Not Your Strength
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His strength
His strength
Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).
As we continue to talk about working out our salvation, the Scripture as always give us the truth and hope of the journey
The verse talks about a n attitude shift in our thinking and evaluation process
Pau is encouraging them to be responsible for their own behavior not simply because he is watching but from a repentant heart!
“Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed my suggestions, so now, not only with enthusiasm you would show in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out, cultivate, carry out the goal, and fully complete your salvation!”
The word salvation here is the word meaning to “to make safe and sound; out of a difficult situation” It is a combined word from the root word meaning “saving, keeping, preserving the inner being.” What is our inner being? Our spirits of course!
Every believer has the responsibility now to protect his inner-being from deception and deviation from God Word and path
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
It is interesting to note here that the personal or dynamic element here isn’t bound up with subject of the saving act but the person not having to be the one who confronts or even superior to the person or situation being delivered from! Deliverance is from outside!
Now there is form of the word that indicates “to save oneself” We are not talking about performing the act of salvation which was wholly complete in Christ, we are though discussing our responsibility as believers to be overcomers in this world!
But how you may ask?
Our verses today remind us that it is God that is providing the desire and strength to continue the pursuit of holiness in our lives/ Look a verse 13
[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.
We should then look to the life of our Savior
Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,
We are told that following the baptism of Jesus, the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. Immediately then he was taken to the wilderness to be tempted!
Being baptized, Jesus set the example for us to follow. After receiving Christ as a decision of our own, we should enter that waters of baptism. This is why we have an ordinance of baptism and simply accept it when we dedicate infants.
Dedication is the practiced set by Hannah when she brought Samuel to the temple. Every believer should if possible be baptized following their conversion.
Our focus however is that of the Spirit of God coming to rest upon Jesus and then becoming the source of His activity the rest of His earthy life.
We know that Jesus Himself used the Word of God to battle the enemy! His unwavering reliance and use of the Word produced results the rest of His ministry. There are 202 verses in the New Testament showing the importance of the Word of God!
I am reminded of a verse
Then he said to me, This [addition of the bowl to the candlestick, causing it to yield a ceaseless supply of oil from the olive trees] is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit [of Whom the oil is a symbol], says the Lord of hosts.
Clearly it is the Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit that now releases us to pursue holiness in our lives with passion and praise!
So then
Do everything without complaining and arguing,
so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.
Hold firmly to the word of life; then, on the day of Christ’s return, I will be proud that I did not run the race in vain and that my work was not useless.
Lights in those days could only shine forth if supplied with oil to burn! Notice that burning oil in our lives brings the energy, power, and desire to continue the inward work
[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.
Paul warned the church at Rome
So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.
But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God].
But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].
Do you see it? We are ALIVE, BOEN AGAIN unto a living hope!
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but ever be filled and stimulated with the [Holy] Spirit.
Be ye being filled - a continual process as shown the the Prophet Zachariah
The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
We should always be aware
Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,
so
Do not quench (suppress or subdue) the [Holy] Spirit;
The result
And the believers were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
No one enjoys buffeting the flesh! It is demanding, arrogant and self-seeking for all of its needs!
We can however enjoy the deliverance wrought by the blood of the lamb and brought by the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives!