Working out our salvation
NRSV) Phil 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmuring and arguing, 15 so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world. 16 It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
Salvation—oh what a wonderful gift. It comes to us free from God, through grace, but then what? Well, then we need to live into our salvation. You see, through salvation we are redeemed, or bought back, by God. But following salvation we grow into Jesus’ image and His love, and as we grow in His love, we are sanctified daily. We are not made perfect but because of Him we become perfected in love.
Working out our salvation does not mean there is a cost, or that salvation is conditional. Instead, there is a user’s manual and it is called The Holy Bible. The Bible provides all of the instruction you will ever need to live into salvation. The Gospel of John provides a clear picture of Who Jesus is and Who we are in Him. Proverbs provides nuggets of wisdom, while Psalms is an outline of how to praise God, in good times and in bad. We can go to the Psalms for encouragement, when we are ill, or grieving, or when we feel alone.
The Pauline Epistles highlight the struggles of the Church as it battled cultural issues of the day, particularly the Greco-Roman influences, while the Johannine letters focused on truth and light. Samuel and Kings were written during the Babylonian Exile and pointed to the Hebrews’ disobedience, and Chronicles details the history of the Jews after the exile. And there is so much more.
Matthew 5 is our roadmap as we embark on the pathway of holiness. Recognizing the poverty of our heart without Jesus leads us to mourning, which leads to to being comforted, and we learn that meekness is better than pride as we acknowledge everything comes from God. We yearn to be peacemakers and acknowledge the only real peace comes from Jesus.
When you make a practice of reading from your Bible every day, there is a connection that is formed, for the more you read, the more you want to read. The Bible reflects the human condition—there is history, there is mystery, there are stories of faithfulness and loyalty, and there are stories of betrayal. But above all, there is a God Who loves us so much that He gave us Jesus.
So how do I work out my salvation? I ask God to quicken my Spirit when I speak an unkind word, and He does, so that I can make restitution right away. I prayed years ago that I would see people through His eyes, and I do, so that judgment is replaced with compassion. I write Devotionals so that my time with God gives me direction and purpose. I try to speak encouragement to someone every day, because we never know what others are going through. And prayer has become so constant that it is more of an ongoing conversation that never really ceases.
May we recognize that our relationship with Jesus is vital and in Him we truly live, and move and have our being.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Humility of Christ
(NRSV) Micah 6:8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good.
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
(NRSV) Phil 2:1 If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2 make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
Humility—the ability to have a modest or low view of one’s own importance and a lack of pride or arrogance. It involves recognizing one’s limitations and imperfections and focusing on others rather than oneself.
As a Christ follower, there is an imperative to develop certain characteristics which may not be inherent in our makeup. Humility is one of those qualities that God requires, and if God requires it, then He will supply our ability to attain it. Or, perhaps more accurately, He will enable us to grow into it.
If we do not allow God to mold and shape us into His image, then there is a chance the world will shape us into its image. As Paul would say,” God forbid!”
May we be self aware enough to gauge our own Christian attributes, but pliable enough to submit ourselves to God and to others for the transformation of our hearts and minds.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Going deeper with God
Psalm 42:1 As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.
James 4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
There comes a time in our lives when we recognize that a surface relationship with God is not sufficient. When a strong, abiding connection is the only thing that can satisfy, then we must go deeper—deeper into His Word and deeper into prayer.
I am thankful the Church at Rock Creek takes both Bible Study and prayer so seriously. In the Fall of 2023 Immerse, a Disciple Building course was launched, and I am in the second year of learning and building relationships with other Christ followers while always seeking a closer walk with God. I look forward to each week’s study and leave each session filled to overflowing with God’s love and the thirst to know Him more.
If you feel like you are stuck in neutral and are not growing your relationship with God and with other Christ followers, I urge you to join a Bible study group whose focus is Christ and Christ alone. You will be amazed at the results.
I leave you with the lyrics from a song we sang in my childhood church.
Deeper, deeper in the love of Jesus
Daily let me go;
Higher, higher in the school of wisdom,
More of grace to know.
Refrain:
Oh, deeper yet, I pray,
And higher ev’ry day,
And wiser, blessed Lord,
In Thy precious, holy word.
Deeper, deeper! blessed Holy Spirit,
Take me deeper still,
Till my life is wholly lost in Jesus,
And His perfect will. [Refrain]
Charles Price Jones, 1900
May we have the desire to, as the song says, go deeper every day with Jesus.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Transformed
(NRSV) Rom 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
(NRSV) 2 Cor 5:17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
When my son was around six years old, a new line of toys was introduced. It was cars and motorcycles and other vehicles that could be transformed into robots. Some of the robots were good, while others were bad, and it did not matter whose nimble hands held them, with a few clicks of the moving parts the toy was transformed from a monster truck into a monster robot.
As Christ followers, we are aware that there is both an inward and an outward change in our hearts and in our lives after Jesus becomes our Savior and our Lord. Unlike the Transformer toys that are created to be either good or bad, we have the unique privilege of being made new when we give our lives to Christ. The change is often stark as old habits give way to new, and our former wants and needs give way to kingdom living.
A Transformer toy, if not manipulated by an outward force, will remain the same as it’s original form. Likewise, a person’s character and behavior remains unchanged unless we submit to the life altering power of Jesus. It is a change that is not only necessary, but significant, and is accomplished by daily renewing our minds through prayer and the Word.
May we be grounded in the Word and lifted up by his spirit.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Oh, What a Savior!
Luke 4:16-21 (NKJV) 16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.” 20 Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
Do you remember your childhood heroes? I remember mine. First there was Mighty Mouse, with his song, “Here I come to save the day, that means that Mighty Mouse is on the way.” There was Tom Terrific on Captain Kangeroo, a boy who, with the help of a magic hat, could change into something else that would help him fight villains. And then, of course, there was Superman, who could leap tall buildings in a single bound. Along with his alter ego Clark Kent he kept Metropolis safe, and his friends Lois Lane, Jimmy Olson and Perry White knew they could depend on him no matter what.
But then I met Jesus, the real hero, who came to live among us and then died for us.
Oh, what a Savior, oh hallelujah
His heart was broken on Calvary
His hands were nail scarred
His side was riven
He gave His life-blood for even me. (Marvin Dalton)
There were many heroes in the Bible, but none like Jesus. David, Gideon, Joshua were all heroes, but only Jesus came to set the captives free, not from their earthly strife but free to receive eternal life. When I arrived at church today I was ready to worship, and the first song was about Jesus being our hero. How awesome is that?
Jesus is our hero, and it is only when we come to terms with Who He is, and Who he came to Earth to be, that we can enter into Kingdom living. May we open our eyes and open our hearts to the truth of the gospel, and may we take the name of Jesus with us wherever we go.
In the name of the Father, and of the son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Seeking Holiness 