Working With God — Bob Hoekstra

Redemption and Zeal for Good Works

We'll start in a moment in our scriptures in Titus chapter 2 verse 14. Titus chapter 2 verse 14. And our subject of study is going to be working with God. And I think you'll note by the scriptures as we go along that that little preposition with is a strategic one in how we are to be effective servants of God.

Working with God. Well let's pray together about this time. Lord we're so grateful to be gathered in your name. We're so thankful Lord that you are here with us. That you are in our lives. But also Lord that you're working among us.

And Lord it is our desire that your will be accomplished in this hour. That you reveal yourself, your ways to us Lord. We do want to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And Lord who could estimate how much of eternity and heaven above you could pour down here on earth below into our hearts in this finite limited section of time. Lord we do ask you to do today even exceeding abundantly beyond all we could ask or think.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Working with God. Titus 2 verse 14. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed. And purify for himself his own special people zealous for good works.

The gospel is included here. The glory of God sending his son to give himself for us in our place. That he might redeem us, buy us back from, restore us from every lawless deed. How many lawless deeds were we engaged in before we embraced the redemption of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I must say I indulged in many many of them. But he has redeemed us from every lawless deed. Everything we ever did or would do. Contrary to the holy law of God. We have been redeemed. And God wants to purify for himself our lives.

Make us a uniquely owned and transformed people. And then the last phrase is right on our subject today really. A good introduction for it. Zealous for good works. Zealous for good works. Having a fiery zeal in our heart to be engaged in good works.

And good works. How many directions that can run in the word of God. Prayer and service and sacrifice and kindness. Ministering the word. Helping people with their burdens. It's the scope of a whole lifetime for us to march into.

And the Lord wants to make a people zealous for good works. Now we know according to Ephesians 2, 8 -10. That salvation is not of works. The Lord wants to make the saved zealous for good works. But salvation is not by works.

We are saved by grace through faith. Not of works. Specifically declared. Not of works. Not something we could earn or deserve or merit. It's the undeserved goodness of our great God that saved our souls.

But verse 10 makes it very clear. That we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Or for good works. Not saved by working to earn it. But once saved, zealous for good works. And praise the Lord for that desire that stirs in our hearts.

To work for the Lord. Titus 3, 8 puts it. Titus 3, 8. This is a faithful saying and these things I want you to affirm constantly. That those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.

These things are good and profitable to man. The good works that God has prepared before that we should walk in. They are good things. Our God is good. He loves to do good for people. Jesus went about doing good.

And we are called to be that kind of a people. Maintaining, sustaining a life of good works. I thank the Lord that early on the Lord laid on the heart of myself and my wife a desire. In those days it came out like this.

We want to work for the Lord. And that matches these scriptures. And that is in the spirit of the Lord. It is His will and His way. But I will tell you through the years. It was so helpful. To begin to see in the word of God.

That we not only are called to work for God. But here is the glory of it. We are invited to work with God. Working for God is a good motive, a good direction. But there comes the big question. How are we going to do that?

How are we going to be effective in a life of good works? An active doing that applies the goodness of God to other lives. Well, it is going to be critical to learn how to work with God. In fact, it is a very helpful distinction.

To see that such a life of service. Hinges on this difference between, this distinction between. Working for God and working with God. All of our lives should be a sacrifice of service. For the glory of God and the blessing of others.

But, to actually accomplish that. It is critical to understand what the scriptures say about working with God. With God. You know, like a scalpel works with a surgeon. What would it be without the surgeon?

Like sheep walk closely with a shepherd. What would the sheep be without a good and able shepherd? Like a branch works with the vine. Where would the branch be without the vine? Well, we have been taught by Jesus.

Apart from Him we can do nothing. How radical is that? It is very clear that if we are going to be those zealous for good works. And willing to be growing and maintaining good works. That we need the Lord fully engaged with us.

And this is clearly what the scriptures declare. 1 Corinthians 3 .9. 1 Corinthians 3 .9. For we are God's fellow workers. Or as it is translated in some versions. We are workers together with God. That's us.

