Philippians: Part 6 - Working Out Salvation
Angelo Sanchez
July 20, 2025

Free-Form Sermon Notes





Working Out Salvation – Outline


Working Out Salvation

Philippians 2 : 12–18

Big Idea

  • Salvation is a gift received; disciples “work it out” as God works within.
  • Obedience, holiness, and a grumble-free spirit make believers shine.
  • Joy grows as we cooperate with God’s ongoing grace.

Introduction

  • The tension of grace ✕ effort: resting in God versus rising to action.
  • Paul offers a third way — dynamic partnership, not striving or passivity.

I. Work Out What God Has Worked In (vv. 12–13)

  • “Work out” = bring to maturity, not earn.
  • “Fear & trembling” = reverent awe at handling holy grace.
  • God supplies both the desire (will) and the power (act).
“The reason we should be Christians in fear and trembling and not otherwise is that, as such, we put ourselves entirely into the power of God; that as such we recognize that all grace, that everything – the willing and the accomplishing, the beginning and the end, the faith and the revelation, the questions and the answers, the seeking and the finding – comes from God and is reality only in God. Everything here that really happens at all has God as its Subject.” – Karl Barth

Application

  • Growth is gradual; perseverance is cooperation with the Spirit’s prompting.
  • Small habits (prayer, confession, service) surface what God has planted.

II. Grumble-Free Living Shines (vv. 14–15)

  • Grumbling/arguing erode unity and dim witness.
  • Choosing gratitude & peace distinguishes believers “like stars in the sky.”
  • Our speech forms the culture of home, work, and church.

Application

  • Audit daily conversations; replace complaint with prayerful honesty.
  • Practice spoken gratitude to reset communal tone.

III. Hold Firm, Pour Out, Rejoice (vv. 16–18)

  • Anchor in the “word of life” to navigate shifting circumstances.
  • Paul’s life = drink offering; sacrificial service is never wasted.
  • Joy is discovered in faithful pouring-out, not self-preservation.

Application

  • View unseen acts of service as worship God fully sees.
  • Keep serving even when results are delayed; trust divine accounting.

Conclusion

  • Salvation is worked out in ordinary choices—traffic, conversations, calendars.
  • God invites participation, not perfection.
  • Work out what God has worked in; trust He’s not finished; shine like stars.