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The true Christian life is
not a series of 'ups and downs.' The
Bible does not teach that we have our ups and
downs. It says that we have our 'ins
and outs' --- God works in us and we work it
out. If we had our 'ins and outs,'
we would not have our 'ups and
downs.' God will never work
discouragement or defeat in your
heart. That's not God working in
you.
Many live below their
privileges and make excuses for their failures;
yet, they want the Lord to manifest Himself in
power by healing the sick and opening blind eyes
and deaf ears. There is a level
you can get to where God is doing
that. God never quit doing it; He
doesn't turn it off and on. The
gifts and callings of God are without
repentance. He's put everyone of the
gifts and callings of God in the Church, to work
at the Church's disposal as the needs arise.
We're praying
for God to come down, and God is waiting for us
to come up. Mount Zion is more than
getting a group of people together and making
sure they dress right and conform to
all established guidelines.
Mount Zion means a high spiritual life. On
Mount Zion, you live above the clouds of the
level of "sect-division" and above the fogs
of confusion.
Paul was writing to a
people who had always obeyed. He was
afraid they would do just like people have
always done---lean to their own strength and
understanding.
He did not want them to
forget where the secret of their power
was. The reason they could obey was
because God was working in them and they worked
it out.
Philippians 1:1 verifies
the fact that Paul was writing to
saints. They were saved and they put
their trust in Christ. They were set
apart unto Him. They were living a
life of obedience, but Paul writes, "...work out
your own salvation..." The words,
work out means "to work to full
completion." It means to work out
like a miner would work out a mine by going in
and taking the ore out or like a farmer would
work out a field to get the best harvest
possible.
The purpose
which God wants to achieve in every one of us is
Christlikeness. Romans 8:29 tells
us, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did
perdestinate to be conformed to the image of his
Son..." This is what God had in mind
when He set in order this great salvation, that
every one of us would be conformed to the image
of His Son. Every move, which God
makes within our heart and life in salvation, is
for that purpose. Certainly, we
admit that there are problems to life, but we
are here to tell you that God helps us to work
them out.
Paul said, I repeat,
"...work out your own salvation..." And
that means to 'let other people alone.' Don't
try to judge everybody else. You
have all you can do if you work your own
out. Whenever you see people
"getting in other people's business", you
can be sure that they're not working their own
out.