The we. That's the corporate expression of the body of Christ. Paul, his missionary team. The saints at Corinth he was writing to. And all of us that God through His word speaks to. We are God's fellow workers.

Co-laborers. It's not just that God is way off there. And we are way down here. And we have a heart for Him. And we are laboring to please and serve Him. That doesn't quite catch the picture. A lot of that is swallowed up in this.

But this is bigger than that. It's the Lord is right here with us. Right in our lives. And we are fellow laborers with God. We are here crying out to Him. Depending upon Him. Seeking Him. And He is reaching out to us.

And working in and through our lives. 2 Corinthians 6 .1. We then as workers together with Him. With God. We are co-laborers. The Lord has not left us without His presence. He has not left us without His help.

If you've known the Lord very long. You've served the Lord much probably already. I know many of you are zealous for good works. Many of you maintain a life of good works. Praise the Lord for all of that.

But haven't you noticed? It gets hard. It gets difficult. It gets challenging. You get weary. You feel inadequate. You are crying out for wisdom. And the magnitude of our calling. Just keeps growing. All of our lives.

As someone said to me not long ago. You've walked with the Lord for decades plus. Does it get easier? And the trials and battles dissipate? Oh no. No. Everything grows. Everything grows. Insight to the Lord.

But opportunity for the Lord. A picture of the victory we have in Christ over the enemy. But the raging action of the enemy. It's kind of like a parable seen in life all around us. As people grow up, they grow into new perspective.

New opportunities. New impossibilities. And certainly when you raise children. You protect them when they are young from so many things. And the more mature they get, the more you give them room to get out into all that life engages for us.

We need the Lord. We need to be working with God in our ministry. We need to be doing that in outreach. 2 Corinthians 5 .20. Reaching out for those who need to be reconciled to God. We need the Lord at work in our lives.

In that context. 2 Corinthians 5 .20. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ. There is that picture of laboring for Him. But right in this verse, it's described how it actually happens. As though God were pleading through us.

We implore you. We beg you on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled to God. When we are sharing the gospel and urging someone to give consideration to that gospel. If we are walking with the Lord as He intended.

Here's what's going to take place. The Lord who is present in our life has called us out of darkness to light. Has made us ambassadors for Christ. Boy, that's a thought. Ambassadors. The world might look at us and dismiss us swiftly.

Who are you? What are you? Into some religious thing, you know. Just kind of get out of the way. And yet, in God's economy. In heaven's plan. In the Lord's perspective. We are His ambassadors. That's quite a role.

That's quite a calling. Ambassadors represent a ruler. A leader. A kingdom. And represent such to another people or domain. And we represent the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. The kingdom of heaven right here on this earth.

And we go forth. We go forth in His name. And He's with us. And He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. So when we are urging people to consider the gospel. We're sharing. If we're walking that kind of dependent relationship with the Lord.

Here's how it works in outreach. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us. Can't you see the difference? It's one thing for a human to plead. Or debate. Or argue. Or verbally joust with another.

Even with good motivations. Wanting their salvation and their blessing. How about if you bring the Lord into the picture. Realize He's right there. He's in our lives. He's called us to be His representatives.

And He wants to write through our heart. Our voice. Our newly developing relationship with that person. He Himself wants to be pleading with that person. Who would you rather have? Reaching out in a pleading conviction and explanation.

To touch a heart for Christ. The best you can do. Or the fullness that God can bring. There's no comparison. In outreach. We are ambassadors for Christ. And have the privilege of the Lord God who called us.

Reaching right out through us in the words we share. In line with His Word. Anointed by His Holy Spirit. But it's not just in outreach. It's in any kind of good work for the Lord. Galatians chapter 2.

God's Effective Work in Peter and Paul

Galatians chapter 2 verse 8. For he who worked effectively in Peter. For the apostleship to the circumcised. Also worked effectively in me. Paul writes. Toward the Gentiles. All of us can minister to all kinds of people.

