Work Out Your Salvation

"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 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)

"Work out your salvation" The Greek word we have translated as "work out" is an intensive form of the word for work or labor. It means to work at something thoroughly, to bring something to full and complete conclusion, and so has the idea of accomplish or to bring something about. It could be used to describe the work of the farmer who works through the year to bring seeds to their full harvest.

Here in our text it means that we work out our salvation to the full in every area of life leaving no stone unturned. It means that we do not grow slack or stop half way, keep going until all that Christ died to achieve has been worked in you. It is the same idea as in the word "perseverance" as applied to the believer going on against all that would be hurled against him.

It is an echo from Proverbs where we find the person who cooked the meal but is too tired to eat it! (Proverbs 26.15.) And the graphic picture of the farmer too sleepy to get up and work on the farm so that it is overtaken by weeds (Proverbs 24.30.)

In the context of the verse it means that we are to carry our obedience to completion. We have submitted to Christ, we know what He wants of us, now carry that out in thorough doing.

Let me remind you of the context, the obedience of the Lord Jesus in humbling Himself from the highest to the bottom of the lowest. Theologians and Bible students have argued and discussed verses 5-11 of this chapter, in fact have nearly come to fist fights to protect what they consider the Faith! But very few have realized that it is not there as fodder for doctrine but to be worked out in behavior like His, in the power of His Spirit.

It should be noted that this is not speaking of working for salvation! It is written to those who are believers and now are to work out the life that has been planted in them. This is perfectly described by Paul in Ephesians 2.8-10. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Salvation is gift from beginning to end received through the faith. But the result is the Holy Spirit recreating and fitting us to walk in good works. Not saved by good works but saved to do them. It should be noted that "good works" are in fact "God works" that are performed from the life of God within us.

Resting in Christ does not mean that we are passive, but rather a new kind of activity that derives from resting in His work on the cross and the gift of His Spirit. Other epistles speak of "putting on" the behavior of the new life even as we "put off " the old lifestyle.

The tense of the verb indicates a commitment to working out salvation as a way of life, not a one time act of dedication that fades when the going gets hard. Salvation is a single act of a lifetime and also a process in which we work out daily what He has placed within us. In our culture there is an addiction to the crisis moment, the adrenaline rush of experience but very little follow through. We crave to see and be used in the spectacular gifts of the Spirit. There are moments of miracles and God does graciously come to us with moments of revelation and unusual blessing. But these moments must then be worked out in the hundreds of very ordinary moments, in the smallness and narrowness of our lives where even our temptations are not spectacular but stay within the range of silly gossip and our wanting to be noticed by others - like the Philippians!

If we do not learn to "work out" our salvation we shall forever be following the latest crisis experience and never bring anything to completion. Like the foolish man of Proverbs we will bag our deer in the hunt but then be too bored with dressing it and bringing it home to roast it! (Proverbs 12:27.)

We have seen that this was the problem of the whole congregation and these words of our text are addressed to the individual within the group. Our working out is not for us in isolation but within the community of believers; we do our working out alongside our brothers and sisters - they are part of our working out! Each is responsible to have the mind of Christ and in so doing will bring life and health to the whole congregation.

Let the Holy Spirit apply these words to where you are today that this week will be a new beginning to the working out of His salvation for the rest of your life.