‘Work out your salvation with fear and trembling’ (Philippians 2:12). Does that mean our salvation is unsure and we should be worried and fearful? Far from it! It simply means when we make the effort to appreciate salvation we will tremble and fear to take it lightly. In December one year I went to a Christmas presentation. It was a walk-through, life-size narrative depicting the life of Jesus from birth to resurrection. I wasn’t taking it too seriously. But as I rounded the second last corner I came face to face with this life-size, rough wooden cross that immediately sobered me up. Then it hit me - Jesus didn’t just come to save the world, He came to save me. That cross was built for me; it was my size and I wasn’t on it. Jesus had personally swapped places with me. As I stood before my cross I was fighting back tears and feeling quite nervous at the weight of what this meant. In a few days time I would be receiving Christmas presents from various people who love and care for me. Those gifts make me feel happy but this gift from God the Father stirred far deeper emotions. I could understand why the words ‘fear and trembling’ were used in Philippians to describe someone working out their salvation. It’s the only fitting response.
When you realise the truth about faith unto salvation and God’s love, they become valuable gifts. The apostle Paul likened it to ‘treasure’. Peter compared it to being more precious than gold. I have noticed we have a certain way of treating valuable things. Gold is kept in secure places and transported in armoured trucks. Musical instruments are put in cases, jewellery in safes, money in banks, nice cars in garages. We don’t leave our stereos, TVs and lounge chairs outside. We protect and look after things we value because we want them to last. We understand the importance of looking after valuable things in the physical world yet when it comes to spiritual things we think this principle doesn’t apply. Many people fall away from the faith, they back-slide and never to return to the fold. What does that say about their salvation? God never wanted them anyway? Not wanting to say that, some people will comment, ‘Well, they were never saved to start with’. A line like that is really a cop-out as we are trying to use God’s sovereignty to avoid any responsibility.
You did not do anything to achieve your salvation, but you must do something to exhibit it. — Ozwald Chambers
Will our faith make the journey if we treat it as something we don’t value and refuse to work out? I’m not saying we can earn salvation, but whether we like it or not we have some level of responsibility. I like to think of my faith as a car that was given to me. I didn’t earn it or deserve it - it was a gift. But if I don’t value it, protect it, maintain it, or give attention to it, it may not make the journey. Responsibility is not something we should fear; God’s sustaining grace is there to help us. All we need do is ask, and we shall receive.
Every car needs maintenance. It doesn’t matter what it is, Ford or Ferrari. I have noticed people who don’t value salvation or bother with maintenance. You see them roar off in a cloud of dust only later to find their faith abandoned beside the road. Doubt gave them a puncture and they threw it all away over a flat tyre they didn’t want to change. Other people want to find out how much they can smash their car up before it will stop. What sins are fatal? Which ones can I get away with? These are the wrong questions to be asking. People who value what they’ve been given ask questions like: What will make it run better? How can I protect it?
It’s a privilege to be a Christian. God has given to us the incredible gift of faith unto salvation. In Matthew 13 Jesus tells a parable about the ‘pearl of great price’ and the merchant that sold everything to get it. That parable is all about one thing, value. With that in mind and putting aside your theory on eternal security, answer this question honestly: do you value your faith? Do you invest time in it? Do you treat it as something precious, a treasure? What is it worth to you?