Working Out Your Salvation Series

g. I have said on numerous occasions during pre-marital and post marital counseling session, that Jesus needs to be the glue that holds the relationship together.

C. Results of unity

a. As we operate unity, it will provide some powerful results, not only in our church, but in our community.

b. When we operate in unity, we will experience God’s power in doing God’s mission in our community and as a result will give us influence in our community.

c. This influence will not only encourage the believer, but will also speak to the non-believer as well.

d. Unity brings a completeness in our lives. As Jesus prayed in John 17, we talked about a little earlier, Jesus prayed this in verse 23: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

e. As we operate in this completeness, it will cause us to be much more effective in our mission.

D. Empathy for others

a. After stressing the importance of unity. Paul goes on to talk about being humble and looking out for not only your interest but also the interest of others.

b. Then in verse eight Paul shares the following: And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

c. I have shared with you in the past that I used to worked for an insurance company as a claims adjuster. One of the biggest things that we would be trained on and that was discussed was to have emphathy for others. In fact, it was crucial that we worked to show this. After doing the job day after day, year after year it is easy to not show empathy.

d. The word empathy as defined by the Merriam- Webster dictionary is 1: the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner

e. Empathy demands that the person steps into the others persons situation.

f. The bible says in Hebrews 4:15 NIV 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.

g. Jesus is able to relate to us, he is able to empathize with us as he was tempted in every way. Yet, He did not sin, not even once.

h. We need to be intentional and work to show empathy for others.

II. Work to do

A. Salvation

a. When I introduced our chapter this morning, I talked about the northern lights and about the stars in our cosmos. Like the stars in the sky we are called to shine for Jesus.

b. After talking about empathy, Paul shifts gears a little and we are going to pick up the text in verse 12: Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;

c. This particular text can be very confusing because we understand that salvation is a free gift and that it is not earned nor deserved.