Working out your Salvation

 

Working out your salvation

 By Dr. Kurai Chitima

Philippians 2:12-13 … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is working in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

 

Philippians 2:12-13 highlights God’s work and the human work in the believer’s walk of faith. The verse exhorts believers to live out what God is working inside. The believers have work to do. Work not to earn salvation but to confirm it. The work is doing what aligns with God’s inside work. This summarizes the believer's mission – living out what God has done inside.

 

God’s work begins with the new birth and continues in growth.  Both the new birth and the spiritual growth are God's work by the Holy Spirit, who helps believers to work outwardly what he has completed inwardly.  The priority of believers is therefore to know and live out their new identity in Christ. Knowing God is not enough. It is essential to understand what God has done inside - the new nature, the promises, and the privileges that come with the new birth.  

 

Working out your salvation is the corresponding action necessary to release the power of God, resulting in practical manifestations of the existence and benefits of the new birth.  The believer’s priority is therefore to know and live out one’s new identity in Christ. 

 

·        Working out the new nature inside is the difference between Christianity and dead religion. Dead religion is a human effort to live out divine standards from the outside when the inside remains unchanged. Good religion does good works from the inside out (James 1:27)

·        Working out your salvation is being transformed from the inside out (Romans 12:2)

·        Working out your salvation is abiding in the vine (John 15:4-5)

·        Working out your salvation is living by faith (Romans 1:17; Hebrews 10:38)

 

The characteristics of the new nature are shown in the fruit of the Spirit. They are found, for example, in Galatians 5:22-23, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Colossians 3:9-10, and 2 Peter 1:5-7. They include being good, loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, and self-controlled.   The fruit of the Spirit is invisible and only recognizable through works. Love is only seen by works of love, as is goodness and the others.

 

The Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-12, like the other passages on the fruit of the Spirit, emphasize being rather than doing.  

 

·        Blessed are the poor in spirit. An appetite to know God and be like him more. These will see the Kingdom of God with all its fullness.

·        Blessed are those who mourn. A repentant heart that has deep sorrow and dislike for things that displease God. These will be comforted.

·        Blessed are the peacemakers. Be a peacemaker in marriage, at home, at work, and in the community. These will be called God’s children.

·        Blessed are the merciful. Showing mercy to those who wrong you. A heart large enough and redemptive for the mistakes of others. Appreciate the mercy you received from God and sow seeds for others also to forgive you.   These will obtain mercy.

·        Blessed are the meek. Meekness is power under control. Able to respect and connect with people who are not as advantaged as you are.  They will inherit the earth.

·        Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Pursuing practical righteousness because you are the righteousness of God in Christ. They will be filled.

·        Blessed are the pure in heart. Embracing the new heart received in Christ and living in accordance with its purity. These will see God in their lives.

·        Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness' sake. Being different comes with opposition and being misunderstood by the world. Rejoice exceedingly because it's not strange to believers, and it shows you are moving in the opposite direction to the enemy. The kingdom of God belongs to them, and they will receive a great reward in heaven.

 

Being godly makes believers Salt and Light Mathew 5:13-16

·        The Beatitudes, coming just before the verses on being salt and light, lay the foundation for the good works that believers do as salt and light. Being is the root from which the fruits of character and good works come.  When believers live out their new nature, they become the light that the world will see and glorify God.  “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

 

Application: 

·        Meditate on who you are and pray that you may know who you have become in Christ. Ignorance is the enemy number one to working out your salvation.

·        Commit to living out your new identity by faith in cooperation with the work of the Holy Spirit in you.  Unbelief is the enemy number two to working out your salvation.