Throughout Paul s message, God s Word has established that our genuine joy is in Jesus. This was Paul s joy and also the Philippians . This letter of Paul is definitely a living letter for the Christians at Philippi, for the Christians during the time of Martin Luther, and for all Christians today. Luther s rediscovering genuine joy in Jesus, not in threats, rules, regulations or ordinances designed by men and that varied form man to man. We remember Luther s joy in realizing salvation came by graced through faith, not by striving to please God with works.
Good works are a fruit, a result, a proof of faith.
They are never to attempt to earn faith or forgiveness. The keynote of the Reformation was joy. It was joy to find the key to heaven in forgiveness earned by Christ for us and given to us by faith worked by the Holy Spirit. It was joy to discover Jesus as a loving Savior who came to seek and to save those who are lost, not as an angry judge who delights in punishing sinners. It was joy to know that we need not worry whether or not we have performed enough meritorious deed to appease God s anger over our sin, but that we can be assured that we will be saved because we trust in God s promise to save those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior from sin.