MONDAY IN TRINITY 19 27 OCTOBER 2003
KRAMER CHAPEL-CTS FORT WAYNE, IN
+Jesu Juva+
WORKING BECAUSE GOD WORKS IN YOU
Philippians 2:12-13
On this Monday morning when the work of our calling begins anew, we hear a word from Paul about work. Work out your own salvation, he says, with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Paul, an imprisoned slave of Jesus Christ about ready he says a few verses later to be poured out like a drink offering, exhorts his beloved Philippians to obey, to heed his words. Paul is approaching the finish line of his earthly race. As he strains forward, pressing on toward the heavenly goal, he calls the Philippians to live in Christ. He exhorts them to live in the inheritance they have been given, to live "blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation" shining as lights of the world, holding fast to the word of life.
The Christian life is no "slouching towards" heaven to use words from the title of Judge Bork's book. It is a determined and disciplined race, marked by steadiness and perseverance. This race is more like a marathon than an easy sprint. There are temptations to take dead-ended detours as the evil one does not cease in his relentless attacks on those who bear Christ's name. There are the decoys that promise pleasure but give pain, that promise heaven but give hell. Fatigue and exhaustion are real as the world and the flesh beckon the war weary Christian to relax and not fight so hard. It is a race that is run under the cross.
The cross is not an emblem of glory, a trophy of victory, standing at the end of the track. Our Lord's cross is what puts us in the race in the first place. We run under its banner. And the cross alone guarantees the outcome. The Christian life is not about you. It is all about Jesus who humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. There on the cross salvation was accomplished. The Righteous One dies for the unrighteous. Christ is gift before he is example, Luther reminds us. Christ as example leaves us under condemnation. Who can do as He has done? What Would Jesus Do? Well, he was born of a Virgin. That pretty much shuts down any chance of salvation by example.
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" says the Apostle in Galatians 2. Paul's words in our text are a variation on that theme. The Christ who is for you, now lives in you to will and to work for his good pleasure. It is the life that is lived by faith in His promises- forgiveness for sins, acquittal in the place of condemnation, life in the place of death. It is a life lived in his cross. Remember the words of the pastor in the baptismal liturgy: "Receive the sign of the holy cross both upon your forehead and upon your heart to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified." Jesus' cross is your identity for he has redeemed you that you may "be his own, and live under him in His kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness even as he is risen from the dead, lives, and reigns to all eternity."
Paul's exhortation to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" is not the ugly intrusion of synergism. This can be seen by the way that Paul finishes the sentence "for it is God who works in you, both to will and work for his good pleasure." These words reflect the vocation of the Christian in light of the cross. "We walk in danger all the way" says an old hymn. To fear God, Adolph Koeberle reminds us, is more than a "numinous trembling" before the divine; it is a life lived with the recognition of "the somber possibility of being lost" (The Quest for Holiness, 165). C.S.Lewis illustrates this in his Narnia Chronicles as the children are getting ready to go see the Great Lion Aslan. One of the children inquires of Mrs. Beaver, "Is he safe?" Mrs. Beaver relies, "Of course, he is not safe, he is a lion… but he is good."
Our God is not a domesticated deity. He is not safe but He is good. How good He is, we know from our Lord Jesus Christ who came as our Savior. As the hymn puts it "And God's good pleasure to fulfill, He came to be my brother." He is the one man who feared, loved, and trusted His Father above all things. All that He did, He did for you. The life that He lived, He lived for you and the death that He died is for you. The struggle against sin continues. The fact that you will stumble and fall is not an invitation to weak resignation but a renewed call to trust in Him who was made sin for you and by His sacrifice on the cross has made satisfaction for your sin. It is the invitation to trust in Him who has begun a good work in you and will bring it to completion at the day of his coming. Amen.
-Prof. John T.Pless