Week 47 Philippians 2
Paul tells the people in Philippi: continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
Paul’s advice about working-out-my-salvation sounds like a collaborative effort. I work & the Lord works. Teamwork.
Let’s say I’m planting a tree. My friend comes over to help. If he works extra hard and does most of the donkey-work I can see that. If he slacks-off I see that too. My friend’s contribution is observable & measurable.
Of course Paul’s interest is Salvation Work – not tree-planting. The other difference is that when it comes to the Lord working with me his assistance is less detectable. A different kind of teamwork.
A concrete example of Salvation Work is right there in the next verse: do everything without grumbling or arguing. So I work at trying not to grumble or argue about something. Even though it’s me trying I figure that it’s very possible that at that very moment – in the background – the Lord’s collaboration is helping me avoid a pointless argument. Even though I have no idea about the extent of his help.
Sometimes I might have an I-don’t -know-how-I-did-it moment where I act unnaturally or abnormally. And so I credit the Lord. But other times I’m just trying to do what I know to do – and assuming that somehow I’m getting some back-up.
Note: quotes from Philippians 2:12 13 14 (NIV)