After salvation, God wants us to change to be like Him. This daily devotional shows us how that can bring us joy, even though it is work.
Nuggets
- Salvation brings responsibilities with it that will take work to carry out.
- Even though we are required to work at sanctification, we do not do it alone.
- Our inner sanctification manifests itself in our actions.
Devotions in the Joy in the Gospel series
Salvation brings responsibilities with it that will take work to carry out.
We’ve talked about working out our salvation many times. It is part of our job description.
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
Job Duty #2
Work Out Our Salvation (Philippians 2: 12)
What we’ve said is working out our salvation is going from milk babies to steak adults by navigating the Sanctification Road. But I don’t think we’ve ever looked at the sermons associated with the verse.
Let’s look.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Working It Out
“Therefore, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2: 12 CSB)
Salvation brings responsibilities with it that will take work to carry out.
Working out our salvation is all about obedience. We are obeying God and becoming more like Him. We are obtaining His character.
Pope wrote, “The absolute power of God’s will, which is the law to every creature and the accepted law to the Christian, is regarded as expressing itself within the heart of man.”
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Working out our salvation is done within us. God influences our will and actions to change our character to imitate His.
We all navigate the Sanctification Road, but it means different things to each of us. “And there are different activities, but the same God works all of them in each person” (I Cor. 12: 6 CSB).
Each of us has different issues we must work on. We’re still working the sanctification process. We just work it out differently.
True, there are some things I bet we all work on. More than likely, we all work on love for God and love for others.
Why do I say that? Because those are the two greatest commandments that lead to perfection.
Glossary
One of the verses Pope used to tell us about the internal energy God uses to transform us is Ephesians 1: 11. “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1: 11 ESV).
Some question how free will works with predestination. There is pre-determined election. Election is God’s plan to bring that salvation to His creation, a gift of His grace because of His mercy.
Glossary
God has elected mankind to receive the Plan of Salvation. He didn’t decide to give it to the angels.
What God didn’t do was specifically elect Tom, Sally, or Elaine to accept His gift of salvation. He is not a dictator. He loves all. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (Jn. 3: 16 NIV).
That being said, God knows who will accept salvation and who won’t. His knowing doesn’t make them predestined. It means He is omnipotent.
If God were a dictator, He would be inflexible. That would just put everything on autopilot. He wouldn’t need to be involved in our lives.
That is so far from the truth! God is loving and involved.
But it does come down to us accepting God’s gift of salvation. Pope wrote, “The obedience of the Christian to the law within Him is perfect freedom.”
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God comes to each of us individually to offer salvation. It isn’t an automatic because our parents were saved or because we say we have a Christian nation.
But then that means each of us individually have to respond in obedience. Each of us need to imitate Christ. I can’t just let Tom or Sally do it for me.
McNeill brought up the fact that Scriptures rarely discuss things as being just our own. It is more in a corporate level.
I can see that. Scriptures should be applied to everyone without exception.
However, our salvation is definitely our own. No one else can make the decision for us. Our Sanctification Road is uniquely our own.
Pope raised the question whether working out our salvation is a condition of salvation. Can we be saved if we do not work out our salvation?
Personally, I think it has to be a condition of true salvation. If we don’t navigate the Sanctification Road, we don’t change our character to be like God’s.
True, we may have been a good person, but before we weren’t doing acts of kindness in God’s name. We were doing them in ours, or doing them because it was the right thing to do.
We have to change to get God’s mindset. We have to change to serve Him.
We can’t continue to diligently seek out our own goals. We can’t say grace gives us a pass on having a personal relationship with God. We can’t say Jesus’ blood covered everything, so there is nothing left for us to do.
We can’t approach this as being fire insurance.
Goadby reminded us that we can’t approach sanctification half-heartedly. Neither can we give it a low priority.
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We have to align our character with God’s. That will take diligent, committed work.
We can’t say that Jesus isn’t coming in our lifetime, so we don’t have to make a decision on whether to follow God or not. Our lifetime will still be over one day. The decision to follow God has to be made before then. Any non-decision is a decision to not follow God.
Paul said that we need to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. When we talk fear of the Lord, we say this means reverence. I think it does here, too.
Glossary
With the trembling added, I think it does mean more than just reverence. No, it doesn’t kick it to bone-chilling terror.
I, like Goady, think this it means that we have to be on constant watch. We have to be on guard for temptations.
To read a related devotion, click on the appropriate button below.
We can’t just think, “Oh, I’ve got this” and not pay attention. If we put that much trust in ourselves, we are inviting Satan to take his best shots.
We have to be looking for Satan’s volleys. Not only that, we have to be prepared for them.
God never leaves us. We leave Him. However, at times, we may think He is silent when He is just working out the conditions so we can take the next leap in our faith.
McNeill thought that maybe the Philippians were hanging on to Paul when he was talking about they had to work in his absence. We, as the Philippians, have to “… [obey], so now, not only in my presence but even more in my absence …” (Phil. 2: 12 CSB).
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We can’t base our salvation on what the Pastor Joey-types say. We have to follow God.
We can’t stop our sanctification process. I read this to say that we don’t get a day off. This is a 24/7/365 deal.
God Is Doing the Work
“For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2: 13 CSB)
Even though we are required to work at sanctification, we do not do it alone.
