“Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12b-13).

“Work out your salvation…”
“For it is God who works in you…”
“For God works in you to act in order to fulfill his good purpose…”

Sounds like a gym to me. That’s where you go to “work out”, to “work” the program, so that you can “act and fulfill his good purpose.”

These words are not passive. These are things you are actively doing.

Now contrast this with one of the most common complaints people have of the church: “I’m just not being fed in my church.”

What if the church doesn’t exist to feed people? What if the church exists to help people work out their salvation so that they can act and fulfill His good purposes? What if the church exists to make Christians more like Jesus?

If this is true, then the point of participating in the church is less about being fed as it is about working out.

Don’t go to church to be fed. That’s what your bible is for. That’s what small groups are for. That’s what adult bible studies are for. If you are growing up, at some point you have to take responsibility for your own feeding. Only babies demand to be fed.

Finally, what if the very way people are “fed” is precisely through serving, giving, and investing in God’s kingdom? Perhaps the reason people aren’t being “fed” and growing is because they are not serving, giving, and investing in the very things that will help them work out their salvation.

Hmmm…Something to think about.

How do you know when you are in love? What are people in love doing?

They get the warm fuzzies. They are thinking about them 24/7.

Now, how do you know you love God? At this point thinking about loving God purely on an emotional level is not helpful. I have been a Christ-follower for more than 40 years and I can’t think of a single time where I thought about God and got the warm fuzzies.

Earlier on, as a young Christian, I had encounters with God where God’s presence was so imminent that it was undeniable. These encounters normally occurred in the context of intense worship or prayer. And because I thought that this feeling was what loving God was, I tried desperately to recreate the environment for such encounters. Christians call this a spiritual high.

When I couldn’t feel God’s presence I would try harder. I would pray harder. I would worship harder. And when the highs would not come, I would think there was something wrong with me. I would fast, I would pray harder and worship harder. I was desperate to feel God’s presence. And when I couldn’t get the same feeling, I would feel like there was something wrong with me.

I was a spiritual junkie – seeking one spiritual high after another.

This is NOT what it means to love God. This is unhealthy. This is not biblical.

So then, what does loving God look like?

Listen to what Jesus tells us, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14: 15).

What does loving God look like? It looks exactly like obedience! It has nothing to do with feelings. It has everything to do with subjecting our wills and wants to what God desires.

And you know what loving God people who are obeying are doing? Look at what Jesus tells us, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

Jesus was asked, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest? Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all you mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets’” (Matthew 22:36-40).

What does a person who loves God look like? What are they doing? They obey God’s commands and they love God’s people.

Now, that’s a great way to live! I bet God could change the world with a church like that!!!

So, if the point of being a Christian is NOT living the best life now what is the point?

The Bible tells us, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29).

The purpose of the Christian life is not for our wealth, health, and prosperity. It is simply to make us more and more conformed to the image of his Son. The point is to make us more like Jesus.

This is the only way to make sense of Jesus saying, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matthew 5:4). Normally “mourning” is the very opposite of blessed. How could mourning possibly be good? People mourn when bad stuff happens – like a loved one dying. So, what in the world was Jesus talking about?

We are sinners. Christ died for us and redeems Christians, but until Jesus returns we will continue to struggle with sin until the day we die. When we become Christians, we don’t celebrate sin. We mourn sin. We mourn the fact that we continue to struggle with those things that hinder us from being more like Jesus. The reason why those who mourn are blessed is because they are fighting against sin because they want to be more like Jesus.

If we measure God’s goodness and presence in our lives by how easy and comfortable our lives are – i.e. healthy, wealthy, prosperous – then we will be terribly disappointed with the Christian life. However, when we recognize that the goal of the Christian life is to make us more like Jesus, that changes everything! We celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit when he convicts us of sin. We are grateful to God when we are confronted with God’s holiness and that God never ceases to give us opportunities to become more like his Son.

Everything in this world until Jesus returns to make the kingdom of God a reality here on earth as it is in heaven is to make Christians more like Jesus.

So, do you find yourself struggling with sin? Great! Keep on struggling. Never settle. Never accept. Never celebrate anything that the Bible calls sin. If you’re struggling with sin, you’re on the right track.

Blessed are you who mourn. God predestined us to be conformed to the image of his Son.