The Philosophy of godliness - Chambers, Oswald
he quotations are from the book entitled The Following of Christ, by john tauter .
Chapter VI
Verily, verily, i say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that i do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because i go unto my father. John 14:12
The way of the working of god
Then said they unto him, what shall we do that we might work the works of god? Jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of god, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. ( john 6:2829) there are two kinds of work in goda working within and a working outwardly. The working inward is gods being and nature, the outward working is the creature. . . . God worketh in souls that he may bring them to the first origin from which they have flowed, for by their works they cannot go in again. These words of jesus sum up the whole mystery of the work of grace, viz. , that to work the works of god we must stop working and let god work. This is the work of god, that ye believe. . . . Un-belief is the most active thing on earth; it is negative on gods side, not on ours. Un-belief is a fretful, wor- rying, questioning, annoying, self-centred spirit. To believe is to stop all this and let god work.
(a) the working master
. . . Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is god which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. (philippians 2:1213) if man is to come to god, he must be empty of all work and let god work alone. . . . Now, all that god willeth to have from us is that we be inactive, and let him be the working master. Paul does not say, work out something that will tell for your salvation; he says, work out in the expression of your life the salvation god has worked in. If we think for a moment we shall soon know how much we are saved what does our tongue say? What kind of things do our ears like to listen to? What kind of bodily associates do we like to be with? These things will always tell not only other people but ourselves what kind of salvation god has worked in. In regeneration god works us into relation with himself that by our bodily expression we may prove whose we are. If you are trying to be a christian it is a sure sign you are not one. Fancy trying to be the daughter of your mother! You cannot help being her daughter. But try and be the daughter of someone elses mother! Unless god has worked in us we shall hinder him all the time by trying to be his children; we cannot, we have to be born from above (rv mg) by the will of god first, be regen- erated; then our working is not working to help god, it is working to let god express through us what he has done in us so that we may prove we are the chil- dren of our father in heaven (see matthew 5:4348). So many of us put prayer and work and consecration in place of the working of god; we make our- selves the workers. God is the worker, we work out what he works in. Spirituality is what god is after, not religiosity. The great snare in religion without genuine spirituality is that people ape being good when they are absolutely mean. There is no value whatever in religious externals, the only thing that is of value is spiritual reality, and this is spiritual reality that i allow god to work in me to will and to do of his good pleasure, and then work out what he has worked in, being carefully careless about everything saving my relationship to god.
(b) the workable medium
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered. ( john 15:6) if we were altogether inactive we should be perfect men. For all that is good is the work of god, and if god does not work it, it is not good.
I wonder how many of us are living on the virtues of our grandparents! The natural virtues are remnants of what the original creation of man once was, they are not promises of what man is going to be; what man is going to be is seen in the life of jesus christ. The workable medium is man. God takes as the medium of working the stuff we are made of, and all he requires is for us to be inactive and let him work. When once we are rightly related to god through the atonement we will be inactive and not in the way of his working in us as he worked in jesus; consequently we shall be able to work out in our natural life all that god wills. It is the old twist, we will try to do what god alone can do, and then we mourn before god because he wont do what we alone can do. We put up sighing petitionsi have tried to be good; i have tried to sanctify myself. All that is the work of god, and the best thing to do is to stop trying and let god do it.
What we have to do, and what god cannot do, is to work out what he has worked in. We try to do gods work for him, and god has to wait until we are pas- sive enough to let him work in us. To believe in jesus means retiring and letting god take the mastership inside. That is all god asks of us. Have we ever got into the way of letting god work, or are we so amaz- ingly important that we really wonder in our nerves and ways what the almighty does before we are up in the morning! We are so certain we know what is right, and if we dont always keep at it god cannot get on. Compare that view with the grand, marvellous working of god in the life of the lord jesus. Our lord did not work for god; he said, the father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Have we any faith in god at all? Do we really expect god to work in us the good pleasure of his will, or do we expect he will only do it as we pray and plead and sacrifice? All these things shut the door to god working. What we have to ask away from, to knock at, to seek through, are these pressing strivings of our own
when we stay our feeble efforts, and from struggling cease,
unconditional surrender brings us gods own peace.
A doctrine easily travestied, but a doctrine god never safeguards. The whole basis of modern christian work is the great impulsive desire to evade concentra- tion on god. We will work for him any day rather than let him work in us. When a man or woman realises what god does work in them through jesus christ, they become almost lunatic with joy in the eyes of the world. It is this truth we are trying to state, viz. , the realisation of the wonderful salvation of god.
(c) the workers manner
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. (1 corinthians 13:13) how is a man to know if his work is of himself or from god? Shortly be it said; there are three super- natural divine virtues, faith, hope, and love or charity; whatever increaseth virtues is from god, but what diminisheth them is a sign that it is the work of man. . . . For what man worketh of himself, he applieth to himself and to time . . . But what god wor- keth, draweth a man away from himself to eternity, and this increaseth faith, hope, and charity.
