“Therefore,
my dear friends, as you have always obeyed–not only in my presence, but now
much more in my absence … “ (Php 2:12, NIV)
Obedience is a heart issue. When I was a child, I obeyed my earthly
father out of fear and concern of what would happen to me if I didn’t. As I got older, I realized obedience was for
my own good. As I continued to mature,
obeying was more a matter of not wanting to disappoint my parents. This is still not the level of obedience God
has called us to.
God calls us to a higher level of obedience,
a mature obedience. When I first came to
Christ, I obeyed out of fear and concern of what would happen to me if I
didn’t. As I got older, I realized
obedience was for my own good. As I
continued to mature, obeying was more a matter of not wanting to disappoint
God. Eventually I came to a place where
because of my love for God, I didn’t want to do anything to offend Him or
hinder my relationship with Him.
When I was a child and my father was around I
would be obedient to his requirements.
f he went somewhere, maybe I would be obedient and maybe I
wouldn’t. In our verse today, Paul is
calling the believers to a higher level of obedience. He says “as you have been obedient in my
presence, now be obedient in my absence.”
“Respond in my absence, just as you would if
I was there among you.” The obedience
Paul is talking about is the kind that is a “working out” of what God has “put
in”. There are things that accompany
salvation, and these things are to be evidenced in our lives. Not because Paul is there, or a preacher, or
Sunday school teacher, or school teacher, or a policeman, or fireman, or Mom,
or Dad, but because there has been a change wrought in our heart and we want
to do what is right. And we want to do
it not because of fear of punishment, but because of love, appreciation, and
awe.
You see, God is doing something inside of
us. He is giving us the desire to act in
accordance with His Word. And as if that
wasn’t enough, He is also giving us the ability to do the things He wants us
to! Php 2:12-13 from the NIV Bible says:
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have
always obeyed–not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence–continue
to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in
you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
