10 September 2019
Text: Phil 2:12-30
In the name of +
Jesus. Amen.
“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,”
says St. Paul. Our old Adam might be
tempted to take credit for “working out” our own salvation through our own
will, our own righteousness, and our own works.
But what does the apostle say? We
should work out of salvation with “fear and trembling,” that is, in the fear of
the Lord, in humility, knowing that we cannot earn our salvation by our
works. St. Paul goes on to explain that
the working out of our salvation is actually done by “God who works in you,
both to will and to work.” And so this
“working out” of our salvation is really best understood that we allow the Lord
to work in us, and this is the result of His gift of salvation.
And this is truly an empowering and comforting
thought! For salvation is not up to us,
to our will, to our discipline, and to our own righteousness. And yet, we do work, with fear and trembling,
submitting to the Lord’s “good pleasure.”
And from this reality, St. Paul can exhort us to keep
life in perspective, so that we can “do all things without grumbling or
questioning.” And this also enables us
to being people to Christ, living in stark contrast to this “crooked and
twisted generation” since we “shine as lights in the world.” For in this culture of death and of nihilism
(the belief that life has no real purpose), we are “holding fast to the Word of
life,” demonstrating to the world by our own faith and life that our lives are
not “in vain.” There is a purpose for
our existence! We Christians, even in
our frailty and struggles with sin, serve as lanterns guiding people out of
darkness into the light: the light of Christ.
And it is this sense of divine purpose and the expression
of the Lord’s will that enables St. Paul, and all of us, to “be glad and
rejoice” – for even when our lives are “poured out as a drink offering,” we rejoice
that Christ Himself was poured out as a drink offering on the cross, giving us
forgiveness, life, and salvation. So let
us rejoice, dear brothers and sisters, and let us pray for those who sit in
darkness and in the shadow of death, for we bear the Light that works out
salvation for all who seek it in humility by our merciful Lord’s grace! Amen.
In the name of the Father
and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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