Philippians 2:12-13 and 1 Corinthians 15:10 are no different. In Philippians, Paul says "...work out your own salvation in fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure." Paul tells the Corinthians "...I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Huh?
In these passages, God is showing us a divine paradox about the way Christian life works. It's not that only one of these can be true. On the contrary, both are true. Together, these truths form a beautiful, powerful picture of the Christian life. Seeing one without the other leads to either legalism (trying to work to earn God's favor) or apathetic laziness, as if we don't need to do anything at all. This week, we'll begin looking at the way God's work and our's combine to drive our spiritual growth.
In Titus 2:11-12, Paul tells Titus the reason Christians can (and must) live holy lives is because "The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age." So we live and grow spiritually because God's grace is training us and enabling us to do so. This is what Paul meant in Philippians 2:13, saying God is at work in us.
The enabling "training" of God's grace is different from the hard-working training in 1 Timothy 4:8. Let's look at some specifics about the way God's grace trains us.
The training God's grace gives us in Titus 2 is God's foundational effort to make us more like Himself. God is the one working here. He is constantly present, working in our souls and our lives to make us will and do what pleases Him. He is molding our hearts, helping us desire more of Him and less of this sinful world. Think about that. Right now, the Lord of all creation, the righteous King of the universe, is literally working in you and I RIGHT NOW to make us forsake worldly passions and do what glorifies Him! God's effort is decisive, without it we would have no power to train ourselves for godliness.
Because God's grace is decisive, it's also foundational. In Titus 2:2-10, Paul presents the high standard for those who are in Christ. Our lives are to "adorn the doctrine of God our Savior" (v. 10). Our lives should make our God look like the magnificent, glorious God He is. The only reason we can do this is because God's grace is at work in us. Picture the construction of a building. What is the first, fundamental, and most important step? Isn't it laying the foundation? Without the foundation, the building would sway, shake, and eventually collapse, because there was nothing to uphold it. No progress can be made without there being a foundation first.
In the same way, God's grace is the foundation for our godliness. When Jesus, who is the grace of God, lived, died, and rose from death, He defeated sin. When we place faith in Him, receiving Him as Lord and Savior, His death and resurrection become ours. God killed us when He killed His son. We have been resurrected, we have a new life and no longer live according to the passions of sin! This is what Paul says in Romans 6. Because of this great work of God in our lives, we can pursue holiness. We can work hard, for God has already done the heavy lifting by defeating sin in Christ. Believe this truth, let grace train you.
