In this series, we’ve been looking at how the Bible teaches us that while salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9), there is also always a part human beings must play. This doesn’t mean we save ourselves or earn our salvation by our works. What it does mean is that spiritual life is really a divine-human partnership in which we cooperate with the Lord in order to experience the life He has provided for us. We’ve seen how this was really obvious in the Old Testament, in the way in which God gave Israel the Promised Land, and yet they had to go in there and confront the Canaanites, fight battles, and really cooperate with God to take the land. Then their responses made all the difference during the years they were in that land. Likewise, when Jesus came, He modeled for us what a Spirit-filled life is supposed to look like. He didn’t just live as He did because He is the Son of God, but because that’s the way the spiritual life works. When we looked last time at how He trained His disciples and raised them up, we saw how they too had to learn to walk out the spiritual life day to day by things that they did. They actively participated in things, baptizing, praying, studying scripture, ministering, and that’s how it worked for them. Why we would think it should be any different for us is not very sensible! Even on the Day of Pentecost, we saw how the Spirit was poured out, but the disciples spoke in tongues, preached, got people to respond, then baptized them and started them down the same road of discipleship they themselves were on.
In this podcast, I want to go on to look at other examples in the New Testament. I hope you’ll see how prevalent this kind of thing is. Once our eyes are opened to it, we begin to see it everywhere! Just about every single book in the NT demonstrates this reality. For example, the next book after Acts is Romans.
In Ro. 2:6-11, Paul writes: 6 God will give to each person according to what he has done. 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 11 For God does not show favoritism. NIV
Notice how God will give to each person according to what he/she has done, and outlines the different results which are obtained through either persistently seeking the things of God or being self-seeking or seeking the things of the flesh or the world.
Another clear example is Romans 6, which tells us that though we have died with Christ, it is our responsibility to count ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God (vs. 11), not let sin reign in us (vs. 12) and we’re to present the members of our bodies to God as instruments of righteousness (vs. 13). We are also to offer ourselves to God as His slaves, and wholeheartedly obey the form of teaching to which we have been entrusted (vs. 17).
Romans 8:13 plainly tells us we must not yield to sinful desires within us, but rather, put them to death and be led by God’s Spirit to the righteous lifestyle He requires. Being led by the Spirit and living a spiritual life is obviously not something that is done for us by God. It is rather something we cooperate with Him in if we want to experience it in day-to-day life. Notice too, that being led by the Spirit isn’t what so many seem to think. It isn’t primarily about hearing some sort of voice in your mind, or having a vision, though those things do happen. Mostly, it’s about doing what this verse says, putting to death what is of the flesh and yielding to God instead!
In Ro. 12:1, 2 we are told we must present our physical bodies to God as living sacrifices and not allow ourselves to be conformed to the world in our thinking. We must learn to think differently, with a different attitude and orientation that is God-rather-than-self-centered. We are also told how we ought to exercise whatever gifts we have for the common good (Ro. 12:4-8). Though they are gifts from the sovereign hand of God, we are the only ones who can choose to either use or ignore them. Aren’t these really practical examples?
Even John Calvin, the theologian most famous for his emphasis upon the sovereignty of God and monergistic salvation (a view that basically says God does it all), was unable to avoid emphasizing human response to God’s grace and Spirit. Even as he writes of the Spirit’s sanctifying work, Calvin says “we must move steadily forward, and though entangled in vices, daily fight against them.”[1] Daniel Gilbert, in writing about Calvin’s views, points out that though Calvin recognized our dependence upon the Spirit for everything, this did not mean we were exempt from having to deny ourselves and live out the life of Christ.[2] I think this is really eye-opening and transformative. You see, Calvin, more than anybody almost, taught the sovereignty of God and emphasized how only God can really change our lives and enable us to live this spiritual life He has called us to. And yet, even John Calvin knew that there were things believers themselves had to do! We have to struggle, we have to even fight, we have to deny ourselves and actively cooperate with God to live as Christians. Make no mistake about this!
