Early on in the Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo is talking with Gandalf and he is quite afraid of the journey that must be undertaken to destroy the ring. Frodo says to Gandalf, “I am not made for perilous quests. I wish I had never seen the Ring! Why did it come to me? Why was I chosen?” “Such questions cannot be answered,” said Gandalf. “You may be sure that it was not for any merit that others do not possess; not for power or wisdom, at any rate. But you have been chosen and you must therefore use such strength and heart and wits as you have.” “But I have so little of any of these things,” Frodo replied. We are all on a perilous quest. We’ve been chosen to carry our crosses and follow Jesus. We’ve been chosen to love a world that does not love us in return. We’ve been called to “let the same mind be in [us] that was in Christ Jesus.” And the Apostle Paul lays out for us in Philippians 2 exactly what that mindset looks like. And to label it perilous seems almost an understatement.

This morning I want to explore four Greek words that appear in this passage from Philippians 2 because I think the imperative of this passage for us comes through these four words. They are the words phroneo, katergazomai, phobos, and tromos. They come from just two of the 13 verses we read from Philippians for today, but they speak volumes about the meaning of this passage and what this passage is calling us to be and to do.

The first word is “phroneo.” This is the word in verse 5 that is translated as “let the same mind.” Verse 5 sets up what is to follow in verses 6-11, which is Paul’s quoting of what must have been an early Christian hymn. But what does it mean for us to have the same mind as Christ? Much of the meaning of that rests in our understanding of the word “phroneo.” In its simplest form it means “to think.” But there seems to be much more depth to it than that. In fact, Aristotle listed “phroneo” as one of the three types of knowledge in his Nicomachean Ethics, together with techne and episteme. “Phroneo” is often defined as practical wisdom. And Aristotle distinguishes phroneo wisdom from sophia wisdom saying that sophia wisdom is based on a set of universal truths while phroneo wisdom is based on rational thinking in particular situations. In other words, phroneo wisdom is taking the knowledge we have and using it to decide how to act in the particular situations in which we find ourselves. Phroneo wisdom is less black and white and more grey. Which makes it an interesting choice for Paul to use here in Philippians when talking about us aligning ourselves to Christ. We are to align ourselves, not only in the universal, black and white, ways but even, or maybe moreso, in the greys.

But how? We can’t even agree with one another in the grey areas. Aren’t those the places that divide us from one another the most? Well, I think the hymn Paul quotes immediately following this gives us the biggest clue. And I don’t think it is about agreeing entirely on the specifics, but more about the process. The hymn says that Jesus did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped. In other words, Jesus didn’t strive for greatness or rightness or powerfulness. Jesus humbled himself. Jesus made himself less in order to make God more. And that is how we have the same mind as Christ in the particular situations we face in life. We humble ourselves and we lift God and others up…even if that requires sacrificing ourselves for the good of others. It’s simple and yet it is perhaps the hardest possible way to live. But that is our calling. To embark on the perilous quest of sacrificing ourselves for others.

As we embark upon this perilous quest, God also calls us to “work out our own salvation.” This is a familiar phrase that gets thrown out in churches a lot. But what does it really mean? The Greek word translated as “work out” is the verb “katergazomai.” Katergazomai is a compound word from kata meaning ‘down or against’ and ergazomai meaning ‘to work.’ Together the word has the meaning of working something down to an end-point or bringing it to its conclusion. So, we are bringing our salvation to its end-point or to its conclusion. This is often considered to be eternity or heaven. But what if that is not really the end-point of salvation that Paul has in mind here? What is the conclusion of salvation is in living a transformed life? The great theologian and scholar N.T. Wright wrote, “the work of salvation, in its full sense, is (1) about whole human beings, not merely souls; (2) about the present, not simply the future; and (3) about what God does through us, not merely what God does in and for us.” So, perhaps the end-point, the goal, of salvation is love…perfect and sacrificial love. The kind of love that Jesus showed when “he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death– even death on a cross.”