And we all have a word for the Jew and the Gentile. But Peter's ministry was especially targeted toward the Jewish people. Paul's. Strangely enough. With all of his Jewish background. Notwithstanding.

His primary focus was to be on the Gentiles. Upon the nations. They both became amazingly effective servants of God. Peter early on. We sort of kid around about how he was impulsive. And didn't know when to be silent.

And all of those things that we find in his early walk with the Lord. But you keep watching Peter's life. And you watch him in the book of Acts. And you see who he was. When he wrote those epistles. First and second Peter.

Oh. God was building a mighty servant of the Lord. And God worked in and with Peter. For he who worked effectively in Peter. For the apostleship to the circumcised. The apostle Peter's life was exceedingly effective.

But here we're given direct insight really. As to who was the agent behind this effectiveness. He who worked effectively in Peter. For this apostleship to reach out to the Jews. It was God. Peter learned to work with God.

And then Paul adds. The same one worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles. What a phenomenal ministry the apostle Paul had to the Gentile nations. Such a harvest of fruitfulness. Such an impact in lives.

But it wasn't a story of human capability. It really was a story of human availability. It was God working effectively in Paul. Touching those lives that he reached out to. And so it is to be with us.

The Lord has callings upon all of our lives. He's gifted all of his people. We have a general call to take the gospel out into all the nations. And make disciples of all the nations. But each of us will have as we go along the way.

We'll find kind of a particularized, personalized calling of the Lord. How are we to expect to be effective in these things? Well the way a man would be. Well you just give it all you got. Well what if you find out in the Bible that you don't have much?

What if you find out in your experience that you don't have near what you thought you had? What if you find out that you must be numbered among the poor in spirit? Or to paraphrase that, numbered among the spiritually bankrupt.

Now what are you going to do? Well, the more we see that truth of our lack and need through the word of God. All the more interested we are in this matter of working with God. Working with God. Ephesians 3 .7 Paul's testimony of service.

Speaking of the gospel. Of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God. Given to me by the effective working of His power. What a testimony of how to serve God. Paul became a minister, that is, a servant of God.

That's what that word means. And he became that according to, in line with, by the means of, the gift of the grace of God. And this is not a testimony of his salvation. This is a testimony of his service.

He's not directly relating to us here how he got saved. He's talking about once saved, how he became a servant of God. According to the gift of the grace of God. You know, that's how we got saved. It was according to the gift of the grace of God.

But here Paul's applying that same truth to service. He became a servant of God. According to the gift of the grace of God. Another reminder that the means by which a person is saved. The means by which all of us were saved.

Is the same means by which we are to grow, get shaped and equipped to serve God. We know we were saved according to the gift of the grace of God. Salvation is a gift. God's grace poured out. Brothers, sisters, let's not shift from the way we got saved to the way we're going to serve God.

They are both by the grace of God. Oh, early on I remember so grateful to the Lord for saving my soul. How many pledges and promises and vows I made to him of the great things I was going to do for him.

And I meant them out of gratitude that he would save a sinner like me. But oh, how I overestimated what I would be able to do. I thought you could build a ministry on devotion. Oh, devotion stirs the heart to make you want to minister.

But if I could pick a truth out of Romans 7. But the how I was not finding. Here's how. Of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God. How do you get shaped to minister and then actually serve God by the gift of his grace?

You're continually looking to the Lord to supply this outpoured grace as a gift. That he might use it in and through your heart and life and words and relationships and understanding and perspectives.

Priorities and all of that. It's according to the gift of the grace of God. And Paul said, given to me by the effective working of his power. When humble hearts trust in the Lord. By the effective working of his power.

Grace is poured out to enable us to serve. Those who walk humbly with their God. Trusting dependently upon their God. God gives grace to the humble. Many don't progress in service because there's really a self-sufficient pride.

God opposes the proud. But he gives. He pours out. He gives undeservedly to the humble. Those who admit they need such. And are asking the Lord to provide it. Because trusting God accesses the grace of God.

