Fear and Trembling

Nick Saltas / Philippians 2:5-18

Nick mentioned something profound during his message this Sunday. In his sermon he stated that when it comes to “working out our salvation with fear and trembling” there are two commonly used approaches that are unhelpful for believers. One option he mentioned was anxiety driven and the other was apathy driven. We either work and think as if God has no ability to help us or we sit and wait and do absolutely nothing to accomplish the task that God has or is calling us to complete.

As a group discuss either how your natural tendencies are to either lean towards anxious busyness or apathetic laziness?

Another key concept mentioned this Sunday that dovetails this idea nicely is how we go about doing this. Nick mentioned how even Paul’s structure in his letter was indicative of this idea. To “workout” our salvation we “do not need to pursue growth and sinlessness but rather we must pursue intimacy with Jesus and the understanding of his teaching and He will empower us to overcome our struggles with sin and failure. Discuss how you have found a pace or process that allows you to “work out” your salvation in a way that stems from or originates in an intimacy with and reliance on God Himself? Quote from Sunday - “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action. Grace, you know, does not just have to do with forgiveness of sins alone.”

In closing we talked about “How do we know that we are working it out?” and we offered two ways you can assess if this is actually happening in your life. The first in found in our attitude towards our community. Do we consider the needs of others equal to our own. Are we willing to serve others without grumbling or complaining. And the other way we can assess if we are indeed "working it out" is in our christian witness to our city. How would you say your attitude and posture is towards your faith community at the moment? How would you assess your witness to the world?