Work out your own salvation

What does it mean to “work”? Some may see work as something they have to do, something painful or at least not pleasurable.

Why is that? Ever since God created mankind, He did not want them to remain idle. He placed man in the garden to work and tend (or watch over it) and take care of it (Genesis 2:15). Since the beginning, God expected man to work and not remain without doing anything.

Our main verses today come from Philippians 2:12-13: 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.

We are going to focus on a few words in these verses.

1.    Always obeyed The Bible makes it clear that without faith it is impossible to please God. There is even a verse that says that. Hebrews 11:6: But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

What does it mean to have “faith”? The concept of faith in the Bible talks about more than just intellectual or logical faculties, i.e. you’re telling me it is very cold outside - 30 degrees below zero- and I believe you. I have faith you are telling me the truth.

Verses 7 and 8 of Hebrews 11 help us to understand that this faith exists and is displayed through action. Thus, the Bible speaks of “obedient faith” - faith that hears, understands, and does the will of God.

What did the people, Noah and Abraham, did here as guided by their faith? Obedience, as per Philippians 2:12, is always, not only some of the time or when it’s convenient.

An interesting example we find in Luke 17:1-10: Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

And the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’”

The apostles asked Jesus about faith, but responded to them about works, about doing things, rather than having faith or feeling things.

2.    Work out Following the obedient faith, Christians are expected to “work out” their own salvation. This working out means to figure out, understand, practice, as God expects us.

Sometimes you may read or hear that all one needs to please God is faith and nothing else. Or perhaps you have heard it said that we are saved by grace and not works. While it is true that we cannot do anything to earn our salvation, it is also true that God expects us to act obediently in accordance to His will.

For example, the book of Acts has ten examples of people becoming Christians and obeying God. In those examples, there are certain acts, things or works, which people did in order to obtain salvation. The stories of these people do not stop at faith. There is confession, there is repentance, and there is baptism. There is steadfastness, the continuation of studying, of sharing the word of God with others, all these things are works produced by our obedient faith.

Acts 22:16 has the example when Paul became a Christian: "And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord."

At this point, did Paul have faith in God? He had received his sight back, but he was still in his sins, otherwise Ananias would not tell him to be baptized and wash away his sins.

3.    Your own salvation

I’d like to point out a few verses that this “working out” is a personal responsibility. The verse says “your own” and the Bible is full of the need for individuals to work on their own faith. For example, consider these passages: 2 Corinthians 5:10: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Romans 14:12: So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Acts 2:38: Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

We cannot shift this personal, individual responsibility to others. We cannot say that “my friends, or my brothers or sisters at church taught me this or that, they led me in the wrong path.” We are all individually responsible for our own action, and we will individually reap the punishment or the rewards for our actions (Galatians 6:7-8).

Sometimes, people may start or continue something that is unscriptural. Here are a couple of examples: Acts 15:1: And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” These false teachers were keeping the law of Moses, which was made obsolete after Jesus' resurrection.

And 1 Timothy 4:1-3: Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

Now, we will conclude with this question:

What are some of the things you have observed in your congregation or you have heard that people do, which may not be fully in agreement with the word of God?

Staying in the Truth

Tonight, we are going to talk about “staying in Christ,” staying in the truth, knowing the truth, and how the truth will set us free. But before we begin: 

What has been a truth someone said that you didn’t like? For example, you wrote a paper that you thought was perfect, and then a tutor or a friend pointed out a few things that were incorrect, which means that now you have to do extra work to fix them. Perhaps you wished the tutor or the friend would have just said, “This paper is perfect.”

At times we don’t want the truth, we want to be told we look good even when we don’t, that what we did was amazing, even if it wasn’t.

Why do sometimes people prefer lies rather than the truth?People find comfort in lies, the truth might be embarrassing, or it might be condemning
and bring about guilt.

Here are some comments about spiritually staying in the truth.

1. We Can Stay in Christ (or in the truth)
John 8:31-36: To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.  Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Jesus was talking to Jews who “believed” in Him – but only what they agreed with Him did they believe (see verses 33, 37 and 44).

These people did not want the truth – they WERE slaves but stated they weren’t.

John 15:4: “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

Jesus said we NEED to abide in His Word.  To "abide" means to remain/continue in something - not leaving or giving up.  If you remain in the borders of His Words, you are abiding in His Word.  If you go outside the borders, you are going into either opinion or error.

2. What is the problem with venturing into "Opinionland?"

An opinion may be something that is outside of, or not mentioned in, Jesus’ Word, but it might not always be an error.  If Jesus didn’t say it, it is opinion on your part.  An example of such an opinion might be when someone believes that we must get baptized in a river only – no other water will do.