Pope reminded us that we not only have to get it to our heart level, but we also have to get it to the soul level. He said that we do that by ensuring we adhere to God’s covenant with us.
Glossary
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Paul told us how to work out our salvation in the succeeding verses. This isn’t something we are going to be able to do on our own. We can only have our redo for godliness when God is redoing us.
But Who better to have fighting on our side? He’s got His own army of angels that will surround us.
Unfortunately, we not only don’t see God fighting our battles, but we also don’t see Him working in us. I like the title of Cecil’s sermon. It is God Is a Silent Worker. We’ve talked before how He doesn’t try to outshout the storm.
Resource
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
Lord, I Have Shut the Door
Vocalist: Elaine Guthals
Keyboard: Chris Vieth
But sometimes we take that the wrong way. Oh, we get the “And Moses said to the people, ‘Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord … The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent’” (Ex. 14: 13-14 ESV).
We forget the “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward’” (Ex. 14: 15 ESV) part.
That is a comforting thought. God is fighting beside us. God is fighting for us when we can’t.
But God expects movement on our Sanctification Road.
That means we have to focus on God. We must do His bidding.
What? Did you think that just because we have received His grace, there is nothing for us to do? Melvill wrote, “God does not reduce man into a machine; He rather puts a machine at man’s disposal …”
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It means more to us when we are working at it. We are encouraged when we know the accomplishments we’ve achieved.
It is just like us to want the easy way out and have salvation just given to us. It doesn’t work that way. We aren’t entitled to salvation.
We must work for it, and that isn’t easy. God cutting sin out of our lives hurts. God changing our character hurts.
God’s working in us is not going to be so we can only do acts of kindness. Yes, that is the second greatest commandment.
More importantly, God is working in us so that He can do His good Will. We must do the first greatest commandment before we can even think about accomplishing the second greatest commandment.
Can we lose our salvation if we don’t navigate the Sanctification Road? McNeill said it is a gift that cannot be taken back. So, how critical is it that we change to be like God? How critical is it that we live for Him?
I would say it is very critical.
It comes down to when that decision is made. Is it made when we choose no longer to do what God calls us to do. (God makes it clear in His Word that this is an expectation.)
Or do we never really make a confession in the first place?
What would have happened if I had grown up living my life for God. But then when Mom and Dad died six weeks apart, I had totally renounced God.
Was I initially saved or not?
I would say no. We can change our minds, but God can’t. He can’t give us salvation and then take it away.
To read a related devotion, click the button below.
To me, thinking my salvation is dependent on God answering my prayers my way is entitlement. I can’t put my quarter prayer in the gum ball machine and expect the gum ball of my dreams.
I have to remember that Romans 8: 28 doesn’t just mean I am believing in a prosperity gospel. It says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8: 28 ESV).
Work together for good, not all good things. The trials are bad things, but work to grow us, which is good.
It isn’t just so we get good. Good, in the biblical sense, is the workings of God within His people. He works in us to work out our salvation — to get us perfected. He works in us to expand His kingdom.
It is about God, not us.
We Have to Do Our Work Right
“Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world, by holding firm to the word of life. Then I can boast in the day of Christ that I didn’t run or labor for nothing” (Phil. 2: 14-16 CSB)
Our inner sanctification manifests itself in our actions.
Ouch. Don’t argue and grumble.
Well, we should expect the don’t argue bit. Paul was all about unity, wasn’t he? Unity is an inward, spiritual feeling of harmony found through Christ that manifests itself in outward actions that foster the spread of the gospel.
But it is more than being in agreement with others. Goadby reminded us of the blessing we get when we wholeheartedly do God’s work.
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God doesn’t want us to complain about doing His work. We need to see it as necessary – for ourselves and for others. If we do it while complaining at the top of our lungs, it can be construed that we are just doing it to get the blessings.
God doesn’t want salvation to be just what we can get out of it. He wants us to love Him enough that we want to be like Him.
Goadby made a good point. When we complain against God, we show our doubts regarding His wisdom, goodness, and power. Instead, we need to live as true children of God.
Glossary
Yeah, that brings up some responsibilities for us. We have to consistently be working on changing ourselves to be like God. While we are doing that, we need to be witnessing to others.
Parsons reminded us of how big a change it is when we accept salvation. It isn’t just about doing. It is about being. Changing our being takes time – our lifetimes.
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Part of it is remembering “… my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Mt. 11: 28 CSB).
It also comes back to obedience and submission. We must do things His way, not ours. This is just another way we are different from the worldview people.
Doing so produces joy. When we are obedient and submissive to God, we receive blessings, which brings with them His joy.
Making the Connections
No, I didn’t get through all the sermons. I only scratched the surface.
Still, I think we realized some things.
• Sanctification is necessary.
• Only God can change us.
• Our sanctification impacts others, too.
How Do We Apply This?
- Don’t doubt God – He is there, and He is working.
- Don’t wait to share our faith with others until we think we are far enough along on the Sanctification Road.
- Be consistent in doing our responsibilities.
God is right there with us on our Sanctification Road. He doesn’t want us to fail. He wants us to be like Him.
Father God. We love You. We want to be like You. We want Your goodness and mercy. We know that won’t be an easy transformation. Help us to complete it so that we are ready for eternity, Amen.
What do you think?
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