Working Out One's Own Salvation
“Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation” (Phil. ii. 12, 13).
And that introductory word “wherefore” dares to link our little life with the glorious life of our exalted Lord. The Apostle fixes his wondering gaze upon the humility of the Lord Jesus as He moves from the throne to the footstool, and enters into human lot, and stepping into our coldest needs touches even the chills and the darkness of death. “Wherefore,” with this silent-compelling glory of the Lord before our eyes, “work out your own salvation.” And indeed the way of sacrifice is the only appointed road of salvation. It is
only by descending into another man’s lot, and lifting him out of his difficulty, that we can possibly raise ourselves. In the Christian life it is pre-eminently true that to stoop is to conquer.
The heavenly road seems to go down, but the descent is the secret of ascension. We “take root downward,” but only in order that we may “bear fruit upward.” “No man, by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature,” but this is precisely what he can do if only he is “taking thought” for others. If we take upon us “the form of a servant,” we shall most assuredly acquire the mien and majesty of the monarch. Wondrous things emerge in our own character while we seek to serve and beautify our brother. All strength which is consecrated to the service of others reacts upon our own powers, and incites and develops them. Our spiritual powers are like bulbs which are ours as the gifts of God’s grace, but in multitudes of lives they remain like bulbs in the florist’s window, unopened and unrevealed. They are not “worked out,” and this because we have not brought the right ministry to bear upon them — we have not provided the requisite conditions. The man who never descends into the lot of others, among the sorrow-stricken, or the fallen, deprives himself of the very elements which he needs for the fertilisation of his own powers. If we are to “work out” ourselves, it is absolutely essential that we should be workers for others. We can never share in the exaltation of our Lord unless in our own degree we share the pain and weariness of His humiliation. “Now this that He ascended, what is it but that He first of all descended?”
“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling And this is the mood in which we are to do our service, but we may at once assure ourselves that it is not the cringing, fearful mood of the slave. Our Father does not want slaves about His feet; He seeks sons and daughters, moving in “the glorious liberty of the children of God.” He does not wish us to creep in fear along life’s way, as though at any moment we might feel the lash about our shoulders. “Henceforth I call you not bond-servants but friends.” But there is the fear of the lover as well as the fear of the slave, and this is a fear which only heightens and clarifies our joy. The lover is tremblingly sensitive to his loved one’s presence. He knows the wish of the dear one before it is uttered. The birth of the desire marks the beginning of his service. He is like a most delicate “receiver” which trembles at the impact of the faintest vibration and registers its approach. And such is to be our sensitiveness to the presence and will of our God. We are to be so delicately sensitive towards Him as to discern the faintest indication of His purpose. We are to be like aspenleaves in the light breath of a summer’s morning; we are to be sensible of His breathings. We are not to work among our fellows and lose the “love-touch” with our God. We are to keep ourselves tremblingly alert to the Eternal, in order that in any and in every moment we may receive the message of the Eternal mind. And so it is not the servility of the slave which is enjoined in the words “with fear and trembling.” It is the exquisite responsiveness of the devoted lover.
“For it is God which worketh in you.” Amid all our working God is not passive. He is no mere spectator; He is a fellow-labourer with the saints. We are called upon to be tremblingly alert because our God is ever about and within us in wonder-working ministry. It is only possible for us to “work out” in proportion as He “works in.” He worketh in us “to will.” The initial impulse is of His creation. No decree is born which is not the offspring of His brooding ovet us. Every holy initiative springs from Him, and from Him alone. But holy impulse might only mock us if we were denied the requisite power for its maturity. Desire would only add to our burden if there were no possibility of attainment. Far better be without the impulse if we can never reach the goal. But our God worketh in us, “to will and to do,” He “inspires the earliest impulse,” He “directs the final achievement.” He creates the desire, and provides the resource for its accomplishment. He creates the hunger, and He supplies the bread. He conveys to us, by the ministry of His good Spirit, the power to do, the power to become, the power to realise the amazing purposes of “His good pleasure.”
This is a word abounding in inspiration. It offers both life and light for our ministry in the service of others. The Valley of Humility is an exceedingly gracious place if we walk it in the fear of the Lord. It is not a stony waste, but a garden full of fair and fragrant flowers, with the birds singing on every side. Let us descend its slopes, and we shall not have taken many steps before we shall find some of the sweet “lilies of peace” growing about our feet.