God Works... And We Must Work
How has it come about that Christians can be so full of themselves that God can't fill them and use them? The great Fathers of the Church have struggled for centuries with the question of the relationship between faith and works. The Church Fathers Augustine of Hippo versus John Cassian and Vincent of Lerins in the fifth century led the debate on this issue, which, during the Protestant Reformation a thousand years later, was joined by John Calvin versus Jacobus Arminius.
I've written before on the topic of The Fullness, so I won't go into great depths on it here. Suffice it to say that St. Paul writes in Col. 1:19 & 27 - "For it pleased the Father that in Him [Christ] all fullness should dwell. ...For to them [the saints] God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." And in ch. 2:9-10 he writes - "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you have this fullness in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power." These are wonderful promises!
But there's a catch here: these great and precious promises are conditional upon Col. 1:23 - "If indeed you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard and which was proclaimed in all the creation under Heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister." The "If" condition clearly means that it is possible for us to not continue in the faith, and thus lose out on acquiring the fullness of Christ. The reason I bring this up is because the Augustinian doctrines of predestination of the elect, irresistible grace, and the assurance of eternal salvation have won over the majority of Western Christians, and have even spilled over into our political ideology of the predestined inevitability of freedom and democracy for all humanity, especially the "enlightened."
This has resulted in our thinking that because we are God's chosen, the elect, the enlightened ones, therefore we have "free grace," we have it made in the shade, we don't have to do anything, we can just relax in our eternal security because we have a guaranteed ticket to heaven. We don't have to do good works in order to obtain this salvation, and we have these wonderful promises of the fullness of Christ's glory in us. In the political sphere it translates into - "everything should be free: free education, free health care, free love, free birth control, free abortions." After all, didn't St. Paul write - "For by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Eph. 2:9)? Thus we've arrived, we're full of ourselves, as the above photo says, so God can't fill us with Himself.
However we need to consider the whole counsel of God, not just cherry-pick a few favorite verses that support our self-centered viewpoints. Let's consider the very next verse - "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them." (Eph 2:10)
Before God can fill us with Himself, we need to empty us of ourselves, as Christ did - "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, Who, existing in the form [nature] of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men." (Phil. 2:5-7)
Like St. Paul, we must realize that we don't have it made, we haven't yet arrived - "So then, my beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you both to will and to work, for His good pleasure." (Phil. 2:12-13) This is called "Synergy - being co-workers together with God."
After listing his extensive pedigree and education, St. Paul goes on to say -
"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith — that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you." (Phil. 3:7-15)
If St. Paul considered that he hadn't made it, how much more should we think that we don't have it made? We can't kick back and rest -
"To whom did He [God] swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not combined with faith in those who listened. ...So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore labor to enter into that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience." (Heb. 3:18-19; 4:1-2 & 9-11)
Here we see something of a paradox: "Let us therefore labor to enter into that rest." Labor to rest? Yes! Work must come before rest. We must strive and struggle, like St. Paul did, to race toward the finish line before we can rest. Faith is not the opposite of works; rather, genuine faith results in good works. We can't do good works in order to earn righteousness and salvation, but instead, we do good works because we have been saved and received Christ's righteousness. God works in us, and therefore we can and must work for Him!
St. Paul wrote - "For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God." (1 Thes. 2:9) And love for one another doesn't exclude hard work - "Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own business, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one." (1 Thes. 4:9-12) And later, St. Paul wrote another letter to that same church in Thessalonica -
"For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. It was not because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. For we hear that some among you walk in idleness, not busy at work, but are busybodies. Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good." (2 Thes. 3:7-13)
St. Paul wrote to Titus, whom he had appointed to be bishop in Crete -
"Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity.... For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works." (Titus 2:7 & 12-14)
God's grace is for all people, all mankind, not just "the elect" - "But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love toward mankind appeared, not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to His mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, Whom He poured out on us richly, through Jesus Christ our Savior; that being justified by His grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This saying is faithful, and concerning these things I desire that you affirm confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men." (Titus 3:4-8)
Thus we see the necessary relationship between God's grace and our good works. God loves the whole world, He wills for all mankind to be saved, His grace reaches out toward all people. But not all people choose to accept His love, His will, and His grace. Those who do, however, respond in gratitude by repenting, turning from their self-centered, self-gratifying lifestyle, and toward pleasing and serving the living God.
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