- my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, without whom I would be nothing, but through whom I have
eternal life;
- my Christian family at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in West Columbia, SC, without whom I may
never been able to attend ILC for as long as I have (or will);
- the faculty of ILC for allowing me to present these chapel addresses at ILC.
*Note: The chapels listed on this page are ones that I had the privelege of sharing with the students at Immanuel Lutheran College. Some of them are dated the day that I gave the chapel, but unfortunately not all of them were. All hymns are taken from The Lutheran Hymnal.
Body: The phrase within these two verses that I would like us to ponder tonight is "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Before we discuss what this phrase means, we must first take note of what it does not mean. This phrase does not refer to doing good works out of fear and trembling of God's judgment with the purpose of being saved. We know the apostle Paul does not mean this because of the numerous times in several places throughout his epistles where he says we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, apart from the works of the law. To give an example of this from Scripture, we can look in this same book, "Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith" (Philippians 4:8,9). It is this faith in Jesus Christ that is so necessary for our salvation. One works out his own salvation through continued use of the Word and Sacraments which will strengthen the faith necessary for salvation.
There are two things I want you all to get from this phrase "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Paul tells the Philippians to "work out your own salvation." In a devotion by Herman W. Gockel, the story is told of a pastor who goes to visit a family of the congregation. The wife was a member of the congregation, the husband and children were not. When the pastor began to witness to the husband, he was cut short as the husband said, "You remember, Reverend, I've always carried my religion in my wife's name." To this the pastor replied, "Yes, I remember, but I've searched my Bible and nowhere does it say that God has in-laws." By saying this, the pastor was instructing the husband that his wife could not believe for him. The same is true with us. We cannot believe through someone else's faith, not our parent's, not our siblings', not our pastor's, not our professors', not our friends'. Faith in the believer's heart is something between him and God alone. No one can work out our salvation for us. We must work out our own salvation.
The second thought that I would like you to get from this phrase is the fact that we are instructed to "work out [our] own salvation" and not someone else's. Not only can someone not believe for us, but we cannot believe for someone else either. How often do we try to do this? I know I have been guilty of it on a number of occasions. Instead of simply presenting God's Word to a person, and letting the Holy Spirit do His work, I often find myself leaving Scripture and debating with the person according to my own reasoning. This is not how God's Word ought to be spread. Our purpose in spreading the Gospel is not to prove ourselves right and the other person wrong, rather our purpose is to, out of love, present Scripture in it's truth and purity and pray the the Holy Spirit will soften the person's heart and create faith in him. Furthermore, the purpose of studying God's Word is not only for spreading it to others, but also to learn it, love it, and be edified by it for ourselves. For how can we spread it to others, unless we ourselves understand it first by faith.
Before Paul encourages the Philippians to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, he complements them on the fact that they have been obedient to God's Word not only while Paul was there but even more in his absence. Could the same be said of all of us assembled here? I would like to see a show of hands of those of you who used your Bible over Christmas break. Now before you raise your hand, let me explain what I mean when I say "use your Bible." By this I mean, did you study it? Did you merely skim over the words, or did you actually think about them? What they mean concerning God's love for you? What they mean concerning your salvation? Did you ask yourself questions about what you were reading? Did you take notes on what you read? Okay, now you can give me a show of hands. I hope you all noticed that I too was one of the many that did not raise his hand. But why? God's Word is called the water of life. He does not want us to lap it like a dog little by little, but he wants us to drink of it freely as John says in Revelation 22:17.
"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." What does this phrase mean: "with fear and trembling?" In Greek the word "fear" here can mean either fear, as we know it, that is to be afraid of something ,or it can mean reverence. Personally, I believe it means the latter. Reverence means "honor or respect felt or shown." It becomes quite easy to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling when we consider the graciousness of God. At the fall of man into sin, God could just have easily done away with mankind all together. But instead he does the unthinkable. He shows mercy to mankind and makes plans for man's salvation. And what of His plan? It certainly deserves the most reverence, the most honor. He planned from eternity to sacrifice His only Son to pay the price for us miserable, wretched sinners. Paul does well here to say "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," for in my opinion the two go hand in hand. When we Christians, study the Word and see just how freely God gives of Himself (His Son, His Word, His grace, His mercy, His love, His salvation) to us who are so undeserving, we cannot help but fear and tremble, or revere and honor Him.
Finally, what is the ultimate reason for working out our own salvation? To keep us from thinking of Bible study as a good work of our own doing, the Holy Spirit tells us through Paul: "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." After the Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts, He is constantly working in us a desire to learn more and more of God's work of redemption through His Son. It is the Holy Spirit that causes us to study because "we want to" and not because "we have to" for an assignment in class, or some other reason. There is a great sense of satisfaction, of relaxation, of refreshment to be had in personal Bible study. For it is in personal Bible study that the truths of Scripture are revealed not through the studies of a pastor or a professor, but through your own private and intimate communion with the God who loves you so dearly. So don't let your Bible sit on the shelf and collect dust. Pick it up and study and learn just how much your dear God loves you. Amen.
Hymn: "Lord Jesus Christ, with Us Abide" TLH 292 vs. 1,4,9
