A Prayer for Salvation

so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, (Philippians 1:10 ESV)

There it is again: "the day of Christ."

We are only a few verses into Paul's letter, yet this is already the second time we have run across it. The first time was in verse 6 where we were promised that the work God had begun in us would be performed until the day of Christ. Now we see how God is working in us with a purpose, that purpose being that we might be "pure and blameless for the day of Christ." God is sanctifying us now, in part, to prepare us for the next world.

This is our salvation. There is coming a day when God will judge the world, and this judgment will be done in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus himself said so in John 5:

For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. (John 5:26-27 ESV)

Paul affirms this in his sermon before the philosophers at the famous Areopagus in Athens:

The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31 ESV)

Knowing that this is so, Paul prays for the saints at Philippi that they will be found "pure and blameless" for that day of judgment.

Do you find it odd that he prays for their full and complete salvation when he has already said that he is "sure" of it in verse 6? It may seem odd to us, but it shouldn't. Salvation is a work of God's grace in us from beginning to end, that is certain, but that work is brought about through means--chiefly the gospel. We are not fully and finally saved the moment we believe the gospel. No, that's just a beginning. The gospel, and faith in Christ and the gospel, are what carry us through all the way to the finish. And though the work is sure because it rests upon God's faithfulness, nevertheless we pray for it to be done in us and others every day. This is what faith does--it goes to God in faith, claiming his promises, and asking him to do what he has promised to do. It is because he knows God is faithful that Paul can boldly go to God in prayer asking him to complete his work of grace in them.

In the same way we should pray for each other, that God's sanctifying work of grace will be done in us, that we will be found pure and blameless for the day of Christ. 

In the same way parents should pray for their children. We do not just pray for their souls until they make some sort of 'profession of faith' and then quit. We pray for them continuously, night and day, until God has completed that work in them. In so doing we imitate the apostle. Indeed, we imitate Jesus himself (see John 17).

So I believe you and I have some praying to do today--because that day is soon coming. For whom are you praying?