We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
The verse is an urgent plea from those working together with God that His grace not be taken without effect, but be grasped, used, and allowed to shape the life in faith and faithful service now. Now is the accepted time and day of salvation, for no tomorrow belongs to anyone and obedience cannot be delayed. Every believer young and old is honored as a worker together with God and Christ, in union with the Father, Son, Holy Spirit and angels, to represent Christ and bring others into the kingdom. Salvation requires the harmonious cooperation of the human with the divine, for God will not do the work without human response, effort, surrender, and new birth. Grace truly received is never idle or self-centered, but bears fruit in patient, self-denying, loving ministry and earnest labor to save souls, and those who so share Christ's work and sufferings will share His joy and eternal reward.
Plea and Urgent Time
The appeal comes from workers together with God, begging hearers not to receive the grace of God in vain. To receive grace in vain is to receive it without benefit or response, to let it go unused, to fail to let it shape the life and bear fruit and effect. Grace must instead be grasped and used, trusted and responded to, given diligent heed in the word and not neglected, allowed to strengthen faith and to support faithful service in the present. The plea is joined to loving one another as Christ loved, answering God's mercy, compassion and love by that love.
Receiving grace in vain is claiming to believe truth yet remaining unchanged in character, which can give even greater power and influence for evil than if truth had never been heard. It is the heart staying centered on self and wayward while Christ offers blessing, holding to selfishness and spiritual deception instead of falling on the Rock to be broken, humbling the heart before God, and surrendering whole heart and soul and strength and mind without delay to undo wrong, though even one who has shamed the Saviour by refusal still has hope if surrender is no longer deferred. It is neglecting God's appeal to love one another as Christ loved, thereby wasting the mercy, compassion and love shown. It is being satisfied with low spiritual attainments while called to be a worker together with Him, leaving an unguarded mind to be filled with Satan's suggestions and trained to lead others away, making profession and outward godliness unfaithful when pleasure is loved more than God. It is withholding means and living for self, using every dollar for supposed wants and conveniences and gratifying appetite and selfish desire, losing God's favor and the heavenly reward and testifying to no genuine faith, so that efforts to impart present truth sound as brass and tinkling cymbal, whereas giving for the necessity of the saints and the advancement of the kingdom preaches practical sermons and shows by unselfish Christlike example that grace has been received.
With the plea stands the declaration that now is the accepted time and the day of salvation. The now is ever the eternal now, for no tomorrow belongs to anyone, so obedience and service cannot be delayed. There is no time to lose, for the day of the Lord is right upon us, probation is about to close, and Christ's coming with power and great glory is at hand. The opportunity to receive and share salvation is now, and the appeal is therefore urgent.
The grace offered is the power that makes alive those dead in trespasses and sins, who walked according to the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air working in disobedience; by rich mercy and great love sinners even when dead are quickened together with Christ, saved by grace, raised up together and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That grace is ours by eternal covenant as believers join Christ in bringing people to God, sharing His mission and interests with His power promised for the work. Yet the Spirit's influence, however powerful, cannot make a person a Christian or fit for heaven without cooperation and response, for God cannot work for the soul that does not respond to grace offered and love bestowed. To work together with Him is to receive Christ, to come to the Burden-bearer for light and life, to learn His yoke and lift His burdens in union with Him, until no cloud stands between the soul and Jesus and His righteousness floods the soul.
The whole sixth chapter from first verse to last is of great importance and highest consequence, holding conditions and principles that must in no case be neglected. It provides the highest education, higher than the world's standards, calling believers to receive grace fruitfully, refuse conformity to the world in study, search the Word diligently, work intelligently under the Spirit's impressing of truth, and advance as far as the Word will take them, as the early disciples were taught. Its instruction opens with this plea and continues through a ministry giving no offense but commending itself by patient endurance in afflictions, necessities, distresses, stripes, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watchings and fastings, and by pureness, knowledge, longsuffering, kindness, the Holy Ghost, unfeigned love, the word of truth, the power of God and armor of righteousness, through honor and dishonor and evil and good report, as dying yet living, sorrowful yet rejoicing, poor yet making many rich. It is to be put into daily practice and diligently studied, bringing encouragement to those who value the gospel, and families who practice it are safeguarded against errors warned of in the churches.
Workers Together with God
Everyone who takes the Christian name, young as well as old, is honored as a worker together with God and with Christ. Such believers are co-partners in the firm, living agents appointed to bring others into the kingdom and to work for the salvation of souls. This standing is both privilege and summons, requiring fresh consecration, working out salvation with fear and trembling, and revealing Christ's character in works before an apostate world. Even one who never preaches to a congregation becomes God's minister by presenting the perfection of His character in human life, and even the humblest laborer to save souls has angels ministering to him. No one can accomplish this work alone, for Christ is the great worker through whom the privilege is exercised by imparting to others what has been received.
Ministers, teachers, and leaders are workers together with God who stand in Christ's stead as His ambassadors. The ministry is sacred and demands a higher standard, sober thoughtfulness, accountability to God, and striving to be wise shepherds who hide in Christ and seek wisdom in the Word. Their words and conduct must honor Him, giving no offense so the ministry is not blamed, watching and praying with hearts purified by grace. Their work only commences at the desk, for they must live out their preaching, guard every word and act, avoid lightness, jesting and joking especially before the young, and follow public preaching with private fireside effort, since converts seldom rise higher than their preacher. Young physicians likewise work together with Christ, the chief Physician, by serving faithfully and approving themselves in all things as ministers of God.
This co-working is union with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working through believers as they carry present truth to the world. Heavenly intelligences and angels cooperate and minister with them, so that human influence and effort joined with angelic help can become a saving power for Christ. Those who have the Spirit go weighted with the spirit of the message they bear, speak words of solid sense, and from the treasury of the heart bring forth pure, sacred things after Christ's example. To break from this dependence through human sufficiency leaves one open to the enemy, gives him advantage, causes souls to be lost over which angels sorrow, and bars entrance to the kingdom, while those who willingly wear Christ's yoke, bear His burdens, and do their God-appointed work are tested, trusted, and called higher.
Christ is the chief Physician, the great worker, the Master Teacher, and the Pattern with whom believers join. By eternal covenant His power, grace, righteousness, and wisdom are promised and made available to those who join Him in bringing people to God and who humbly seek Him in prayer and faith, sharing His mission and interests rather than laboring in human strength and wisdom alone. Teachers become laborers together with God when they open their hearts to the indwelling Holy Spirit, for working with the Master Teacher expels selfishness and brings wonderful transformation. In this union of divine and human, believers learn of Him, receive His life, and follow where He leads, becoming partakers of the divine nature.
Divine and Human Cooperation
Salvation calls for the harmonious action of mind and heart with divine forces, for no one can work out salvation alone and God will not do it without cooperation. When a person works earnestly God works with him, working in him both to will and to do and giving power to become a son of God. Receiving grace in vain is leaving the work of serving God for others to do and freeing oneself from religious responsibility, sitting still instead of doing one's part. Believers must join their effort to Christ's power, cling to Him and keep reaching forward in spiritual vigilance, for no holy thought or unselfish act begins in human strength and human effort alone cannot produce goodness or a new heart. Christ is able to give victory even over appetite for narcotics and stimulants, but He does not save against the will, so each must use human strength to resist Satan's traps and work with Christ, seeking neighbors, teaching salvation, and using time and means in that work. In this unity believers work with God and God works with them to bring heaven's light to others, laboring in harmony and unity rather than abandoning duty.
In this joint work God provides the facilities, materials and miracle-working power while people exercise strength, ingenuity, energy and tact in useful employment. He supplies wood and land, physical and mental faculties, and hidden treasure such as gold and silver, and people shape them into homes, cultivated ground, and blessing to others. Their tasks include mining, felling trees, clearing land for cultivation, making homes, building houses and beautiful temples for worship, and fitting ships to cross the ocean. Human skill, plans and devices are wholly and momentarily dependent on God's cooperation and the aid of higher intelligences, and without that help they are worthless and earth's treasures would be useless. Man cannot keep himself for one moment but is kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
Becoming a co-worker requires entire surrender, conversion and new birth through coming to Christ, humbly confessing and putting away sins, and receiving a new heart. It means renouncing self, the world and every idol, receiving Jesus fully, dying to self so Christ lives within, and possessing truth as it is in Jesus by faith. Faith then works by love and purifies the soul in true sanctification, with the Word purifying character, the likeness of Christ revealed in the life, and power to escape the corruption of the world and to help others and labor for eternity. Those renewed by grace and reflecting Christ's character share His wisdom, and His power is revealed in their renewed lives, with His righteousness going before them and His glory protecting them. Parents must be converted and live out the Christian experience by complying with God's conditions, receiving its graces and faithfully bringing up children so that work is not in vain, and nothing can be done apart from God but in union with Him striving is with joy instead of anxiety and sorrow.
