One of golf’s moments came when a Scotchman demonstrated the new game to President Ulysses Grant. Carefully placing the ball on the tee, he took a mighty swing. The club hit the turf and scattered dirt all over the President’s beard and surrounding vicinity, while the ball waited on the tee. Again he swung, and again he missed. The President waited patiently through six tries and then quietly stated, “There seems to be a fair amount of exercise in the game, but I fail to see the purpose of the ball.”
Too often, “The only exercise we get is jumping to conclusions, running down friends, sidestepping responsibility, pushing our luck.” work out your salvation
If your physical appearance was based upon your spiritual condition, what would your body look like? Ripped? ABS ‘ a big stomach’
2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling;
2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
A man was driving with his wife at his side and his mother-in-law in the back seat. The women just wouldn’t leave him alone. His mother-in-law said, “You’re driving too fast!” His wife said, “Stay more to the left.” After ten mixed orders, the man turned to his wife and asked, “Who’s driving this car – you or your mother?”
Salvation consists of Someone that is working in us.
To many, salvation is no more than the promise of going to heaven. But salvation also means that today heaven can come to us.
It is knowing that God has saved us but salvation also means that the same God that saved is also the God that sanctifies us.
1. THE GIFT OF SALVATION! In verse 12, Paul said, "work out your own salvation." To understand first considering what he was not saying.
Paul was not suggesting one must work for salvation. He had just stated that salvation had been provided by the Lord Jesus: "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (2:6-8).
Jesus had taken upon Himself the form of man that He might die for man. Paul had made it very clear that salvation was not what man may do but what Jesus has done. Salvation is not something to achieve, but something to receive. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph.2:8-9).
A man comes to the gates of heaven and is met by St. Peter. "What do I have to do to get in?" Peter says, "It takes a thousand spiritual points to get into heaven. What have you done?" The man begins to recite his accomplishments: "I went to church every Sunday, attended every prayer meeting and fellowship dinner, read my Bible each morning and shared the gospel with everyone I met. What is more, I tithed ten percent of all I made, sang in the choir, cooked Thanksgiving turkeys for the Senior Citizen’s dinner and EVEN HELPED WITH THE JUNIOR HIGH BAPTIST YOUTH..." For two hours he went on reciting an awesome list of all he had done for God. Peter looked at with love and said, "That’s very impressive! It will add up to one spiritual point." The guy was flabbergasted! "You mean to tell me that everything I’ve done, the sweat I’ve poured, money I’ve given and time I’ve spent is only worth a SINGLE POINT?? "I’ve got one point and it takes ONE THOUSAND to get into heaven? LORD, HAVE MERCY!!" Peter replied, "Oh, that will be worth the other 999. You can come on in."
A lifetime of good works cannot and will not save anyone. Salvation is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, plus nothing, minus nothing.
Franklin Graham spoke in Chattanooga. The next day the headlines in the Chattanooga Times read: "Evangelist Went Too Far Students Say. Franklin Graham’s fire and brimstone chapel talk this week has some Baylor students pretty fired up." The article told of how 250 Baylor students signed a petition protesting the 20 minute message by Graham. One student said that he thought Graham went too far when he told students that anyone who did not accept Christ as his personal Savior was condemned to hell.
There can be no salvation apart from the Lord Jesus. A person is condemned to hell if Christ is not their Savior. Salvation cannot be achieved but must be received from the Lord Jesus that has done all that is needed to be saved. It is the gift of God.
Notice "your own salvation." Paul was speaking of a salvation that is personal. It is to be "your" salvation.
Psalm 23:1, "The Lord is my Shepherd." David was declaring that the Lord was a Shepherd. But he was also declaring that He was his Shepherd. Salvation was a personal matter to David.
2. THE GOAL OF SALVATION! When Paul said, "work out your own salvation" he was describing something that we should strive for and obtain.
The verb "work out" means to, "thoroughly develop, to work to full completion." It is not a matter of working for something, but a working out of what one already has.
Word was used of a miner going into a mine and working that mine to get out all the valuable ore in that mine. The miner had before him a tremendous source of wealth. He worked the mine to make what was available his.
Ephesians 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ."
Paul is declaring that all the blessings of the Spirit have been made ours in Christ. We have entered into a salvation that is a mine full of gold and silver. It is ours to enjoy and experience.
Jesus gave us a spiritual mine and we as believers are spiritually wealthy. But what is so sad that that many never work out that mine and make as their own all that is been given to us.
Many believers are spiritually rich but are living as spiritual paupers. They have been given a personal title deed to a heavenly mine, but they have never worked it out. They have never experienced or enjoyed all the wealth that their salvation has given them.
Paul wanted these Philippians believers to experience all they had in Christ. What their salvation had given them, Paul wanted them to make real in their life. He wanted them to experience a full Christian life.
The word was also used of a farmer working a field. The farmer would plow the field, cultivate the field so it would produce the finest harvest possible.
John 15:16, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you."
