Work out what you have!
Work our what you have!
The book of Philippians is a book of Joy. Paul’s admonition is to rejoice always! He says this multiple times in the book. One of the commands he gives is to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Another way of saying this is work hard to understand what you have in Christ! With this being a book of joy, this command should bring us great joy when we work out our salvation.
Salvation is defined as deliverance from sin and its consequences. Romans 6:23 reads, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Death reigns in our world because sin reigns. Amazingly ten out of ten people die because of the fact of sin. Eternal life is replaces the consequence of eternal death and this eternal life should be the foundation of our joy.
What is eternal life? Jesus prays this to the Father in John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” This is not just historical knowledge but intimate fellowship with one true God and His Son Jesus Christ in this sin-filled world and unbroken communion in the world to come.
Joy should spring from us, as we understand who this God is and what He has done for us. Joy should spring in what He is doing for us as well! Paul says to work out this salvation. This means to work out what is already ours. The gift is all there and what we need to do is glean the riches that Christ has purchased for us.
We can glean the riches that God is no longer angry with us because He spent His anger on Jesus. We can glean the riches of being right before our one true God because Jesus rose from the dead and is standing in our place in heaven. We can glean the riches of being a child of God because of Christ. We can glean the riches that Jesus Christ is Lord of every inch of our lives and His intent is in changing our nature to resemble His nature. We can glean the riches of nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord!
Jesus said in John 15:9, “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.” Jesus loves us with the Fathers love. The Fathers love flows from the Father through the Son by power of His Spirit. Let’s abide in this love. Let’s make this love of our home in every moment of our life. True joy will spring from our hearts when we work on resting in the salvation secured for us by Jesus!