To work together with Him is to receive Christ, come to the Burden-bearer for light and life, and learn to wear His yoke and lift His burdens. Believers are not their own but bought with a price, purchased at infinite cost, to glorify God in body and spirit and to use their powers in His service with religious interests foremost. Then there need be no cloud between the soul and Jesus, for His great heart of love longs to flood the soul with the bright beams of His righteousness. This partnership is both privilege and summons requiring fresh consecration, working out salvation with fear and trembling because God works within, having the mind of Christ, denying self, taking up the cross and following Him without faltering or discouragement. Through the Holy Spirit present to give power, grace and salvation, every believer is to draw people from sin to righteousness, bring the truths of God's Word, and be ready for opportunities so others may see it, laboring interestedly and zealously as part of the firm rather than striving for greatness or highest wages.
Grace qualifies the unworthy for service when believers let God work in the heart to make pure and holy by His rich grace. Becoming His co-worker requires believing God will work and allowing Him to do so, with keen sanctified perception appreciating the strength of the promises and appropriating them individually not because of personal worthiness but because Christ is worthy and His righteousness is claimed by living faith. God honors and upholds every true-hearted earnest soul who seeks to walk before Him in the perfection of Christ's grace, and Jesus never leaves nor forsakes one humble trembling soul. Fallen sinful beings become laborers together with Christ by uniting with Him, being made new creatures with a new heart, knowing what salvation signifies rather than merely assenting to truth or admiring grace, and reflecting the divine image with unmistakable proof of sonship. By keeping God's commandments and receiving and practicing Christ's teachings as part of life, believers conform life to the divine precepts and work together with Him who came to represent the Father, following Christ the Pattern who in humanity lived a spotless merciful compassionate obedient life full of goodness and truth.
Heeding the verse means putting divine favor to effective use rather than letting it go to waste, standing apart from the proud and world-loving where God can supply need. It means building character with the sound material He provides so as to become chosen temples for His indwelling, connected with Christ who makes human nature pure and true and supplies efficiency to become a power for good. Those who work with Christ cooperate with His grace through intelligent care for body and soul, letting Him cleanse hearts and make them partakers of the divine nature so they can represent His character, reveal its power in life and ministry, and become instruments of recovery and salvation. This requires looking at things from God's side rather than from the side of the unconverted, refusing a life of giving way to inclination and the thought that happiness depends on being favored as one thinks one ought to be. It requires being fitted for service by individual consecration and sanctification to His will, experiencing daily an unfailing flow of His goodness and love, and then becoming ministers of righteousness and goodness to others.
Character of Faithful Ministers
Not receiving grace in vain means giving no offense in anything so that the ministry is not blamed, but commending oneself as a minister of God in much patience, in afflictions, necessities and distresses, in stripes, imprisonments and tumults, in labors, watchings and fastings. It means serving by pureness, knowledge, longsuffering and kindness, by the Holy Ghost and love unfeigned, by the word of truth and the power of God, with the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left. This approval is proved through honor and dishonor and through evil report and good report, as deceivers yet true, unknown yet well known, dying yet living, chastened yet not killed, sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor yet making many rich, having nothing yet possessing all things. The ministry is sacred and therefore demands a higher standard, with watching and prayer, purification of heart through grace, representation of Christ in character, and hiding in Christ as wise shepherds who take heed to the Word. Obeying truth brings the favor of God but not always an easy time, for opposition comes through the enemy, and not receiving grace in vain then requires putting the whole being into living the prayer of John 17, being kind, tender, loving and Christlike so the world sees God sent His Son to save sinners, correcting thoughts, words and acts, reading and practicing the Word, taking self sternly in hand, living so others see fellowship with Jesus, and ceasing from wrongdoing to set a right example.
The minister’s work is not done when he leaves the desk but only commences there, for preaching must be lived out and illustrated by example lest reproach be brought on the cause. Success depends on a guarded life with a watch over every word and act lest the enemy take advantage, with no lightness of speech, jesting or joking, especially before the young, because converts seldom rise higher than their preacher and superficial godliness produces only superficial conversion. Public preaching must therefore be followed by private personal effort for souls whenever opportunity presents, by conversing around the fireside and concentrating labor on the very ones for whom labor is bestowed, educating and training those needing help, because work here is soon to close and every man will receive according to his labor. Ministers must come close to one another in love, confidence and respect in preaching and out of it, meeting self-willed ideas about methods with the spirit and meekness of Christ, working for their own souls until self is subdued and Christ sees His image in them, and then God enables them to perfect the work in a manner pleasing to Him as the most impressive lesson to those they educate. This co-working means laboring earnestly with all the tact and wisdom God gives and leaving results with Him instead of falling behind His providences and becoming discouraged when little is seen, with a faith that takes hold on omnipotent power and cannot be repulsed or baffled by obstacles, which is urgent because defenders of truth will share Christ’s sufferings as error strengthens.
Co-workers share Christ’s disinterested benevolence and constant self-sacrifice after His pattern, who made a great sacrifice that others might partake of heavenly grace, beseeching souls to be reconciled to God and not waste that grace. They lay aside self-interest, selfish desires, self-comfort, ease, pleasure and convenience, suffer for Christ, are crucified with Him, and rejoice to know the fellowship of His sufferings, not letting comfort or wishes hinder helping others learn truth and helping the poor with His sympathy. Appointment as His followers means sharing His life of humiliation, self-denial, self-sacrifice and suffering as co-partners in the firm and co-laborers in reformatory work carried upward to victory, with Christ as Substitute, Surety, anointed head, Leader and heir making them joint heirs, and those who share it will reign with Him in glory as overcomers with a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Those whose hearts are touched by His love will not put compensation first or fear to trust His care, but making God their strength will have a clear sense of duty, unselfish aims and noble purpose above selfish motives, forgetting self in doing good with cheerful consecration. They demonstrate unselfishness in practical life, are dependable under discouragement as in prosperity, and labor in Christ’s humble lowly house-to-house way without display, extravagance, or absorbing means needed for missions.
The appeal requires answering mercy, compassion and love by loving one another as Christ loved, for neglecting that wastes grace, and the present is the accepted time and day of salvation with the day of the Lord right upon them and no time to lose. Receiving grace should lead to loving, patient, hopeful service that encourages others, relying on God’s work within rather than one’s own ideas, with weariness calling for rest and not anxious self-reliance, and with diligent heed to the Word and not neglecting it. Working together excludes using special talents to exalt self above fellow workers or to disparage their excellence, for the Lord looks on the heart and most highly esteems whoever is most devoted to His service. It calls ministers to unity, mutual respect and pleasant relations without harsh disrespectful words, showing respect and love for fellow workers, carrying Christ’s spirit bound together in His suffering, and praying and laboring for love with tenderness to the ignorant and erring rather than centering on self.
Faithfulness means refusing cheap careless work and being faithful in that which is least in order to be faithful in that which is greater, correcting small mistakes at once and doing every stroke well in temporal duties such as cultivating the Lord’s land and erecting buildings, with faithful exactitude especially where eternal interests are involved. Grace must be met with diligent, unselfish, thoughtful and persevering labor rather than careless negligence that hinders interested souls, acting wisely and intelligently and bringing human agency a hundredfold into earnest effort beginning at once. Working with Him calls for unity rather than competing plans, for patient faithful labor in the love and fear of God while recognizing He is at the head even when guidance cannot be discerned, and for working thoughtfully and faithfully so medical missionaries and others are not led into temptation or error. Abiding in the work God has appointed and relying on His guidance leads to successful service, and those who place themselves in His hands as humble learners and prove themselves through faithful service, learning by doing and filling with fidelity the place called to, become qualified for still higher responsibilities since God gives all opportunity to perfect themselves in His service.
Fitness for handling God’s work requires learning every day in the school of Christ and spending much time in earnest prayer, with spirituality to discern spiritual things and a felt need for virtue and wisdom from heaven, for without this human depravity overcomes handlers of holy things and they lift up their souls unto vanity, while those who know truth yet live in cold indifference and neglect duty receive grace in vain and are held accountable. The worker receives grace to bear reproof and then exercises sanctified tact, thoughtful kind attention, tenderness, wisdom, skill and earnest desire to save perishing souls, studying to be skillful in winning souls and reaching people where they are, and such tact and wisdom increases usefulness a hundredfold. Like Christ the worker never suppresses one word of truth but utters it always in love, never rude and never giving needless pain to any sensitive soul, while fearlessly denouncing hypocrisy, unbelief and iniquity with sorrow in the voice, lest for want of tenderness and skill souls turn wrong and are lost and Satan gain his purpose. Teachers as living agencies through imparted grace enlighten, lift up, encourage and help purify the soul from moral defilement so God’s image is revealed and character transformed, binding children to the heart by Christ’s love abiding within as a sweet fragrance, a savor of life unto life, with human love, sanctified affection and the gentleness of Jesus leading the lambs to yield to tender guidance, especially those with inherited objectionable traits, since Jesus is present daily with pity, love and understanding and has purchased them at the cost of His sufferings with the fragrance of His righteousness for those who believe.
