Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?”
(John 16:31 [ESV])
Imagine you work for a diving company and your job is to
teach people how to dive and to lead them on underwater adventures. One day,
you forget to check the air in your air tank. You take people for a dive and
within ten minutes, while you are deep in the ocean, you realize your air tank
is empty. When you realize this, you panic then make excited motions for
everyone to surface, but you don’t have enough oxygen to surface without
getting decompression sickness; you get the “bends.” Sometimes people die when
this happens.
Christians can get the “bends,” too. We forget to check with
our source of Life and salvation each day and moment, then live in our own
strength. We run into problems and wonder why that happens since we are
Christians. The problems come because we walk in our own strength instead of
seeking God who is our Source of life and strength.
As Christians, we know salvation from God came at a moment
in time. Many of us remember the date on which we asked Jesus to be our Savior
and Lord. Salvation is not only in the past but is also in our present and
future. Only God can save us, and He gives us the power to continue to be saved
from sin today and have the hope of eternity with Him. Still, many of us say to
ourselves, “Okay, I’m saved, now I can go about my life. God’s got me.” God
saved us from hell, but we must work out our salvation. We must put shoes on it
and live it out. Jesus told His disciples in John 14:23-24,
If anyone loves Me, he will keep my
word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home
with him. Whoever does not love Me does not keep my words. And the word that
you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. [ESV]
Jesus equated obedience to Him and the Father as love. He
said if you love Me, you will obey Me. In John 8:31-32, Jesus told the Jews who
had believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you
will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” [ESV]
These statements by Jesus are often starkly different to how
we live our lives. We think we’ve been saved, so let’s get on with the business
of living. When decisions need to be made, we consider ourselves able to make
those choices either from our own intellect or the counsel of friends,
professionals, or the internet. “Why bother God with everyday needs. I’ve got
it,” we may say within ourselves. Or, another possibility is that we’ve heard from
God, had a vision, and proceeded to work as He led us, then we just got into
the task to which God told us to work and broke off communication with Him. We
don’t talk to Him daily about the work, praying over it for guidance, safety,
and provision. We get into the rote task of just doing the work. This, too, is
not working out our salvation, as Paul spoke of it in Philippians 2:12-13. In
this passage, Paul said,
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not
only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your salvation
with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to
work for His good pleasure. [ESV]
Keeping God’s word, that is obeying Him, shows our love for
Him. When we get lost in the myriad tasks of living, we forget to seek Him and
His will, and instead do the next best thing we know. When we do that, we show
our limited love of God. If instead we keep God’s word, we put shoes on our
faith in God and work out our salvation. The purpose of working out our
salvation is to grow more in our relationship with God, become more Christlike,
and show/tell others about Jesus. Paul said to work out our salvation with fear
and trembling. We realize our salvation only comes from God through Jesus. It
doesn’t come from ourselves. We recognize God’s might, sovereignty, and mercy.
We come before Him in awe and reverence of who He is. On top of this, we realize
what we can’t ever do. We cannot save ourselves, but we can grow in our
relationship with God and show our love to Him by obeying Him and living out
His love and salvation so the people of the world can know about Him. This is
working out our salvation.
Today, the questions for us Christians are: Do you love God?
Do you obey Him? Do you seek Him daily to grow your relationship with Him and
to live each moment of your day in His strength and power and with His wisdom
and understanding doing His will? Alternatively, did you believe in God for
salvation, but then only speak to Him in dire emergencies? Did you listen to Him
tell you what to do, what ministry He wanted you to join Him in, then not turn
to Him for daily guidance? That creates burn-out and frustration with the
people to whom you are ministering. Possibly you are thinking, “Those people
are ungrateful; they don’t try to help themselves by learning what I am
teaching them. They just want me to keep giving and helping but do nothing for
themselves.” Stop. Consider what you are thinking or saying. That is not God’s attitude.
You’ve forgotten to go to the Source of your vision, resources, guidance, and love.
Instead of having the mind of Christ, you follow the thoughts of your own mind.
Consider what Paul said of the mind of Christ in Philippians 2:5-11. He said
Jesus was humble. He emptied Himself by becoming a servant in the likeness of
man. Jesus was obedient to God even to the point of dying on a cross. Is that
the mind you have? Do you love the Father so much you would obey Him in anything?
Do you hear His voice in prayer, Bible study, and preaching? Have you humbled
yourself to do God’s will?
Loving God, obeying Him, and having the mind of Christ come
from working out your salvation. Without seeking to love God daily, living will
lead you to get the “bends” like scuba divers can get. You can’t have breath
without Life, and you can’t have Life without breath. God gave and gives us
life and breath. One without the other is not living; it’s gasping for breath.
Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father
except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known my Father also.”
(John 14:6-7a [ESV])
All Christians
should be working out their salvation. If you aren’t, you need to ask yourself
if you truly know Jesus and the Father.
Loving
God leads to working out your salvation.
Working
out your salvation means loving God.
You can’t have one without the other.
If you are not a Christian, today you can make that
decision. Recognize Jesus is the Son of God who came to die the death penalty
for your sins. Confess your sins and repent of them. Ask Jesus to forgive you.
Give Him your life to be your Savior and Lord. If you made this decision today,
contact me through messaging or through the contact form on my website. I want
to pray for you and connect you with a Bible-based church, if possible.
Lord, I made a decision to follow You, but sometimes I
end up thinking of answers for myself and looking to guidance from within myself.
I consider I am smart enough to do what You ask, and I forget to seek You for
guidance even on the miniscule decisions that need to be made. I’ve not been
working out my salvation. I’ve not been loving You through obedience to You. Forgive
me for forgetting You or for putting You on the sidelines of my life. I need You
every moment of each day otherwise I am not living; I’m just gasping for air.
Lord, help me work out my salvation with fear and trembling. Help me remember
You and to seek Your will in all things. Use me to tell someone about You and
to help them in Your name. Forgive me of my sins of independence and making
myself more important that You. You are sovereign God, the One who knows all things,
has all power, and does good in all things. I am sinful and do not. I am not You.
Lord, here’s my life again; I give it back to You. Amen.
