Lights in the World (Philippians 2:12-18)

Note: I preached this sermon on January 4, 2026 at Beacon of Hope Community Church of the Nazarene (Moon Township, PA)

Read Philippians 2:12-18 in the New English Translation (NET)

(12) So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, continue working out your own salvation with awe and reverence,

(13) for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God.

(14) Do everything without grumbling or arguing,

(15) so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world

(16) by holding on to the word of life so that on the day of Christ I will have a reason to boast that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.

(17) But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice together with all of you.

(18) And in the same way you also should be glad and rejoice together with me.”

prayer

___________________________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION

Today is the first Sunday of 2026. Many of us have faced challenges in 2025, and 2026 promises to be another year with its own share of challenges, even hardships.

When we find ourselves in that place – facing real obstacles but still hopeful – Paul’s letter to the Philippians speaks to us.

Paul didn’t pen this epistle in a comfortable palace but in a dark and chilly prison cell. Four words found in Philippians 1:13 stand out:

“I am in prison.”

It’s important, though, to read further in verse 13. There, Paul doesn’t just say “I am in prison” but he adds: “I am in prison for the sake of Christ.”

Our sovereign God is able to take the worst of our circumstances and use them to advance divine purposes in our world. Our suffering has meaning as part of a larger story, the Story of God.

Just a minute ago, we read Philippians 2:12-18. In this passage, Paul’s hardship in prison is still there in the background, but he turns now to other themes. He refuses to make his letter a “Woe is me.” Instead, good pastor that he is, his thoughts and concern – to use his words in 1:1 – turn to “all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi.”

The very fact that the early Church chose to include Paul’s letter in what we now call the New Testament is a testimony to its usefulness and timeless themes. It spoke then, and it still speaks.

Let’s look today at 3 commands that Paul gives:

Work out your salvation.
Be blameless and pure.
Celebrate together.

WORK OUT YOUR SALVATION

Let’s not forget that Paul is writing not to an individual but to a group. He’s saying:

“Hey all y’all, work out all y’all’s salvation.”

Reuben Welch had it right when he titled his book: “We really do need each other.” John Wesley often preached on this passage, and he entitled his sermon:

“On Working Out Our Own Salvation”

Christianity is a group endeavor. No, we can’t save ourselves, but when God saves us by his grace, it is also God who enables us by his grace to continue in the walk of faith.

Look again at v. 13: “for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God.” The NIV is even clearer: “For it is God who works in you…”

There’s a proverb from Ghana that captures this idea of cooperation. Picture the marketplace where women are often walking with large trays of colorful goods balanced on their head. The proverb advises:

“Make up your tray then we’ll help you put it on your head.”

We do our part and God does God’s part. We work and at the same time God works inside us, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The New English Translation captures the ongoing nature of salvation. The end of Philippians 2:12 reads: “…continue working our your salvation with awe and reverence.”

A ten year old might speak of giving her heart to Jesus at a Vacation Bible School when she was five years old, and the church says “Amen!” But if that same girl – now a grown woman of 50 – shares just that testimony and nothing new from the 45 years afterward, everyone will wonder: What has God been up to in your life since then?”

The Disney film “Finding Dory” has good advice: “Keep swimming.”

God saved me; God is saving me; God will save me.

Past, present, and future – That’s relationship. It started at some point, it’s still deepening, and one day our faith will be sight.

Work out your salvation.

BE BLAMELESS AND PURE

After talking about salvation, Paul gets really practical. Let’s read v. 14 – “Do everything without grumbling or arguing.”

Why? See verse 15: “so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish…”

Here we find the second command. Not only are we to work out our salvation, but we also are to be blameless and pure.

Don’t grumble. Don’t argue.

Some English words sound like what they are: “mur-mur” “back-biting”

Our children were pretty contented kids growing up, but occasionally like all children they would gripe about this-or-that. That’s when we’d jokingly say:

“Would you like some cheese with your WHINE?”

Or maybe if a young child falls at the playground and it’s apparent they’re not hurt but just tearfully seeking attention from their grown-ups, we ask:

“Should I call the WAM-bulance?”