Not receiving grace only from the outer court means letting the veil be rent so Christ abides in the heart and the beauty adorning the inner temple is seen in every agent through good works and beautiful character. Being workers together with God means being worked and builded by God with material of the first quality, having poor timbers removed and not building after one’s own model, but becoming a holy temple for Him through faith which in simplicity works by love and sanctifies the soul. This requires acknowledging that every capability and success comes from God and that heavenly intelligences work through human agents, while God loves, proves and still uses the worker despite many mistakes and brings heaven near so hearts are captivated not by the glory of the man but by the inward adorning of an abiding Christ. All self-exaltation, high estimate of self, taking credit and glory to self, and supposing oneself superior to brethren is of no value and greatly dishonors God, showing the person is not yoked with Christ but drawing a load on his own account.
Labor for Saving Souls
Grace received must bear fruit in lifelong, earnest, unselfish labor to save souls from Satan's snares and make them children of light. Those who follow Christ use the abilities and talents entrusted to them proportionally to honor God, care for fellow believers, and love others as Christ did, willing to make sacrifices to persuade people to leave sin and turn to truth. Those who do not work for Christ fail to grow in spiritual strength and knowledge of Him, while working for Him draws sympathies into closer union with Him, deepens understanding of His work and sacrifice, and leads to valuing people in light of the price He paid. Time already squandered cannot be recovered, so believers redeem the time by making the most of what remains in service with God, sowing truth and trusting grace to awaken it, with the worker transformed to become a child of God, part of the royal family, and fit to be a companion of angels. Receiving truth means accepting a pledge to work with Christ and serve Him, giving up living for own will and interests to become faithful servants of the chosen Master, with faith and works bearing witness to grace as representatives and lights warning people to prepare for the coming judgment and Saviour. This labor continues with expectation of special blessings and definite results until Christ says It is finished.
Practical benevolence proves grace is not in vain, for unselfish generosity bears fruit in sending the gospel to people in darkness and testifies that grace is at work as a miracle produced by the sanctification of the Spirit. Faithful, systematic giving is part of working with Christ in advancing the gospel, nourishing love for God and others, opposing moral darkness, exercising benevolence, developing Christian character, and revealing what people are. God does not need human resources but has made human cooperation necessary for people's good, and those who give means unselfishly to support the work are fellow workers whose resources are entrusted for wise, holy purposes to be put to use in doing good. Such giving for the necessity of the saints and advancement of the kingdom preaches practical sermons and shows a living example of unselfish character after Christ's example with great power upon men, while living to gratify appetite and selfish desire loses God's favor and the heavenly reward and makes words like sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. Faithful stewardship gives spiritual life to nominal believers, turning selfish, covetous worshipers of wealth into earnest workers with Christ in saving sinners. Even a sick person facing death can co-labor by arranging means after death to send truth instead of leaving it to unbelievers, and young men can be aided with tuition to save them from Satan's nets and make them workers.
The work embraces duty bravely and faithfully done for wealthy and influential people, men of intellect in responsible places, ministers of other churches, teachers, lawyers and judges. God works through human agents who persevere in sharing the gospel, and through them He can bring genuine conversion even among those whose lives have been devoted to making money, leading them by the Holy Spirit to turn from self-reliance, devote time, money, talents and influence to God, and help bring the gospel to others. Faithful workers become instruments through whom God converts people in responsible positions, and the converted in turn share the gospel and become agents for reaching others. It includes the Southern field and the colored people of the South as neighbors in most need, cooperating in rebuilding character to the standard of moral right and in recovering the fallen, teaching Word and law, and helping save those in spiritual darkness, with God providing every resource and recreating believers in Christ's image through faith. Those who labor there may trust God to be with them and guide the work while others encourage, support and pray for the Spirit to bring people to truth, lifting eyes to destitute unworked fields, going in to reap, and speaking a plain Thus saith the Lord.
Being workers together with Christ means blessed medical missionary work by physicians of soul educated in Christ's school, having learned the Master's lessons, gained knowledge of Him who is the way, the truth and the life, and knowing how to deal skillfully with souls for whom Christ died in Christ's lines. It requires taking a decided position on the Lord's side as earnest, active, courageous co-workers seeking and saving the lost, feeling deeply over truth and the value of souls because time is short and a great work remains, specifically including encouraging medical missionary work in the churches as God's work to be done with or without consent. Sanitarium workers are to cooperate with God, stand firm on eternal truth, hold the fort against discouragement, keep reaching for a high spiritual standard and the character needed for the heavenly city, and labor in unity. They represent the meek Saviour in dress, words and spirit, direct minds to the Healer, interest people in health of body as well as soul, bear a decided message to prepare the way for the kingdom, teach health reform including discarding flesh food, tea and coffee and excess variety, spread temperance and present truth in season and out, and promote health of body and soul by healthful dress which God desires above all things.
Co-working is applied to using Christmas and New Year for God rather than self-pleasing celebrations that neglect Christ and His cause. God gives gifts for the work, including the ability to sing, and expects servants to use and cultivate their voices for His glory so praise can be sung clearly and understood. As fellow laborers they are to speak and sing in a way all can understand, with clear intonation, correct pronunciation and distinct utterance, in clear soft tones rather than loudness, harshness and shrillness, so singing with spirit and understanding is joined by heavenly musicians in thanksgiving. It requires refusing political zeal, for the Lord will not cooperate with those who distinguish themselves by zeal in politics, and every teacher, minister and leader is a laborer together with God in winning souls whose influence must tell on that side. Anyone stirred to ventilate opinions on political questions must be converted by belief in the truth or give up work, and if unchanged credentials must be taken away for he will do harm and only harm, while tithe must not be used to pay anyone for speaking on political questions.
After the passing of the time God made faithful bearers of the first and second angels' messages workers together with Him. To be workers together with God means to be firm as a rock to the principles, waymarks and foundation of Bible truth that made Seventh-day Adventists, to bind up the testimony and seal the law among disciples, and to speak from personal experience of precious principles of present truth entrusted to them. It means to hold the beginning of confidence firm unto the end, to not let faith change to infidelity, to not let the banner of the third angel be taken from the hands, to rehearse the history of the past in the closing work, to proclaim every last-day truth and strengthen every pillar. It requires refusing to step off the established foundation or enter any new organization, for that would be apostasy from the truth and receiving the grace of God in vain.
Service in Daily Callings
The chapter lays down the highest education, higher than any worldly standard, for knowing God and Christ is what fits people to become coworkers with Christ in useful service. To be workers together with God and not to receive the grace of God in vain means to refuse conformity with the world in study and knowledge and to give special attention to searching the Word. There is no education higher than the principles laid down in this sixth chapter, and students must study diligently to comprehend them and advance just as far as the Word will take them. This is the same higher education given to the early disciples and given now through the Word by chosen messengers, and there is nothing in all the world in the line of education so exalted. Believers must work intelligently for this higher education, with the Holy Spirit impressing truth on the mind, directing thoughts, strengthening weakness and helping them present the truth, so that effectiveness does not depend on a college education but on being teachable and dependent on God. That knowledge which makes teachers such coworkers comes from Christ and enables them to serve effectively in wide fields of usefulness, for those who work together with God must strive for perfection in every bodily organ and quality of mind, training body, mind and soul to perform every duty in divine service, a preparation that endures to eternal life.
Teachers are workers together with God who must beseech those under their care not to receive the grace of God in vain. They become laborers together with God when they open their hearts to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and working with the Master Teacher they can have selfishness expelled and experience wonderful transformation. This work calls for a sense of accountability to God, faithfulness in prayer, and vigilance against temptation, as believers appointed to serve Him by encouraging and blessing others and turning people from sin to righteousness. Young people who thus work together with Christ strengthen their faith and grow in knowledge of God's will. Such teachers combine intellectual and spiritual power, present themselves physically and morally fit, pursue thorough preparation and excellence rather than superficial knowledge, impart knowledge of God with heaven-inspired devotion, win youth while hearts are tender, and lead children with tact to reveal God's image and transform character.
