Something to Think About

“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.