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No Murmuring at All
 (Philippians #8)

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Introduction

We have been focusing on like-mindedness and joy. But the particular like-mindedness and joy that Paul is urging upon the Philippians is not simply something that would create harmony and happiness within the body of Christ. It also creates a dramatic contrast with the only other way of attempting to be human, the way pursued by those who are outside of Christ. Christians who are living like Christians shine like stars against the darkness of a complaining generation. 

The Text

“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.” (Philippians 2:12–18). 

Summary of the Text

Paul says that the Philippians are beloved of him, and he remarks on their past pattern of obedience to apostolic authority. As they have been obedient, he wants them now to be much more obedience in his absence (v. 12). The command they are to obey is the requirement to work out their own salvation, and to do so with fear and trembling (v. 12). The reason given why they are to do this that God Himself is working in them, to will and to accomplish according to His good pleasure (v. 13). What should this “working out” look like? We begin by doing all things, not most things but all things, without murmuring or disputing (v. 14). Notice the link between an absence of disputing and like-mindedness. Living this way sets up a dramatic contrast between them and the backdrop of a crooked and perverse time (v. 15). Such blameless and harmless sons of God would shine out as lights against the pitch blackness of a murmuring and disputing world (v 15). Paul wants them to hold forth the word of life (the gospel) so that he might have additional cause for rejoicing in the day of Christ (v. 16). Since he was laboring for the fruit of the gospel in their lives, this would be evidence that his labors were not futile (v. 16). If their obedience were to be the altar upon which Paul was to be sacrificed, he would rejoice and rejoice together with them (v. 17). If he departs to be with Christ, they would triumph together with him (v. 18).  

Work Out, Work In

Paul here tells them to work out their own salvation, so let us consider this first. The reason given for them working out their salvation is that God is working in their salvation. They are to work out what God works in. It is the same root verb in both uses. As God works His will into us, and as He works His good pleasure into us, we work out that same salvation by exhibiting to the world what God exhibited to our souls.

The Pelagian says that God works in nothing, we work the whole thing out. The antinomian says that God works in everything, and we have to do nothing. 

But how much of your salvation is worked into you by God? 100%. And how much of your salvation is worked out by you? Also 100%. As the great Augustine once put it, “Grant what thou commandest, and command what thou dost desire.”  

If we recognize the awesome grace that is involved in this, what we work out is not going to be done in a spirit of showboating, but rather with a demeanor of “fear and trembling.”

What Comes Out in This Working Out

So Paul tells us to work out our salvation. But when we work it out, what is it that comes out? The opposite of murmuring. “Do all things without murmuring and disputing.” Any salvation that is being worked out is a salvation that is resolved to be done without moaning, complaining, grumbling, murmuring, kvetching, fretting, bellyaching, carping, fussing, groaning, grousing, whimpering, whining—and have you ever noticed how many words we have for this? Kind of like  the Eskimos and snow.  

The Stark Contrast

This is a living out of the gospel, the word of life (v. 16). The crooked and perverse nation is the world without the gospel, and is assumed to be sheer darkness (v. 15). When the gospel comes to people in this dark world, and they look to Christ, the end result is that they are saved, and begin to work out that salvation. The fruit of that salvation is love, joy, peace, and all the rest (Gal. 5:22). The fruit of light is that which is good, and right, and true (Eph. 5:9). The fruit of this grace is faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, and the rest (2 Pet. 1:5-8). But in this place, Paul sums up the contrast by saying that the result of working the grace of this salvation is an absence of complaining. 

Think about what happens when you congregate with your unbelieving acquaintances. What do they complain about? They complain about their husbands and wives. They complain about their children. They complain about their parents. They complain about their pay. They complain about the weather. They complain about the stupidity of co-workers. They complain about taxes. They complain and complain, and are in the process of turning into a cluster of grumbles themselves. 

One of the most potent evangelistic things you could do is simply express gratitude publicly for the things that they like to complain about. 

Bring This Back to Christ

Remember the context here. Paul ends this passage by considering the prospect of him being sacrificed on the altar of their obedience, and he rejoices in that. When he commands them later to “rejoice always” (Phil. 4:4), he is not telling them this in the context of a minor problem like sore feet. Paul is cultivating the mind of Christ in his life, and he is urging the Philippians to do the same thing in theirs.

We have just finished considering how Christ made Himself of “no reputation” (Phil. 2:8). Did He have anything to complain about? Was there nothing in the treatment He received that was worthy of a murmuring spirit? Anguish, yes, but complaining . . . no. 

And this is why we are privileged, as believers, to look straight at the cross of Christ. When we do, we also are looking at all the complaints of all of God’s elect. We see them all, but we see them all crucified.  