Parents must be converted and live out the Christian experience, receiving its graces by complying with God's conditions, for the chapter's instructions are to be put into daily practice and are of great consequence to those who genuinely value the gospel message. Not to receive God's grace in vain is not to let it go unused or fail to shape life, but to respond in the present, for now is the accepted time and the day of salvation, and for parents this means obeying God's Word and representing Christ in the home. Parents are responsible for bringing up their children and must not let that work be in vain, yet the verse offers encouragement that they can serve God faithfully with their families, and families who practice its instructions are safeguarded against errors warned of in the churches. They must fulfill the baptismal pledge, bring children to the Lord, remove stumbling blocks, guard habits and inclinations against selfishness and other evils that would oppose Christ and truth, and use ingenuity to help children love God's Word. Christ gave His life to save the souls of youth and children so that they may become His helpers, and parents and teachers cooperate with God by training children to respect Him and keep His law and by helping people gain physical, mental and moral strength so they can bless those around them. For husband and wife this becoming co-workers with Christ by physical, mental and moral culture means proving a help and blessing to one another in marriage, counting the cost of every indulgence in intemperance and sensualism, knowing such indulgence does not increase love nor ennoble and elevate, and refusing to indulge animal passions and gratify lust, since very much depends upon parents whether they will bring into the world children who will prove a blessing or a curse.
House-to-house canvassers who are also evangelists are coworkers with God, pleading with people not to waste the grace offered them and urging them not to receive God's grace in vain. As they educate themselves for the work and dwell on the precious truths about God in Great Controversy, Patriarchs and Prophets, and Desire of Ages, pressing these books everywhere and seeking to get the light before as many minds as possible, this urging becomes their own message to those they visit. Workers in publishing houses share this standing as workers together with God entrusted with sacred service, and should value the privilege, give abilities and vigilant service to the institution, and work to make it a light in the world, a faithful witness, and a memorial of the Sabbath. The canvasser who sells books is a worker together with God, taught by the Holy Ghost as an unseen worker, and this book-selling work to clear debts from schools is the Lord's own work in which divinity and humanity are combined. Christ's messengers are to work together with Him in advancing His interests and securing people for His everlasting kingdom, and as they labor with Christ and reveal Him to the world they share His work and become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ to an immortal inheritance. Present-day evangelists, like the first disciples, are workers together with Christ and can rely on His authority and abiding presence as they teach all nations and teach people to keep His commands.
People work together with God in every part of Christian life, including ordinary occupations as well as religious service. Work done for His glory, from love to Him, and in accordance with His will makes even building a structure an act of doing God's will, and workers who bring these principles into character grow in grace and knowledge. That joint labor means being the light of the world and letting that light shine before men in good works so the Father in heaven is glorified, and by this maintaining the honor and glory of God, doing the work of His appointment not alone but as laborers together with God. Being workers together with God means taking up duties at home and cultivating the plot of ground at one's own doors, helping friends at hand who need help, with everyone at his post to save his fellow men, and everyone who accepts the plan of salvation begins at once to work for his fellow men. The place where God puts a person is where that person can best learn to work with Him. God's workers help gather His people and bring them home to His fold, and this work calls for God's power and a life-giving presentation of sin and atonement in the Bible's light, showing people Christ and His righteousness and bringing spiritual life to hearts that are dry and unresponsive.
Warnings Rewards and Endurance
Grace is received in vain when the work of serving God is left for others to do and the person frees himself from religious responsibility, living an idle life or sitting still before hindrances. No one is excused, for every member has individual work to help little churches and bless others, and accepting truth is accepting a pledge to give up living for own will and interests and become a faithful servant of the Master chosen. Salvation requires the harmonious action of mind and heart with divine forces, since no one can of himself work out his own salvation and God will not do this work without cooperation, but when man works earnestly God works with him, giving power to become a son of God by working in him both to will and to do. Those connected with the work may become so ensnared by temptation that they lose connection with God and are no longer co-workers with Christ, and their lives will reveal the controlling spirit and testify against them. To serve as fellow workers they must receive truth that sanctifies the heart and purifies the character, keep earthly concerns subordinate to eternal interests, and devote business skill and influence to Christ and the advancement of His work. God calls His people to become truly converted and join those working together with Him, and delaying this work places them in danger of turning away from truth and righteousness and being lost.
The place as God's worker is forfeited by becoming absorbed in worldly gain, as in the real-estate craze, even as Satan worked against Israel just before entering Canaan by seeking to seduce them into idolatry to bring about their ruin, so that those who sell their interest in truth for prospect of worldly advantage forfeit their place as workers together with God. He will not cooperate with such a course, for His servants must do His work in His way without compromising faith or lowering the standard of righteousness for wealth, influence, or financial advantage. This requires keeping free from worldly policy plans, refusing to become entangled in plans dishonoring to faith to gain the influence of someone wealthy, refusing to sell the soul for financial advantage, and doing nothing that retards the work of God. Their lives are to show self-denial and sacrifice, not only talking of them but revealing them in life, so that example inspires those contacted to seek holiness, know God, and become better acquainted with the things of God. Becoming a laborer together with God is an exalted position to be desired instead of seeking pre-eminence among brethren and striving to obtain the highest wages, for sin always attends such ambition. Following Christ's example in loving and showing compassion while standing firmly against evil means avoiding business entanglements that would damage Christlike character, coarsen the life, or hinder spiritual growth.
A church grown too large from fragments of other churches must not tarry together but scatter to carry the light of truth to those in darkness, using the powers God has given, making God alone the trust instead of placing man where God should be, and letting light shine forth in good works as light-bearers who do not walk in darkness. When believers work in harmony with Him, God educates and leads them in safe paths and His Spirit brings a repentance that needs not to be repented of. If they neglect to go out, the woe of God will be upon them and the blessing already received will only be their condemnation.
Man is honored by being made a co-partner in God's firm and accepted as a worker together with God in the great centers He has established and in saving souls, not as a self-server but as one who receives Christ by faith and labors in the reformatory work carried forward and upward to glorious victory. Christ as Substitute and Surety, anointed head of the human family, Leader, and heir of God, makes His co-laborers joint heirs with Him, and His messengers advancing His interests and securing people for His everlasting kingdom share His work and become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ to an immortal inheritance as they reveal Him to the world. Appointment as His followers means sharing His life of humiliation, self-denial, self-sacrifice and suffering in the plan of redemption to save souls, and those who share it will reign with Him in glory as overcomers with a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Those who do this work will have all sins blotted out and transgressions borne away, will stand before the throne of God and of the Lamb accepted in the Beloved, will put on immortality and see Him as He is and look upon the undimmed glory of the throne, will gather about the throne to receive a glorious reward, and will share with Christ the joy of seeing souls saved in the kingdom to praise God through all eternity. Being workers together with Jesus Christ is both privilege and summons requiring fresh consecration, working out salvation with fear and trembling because God works within to will and to do of His good pleasure, living as those not their own but bought with a price to glorify God in body and spirit, with no room for faltering, fainting, or discouragement, but having the mind of Christ, denying self, taking up the cross, following Him and forsaking all for His sake as the fixed terms of discipleship, since Christ Jesus is the only hope.
Even the humblest person laboring to save souls is a coworker with Christ, and angels minister to that worker. Those who faithfully do the work His providence assigns do not live in vain, but grow more like Christ and prepare for the higher work and joy of the life to come, and cooperation with Him in faith and sensible effort can receive heaven's blessing and succeed. Those who faithfully carry out the entrusted work are colaborers with Jesus Christ whose commission makes them answerable to God, and knowing they are doing His work gives earnestness, courage, cheerfulness, and firmness through burdens and trials, so that God accepts and approves their efforts when performed faithfully. Laborers together with God use their capabilities and powers to do the work God appoints by help of the Holy Spirit, with divine agencies working through human agencies to carry God's messages, and to criticize their work, reject the messages they bear, and sow seeds of doubt and unbelief openly and secretly is to work against God under satanic guidance with defective spiritual sight. Being truly united to Christ and working in fellowship with God and heavenly angels to draw souls to Christ means willingly wearing His yoke and bearing His burdens, realizing they are not their own because purchased at infinite price, losing sight of ambitious prospects in desire to do the God-appointed work and sound the message that the Lord is at hand, while refusing union gives advantage to the enemy and causes loss of souls over which angels sorrow, and those who faithfully labor are tested and trusted and will be called to come up higher into heaven's courts, whereas those who cherish selfishness and have no connection with Christ can never enter the kingdom.
Young as well as old are to be workers together with God in the battle against evil, keeping their own souls in the love of God by faith in the blood of Christ. Each morning they resolve to live for Jesus that day, to love Him and think of Him and refuse to be led by the tempter to do wrong, asking God to show what to avoid and what to encourage, and so gain victory that strengthens the soul against tomorrow's temptations. Working together with Christ is saving souls by aggressive, bold effort that puts the cause of God first, leaving no room for letting home matters absorb time and mind, for seeing reasons and excuses where none exist, or for waiting for openings and favorable circumstances, but requiring doing something to get truth before others and setting an example that helps inexperienced workers, since workers who do no more than settle their own affairs could be spared and the cause would do better without them.
