What does 'fear and trembling' really mean?
This is one of those, not only head scratchers, but soul disrupters. βTo all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.β Philippians 1:1β11 So lets get into this verse.... we must read ALL OF IT together: βSo then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.β Philippians 2:12β13 Listen to all the words in these verses. First: Some thoughts to remember: Anything that Paul says good is not BETTER than what God would say. The goodness of Paul is not GREATER than the goodness of God. Listen to all the words in these verses. 'my beloved' 'you have always obeyed' even 'more in my absence' 'it is God who is at work in you' 'to work His good pleasure' So why the heck do we take the one phrase 'work out your salvation with fear and trembling' and use it to prod us with fear? I have always had a problem with this. Imaging a father saying these amazing things and then imbedding a threat in the middle of it. Imaging a husband telling his wife how much he adores and loves here and then warns her she better not get fat. So I hunted down another verse that used this combination of the words 'fear' and 'trembling'. I found Mark 16. Very early on the first day of the week, they (the women) came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying to one another, βWho will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?β Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. And he said to them, βDo not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him.β "But go, tell His disciples and Peter, βHe is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.ββ They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.β Mark 16:1β8 This is the same terminology and Greek language used to describe encountering the resurrection. Yes, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. Yes, our God is a consuming fire. But to Him, we are beloved. To us, He is Father. Paul is saying to live with an awareness and wonder of the power and plan of God that is going on within you. This is not a retributive threat. The is resurrectional awareness. EXTRA: Romans 5:8-11But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. Work it, live in it, protect it, be empowered by it. You are God's beloved. He knows what your good at and where you fail. But remember, it is His good will at work in you. Remember, the same awe and wonder of His work in us should be ours. It is His God pleasure at work. That should shake you. That should empower you. Work it in your life. TEXT: And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you. Romans 8.11 We are talking about walking in the WONDER of RESURRECTION AWARENESS. Remind us God, in the midst of everything we are doing, it is YOU that is at work.
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