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Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. (Philippians 2:12-13 NIV)
What comes to mind when you think of work? I don’t necessarily mean your specific job. Just think for a moment of work in general. Think of the concept of work. What kinds of images come to mind?
Work both attracts us and repels us. There are times when work is a very good thing. Work enables us to accomplish many of the things that we want to do. When we achieve something through diligent work, we not only feel good about ourselves but we feel good about what we have achieved. At times like these we feel that work is a worthy human endeavor.
Other times, however, we can feel that work is a necessary evil. While we have to work, we don’t want to. We may be doing things that we feel are unnecessary. We may be trying to do things that we are simply unable to do and therefore feel frustrated in trying to do them. This doesn’t make us feel good about work.
Work is interesting indeed. We can’t do without it. It has been said that all people want to succeed. Some want to succeed so badly they are even willing to work for it. Work is the only way we can succeed. Did you know that the dictionary is the only place where success comes before work?
Even knowing that, it is true that at times we try to avoid work at all costs. Three boys were bragging about their fathers. The first one said, "My dad can shoot an arrow and make it to the target before the arrow hits it." The second said, "Well, my dad can shoot a deer with a gun 500 yards away and be there to catch the deer before it hits the ground." The third said, "That’s nothing. My dad works for the city. He can punch out at 4:30 in the afternoon and be home by 3:45!"
And often work can be extremely frustrating. You might even change jobs because it gets so frustrating. I heard of a preacher who quit the ministry after 20 years and became a funeral director. When he was asked why he changed jobs, he said, "I spent 3 years trying to straighten out John and John is still an alcoholic. Then I spent 6 months trying to straighten out Susan’s marriage and she filed for divorce. Then I spent 2 years trying to straighten out Bob’s drug problem and he still an addict. Now at the funeral home when I straighten them out… they stay straight!"
Work is necessary for human existence. But does it have a role to play in our spiritual lives? In our text today you are told to work out your salvation. What does that mean? Can you earn your salvation by doing work? What kind of work is it talking about?
This text has taken many down a long and winding path, which only put them deeper in the forest of theological confusion. On the surface, it seems to be saying that we have the responsibility to earn our salvation by our works. This is why it is so important for us to look at the context of the Scripture. We must look at it, not only in the context of the entire passage, but also compare it with other Scriptures on the same subject. When we do, we will find that God is not telling us to earn our salvation at all. Rather, he is encouraging us to do something with the salvation that we have already received.
Let’s look at three steps we can take that will enable us to work out the salvation that God has provided for us. The first step we must take is that we must...
Before we can understand the first verse of our text we must actually look at the second.
…for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. (v. 13)
This verse gives us the perspective we need in order to apply what God is asking us to do. And it tells us that God is already at work in our lives. Remember, what we are reading was written to Christians. This is not a message to unbelievers telling them how they can be saved. Paul was writing to Christians who were already saved. So this is not a message concerning our need to work for our salvation. We are not being asked to work for our salvation. We are being asked to work out our salvation. In other words, we are being asked to work out what God has already worked in.
We are not saved by works. Paul, who also wrote Ephesians, tells us there how we are saved.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
(Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV)
Salvation is accomplished by God’s initiative. We can’t save ourselves. All the works that we may do, when added together will simply not be enough. Our problem is sin. Because of it we will never be able to achieve perfect righteousness no matter how many works we do. And perfect righteousness is what we must achieve in order to earn salvation. So God stepped in and sent Jesus to accomplish what we could not do. He died on the Cross to pay the penalty for our sin. Our sin can now be forgiven through his work, not ours. And we can now stand in his perfect righteousness.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
(John 3:16 NIV)
God began the work. He took the initiative. He reached out to us in the first place. God loved us before we acknowledged his existence. God loved us while we were still in sinful rebellion against him. The salvation of the human soul is a work only God can perform.
Understanding that God is already at work in your life is important. It delivers us from the idea that it all depends on us. It doesn’t depend on us. God does not want us to work to earn our salvation, rather he wants us to do something with the salvation that we have been given. This makes all the difference. So the first step is to understand that God is already at work in your life. Now you can move to the second step. The second step we must take is that we must...
…for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. (v. 13)
Look at the two things God is doing in your life. God is at work in you to create the desire to follow him and to give you the power to do it.
God is at work in your life to create the desire in you that will motivate you to follow Jesus. Now if you are willing to tell the truth, you must admit that there are times when you do not desire to follow Jesus. There are times when we desire to go our own way. And there are times when we do go our own way. As a matter of fact, you have heard me talk about this principle of behavior before. People do what they want to do. This is not an absolute principle, because all of us have to do things we do not want to do at times. But generally speaking, and in those cases where we do have the power to choose, we do what we want to do and do not do what we don’t want to do.
We might as well be honest with God. He knows the real condition of our hearts. We should not make an excuse and say, "God, I really wanted to obey you." What we should say instead is, "God, I disobeyed you and did what I wanted to do. Would you please create within me a desire to do your will?"
