Bible Best Solutions II: Principles, Promises, Power

Last day I was saying that principles that work can all be found in Bible, but the “what” is only part of what is best about the Bible. There is also the “how” and the “why.” Often our biggest challenge is not so much knowing what we need to do (or not to do), but rather having the wherewithal (the “how”) to (not) do it, and perhaps even further back, our even wanting to do it (or not to do it). This latter part is the “why,” or if you like the motivation for it all. The Bible points us to the best help in all three areas, the what, the how and the why.

Last day I was talking about the principle that our ancestors faults and sins impact us in a negative way. In fact they act like curses upon us. But there is another principle which if we embrace it (loving God and obeying Him, Exodus 20:6), will start the process of reversing the said curses. But when we do this, we are not left to struggle though on our own, and today I want to talk about the help we can get to put Biblical principles into effect. I want to talk about the promises and the power (the wherewithal) to do what needs to be done.

Again in a single post, I can do little more than illustrate the point, and I have chosen to use Philippians 2:12,13 which in Philip's translations reads “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, because God does it all for you” (Philip here of course is Philip Heath :). What it really says it that God is at work in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. The first thing I need to say is that we go badly wrong when we fail to hold apparently contradictory statements in tension. In particular, the bit about working out our salvation with fear and trembling can seem at first sight to contradict the Biblical principle that we are not saved by works, but by grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8,9). Like many other Biblical principles and commandments, the two parts need to be held in tension. Perhaps the best way to understand how to do this in this particular instance, is to see that its all about proactive cooperation with God. We certainly have a big part to play, but when we do God fills up for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

Part of the problem may be that we have understood salvation only as a fire escape from the fires of hell. It certainly includes this, and as great as this is, it is not all that the word "salvation" means. It covers a lot more. For example, Jesus used the very same word (in the Greek) when He healed the blind man at Jericho (Luke 18:42 – see KJV). One preacher put it this way, salvation (deliverance) has three aspects. We have been saved (delivered) from the penalty of sin (at conversion), we are being delivered from the power of sin (and it is ongoing), and finally on that Day we will be delivered from the presence of sin – Hallelujah!

So Paul is talking here about that aspect of salvation that concerns our deliverance from the power of sin. As anyone caught in the grip of addiction can tell you, we do need help. So why fear and trembling? The point is that we will not be delivered from the power of sin unless we surrender absolutely. Jesus tells us that if we want to be His disciples we must deny self, take up the cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24). In Luke's version we are told that this has to be a daily thing (Luke 9:23). This is the very opposite of half heartedness. In the words of AA “half measures profited us nothing”. It sounds simple, but it seems to be incredibly difficult.

Part of the problem is that we are forever wanting to take shortcuts. We want to stop the behaviour, but we don't want to go through the pain of working through it. We want to get rid of the pain, but we don't want to have to put in the effort to do it. We want to be delivered from our addictions, but not just yet, just one more time! We want to be close to God, but on our terms not His. The hymn writer put it this way “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” We need to know ourselves well enough to know that are hearts are wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), and that we far too easily find excuses to take the shortcuts. This is why we need to fear and tremble. We are by far our own worst enemies. Many times we will not discover, until we give it our best shot at living for Him and obeying His commandments, that we cannot do it without Him. Many times it is only when we have given our all, that we start to fully discover that we do the bad things we don't want to do, and don't do the good things that we want to (Romans 7: 19). The default does not lead us into fullness of life (John 10:10). If we do not “give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard" (as in fear and trembling), we are in grave danger of “neglecting so great a salvation” and so then "how will be be delivered - saved" (Hebrews 2:1,3).

Philippians 2:13 is one of the “exceedingly great and precious promises" of the Bible, which as the Message puts it, is our ticket to participation in the life of God after we turn our backs on a world corrupted by lust” (2 Peter 1:4 - The Message). So verse 13 of our text in the Amplified Bible reads “[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight”. The “for” in verse 13 links it to verse 12. We are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling for – i.e. because (when we do), then God will work in a two fold way in our lives. That is firstly to give us the wherewithal to do (or not to do) the things that please and delight Him, and secondly He will also work in us changing our desires, so that we will want to do the things that please Him and which work for our spiritual, emotional and physical well being.

We need His help, I need His help. When we have developed appetites that demand to be satisfied (as in addictions and compulsions) those appetites need to be starved, starved to death. Romans 8:15 tells us that if we live to satisfy these appetites, then we will die (spiritual death), but if by the Spirit we put them to death we will live. Note that it is (a) by the Spirit, and (b) it is "we" who put to death the deeds of the lower nature. An oft prayed prayer by yours truly is this “Lord show me my part in putting to death the deeds and the desires of the flesh (sinful desires). When we do our part we can claim the promise of the power in our lives to do what we cannot do without Him. Our part (working it out in fear and trembling) has much to do with taking very very seriously our own tendency to neglect all of what He offers. When we do this, we live far below the potential He has for us in Him, and we do not glorify Him in our bodies. This is so, so inappropriate for we who have been bought with a price (the precious blood of Jesus). See 1 Corinthians 6:20.

Prayer: Father Your Word tells me that through Your exceedingly great and precious promises I can live the life You call me to, and even to share your very nature (2 Peter 1:4). Lord show me how to tap into Your promises and the power to live the Christian life. Please give me Grace to receive the Grace I need, so that I will not fall short of Your Glory. In Jesus name Amen.