The verse is an urgent plea from those working together with God that His grace not be taken without effect, but be grasped, used, and allowed to shape the life in faith and faithful service now. Now is the accepted time and day of salvation, for no tomorrow belongs to anyone and obedience cannot be delayed. Every believer young and old is honored as a worker together with God and Christ, in union with the Father, Son, Holy Spirit and angels, to represent Christ and bring others into the kingdom. Salvation requires the harmonious cooperation of the human with the divine, for God will not do the work without human response, effort, surrender, and new birth. Grace truly received is never idle or self-centered, but bears fruit in patient, self-denying, loving ministry and earnest labor to save souls, and those who so share Christ's work and sufferings will share His joy and eternal reward.
Plea and Urgent Time
The appeal comes from workers together with God, begging hearers not to receive the grace of God in vain. To receive grace in vain is to receive it without benefit or response, to let it go unused, to fail to let it shape the life and bear fruit and effect. Grace must instead be grasped and used, trusted and responded to, given diligent heed in the word and not neglected, allowed to strengthen faith and to support faithful service in the present. The plea is joined to loving one another as Christ loved, answering God's mercy, compassion and love by that love.
Receiving grace in vain is claiming to believe truth yet remaining unchanged in character, which can give even greater power and influence for evil than if truth had never been heard. It is the heart staying centered on self and wayward while Christ offers blessing, holding to selfishness and spiritual deception instead of falling on the Rock to be broken, humbling the heart before God, and surrendering whole heart and soul and strength and mind without delay to undo wrong, though even one who has shamed the Saviour by refusal still has hope if surrender is no longer deferred. It is neglecting God's appeal to love one another as Christ loved, thereby wasting the mercy, compassion and love shown. It is being satisfied with low spiritual attainments while called to be a worker together with Him, leaving an unguarded mind to be filled with Satan's suggestions and trained to lead others away, making profession and outward godliness unfaithful when pleasure is loved more than God. It is withholding means and living for self, using every dollar for supposed wants and conveniences and gratifying appetite and selfish desire, losing God's favor and the heavenly reward and testifying to no genuine faith, so that efforts to impart present truth sound as brass and tinkling cymbal, whereas giving for the necessity of the saints and the advancement of the kingdom preaches practical sermons and shows by unselfish Christlike example that grace has been received.
With the plea stands the declaration that now is the accepted time and the day of salvation. The now is ever the eternal now, for no tomorrow belongs to anyone, so obedience and service cannot be delayed. There is no time to lose, for the day of the Lord is right upon us, probation is about to close, and Christ's coming with power and great glory is at hand. The opportunity to receive and share salvation is now, and the appeal is therefore urgent.
The grace offered is the power that makes alive those dead in trespasses and sins, who walked according to the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air working in disobedience; by rich mercy and great love sinners even when dead are quickened together with Christ, saved by grace, raised up together and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That grace is ours by eternal covenant as believers join Christ in bringing people to God, sharing His mission and interests with His power promised for the work. Yet the Spirit's influence, however powerful, cannot make a person a Christian or fit for heaven without cooperation and response, for God cannot work for the soul that does not respond to grace offered and love bestowed. To work together with Him is to receive Christ, to come to the Burden-bearer for light and life, to learn His yoke and lift His burdens in union with Him, until no cloud stands between the soul and Jesus and His righteousness floods the soul.
The whole sixth chapter from first verse to last is of great importance and highest consequence, holding conditions and principles that must in no case be neglected. It provides the highest education, higher than the world's standards, calling believers to receive grace fruitfully, refuse conformity to the world in study, search the Word diligently, work intelligently under the Spirit's impressing of truth, and advance as far as the Word will take them, as the early disciples were taught. Its instruction opens with this plea and continues through a ministry giving no offense but commending itself by patient endurance in afflictions, necessities, distresses, stripes, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watchings and fastings, and by pureness, knowledge, longsuffering, kindness, the Holy Ghost, unfeigned love, the word of truth, the power of God and armor of righteousness, through honor and dishonor and evil and good report, as dying yet living, sorrowful yet rejoicing, poor yet making many rich. It is to be put into daily practice and diligently studied, bringing encouragement to those who value the gospel, and families who practice it are safeguarded against errors warned of in the churches.
Workers Together with God
Everyone who takes the Christian name, young as well as old, is honored as a worker together with God and with Christ. Such believers are co-partners in the firm, living agents appointed to bring others into the kingdom and to work for the salvation of souls. This standing is both privilege and summons, requiring fresh consecration, working out salvation with fear and trembling, and revealing Christ's character in works before an apostate world. Even one who never preaches to a congregation becomes God's minister by presenting the perfection of His character in human life, and even the humblest laborer to save souls has angels ministering to him. No one can accomplish this work alone, for Christ is the great worker through whom the privilege is exercised by imparting to others what has been received.
Ministers, teachers, and leaders are workers together with God who stand in Christ's stead as His ambassadors. The ministry is sacred and demands a higher standard, sober thoughtfulness, accountability to God, and striving to be wise shepherds who hide in Christ and seek wisdom in the Word. Their words and conduct must honor Him, giving no offense so the ministry is not blamed, watching and praying with hearts purified by grace. Their work only commences at the desk, for they must live out their preaching, guard every word and act, avoid lightness, jesting and joking especially before the young, and follow public preaching with private fireside effort, since converts seldom rise higher than their preacher. Young physicians likewise work together with Christ, the chief Physician, by serving faithfully and approving themselves in all things as ministers of God.
This co-working is union with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit working through believers as they carry present truth to the world. Heavenly intelligences and angels cooperate and minister with them, so that human influence and effort joined with angelic help can become a saving power for Christ. Those who have the Spirit go weighted with the spirit of the message they bear, speak words of solid sense, and from the treasury of the heart bring forth pure, sacred things after Christ's example. To break from this dependence through human sufficiency leaves one open to the enemy, gives him advantage, causes souls to be lost over which angels sorrow, and bars entrance to the kingdom, while those who willingly wear Christ's yoke, bear His burdens, and do their God-appointed work are tested, trusted, and called higher.
Christ is the chief Physician, the great worker, the Master Teacher, and the Pattern with whom believers join. By eternal covenant His power, grace, righteousness, and wisdom are promised and made available to those who join Him in bringing people to God and who humbly seek Him in prayer and faith, sharing His mission and interests rather than laboring in human strength and wisdom alone. Teachers become laborers together with God when they open their hearts to the indwelling Holy Spirit, for working with the Master Teacher expels selfishness and brings wonderful transformation. In this union of divine and human, believers learn of Him, receive His life, and follow where He leads, becoming partakers of the divine nature.
Divine and Human Cooperation
Salvation calls for the harmonious action of mind and heart with divine forces, for no one can work out salvation alone and God will not do it without cooperation. When a person works earnestly God works with him, working in him both to will and to do and giving power to become a son of God. Receiving grace in vain is leaving the work of serving God for others to do and freeing oneself from religious responsibility, sitting still instead of doing one's part. Believers must join their effort to Christ's power, cling to Him and keep reaching forward in spiritual vigilance, for no holy thought or unselfish act begins in human strength and human effort alone cannot produce goodness or a new heart. Christ is able to give victory even over appetite for narcotics and stimulants, but He does not save against the will, so each must use human strength to resist Satan's traps and work with Christ, seeking neighbors, teaching salvation, and using time and means in that work. In this unity believers work with God and God works with them to bring heaven's light to others, laboring in harmony and unity rather than abandoning duty.
In this joint work God provides the facilities, materials and miracle-working power while people exercise strength, ingenuity, energy and tact in useful employment. He supplies wood and land, physical and mental faculties, and hidden treasure such as gold and silver, and people shape them into homes, cultivated ground, and blessing to others. Their tasks include mining, felling trees, clearing land for cultivation, making homes, building houses and beautiful temples for worship, and fitting ships to cross the ocean. Human skill, plans and devices are wholly and momentarily dependent on God's cooperation and the aid of higher intelligences, and without that help they are worthless and earth's treasures would be useless. Man cannot keep himself for one moment but is kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
Becoming a co-worker requires entire surrender, conversion and new birth through coming to Christ, humbly confessing and putting away sins, and receiving a new heart. It means renouncing self, the world and every idol, receiving Jesus fully, dying to self so Christ lives within, and possessing truth as it is in Jesus by faith. Faith then works by love and purifies the soul in true sanctification, with the Word purifying character, the likeness of Christ revealed in the life, and power to escape the corruption of the world and to help others and labor for eternity. Those renewed by grace and reflecting Christ's character share His wisdom, and His power is revealed in their renewed lives, with His righteousness going before them and His glory protecting them. Parents must be converted and live out the Christian experience by complying with God's conditions, receiving its graces and faithfully bringing up children so that work is not in vain, and nothing can be done apart from God but in union with Him striving is with joy instead of anxiety and sorrow.
