What Do I Do After I'm Saved? (1/17/11)

Shalom,

   

 Please begin by reading Phil 2:12-18.

 

    OK, you've asked Jesus to take away your sins, now what?  In many places discipleship has been sadly neglected.  There is a tendency to be very casual in pursuing any sort of Christian maturity, with some churches having no mechanism in place to help its members.  The Bible clearly speaks to a requirement for all who become Christians to labor on in their faith, working toward an ever-increasing maturity.  There's learning to do, tasks to perform, a righteous life to live.  We do that by "continuing to work out your salvation with fear and trembling."

    That may not exactly sound very joyful.  It may make you want to turn back or think about this salvation thing a little more.  But don't we normally take for granted the things that come to us too easily?  Don't we have a tendency to be more diligent about things that require a more intense effort?  If we're not passionate about something, our human tendency is to be casual, putting forth a minimal effort in that area.  But when we're passionate about something, as we should be in our relationship with Jesus, we extend a much stronger effort.

    Salvation is a free gift.  All we have to do is ask for release from our sins, and Jesus freely cleanses us.  Sometimes this free aspect is stressed a little too hard.  Yes, salvation is a free gift given by the great mercy of our Sovereign Lord and Creator.  But discipleship is hard work.  All the words about growing in our faith speak of effort and discipline.  Our salvation isn't and can't be a works-based effort.  It's a free gift we receive when we recognize our sinfulness and confess our need of help to the Savior.  But our discipleship is a works-based effort.  The scriptures clearly teach that diligence and discipline are necessary after we're saved.

    The Philippian Church, and us today, are told to "work out" our salvation, to intentionally put its application into our daily lives.  What Yahweh worked through the Holy Spirit to blessedly change us must become our daily practice.  We're not told to work "for" salvation, but to work it "out."  We're to exercise our faith, putting into practice the things we learn as we grow in our faith.  If we'll all work on our individual faith walks, then corporately we'll be less likely to struggle with disunity, pride, and selfishness.

    To work out our salvation is to bring it to completion, to work toward a full and complete accomplishment and conclusion.  Working out our salvation is about making a good end, coming to the end of our lives with joy for a work well done.  What are the words Jesus said we would hear at judgment if we're truly saved?  "Well done, good and faithful servant" (Matt 25:21).  Don't these words strongly imply that there's work to be done?  Don't they point us to the fact that there's more to Christianity than praying a prayer and coasting to heaven?

    We must avoid the danger of becoming satisfied with where we're at.  There's always more to attain in Christ.  There's always more praying to be done, more people to serve, more truth to proclaim, more praising to do.  Each individual Christian is expected, yes I said expected, to continue growing in faith and learning about their Lord.  We don't get to set the bar at the lowest level, allowing us to to be lazy.  Yahweh has already set the bar at perfection, and that means we need to give all we have as we receive the help of the Holy Spirit.

 

    Fear in this passage means terror, respect, or reverence.  It's not something to be taken lightly or nonchalantly.  We truly need to fear Yahweh and his ultimate judgment.  If you're not scared by the fact that our eternal judgment is in the hands of the Sovereign and Almighty God, you haven't seriously considered the subject.  We must consider that any righteousness we have comes strictly through Jesus.  To be made right with our Creator only comes through obedience and faith.  None of us is getting into heaven because of our personal efforts, but all of us can put forth a strong personal effort in living out our Christianity.  Be thankful for what you've received, but never take for granted that Yahweh always has the final say.

    Trembling means shaking with fear.  There should definitely be some real fear in us when we think about the possibility of missing out on heaven and going to hell.  It should scare us silly, and hopefully we'll have the hell scared right out of us.  This is serious business.  Even after we've received our ticket to heaven we need to fear losing that ticket along the way through our own willfulness

    This fear and trembling should have us using serious caution.  We should develop a tender conscience, a heightened watchfulness against temptation, a shrinking from things that we know offends our Lord.  With proper fear we'll be much less likely to discredit the name of Jesus by our careless actions or words.  With proper fear we'll be better able to trust in the voice of the Holy Spirit.  When we have proper respect for our Lord God Almighty we'll be concerned about offending him, we'll be scared to do it actually.

