Work Out Your Salvation

Most people today look at everything from the psychological perspective. How does this make me feel? Will it help my sense of well-being, personal comfort, and self-esteem? When human psychology guides, God is left in the dust.

                He says, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12). Instead of the joy of honest nearness to him, the bitter bile surges. Fear and trembling? I thought Jesus put an end to morbid thoughts. Surely the Lord does not want me to do anything that makes me feel bad about myself.

                Since we are sinners, righteous good feelings come after His dealing with the ruin that our sin has caused. To work out our salvation with fear and trembling, it is necessary, first, that we face and feel the evil of our sins, and trust, second, his gracious provision of salvation. Good feelings follow as the fruit of faith, not its foundation.

                “Work out your salvation.” This is far different than, “Are you sure you are a Christian?” Many lost men are falsely confident about many things, including that they are saved. Many saints are on their faces pleading for mercy. “Work out” means: do you know Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of sinners? Has he saved you from your sins? From the love of sinning? Unto the love of holiness? This makes the command bigger and more painful than “be sure you feel like you are saved.”

                “Working out your salvation” focuses on two things. First, are we justified by faith? What is God’s stance toward us in Christ? Are we forgiven by faith in Christ’s shed blood? Do we believe upon the name of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of sinners?

                Second, do our lives give evidence that justifies our claim to be saved? There is a dangerous disconnect here in the minds of many. Being saved is not about a good feeling we had one time about Jesus but about a deliverance from sin that he works in us. He delivers us from the dominion of sin (Rom. 6:14). He overcomes our love for sin and self with the love of the truth (2 Thess. 2:10).

                This true view of salvation can be “worked out” objectively. Do we believe in the saving name of Jesus Christ? Trust him alone for salvation? Rest upon him alone? This is God’s work of salvation. Do I love sin or hate sin? Would I continue in my sins if there were no consequences? Many unbelievers hate what sin has done to them, but they do not hate sin. When God saves, he creates in his child distaste and hatred for sin as a provocation of his holiness, a violation of his law, and an abuse of his love.

                When God saves us, he works in us so that we “will and do his good pleasure.” Salvation is his transforming grace in Jesus Christ – from sin to righteousness, from self to Christ in us. This is God’s glorious work of salvation from sin. He leads us to see our sins honestly, mourn over them, and then reveals Christ Jesus to us so that we rest in him alone for salvation and rejoice in Him as our life.

                And his working in us saves our psychology. No more cheap, short-term good feelings based upon lies, never dealing with ourselves honestly, drugging or drinking our sorrows away. As we learn to work out our salvation, solid, growing joy begins to grow, for God is working in us. He is bringing our lives into saving harmony with Him, the joy of the universe. Let us aim for this joy, for Him. Short-term discomfort is worth the effort of working out our salvation and being sure of our part in Christ our Lord.