Sermon for November 4, 2007

We know what Paul is not saying in these verses. Our salvation does not depend on our works! Paul has written and taught to other congregations that our salvation is a gift from God, not by our works, lest any of us should boast. To the congregation in Ephesus he wrote: “For it is by grace you are saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works so no one can boast” (2:8-9). Salvation is the free gift of God. If that be so, then what does Paul mean in verse 12 when he writes that we should “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling”?

Paul is writing about how we live out or walk our faith: The Ultimate Workout! We have this salvation, this newfound freedom in Christ, now how should that play out in the real world? What are the directions? Or are there any?

There are many people in our world who love to tell us what to do. They know the right and proper ways of doing things. They come as parents, friends, neighbors, employers, teachers and strangers. I got an ad in the mail this week telling me how I should be investing my money. If I would only follow the guidelines that will be provided (for a sum of money!) I will soon have all the money I need. We get mail like this all the time. Someone telling us what we need to do for a certain goal to be accomplished.

Even the Church gets into the act. There are those in the church who would tell us what we can and cannot do as a Christian. Everywhere we turn there are those who would try to influence how we live our lives. Enter any bookstore, Christian or secular and you will find shelf after shelf of “self-help” books telling us how to improve our prayer life, our spiritual walk, our witness, etc. There are even books on Christian dieting! Every week the church gets mailings from groups who promise to improve our attendance, our giving, etc. if only we invest in going to their conference, buy their materials, etc. They will tell us how to do it right and proper. (I often wonder, “If it is to grow the church, change peoples lives and enhance the growth of the Gospel, why it is not given out free!!!”)

How often do we look at someone else and wish we could be like them? They seem to have a better prayer life than we do. They seem to be more spiritual. They seem to have it all together while we seem to be falling apart. If we could only be more like them. Thus we try to emulate their lives and still fall short because it is not how God has called us. We have a friend, one of the most spiritual persons I know, who does not like mornings. Now there are those who would say that in order for one to have a “spiritual” life they have to get up early in the morning and pray. For him, this is not going to happen! Yet God is more active in his life than in those who try to tell him what he should be doing.

We love to tell people what to do. We come with the answers before the questions are asked! We forget that our God is a wonderful creative God and we are made in God's creative image.

Paul admonishes us to let the Spirit of Christ be our guide. The right way for you may not be the right way for everyone else. I was at a regional ABC gathering for pastors and our small group leader was one of the pastors of one of the largest mega-churches in the United States. Everyone was there with notebooks open waiting for his insight into growing their church just like the one he served. I can still see the disbelief on their faces when he told us that the congregation (mega-church) he served could not be duplicated anywhere else in the world. He went on to say that the conditions were just right were they were located, the leadership just the right mix and the senior pastor just the right personality for what was happening. But to try and replicate that in any other place would result in failure. His words were, “Discover what God has called you to do and do it to the best of your ability where you are.”

We all do things differently. There are regional and cultural differences. Paul knows full well the different struggles in each of the congregations. In Corinth they are struggling with meat offered to idols. It is right to eat such meat? It bothers some and not others. What should be the response of the Corinthian community? Paul responds that it does not matter but that each one should be aware of how his actions might influence another. If it is going to bother another brother/sister than is it worth it? It is not that it is right or wrong but rather, what does it matter to the other. This is not an issue for us today. When was the last time you struggled with buying meat offered to an idol?

Paul goes on to say that we should not judge others by what they do. If they want to observe special days and we don't that is fine. The Indian proverb: Don't judge another until you have walked a mile in his moccasins, is still a good adage. Be sensitive to how our actions affect others. I have a colleague in ministry who belongs to a denomination that believes in prayer and fasting. He does too, except he is a diabetic and cannot do long fasts. He prays but the fasting is out—however, he says that there are those who still try to make him feel unworthy because he cannot fast. Here Paul would say that we need to look at each other, understand the differences and honor that. The ultimate workout: how to live out our salvation.

Paul then moves to practical matters. The first is that we should not grumble or murmur about others. We should do what God has called us to do and not worry about what God has called others to do. Do your job without murmuring. We have a son who did not like cleaning his room. When the day came that he was kept in until his room was cleaned you could hear his grumbling all through the house, even the neighborhood. We are often like that. How come I am the only one who is doing _____? Where is everyone else? Paul's word to the church is to stop murmuring and do the job God has called you to do.

And, I would add, if you ask someone to do the job and they agree then let them do it. Don't grumble when it is not done your way. We have a friend who asks people to do things and then if they don't do it her way she goes back and redoes all that they have done. Then she wonders why no one wants to volunteer to help her. If someone else is doing it, great. Don't murmur or grumble that they are not doing it the way you would.

The for the second time in this chapter Paul tells us that we are not to argue, we are to be of the same mind. Life is too short to argue and divide the group. We need to work out our difference before God and each other and then get on with the ministries God has called us to. It is so easy to be drawn into difference and take sides. God has called and equipped us to a variety of tasks and ministries. Not all are able to preach, or called to be teachers. We all are gifted and thus we need to let our gifts be used and to let the gift of others be used for the glory of God. For example, not all of us are gifted like Karen to lead us in worship through her music. We celebrate her gift and she celebrates ours.

In other words, don't get caught up in little things. We should let our attitude be the attitude of Jesus. What are your images of Jesus? Do you see him before you on his knees with a towel and basin washing your feet? Do you see him reaching out to those “unclean” and who have not known the touch of another person for maybe years? Do you see him on the ground playing with children? Dancing with the bride at the wedding in Cana? Can you see his tears as he cries over Jerusalem? Do you see him standing for the poor, the orphan and the widow?

Paul admonishes us to work out our salvation with Christ as our example. We should be rejoicing how God is working in and through the lives of others but be aware of how God is working in us also. We must open ourselves up to the Spirit of Christ and rejoice in the outcome.

This comes home to me in the ending of John's Gospel. Do you remember the scene? They have just caught more fish than their nets could hold. The risen Jesus has cooked their breakfast on the beach and they are now together again. Jesus looks at Peter and three times asks him to “feed my sheep.” Peter then looks up and sees John and asks, “What about him, Lord?” Jesus replies, “Peter, you worry about what I have called Peter to do. Let John take care of John.”

Paul's words to the church in Philippi challenge us to the ultimate workout, how we live out our faith walk with Christ. Charles Swindoll sums it up this way: “By working out our salvation, we bring the whole purpose of God to completion...we carry out our reason for existence. So let's not stop short.”

Swindoll, Charles, Laugh Again, OMF Literature, Manilla, 1999 (p.98)


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