To work together with Him is to receive Christ, come to the Burden-bearer for light and life, and learn to wear His yoke and lift His burdens. Believers are not their own but bought with a price, purchased at infinite cost, to glorify God in body and spirit and to use their powers in His service with religious interests foremost. Then there need be no cloud between the soul and Jesus, for His great heart of love longs to flood the soul with the bright beams of His righteousness. This partnership is both privilege and summons requiring fresh consecration, working out salvation with fear and trembling because God works within, having the mind of Christ, denying self, taking up the cross and following Him without faltering or discouragement. Through the Holy Spirit present to give power, grace and salvation, every believer is to draw people from sin to righteousness, bring the truths of God's Word, and be ready for opportunities so others may see it, laboring interestedly and zealously as part of the firm rather than striving for greatness or highest wages.
Grace qualifies the unworthy for service when believers let God work in the heart to make pure and holy by His rich grace. Becoming His co-worker requires believing God will work and allowing Him to do so, with keen sanctified perception appreciating the strength of the promises and appropriating them individually not because of personal worthiness but because Christ is worthy and His righteousness is claimed by living faith. God honors and upholds every true-hearted earnest soul who seeks to walk before Him in the perfection of Christ's grace, and Jesus never leaves nor forsakes one humble trembling soul. Fallen sinful beings become laborers together with Christ by uniting with Him, being made new creatures with a new heart, knowing what salvation signifies rather than merely assenting to truth or admiring grace, and reflecting the divine image with unmistakable proof of sonship. By keeping God's commandments and receiving and practicing Christ's teachings as part of life, believers conform life to the divine precepts and work together with Him who came to represent the Father, following Christ the Pattern who in humanity lived a spotless merciful compassionate obedient life full of goodness and truth.
Heeding the verse means putting divine favor to effective use rather than letting it go to waste, standing apart from the proud and world-loving where God can supply need. It means building character with the sound material He provides so as to become chosen temples for His indwelling, connected with Christ who makes human nature pure and true and supplies efficiency to become a power for good. Those who work with Christ cooperate with His grace through intelligent care for body and soul, letting Him cleanse hearts and make them partakers of the divine nature so they can represent His character, reveal its power in life and ministry, and become instruments of recovery and salvation. This requires looking at things from God's side rather than from the side of the unconverted, refusing a life of giving way to inclination and the thought that happiness depends on being favored as one thinks one ought to be. It requires being fitted for service by individual consecration and sanctification to His will, experiencing daily an unfailing flow of His goodness and love, and then becoming ministers of righteousness and goodness to others.
Character of Faithful Ministers
Not receiving grace in vain means giving no offense in anything so that the ministry is not blamed, but commending oneself as a minister of God in much patience, in afflictions, necessities and distresses, in stripes, imprisonments and tumults, in labors, watchings and fastings. It means serving by pureness, knowledge, longsuffering and kindness, by the Holy Ghost and love unfeigned, by the word of truth and the power of God, with the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left. This approval is proved through honor and dishonor and through evil report and good report, as deceivers yet true, unknown yet well known, dying yet living, chastened yet not killed, sorrowful yet always rejoicing, poor yet making many rich, having nothing yet possessing all things. The ministry is sacred and therefore demands a higher standard, with watching and prayer, purification of heart through grace, representation of Christ in character, and hiding in Christ as wise shepherds who take heed to the Word. Obeying truth brings the favor of God but not always an easy time, for opposition comes through the enemy, and not receiving grace in vain then requires putting the whole being into living the prayer of John 17, being kind, tender, loving and Christlike so the world sees God sent His Son to save sinners, correcting thoughts, words and acts, reading and practicing the Word, taking self sternly in hand, living so others see fellowship with Jesus, and ceasing from wrongdoing to set a right example.
The minister’s work is not done when he leaves the desk but only commences there, for preaching must be lived out and illustrated by example lest reproach be brought on the cause. Success depends on a guarded life with a watch over every word and act lest the enemy take advantage, with no lightness of speech, jesting or joking, especially before the young, because converts seldom rise higher than their preacher and superficial godliness produces only superficial conversion. Public preaching must therefore be followed by private personal effort for souls whenever opportunity presents, by conversing around the fireside and concentrating labor on the very ones for whom labor is bestowed, educating and training those needing help, because work here is soon to close and every man will receive according to his labor. Ministers must come close to one another in love, confidence and respect in preaching and out of it, meeting self-willed ideas about methods with the spirit and meekness of Christ, working for their own souls until self is subdued and Christ sees His image in them, and then God enables them to perfect the work in a manner pleasing to Him as the most impressive lesson to those they educate. This co-working means laboring earnestly with all the tact and wisdom God gives and leaving results with Him instead of falling behind His providences and becoming discouraged when little is seen, with a faith that takes hold on omnipotent power and cannot be repulsed or baffled by obstacles, which is urgent because defenders of truth will share Christ’s sufferings as error strengthens.
Co-workers share Christ’s disinterested benevolence and constant self-sacrifice after His pattern, who made a great sacrifice that others might partake of heavenly grace, beseeching souls to be reconciled to God and not waste that grace. They lay aside self-interest, selfish desires, self-comfort, ease, pleasure and convenience, suffer for Christ, are crucified with Him, and rejoice to know the fellowship of His sufferings, not letting comfort or wishes hinder helping others learn truth and helping the poor with His sympathy. Appointment as His followers means sharing His life of humiliation, self-denial, self-sacrifice and suffering as co-partners in the firm and co-laborers in reformatory work carried upward to victory, with Christ as Substitute, Surety, anointed head, Leader and heir making them joint heirs, and those who share it will reign with Him in glory as overcomers with a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Those whose hearts are touched by His love will not put compensation first or fear to trust His care, but making God their strength will have a clear sense of duty, unselfish aims and noble purpose above selfish motives, forgetting self in doing good with cheerful consecration. They demonstrate unselfishness in practical life, are dependable under discouragement as in prosperity, and labor in Christ’s humble lowly house-to-house way without display, extravagance, or absorbing means needed for missions.
The appeal requires answering mercy, compassion and love by loving one another as Christ loved, for neglecting that wastes grace, and the present is the accepted time and day of salvation with the day of the Lord right upon them and no time to lose. Receiving grace should lead to loving, patient, hopeful service that encourages others, relying on God’s work within rather than one’s own ideas, with weariness calling for rest and not anxious self-reliance, and with diligent heed to the Word and not neglecting it. Working together excludes using special talents to exalt self above fellow workers or to disparage their excellence, for the Lord looks on the heart and most highly esteems whoever is most devoted to His service. It calls ministers to unity, mutual respect and pleasant relations without harsh disrespectful words, showing respect and love for fellow workers, carrying Christ’s spirit bound together in His suffering, and praying and laboring for love with tenderness to the ignorant and erring rather than centering on self.
Faithfulness means refusing cheap careless work and being faithful in that which is least in order to be faithful in that which is greater, correcting small mistakes at once and doing every stroke well in temporal duties such as cultivating the Lord’s land and erecting buildings, with faithful exactitude especially where eternal interests are involved. Grace must be met with diligent, unselfish, thoughtful and persevering labor rather than careless negligence that hinders interested souls, acting wisely and intelligently and bringing human agency a hundredfold into earnest effort beginning at once. Working with Him calls for unity rather than competing plans, for patient faithful labor in the love and fear of God while recognizing He is at the head even when guidance cannot be discerned, and for working thoughtfully and faithfully so medical missionaries and others are not led into temptation or error. Abiding in the work God has appointed and relying on His guidance leads to successful service, and those who place themselves in His hands as humble learners and prove themselves through faithful service, learning by doing and filling with fidelity the place called to, become qualified for still higher responsibilities since God gives all opportunity to perfect themselves in His service.
Fitness for handling God’s work requires learning every day in the school of Christ and spending much time in earnest prayer, with spirituality to discern spiritual things and a felt need for virtue and wisdom from heaven, for without this human depravity overcomes handlers of holy things and they lift up their souls unto vanity, while those who know truth yet live in cold indifference and neglect duty receive grace in vain and are held accountable. The worker receives grace to bear reproof and then exercises sanctified tact, thoughtful kind attention, tenderness, wisdom, skill and earnest desire to save perishing souls, studying to be skillful in winning souls and reaching people where they are, and such tact and wisdom increases usefulness a hundredfold. Like Christ the worker never suppresses one word of truth but utters it always in love, never rude and never giving needless pain to any sensitive soul, while fearlessly denouncing hypocrisy, unbelief and iniquity with sorrow in the voice, lest for want of tenderness and skill souls turn wrong and are lost and Satan gain his purpose. Teachers as living agencies through imparted grace enlighten, lift up, encourage and help purify the soul from moral defilement so God’s image is revealed and character transformed, binding children to the heart by Christ’s love abiding within as a sweet fragrance, a savor of life unto life, with human love, sanctified affection and the gentleness of Jesus leading the lambs to yield to tender guidance, especially those with inherited objectionable traits, since Jesus is present daily with pity, love and understanding and has purchased them at the cost of His sufferings with the fragrance of His righteousness for those who believe.