We know that. It's how we first found grace for forgiveness. Now how do you find grace for equipping and serving? Same way. You humbly cry out to the God who has it. Admitting to him how much you need it.

And that you're counting on him to be true to his word. The way we began in the Lord is the way we proceed in the Lord. The way we were birthed into the kingdom. Is the way we grow up and become servants of the kingdom of heaven.

Grace as the Power for Service

1 Corinthians 15 10. But by the grace of God I am what I am. And his grace toward me was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not I but the grace of God which was with me. This great testimony verse.

Notice it is not a testimony of salvation. It's a testimony of service. Paul does give his testimony of how he was saved. Written in the word of God. And we can give ours to others for God's glory and their insight.

And this is a testimony verse. If you notice the words carefully it's not about being saved. It's about how he served. You see that right in the middle of the verse. I labored more abundantly than they all.

That's his testimony in this verse. I ask you. What was the cause that produced this wonderful effect of abundant laboring? Of a man zealous for good works? Of a man maintaining good works? What was the cause that produced that effect?

It's obvious. Mentioned three times. By the grace of God I am what I am. What was the dynamic that brought forth this reality? The grace of God. Those who live by the grace of God do not become selfishly indulgent.

That's not grace. That is called what? Licentiousness. Trying to turn the kindness and favor of God into a license to please the flesh. That's not grace. That's the spirit of self. That is the flesh in control.

Those who live by the grace of God, they labor abundantly. The grace of God becomes a dynamic that motivates, strengthens their heart to good works for the glory of God and blessing of others. His grace toward me was not in vain.

That was Paul's testimony. If you and I put all of our hope in the Lord for effective ministry, we will find that is not a vain thing to do. Vain means futile, ineffective, nonproductive, barren. Those who trust God to work in their heart by His grace, they will not become vain and fruitless.

Rather they will labor abundantly. And lest anyone think he was bringing credit to himself, he adds, yet not I. Alright, I did labor more abundantly than they all, but I was not the cause behind it. The glory goes to God, not me.

He's the explanation, not me. Our flesh likes to think that there's just something significantly capable and sufficient about us that we're just able to make ministry work. That's robbing the glory from God.

That's contradicting the Word of God. And that's vain. Yet not I. That's our testimony. When folks encourage me they've been blessed in our ministry, my first thought more and more is, wow, praise the Lord.

Why is that an appropriate response? Because if it was true ministry and it had true impact on someone, you can be convinced by the Word of God, the Lord was at work. The Lord did it. Yet not I. That's a confession of humility, and God gives grace to the humble.

His final testimony of how He served, but the grace of God which was with me. The God of grace dwells in our lives. 1 Peter 5 -10 calls Him the God of all grace. All kinds of grace. He dwells in us. He wants our hearts set on Him.

Who knows what great things He may want to do in any of our lives. Our focus? Trust Him. Seek Him. Hope in Him. Call upon Him. Be in the Word to learn of Him. That's when faith grows. That's also when our view of self diminishes because the Lord lets us know in the Word.

You know, we need Him desperately. We need Him desperately. 1 Peter 4 -10 and 11, speaking of the Apostle Peter. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another. There it is, good works. Ministering, serving.

Minister out of that gift to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. A steward is one who serves a Master using the provision of the Master for the will and the pleasure and the glory of the Master.

And we are stewards. What a privilege because our Master is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord God Almighty. And we've all received gifts. In fact, the word for spiritual gift is charismata. That's the word for grace in the New Testament.

Spiritual gifts are grace resources. Charismata. Grace resources. Sort of a specialized package of God's grace that distinctively is to mark our individual lives and ministries. We've each received such.

Minister it. Serve one another with that as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. The grace of God and His gifts and giftings are so many and diverse. So many varieties. So many kinds. So many different applications for them.

And that's our most particular impact on this earth is in the area of our calling and gift. Then these grace gifts are divided into speaking gifts and action gifts. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.

