Work Out

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS

WORK OUT

Phil 2:12-13

12 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.

NIV

This seems to be a strange statement concerning working out our salvation with fear and trembling. What can we do to save ourselves? It would seem nothing at all, yet what does it mean to work out our salvation? Jesus is the one who saves us. Of course, it is by faith in Jesus that we are saved. That does mean we have a part in our salvation. Our faith is required. Without faith in Jesus, we would not be saved but would be in danger of hell. It is also true that God gives every man a measure of faith, which would imply that he desires everyone have what is necessary to believe in Jesus. However, as with any gift, the recipient must open it and use the gift to enjoy its benefits. So even though God gives us a measure of faith, we must use that faith to believe in Jesus to enjoy the benefit of eternal life. In a world much the same as the one the Philippians lived in we are faced continually with opportunities to have faith in something other than Jesus. We are drawn to this self-reliant attitude because we have been raised in a world that focuses on that type of life. Even in our Christian walk, we are the only ones who can work out our salvation. No one else can do that for us. Our salvation is dependent on our working it out which in some sense affirms relying on self rather than others. The fear and trembling have to be due to our failure to live perfectly. Yet we have in some sense a duty to walk in the ways of the Lord. It sounds unfamiliar to use the term duty when it comes to living as a believer in Christ. We usually think about the freedom in Christ, that he set us free from the bondage of sin, that he set us free from the penalty of death. We usually talk about being a child of God, a co-heir with Jesus. Although all that is true, we also should consider that we are admonished throughout scripture to walk that narrow path, to put off our old nature or self and put on the new self. We are told or perhaps we should use the term commanded to rid ourselves of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling, and slander in the letter to the Ephesians. We are commanded to rid ourselves of such things as anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language as well as taking off the old self and its practices and putting on the new self which is being renewed in the image of Christ in the letter to the Colossians. In James’ letter, we are commanded to rid ourselves of all moral filth and evil that is so prevalent. In Peters’ letter, we are commanded to rid ourselves all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind, which is gossip. So then that is a lot of working out and we should fear and tremble if we are not working on ridding ourselves of such attitudes and behaviors. If we are not ridding ourselves of these then are we truly being transformed into the image of Christ? We have to do our work getting rid of those things and look to God so he can do his work in our lives. If we are still focusing on those old attitudes and behaviors how much room have we given God in our lives to do his work? Once we are working in getting rid and focusing on Jesus, then God can do his work in us in order to accomplish his goodwill according to his good purpose. Just as we work out physically in order to be strong in our body,  in order to be strong in the Lord, we need to work out our salvation, exercise our faith.