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The Mind of Christ (Philippians #7)

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Introduction

We have been emphasizing like-mindedness and its relationship to joy. But like-mindedness cannot be cobbled together from side-to-side. If you tied two people’s legs together, what you get is not unanimity, but rather a three-legged race at the picnic, and people falling down. So the like-mindedness that we must pursue must be pursued through our imitation of Christ. Paul said in the first chapter that he wanted them to be of “one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27). He exhorted them in Phil. 2:2 to be like-minded. In the next verse he commends lowliness of mind (Phil. 2:3). And here we come to the capstone of all of this—which is the mind of Christ.

This is how we are to understand how it all ties together: one mind > like-minded > lowliness of mind > the mind of Christ. 

The Text

“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:5–11). 

Summary of the Text

There are good arguments for considering this passage (vv. 6-11) to be an early Christian hymn, one that Paul inserted here to anchor his point about humility of mind. He begins by exhorting them to cultivate the same mind that was in Christ (v. 5). Earlier in v. 3, he told us that we were to have lowliness of mind. Christ was perfect, and Christ was humble.

And here the hymn begins. He was in the very form of God, and so it was not grasping for Him to consider Himself equal with God (v. 6). He was with God, and He was God (John 1:1). So He, infinitely majestic, made Himself to be of “no reputation.” God became a nobody. He was in the form of God, but took on the form of a slave (doulos), and was made in the likeness of men (v. 7). And being found in that form, that schematic, of a man, He humbled Himself—further—and was obedient to God, all the way to death on a cross (v. 8). Because He was obedient down to the nadir of degradation, what did God do? God has exalted Him, and has exalted Him above every possible name (v. 9). Because His name is above every name, the result will be that every knee will bow, whether they be the knees of creatures in Heaven, or on earth, or subterranean (v. 10). Not only will every knee bow, but every tongue is also going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and the end result will be that God the Father will be glorified (v. 11).  

Form of God, Form of Man 

As we see here in this text, and as we learn from the creeds, the Lord Jesus was not an admixture of Deity and humanity. He was and remained fully God. But He did not grasp for the prerogatives of that reality, but rather submitted to the will of His Father. When He did this, He took on the form of a man. He added humanity to Himself, subtracting nothing, and with that union accomplished by the Holy Spirit. This was not a mingling or a mixture. He was and remains fully God and He became fully man. As the Athanasian Creed puts it—“One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh; but by assumption of the Manhood into God. One altogether; not by confusion of Substance [or essence]; but by unity of Person.” In this, the natures of Deity and humanity are not blurred or smudged together. Rather, they are joined, and their distinct natures kept distinct, with the intersection where they meet being the person of our Lord Jesus. 

Cultivate This Mind . . .

According to carnal calculations, the mind of Christ would have no reason to be humble. Why should perfection be humble? But He was absolute perfection, and this means that His humility was absolutely perfect. Humility is one of the attributes of perfection.

And it is here that we must learn to make an important distinction. There is a difference between being humble and being humiliated, shamed, or embarrassed. Now these latter sensations can actually be good for us, and frequently are. God can use them in our lives to great profit. Being taken down a few pegs in such ways can set the stage for growth in humility, but they are not the same thing as humility. 

Growth in humility does not mean identifying yourself as a lousy worm. That would be humiliation, which might be a gospel duty. If you have been behaving like a lousy worm then you should admit it. Such humiliation is good for you. But that is not humility. Humility is the attitude that receives such humiliation. And growth in humility means learning to not think of yourself at all. Humility is that which receives the humbling and does not notice the promotion. 

What It Means to “Not Notice”

There is a not-noticing that is humility, and there is a not-noticing that is simply ignorance and stupidity. Christ has been exalted to the highest place, and it is not as though He does not know this. When Joseph was exalted to high position in Egypt, he knew that this had happened. When Daniel was promoted in Babylon, he was aware of it.

So what do I mean by “noticing” and “not noticing?” I mean noticing your accolades, or your honors, or your promotions, treating them as sweet morsels for your ego. You keep each one of them like a lozenge under your tongue. That kind of thing is perilous for the soul.

Looking to Christ, and Not to Man

“How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (John 5:44).

In order to have the mind of Christ, you must look to Christ. When you look to Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, your lust for the praise of man will start to evaporate. And the more you look to man for his praise, the harder it becomes for you to understand the mind of Christ. 

The difference can be put in a nutshell. Looking to man means that you want to go straight to the crown. Looking to Christ means that you want to follow Him through the cross to a true crown, the kind that never perishes. 

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