Not receiving grace only from the outer court means letting the veil be rent so Christ abides in the heart and the beauty adorning the inner temple is seen in every agent through good works and beautiful character. Being workers together with God means being worked and builded by God with material of the first quality, having poor timbers removed and not building after one’s own model, but becoming a holy temple for Him through faith which in simplicity works by love and sanctifies the soul. This requires acknowledging that every capability and success comes from God and that heavenly intelligences work through human agents, while God loves, proves and still uses the worker despite many mistakes and brings heaven near so hearts are captivated not by the glory of the man but by the inward adorning of an abiding Christ. All self-exaltation, high estimate of self, taking credit and glory to self, and supposing oneself superior to brethren is of no value and greatly dishonors God, showing the person is not yoked with Christ but drawing a load on his own account.
Labor for Saving Souls
Grace received must bear fruit in lifelong, earnest, unselfish labor to save souls from Satan's snares and make them children of light. Those who follow Christ use the abilities and talents entrusted to them proportionally to honor God, care for fellow believers, and love others as Christ did, willing to make sacrifices to persuade people to leave sin and turn to truth. Those who do not work for Christ fail to grow in spiritual strength and knowledge of Him, while working for Him draws sympathies into closer union with Him, deepens understanding of His work and sacrifice, and leads to valuing people in light of the price He paid. Time already squandered cannot be recovered, so believers redeem the time by making the most of what remains in service with God, sowing truth and trusting grace to awaken it, with the worker transformed to become a child of God, part of the royal family, and fit to be a companion of angels. Receiving truth means accepting a pledge to work with Christ and serve Him, giving up living for own will and interests to become faithful servants of the chosen Master, with faith and works bearing witness to grace as representatives and lights warning people to prepare for the coming judgment and Saviour. This labor continues with expectation of special blessings and definite results until Christ says It is finished.
Practical benevolence proves grace is not in vain, for unselfish generosity bears fruit in sending the gospel to people in darkness and testifies that grace is at work as a miracle produced by the sanctification of the Spirit. Faithful, systematic giving is part of working with Christ in advancing the gospel, nourishing love for God and others, opposing moral darkness, exercising benevolence, developing Christian character, and revealing what people are. God does not need human resources but has made human cooperation necessary for people's good, and those who give means unselfishly to support the work are fellow workers whose resources are entrusted for wise, holy purposes to be put to use in doing good. Such giving for the necessity of the saints and advancement of the kingdom preaches practical sermons and shows a living example of unselfish character after Christ's example with great power upon men, while living to gratify appetite and selfish desire loses God's favor and the heavenly reward and makes words like sounding brass and tinkling cymbal. Faithful stewardship gives spiritual life to nominal believers, turning selfish, covetous worshipers of wealth into earnest workers with Christ in saving sinners. Even a sick person facing death can co-labor by arranging means after death to send truth instead of leaving it to unbelievers, and young men can be aided with tuition to save them from Satan's nets and make them workers.
The work embraces duty bravely and faithfully done for wealthy and influential people, men of intellect in responsible places, ministers of other churches, teachers, lawyers and judges. God works through human agents who persevere in sharing the gospel, and through them He can bring genuine conversion even among those whose lives have been devoted to making money, leading them by the Holy Spirit to turn from self-reliance, devote time, money, talents and influence to God, and help bring the gospel to others. Faithful workers become instruments through whom God converts people in responsible positions, and the converted in turn share the gospel and become agents for reaching others. It includes the Southern field and the colored people of the South as neighbors in most need, cooperating in rebuilding character to the standard of moral right and in recovering the fallen, teaching Word and law, and helping save those in spiritual darkness, with God providing every resource and recreating believers in Christ's image through faith. Those who labor there may trust God to be with them and guide the work while others encourage, support and pray for the Spirit to bring people to truth, lifting eyes to destitute unworked fields, going in to reap, and speaking a plain Thus saith the Lord.
Being workers together with Christ means blessed medical missionary work by physicians of soul educated in Christ's school, having learned the Master's lessons, gained knowledge of Him who is the way, the truth and the life, and knowing how to deal skillfully with souls for whom Christ died in Christ's lines. It requires taking a decided position on the Lord's side as earnest, active, courageous co-workers seeking and saving the lost, feeling deeply over truth and the value of souls because time is short and a great work remains, specifically including encouraging medical missionary work in the churches as God's work to be done with or without consent. Sanitarium workers are to cooperate with God, stand firm on eternal truth, hold the fort against discouragement, keep reaching for a high spiritual standard and the character needed for the heavenly city, and labor in unity. They represent the meek Saviour in dress, words and spirit, direct minds to the Healer, interest people in health of body as well as soul, bear a decided message to prepare the way for the kingdom, teach health reform including discarding flesh food, tea and coffee and excess variety, spread temperance and present truth in season and out, and promote health of body and soul by healthful dress which God desires above all things.
Co-working is applied to using Christmas and New Year for God rather than self-pleasing celebrations that neglect Christ and His cause. God gives gifts for the work, including the ability to sing, and expects servants to use and cultivate their voices for His glory so praise can be sung clearly and understood. As fellow laborers they are to speak and sing in a way all can understand, with clear intonation, correct pronunciation and distinct utterance, in clear soft tones rather than loudness, harshness and shrillness, so singing with spirit and understanding is joined by heavenly musicians in thanksgiving. It requires refusing political zeal, for the Lord will not cooperate with those who distinguish themselves by zeal in politics, and every teacher, minister and leader is a laborer together with God in winning souls whose influence must tell on that side. Anyone stirred to ventilate opinions on political questions must be converted by belief in the truth or give up work, and if unchanged credentials must be taken away for he will do harm and only harm, while tithe must not be used to pay anyone for speaking on political questions.
After the passing of the time God made faithful bearers of the first and second angels' messages workers together with Him. To be workers together with God means to be firm as a rock to the principles, waymarks and foundation of Bible truth that made Seventh-day Adventists, to bind up the testimony and seal the law among disciples, and to speak from personal experience of precious principles of present truth entrusted to them. It means to hold the beginning of confidence firm unto the end, to not let faith change to infidelity, to not let the banner of the third angel be taken from the hands, to rehearse the history of the past in the closing work, to proclaim every last-day truth and strengthen every pillar. It requires refusing to step off the established foundation or enter any new organization, for that would be apostasy from the truth and receiving the grace of God in vain.
Service in Daily Callings
The chapter lays down the highest education, higher than any worldly standard, for knowing God and Christ is what fits people to become coworkers with Christ in useful service. To be workers together with God and not to receive the grace of God in vain means to refuse conformity with the world in study and knowledge and to give special attention to searching the Word. There is no education higher than the principles laid down in this sixth chapter, and students must study diligently to comprehend them and advance just as far as the Word will take them. This is the same higher education given to the early disciples and given now through the Word by chosen messengers, and there is nothing in all the world in the line of education so exalted. Believers must work intelligently for this higher education, with the Holy Spirit impressing truth on the mind, directing thoughts, strengthening weakness and helping them present the truth, so that effectiveness does not depend on a college education but on being teachable and dependent on God. That knowledge which makes teachers such coworkers comes from Christ and enables them to serve effectively in wide fields of usefulness, for those who work together with God must strive for perfection in every bodily organ and quality of mind, training body, mind and soul to perform every duty in divine service, a preparation that endures to eternal life.
Teachers are workers together with God who must beseech those under their care not to receive the grace of God in vain. They become laborers together with God when they open their hearts to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and working with the Master Teacher they can have selfishness expelled and experience wonderful transformation. This work calls for a sense of accountability to God, faithfulness in prayer, and vigilance against temptation, as believers appointed to serve Him by encouraging and blessing others and turning people from sin to righteousness. Young people who thus work together with Christ strengthen their faith and grow in knowledge of God's will. Such teachers combine intellectual and spiritual power, present themselves physically and morally fit, pursue thorough preparation and excellence rather than superficial knowledge, impart knowledge of God with heaven-inspired devotion, win youth while hearts are tender, and lead children with tact to reveal God's image and transform character.
