Church at Wieuca

Dr. Kevin Head: Thank you. How wonderful. This is my father's world. What a blessing today. We are so thankful for our ensemble today. What a blessing.

Bob and Jane Gibson, thank you so much for your words. You're such an important part of our church family, and we appreciate you sharing with us what this church family means to you. What a blessing.

Nikita, congratulations. It's so great to recognize you this morning and celebrate your accomplishments, and we look forward to doing even more of that at the lunch following, so congratulations. What a wonderful day. We've compressed a lot of things into a worship service already, and it's a wonderful day. We've got more to come, a word from God, and then we gather around the Lord's table this morning.

Today we're continuing to think about important words in our faith, and this morning is a very important word. It is the word salvation. I invite you to hear a passage of scripture from Paul's letter to the church in Philippi this morning. Just two verses, but these verses are familiar, very important to us as we think about salvation, and as we prepare to gather around the Lord's table this morning.

Listen to these words and think about what Paul is saying to us about salvation.

Paul writes, "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to God's good purpose."

And may God bless the reading and the hearing of this word this morning.

It's that time of year, it is graduation time. Many colleges are already having graduations, or having some last weekend and this weekend. High school graduations are just beginning to start. We've got kindergarten graduations, we've got all kinds of graduations. Graduations are in the air at this time of the year, and it's so exciting.

I heard about a little five-year-old girl who was graduating from kindergarten. She was so excited about graduating from kindergarten, and she came home from school one day, full of excitement, telling her mother, "Mom, Mommy, they asked me to say a speech at graduation." She was so excited about getting to say something at her kindergarten graduation. Her mother was excited about that, but her mother was already thinking about the graduation party they were planning right after the graduation service. So her mother said, "Honey, that is fantastic. That's great. I'm so proud of you, and you know what happens after you graduate, right?"

And the little girl's face dropped, and she said, "Yes, Mommy, I know. I've got to get a job, right?"

Graduations, they can create some uncertainty. It's a time of accomplishment, but at the same time, what is God expecting of me in the future? What does God want me to do? Where will my life take me? What decisions will I make? The pathway ahead is sometimes a little uncertain.

But this morning, we're thinking about something that is very certain as we gather around the Lord's table this morning. We are focused on something that is certain. That is our salvation. Our salvation, through faith in Jesus Christ, is for us certain.

And yet, at the same time, this passage in Philippians can seem a little confusing at times. What does Paul mean when he tells us that we should continue to work out our salvation with fear and with trembling? What does that mean? Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Does that sound like salvation by works to you? Continue to work out your salvation. In other words, does it sound like that we must work in order to be saved? Is Paul saying that somehow we are responsible for our own salvation?

We teach that salvation is a free gift from God, and all that requires from us is our acceptance. So, if salvation is a free gift from God, then what does it mean for us to work out our salvation?

Let's begin with a very simple, but important statement. So, let's be clear right here from the beginning, salvation is God's business. Salvation is God's business. In other words, it is God who has initiated salvation. It is God who has put into place a plan, a method even, by which we are able to be saved. By which, if we follow God's plan, we are able to be in good standing with God.

The reality is, sin is such a part of all of our lives, that we can never live up to what God expects or wants from us. God is so holy, and God cannot be associated with that which is sinful. So, the sin that is in our lives creates this huge gulf, this chasm between us and our sin and God who is so holy. There is this chasm, there is a gulf, there is a separation.

But God wants desperately to be in relationship with us. So God sent Jesus here to Earth to die on a cross, to be resurrected, to save us from our sin. Salvation is what God has done for us. It is not something we can do for ourselves. That is what we remember this morning as we gather around this table. We give thanks to God, we give thanks to Jesus for the sacrifice that has been made on our behalf so that we might be saved.

So we are very clear. We don't earn this salvation. We don't earn this relationship with God. It is given to us as a gift from a loving, good, and gracious God by Jesus' death and resurrection. Through that death and resurrection, God has created a way whereby we might be saved from our sins. That's what we mean when we talk about being saved. We have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, and because of our faith and trust in Him, we now have been forgiven of our sins, and we are now living a life that is in good relationship, good standing with God. All of this is God's work. Jesus has paid the price for our sins. All we have to do is to accept the free gift of salvation that God has given to us.

All of that is true. But even though salvation is free, and even though it is from God's work beginning to end, we as human beings are not passive in the process of salvation. One person has written, "We are not robots manipulated by the divine button-pusher." In other words, we have some responsibility in the process of being saved.

What is our role? Has anyone ever tried to give you a gift that you didn't want? Has anyone ever given you something and you really didn't want it, and you tried not to receive it? Or on the other side, have you ever tried to give a gift to someone who did not want to receive what you were giving?

It's a reminder to us, giving a gift requires responsibility from two different parties. There is the giver, and then there is the receiver. And one must be willing to give the gift, but the other then has to be willing to receive or to accept the gift. That's our role in the process of salvation. We respond to faith by accepting God's free gift of salvation, and this acceptance, our role in the process, is part of salvation that Paul is talking about in our text for today. We have to accept and receive God's forgiveness, love, and grace.

But here's the catch. All of that we get, and all of that we understand. Here's the catch. Receiving salvation requires much more than simply saying thank you to God. Receiving salvation, accepting this free gift of salvation, demands something from us.

In Ephesians chapter two, verses eight and nine, Paul writes, "For it is by grace that you have been saved through faith, not by works, so that anyone can boast." These words remind us of that beloved hymn, Amazing Grace, because we all know that once we were lost, but now we have been found. We once were blind, but now we see. Why? Because of God's work, not ours. We neither deserve salvation nor earn it. We can't take credit for our own salvation.

