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Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, \u201cchildren of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.\u201d Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky\xa0as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. (Philippians 2:14-16)

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Paul continues on with the \u201cso what\u201d after the hymn to Christ\u2019s humble exaltation.\xa0 Yesterday, Pastor Michael noted Paul\u2019s invitation that we work out what God has worked into us through Christ.\xa0 Paul continues that thought today by harkening back to Genesis and Deuteronomy.

Our first clue that we\u2019re back in the wilderness is that pesky word \u201cgrumbling.\u201d\xa0 The Israelites did a lot of that in the wilderness after being set free from slavery. \xa0The wilderness was hard.\xa0 It was hot.\xa0 Food and water were hard to come by.\xa0 Death seemed an ever-present threat.\xa0 There was no destination in sight, just more rocks.\xa0 So they grumbled.\xa0 Paul sets the Philippians and their situation under threat of persecution next to the Israelites in the wilderness, and invites them to take a different attitude than Israel had.\xa0 \u201cDo everything without grumbling or arguing,\u201d he says.\xa0

But Paul goes further.\xa0 He takes Moses\u2019 own farewell speech from the end of Deuteronomy and makes it his own.\xa0 But he changes a few things.\xa0 Moses in Deuteronomy 32:5 had said of the Israelites: \u201cthey are blemished and not [God\u2019s] children; to their shame they are a warped and crooked generation.\u201d\xa0

Paul flips that around.\xa0 Paul implores the Philippians not to grumble under the suffering they endure \u201cso that you may become blameless and pure, \u2018children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.\u2019\u201d\xa0 In other words: you already are God\u2019s children, you are no longer warped and crooked like the generation around you because Jesus has redeemed you from all that.\xa0 So then, continue to work out what God has worked into you, becoming blameless and pure so that you might shine the light of God among your neighbours!

At the beginning of the letter, Paul conveys every confidence that he would see the Philippians again.\xa0 Then a few verses latter he qualifies that notion a bit. \xa0There\u2019s a chance they might not see him.\xa0 Then here in our passage, he begins to speak of that possibility more bluntly, alluding to his death.\xa0 The comparison with the final speech of Moses to the Israelites is complete.\xa0 Neither the faith of the Israelites or of the Philippians could finally rest on the shoulders of their leaders.\xa0 They would have to discover a way to \u201cwork out their faith with fear and trembling\u201d with nothing but the trust that Christ would continue to journey with them through the wilderness until they too arrived at the promised land.

That\u2019s where Paul lands in his analogies too.\xa0 The promise to Abraham is that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.\xa0 Paul uses that same picture of stars to describe the Philippians: they, as children of God were already a picture of God fulfilling his promise.\xa0 So again: wouldn\u2019t they continue to work out what God was working into them?\xa0 Wouldn\u2019t they shine their light?\xa0 Won\u2019t you?