From the Gospel Chapel Web Site
“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13.
How is it that “it is God which worketh in you...to do of his good pleasure.” He works in us to will and breaks our independent attitude, but He also works in us to obey?
Jesus told Peter,
“Thou girdedst thyself, [you serve yourself, or weigh your own actions], and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not,” John 21:18.
Peter had the Spirit of God working in him to do of God’s good pleasure.
This word “gird” means “a yoke, a coupling, to be handcuffed or apprehended” by the Lord. He was going to be arrested in such a way that he was totally imprisoned to the Lord. He had absolutely no independence left. He would be strictly brought into the service of the Lord.
What Jesus really told Peter was:
“You shall stretch forth your hands to be handcuffed. You will unconditionally surrender and I will put shackles on you. Your independence will be removed and you shall serve the Lord. I shall weigh your actions as the Holy Spirit leads you,” as God works in you “to do of His good pleasure.”
Peter truly loved Jesus, but his independent will had not been broken. Three times Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” Peter knew his Lord could read his thoughts. He said in John 21:17,
“Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”
Peter was self-willed but “it [was] God which work[ed] in [Peter] both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
As Peter’s will was broken, he was led, as in handcuffs, by the Spirit as Christ’s prisoner, doing His will and following even where Peter did not want to go in answer to the prayers of Cornelius. The Lord broke Peter’s independent will and made him do as he was led of the Spirit. Peter would never have considered serving the Gentiles. In Acts 10:14-15,
“But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spoke to him again the second time, What God has cleansed, that call not common.”
After Peter’s will was broken, he set out to do God’s will. He went to the house of Cornelius, which was totally against his will because his will was broken. He was no longer independent. The Lord had worked in Peter “to will and to do of his good pleasure.”
As Peter confessed, Jesus knew what was in his heart. Jesus knew Peter would not want to go into the house of a Gentile, but Peter learned to stretch out his hands and be led by the Spirit into the house of Cornelius. God worked in him to do His will.
Before God works by His grace in the heart of natural man, he will make excuses for not doing “of his good pleasure,” while a person who has grace will allow everything to go on the altar in order to obey. Jesus said in Luke 14:16-20,
“A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.”
This kind of trial will come to every one of us throughout our lives. Will we consider something else more important than obeying the slightest command of the Lord? That is how Christ separates His sheep from the goats. His sheep have wills that become totally dissolved in His will and they “do of his good pleasure.” Every one of us has priorities that will come ahead of attending the supper of the Lamb.
The context in which our text is written places all the responsibility upon man to follow and serve the Lord. Philippians 2:1 says,
“If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies.”
Do you claim salvation? Is your will dissolved in His will? If it is not, you are making a false claim. Verse 2 says,
“Fulfill my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”
We must love God above all, so that what He says takes priority in our lives, and nothing comes ahead of the will of God, even if it includes giving up our very breath. We do not slight the least of His commandments. This is not legalism, but salvation. Do you claim to love but do not obey? Verses 3-5 say,
“Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves…Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”
The example of Jesus’ condescension is our admonition to work out our own salvation, walking in His footsteps. Philippians 2:12 says,
“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
That word fear means “a holy reverence for the will of God.”
Wherefore, is the connecting word with Philippians 2:8, which shows us what Jesus has done:
“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
Will you and I humble ourselves and become obedient? He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death. Every excuse that comes from the human heart must be slain, humbling ourselves and becoming obedient unto the slaying of every fleshly desire. We must walk in the way of the cross. Mark 8:34 says,
“Take up [your] cross, and follow me” in the way of death to self, flesh, sin, and everything but the will of God.
Our call to obedience is based on the revelation of God’s pleasure with the obedience of Christ, His Son. Philippians 2:9-11 tells us,
“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
The Father was so pleased by Christ’s obedience in humbling Himself, and we are to walk in His footsteps.
All hail the power of Jesus’ Name!
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Crown Him, ye martyrs of your God
Who from His altar call;
Extol the Stem of Jesse’s rod,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Ye seed of Israel’s chosen race,
Ye ransomed of the fall,
Hail Him who saves you by His grace,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Sinners, whose love can never forget
The wormwood and the gall,
Go spread your trophies at His feet,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Let every kindred, every tribe
On this terrestrial ball,
To Him all majesty ascribe,
And crown Him Lord of all.
O that with yonder sacred thron
We at His feet may fall;
We’ll join the everlasting song,
And crown Him Lord of all.
Edward Perronet, 1779, 1780 alt.
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