THE BALANCE OF WORK AND GRACE

THE BALANCE OF WORK AND GRACE Philippians 2:12-13 October 18, 2009 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction One ad for the U.S. Marines pictures a sword, and beneath it the words: "Earned, never given." If you want to become a Marine, be prepared to earn that name through sacrifice, hardship, and training. If you get it, you deserve it. But if you want to become a Christian, you must have the exact opposite attitude, for the message of the gospel is: "Given, never earned." You cannot save your own soul, and God will not save anyone who tries to earn salvation, but only those who will humbly receive it as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ. If you get it, you absolutely did not deserve it. The message of God’s Word is clear. We have all sinned and come short of His glory. That is, we have none of us come close to measuring up to God’s standards for us. Out of His great love for us, God gave His Son, who suffered and died in our place, and the good news is this: whoever wants to be saved, forgiven and reconciled to God today, can be, by receiving and trusting in Him. In the movie The Last Emperor, the young child anointed as the last emperor of China lives a life of luxury with 1,000 servants at his command. "What happens when you do wrong?" his brother asks. "When I do wrong, someone else is punished," the boy emperor replies. To demonstrate, he breaks a jar, and immediately one of the servants is beaten. In Christianity, Jesus reversed that ancient pattern: when the servants erred, the King was punished. Grace is free only because the giver himself has borne the cost. Salvation is extended by a free act of God’s grace. But, once saved, once brought into a reconciled relationship with God through Christ there is an expectation that we will grow into a closer relationship with God, that we will mature in our faith and that we will advance in categories of righteousness and personal holiness. And that process calls forth intentional effort and obedience from us. If a person comes to saving faith in Christ, commits his life to Jesus and becomes a Christian, but remains the same as an uncaring sinner, and his life shows no effort of obedience to the Lord, there is something wrong. In fact 1 John 2 says that the person who says he is in a relationship with Christ, but does not do what He commands “is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” The unchanged Christian is a contradiction in terms. The Christ-follower, by definition, will have entered a process of change and maturity. And, though there will be times of energetic, rapid growth, as well as seasons of apparent standstill in the process, over the course of time, the genuine believer is able to evidence genuine change in the direction of the character of Christ. In the Christian life there is a balance of grace and good works  reads: 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, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. We have studied the section of Philippians 1:27 through 2:11 and watched the apostle call his readers to a high standard of spiritual living. Back in 1:27 he wrote whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. The following verses spell out what that means—being in unity with one another, standing firm as witnesses for Christ in spite of persecution, selflessness and service, as well as humility. In 2:12 it sounds like the Philippian believers are doing well, even though Paul has not been with them. So he calls them to continue in this pattern of obedience and growth. Performing the Right Works The first thing to leap out at us is the admonition Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. These words grate against the notion of grace, don’t they? At first blush is sounds like Paul is talking about earning salvation, and never being sure you’ve got it. It sounds more like the Koran where the repeated promises of forgiveness by a compassionate and merciful Allah are made only to those who have done well at pleasing Allah. And if they have appeased Allah, they have a chance at salvation, but they never really know. But Christianity is not that way. Christians are obedient because God has saved them in His grace, not in order to be saved. As evidence of His great love for us, the Bible says, Christ for us while we were yet sinners. We were lawbreakers against God, yet He loves us and gave His own son to die in our behalf so we may be saved. His grace is given to us – never earned by us. So, if all the rest of the New Testament stresses that we are saved by grace and not by our works, what does it mean when it says to us work out your own salvation in fear and trembling? It doesn’t mean we nervously earn favor with God, but means that since we are saved by His grace while we are sinners, now we are able to “live out” that saved status. We don’t sweat it out hoping our works are good enough; we trust that He has already saved us in Christ, and we are now free to obey Him and serve Him. Why are we now able, as saved people, to do good works that please the Lord, when we couldn’t please Him while we were lost. There are two things to consider: first, Christians are not trying to earn, or merit, salvation (nor are we trying to pay God back and somehow even the score—that is impossible); we are simply serving and honoring Him out of our saved state. Secondly, remember that when we became Christians, God not only forgave our sins, but He also gave us His Holy Spirit to live in us and empower us to live for Him. He enables us (vs. 13). We have a picture of God working His grace into our lives, and our working it out in our lives in gratitude and love for Him. This is His plan. Ephesians 2 says it this way: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. As Thomas Brooks put it: Saving grace makes a man as willing to leave his lusts as a slave is willing to leave his galley, or a prisoner his dungeon… or a beggar his rags. Applying the Right Seriousness Then there is the other seemingly troublesome part of verse 12 – we are to work out this salvation with fear and trembling. What does that mean? Aren’t we saved and secure in God’s grace? This sounds like we’re afraid we’re going to lose it or something! But that is not what is meant here, because the Word of God makes it plain that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, and that our hope is sure in Him. We are never to be afraid God will change His mind and take the gift of salvation away from us. We don’t “fear” God with a “frightened” kind of fear. The fear of the Lord in both testaments means having appropriate awe and respect before God. What is meant here by fear and trembling is that as I work out my salvation, I should realize the tremendous seriousness of what I am doing. Developing our faith and growing in our sanctification is serious to us. It is no trifling matter that the God of the universe loved