For His Good Pleasure

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but 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 work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13 ESV).

What does this mean to work out our own salvation? Well, when we have a correct biblical perspective of our salvation it helps us in understanding what this is saying. For this is not about us trying to earn or to deserve our own salvation through our own fleshly “good works” that we think we are doing for God but while we still live the way that we want without regard for God and for his will and purpose for our lives.

For, by God-given and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. Therefore, we are to not let sin continue to reign in our mortal bodies, to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, and not obedience to our Lord, we will die in our sins, not live for eternity.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come after him means that we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Christ we deny self, and die daily to sin, by his grace, and we follow him in obedience to his commands (New Covenant), then we have eternal life with him (see Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23).

And then we learn in the Scriptures that Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness and that we might live for him and no longer for ourselves. He shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of living in sin and for self so that we will now honor God with our bodies, and so that we will now live holy lives pleasing to him in walks of obedience and in surrender to his will for our lives.

1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Ephesians 4:17-24

So, working out our own salvation with fear and trembling just means that we are walking in the salvation already provided for us via Jesus’ death and resurrection, and by his grace, and by God-given faith in him, which comes from him, and which is not of our own doing. So, we walk in obedience to our Lord, and we put sin to death in our lives, and we now live holy lives pleasing unto the Lord, but all because of God’s grace, and in his power!

“Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me” (Philippians 2:14-18 ESV).

And this here is evidence of what it means to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, by the grace of God, and in the power of God, under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. 

We are not to be people who fight and quarrel with other people, especially not with others of like faith in Jesus Christ. Now this is not teaching that we cannot stand up for what is right and contend with what is evil. We can! And we should! Jesus definitely did, and so did his NT apostles. And we are instructed in the Scriptures that we are not only to be sharing the truth of the gospel, and living it, but we are to expose the fruitless deeds of darkness for what they are so that others do not fall into their evil traps.

But we need to learn how to do this without getting into heated arguments with others to the point to where we do and say things we should not do or say. We all have to guard against this, for Satan loves to provoke us to the point of anger. And so we must control that anger by the Spirit. And we must walk away from pointless discussions that go nowhere, especially if they are ones that get repeated over again. In some cases, wisdom says to walk away, for it will only go badly if we stay and try to prove our point. 

Yes, we definitely live in a crooked and twisted generation, and so much of that has also creeped into the gatherings of what are called “churches.” But remember here that the church is not a building, not a corporation, not a church denomination, and not a specific physical location. The church is us who believe in Jesus Christ with genuine God-persuaded faith in Christ. We are the church, the living stones in God’s spiritual house, his building, of which he is our cornerstone and head.

But we are not to be part of that crooked and twisted generation. For God has called us to be his holy people who are living different (unlike, separate) from the world because God is now conforming us to the likeness in character of Jesus Christ, by our faith in Christ Jesus as Lord of our lives. We are not to blend in with our culture so that people will like us, but we are to walk in holiness and in righteousness in obedience to our Lord and to his calling on our lives to be his holy people.

Therefore, we are to stand out as different, as odd, as peculiar because we aren’t like the world, because we are being conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. And we are to shine the light of truth and of the gospel of our salvation via how we live our lives to the glory of God, and via our witness and our testimonies for Jesus Christ and for his gospel. And this engages refuting the lies of Satan, for so many people professing faith in Jesus Christ are following the lies and not the truth that Jesus taught.

And we are to be people of God who are willing to be hated and rejected and thought peculiar and cast away and forsaken and mistreated by others who do not believe and live the same gospel we believe and obey, by the grace of God. And this is so that we can share the truth of the gospel of Christ with others without fear of their rejection or persecution of us. For many people are believing the lies, and so they need to hear the truth, and so we need to be those who are willing to sacrifice our lives for the sake of their salvation.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 6:22-23; Lu 21:12-19; Jn 15:1-21; Jn 16:33; Jn 17:14; Ac 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; Phil 3:7-11; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Jas 1:2-4; 2 Co 1:3-11; Heb 12:3-12; 1 Jn 3:13; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 7:9-17; Rev 11:1-3; Rev 12:17; Rev 13:1-18; Rev 14:1-13]

I Stand in Awe

By Mark Altrogge

… You are beautiful beyond description

Yet God crushed You for my sin

In agony and deep affliction

Cut off that I might enter in

Who can grasp such tender compassion?

Who can fathom this mercy so free?

You are beautiful beyond description

Lamb of God who died for me

And I stand, I stand in awe of You

I stand, I stand in awe of You

Holy God, to whom all praise is due

I stand in awe of You

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmZTz5H49zw

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