One of the greatest wonders of my life is the way the all-knowing God works on me so I can know him. And one of the most consistent ways that he works on me is by leading me to feel my weakness so I can experience his strength.
Today, my physical side is very tired because of a lingering battle with a cold.
At the same time, my emotional side is weak with the weariness of grief.
However, my spiritual side is overwhelmed with wonder at how Father would strike the darkness of my dull-minded heartbrokenness with the light of his revelation and show me a level of attachment that has had me in tears of a whole other kind. In my weakness, his strength has opened my heart with worship.
The essence of this transformation is a personal invitation into the realities of the Triune God revealing a triune salvation that is so uniquely a work of God but in a way that absolutely demands attachment with me for it to be fulfilled.
In other words, the work of salvation is all of grace, not of any works, totally a gift of God.[1] And yet, the first act of this salvation was to make me alive in Christ so I can be fully active in what God is doing. On one side, I can’t contribute to my own salvation. On the other side, there is no salvation without me since I am the one being saved!
Think back to when Jesus first formed dirt into the body of a man. That dirt had no life in and of itself, but when he breathed the breath of life into it, Adam immediately, “became a living creature.”[2] Adam did not contribute to his life, but once he was alive, he was fully engaged in whatever happened next.
In the same way with our spiritual rebirth, “even when we were dead in our trespasses,” unable to contribute anything to our salvation, God “made us alive together with Christ”.[3] We could not make ourselves alive, but when God made us alive, we cannot be separated from everything else that happens.
To be clear, the giving of life is completely a work of God in either case, but the moment that life came into Adam’s body, and the moment that life came into my spirit, everything is about union with God. Everything is a testimony of the interactions between God and his child.
This morning, I can genuinely say that I am sick and tired. That is a very important part of what God did to bless me from his word. But there is this strange spot, like being in the right place at the right time with God, where he surrounds me with the work that only he can do while making me feel fully myself exactly where I am and in exactly what I am going through even though I am clearly a work in progress.
The triune nature of our salvation is described as justification by grace through faith, which leads to the ongoing work of sanctification by grace through faith, which leads to the certain hope of our glorification by grace through faith. The past is a settled issue in our justification; the present is a settled continuing work in our sanctification, and the future is a settled and certain work of our glorification. It all rests on the fact that, “that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”[4]
My justification by grace through faith is what makes it possible for God to attach to me so that all the rest of his work can be accomplished. It is this work of justice whereby God’s wrath against my sin has been poured out on his Son in order that God’s righteousness could be poured out upon me.[5] Paul described it like this, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”[6] Only by Jesus becoming sin for us could we become righteousness in him.
My sanctification by grace through faith is the ongoing work of God in which, “we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”[7] Notice the wonder of our transformation into the same image as our Lord Jesus Christ comes as we are constantly “beholding the glory of the Lord”. To whatever degree we do or do not behold our Savior’s glory affects the degree of transformation that can happen on any given day. Some Christians will receive great rewards in heaven, while others will experience their works being “burned up” so that “he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”[8] We can’t escape this, that we are participants in our own growing up in Christ, and we can affect our spiritual growth as we can affect our physical growth.
My glorification by grace through faith is my certain hope for the future. The “faith” we have in the present “is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”[9] “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”[10] The faith we have in Christ at present includes our certain hope about the future that God will reward those who seek him.
While this only touches on the three dimensions of our salvation, the point for me this morning was the state I was in. In the weakness of sickness and grief, God led me to an inner awareness of my place in Christ. His work of working all things together for my good is an active work that activates me. God accomplishes his work by bringing me into it. He does things by getting me to do things.
My model in this is, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ who said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing.”[11] Jesus related to his Father’s work so that there was no distinguishing any differences except that one was the Father, and the other was the Son.
We may marvel at the mindboggling reality of the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit as the One God of the Scriptures. However, we are encouraged to
let ourselves relate to them as little children who can know them in this
wonder of who they are without needing it all defined and explained to our
satisfaction. And when we let ourselves do that, to relate to them as little
children, we discover that all three dimensions of our so-great salvation call
us to walk in fellowship with God and their people the way the Triune God
fellowships together.[12]
It is part of being made in their image and likeness, and we have our part to
live out as we continue growing to be like them.
© 2022 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the
English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text
Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.)
[1]
Ephesians 2:8-9
[2]
Genesis 2:8
[3]
Ephesians 2:4-5
[4]
Philippians 1:6
[5]
The word “propitiation” used in the better English translations refers to this
work of God where Jesus bore God’s wrath against our sins. Without Jesus propitiating
God’s wrath, fully satisfying God’s justice against our sins, there could be no
forgiveness. https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=propitiation&resultspp=250&version=ESV
[6]
II Corinthians 5:21
[7]
II Corinthians 3:18
[8]
I Corinthians 3:15
[9]
Hebrews 11:1
[10]
Hebrews 11:6
[11]
John 5:19-20
[12]
Jesus clearly prayed for this in his High Priestly Prayer of John 17.
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