 

    And notice why you should "work out your salvation with fear and trembling."  "For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."  The only way we can walk out our salvation properly is with Yahweh's direct help.  Jesus adds his divine empowerment to our human actions to make it possible for us to do truly good things.  When we live responsibly, truly making wise spiritual choices, we get divine help.  It's not about us getting better at doing what Yahweh wants.  It's about us allowing him to work through us in increasingly better ways.

    True believers walk with Jesus as his partner, laboring together to build his Kingdom.  Yahweh's "work" in us provides energy.  Any power or creativity or wisdom that comes through us is by his hand.  He takes the raw material we place in his hands, and makes it work in amazing and astounding ways.  We have a lot of potential, but it only bears fruit when it's placed in the hands of the Master.  Remember the object lesson Yahweh told Jeremiah in chapter 18 of his writings, we're the clay and he's the potter.  The clay doesn't become something useful by itself, it requires the skilled hand of the potter to make something useful.

    And our loving Father does this so we can "act according to his good purpose."  This takes us back to Psalm 37.  Yahweh's good purpose is to bring himself pleasure and satisfaction and delight.  His favor will solidly rest on anyone who fulfills his good purpose.  To experience Yahweh's righteousness, holiness, and faithfulness should be our heart's desire.  And because it's our heart's desire we should work at living in this approved way.  The root meaning of the word for "good purpose" is a well done action based on a decison made after processing information.  We should be doing what pleases Yahweh because we've come to an understanding that it's ultimately for our good.

 

    Salvation is just the beginning of our faith walk.  We haven't arrived because we made a conscious decision to trust Jesus.  The point of salvation is the very first baby step in a long journey.  We should continue to push forward, especially when the going gets tough.  We should be pushing each other to continue to grow in grace and peace and faith and hope and joy and the knowledge of our Lord Jesus.  Getting saved is only the first step in the process of sanctification that we must all go through.  We're not fully sanctified until we reach heaven, so diligently work through the process and allow the Holy Spirit to continue to shape and mold you into a better and better Christian.

    Our primary work as Christians is witness and service.  Our priority concern should be for people's eternal spiritual welfare.  We should desire that all people come to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord.  All of us are called to bear witness to Jesus and the glorious change he effects in our lives.  There are many different ways for us to do this work, and each of us is expected to participate in outreach and Kingdom building.  We're the servants and Jesus is the Master.  Our purpose is fulfilled through obedient service.

    Our service to others can come in many forms.  We must never forget that the Gospel by itself doesn't feed and clothe people.  Many times our Lord expects us to provide for the material needs of others.  In doing this we may have our best opportunity to proclaim Jesus to them.  The key is active personal involvement in the daily ministry of Jesus to our world.  Remember, by asking Jesus Messiah Master to come into your life you've volunteered for a life of service.

    We're told in Matt 5:13-16 that we're the salt and light of our world.  Both of these illustrations point out that Christians are to fill and permeate our world.  Salt was used to preserve meat in Jesus' day.  It was rubbed in to keep the meat from spoiling.  One of our functions as Christians is to keep our rotting world from spoiling so bad it can't be redeemed.  This is the hard work of maintaining the values and standards of Yahweh's Kingdom which hinders the societal deterioration caused by Satan's strongholds.  Our presence in this world holds back the corruption of sin, and gives the lost more opportunities to be saved.

    Our light is to shine in the darkness of this corruption that clings to and surrounds this world.  We're expected to influence our society for good by being the light in the darkness.  We're to expose the evil deeds done in darkness by being strong representatives of the truth found in the Word of our Lord God Almighty.  We must keep shining the light of hope so people can find peace and salvation in Jesus.  The light always overcomes the darkness, so there's always hope that someone will be drawn into that holy light.

    It's important for us to be firmly rooted and grounded in the precious Word of our Lord Jesus.  It will guard us from deception and fill us with wisdom in our sharing.  The Church needs this to bring it back to its purpose of being the light our world needs.  The world needs this because they dwell in darkness outside the influence of their Creator.  So put forth a good effort to work as a faithful servant of your precious Lord.

 

    Blessings & Peace,    Mike