We work out our salvation by exhibiting love. But Paul says we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. These two descriptors stood out to me as I re-read this passage. Why “fear” and “trembling”? What did Paul intend by those words? In my search for understanding, I looked to the original Greek. The word translated as “fear” is the word phobos. Phobos is the word from which we get our word phobia. Why would Paul want us to work out our salvation with the sort of fear we might associate with a phobia? Well, perhaps that little preposition translated as “with” will help us understand. That preposition is “meta” which often means “with.” But when it is followed by words in the genitive case, it can take the meaning of amid or among. “Work out your salvation amidst fear and trembling.” That has a different feel to it, doesn’t it? The fear associated with phobos is oftentimes ‘perceived fear,’ meaning that we are afraid of something that in reality is not what we think it is. So, I may have a phobia of spiders because I am afraid they will bite me and it will hurt and make me really sick, but in reality most spiders are not venomous and most are unlikely to bite me, especially if they are ten feet away from me on the wall. Spiders may not be the thing that you fear. Did you know that between 10 and 40% of American adults have a fear of flying? Between 17 and 21 million people in the U.S. are afraid of the number 13. Now, statistically, there are very few plane crashes and rarely does something bad happen around the number 13, yet that phobos reaction is hard to overcome. And these fears may cause us to avoid opportunities where God may be calling us to show love to others.

We are to work out our salvation with (or amidst) fear…but also amidst trembling. The Greek word translated as trembling is the word tromos. Tromos means to tremble or to quake in fear. Strong’s concordance describes tromos as “used to describe the anxiety of one who distrusts his ability completely to meet all requirements, but religiously does his utmost to fulfil his duty.” One of the things that makes me most anxious in life is making phone calls. It sounds strange, but just the thought of having to pick up the phone and call someone can send me into a panic attack at times. But part of working out my salvation, part of loving people, part of serving God as I’ve been called to serve, is in facing that anxiety and making tough phone calls in order to show God’s love and follow God’s call on my life. I don’t enjoy it, it sometimes takes a Herculean effort for me to manage it, and sometimes I just simply fail. But the Christian life is about working out our salvation even in the midst of our deepest and toughest fear and anxieties.

We are living in a time and a nation where fear is prominent. Politicians prey on it. Advertising exploits it. Drug companies capitalize on it. And our nation is being divided because of it. We read about fear everyday in the paper, on news sites, and especially on social media. We see signs that all over that read “Faith Over Fear.” And, as Christians, we may feel shame for the fear that we feel despite our faith. But the truth of Philippians 2 that I think we need to live into is not Faith Over Fear, but Faith In the Midst of Fear. God calls us, not only to believe in the midst of our fears, but to love in the midst of our fears. To show Christ’s grace and mercy in the midst of our fears. To work out our salvation by living like Christ in the midst of all the fears that envelope our world and our own hearts.

The most used command in the Bible is “do not be afraid.” Why do you suppose that is? Is it because fear is bad? I don’t think that’s why. It is because fear is normal and fear is something we all understand. It is something we face, if not daily, then very nearly that often. Fear is a part of life. And God tells us not to be afraid, not because God knows we are strong enough to will away our fear, but because God is promising to be with us as we face our fears. Paul says, “Work out your salvation with (or amidst) fear and trembling.” But he follows it up with this, “for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” There will always be things to fear, but our comfort is that God is with us even in the midst of those fears and will enable us to work out our salvation.At the very end of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, we read, “This is the ending. Now not day only shall be beloved, but night too shall be beautiful and blessed and all its fear pass away.” That is the hope we work toward. A day when darkness is no longer something to be feared for God’s presence can be felt. As we journey toward that day, may we seek to work out our salvation by loving God and neighbor…even in the midst of our fears and anxieties. And may we feel God’s presence, no matter our present circumstance. Praise be to God! Amen!