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