Bowling Green Covenant Church

Friday 15 June 2007

I begin this post the same way I ended my last—with a quote by Dr. Gordon Fee: “the goal (of salvation) was not simply to fit individuals for heaven but to create a people who by the power of the Spirit lived out the life of the future (the life of God Himself) in the present age. The goal is not the populating of heaven with individuals. The goal is God’s creating a people who in their life together are His people living out His rule, His character,” (Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God, p. ix).

Salvation may be a personal matter, but once we are saved, we are to seek out the fellowship of like-minded believers. Once again, Dr. Fee, “To get saved means to be joined to the people of God by the Spirit; and to be saved means to live the life of the saved person,” (Paul, the Spirit and the People of God, page 97). Just as God declared it was not good for Adam to be alone, so too, it is not good for me to try to live the life of a saved person alone. I cannot work out my own salvation alone, in isolation from other believers. I need the church. I need the company of other saved persons with whom I can work out my own salvation “with fear and trembling.”

As Americans we spend the vast majority of our time, energy and money convincing people to get saved. Of late, and hopefully it’s not too late, we have come to understand the importance of what it means to be saved—of belonging to a community of people created by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Since to be saved is to be called to live the life of the saved person, this forms the core of Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 2.12-13, “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.”

Fear and trembling are terms borrowed from the Old Testament. They remind us we live the life of a saved person by working out our own salvation coram Deo (before the face of God). Additional motivation for our obedience is provided by the fact “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” “You” is plural. We work out our own salvation by living the life of a saved person as part of the community of saved persons—the church. Paul has little patience for those who insist on practicing a private faith isolated from the assembly of the faithful. Those who are led by the Spirit will seek the fellowship of like-minded believers in order to live the life of a saved person in the grace, obedience and humility of Jesus Christ.

It is worth noting that prior to his exhortation in verses 12-13, Paul quotes from what many scholars believe to be an early Christian hymn proclaiming the grace, obedience love and humility of Jesus Christ. Paul introduces the hymn in Philippians 2.5, appropriately, with an exhortation, “Have this mind (or, attitude) among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

Who, though He was in the form of God,

did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,

being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form,

He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,

even death on a cross.

Therefore, God has highly exalted Him

and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.”

As we contemplate the humility of Jesus Christ, upon whom God has bestowed the name that is above every name, and before whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, what further motivation do we need to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling?

You think about that.

MM

This past Sunday I ended my sermon with the following prayer from The Valley of Vision, A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions (Arthur Bennet, Ed., The Banner of Truth Trust, Philadelphia, PA, ©1975).

The prayer is titled, The Grace of the Cross.

O my Saviour,

I thank Thee from the depths of my being

for Thy wondrous grace and love

in bearing my sin in Thine own body on the tree.

May Thy cross be to me as the tree that sweetens my bitter Marahs,

as the rod that blossoms with life and beauty,

as the brazen serpent that calls forth the look of faith.

By Thy cross crucify my every sin;

Use it to increase my intimacy with Thyself;

Make it the ground of all my comfort,

the liveliness of all my duties,

the sum of all my afflictions,

the vigour of my love, thankfulness, graces,

the very essence of my religion;

And by it give me that rest without rest,

the rest of ceaseless praise.

O my Lord and Saviour,

Thou hast also appointed a cross for me

to take up and carry

a cross before Thou givest me a crown.

Thou hast appointed it to be my portion,

but self-love hates it,

carnal reason is unreconciled to it;

without the grace of patience I cannot bear it,

walk with it, profit by it.

O blessed cross, what mercies dost thou bring with thee!

Thou art only esteemed hateful by my rebel will,

heavy because I shirk thy load.

Teach me gracious Lord and Savior,

that with my cross Thou sendest promised grace

so that I may bear it patiently,

that my cross is Thy yoke which is easy,

and Thy burden which is light.

Friday 8 June 2007

I began my last post with the following observation from David F. Wells’, book, Above All Earthly Powers: “It is very easy to build churches in which seekers congregate; it is very hard to build churches in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship.” I mentioned there that the key ingredient necessary to building churches in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship is obedience to the gospel. Followers of Jesus should practice a lifestyle in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship.

This brings us back to Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 2.12-13; “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.”

Paul is neither exhorting us to work in order to earn our salvation, nor is he exhorting us to work in order to keep our salvation. We misunderstand his meaning primarily because of how our English Bibles translate the Greek verb “work out.” The basic sense of the Greek verb katergázesthe [kat-er-gá-zes-the] is to “accomplish” something, not in the sense of “fulfillment,” but of “carrying out” a matter.

