Why work?  Isn’t God the one who works?  If we join God in his work, we are still the ones calling the shots.  If we go out and do our own work, God is not in it.  So how do we go about doing the Lord’s work?  Clearly this is a Calvinist problem and not Arminian.  Most Arminians don’t struggle with this as much because of their semi-Pelagian backgrounds in thinking that God blesses them more because they work.

We see these two positions in the Bible, Romans 4:4-8 praises the one who has faith and does not work for gain. James 2:14-26 seems to say the opposite that faith without works is dead.  However, as me must always do, we must look to the context.  Paul, in Romans, is referring to those who work to earn their reward.  We know that God’s grace is given to us only by faith (Galatians 3).  However, James, being the more practical preacher that he is, corrects those lazy people like me who think that we don’t have to work because we are already justified by faith.  James says if we truly have faith, it will compel us to do good works.  And properly applied, those works won’t be to glorify ourselves and gain a reward (since we already have a reward), it will be to glorify Jesus because he is ultimately worth every ounce of our effort and when we do this kind of work, we will be ultimately satisfied.

Here’s how this works.  As believers, the Lord gives us the desire to do his work.  As we do this work, motivated by the desire to glorify God, we will receive God’s grace to empower us to do his work, and God will richly bless our work.  Because of the joy and satisfaction this brings, we will want to do more work and involve ourselves all the more in doing all that God has desired for us to do.  All this is powered by our faith that God will do as he says and give us his Spirit to empower us to do all he has commanded.

It’s a perfect cycle: desire to do God’s will as given to us by the Spirit, our obedience in doing God’s will empowered by the Spirit and the faith God has worked in us, then joy and satisfaction in completing God’s will which increases our faith and empowers us to do God’s will all the more.

That’s the ideal situation, but unfortunately, its not what usually happens.  As believers, God still gives us a desire to do his work, but we usually lack the faith to carry it out.  We look at what God has told us to do and get scared and don’t trust God to provide for us or empower us as his Word says.  When this happens, we become disobedient.  The litmus test that we are on the wrong track as we try to work is that it becomes a drudgery and painful and all joy is sapped from doing it.  The pain and drudgery is meant to bring us to repentance and realize our dependence and need for Christ to help us do what he has called us to do.

Here’s how I came to understand this.  For example, I am having a hard time studying God’s word.  It’s not because God is not going before me and not because I don’t have a direction to go, its because I have been disobedient and the painfulness of study is what God is using to get my attention.  To obey requires faith.  We can’t see what God has commanded us to do will work, so we have to depend on him for everything by faith.

Breaking the cycle of disobedience is never easy.  Usually its because our disobedience has become a habit and second, because there is another sin in our life that caused us to become disobedient in the first place.  For me, its a fear of man.  I have to have man’s approval and when I fear that I may not get it or that I may make a fool of myself, I won’t do anything.  It may be different for other people, but whatever it is, we must come to grips with it and defeat it through the power of God’s word and encouragement and help from others.  Make a conscious effort to overcome whatever fear is keeping you from becoming obedient.  I leave you with this quote, not necessarily by a Christian, but when applied to Christianity, becomes a powerful statement, especially when it is understood that our strength comes from the Lord.

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop and look fear in the face. The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it. You must make yourself succeed every time.  You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Posted: 07|15|09 at 3:30 pm. Filed under: The Journey.
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