Work Out Your Salvation

...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Phil. 2:12b-13

From Guest Blogger Jim Wiebel:

Work out your own salvation doesn’t mean “by your own effort,” as some have interpreted it. Paul’s saying, “Now that I am no longer present with you, you don't need to rely on my insights and counsel. Begin to walk without my assistance, for you have God’s Spirit at work in you, and that’s all you need!” In other words, stop leaning on me. Start applying these things yourselves. This is a necessary stage in Christian growth.

I recall teaching my youngest son how to drive. He had a learner's permit that required that I be with him in the front seat of the car. As we were driving, he’d sometimes give me a questioning look as a driver pulled out in the road or something developed ahead of us. Then I'd say to do this or that. He was relying on me. But the time would come when I moved out of the front seat and in faith committed him to what he had learned. From then on, he had to “work out his own salvation with fear and trembling,” even with me right there with him in the back seat!

Now “salvation” here doesn’t mean settling our eternal destiny, as we frequently find it used in the scriptures. A better translation would be the word “solution.” Work out your own solution, because what Paul has in mind here is working through the problems and trials and difficulties presented in ordinary daily life. He’s saying, use your mind and your will in solving your problems, in the confident expectation that in doing so, God is also at work in you to conform it all to both his will and his good pleasure. That’s a marvelous statement of the Christian's experience of being led by God.

But we’re not robots, simply responding to the pushing of buttons by the Spirit within. It's true we have another life within: God's life — Christ living within us! But our lives, hearts and wills are involved in this too. It’s true that we’ll never be saved apart from him. But it’s also true that he’ll never save us apart from ourselves. We do the living and the choosing and the acting, but we know a secret — that all along it’s he who’s living, acting and choosing through us!

Prayer: Thank you, Father, for allowing me to be used by you to show others how you are working in me by the power of your Spirit to lead a life which pleases you. Amen.

Uncommon

Call me a FOOL.  Seriously.  I want to be a FOOL.

A "fool" for Christ, that is.

The apostle Paul says, "If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a 'fool' so that he may become wise" (1 Corinthians 3:18).  Which means that what GOD thinks is important is quite different than what the WORLD thinks is important.  The world values power, prestige, possessions.  God values submission, selflessness, sacrifice.  1 Corinthians 1:  "The message of the CROSS is foolishness" to the world.  But "God chose the foolish things ... the weak things ... the despised things."

Most people look to be on the top ... to be the best ... to out-man, out-pace, out-score, out-gun.  Most seek glory by what they do or what they own ... to be better, to be noticed.

But consider how Jesus Christ turned glory on its head!

• Matthew 16:  Jesus has just told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."  Then he says, "Some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."
• Matthew 20:  The mother of James and John comes to Jesus with the request, "Grant that one of these sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom."  Jesus replies, "You don't know what you are asking ... These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father."
• Matthew 27:  They crucified Jesus.  "Two robbers were crucified with him, one on his right and one on his left."

Christ's kingdom and glory are evident, not in how we would normally view triumph, but in the self-sacrifice ... in what looks like defeat ... in what looks like shame and humiliation.  The cross is utter foolishness.  Yet God's power and God's wisdom are on display there!

So if God's power and wisdom are found in what the world calls foolish ... I WANT TO BE FOOLISH for Christ.  Paul said in Romans 1:16, "I am unashamed of the Gospel" ... which is the CROSS ... "because it is the POWER of GOD for the salvation of everyone who believes."


So, here's what I believe:  God has rescued me in Christ.  He has set me apart to be His own child.  God has called me into a life that seems utterly foolish to many people — taking up self-sacrifice and humility and service in His name.

In a word:  now that God has called me in Christ ... he calls me to be UNCOMMON.

My church, this next week, is setting out on a 40-week journey of faith and spiritual growth.  We're calling the journey, UNCOMMON.  We're using these words from Colossians 3:1-3 as a basis for the next 40 weeks:  "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God."

Setting your hearts and minds on things above means viewing life and success in very different terms than what we hear in the news and in sports and in politics.  It means being rather UNCOMMON.

I'm excited to see what God is going to do.  What He'll do in me, what He'll do in my family and in my church family during this school year.

Check out this intro video ... and wherever you are (not just the people of Faith, Appleton), feel free to join us on the UNCOMMON journey.

2 Peter 3:18 — "Continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

More on Uncommon.

Want a real spiritual workout??  Take the 100-day Uncommon Bible Challenge.  Memorize 100 verses in 100 days.  Sort of like P90X for the soul.


#uncommon  #uncommonbiblechallenge

God v. Wisdom

"Since you refuse to listen when I call ... since you diregard all my advice ... I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you."  Proverbs 1:24-26

I know that God is different. My faith believes what He says in Isaiah 55 — "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways." But that really hit me today in a Bible study on Proverbs.

According to Proverbs, Wisdom (personified as a woman who calls out in the public square to teach anyone who would listen) is unforgiving — a sort of cold, cause-effect realist. Wisdom points to the reality of how the world works:  "Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth" (Proverbs 10:4); "A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man brings trouble on himself" (Proverbs 11:17). There's nothing particularly religious or spiritual about that — it's just how the world works. Consider a few professional athletes who are arrogant and selfish ... and how they pile trouble on themselves and invite the disdain of teammates and fans. (Contrast them with the great team players, who work and play with humility and a teachable spirit.) In countless ways we all pile up trouble in our lives by foolishness. We have family members, coworkers, and neighbors who seem to be magnets for trouble ... because of the choices they've made.

Wisdom points to those who live foolishly, who have chosen to pile up trouble, and says:  "If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. But since you rejected me when I called ... I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you — when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when distress and trouble overwhelm you" (Proverbs 1:23-27).

In contrast to Wisdom, God does not abandon us to the mess we've made. Like the father in Jesus' parable of the prodigal son, God is full of compassion and always ready to welcome. In fact, God's entire plan of redemption in Jesus Christ shows that God's way is fundamentally different. As one of my favorite verses reminds us:  "God demonstrates His love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). He entered our mess. He willingly, lovingly pursued us. And not because we had figured it all out and straightened ourselves out. "While we were still sinners"!  While Wisdom is unforgiving, God is full of mercy.

What really stood out to me today is this:  If God is willing to step into our junk ... what should our Christian response be to our children, friends, neighbors, and coworkers, when they have brought all kinds of trouble on themselves? Turn away, saying: "You brought this on yourself. You have to face the consequences"? No!

No doubt, it would be unloving to enable someone in their foolish ways. And according to the ways of Wisdom, we'd be justified in abandoning them to their mess. But I am convinced that the Godly life is marked by a willingness to enter another person's hurt — even the hurt they've piled on themselves — with compassion. We usually can't take away the earthly consequences for them. But we CAN walk with them and say: "I am here with you. I am here for you. I will not abandon you." This is the way of God, who says, "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you."

What does Godly compassion look like for you these days?