Salvation: Fear and Trembling

A wise and sobering challenge:

What does it mean to work out our salvation in fear and trembling?

We can only work out a salvation that God has already worked in us. This means that first we must accept the salvation given to us by faith - Jesus died for us, this is how God works salvation in us - by faith! We are then called to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27). Since we are saved by God in Christ Jesus (and sealed by the Holy Spirit), we should act like we are saved and bear spiritual fruit.

Galations 5:22-23;  "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."

Ephesians 5:8-10   "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord."

The word Paul uses for for salvation can and does also refer to deliverance in the Greek. Paul uses the same Greek word for salvation to refer also to deliverance from other things other than eternal condemnation (Philippians 1:19, 1:12-17). The same word used again in 1:28 means eternal salvation and deliverance from opposition.

Paul begin this message in Philippians 1:27-30 where he calls for unity in the faith. As he continues, Paul explains that the unity is needed because our faith is always under attack.

Unity is a sign of destruction of the opposition, a sign of deliverance. Enemies of faith can not prevail against believer’s who are unified. Salvation is both physical and temporal (deliverance from the condemnation and ways of this world), as well as spiritual and eternal. God works through temporal sufferings of the opposition (this is deliverance or salvation from the temporal sufferings). The victory is won!

In Philippians 2:1-4 Paul explains unity:
• We are encouraged that we are united with Christ
• We can feel comfort from his love
• We are secure (sealed) in fellowship with the Spirit
• We exhibit tenderness and compassion, and
• We seek to make joy complete by being
     ○ like-minded
     ○ share the same love
     ○ are one in spirit and in purpose
     ○ do everything out of humility considering others better than ourselves
         (Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit)
     ○ look not only to your own interest, but to the interests of others

Philippians 2:5-7 gives a model for our humility as the Lord Jesus who obeyed His Father. The Father exalts those who humble themselves and fear the Lord.

Philipians 2 continues the ‘wise and sobering challenge:’ What we do in private is as important as what we do in public “as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence” continue to allow God’s will to work through you in deliverance and hence, salvation.

While obeying (working out salvation with fear and trembling, through humility and submission that Christ exemplified) God delivers us from the opposition. When we display the characteristics of our salvation, it is God working His will through us!

Unity proves believer’s to be “blameless and innocent” in this corrupted world. We then shine as lights of the Gospel.

The challenge is that we are transformed by God’s will when we are in unity and as we humble ourselves toward our brothers and sisters in faith. When we kneel to serve one another, God’s will working in us helps us to stand during the difficulties of this world. In Philippians 2:12, we do not have a call to work to gain eternal salvation (we can't do this anyway, it is by faith that we are saved), we are instead called to victorious deliverance from spiritual defeat in our sufferings because we obey and submit to the will of God working in us through His Holy Spirit that transforms us.

This is what is meant to work through your salvation (deliverance) in fear and trembling…it is the fear of the Lord, God’s will who works through us and secures our salvation or deliverance from the ravages of this world.