Although imperfect, try this thought experiment. Imagine a young woman who has received a full academic scholarship to a very prestigious university. She has been granted four years at no cost with the guarantee that she can pursue further study (for as long as she wants) beyond her bachelor’s degree also at no cost. The only condition is that she carry out her scholarship to obtain her bachelor’s degree. Now let us suppose that after two years of hard work she is wavering in her commitment. Having written a letter to her father expressing her weakening resolve, he concludes his letter to her with this exhortation: “Therefore, my beloved daughter, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, carry out your scholarship with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

What does this young woman need to do to carry out her scholarship? She has to stay in school. She has to attend class. She has to study. She has to take exams. She has to participate in the community life of the university. She has to commit to practicing the lifestyle of a fulltime university student and all that being a student requires of her and from her.

My analogy is imperfect to this degree. It is about one person carrying out a university scholarship. Paul’s exhortation is directed to the entire membership, men and women, of the church in Philippi. He exhorts them to carry out their salvation not just as individual believers, but as active participants in a community of believers.

Salvation is a matter of individual men and women being saved one-by-one, however, the reason we are saved is so we may become part of a larger community of people called by God to display His glory by the way we live. All who come to Jesus do so in response to the Gospel. Additionally, all who come to Jesus having been called to faith are also called to assemble as part of His new covenant community. Thus, the church is where our biblical faith matures into genuine discipleship. So part of our gospel obedience is active participation in the life of the church. Our faith-relationship with Jesus Christ is to be carried out through our relationships with those inside the church.

According to Gordon Fee, the goal of the gospel “was not simply to fit individuals for heaven but to create a people who by the power of the Spirit lived out the life of the future (the life of God Himself) in the present age. The goal is not the populating of heaven with individuals. The goal is God’s creating a people who in their life together are His people living out His rule, His character,” (Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God, p. ix).

In the second part of Paul’s exhortation we are exhorted to work out our own salvation “with fear and trembling,” because the power to work it out, the power to carry it to completion is not ours. It is God’s power—the power of His Holy Spirit.

That we will take up in our next visit.

Until then, you think about that.

MM

Friday 1 June 2007

“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.” – Paul the Apostle, Letter to the Philippians 2.12-13

David F. Wells, in his book, Above All Earthly Powers makes this trenchant observation about the Church as she lurches forward into the 21^st century: “It is very easy to build churches in which seekers congregate; it is very hard to build churches in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship.”

It is an intentionally provocative analysis. And if true, as I believe it is, the question that must be asked is— Why is it “very easy to build churches in which seekers congregate,” yet “very hard to build churches in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship”?

According to Dr. Wells, churches in which seekers congregate do not produce people “in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship.” The point is not whether people are hearing the gospel in such churches. Despite the complaint made by some, namely, that what is heard in churches in which seekers congregate is not THE gospel; let us, for the sake of argument, assume people are hearing THE gospel. Thus, hearing is not the problem. Obedience is the problem. It is very hard to build churches in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship because genuine discipleship requires rigorous and ongoing obedience to the gospel.

The concern over lax obedience to the gospel, then, is at the heart of Dr. Wells’ observation. It is also at the heart of Paul’s exhortation to the Philippians “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” The reason their obedience is necessary is stated clearly in the next clause, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” As the apostle to the Gentiles (people who were not Jewish), Paul knew the key to building churches in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship is for each member of the body of Christ to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling.

But what did Paul mean? The context tells us Paul’s exhortation is not for the Philippians to “get saved,” nor is he exhorting them to “persevere” as saved people. His meaning is actually very simple: biblical faith matures into genuine discipleship when people who say they follow Jesus actually behave as people who follow Jesus. In other words, people who say they are followers of Jesus should live like people who are followers of Jesus. Our actions should prove our words. To paraphrase Dr. Wells, followers of Jesus should practice a lifestyle in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship.

Paul’s exhortation to work out our own salvation requires us to practice what Jesus preaches. We are to obey the gospel, not only among those who do not follow Him, but, and just as importantly, we are to practice what Jesus preaches among those who do. In his commentary on this text, Gordon Fee writes, “At issue is ‘obedience,’ pure and simple, which in this case is defined as their ‘working, or carrying out in their corporate life the salvation that God has graciously given them,” (Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, Wm. B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, © 1995; page 235).

It is worth noting that Paul expects the Philippians to do what he says, “as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence.” Their obedience is assumed. He expects them to work out their salvation because it is God who will give them the ability and the energy to do so.

This is not working to earn our salvation. This is not working to keep our salvation. This is working toward a lifestyle in which biblical faith is maturing into genuine discipleship. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. However, God lavishes His grace upon us so as to catalyze our faith toward maturity into genuine discipleship. Once again, we are saved by grace through faith alone in Christ alone, but the grace that gives birth to faith is given by God so that it may bear fruit for His glory over a lifetime of obedience practicing what Jesus preaches. There is a fine line between gospel obedience and gospel legalism. Paul exhorts us to work out our own salvation to achieve the former.

Over the next several weeks we will look at what it means to work out what God, by His grace, gives us the power to do for His glory.

You think about that.

MM