Philippians 2:12-13
When the apostle Paul spoke these words, under the authority
and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to
work for his good pleasure.” Before you hear the voice in you mind that sounds a lot like
your voice, that is saying, “see, it is all up to how much you can do for
God.” We should look at Scripture
on what it does not mean.
Scripture is clear, your flesh and we are not talking skin,
cannot please God, in fact he equates it to filthy rags. If you have flesh that needs to perform
to earn acceptance please stop and ponder on this verse, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing;
it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians
2:8,9) So what does the Holy
Spirit want us to take away from; “work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling?”
It is always good to ask the question, has Jesus addressed
this subject? Often Jesus used
examples of light, or darkness, of bread, and of the vine to give us insight
into truth like, “work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling”. Jesus said, “I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear
fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it
may bear more fruit.” (John 15:1,2) It is of the utmost importance to understand the branches
Jesus is referring to, are those who by faith have entered into a relationship
with Jesus Christ by grace. Verse
three tells us because of God’s grace and our receiving it by faith we are
clean before God. It is the
exchanged life; the blood of Christ has covered your sin.
When Jesus states, “Every branch
of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away” nowhere where can I
find in Scripture that God is cutting that person out of the vine, but is
cutting then off, or as the English Standard Version states, “he takes always”. I would encourage you to read 1 Peter 1:3-9, if you believe
that what Jesus paid for in full and cleansed by His blood can be cut out of
the vine.
How we get to the pruning, and as one who grows peaches, I
have some understanding of the requirement of pruning. Jan has learned to just stay in the
house when I begin to prune our trees, it requires removing many branches, and
opening the center of the tree up to light, or the next peach season will have
little fruit. Jesus said, “every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may
bear more fruit.” Pruning is not something I look forward too, but I
enjoy seeing the peach tree full of fruit, and God the Father loves seeing His
children abiding in Him and in doing so bearing much fruit. I believe that is what Proverbs 3, is
telling us that by abiding in Christ, “the Vine” we “work out your own
salvation with fear and trembling.”
This past Sunday one of our Associate Pastors, Steve Peace
shared this wisdom, “Knowledge without application = Pride” that is what happens to many of us and God hates
pride, so if you are one of those who goes to every Bible study, but never applies
the truth of the study, you are in for some pruning.
From The Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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