Exclusive: Greg Laurie explains the Apostle Paul's exhortation to 'work out your own salvation'
Some people love a good workout. They love to exercise, and they love releasing endorphins. I'm not one of those people. I wish I were, but I hate to exercise. Still, I work out because I know it helps me.
Maybe a doctor recently told you that you needed to exercise a little bit more. So, maybe you get on a treadmill and start lifting some weights. You start working out diligently. And you know that you've reached your fitness goals when you're strong enough to pick up your exercise equipment and throw it out the window.
The fact is that if we want to be fit, if we want to lose weight, then we need to exercise more.
The same is true of our spiritual lives. If we want to get in shape physically, then we need to apply ourselves. Effectively, we are working out what God has worked in.
Writing to the Christians in Philippi, the apostle Paul said, "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain" (Philippians 2:12–16 NKJV).
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Notice that Paul said, "Work out your own salvation." Only I can work out my salvation. And only you can work out yours. It is a personal choice.
Paul had a close relationship with the believers in Philippi. And at this particular point, he was in prison. The Philippian believers were missing him, and some were even wondering whether they could carry on spiritually without him.
Thus, Paul was saying, "Come on, guys. You can do this. You can live the life that God has called you to live."
The New Living Translation translates verse 12 this way: "Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear."
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In other words, "You need to grow up spiritually. Don't think you can go into spiritual cruise control because I'm not around. It is God, not me, who is working in you."
Sometimes God will use certain people in our lives. They serve as a tremendous example, and they impact us to the extent that we want to get closer to the Lord as a result of being around them. It might be a pastor or a mature Christian friend. Thank God for those people. But understand this. People will let you down, regardless of how wonderful or godly they are,
That's because they're humans just like you.
Frankly, I get a little tired of hearing people say the reason they're not Christians is because they see hypocrisy here or hypocrisy there. Do they think they somehow will find a perfect person? And do they think they won't make a mistake or fall short?
I am not excusing hypocrisy. But I am simply stating the obvious, which is that we're all human. We're all flawed. And we are all going to fail someone in some way. Paul recognized that. And it's why he was saying, "Don't follow me. Follow Christ. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling."
It's the same for all of us. We need to be looking to God, not people.
Sometimes a person will go to church because someone else does. Children go to church because their parents do, or a husband goes to church because his wife does. Yet here's the problem. Maybe that wife no longer will want to walk with God. Does that mean the husband will walk away from the faith too?
Or maybe one day the children will move out of the house. They need to have their own faith. They can't live off the faith of their parents or anyone else.
That is what it means to work out your own salvation.
But let's also notice that Paul didn't say, "Work for your own salvation." That's because salvation is a gift from God. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you can rest in this assurance. The Bible says, "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it" (Ephesians 2:8–9 NLT).
The Bible also tells us, "All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true," and "his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children" (1 John 5:10; Romans 8:16 NLT). Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life" (John 5:24 NKJV).
And here's one of my favorite verses on this subject: "I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13 NLT).
So, it is not a matter of working for your salvation. If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, then God has given it to you. Rather, you work from it.
However, we won't be strong Christians by simply reveling in the fact that we're saved.
We'll be strong Christians by applying these truths in our lives. At the same time, we should recognize that we can't do this in our own strength, but we can do it through God's power.
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