You see, this is precisely what God desires to do. And this is what he is doing in your life. His Holy Spirit is at work in you to change your heart. His Holy Spirit is at work in you to change your mind. You are being changed into the image of Christ. It doesn’t happen overnight. But little by little you are being molded into a spiritual person who reflects the life of Christ.
God is also at work in you to give you the power to act according to his good purpose. Simply having the desire is not enough. If you don’t also have the power to carry out the desire you will be continually frustrated. So God is at work to give you that power.
Jesus promised the disciples that when he went away they would receive power. They were to go to Jerusalem and wait until the power came. And the power would come when the Holy Spirit came upon them. They would be filled with the Holy Spirit and thus filled with power. When the Holy Spirit fills us, we have the power of God residing within us.
Perhaps one of the greatest secrets in the Christian church today is the true extent of the work of the Holy Spirit. Although the Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity, he seems to be neglected in many churches. Perhaps this is because he has been overemphasized in other churches, with the result being that some people have engaged in some really far out behaviors claiming to be filled with the Holy Spirit. But we should not let the fact that some people have misunderstood the work of the Holy Spirit keep us from enjoying the power he provides.
In fact, the Christian life really cannot be lived without the power of the Holy Spirit. Unless we learn to allow the Holy Spirit to control our lives, we will never be very effective or successful in following Christ. We will be like a light that is unplugged. I like how the New Living Translation renders 2 Corinthians 3:18b:
And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more.
We must not only understand that God is at work, we must also receive what he is doing in our lives. We must surrender to his work in us. This will lead us to a final step. We must...
Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling…(v.12)
Now we can look at the first verse in our text. Now that we understand what God has done and what God is doing in us, we can be encouraged to join him in his work.
This is really the central message of our text. We are called to work out what God has already worked in. Salvation, you see, is a process. Sometimes we forget that because of the way we use the word. When we ask someone whether they are saved, what we are really asking is whether they have made a commitment to Christ. Salvation, on the other hand, refers to the fullness of God’s redemption. Salvation begins with regeneration–– we call it being born again. It continues with sanctification–– the process of spiritual maturity whereby we are progressively conformed to the image of Christ. It culminates in glorification–– when we receive our spiritual bodies and are brought into the actual presence of God. If you are Christian, you are now in this second stage of salvation–– sanctification. This is where you are to work out what God has begun in you.
So what are you to do? How are you to work out your salvation? What does it look like to do that? In order to answer these questions, we must clearly understand the extent to which our salvation must impact our lives. That can be summed up in one word–– completely!
In other words, there is no area of our lives that can be left untouched by our relationship with the Lord. God desires that, over time, every area of our lives become transformed. The longer we follow the Lord, the greater the growth into his image. But this will not happen unless we plan for it to happen. We need to take intentional steps in order to grow spiritually.
If you wanted to learn to play a sport, or to take up a hobby, or even to venture into a new career, what would you do? Well, one thing you would not do is to simply start calling yourself what you wanted to become without doing anything else. Let’s say you wanted to take up fishing. You would not just simply start telling people that you were a fisherman. You would begin to study what it means to be a fisherman. You might read some books on fishing and fish. Then you would go and purchase some fishing equipment. You would get a fishing license. You might even buy a boat. You could join a fishing club where you could talk to other fisherman about fishing. But ultimately, you would have to go fishing and make an attempt to catch some fish. And you have to do it more than once. In fact, you would have to make it a part of your lifestyle in order to call yourself a fisherman.
Why do we think that all we must do to be Christians is to accept Christ? What are you doing to work out your salvation? Are you spending time becoming better informed about the God you claim to follow? He has given you a book to enable you to do that. Do you read it? If so, how often? Do you seek to understand what it says? There are many ways you can do this. The Bible is the one book that has probably been written about more than any other book in history. There are books you can read about the Bible to help you understand it. And we preach and teach from the Bible here in church. Do you avail yourself of the opportunities that are provided? Remember, you can starve in a grocery store.
Are you spending time in prayer? That is another place where you will discover God’s will for your life. It is a place of communion with him, a place of surrender to him, a place of worship, a place where you can receive spiritual strength. Are you seeking to apply the truth that you receive from the Bible and the Holy Spirit’s direction to your life in acts of service? Are you taking the time to evaluate your lifestyle in light of God’s truth? Remember, it is the whole of our lives that God desires. Paul sums it up well in Romans 12.
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.
(Romans 12:1-2 NLT)
This is what we need. We need make a surrender and experience a transformation. Our way of thinking needs to be changed. We need to be reprogrammed with the mind of Christ. I love the way The Message renders this passage.
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
(Romans 12:1-2 Message)
God wants us to offer him, not occasional acts of devotion, but the everyday lives we live. He wants both our hearts and minds. He wants us to be fully devoted followers of Jesus. He wants the effect of our salvation to be worked out into every attitude, action, habit, and relationship that we have. And the good news is that he is at work in us to enable us to work out that salvation.
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