… in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you
Paul is realizing, though with some reluctance, that the Christians in Philippi will have to make up their own minds about religion in his absence, even though he is sending them Timothy and Epaphroditus. But he asserts that God influences their thoughts and decisions. The first question I am asking this evening is: how far do we believe that we are on our own, and how far must we suppose that we are inspired by God?
I think I should begin by saying that, while I admire those who are aware of God talking to them, I do not count myself among them, and I am not at all sure that I want God to push me about. I would rather work out my own salvation, at whatever cost. I am reminded of a story told me by a psychiatrist, of a little girl who had been taken to seek his professional help. Next day, she suggested to her younger sister that they should play at psychiatry, and arranged her comfortably on a sofa. ‘Now, dear’, she said soothingly, ‘I’m going to take away all your fears.’ The little one jumped up and said ‘I don’t want you to take anything away from me!’ I feel a bit like that about the idea of God secretly at work in us. It is different for those who recognize what is going on, but it is natural to oppose concepts which seem to attack one’s integrity.
At the same time there is no doubt that we are likely to make a mess of things left to ourselves. We all feel that urge to self-preservation at the expense of others with which God no doubt endowed us as part of the evolutionary process. That is not what I call divine inspiration; it is far too general a principle. In fact, the selfish preoccupations which stem from it are hostile to the maintenance of a harmonious society and the development of a rounded personality alike. How far does the wish to control those selfish instincts stem from God, as against the pressures of society and education, the influence of those near to us, and our own good intentions? How far is it accurate to speak of ourselves as people who want to be good, and if so why? Why do we want to be good despite our selfish inclinations? I think Paul would have attributed our good desires to God working within us. At Evensong it is hardly necessary to remind you of a favourite collect beginning: ‘ O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed’. There is no shadow of doubt in the mind or language of Cranmer.
If, then, we are entirely dominated by God’s influence, which I have not asserted, whatever Paul, or Cranmer, thought, what is all this about fear and trembling? I think it is part of their theme of the dictatorship of God; they envisage a Supreme Being who is continually interfering in a terrifying way. I do not believe in this. If I preached it I fear it would put you off Christianity altogether. I do not dispute that in the past religion has been associated with fear and trembling; a certain unhealthy pleasure in being frightened by solemn ceremonies and rituals, coupled with sanguinary portrayals of Hell; and threats of eternal punishment. There is a terrifying account of an Irish sermon on this theme in Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, but in the past Protestant divines have been even keener on alarming their congregations. I do not believe in their God. I believe in a God of love, not in a God of fear.
If all Paul meant was that we should approach religious topics carefully and responsibly, then of course I would have no quarrel with our text. It is certainly true that many people are neglectful of religion and lackadaisical about the most important questions. But I suspect that he felt the Philippians ought to be worried because he was not there to take charge; we are relieved of any choice about that.
Let us go back to the first words of the text: ‘ Work out your own salvation’. This does not require you to start from scratch. The fact that you are here in church suggests that you are already on the Way that Jesus talked about. We are all at different points on the Way, but Jesus also said that there were many caravanserais where we could stop. We may not know where we are going next, but there is no need for fear or trembling. What is important is to stick to the road, trusting the Way will lead us to God. The other important thing is that we should work at it. As I have already suggested, far too many people are inclined to treat religion carelessly, putting the consideration of it off to another day.
But Paul is not talking about questions of belief or observance, but about salvation, about final and ultimate questions. I do not pretend to know what salvation ultimately involves. But I am clear that it is about our choice, about putting God and the things of God first, None of us knows the answer to the most basic questions in life, such as what happens to us when we are dead. But we all know the difference between right and wrong and the difference between trying to do right and slipping into wrongdoing. We all know the difference between relying on ourselves and the confidence that Jesus Christ has the power to help us, even though we are not at all clear about the mechanisms involved, and however much we may distrust the way Paul described them twenty centuries ago, That faith is the important element, and not the words employed. That faith has to be your own, whatever may be said by the church that tries to nourish you or the Christians who want to help you. The injunction to work out your own salvation is as valid today as it was two thousand years ago.
Amen
Alan Goodison