If God has called you with a primary gift of speaking, teaching, or counseling, let it be as the oracles of God. Let the words that come forth through the gift God has given you, let it be just a flow and representation of the living and abiding Word of God.

If there's a speaking gift, don't use it to somehow give a flowery demonstration of human oratory, but just let it be as it were the oracles of God. Through the years of pastoring and teaching, the Lord just kept laying on my heart more and more.

Get more and more of the Word, Bob, into the studies you share. Just get more and more of the Word. And you know, the sad general trend in the church world is less and less of the Word. More and more entertainment.

More and more opinions. If anyone speaks, let them speak as the oracles of God. Let our speech, if that's the gifting, just more and more be about what God has to say. The reading of it, and then the meditation kind of out loud upon it.

Privately in your heart and home as you prepare, but just reconsidering what has been read and correlating it with the rest of God's Word. Let it be the oracles of God. And if someone has an action gift, like mercy or help, something like that, if anyone ministers, serves in action, kind of contrasted here with if anyone speaks, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies.

It doesn't matter whether one is a preacher and teacher of the Word of God, a counselor in the Word of God, or they are a physical laborer in action gifts before the Lord God. If it's speaking, let it be the oracles of God.

If it's an action service, let it be with the ability which God supplies. Whether it's words or actions that we're primarily called to with our gift, let it be God at work. It's another picture of working with God.

Not just for Him. And of course, this brings glory to God. That in all things, words and deeds, speaking and action service, that in all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever.

Amen. It's a picture of working with God. God at work in and through us. Do you know that this is how it works in the life of Jesus? Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He's the ultimate example of how to please God, how to live, how to serve God.

Jesus' Dependence on the Father

John, the Gospel of John, chapter 5, verse 19. Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself. But what He sees the Father do for whatever He does, the Father, the Son also does in like manner.

How is it that God the Son, God the eternal Son, could say the Son can do nothing of Himself? Well, because He humbled Himself when He came to this earth. He'll come back again someday out of the clouds riding on a white horse, Revelation 19, and He will establish His thousand year reign on the earth.

He did not come that way. When He rode in that first coming, it was on a humble little donkey. And even then, He ended up rejected and crucified. He humbled Himself. Philippians 2, humbled Himself as a man.

John 1, the Word became flesh. Oh, clearly He never ceased being God. But Philippians 2 tells us He laid aside the divine right to exercise His deity on His own. He became a humble servant, which is what we're called to.

Obedient He was. Unto death. Even the death of the cross. So, the Lord Jesus, when He was serving, said the Son can do nothing of Himself. Then how did He serve? He worked with the Father. He worked with the Father.

John 14, verse 10, one of the most astounding insights on that truth. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak on My own authority.

But the Father who dwells in Me does the works. The Father and Jesus, of course, were one. United in one essence and reality from eternity past. When Jesus was on this earth, they were still one. He was in the Father.

The Father was in Him. And the Spirit came upon Him and remained. And when Jesus did all the phenomenal good that He did. Oh, the good works that He was so zealous to complete. He did that working with the Father.

His confession on His own. Do nothing of Myself. Then what's the explanation? The Father who dwells in Me does the works. This is a picture of the life of Jesus. Have you noticed in the Scriptures we're called to a similar dependency?

And it's not just a suggestion by application or parallel passage elsewhere, though that's a totally valid documentation of this truth. But Jesus Himself made this connection for us in His teaching. John 6, verse 57.

The truth of this in our lives. How He lived with the Father is how we are to live with the Son, the Lord Jesus. John 6, verse 57. As the living Father sent Me, Jesus said, and I live because of the Father.

So He who feeds on Me will live because of Me. Do you see the comparative structure of the verse? As so. As in the first case, so it is to be in the second case. What's the first case? How Jesus lived on earth with the Father.

As the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father. Jesus came forth from heaven above, born of a virgin. The Word became flesh, dwelt among us. The living Father sent Him forth. Then He explains, Jesus explains, how He lived that perfect life He lived on earth below.

