Philippians 2:14-15, “Do all things without murmurings and reasonings that you may be blameless and guileless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine as luminaries in the world.”
Paul exhorts us to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” by cooperating with “God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure”
(Phil. 2:12-13). One result, and a practical measure of this working out of salvation is that we “do all things without murmurings and reasonings.”
However, the absence of murmurings and reasonings is not God’s goal. His desire is that we, His children, “shine as luminaries in the world.” But murmur-ing and reasoning quench our shining.
The New Testament Greek word translated “luminaries” is used only in Philippians 2 and in Revelation 21 about New Jerusalem. John writes that an angel showed him “the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal” (21:10b-11).
New Jerusalem’s “light” is the eternal luminary, shining out the glory of God. Our shining today is a preview of the shining of New Jerusalem. This is the result of our cooperating with God’s operating in us. May the Lord be merciful to us, drawing us to always cooperate with Him for His shining through us as His luminaries.
New Jerusalem - the Consummation 