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Sunday, June 28, 2020

Shine the Light

The message given in the Sunday morning services in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, June 28, 2020.  The Bible verses used are Philippians 2:12-18.


            In his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul writes about all the things the people there have been doing.  And he says he rejoices at all of it.  Paul rejoices at the faith the people have shown.  He rejoices at all the good things they’ve done.  He rejoices that they’ve stayed unified and are able to work together for the Lord.  He even rejoices at all the things he believes they’re going to be able to do, more things and better things, because they are allowing the Holy Spirit to work through them.
            But then, Paul writes this:  “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.”
            What’s that about?  What does Paul mean that we need to “work out our salvation”?  After all, we’re saved by our faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior, right?  What more is there that we need to “work out”?  Did Jesus not work it all out for everyone when he was crucified and took the punishment that should have gone to us?  What’s Paul talking about?
            And how about the “fear and trembling” part?  What’s up with that?  I mean, God loves us, right?  God is full of grace and mercy and forgiveness.  And besides, salvation is the thing we all want.  Salvation is the best thing there is, really.  So what’s this “fear and trembling” thing?  How do “fear and trembling” fit into salvation?
            Well, I think the answer to both of these questions is in the very next thing Paul writes.  Paul writes, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose”
            You and I work out our salvation by doing God’s will.  We work out our salvation by allowing God to act in and through us.  We work out our salvation by fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives.
            This section comes right after the section we read last week, the one about humility.  I don’t think that’s a coincidence.  Remember what Paul said humility is--valuing others above ourselves.  So, if you and I are going to do this, we need to put God in first place, others in second place, and ourselves in third place.  In other words, the only way we work out our salvation is to put aside our own will, so we can do God’s will.  We work out our salvation by putting aside our selfishness and self-centeredness and allowing Got to act through us.  We work out our salvation by putting aside our own plans and purposes, so we can fulfill God’s purposes.
            So okay, that may be how we work out our salvation.  But what about the fear and trembling?  Why are fear and trembling part of working out our salvation?
            Fear and trembling are part of it because what we’re talking about is not an easy thing to do.  It’s not easy because it involves letting go of control of our own lives.  It involves giving that control to God.
            And that’s scary.  If we talk it seriously, it’s scary.  It does involve “fear and trembling”.  Because if we give control of our lives to God, we don’t know what God is going to do with them.
            The thing is that most of us are really fairly happy with our lives as they are.  Not over-the-moon happy are anything.  We know our lives are not perfect.  Most of us can think of ways our lives could be made better.  Sometimes those ways involve winning the Powerball, but still.  We know our lives are not perfect.
            But while we know our lives are not perfect, most of us are relatively happy with the way our lives are.  And if we’re not happy, at least we’re fairly comfortable with it.  It’s what we know.  We’ve come to terms with our lives.  Yeah, things could be better, but things could be worse, too.  So, we go with it.  It’s what we’re used to, and for the most part, it’s okay.
            But if we give control of our lives to God, well, who knows what might happen  God might have all kinds of things in store for us that we never would have thought of and that we never wanted to be any part of.  God might take us to places we really don’t want to go.  God might give us things to do that we really don’t want to do.  God might give us people to be with whom we really don’t want to be with.  And God might also lead us to give up things that we really don’t want to give up.
            All of those things are scary.  When we work out our salvation by truly giving control of our lives to God, we are taking a giant leap of faith.  There’s a lot of fear and trembling involved in working out our salvation.
            And the thing is, for us to truly work out our salvation, we need to do this completely willingly.  If we give up control reluctantly, if we give up control half-heartedly, if we give up control grudgingly, that’s not going to result in working out our salvation.  The first time something does not go the way we want it to go, we’ll try to take that control back for ourselves.  Listen to what Paul writes:  “Do everything without grumbling or arguing”.  
We cannot work out our salvation by just kind of giving control of our lives to God.  We cannot work out our salvation by just giving control of part of our lives to God.  You and I need to give control of all of our lives to God, so God can work in us “to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.”
That’s not an easy thing to do.  I cannot say I’ve done it.  But listen to what Paul says happens when we do:  we “become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”  We will “shine among them like stars in the sky”, because we “hold firmly to the word of life.”  And then, Paul says, “I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.”
That sounds awesome, don’t you think?  To shine like stars in the sky?  To become blameless and pure children of God?  Not only would that be awesome, but it’s what the world needs right now, right?  Paul wrote about “a warped and crooked generation”.  It seems like there’s a lot of warpedness and crookedness going on, and I think there’s not just one generation responsible for it.
We’re in some really strange times right now.  There seems to be a lot of darkness, and not a lot of light.  But these are the times when Christians are needed most.  The world needs us, as Christians, to shine like stars in the sky.  
Now, I don’t mean that in an arrogant way.  The world does not need Christians who say, “Look at me!  Look at me!  Look at how I shine!”  I mean, again, last week we talked about how we’re supposed to be following Jesus’ example of humility.  Jesus did not brag about how great he was.  And you and I are not supposed to brag about how great we are, either.
So, how do we shine?  How do we become this light that the world needs?  Some of you probably already know what I’m going to say.  We become that light by following Jesus Christ.  We become that light by doing the things Jesus told us to do.
The things Jesus told us to do are pretty simple.  Not easy, but simple.  We’ve been through them before, several times.  Love God.  Love your neighbor.  Love your enemies.  Pray for those who persecute you.  Treat others the way you’d like them to treat you.  Go and make disciples of Jesus Christ.
Again, those things are not easy, but they are simple.  And one of the reasons they’re not easy is because they’re not what the world tells us to do.  The world does not tell us to love our enemies.  The world tells us to attack our enemies.  The world does not say to pray for those who persecute us.  The world tells us to turn the tables on them and persecute them.  The world does not tell us to treat others the way we’d like them to treat us.  The world tells us to treat others the way they actually do treat us.  If someone acts like a jerk toward us, we’re supposed to be jerks back.  And make disciples of Jesus Christ?  The world tells us to keep that Jesus stuff to ourselves.
Again, it’s simple, but it’s not easy.  But as the saying goes, if it was easy everyone would do it.  If it was easy Jesus would not have had to come to tell it to us.  If it was easy, being a Christian would not be any big deal.  But being a Christian is a big deal.  It has always been a big deal.  And being a Christian is as big a deal now as it has ever been.
Paul says that, when the people of Philippi do this, “I am glad and rejoice with all of you.”  And he says, “So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.”  Following Jesus is something we should all rejoice about.  And bringing someone else to Christ is something we should rejoice about, too.
Much of this world is “warped and crooked”, as Paul puts it.  It needs the light that we, as Christians, can give it.  When we work out our salvation in this way, it does not just help us.  It helps everyone around us.  If enough of us do it, it will help the whole world.  We may have some fear.  We may even tremble.  But we can do this.  We can shine like stars in the sky.  And when we do, the whole world will be drawn to our light.

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