One of the most glorious aspects of the Gospel for those of us who have been born-again is that the work of our salvation was entirely accomplished, once and for all, by Jesus. There is nothing left to be done to reconcile us to the Father, to rescue us from the wrath to come, and to provide forgiveness for all of our sins. As our Lord cried out triumphantly from the cross, “It is finished!” (John 19:30)
Given that the Triune God has entirely accomplished and done everything necessary for our salvation, what is our response to be? I don’t ask this question in terms of worship—to give God thanks and praise is a given. The question that I’m asking has to do with the effort that we expend for God’s glory once we’ve been saved.
Now before we start I need to point out that while we are not saved by our good works, we are saved to good works. The Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
“We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.” – Martin Luther, 16th-century Church reformer
I was asked once by a colleague how we are to balance the fact that our salvation has been accomplished and God has called us to rest, with the reality that as soldiers of Christ we’re in a battle and are called to labor hard for the Kingdom and pursue holiness. This is a good question, one that must be carefully thought through according to Scripture.
There seem to be two ways we Christians typically look at this: one way says that because the work is done, we can just kick our feet up on a beach somewhere and relax. It’s over—we’re just waiting for Heaven. Now while I agree that we’re waiting for the end of this Age and the second coming of Christ, the proper response to such a glorious Gospel is not laziness.
The other extreme leans towards working really hard in order to curry favor with God, as if Jesus, through the cross, had not already accomplished that. This is nothing more than a works-righteousness, which has no place in the life of a Christian.
“For where Christ is named, idolatry is destroyed and the fraud of evil spirits is exposed.” – St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation
How then are we to live and respond to such a great salvation? I believe that the Lord has provided us with a wonderful answer and example in 1 Corinthians 15:1-10.
“Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” – The Apostle Paul
In the first few verses Paul lays out the Gospel. He tells us what Christ has accomplished for us, that He died and rose again for our sins according to the Scriptures.
Then he goes on to recount Jesus’s appearance to the disciples, to the multitudes, and ultimately to Paul himself, when Paul was personally discipled by Him for three years in Damascus and Arabia (Galatians 1:17-18).
Then in verse nine Paul makes a statement of humility, reminding us that he is not worthy of God’s salvation, but that by God’s grace he is now a believer, although formerly he persecuted Christians. He then says something in verse ten that sheds light on the biblical balance of our works in relation to salvation:
“…and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”
This is staggering. Paul says here that had he just kicked his feet up, relaxed, and “rested” after his salvation—because God has finished the work—that that would have been an indication that God’s grace had been given to him in vain. In other words, God saves us to something, and that is to labor alongside Him in the Kingdom, so that His glory might cover the earth. He does not save us so that we simply become lazy Christians.
Spiritually speaking, we are to rest in Christ’s finished work on our behalf.
“Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.” – Hebrews 4:11
In context the author of Hebrews is talking to Jews who have become followers of Jesus, and he is warning them against the temptation to once again seek God’s righteousness through the works of the Law, and to simply rest in Christ’s finished work accomplished for their salvation.
That, however, is not what Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians 15. Paul said God’s grace was not wasted on him, because after being saved by grace alone through faith alone, he labored by that amazing grace to do all the good works which God had called him to do. In other words, God’s grace completely saves us from our sin and the coming judgment. But once we’ve been saved His grace empowers us to labor for His glory and accomplish the mission for which He created us and put us on this earth.
The lesson for us, then, is to be found faithful stewards of this incomparable treasure our Lord has entrusted to us. We read in Matthew 25:14-30 a parable told by Jesus about being faithful servants. Our Lord has given to each and every one of us a calling in this life, and He has entrusted to each of us the necessary measure of faith for that call, the gifts and talents we need to do it, and the requisite time to accomplish it. In response to the incredible grace we’ve been shown how could we do any less than labor to the utmost for the glory of our King?
And it is His very grace—by which the all the work is already finished—that motivates us to work harder than anyone else, just like Paul.