‘Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily.’–Col. 1:29.
‘The mystery of Christ, whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of that grace of God which was given me according to the working of His power.’–Eph. 3:7.
In the words of Paul to the Philippians, which we have already considered (Chap. IX.), in which he called upon them and encouraged them to work, because it was God who worked in them, we found one of the most pregnant and comprehensive statements of the great truth that it is only by God’s working in us that we can do true work. In our texts for this chapter we have Paul’s testimony as to his own experience. His whole ministry was to be according to the grace which was given him according to the working of God’s power. And of his labor he says that it was a striving according to the power of Him who worked mightily in him.
We find here the same principle we found in our Lord–the Father doing the works in Him. Let every worker who reads this pause, and say–If the ever blessed Son, if the Apostle Paul, could only do their work according to the working of His power who worked in them mightily, how much more do I need this working of God in me, to fit me for doing His work aright. This is one of the deepest spiritual truths of God’s word; let us look to the Holy Spirit within us to give it such a hold of our inmost life, that it may become the deepest inspiration of all our work. I can only do true work as I yield myself to God to work in me.
We know the ground on which this truth rests, ‘There is none good but God’; ‘There is none holy but the Lord’; ‘Power belongeth unto God.’ All goodness and holiness and power are only to be found in God, and where He gives them. And He can only give them in the creature, not as something He parts with, but by His own actual presence and dwelling and working. And so God can only work in His people in as far as He is allowed to have complete possession of the heart and life. As our will and life and love are yielded up in dependence and faith, and God is waited on to keep possession and to abide, even as Christ waited on Him, God can work in us.
This is true of all our spiritual life, but specially of our work for God. The work of saving souls is God’s own work: none but He can do it. The gift of His Son is the proof of how great and precious He counts the work, and how His heart is set upon it. His love never for one moment ceases working for the salvation of men. And when He calls His children to be partners in His work, He shares with them the joy and the glory of the work of saving and blessing men. He promises to work His work through them, inspiring and energizing them by His power working in them. To him who can say with Paul: ‘I labor, striving according to His power who worketh in me mightily,’ his whole relation to God becomes the counterpart and the continuation of Christ’s, a blessed, unceasing, momentary, and most absolute dependence on the Father for every word He spoke and every work He did.
Christ is our pattern. Christ’s life is our law and works in us. Christ lived in Paul his life of dependence on God. Why should any of us hesitate to believe that the grace given to Paul of laboring and striving ‘according to the working of the power’ will be given to us too. Let every worker learn to say–As the power that worked in Christ worked in Paul too, that power works no less in me. There is no possible way of working God’s work aright, but by God working it in us.
How I wish that I could take every worker who reads this by the hand, and say–Come, my brother! let us quiet our minds, and hush every thought in God’s presence, as I whisper in your ears the wonderful secret: God is working in you. All the work you have to do for Him, God will work in you. Take time and think it over. It is a deep spiritual truth which the mind cannot grasp nor the heart realize. Accept it as a Divine truth from heaven; believe that this word is a seed out of which can grow the very spiritual blessing of which it speaks. And in the faith of the Holy Spirit’s making it live within you, say ever again: God worketh in me. All the work I have to work for Him, God will work in me.
The faith of this truth, and the desire to have it made true in you, will constrain you to live very humbly and closely with God. You will see how work for God must be the most spiritual thing in a spiritual life. And you will ever anew bow in holy stillness: God is working; God will work in me; I will work for Him according to the power which worketh in me mightily.
1. The gift of the grace of God (Eph. 2:7, 3:7), the power that worketh in us (Eph. 3:20), the strengthening with might by the Spirit (Eph. 3:16)–the three expressions all contain the same thought of God’s working all in us.
2. The Holy Spirit is the power of God. Seek to be filled with the Spirit, to have your whole life led by Him, and you will become fit for God’s working mightily in you.
3. ‘Ye shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming on you.’ Through the Spirit dwelling in us God can work in us mightily.
4. What holy fear, what humble watchfulness and dependence, what entire surrender and obedience become us if we believe in God’s working in us.