Joy in Obedience
“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, English Standard Version)
One of the sad truisms of Christianity can be
summed up in this colloquialism, "Everybody talkin' 'bout heaven ain't
goin' there." Our Lord said it this way, "Not everyone
who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who
does the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew
Now that I've cheered you up, what does this have
to do with today's verse? Paul stressed many times in his letters that
his readers make sure their salvation was real. OK, how do we do
that? Look at today's passage. Paul begins with
"Therefore." Whenever you see a "therefore" in the
Bible, it takes you back to what was just said. OK, so what was just
said? In the previous section of Paul's letter to the believers at
Now based on that argument, Paul is exhorting the
Philippian believers to obedience and to "work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling." This passage has caused
so much confusion. Some think Paul is telling people to work for their
salvation. This is not what this passage is saying. Paul, in
essence, is agreeing with James when he says, "So also faith by
itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James
Paul is saying in this passage, "make sure
your salvation works itself out with visible fruit."
This is a call to self-evaluation. Just to drive the point home that he
doesn't mean to work for your salvation, look at the next part of the
passage: "for it is God who works in you, both to will and to
work for his good pleasure." The only way you're going to
have visible fruit is by having God at work in you. In Colossians, Paul
writes, "To them God chose to make known how great among the
Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you,
the hope of glory" (Colossians
Bottom
line:
The Christian life is not lived in our own power. It's not like God saves us,
and then leaves us to take care of the rest. God is intimately involved in
every one of His children. However, we do have a part to play in all of this.
Our part is to respond obediently in faith to God and His word. Faith is the
key to everything in the Christian life. Faith is the key to salvation
(cf. Ephesians 2:8), and it is the key to Christian living (cf. 2 Corinthians
5:7; Colossians 2:6). It is the duty of every Christian to make sure their
salvation is working itself out in visible, verifiable fruit. That is the
evidence that our salvation is real and that God is indeed working in us.