Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence but much more now in my absence, work on your own salvation with fear and trembling,for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13)
For Lutherans, we recognize that salvation is a gift. We are loved by God and claimed by God because of who God is and through nothing that we do. This is the essential core of the Gospel. As soon as you add criteria that include our merits, the lines of grace become blurry and eventually disappear completely. Grace that comes with any preconditions is not grace at all!
But Lutheran Christians have done such a good job emphasizing this important truth that we often miss the important reality that we have a gift that calls for us to work. It is not that we are saved BY our works. Rather we are saved in order to be PUT to work. Salvation is not a call for couch potatoes. Salvation is a calling to join with God at work in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
The word “salvation” has been co-opted and reduced by many North American Christians to mean “go to heaven.” It is something we receive the promise of now and experience after we die. While this has a true side to it – God will love us on both this side and the other side of the grave – it is also limiting all by itself. In the bible, salvation has more to do with what happens to us in this life than the next. And we can be confident of the next life because of God’s work in and among us in this life. Salvation is about living a meaningful and life changing faith, not just insurance against going to hell!
The Apostle Paul urges us to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” It is a big deal to know that we belong to God! And we should do so, not being proud of our accomplishments as much as grateful that we are doing this work “for it is God who is at work in you…”
One of our congregation’s guiding principles is “Growing in faithfulness to be more Christ-like.” We recognize that what Paul urges all Christians to do is to be like Jesus. God works within each of us to guide and shape us into the people God has made us to be. Life is the journey (and the work) that it takes for us to mature more and more fully into the fullness of Christ.
As you read through Philippians, spend some extra time in chapter 2. Paul sees Jesus’ way of being in the world as the way toward a faithful life for all of us. Christ is humble, sacrificial and focused on offering his life for others. This is the path to life that Jesus lives and offers to us.
And as you “work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” may you also rejoice that it is “God who is at work in you.”
