Therefore,
my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but
much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you,
both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13 (ESV)
I want to
focus on the end of verse 12 and 13. We looked at these verses as part of our
Sunday School lesson yesterday. They highlight the tension in our Christian
life between human responsibility and divine enablement. Both are part of our
sanctification.
In verse 12 Paul tells us to “work out our own
salvation with fear and trembling”. Our
teacher pointed out that if that phrase ended with a period it would leave us
in a hopeless state. None of us need look far to see how often we fail God every
day. If we have to work our salvation we are in big trouble! Work out means “to see through to its conclusion”.
The goal of the Christian’s life is Christlikeness. So Paul is calling us to be
moving forward toward this goal. It is often progress at a crawl but it should
be a life characterized by progress. The fear and trembling is not one of
terror and guilt but rather a tender conscience toward the things of God, a
recognition of our own sinfulness, being aware that temptations are all around
us, and recognizing that our problems begin in us…our wicked hearts.
Verse 13 is our hope. It is God who empowers us to
make this progress. Without this divine power we would not make any progress
toward Christlikeness. It is God at work in the Christian that produces
results. “To work” and “to will” means to
energize and to desire to do God’s will. God’s indwelling spirit not only gives
us the desire to please God but gives us the necessary power to do it. So the
selfish desires of our heart are being transformed by God into a desire to obey
God. Such a desire was the heart of Christ’s earthly ministry.
One caution is to not fall into the trap of the
modern idea of “letting go and letting God”. These verses are calling us rather
to “take hold with God”. It is a holy cooperation between God and man
“The saint must not merely rest in the Holy Spirit
for victory over sin and the production of a holy life. He must in addition to
this dependence upon the Spirit, say a positive NO to sin and exert himself to
the doing of the right. Here we have that incomprehensible and mysterious
interaction between the free will of man and the sovereign grace of God.”[1]
Christian, don’t give up the fight because God
stands with you giving you all the power you need for this life and the life to
come.
[1]
Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest's word studies
from the Greek New Testament : For the English reader (Php 2:12). Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans.
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