Working Out Our Own Salvation

Introduction

Philippians 2:12–18 NKJV

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now 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 do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain. Yes, and if I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me.

Faced with the challenge of living in "the midst of a crooked and perverse generation", it is natural that we wish to react against it . But how? Last week I suggested that we "work out our own salvation" first! Otherwise, we may jeopardize our own salvation in HOW we react. This week we will look at that verse in detail.

Why the big deal? Well, all you have to do is look at all the infighting between “friends” on Facebook and other social media. Even when looking at very close and loving families, there is a nasty division that appears to be rearing its ugly head. In talking about "working out our own salvation", perhaps a word or two is in order before we actually begin. We should remember that we are "saved by grace through faith, not of works" - cf. Ep 2:8-9 But as those saved by the grace of God through faith in His Son without any spectacular works of our own doing, (other than to respond to the gospel), we have been "created in Christ Jesus for good works" - Ep 2:10 As Paul told Titus

Titus 3:1–8 NKJV

Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

Let’s look at that together

Be ready for every good work - 1

Even though we were not saved by works of righteousness, but were saved through the mercy of God bestowed in the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit - 5

Therefore be careful to maintain good works - 8

Why the need to be careful? Because though we were not saved by good works we can lose our fellowship with God if we, with God's help, do not produce them! (more on that later.) So then how do those who were not saved by good works go about working out their salvation? Well, that’s a loaded question, but I would suggest that this question can be accomplished in two steps.

DEVELOP A CHRIST-LIKE "CHARACTER"

BY GROWING IN THE GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE OF JESUS CHRIST...

Peter set out the antidote to falling away in

2 Peter 3:17–18 NKJV

You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

And later in his epistle, he spells it all out:

2 Peter 1:5–11 NKJV

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

See, saints, it all boils down to this. In order to become lights bearers in the midst of this present darkness we need to be like Christ, and that means developing "Christ-like" qualities. It requires diligence, and an ever-increasing growth in these graces that Peter names in verses 5, and 8. We need these qualities not only to effect the right change in this dark age, but even more critically, to lack these things, jeopardizes our entrance into the “everlasting kingdom of our Lord” vs 9-11. Now let’s take a super quick detour, because I’m not talking about losing your salvation here, but let me ask you a question, “Where is the kingdom of God?” and if we are not living as responsible and respectful citizens in this kingdom, then we don’t get the benefits of it. What does that mean? Well, let me use some modern events as an example.

Recently a very troubling thing happened in the midst of all these riots. A group of some of these Antifa thugs took over six blocks of the city of Seattle. The mayor ordered the Seattle PD to surrender the precinct and leave the “protesters” alone. These protesters then immediately declared it to be an autonomous zone, and that they were now their own country. How many of you know that they could say that all they wanted but they were in fact, still in Seattle, WA in the United States of America. A funny thing happened, they set up and armed their own “security forces”. With the police gone, the inevitable happened. A man was shot by the security forces and as soon as they saw what happened, they called for an ambulance, and where was that ambulance supposed to be coming from? You guessed it, the city of Seattle! But they were an autonomous zone, the country of CHAZ, they were not about to let the police go into their new city - that was the point all along, they didn’t want anything to do with the Seattle police. The police were under orders to respect their wishes, and despite much begging and pleading with them to let them respond, the Chazians refused. But guess what else happened? Well, the ambulance would not enter the so-called autonomous zone without police escort. So in spite of much begging and pleading on behalf of the security team of Chaz, the paramedics refused.

That’s how it is with us and God, when we stop living as citizens of the Kingdom, we set up our own autonomous zone and though He begs and pleads with us to let Him in, He does not violate our free will. So when we get into trouble, if we don’t submit to His authority, He respects our wishes and leaves us to the whims of chance. That is what is at jeopardy and this is why it’s so critical that we practice diligence on our part.

BY PUTTING OFF THE OLD MAN, AND PUTTING ON THE NEW MAN.

Let’s look at what Paul wrote to the Colossians in

Colossians 3:1–17 NKJV

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

As we examine this text, we see that it involves...

Setting our minds on things above - 1-4

Stop doing the things upon which God's wrath is going to come one day - 5-9

Putting on the "new man", which is according to the "image of Christ" - 10-11

Developing "Christ-like" qualities - 12-14

Allowing "God's peace" to rule in thankful hearts - 15

Letting "Christ's word" to dwell in us richly, through singing - 16

Doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus - 17

By developing such Christ-like "character", and by extension work out our salvation, we will not only keep ourselves in right kingdom relationship with Christ, but we will truly "shine as lights in the world"! And that is because we are simply reflecting in our lives the glory of Christ that shines in our own hearts. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians:

2 Corinthians 4:5–6 NKJV

For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

In our efforts to change others, are we coming across as "preaching Christ" or "preaching ourselves"? Developing a Christ-like "character" will go along way, not only to work out our salvation, but to effectively preach Christ! In verse 5, Paul intimates that in one sense we ARE to preach ourselves- as SERVANTS of God. And that leads to our second point as to how we can "work out our own salvation"

DEVELOP A CHRIST-LIKE "SERVICE"

FULFILL YOUR FUNCTION IN THE BODY OF CHRIST...

As Paul admonishes in

Romans 12:1–8 NKJV

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

We have a "reasonable service" to perform, which is to "prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God". To do this effectively, we need to maintain a proper spirit of humility. We need to remember that the body of Christ has many members but they don't all have the same function. We need to exercise whatever "gifts" we have. Whatever that gifting is, whether it be teaching or serving or encouraging, whatever it is, do it!

MINISTER YOUR "GIFT" AS A GOOD STEWARD OF GOD'S MANIFOLD GRACE...

Notice what Peter says in

1 Peter 4:10–11 NKJV

As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Each person has a "gift" to minister to others. Because God's grace is "manifold" (multi-faceted), we should expect some diversity in our service. But everyone is to be a "good steward", which means we will one day have to answer for what we did. (Think the parable of the Talents - Mt 25:14-30 ). So let us exercise our "gifts" (or service) in such a way as to glorify God through Jesus Christ!

CONCLUSION

Much more could be said, but developing a Christ-like "character" and "service" will go a long way in "working out our own salvation", and "working out our own salvation" in this way will certainly help us to become bearers of light in a dark world! Are you being "careful to maintain good works"? Remember what Paul wrote about Jesus' death on the cross...

Titus 2:14 NKJV

who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Are YOU "zealous of good works", or did Jesus die in vain in YOUR case?