And I live because of the Father. He's not saying, I live because that's who I am. I am God and God is life. That's not His confession in His day-by-day walk. That's a confession of who He was. This is a confession of how He lived.

I live because of the Father. In our ministry, in our weekly devotions, we've been studying a lot of the promises of God and we've been in Isaiah on the Messianic promises. It's astounding how many promises are there that the Father would make to the Son prophetically about His mission of salvation coming to this earth.

And how the Son replied that the Lord, the Father above, would be His strength in His mission of salvation. Here Jesus reveals that. As the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so, here's how it's to be in the second case, so He who feeds on me will live because of me.

Jesus lived the life of service that He had because of the Father. He trusted in the Father. He depended upon the Father. How are we to live? Let the Lord Jesus now be our spiritual nutrition. Faith in Jesus the living Word.

How do you feed on the Lord Jesus? He had already taught this in John 6 .35. I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger. He who believes in me shall never thirst. Those who live by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, it's as though they are feeding on the One who is the bread of life.

What does that produce? A life! What will that life look like? The further we go in that path of living depending upon Jesus, the life we live on this earth will be more and more Christ-like. Why so?

Because the Lord Jesus will be expressing His very person and character and life through ours. We'll be working with Him. With Him. 2 Corinthians 9 .8 sort of touches on how this works using the language of grace.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you always having all sufficiency in all things may have an abundance for every good work. There we are again. Back to good works. And there's all kinds of good works.

And the Lord wants us to engage in every kind of good work. How are we going to be able to do that? Is this some big load on our shoulders that we've got to perform up out of our own ingenuity and resolve and personal or personality strength?

Is that it? Quite the contrary. Not only contrary to verses we've looked at but to this verse. Look where the ability is anchored here that we need. 2 Corinthians 9 .8. And God is able. I'm sure you've had this experience.

Open the Word, read it, see what God's called us to and the thought goes through your mind. Oh, will I be able to do that? And the answer is, no, you won't. Well, then why put it there? Because you need help.

But with the literal, actual, biblical help of God, you can do it. It hinges on God's ability. See that? 2 Corinthians 9 .8. And God is able. What we need for a life of service and good works, we need the resources of God's grace.

And that hinges on the ability of God. And God is able to make all grace abound towards you. Just flood across your life like the ocean surf. That's the kind of language here. That you, having all sufficiency in all things, God's sufficiency, may have an abundance for every good work.

Whatever God has called us to, collectively or individually, the resources of God are abundantly available. That's how our lives are supposed to work. Let's go back with a concluding reflection and response to this issue of good works.

Cleansing and Preparation for Good Works

Motivated by our great God. 2 Timothy 2 .21. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, that would be the previous verses, things of iniquity, things of dis-earth, things of dishonor. If anyone cleanses himself through humble confession and repentance before the Lord, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, set apart, and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.

Day by day, to take before the Lord those things that He brings to our attention, convicts us of, that are dishonorable, that are sinful, that are indulgent, and just laying them before Him with confession and knowing He's faithful to cleanse us and forgive us and go on in that path of growing and serving the Lord.

That's what God has called us to. Even our failures cannot prevent this from happening if we cast all those cares and those transgressions upon the Lord. And this great benediction in Ephesians 3 may be a great reminder of the way God wants us to think and pray when it comes to good works and us working with God.

Ephesians 3 verse 20. Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. Again, the ability of God is in view. According to the power that works in us. What is that power?

The power of God. The power of the grace of God unleashed in a humble and trusting heart. According to the power that works in us. To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

Amen. This is a great way to think and pray when we're talking about serving God. Our God is able, that's our hope. He's able to do way, way out beyond what we've ever thought about asking Him or actually even have got down to asking Him.

The field is wide open. The resource is infinite. They can flood and fill a lifetime. That's the way this great prayer in Ephesians 3 concludes. So write down practically, personally, how would we proceed day by day in working with God as we've seen it taught about and testified to in the Scriptures.