This is part 3 of 4 of Lesson 6. Click here to go back to the introduction to Lesson 6 Struggling With All Energy.
Salvation is both a simple and a complex thing to understand.
Thankfully you don’t need a theology degree to know the basics, to know enough to start a saving relationship with Jesus.
When on the earth, Jesus Himself often communicated salvation in simple terms:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NLT)
When calling His disciples
Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax-collection booth. “Come, be my disciple!” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. Luke 5:27,28 (NLT)
When forgiving sins…
Some people brought to him a paralyzed man on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Take heart, son! Your sins are forgiven.” Matthew 9:2 (NLT)
But while there is a simple aspect to salvation, there is also an endless stream of understanding that we need to keep refining as we mature in our Christian walk.
And one of the big themes is how much effort do we need to put in?
We started to tackle this issue in an earlier post – The Reflection. (I recommend you click on the link above if you haven’t had a look through this yet.)
We summarised that earlier discussion with an excerpt from Dr Tim Jennings’ podcast:
Can God perfect your character without your voluntary and wilful participation? No. Can you perfect your character without His participation.? No. Christ has perfected the character which is the ideal which is the model in which the Holy Spirit will take from what is Christ and make to us and restore in us. But He can only do that with our wilful co-operation with Him. Our willingness to open the heart in trust to Him.
So for this week, we’ll have a look at a couple of key texts and see if we can further test our understanding on this issue.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matt 11:28-30 (NKJV)
This is an example of a simple yet profound saying from Jesus. What I take from this is that following Jesus does involve work, but this work will lead to ‘rest for your souls’.
Interestingly a ‘yoke’ is a harness for animals: a wooden frame for harnessing two draft animals to whatever they had to pull. It also is something that ‘couples’ or binds together.
Is Jesus driving us like ploughing animals, or is he yoked together with us, sharing the burden?
What do you think of Paul’s famous passage comparing the spiritual life to an athlete’s?
All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified. I Cor 9:25-27 (NLT)
Taken out of context, this could look like it’s all us. That salvation can be achieved via a set of spiritual disciplines. But we need to compare this to Paul’s other writings, such as Galatians 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
So to bring these texts together, could we say that the ‘discipline’ that Paul refers to is the constant need to surrender self to God? To let God work in our lives?
The lesson quotes the following from Ellen White
“In order to receive God’s help, man must realize his weakness and deficiency; he must apply his own mind to the great change to be wrought in himself; he must be aroused to earnest and persevering prayer and effort. Wrong habits and customs must be shaken off; and it is only by determined endeavor to correct these errors and to conform to right principles that the victory can be gained. Many never attain to the position that they might occupy, because they wait for God to do for them that which He has given them power to do for themselves. All who are fitted for usefulness must be trained by the severest mental and moral discipline, and God will assist them by uniting divine power with human effort.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 248.
There is some tough stuff in there! But again there are common elements to the Biblical quotes that have gone before. For instance the uniting of divine power and human effort is similar to the Jesus’ yoke saying. The ’severest mental and moral discipline’ is similar to Paul’s athletic metaphor. Realizing our weakness and deficiency is in line with ‘it is no longer I who live’.
What do you think, is the quote above too harsh, or right on the money?
