Just Work With Me
Have you ever heard the phrase “just work with me?” Or, maybe no one actually said that to you, but you knew in order for a plan to work, you would have to do your part?
When we first moved to St Marys, we met with a financial planner who gave us a plan to prepare us for retirement. I’ll be honest with you; it was a difficult plan. I knew that it would help us get out of debt and get us ready, but I was not thrilled with all that it would require from us to succeed on that financial path. We would have to discipline ourselves in our spending and savings. She was really good, but I knew that she could only do so much.
We would have to do our part, and it would be necessary for us to work with her to reach our goals.
In the latter part of II Corinthians 5, Paul tells us that through Jesus, we have been reconciled to God. We are new creatures in Christ because Jesus took on our sins so we could be made righteous or in right standing with God.
But in the first verse of chapter six, Paul says, “Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.”
The New Living Translation says,
“As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it.”
We have been in a series of sermons on Transformation. In Romans 12:2, Paul wrote “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” As I was thinking about being transformed, and then reading Paul’s words in II Corinthians 6, I believe the scripture implies that there is something needed from us and Romans 12:1 plays a vital role in the process. Paul says, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
Let me clarify right here and now: we do not work for our salvation. Jesus sacrificed his life so that we could receive the forgiveness of our sins and this marvelous grace – a grace that we absolutely did nothing to deserve but was freely given to us. And yes, we receive God’s grace because of the work of Christ. Jesus’ blood cleanses us from all unrighteousness. But for us to grow in our walk with Christ and for transformation to take place in our heart and lives, we must work with God.
We can’t receive His grace and then live any ‘ole way we want. That is what Paul meant when he wrote “receiving that grace of God in vain.” This grace was not cheap. And you can be sure that God’s grace was of such extravagance, and it is certainly more than enough to equip us and empower us to fulfill the requirement on our part which is to give our lives to Him.
The Message explains it like this, “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.”
Once we have received Jesus in our hearts, and we have been brought into fellowship with God, it is our responsibility to present our life as an offering to God – every hour of every day in all that we do. And it is then that He in turn will help us and work in us to change us into His likeness.
You aren’t a hopeless cause. You can live a victorious life growing in Christ. You just got to work with Him.