We all laugh and they go back to playing with the other children, none worse for the wear.

There will be scrapes and bruises. After all, Paul never asks us to physically withdraw from this world, but he does admonish us to live clean lives despite the crooked and perverse influences around us.

In 1987, Tipper Gore entitled her book: “Raising PG kids in an X-rated society.”

Sometimes we glorify “the old days,” but that book is now almost 40 years old. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Being Christlike is a challenge in every generation. Christians are still called to be salt and light, to “change the world” as the saying would have it, but I wonder:

Instead of changing the world, has the world changed us?

Yes, the world can be dark, but Jesus, the Light of the World, turned to his listeners and said: “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Perhaps Paul had the Lord’s words in-mind when he reminded the Philippians in v. 15 that “you shine as lights in the world.” And how is it that we shine? How is it that we, as followers of Jesus, stand out in the moral darkness around us? There it is in verse 16: “by holding on to the word of life…”

Let’s face it: To be blameless and pure in our day-and-age is to be counter-cultural. To do that, to really shine God’s light, a passing knowledge of the Bible won’t do. What’s more, we can’t just cherry-pick the promises of God and ignore the Bible’s tougher teachings, which include what F.F. Bruce used to call “the hard sayings of Jesus.”

Dietrick Bonhoeffer ministered as a Lutheran pastor in Germany during the Second World War. After he was involved in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, the Nazis eventually marched the pastor to a scaffold. They hung him naked just a few days before the Allied forces liberated the prison camp where Bonhoeffer was captive. Earlier, Bonhoeffer famously wrote:

“When Jesus calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

To be blameless and pure in any generation involves sacrifice. Paul said in v. 17 that he was being “poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith.”

That’s hardly a popular message in an age when we don’t want to know what we can do for God. We want to know what God can do for me. Nonetheless, sacrifice is a message we must hear again because it lies at the heart of our Cross-based faith.

CELEBRATE TOGETHER

Paul instructs us: Work out your salvation. Secondly, he calls us to be blameless and pure, holding on to the word of life. Finally, the apostle insists: Celebrate together.

In verse 17, Paul lightens the mood. From the somber image of sacrifice upon an altar, he pivots to celebration:

“I am glad and rejoice together with all of you,” he writes. “And in the same way you also should be glad and rejoice together with me.”

As a hospital chaplain, I quickly learned that there’s a lot of pain on the various wards. It’s the man who sits in the darkness, refusing to turn on his light as week-after-week he waits for a heart transplant. It’s the young parents tearfully processing the devastating news that their 6 month old baby boy has a terminal brain tumor. The pain goes on-and-on, and as a chaplain, I quickly learned to mostly just sit in silence with people who suffered, to “bear witness” as my chaplain mentor called it.

Yet I remember the day when sitting with someone in sadness became a lesson misapplied – good practice, wrong moment.

My mentor and I visited with a man in his early 20’s who had fought cancer for many months. On that day, however, he’d received positive news. The latest test showed that his cancer was in remission! And that’s where I went wrong. Instead of pausing in that moment and rejoicing with him, I pivoted back to the overall journey, back to the hard parts, back to the sadness. Later, my mentor corrected me in private:

“Greg, make sure to celebrate what there is to celebrate.”

Yes, wrote Paul, he was being poured out like a drink offering, yet even then, Paul says: “Rejoice with me!” He would not let the sadness consume the joy.

So I ask you: Despite the tough times, what do we have to celebrate today?

We lived to see 2026. Praise the Lord!

We have a roof over our heads and enough to live on today, to meet our needs. Celebrate!

We have people who love us and care for us, including this church family. Thank you, Jesus!

To celebrate is not to deny the reality of our hardships, but it is a joyful acknowledgment – lest we forget – of what is going well.

There’s an old saying: “I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.” Singer Billy Joel then added: “The sinners are much more fun.”

But the apostle Paul’s having none of it. He writes: “Rejoice together with me.” In 2026, let’s rediscover the joy of our salvation.

CONCLUSION

Our sermon title today is “Lights in the World.” Are you ready to shine in the new year? To shine, let’s…