How much of faith, hope, and love is worked in us when we try to convince somebody else? It is not our business to convince other people, that is the insis- tence of a merely intellectual, unspiritual life. The spirit of god will do the convicting when we are in the relationship where we simply convey gods word. We exploit the word of god in order to fit it into some view of our own that we have generated; but when it comes to the great calm peace and rest of the lord jesus, we can easily test where we are. To rest in the lord is the perfection of inward activity. In the ordinary reasoning of man it means sitting with folded arms and letting god do everything; in reality it is being so absolutely stayed on god that we are free to do the active work of men without fuss. The times god works most wonderfully are the times we never think about it. When we work of ourselves we always connect things with time. What is the good of faith, hope and love when i have to earn my liv- ing? Compare that outlook with what jesus says in the sermon on the mountseek ye first the king- dom of god, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. It means on our part a continual carelessness about everything but that one thing. The great curse of modern christianity is that people will not be careless about things they have no right to be careful about, and they will not let god make them careful about their relationship to him. Sum it up for yourselfwhat do you think about most, not on the surface, but in the deep centre of your centre? What is the real basal thought of your life what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; . . . What ye shall put on? None of us are so stupid or lacking in cunning as to say we do think of these things: but if we think of what will happen to all these things if we put god first, we know where we are, god is not first. If he is first you know you can never think of anything he will forget.
The way of the working of the godly
Therefore if any man be in christ, he is a new creature; . . . And all things are of god. (2 corinthians 5:1718) what is the divine work? It is twofold, what god wor- keth in the soul, one the work of grace, the other essen- tial and divine. By the work of grace man is prepared for the essential . . . By grace god maketh man well- pleasing, it driveth him away from all defective things on to virtue, so that with it he obtaineth all virtues.
The only sign that we are new creations (rv mg) in christ jesus is that we know all things are of god. When we are in difficult circumstances, when we are hard up, when friends slander us, to whom do we go? If we know that all things are of god, then we certainly are new creations in christ jesus. The things that upset the external life reveal where we live. If we are in christ the whole basis of our goings is god, not conceptions of god, not ideas of god, but god him- self. We do not need any more ideas about god, the world is full of ideas about god, they are all worthless, because the ideas of god in any ones head are of no more use than our own ideas. What we need is a real
God, not more ideas about him. Immediately we get a real god we find that old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new; we are so absolutely one with god that we never think of saying we are, the whole life is hid with christ in god.
(a) the experimental virtue
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of god. (ephesians 2:8) god worketh through his grace in man, when he draweth him away from sin and leadeth him on to virtue, if man leaveth sin and exerciseth virtue, this is a grace of god. When we are first born again of the spirit and become rightly related to god, the whole set of our life is along gods line, other people looking at us know how marvellously god has transformed us; we do things and wonder why we do them. That is experimental virtue, but it is accidental, that is, the expression in our life is that of spiritual innocence not of spiritual holiness yet; then slowly and surely the holy spirit leads on to the next thing the essence of virtue.
(b) the essence of virtue
My little children, of whom i travail in birth again until christ be formed in you. (galatians 4:19) the second work that god worketh in the soul is essen- tial; when man cometh to this that he hath obtained all accidental virtue, and so now arriveth at the essence of virtue, then god worketh all virtue in him in an essential way, namely, the heavenly father begetteth his son in the soul, and this birth raiseth the spirit above all created things into god. Until christnot jesus christ, but christ, the son of god, who was incarnate once as a man called jesus christuntil christ be formed in you. No wonder paul talks about the riches of the glory of this mystery; . . . Which is christ in you, the hope of glory. This is not an innocent state, it is a holy state, the very essence of the life is holy, and as we draw on his resurrection life, the life of jesus is manifested in our mortal flesh.
(c) the essential vision
But god . . . Hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in christ jesus. (ephesians 2:4, 6) nevertheless grace leaveth not the man, but it directeth and ordereth the forces of man and cherisheth the divine birth in the essence of the soul; . . . The spirit of man hath now passed over to the godhead. Being seated together in heavenly places in christ jesus does not mean lolling about on the mount of transfiguration, singing ecstatic hymns, and letting demon-possessed boys go to the devil in the valley; it means being in the accursed places of this earth as far as the walk of the feet is concerned, but in undis- turbed communion with god. In the historic jesus christ the spirit of man passed over to the godhead and jesus saw essentially, not experimentally, and the same thing happens when christ is formed in us. Gods grace does not leave a man after an experience of grace. The common idea of how to live the right life seems to be that it is by getting continual bouts of gods grace, that an insight into gods grace will last us several days. As a matter of fact it wont last us any time. That is not what gods grace means. . . . While we look not at the things which are seen that battle never stops. The things that are seen are not the devil, but the pressing things, the things that distract; when christ is formed in us and the essential vision comes through looking at the things which are not seen, we find that god makes other people shadows. If my saintly friends are images of god to me, i have much further to go, yet. God alone must be my stay and source and everything. That is the way the godly life is lived. What is a godly life? A life like god in my bodily edition. Imitation is the great stumbling-block to sanctification. Be yourself first, then go to your own funeral, and let god for ever after be all in all.