringing maximum glory to the all-glorious God. everything God does is in relentless pursuit of whatever will most show off and increase the celebration of His breathtaking goodness (cf john 12.28, john 14.13, luke 2.14, romans 11.36, romans 15.7, romans 16.27, and countless other passages). this is why God’s people are to embrace a mindset of going low in pursuit of others-first others-better. this is precisely why Jesus made it all not about Him and emptied and lowered Himself - He was in hot pursuit of showing off God’s breathtaking goodness. ultimately for those who follow Christ it needs to become not about me and instead all about Him. He must increase and i must decrease (john 3.30).
-the way this glory will be shown is that every tongue should or will confess (or agree) that Jesus is Lord. we know that this is the core confession of a truly regenerated Christ follower (romans 10.9), and we also know that it is only by the enabling of God’s Spirit that someone can even say that Jesus Christ is Lord (1corinthians 12.3). and so this section begs the question still further - is paul talking about true Christ followers only, those who when they agree with the Kingship and Lordship of Jesus Christ do so with their whole heart, or are we talking about a universal confession which includes many who arrive at that agreement only reluctantly or even defiantly.
-ultimately, it is in honoring His Son Jesus Christ, and only in doing so, that the Father - hence God almighty Himself - is truly honored (john 5.23). the two are inextricably One (john 10.30), and thus we even see that the deity of Christ is truly wrapped up in this confession. but ultimately all things WILL be subjected to Christ and hence to God the Father (cf 1corinthians 15.24-28). looking at the whole of Scripture it looks like we are talking about a universal confession and subjection, yes, but that it will be more of a process than an event. by the end of history, when the devil and death are finally thrown into the lake of fire along with every other soul who lived their life in rebellion against their Creator and never emptied and lowered themself to trust in Christ’s payment for their sin (revelation 20.7-15), every created being, whether human or angelic, will either willingly or forcibly bend the knee and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is King and Lord.
-regardless, how unfortunate it is that the term 'Lord' has become one of the most overused and clichéd in the Christian vocabulary, whereas it really declares the true character and supremacy of Jesus Christ. it is the fountainhead of worship and the bedrock of daily living for those who would truly follow Christ. theirs is the posture of darth vader kneeling before lord sidious: “what is thy bidding, my master?” or that of Christ Himself kneeling before His Father: “not what I want, but what You want.” theirs is the unending pursuit of living into the answer to the question, “Lord, what do You want?”
