God at Work Within You

It is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and power to achieve His purpose. Do all you have to do without grumbling, or arguing, so that you may be blameless and harmless, faultless children of God, living in a warped and diseased age and shining like lights in a dark world. For you hold up in your hands the very word of life. Philippians 2:13-16

The concept of the indwelling of God’s spirit was perhaps very foreign to the people at the time of Paul’s letter. The Jews had a dwelling place for God in the Holy of Holies, established in the wilderness Tabernacle and continued in the Jerusalem temple. Pagans built huge places of worship to their gods, worthy of the role they played in their culture. But Jesus brought a new understanding of Who and Where God is. At the crucifixion, the veil of the temple, separating man from the Holy of Holies, was torn from top to bottom, signifying that God had chosen to end the separation from His creation. Jesus promised His disciples a Comforter who would come after His ascension to heaven. And so, whether by tongues of fire or the water of baptism, God’s Holy Spirit dwells within believers.

The indwelling of the Spirit indicates two things. First, it ends the separation. Paul explains in Romans 8 “I have become absolutely convinced that neither death nor life, neither messenger of Heaven nor monarch of earth, neither what happens today nor what may happen tomorrow, neither a power from on high nor a power from below, nor anything else in God’s whole world has any power to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is this assurance that brings the peace he mentions later in his Philippian letter – the “peace that surpasses human understanding.” It eradicates the fear of being alone, of facing the fears and trials of the day on our own. It is a repetition of the psalmist words – “I will fear no evil for Thou art with me.”

But the presence of God’s Holy Spirit also indicates direction. We assume a sense of responsibility knowing that it is the Holy Spirit that gives us purpose. No more should we wander, grumbling and arguing like the children of Israel in the wilderness but instead become the city on a hill, the light shining in the darkness. Yet it is not we who shine, but the truth of God within us. “For you hold up in your hands the very word of life,” Paul reminds the Philippian church. And the reminder rings true for Christians today. The darkness still exists. And the only power that can pierce it is the Word which has been entrusted to us. The young Christians at Philippi were being misled by those who would have them believe that they were still responsible to the demands of the Jewish law, especially the practice of circumcision. Paul says understanding and power is not achieved through obedience to the law because no one can fully fulfill the laws demands except Christ. But through His righteous we may stand as a light in a dark world. We are marked, not with the physical scars of circumcision, but the spiritual cleansing of baptism and the presence of the Holy Spirit. We become agents of the Most High God and His Spirit dwells within us, giving us direction and purpose.

Yet sometimes, as Christians, we find it difficult to discern exactly what God wants us to do, in what direction we should go. We question – What is God saying to me? We seek the voice of God but often mistakenly only listen for the rushing wind, the earthquake or the fire. What we may not realize is that not everyone encounters a blinding light on the road to Damascus.

God speaks to us in many ways. Often times it is like Elijah’s experience, in a still small voice. But in order to hear, to understand His will for us, we must silence the noises that compete for our attention.

Thought Questions

1. The Judaizers claimed the necessity of continued obedience to the Law of Moses in order for the gentiles in Philippi to become Christians. Who are the “Judaizers” of today?

2. How do we silence the distractions in order to hear the voice of