WORKING WITH GOD

WORKING WITH GOD

(Part of a message given at a Conference of evangelists)

Roger T. Forster

I THINK that the most obvious Scripture to be considered by those who want to learn about working for God is Second Corinthians, because in that letter Paul exposed his problems, his trials and difficulties, yes, and his own soul to those whom he loved and who were the fruit of his ministry.

It is significant to note that all through the epistle Paul stressed the importance of power. [54/55] None of us who are Christian workers ever get to the place where we do not long to have a greater experience and a fuller expression of the power of God. We are aware that we need God's power. God is the one who at the beginning commanded light to shine out of darkness; and in the new creation, in seeking to bring forth God's work in the new creation, the same power, if not more, is required. And we know our own failures. We long to know more of the power of God. This letter speaks of it all the time. From Paul's first reference to God's resurrection power (1:9) he continually focused on this matter until he closed with the passage which speaks of living by that same power (13:4).

His other theme -- in stark contrast with this one -- is that of weakness. From his confession of despairing inadequacy (1:8-9), through to his final claim that it was when he was weak that he was strong (12:10), the apostle stressed the fact that the gospel treasure is committed to earthen vessels, explaining that in conveying this treasure the Christian worker is conscious of being persecuted, pursued, perplexed and knocked down (though not knocked out!). We therefore conclude that the person who is working with God must know much of human weakness if he is to experience divine power.

This incredible paradox of man's sense of weakness and the exhibition of God's power is resolved in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, as all such paradoxes are: We read: "For he was crucified through weakness, yet he lives by the power of God" and find ourselves linked with Him in that: "we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God" (13:4). So this double line of experiences, these two conflicting kinds of knowledge, meet in the person of the Lord Jesus. It is the man or woman living in Christ who can begin to see these two things coming together in a productive, creational power which brings forth to the new life and new light of the new creation. We ourselves have no such creative power; with all our intellect, with all our emotion and with all our activity, there is no energy which can command light to shine from darkness for the production of spiritual life.

In directing us back to the actual creation scene, Paul pointed to the controversy of the gospel (4:6). There is the contrast between the old creation and the new, between the power of the devil and the power of God. Paul found himself in the tension of standing with God between the darkness of the world and the light of life, as if he had one hand on God and the other striking at Satan's kingdom of darkness. At the beginning of the creation there was a conflict; on one side chaos and darkness and on the other side God commanding that there should be light. So in the new creation there is a separation of light from darkness, with the servant of the Lord standing between the two and, as he does so, he knows the reality of his own weakness and insufficiency, but also proves the superiority of the power of God. It is painful, this tension of experience, but all true life is involved in tension, for there is always something to be overcome. So we are reminded of the two spheres of existence; there is the realm of darkness, blindness, unbelief and perdition under the rule of the god of this age, and there is the light and glory of a personal experience of Jesus Christ. And amid these two spheres of existence, the servant of God stands boldly to bring the one into the other.

Four wills are involved; there is the will of the worker, the will of the enemy of men's souls, the will of the captive who needs to be released into the liberty of the Spirit, and then lastly there is the will of God Himself. This last is all-important for, after all, whatever the servant of the Lord may will, and however much Satan's will is thwarted, and however much the captive will may be released, unless God takes a hand and Himself shines light into the darkness, there will be no spiritual, supernatural re-birth. Our consideration now, however, relates to the first of these wills, that is the responsibility of the worker with God between the two realms of light and darkness. We find here five 'don'ts' and five 'dos', which together make a sort of ten commandments for those working with God.

1. We do not give up (v.1)

This claim that we do not 'cowardly surrender' is repeated in verse 16. So there must have been times in Paul's experience when he was tempted to give it all up and throw in the sponge. This business of spreading the gospel, of bringing forth new creation, is such hard going and its pressure so great, that God's servant may well feel scared and ready to give up. But although Paul must have felt like this, he did not succumb, and he found that it was the mercy [55/56] of God which kept him going. This faint feeling was a part of his human weakness -- and ours -- and we do well to recognise it. Once we do this, we can laugh at the enemy, but if it creeps up on us unawares, we may imagine that it is something else, something to do with failure on our part, and lose our confidence in God because we have such feelings. Many people are discouraged from doing things for God because they are overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy. They truly love the Lord and want to express their gratitude to Him, but when the opportunity comes, they allow themselves to be put off. Once we accept that this faint feeling is a part of the cost of being in the business of a worker with God, we understand ourselves better, lay hold afresh on mercy and do not cowardly surrender.

2. We do not use questionable methods (v.2)

We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, or the underhand methods. We are not going to use methods to convey our gospel which are in any way underhand, or in any way questionable. Now any means of communicating the truth of Jesus are legitimate as long as they do not confuse the message which we are trying to convey. Thank God that we can use any channel available unless that medium being used is going to compromise our message. But the medium or manner of conveying our message will always colour what we are trying to put over, and Paul said that we should be on our guard lest the means we use confuse the message which we are bringing. The question to ask is: 'Does this give a true image of the Lord Jesus? Does it adequately represent the gospel?' The manner in which we convey our message is bound to give colour to that message, so that people will consider the method and say that it is the message. It is most important, therefore, that our methods never cloud or misrepresent the gospel, making people think that it is something different from what it is.

3. We do not use craftiness (v.2)

We do not use the Word of God deceitfully, peddling it, using craftiness in the way that we put it over. There is a craftiness associated with the devil's operations; he is crafty, using the things of God for his own ends (11:3). As shown by his encounter with the Lord Jesus in the wilderness, he can so handle the Scriptures that they prosper his purposes rather than God's. It is not that he utters obvious untruths, but rather that he uses something which seems to be true, just twisting it so that it serves his own ends. There is an element in all of us which would make us use what is of God to bring credit to ourselves. Not least in the matter of our own piety do we tend to abuse the grace of God for personal aggrandisement. The servant of the Lord will never walk in craftiness, pretending to be an angel of light while in fact there are dark and unworthy motives in his heart.

4. We do not handle the Word of God deceitfully (v.2)