Saved In Community

There’s a plural “you” Paul is using and it’s worth thinking about.

Before we get into our text this morning, I wanted to remind you of something students of Paul have noted in his letters over the years. It’s called the indicative and the imperative in Paul. Paul is always either telling us something valuable we need to know (that’s the indicative), or he’s telling us what we need to be doing in response to what we know (that’s the imperative).

One of the questions young parents get a lot is, “Why? Why, Daddy? Why, Mommy?” Sometimes the parent gets asked this so much that it becomes annoying, and he or she will respond: “Why? Because I said so, that’s why!” That’s not a bad answer, by the way, because one of the first things a child has to learn is obedience and respect. But we haven’t been very good parents if we don’t eventually teach them the why. Paul always teaches the why—that’s the indicative. It makes the imperative make sense.

The very first word in our verse 12 is “therefore.” That “therefore” is referring back to what Paul has just told us about the voluntary humility and subsequent exaltation of Christ. Paul gave them a command to unity, told them to be humble, then told them to follow the example set for them by Jesus himself.

Philippians 1:12a ESV - Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now,

Jesus obeyed, you obey. Jesus humbled himself to obedience, you humble yourselves in obedience. “Y’all have always obeyed before, so now.” Did you catch what I just did there? I threw a southern “y’all” in because Paul is speaking in the plural. This is a corporate command.

(12) Therefore, my beloved, as you (all) have always obeyed, so now,

He’s speaking to them as individuals, yes, but he’s also direct addressing them as a body, a community, a church. There’s a corporate nature to this obedience.

Now, let’s be careful here. This passage has traditionally been interpreted in terms of individual salvation, and for good reason. I’m not trying to overturn that interpretation. But I do want to point out this corporate aspect. We are truly all in this together. It takes two or more to tango. Unity requires the participation of all.

And so does our salvation.

Now, how provocative was that? Stay with me. In fact, Paul continues to use the second person plural throughout these two verses. He’s talking to them as a church. When he says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,” he’s saying “y’all” as in “all y’all.” And when he says that it is God who is working in you, he means “y’all.” God saves his people in community and uses them in community, because (wait for it) we are being saved for communion—eternal blessing, communion with him and with each other for eternity. That’s what we experience, in part, when we participate in the communion service—the Lord’s table.

When I say that God is saving us in community, it’s the idea, not that God needs any help in saving us, he doesn’t. It’s the idea that God uses means. “How shall they believe in him of whom they’ve not heard? How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except they be sent?” Cause and effect, cause and effect, cause and effect. God saves us by grace alone, but he uses preachers, doesn’t he? He uses teachers, doesn’t he? He uses faithful Christians, doesn’t he? He uses us to minister to each other within the community of the church.

So that’s the first thing I want you to know about these two verses and the obedience they’re commanding, that it is a corporate obedience, a corporate command, given to us in community. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. And we cannot actively be Christians outside the context of a fellowship of believers. Don’t forget that.