But then Paul follows these words in Ephesians with another equally important message. In the very next verse, verse 10, Paul says, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works."

That phrase is so important. In other words, Paul is saying, we've been given this free gift of salvation by the grace and goodness of God. But we were given this free gift so that we might in turn do good works. See, salvation is this two-way street. Salvation is a free gift from God that we cannot earn. Yes, but salvation, once it is received, places requirements and expectations upon us.

If someone gives you a gift, and you never use it, then what good is that gift? How many of you have clothes hanging in your closet right now with tags on it that somebody gave you those clothes and you're not going to wear them? I get it. I know. My closet has them too, right? Somebody gave you this gift, but what good is that gift if we don't put it to use, right? Or has someone given you a piece of exercise equipment or a tool or something that you just don't want to use, and you got this gift, but it's just sitting there, right? True acceptance, it requires so much more than just receiving. True acceptance is also using. It's putting it into effect. It's making it useful in our lives.

In Galatians chapter two, verse 16, Paul says, "We are not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ." Again, Paul affirms for us salvation is a free gift from God, but he adds a little bit later in that same book in Galatians that what really matters then is, listen to this, faith expressing itself through love. In other words, salvation was a free gift given to us, but it becomes useful, it becomes effective when it is faith expressing itself through our actions and behavior in life, in love.

What does all that mean? It means salvation is not given to us so we can sit back and relax in our savedness. No. Salvation is given to us so that we might work it out. Salvation is given to us freely so that we might make it a daily part of our lives. Salvation is given to us freely so that every moment of every day, of every year of our lives, we put that faith into action. We express it, we live it, we work out our salvation that God has given to us.

In Romans chapter 13, verse 11, Paul writes, "Salvation is nearer now than when we first believed." Isn't that great? See, salvation is nearer, it's closer, it's coming. But it's not fully and completely here yet. It is a process. The process has started. It was given to us as a free gift, but it is not ended. We are still in the process of living out that salvation daily in our lives.

When I think about working out, I often think about exercise, right? When I hear that phrase, working out, I think about exercise. And it occurred to me, we never get to a place physically in exercise where we have arrived, and we can stop working out. We can stop exercising. We never get to that place. I know every year this time of year I'm training to run the Peachtree Race, right? Like many of you are, and I always think this year, this year I'm going to do this, and then the race comes and, it is what it is, and I think, next year. You never get to that place where you have achieved, where you have accomplished, where the practice in essence is over.

Athletes are the same way. I watched a little bit of golf yesterday. I hope to watch a little bit more this afternoon. And I'm amazed at these golfers. They play golf every day. And yet, sometimes before the round, and often even after the round, what are they doing? They are working out their game plan. They are working out their game. They're practicing, they're putting into effect that which is part of their lives. Most of life is that way.

I have a good friend who is a well-known organist, wonderfully talented. He has played all over the world. I was having lunch with him one day, and he told me, he said, "You know, Kevin, sometimes people will say to me, 'Well, I guess you've gotten to the place now where you don't need to practice anymore.'" And he said, "It's actually the opposite. I practice more now," he said, "than I ever have in my life." Why? Because we're working out the talents, gifts, and abilities that we have been given. We never arrive to that place where we stop growing, where we stop developing, and that is certainly true in our relationship with God.

Salvation is already. Yes, it was a gift given to us when we accepted Christ and invited Him into our heart and into our lives. Salvation is already. And yet, there is also a part of salvation that is not yet. We are still working it out. We have been given this gift of being in a right relationship with God, but that gift demands of us that daily, hourly, we live a new and transformed life. Our salvation is demonstrated in the way in which we live.

You've probably heard the question before, but it still needs to be asked from time to time. If Christianity were a crime, and you were arrested for that crime, what would the evidence be to convict you? If Christianity were illegal and you were arrested, what would the evidence in your life be that would convict you of this crime? What would your neighbor say, "I know that person is a Christian because"? And let's be clear, the question is not, how would they know you're a good person? No, the question is, how would they know that you are a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ? What would your neighbor say? What would your family say? "I know he or she is a Christian because this is the evidence I see in his or her life."

That's what it means to work out our salvation. Jesus Himself said, "You will recognize My followers by their fruit." Olena said it earlier, we will be known by our love, right? We will be known by how we live out our life of faith. We're known by our fruit, by our actions, by our lifestyle. It doesn't mean you're trying to earn salvation. It doesn't mean you think you deserve salvation. But what working out our salvation means is that when others see our lives, they see evidence of the salvation that God gave us as a free gift.

This morning, this text and this table, both of them demand something from us. They both demand that we not only accept God's free gift of salvation, but that we live it. That every day of our lives, in all of our relationships, in all of our activities, in all of our thoughts, in all of our deeds, we continue to work out the salvation that God freely gave us in our lives.

For as one person has stated, "The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment, but the making of a true Christian, that's the process of a lifetime."

Let us pray.

Good and gracious God, on this day we are so grateful for so many gifts You give to us, but especially today for the gift of salvation. Lord, as we gather around Your table, as we receive these elements today, may we be reminded of the gift You have given to us and the sacrifice made for us. For we make this our prayer in the precious and holy name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

In just a moment, you'll be invited to come forward to receive communion today. We'll come down and form two lines to come receive the elements and return on the outer aisles of our church today. As you do so today, I invite you to give thanks for the gift of salvation God has given to you. And as you come forward to receive the elements today, when you take the bread and you dip it into the cup, and then you eat it, I encourage you to recommit yourself to daily work out your salvation with fear and with trembling.

And now I invite the ministers and deacons to come join me at the table.