Parents must be converted and live out the Christian experience, receiving its graces by complying with God's conditions, for the chapter's instructions are to be put into daily practice and are of great consequence to those who genuinely value the gospel message. Not to receive God's grace in vain is not to let it go unused or fail to shape life, but to respond in the present, for now is the accepted time and the day of salvation, and for parents this means obeying God's Word and representing Christ in the home. Parents are responsible for bringing up their children and must not let that work be in vain, yet the verse offers encouragement that they can serve God faithfully with their families, and families who practice its instructions are safeguarded against errors warned of in the churches. They must fulfill the baptismal pledge, bring children to the Lord, remove stumbling blocks, guard habits and inclinations against selfishness and other evils that would oppose Christ and truth, and use ingenuity to help children love God's Word. Christ gave His life to save the souls of youth and children so that they may become His helpers, and parents and teachers cooperate with God by training children to respect Him and keep His law and by helping people gain physical, mental and moral strength so they can bless those around them. For husband and wife this becoming co-workers with Christ by physical, mental and moral culture means proving a help and blessing to one another in marriage, counting the cost of every indulgence in intemperance and sensualism, knowing such indulgence does not increase love nor ennoble and elevate, and refusing to indulge animal passions and gratify lust, since very much depends upon parents whether they will bring into the world children who will prove a blessing or a curse.
House-to-house canvassers who are also evangelists are coworkers with God, pleading with people not to waste the grace offered them and urging them not to receive God's grace in vain. As they educate themselves for the work and dwell on the precious truths about God in Great Controversy, Patriarchs and Prophets, and Desire of Ages, pressing these books everywhere and seeking to get the light before as many minds as possible, this urging becomes their own message to those they visit. Workers in publishing houses share this standing as workers together with God entrusted with sacred service, and should value the privilege, give abilities and vigilant service to the institution, and work to make it a light in the world, a faithful witness, and a memorial of the Sabbath. The canvasser who sells books is a worker together with God, taught by the Holy Ghost as an unseen worker, and this book-selling work to clear debts from schools is the Lord's own work in which divinity and humanity are combined. Christ's messengers are to work together with Him in advancing His interests and securing people for His everlasting kingdom, and as they labor with Christ and reveal Him to the world they share His work and become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ to an immortal inheritance. Present-day evangelists, like the first disciples, are workers together with Christ and can rely on His authority and abiding presence as they teach all nations and teach people to keep His commands.
People work together with God in every part of Christian life, including ordinary occupations as well as religious service. Work done for His glory, from love to Him, and in accordance with His will makes even building a structure an act of doing God's will, and workers who bring these principles into character grow in grace and knowledge. That joint labor means being the light of the world and letting that light shine before men in good works so the Father in heaven is glorified, and by this maintaining the honor and glory of God, doing the work of His appointment not alone but as laborers together with God. Being workers together with God means taking up duties at home and cultivating the plot of ground at one's own doors, helping friends at hand who need help, with everyone at his post to save his fellow men, and everyone who accepts the plan of salvation begins at once to work for his fellow men. The place where God puts a person is where that person can best learn to work with Him. God's workers help gather His people and bring them home to His fold, and this work calls for God's power and a life-giving presentation of sin and atonement in the Bible's light, showing people Christ and His righteousness and bringing spiritual life to hearts that are dry and unresponsive.
Warnings Rewards and Endurance
Grace is received in vain when the work of serving God is left for others to do and the person frees himself from religious responsibility, living an idle life or sitting still before hindrances. No one is excused, for every member has individual work to help little churches and bless others, and accepting truth is accepting a pledge to give up living for own will and interests and become a faithful servant of the Master chosen. Salvation requires the harmonious action of mind and heart with divine forces, since no one can of himself work out his own salvation and God will not do this work without cooperation, but when man works earnestly God works with him, giving power to become a son of God by working in him both to will and to do. Those connected with the work may become so ensnared by temptation that they lose connection with God and are no longer co-workers with Christ, and their lives will reveal the controlling spirit and testify against them. To serve as fellow workers they must receive truth that sanctifies the heart and purifies the character, keep earthly concerns subordinate to eternal interests, and devote business skill and influence to Christ and the advancement of His work. God calls His people to become truly converted and join those working together with Him, and delaying this work places them in danger of turning away from truth and righteousness and being lost.
The place as God's worker is forfeited by becoming absorbed in worldly gain, as in the real-estate craze, even as Satan worked against Israel just before entering Canaan by seeking to seduce them into idolatry to bring about their ruin, so that those who sell their interest in truth for prospect of worldly advantage forfeit their place as workers together with God. He will not cooperate with such a course, for His servants must do His work in His way without compromising faith or lowering the standard of righteousness for wealth, influence, or financial advantage. This requires keeping free from worldly policy plans, refusing to become entangled in plans dishonoring to faith to gain the influence of someone wealthy, refusing to sell the soul for financial advantage, and doing nothing that retards the work of God. Their lives are to show self-denial and sacrifice, not only talking of them but revealing them in life, so that example inspires those contacted to seek holiness, know God, and become better acquainted with the things of God. Becoming a laborer together with God is an exalted position to be desired instead of seeking pre-eminence among brethren and striving to obtain the highest wages, for sin always attends such ambition. Following Christ's example in loving and showing compassion while standing firmly against evil means avoiding business entanglements that would damage Christlike character, coarsen the life, or hinder spiritual growth.
A church grown too large from fragments of other churches must not tarry together but scatter to carry the light of truth to those in darkness, using the powers God has given, making God alone the trust instead of placing man where God should be, and letting light shine forth in good works as light-bearers who do not walk in darkness. When believers work in harmony with Him, God educates and leads them in safe paths and His Spirit brings a repentance that needs not to be repented of. If they neglect to go out, the woe of God will be upon them and the blessing already received will only be their condemnation.
Man is honored by being made a co-partner in God's firm and accepted as a worker together with God in the great centers He has established and in saving souls, not as a self-server but as one who receives Christ by faith and labors in the reformatory work carried forward and upward to glorious victory. Christ as Substitute and Surety, anointed head of the human family, Leader, and heir of God, makes His co-laborers joint heirs with Him, and His messengers advancing His interests and securing people for His everlasting kingdom share His work and become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ to an immortal inheritance as they reveal Him to the world. Appointment as His followers means sharing His life of humiliation, self-denial, self-sacrifice and suffering in the plan of redemption to save souls, and those who share it will reign with Him in glory as overcomers with a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Those who do this work will have all sins blotted out and transgressions borne away, will stand before the throne of God and of the Lamb accepted in the Beloved, will put on immortality and see Him as He is and look upon the undimmed glory of the throne, will gather about the throne to receive a glorious reward, and will share with Christ the joy of seeing souls saved in the kingdom to praise God through all eternity. Being workers together with Jesus Christ is both privilege and summons requiring fresh consecration, working out salvation with fear and trembling because God works within to will and to do of His good pleasure, living as those not their own but bought with a price to glorify God in body and spirit, with no room for faltering, fainting, or discouragement, but having the mind of Christ, denying self, taking up the cross, following Him and forsaking all for His sake as the fixed terms of discipleship, since Christ Jesus is the only hope.
Even the humblest person laboring to save souls is a coworker with Christ, and angels minister to that worker. Those who faithfully do the work His providence assigns do not live in vain, but grow more like Christ and prepare for the higher work and joy of the life to come, and cooperation with Him in faith and sensible effort can receive heaven's blessing and succeed. Those who faithfully carry out the entrusted work are colaborers with Jesus Christ whose commission makes them answerable to God, and knowing they are doing His work gives earnestness, courage, cheerfulness, and firmness through burdens and trials, so that God accepts and approves their efforts when performed faithfully. Laborers together with God use their capabilities and powers to do the work God appoints by help of the Holy Spirit, with divine agencies working through human agencies to carry God's messages, and to criticize their work, reject the messages they bear, and sow seeds of doubt and unbelief openly and secretly is to work against God under satanic guidance with defective spiritual sight. Being truly united to Christ and working in fellowship with God and heavenly angels to draw souls to Christ means willingly wearing His yoke and bearing His burdens, realizing they are not their own because purchased at infinite price, losing sight of ambitious prospects in desire to do the God-appointed work and sound the message that the Lord is at hand, while refusing union gives advantage to the enemy and causes loss of souls over which angels sorrow, and those who faithfully labor are tested and trusted and will be called to come up higher into heaven's courts, whereas those who cherish selfishness and have no connection with Christ can never enter the kingdom.
Young as well as old are to be workers together with God in the battle against evil, keeping their own souls in the love of God by faith in the blood of Christ. Each morning they resolve to live for Jesus that day, to love Him and think of Him and refuse to be led by the tempter to do wrong, asking God to show what to avoid and what to encourage, and so gain victory that strengthens the soul against tomorrow's temptations. Working together with Christ is saving souls by aggressive, bold effort that puts the cause of God first, leaving no room for letting home matters absorb time and mind, for seeing reasons and excuses where none exist, or for waiting for openings and favorable circumstances, but requiring doing something to get truth before others and setting an example that helps inexperienced workers, since workers who do no more than settle their own affairs could be spared and the cause would do better without them.