Sermon: Wittenberg Academy – Sept 10

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.