We are chosen, commissioned, and commanded to bear fruit as believers. We are to be fields that bear a rich harvest.
Many a Christian life is a field of weeds instead of an abundant harvest.
The ideal behind the words "your own salvation" is that God has a plan for each of our lives. We are to fulfill that plan so that our lives will bring forth fruit to the glory of God.
The word that he uses is saying don’t stop half-way, don’t be content with partial salvation, follow your salvation to its ultimate conclusion.
‘your own’ is also plural in original suggesting that it is something we are working out together and not individual matters.
Notice that we are to work out our salvation with "fear and trembling." The words do not speak of someone terrified by something or someone. The words speak of reverence and a passion to please.
3. THE GOD OF SALVATION! Verse 13, "For it is God which works in you both to do and will and to do of his good pleasure.
When a company takes over another company, there is often a sign placed outside announcing, "Under New Management." No sign so accurately summarizes what takes place in Christian conversion. How hard it is to learn this lesson, and to acknowledge the new authority in our lives!
Paul tells us that is God working in us. There is a human responsibility, but there is a Divine resource. Unless we allow God to work “in” us as we live out the Christian life, we’ll never reach our full potential as believers
Wouldn’t it be silly for someone to put milk, a banana, ice cubes, and sugar in an electric blender and then put the top on and shake it? We all do this at time relying on our own power when God’s power is available.
God is working in us to accomplish His "good pleasure." The word means "desire or purpose." He is working in us that His desire and purpose for our life to be fulfilled. 2 things that are a result.
A. The Desire For His Will.
"For it is God that works in you both to will..." The word "will" means "desire." God works in us to give us a desire to do His will.
The simple reason why people don’t serve God and do His will is they don’t want to. We do what we want. We can come up with any excuse we want, but the reason we don’t take serious the things of God is a lack of desire.
Why is there no desire? God has not been allowed to work in the heart and life. God, if allowed, will work in us to give us a desire to do His will. He is constantly working in us to bring us to the place where we want to do what He wants.
F.B. Meyer. One night at Keswick, God spoke to his heart about some matter. He was unwilling to surrender that which God had spoke to his heart about. That night he wrestled with God about the matter. Finally, Meyer told God that he was willing to be made willing.
B. The Doing Of His Will.
God is not only working in us the desire to for His will but also the ability to do His will: "For it is God which works in you both to will and do, of His good pleasure."
Two great needs in every Christian life. First, the desire to do God’s will and the second the ability. God not only creates the desire but the ability.
3. The word "works" is the word from which we get our word "energy." Wuest translates it, "For God is the One Who is constantly putting forth His power in you."
Both the passion and power to do God’s will is a result of His work in us.
During the construction of one of the East River Bridges in New York City, the engineers encountered the sunken hull of an old barge which would not yield to removal. It had become so securely embedded in the river mud that engines, cables, and derricks were powerless to remove it. At this point in the fruitless operation a young man, fresh from technical school, appeared on the scene and after studying the problem asked for permission to try his hand. Upon permission he had a large barge towed to the spot at the approach of low tide and its ends were fastened by huge chains to the sunken hulk. Then when the tide came in with its irresistible power, the surface barge rose with the swelling tide, lifting it with the submerged wreck. The young engineer made use of the natural power of the ocean.
We need not fear the will of God on the basis of feeling inadequate or insufficient. God will enable us to do anything He asks of us.
Imagine for a moment that a friend has given you a free gift certificate good for one parachute jump out of an airplane. You thank your friend and tell him that you have the courage to make that jump. You go to the airport, the jumpmaster shows you the proper procedure of making a parachute jump and you strap on the parachute equipment. The jumpmaster tells you he carefully packed the chute himself. You tell him you have the belief that the chute will open when you pull the ripcord after you leap from the plane. But when the time comes, and the green light goes on, you remain in your seat and refuse to jump out for fear the chute won’t open. Your prior statement that you believed that believed that the chute would open is not backed up by jumping out of the plane.
"If you’re in a car during the day and you turn on your headlights, does it do any good? If you’re a Christian and you only act like a Christian around other Christians, if you only let the light of Jesus shine around others who are shining does it do any good? NO!!
We must think of unbelievers as stargazers. They are looking at the heavens with the hope of seeing bright beautiful stars… But when Christians can’t get along, the stars of the universe are obscured by the dark cloud cover of discord.
In a biography of Dwight L. Moody an incident is recorded from the life of President Woodrow Wilson in which he describes his one and only contact with that famous preacher. "I was in a barbershop," Wilson said, "when I became conscious that someone unusual had entered the room. A man had come in quietly and was seated in the chair next to mine. Every word he uttered showed a personal and vital interest in the one who was serving him, though he was not the least bit formal or pompous. Purposely I lingered until after he left and noted the singular effect his visit had upon the barbers in that shop. Their conversation was quiet and subdued. Though they did not know his name, somehow his presence had elevated their thoughts and impressed them greatly. Personally, I left there feeling I had been to a place of worship."