Time does not permit looking at each passage of scripture that reiterates this important theme of human participation in the things of the Spirit. We all know the words spoken through Zechariah, “not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord” (Zech. 4:6). But too often, these words are taken as a license for inactivity and passivity. Yes, the Spirit does any work that is of eternal significance. Without Him, we can do nothing. Nevertheless, as professor Robert Shank points out:
But the Holy Spirit can do nothing for those who refuse His ministry. Therefore, we are exhorted to “be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18); to walk after the Spirit rather than after the flesh (Gal. 5:16 ff.); to sow to the Spirit rather than to the flesh (6:7-9); to live after the Spirit rather than after the flesh (Ro. 8:1-13); and to be led of the Spirit, that we may be sons of God (v. 14). We are further warned against grieving the Spirit (Eph. 4:30), against quenching the Spirit (1 Thess. 5:19), and against ultimately doing despite unto the Spirit of grace (Heb. 10:29). All these solemn exhortations and warnings affirm that the believer has a definite personal responsibility with respect to the ministry of the Holy Spirit which he dare not ignore. “God is faithful” declared Paul. Constant and faithful are the Father, Son, and Spirit. But the faithfulness of God cannot avail for unfaithful men.[3]
I have to point out something many might not notice. In Eph. 5:18 (mentioned above by Shank), Paul not only told the Ephesians to choose being filled with the Spirit rather than with wine, but went on to give practical instruction on how they could be filled. He told them (and us) to facilitate it by “speaking to yourselves,”[4] singing, speaking out and sharing the words of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, making melody in the heart, and giving thanks to God. The apostle did not urge his readers to be filled with the Spirit knowing full well it was all up to God and they had no part to play in it! Rather, he understood that believers are filled when they open themselves up to the Spirit through the kinds of spiritual activities he listed. I think this is so important, because I’m afraid a whole lot of people pray to be filled with the Spirit, but don’t understand how that’s supposed to work, and so they pray, but never really experience much. They miss out on being really filled with the Spirit and really experiencing His life within, because they are passive. They’re waiting for God to do something, when all the time, God has told us what to do to make it work! Amazing, and sad!
Too often in our day, Christians have been led to believe that salvation, because it is of grace and not of works, therefore requires no action or response from our side whatsoever. But even the key text used to prove this, Eph. 2:8, 9, does not teach passivity or unilateral action from God not requiring a human response. It does not teach us that those who are saved have been “preprogrammed to respond” by a sovereign decree of God. Oh wow, is this important, and misunderstood! We really need to think this through and learn about it. As theologian Clark Pinnock points out, “this is not so much salvation by grace ‘through faith’ as it is salvation without faith.”[5] I know this is really controversial, and I hope nobody will misunderstand what I’m trying to say here. There is so much theological teaching out there that really says God does it all, that it’s easy to become confused. But what I want to emphasize today is that faith is something we do! We must actively believe God to receive from Him! Scriptures like James 1:5 teach this too – if we lack wisdom, we must ask for it, but we must ask in faith, or it won’t work! Have you ever noticed that before? Faith is not just a list of facts, though it is that. Faith is also an action we take. It is actively trusting God and trusting what He has promised in His Word. If we trust, we have peace. If we don’t trust, we will be anxious. That’s the practical truth of how this works!
Yes, Christ has provided “such a great salvation” (Heb. 2:3 NIV), but we must be careful to not “neglect” that salvation! Have you ever noticed that? To neglect, or not to neglect, that is the question! What does it mean to neglect, and what would it be like to not neglect?
What it means is, we have a part to play in “working out” our salvation (Phil. 2:12), as I will describe below. Yes, the Spirit has been poured out, but we must believe that and receive Him by faith, then learn to be continually filled by Him, walk with Him, and be led by Him. We must choose to take Jesus’ yoke of discipline upon us and learn of Him (Matt. 11:29). We must also take an active role in Christ’s mission to the world, recognizing that He uses human beings to accomplish His work.
If spiritual life were truly automatic, something God just sovereignly did “to us,” why would we even have need of a Bible, why would God have raised up the Church, and why is it that He has given various ministries and gifts “for the perfecting of the saints” (Eph. 4:11)? Evidence of the key role human agency plays in spiritual life is found throughout the scriptures.
That is all the time we have for this podcast. I hope you will take these things to heart and ponder them, because if you will, it can change your outlook and your experience forever. God wants us to know how the spiritual life works, so that we don’t sit around passively and hope for something to happen, or wish we could have more of God. No, it’s not about wishing! It’s about understanding how spiritual life works, understanding we have a key role in it, and beginning to play our part. I hope you’ll stay tuned as we discuss this more, next time.
Till then, may the Lord richly bless you, and may all of us experience the fullness of what Jesus died to give us!
[1] Emphasis mine, John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994. III. iii. 14, 607
[2] Daniel Gilbert, The Spirit in the Life of the Believer in Calvin’s Theology, An Excerpt from “The Pneumatic Charismata in the Theology of John Calvin” from Chapter 1: “Calvin’s Pneumatology: An Historical and Theological Overview.” 19.
[3] Robert L. Shank, Life in the Son: A Study of the Doctrine of Perseverance, Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 1989. 105, 106.
[4] Though Rea says this only refers to speaking about the things of God with other believers, (Rea, 261) Scripture also shows the importance of speaking to oneself and strengthening oneself in the Lord in such passages as Ps. 42:5 and 1 Sam. 30:6.
[5] Pinnock, Ibid., 159.