Chapter 4. Tapping into God's Power. Men are everywhere crying and sighing for power and the fullness of the Spirit, but they neglect the means by which this power and fullness are obtained. Samuel Logan Brengle. Unless our old man is really crucified with him, the cross of Christ will profit us nothing. William Law. True victory over self is the victory of God in the man, not of the man alone. George MacDonald.
At the Last Supper, Jesus gave us one of the most illuminating explanations of the Kingdom life in his illustration of the vine, which we just read. Here Jesus explains that the Christian life is one of an abiding relationship with Him. Salvation is not a "once and done" operation. Furthermore, it's not just any relationship with Jesus, but a relationship that bears godly fruit. Or, to put it another way, it is an obedient love-faith relationship with Christ.
According to Jesus, bearing godly fruits is essential, not discretionary. The Kingdom life can only be achieved through the power that Christ gives. Yet that doesn't mean that we play no part in it ourselves. The first secret of the Kingdom life is that it is built on two key spiritual truths. Christ. Without me, you can do nothing. John 15:5. Man. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13.
Christ tells us that we will never be able to produce fruits on our own strength, let alone live the Kingdom life. We need to maintain a close spiritual relationship with Him. Most Christians are aware of that. However, too many Christians think that Christ's words mean, "I will do everything for you." But that's not what Jesus says. A few years ago, my wife and I decided to modify our diet to eat more fruits and vegetables.
My wife bought a blender so she could easily make fruit smoothies and other whole food items. As long as the blender is unplugged from the electrical outlet, it doesn't work. It can't chop vegetables or liquefy fruit. Without electricity, the blender can do nothing. It is like a man without Christ. Does that mean, then, that electricity does everything? Does it mean my wife didn't need to buy a blender after all? Of course not. Without electricity, the blender can do nothing.
But the electricity by itself can't chop vegetables or make smoothies. The electricity gives the blender the power it needs. With electricity, the blender can do amazing things. The Christian life is the same. On our own strength, we can't live even a basic Christian life, let alone the Kingdom life. Yet with Christ's power, we can do all of the things He asks of us. Unlike the illustration of electricity, Christ actually could do everything for us.
That is, if He wanted a bunch of robots to move about at His pleasure. But He doesn't want robots. He wants warm humans who choose to obey Him because they love Him. Christ won't do our obeying for us. He requires our participation in bearing fruit and living the Kingdom life. So what part does God play, and what does God require of us? What God does for us. To begin with, God gives us the new birth.
As Jesus said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God." John 3:5. Nobody can give the new birth to himself. It has to come from God. And without the new birth, we can't enter the Kingdom of God. No wonder Jesus tells us that without Him, we can do nothing. We can't even begin the Christian life without Him. In fact, Jesus explains that we would never originally have taken any steps toward Christ if God had not worked in our hearts.
"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him." John 6:44. Paul tells us that the Father has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13-14. Through Christ, our sins are forgiven, and we are redeemed through His blood. Without Christ and His Father, we would remain trapped under the powers of darkness. We can't force our way into the Kingdom.
God conveys us there. Once we are redeemed, God continues to work in us. Paul told the Ephesians, "For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." Ephesians 3:14-17.
So the Father strengthens us with might through His Spirit, and Christ dwells in our hearts through faith to provide us continuing power. Paul didn't say that through his own power he could do all things. Rather, he said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13. What God requires of us. God transforms us into a branch on the vine of His dear Son and infuses us with divine power. Having done that, God expects us to respond to that power.
He requires us to cooperate with Him in producing godly fruit. 17th-century Scottish minister Henry Scougal writes, "The Holy Ghost must come upon us, and the power of the Highest must overthrow us, before that holy thing can be begotten and Christ is formed in us. Yet we must not expect that this whole work should be done without any concurrent endeavors of our own. We must not lie loitering in the ditch and wait till omnipotence pulls us from there. No, no.
We must bestir ourselves and actuate those powers we have already received." That's exactly what Scripture teaches. Paul exhorts us, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 12:1-2.
Paul says that we must present our bodies as living sacrifices that are holy and acceptable to God. We must not conform ourselves to this world. We must allow ourselves to be transformed. All of this is through the mercies of God and His transforming power. So it is a matter of our cooperating with the working of the Spirit.
Paul writes further, "The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age." Titus 2:12. Without the grace of God, we would never get on the vine to start with or be able to produce fruit. Yet that same grace teaches us that we have to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. We have to live soberly, righteously, and godly.
Again, it is a matter of man cooperating with the power of God that works within him. Peter exhorts us, "Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance. But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.'" 1 Peter 1:13-16.
Once again, the Scriptures make it clear that in response to God's grace, God expects us to be sober, to be obedient, and to be holy. The power comes from Him. The sacrificial response must come from us. The early Christian teacher, Clement of Alexandria, explains it this way, "A man by himself, working and toiling at freedom from sinful desires, achieves nothing.
But if he plainly shows himself to be very eager and earnest about this, he attains it by the addition of the power of God." God works together with willing souls. But if the person abandons his eagerness, the Spirit from God is also restrained. To save the unwilling is the act of one using compulsion. But to save the willing, that's of one showing grace. God and the Farmer. Living the Kingdom life is like farming. Without the things that God supplies, a farmer can do nothing.
Think of all the things that God provides for the farmer. God furnishes the earth itself, without which the farmer would have nothing to plant his seeds in. And the seeds would have nowhere to send their roots to obtain water and nutrients. God provides the water, whether through rain or from irrigation. God supplies the sun, without which nothing could grow. The very seeds the farmer plants are distant offshoots of the original plants created by God.
We can truthfully say that without God, the farmer can do nothing. Does that mean that God does everything? Can the farmer just sit back and wait for God to grow his crops for him? Anyone who farms or gardens knows all too well that it doesn't work that way. A lot of hard work is involved in farming. The farmer has to plow his field. God won't plow it for him. The farmer has to plant the seeds. God won't plant them for him. The farmer has to apply fertilizer and fight weeds and pests.
God doesn't do those things for him. Finally, the farmer has to harvest the crop. God won't do that either. Yes, without God, the farmer can do nothing. But God makes the farmer earn his living by the sweat of his brow. God and the farmer are partners. It's the same way in the Christian life. Man cooperating with God. God and the Olympic Athlete. The Scriptures sometimes liken the Christian life to an athletic race.
Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1. Paul uses the same analogy in his first letter to the Corinthians, "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it." 1 Corinthians 9:24. Did you notice that in both texts, the writer says that it is we who run the race?
God does not run our race for us. Does that mean we can run the race of life on our own power? No, of course not. The power has to come from God. Probably no one has understood this joint relationship of God and man better than Paul. He knew that without Christ, he was nothing. Yet he also knew that he had to exert himself if he was going to run this race faithfully until the end.
Remember his words, "But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I preach to others, I myself should become disqualified." 1 Corinthians 9:27. If Paul was concerned about being disqualified, how much more so should we? But can we fully embrace the Kingdom life overnight? Is it an instant thing like the new birth?