Amen to those scriptures! I know that I love Jesus wholeheartedly. I seek to do daily what God is working in me to will and to do. Phil 2:12-13.
I'd like to believe what you say, but that might be less of a challenge, if you were not here promoting a cult.
And Phil 2:12-13 has nothing to do with God completing you as an individual, and is simply a message to a group of believers that God is not going to abandon them, should the apostle Paul is no longer alive to minister to them. Paul has already stated elsewhere that those who are in Christ have been made complete (Col 2:10).
In the letter to the Galatians, chapter 3 and verse 3, Paul asks them why they would be so foolish as to attempt to make themselves perfect (come to completion) through the flesh, when they began by the Spirit?
All through Paul's writings, he consistently appeals to us to stop focusing on the flesh. In fact, he says in Romans 8 that "the mind set on the flesh is death". The reason for this (as Paul continues) is that being "carnally minded" is to be at enmity with God. For it (the flesh) is not subject to the Law of God. As he says, the flesh doesn’t even have that ability. To be in the flesh (to be carnally minded) you will never please God. The truth is, the only way you can please God is by faith (Heb 11:6). This is how we come to Him (Eph 2:8-9), and this is how we are to walk in Him (Col 2:6). We walk by grace through faith. We are to be spiritually minded, which alone is “life and peace” (Rom 8:6). The flesh (that which you can see) is temporal, and it is dead because of sin (Rom 8:10), yet your spirit (that which you cannot see) is alive because you are now the righteousness of God in Christ. It is the Spirit that gives you life!
"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” John 6:63
The flesh profits nothing. It is in decay (2 Cor 4:16). It is perishing (1 Cor 15:42-), yet, in patience and in hope we look to the time when it will be redeemed (Rom 8:23), and we receive a new body, that will not decay, that is imperishable.
"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent, which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- for we walk by faith, not by sight" 2 Cor 4:16-5:7
As a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17), you are in the Spirit and no longer in the flesh. This is simply because the Spirit of God now dwells in you, and you now dwell in Him (Rom 8:9). He is your life (Col 3:4). Even though you continue to live in a body of flesh, you are in fact circumcised from it (Col 2:11), and are seated in Christ in heavenly places (Eph 1:20). This is not allegorical, metaphorical or some mystical experience, but reality. It is a literal exchange of identity (Gal 2:20).
Therefore, to walk in the Spirit is to walk by faith in that which is already true, whether you see it or not. To walk according to the flesh is to attempt to bring the flesh in line with that which has already been accomplished in the Spirit; that is, to the same completeness and perfection that you already have in Christ. It is a dead work when you do anything to get something you already have. And we have every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph 1:3). We have been given everything pertaining to life and godliness (2 Pet 1:3). If we lack anything at all, it is only that our minds have yet to be renewed with this truth.
This whole idea, the religious zealots of this world have created in our minds, that “walking in the flesh” is falling back into sinful behavior, is completely opposite of the truth. It is absolutely contrary to the Gospel of God’s grace, and places the burden on the flesh to do that which puts us at enmity with God. As Paul points out in chapter 5 of Galatians, the flesh and the spirit are contrary to one another, and you cannot do what you please (vs.17). The flesh cannot obey the Law, and therefore Jesus condemned sin in the flesh (Rom 8:3). The Law has been fulfilled in us (Rom 8:4), and we are no longer under it (Rom 6:14). We have been released from the power of sin, which is the Law.
Now, with all of that in our renewed minds, we can look at Paul’s letter to the Philippians…
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" Phi 1:6
As you know, we began by the Spirit, and we received the Spirit as a result of hearing the message of the Gospel, and His righteousness. As Paul says in 1 Th 2:13:
“And for this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received from us the word of God's message, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”
God is going to perform the work that He began (the word “perform” literally means: to bring to conclusion; to bring to an end). In other words, It is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you. It is God who is at work in you, and through you, for His good pleasure (Phi 2:13). And when Paul writes in Ephesians that we are His workmanship, created in Christ unto good works that we should walk in them, -- those works were prepared beforehand, and have been completed in us when we received His life. Again, the works were completed in Christ – “It is finished”. When we believe the Gospel and receive His life, His works are completed in us. We walk in His completed works which carry us through to the day of redemption.
In this life, which we now walk by faith, God is working His message in us, in order that His message will also come out of us.
When Paul writes to the Philippians, he is in prison, and he wants to encourage them to carry on the work of sharing the gospel that has been worked in them.
"Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment, in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear." Phi 1:12-14
Paul is struggling with his circumstances, and cannot decide whether to stay on, or to go be with the Lord, but he wants to be assured that those whom he has entrusted with gospel, and whom he is certain that God is at work in, will remain faithful to the work, that they are of one mind, and that they should not fear suffering, because as they know, this flesh is not their home.
“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. And convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again. Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ; so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; in no way alarmed by your opponents-- which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me." Phi 1:21-30
Persecution is going to come, but Paul encourages them to come together as the Body with the intent of having one purpose, and to support each other in that which they were called...
"If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." Phi 2:1-4
It is obvious from Paul's admonitions that there were some things that were going on in their fellowship that had them divided, and Paul is making an attempt to restore them and to get their focus back on Christ, and to humble themselves with an attitude that they would even be willing to die for one another. Paul does not want what he has done towards them to be in vain. They must remember that God is at work in them with the message of the Gospel. All their disputes and complaints could be keeping them from being effective in what God is doing in and through them, and therefore what is being worked in them can only come out if they are of one mind, united in spirit, with one purpose. They must remember that Jesus also humbled Himself even to the point of death, and He did it for them. As a result of Christ’s sacrifice, they need to approach others in humility of mind, and in fear and trembling, knowing that they are all saved by grace through faith. They are to be the lights to the world, revealing the message that God has worked in them.
"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing; that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may have cause to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain." Phi 2:5-16
If we walk off the path, and begin putting confidence in the flesh, we lose our focus on Jesus, and it leads to a different message than that which God has worked in us, and should come out of us. As a result, we begin to minister death, and not life. Obedience to the Law, through the deeds of the flesh. can only produce death. That is truly what it means to be a “carnal Christian”. Let us walk in the Spirit in whom we dwell, and who dwells in us, knowing that this tent is not our home, and fixing our hope on that which we do not see; on that which is eternal. Let us “work out” that which God has worked in us.