Error, on the other hand, is in opposition to the truth; it leads away from Christ.  For example, the error that says "we do not need baptism for salvation."  This is contrary to Jesus’ Words in Mark 16:16-17: "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues..." Jesus and the Apostles have also stated in other places that salvation is in Christ through baptism.

But some people don’t want to hear the truth – look at Isaiah 30:9-10:

"For these are rebellious people, deceitful children,
children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction.
They say to the seers,
“See no more visions!”
and to the prophets,
“Give us no more visions of what is right!
Tell us pleasant things,
prophesy illusions."

2 Timothy 4:3-4: "For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths."

3. What result does refusing the truth have on you or what you are
doing?
Paul said that itching ears want what they want and go to towards their desire and follow error willingly.

In John 8:31-36 Jesus is saying those that abide don’t just believe (because the
followers who were against His teaching were “believing”); He is saying they had only superficial belief with what suited them. These were not truly genuine disciples but rather folks who went along with the truth only to the point that they were comfortable with.

- Does the Bible teach things that may make us uncomfortable?
- What could some of those things be?
- How did Jesus approach these “uncomfortable truths”?

4. We can know the truth by staying in Jesus’ Word
Mark 11:27-33: They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you authority to do this?” Jesus replied, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.  John’s baptism—was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’ …” (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.) So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

They asked Jesus: "By what authority are you doing these things?" Jesus replied by asking them a question: Was John’s baptism from heaven or men? They couldn’t answer because the truth was condemning them.

We can use this test today to know if something is true.  Ask:
A. Is it from heaven – there will be words in the Bible confirming it; or
B. Is it from men – it will not be in Scripture or it will be misrepresented
from Scripture

Sincerity or a pure heart is not enough, and this is clear in Acts 18:25, the example of Apollos: "Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John.  He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately."

What do we see in verse 25?  Apollos was willing to learn and to be corrected, but the sincerity was not enough.

5. The Truth Will set us Free
What are some things the truth will set us free from:
a) Sin – even if we sinned only one time (and we have sinned more than that), we are a slave to sin.  But the truth in Christ and abiding in Him and His teachings will bring us to freedom from sin.

b) Selves – we can face up to our imperfections (spoiler alert: nobody’s perfect).

c) Society and culture (political incorrectness) – I don’t have to fake it or try to fit in the society and culture, but I need to speak the truth as it is the truth.

d) Freedom to live our lives the way God wants us to

e) Free to follow and listen only to Jesus

f) Free to ignore false teaching – this includes “convenient religion” – religion that says you can do what you want, live how you want, and still go to heaven - itching ears! Christ said that this is not right; there is no convenient religion.

In conclusion, we can stay in Jesus, we can know the truth, and the truth will set us free.

What a Blessing!

How many of us have stopped to truly meditate on the blessings of Christ?  The Bible tells us that all spiritual blessings are found in Him alone (Ephesians 1:3).  But, what does that mean?


The context of Ephesians chapter one explains that Christians have unique blessings that find their origin in Christ alone, giving the Christian the perfect motivation for praising or blessing God.


Christians have been adopted!  Many adoptions are processed through an agency of some kind.  For Christians, our adoption takes place through the agency of Jesus Christ himself.  The Father adopts us into His own family out of love, being literally delighted, highlighting His gracious nature (v.4-6).


Christians have been redeemed!  Many adoptions require fees or a price to be paid, redemption is that price.  God pays the full price for us by lavishing His grace on us through the blood sacrifice of Jesus (v.7-9).  Why?  By doing this, God reveals His plan for our forgiveness of sins, bringing us into harmony with Him (v.9-10).


Christians have an inheritance!  Being adopted, we are made part of His family.  Being redeemed, we are bought and paid for.  The natural blessing of inheritance follows these two.  This inheritance is the predetermined will of God that those who hope in Christ become a reason to praise the glory of God.  This hopeful inheritance is salvation itself (Romans 8:24), teaching us that God predetermined a plan of redemption and the way His people should live.  Having heard the word of truth, the Ephesians believed in and obeyed Christ tapping in to their adoption, redemption, and inheritance (v.13).


In other words, as Christians, we are given a family instead of being rejected.  As Christians, we are considered valuable, instead of being worthless.  As Christians, we are given the richest inheritance possible, instead of being destitute.


If you are a Christian, the next time your self-esteem or self-image is not doing so great, think about the blessings you have in Christ.  If you are not a Christian, why not become one and experience these blessings?


~ Robert Guinn, submitted to Edmonton Church of Christ Weekly Bulletin Volume 31, Issue 02, January 14, 2018.