me and died for me! Furthermore, I know my own weakness, my proneness to sin, my constant need for His renewed forgiveness in my life of stutter-start faith and sin-weakened progress. I never want to take for granted the love and forgiveness of God. I want to serve Him and please Him. Christ’s love compels us, Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:14. To obey with fear and trembling simply means we are to be serious about the benefits of a closer relationship with the Lord. There is another word in verse 12 that we need to consider carefully—the word CONTINUE—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. The working out of our salvation with fear and trembling is to continue unabated. I think Paul was urging the Philippians to constancy. Because we are weak and we fall victim to the temptations of the flesh, our dedication to Christ is often in short bursts separated by long bouts of lethargy or pleasing ourselves instead of Christ. It’s the difference between the musical terms staccato and legato. --Illustrate with keyboard-- Hebrews 12:1 reminds us to run our race with perseverance and never give up. In May, 1982, Leonid Brezhnev was president of a country that no longer exists--the Soviet Union. In Baltimore, a lanky shortstop named Cal Ripken played the first game of what became known as "the streak." The 6' 4" fielder was considered too tall for the position. Yet he just kept plugging away. 2,131 games later, he set the all-time record for consecutive games played by a major-leaguer. Greatness comes not just from ability, but also from consistency. It is this kind of consistency to which we are called as we live out our salvation in the world around us. We are to work hard at honoring the Lord, even when no one is looking, even when we’re not in a church service. Paul said, not only in my presence but now much more in my absence. Will Rogers used to say, “Live in such a way that you would not be afraid to sell your parrot to the town gossip.” It honors God when we take seriously how we live in His name, when we grow in the grace and knowledge of Him. Perform good works as a Christian – it is your calling. Give appropriate seriousness to this calling. Play your part like a Cal Ripken, to the glory of God. And finally, Giving the Right Credit Verse 13 begs us to return to the balance of works and grace. For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. When the Christian is doing good works and staying the course of a righteous life, WHO is at work? Yes, it is GOD who is at work in US. It is by His Spirit, His power, His divine operation in our lives. That ought to relieve us in at least a couple ways: 1) we are not left to our own strength. We know that if we were left to our own strength to honor God with our lives we could only despair. But Paul says God is at work in us. The second encouragement is this: the power and resource to live well for God is limitless. Since it is not we ourselves who power this thing called the Christian life, we can be confident that the word given us last week is true – His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Notice: it is not your glory and goodness, but His! You don’t have to worry about measuring up! Our only concern as followers of Christ is to devote ourselves to one task—staying close to Christ. Letting Him fill us with His Spirit. Letting His work flow through us. The last time you failed to live in a manner pleasing to the Lord the engine didn’t fail, you forgot to fill up! Eph. 3:20 says it is His power at work within us. This is a most astounding truth—God is at work within/through believers. His power and life are driving our righteousness and our good works. How exactly does God do that? Verse 13 says it clearly: He works in you TO WILL and TO ACT according to His good purpose. Never congratulate a Christian for his good works. Why? Because he didn’t do it—God did! Paul said, It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20) Applaud God! Listen now, you are not center stage, you are not the star and you are not the one who gets the credit when you do the good works God intended for you to do. God gets the credit! For it is He who is at work within you to do two things: to WILL and to ACT in accordance with His good purpose. It is God’s work from beginning to end, because He is giving you the WANT TO and the CAN DO! The desire to do good, and the ability to do good! And, of course, all that God leads us to do in living for Him, all that He empowers us to do, is according to his good purpose. You will never receive godly leading to do wrong; the Holy Spirit is all about directing you to doing God’s will. To will and to act according to his good purpose. And you will never be empowered by God to do wrong, or to live for yourself. All that kind of strength comes from your own carnality. I am still fascinated by the GPS systems in automobiles. I’m the guy who always gets lost, and eventually stops at the service station to get directions (which are usually wrong). Just imagine—the benefits of an entire satellite system, scanning the globe, right there in my car to give me pinpoint directions! The Spirit of God within you is faithful to lead you straight into the things God wants you to do—a divine GPS system, if you will. Just imagine—the benefits of the wisdom of the almighty God, scanning your life and surroundings, right there in your heart, to lead you, and empower you, in the good works He has for you. Your job, fellow Christian, is to stay tuned and obey. This is, in a very real sense, the only good work you are required to do: Be filled with His Spirit. He does all the rest. And gets all the credit. Conclusion Take a look at this chart for a minute. I think it summarizes in a simplistic way the beauty of God’s plan of balancing His grace and our work. Living as Christian servants and witnesses in the world to God’s glory—the whole idea is by His grace working with our response in a divinely-inspired cooperation. It’s about His power at work within us, and that divine power is activated as soon as we in faithful obedience say “yes” and appropriate His power. It’s all about His plan and His good purpose. The accomplishment of His purposes does not exactly depend on our obedience—He will get His will done through someone else or some other means. But if we wish to be included in His glorious purposes, we are called to obey. Finally, it’s all about His glory. No one deserves the credit and the honor for the accomplishment of His good purposes, but Him. Astonishingly, He welcomes us into His purposes through Christ, and actually lets us play a part. May we be found faithful as we yield our lives continually to Him. As those who understand the gravity and the grace of this truth, may we always continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in us to will and to act according to his good purpose. In my life, Lord, be glorified     [ Back to Top]