Devotional: Phil. 2:12-13

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed
Not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence,
Work out your salvation with fear and trembling,
For it is God who is at work in you,
Both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

This faith-walk we are on is not a solitary adventure. According to this passage, there are at least three "beings" involved in my process: me, God, and the body of Christ. The "working it out" is something we are meant to do in community.

We see this in the text itself. Remember, Paul started this flow of thought back up in verse 2 when he asked them to consider what has been granted them through Christ and make his joy completed by "being of the same mind" - a thought that is amplified in the phrases to follow. Paul's example of Christ is further instruction toward the unity he desires for them. Here, we see a very practical element of that unity: working it out together.

The theological debate over Paul's meaning of "work out your own salvation" has obscured the larger message that harmony and unity are obligations of the citizens of heaven! John 17:21 makes clear why this is so important: Jesus prayed that believers would be one "so that the world will believe that You sent Me." Simply put, our unity has a missionary purpose.

I sat at the feet of one of my favorite teachers over the weekend - a missionary staying with us while visiting supporters in the area. She has served in Central Asia for years and worked at high levels in the mission world. She talked about one reason church is so hard for her when she is visiting the States: on the field, no one cares what race you are, what denomination you are, or what you think of President Obama. In her words (grabbing my arm for emphasis), you ask someone, "Are you okay? Is your family alive? Do you have enough to eat? How's your walk with the Lord? OK, let's worship." That's all that matters. Somehow living in a war zone has a way of boiling things down to the basics - and she misses that dreadfully.

So when Paul exhorts us to "work out your salvation" - with the "your" being plural and thus referencing the church not individual believers - he isn't merely saying "Can't we all just get along." He knows the very mission of the church is at stake. We'll see that more clearly when we get to verses 14-16. Theologically, this refers to sanctification and not justification. Scripture speaks of 3 tenses of salvation: past (justification-a transaction where we are transferred from the kingdom of satan to the kingdom of God); present (sanctification, a process that will not end until we die); and future (glorification-the fullness of the promise when we are with Christ forever, death is swallowed up in victory, all believers are raised from the dead, and Satan is defeated once and for all). Paul here refers to salvation as a present reality - the sanctification process. We can see this because "work out" is not the same word as "work for". He's not telling us "work for your salvation". "Work out" means literally "carry out to the goal, to the ultimate conclusion" and was used in classical Greek to refer to solving a math problem.

Thankfully we are not alone in this journey. We have each other and even more significantly we have God. We can do this work because we know that  God works in us. He is energizing us, affecting our will and our actions. Wuest puts it this way: "It is this desire to do the good pleasure of God that is produced by divine energy in the heart of the saint as he definitely subjects himself to the Holy Spirit's ministry." In other words - God gives the desire and the power to habitually do  the right thing.

There is a balance of human responsibility and divine enablement - mutual cooperation in the process. It's not "let go and let God"; instead, as Wuest writes, it's "take hold with God." We must depend on the Holy Spirit - but we must also say no to sin and yes to righteousness. I can depend on God all day long, but when the M&M Trail Mix is 10 steps away from me, He isn't going to send an angel to physically confine me to my office. I have to say no. But I do it through His power, not my own.

It's hard work, but it's important. We need each other in the process. And we need to remember that it's for a purpose bigger than all of us. Working together to work out our salvation is one of the ways God spurs us on to unity. When I know that you and I share a struggle I pray for you when I have my problems. When God uses you to restore me after a fall I draw closer to Him and to you. When God breaks down our walls, rips off our masks, and gives us grace to be authentic with each other, I am challenged by your faith. At the end of the day, unity comes when we do this sanctification thing in community.

It's important. The very mission of God is at stake. May we do it well.