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I am always on the lookout, in my reading of the Bible as well as in my prayerful, contemplative meditations of the things of Christ, for the specific thinking that will position me to connect with the working of God in my life. In other words, I’m always looking for the effort required on my part which will allow for God to express Himself in and through my life. Whether that effort required of me be passive (as in, allowing it to happen) or active (as in, something I need to do), the clearer my understanding of exactly what that specific working of my mind needs to be, the more I believe God can and will work in my life.
You might respond to the above by saying to me, “Simple, just have faith.” Okay, I wouldn’t disagree with that statement, but it’s “just” not specific enough. Does it mean I need to do something or think something specific? Does simply believing in God mean I have the faith you’re saying I need to “just have?”
So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (rhema) of God. (Romans 10:17)
In order for me to have faith, I need to hear from God. So I go right back to the original question, what do I need to do, or not do in order to hear from God? Where can I position my mind and my thoughts in order to better hear from God directly, so that I can have the faith I’m to live by?
For therein (in the gospel of Christ) is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17)
In this administration of the grace of God, which is manifested in the revelation of the mystery of Christ, Paul was set forth by God to be an example to me.
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Christ Jesus might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. (I Timothy 1:15,16)
Them who should hereafter believe on him. That’s me! Paul is my example today!
Those things, which you have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do; and the God of peace shall be with you. (Philippians 4:9)
With the above in mind, let’s take a look at what Paul has to say about exactly what he thought; how he positioned his mind, so that God could and would express Himself through his (Paul’s) life. In this section in I Corinthians, Paul is speaking of his (and Apollos’) ministry to others:
For we are laborers together with God; you are God’s husbandry, you are God’s building. (I Corinthians 3:9)
The phrase laborers together with is a single Greek word in the original text, sunergos, which is composed of the prefix sun, meaning with, and ergos, coming from the verb ergazomai, which means to work or to do. Sunergos describes a cooperative effort of (at least) two parties, working toward the same goal. And yet the second half of this verse indicates that the result of the cooperative effort between Paul and God is due to God alone. It doesn’t seem fair, does it? God and Paul are both doing something, working together toward the same goal, but God alone is getting the credit for the results. What then does Paul get out of his efforts? And exactly how does Paul work together with God? Answer these questions and we’ll go a long way in better understanding the specific effort required which allows God to express Himself to and through us.
Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only; but now much more in my absence, work out (katergazomai) your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God Who works in (energazomai) you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12,13)
These two verses contain two uses of the word “work,” one attributed to the effort of Paul, and one to God. But each of the two uses has a different prefix, and those prefixes spell out the exact differentiation between what man does and what God does in this “working together” which Paul spoke of in I Corinthians.
First we’ll look at the second verse, 13. The phrase works in is the Greek word energazomai, the prefix being en, meaning in, and ergazomai, meaning to work. The words energy and energize come from this word, and it indicates a working within, an “in-working.” God supplies the energy, or the energizing.
In verse 12, the first verse above, work out is the single word katergazomai, the prefix being kata, meaning down from, and ergazomai, meaning to work. This word indicates something being worked down and/or out, from inside to outside, in a person’s life. To simply define this word katergazomai, I like the word “express.” Man initiates the mental and physical working which is required to express the inner energizing of God. God energizes, and Paul (or any believer) works that energy out into expression. God inspires, man acts on that inner working, to the end that the working of God gets expressed in the physical world. For this cooperative working, God gets the credit for the results, and man is rewarded by God for his part. Back in I Corinthians 3….
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that plants anything, neither he that waters; but God that gives the increase. Now he that plants and he that waters are one; and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. (I Corinthians 3:5-8)
It is God who rewards the one who allows His (God’s) energizing to be expressed into this world. In fact, God is the reward for the one who so works.
For this cause we also, since the day we heard, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the thorough knowing (epignosis) of His will (His energizing within) in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, (when the work of man is a result of God’s energizing being worked out, or expressed, it always produces the fruit of the spirit) and increasing in the thorough knowing (epignosis) of God. (Colossians 1:9,10)
Man expresses in his living (thoughts, words and deeds) that which God is energizing within, and is rewarded for doing so by an increased knowing of God.
Following are a few more verses containing uses of the word katergazomai, to work out into expression, which is man’s part. Take time to try and understand, as you see each use in its context, that there is an energizing within, a spiritual power or force (whether good or evil) that is being worked out into expression.
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working (katergazomai – working out, expressing outwardly an energizing within) that which is unseemly (deformed), and receiving in themselves that recompence (repayment) of their error which was meet (necessary, required). (Romans 1:27)
And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation works (katergazomai) patience; (Romans 5:3)
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought (katergazomai) in me all manner of concupiscence (the desire, yearning, longing which leads one about by the nose)… (Romans 7:8a)
In the following verses in Romans 7, there are three different words which are translated “do.” Those which are not katergazomai are either poieo or prasso, both of which mean to produce an action, or to do or practice continually. Also, it’s good to know that this section in Romans is not speaking of the believer who is in Christ, but rather who is walking in his fleshly, carnal mind.
For that which I do (katergazomai) I know (ginosko) not (I’m not fully aware of); for what I desire, that I don’t do; but what I hate, that I do. If then I do that which I desire not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do (katergazomai) it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform (katergazomai) that which is good I find not (because there is no energizing of God in the carnal mind). For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do what I would not, it is no more I that do (katergazomai) it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that, when I desire to do good, evil is present with me. (Romans 7:15-21)
Two things concerning the above: First, in these specific verses, Paul is not talking about a believer who is in Christ, but rather a believer who is trying to do the will of God in his flesh; and second, each time that katergazomai is used, it is indicating a power or force within which is being worked out, or expressed, through his own actions or behavior. It is sin, evil, which is being worked out into practice by the man who is dwelling in his flesh. No matter what a man wants or desires, when he is in the sinfulness of his flesh, then that sinfulness is what is going to be worked out into practice.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done (katergazomai) all, to stand. (Ephesians 6:13)
God evidences Himself within His children as an energizing, which energizing is sourced from the wholeness of the spirit of Christ which he received when he believed unto Jesus Christ. When and as it occurs, and according to the energizing of that holy spirit, man responds to it by having it be worked out into evidence in his psychological and physiological (mind and body) life. The benefit, or reward, for a man so working in this cooperation with the energizing of God’s spirit is that he will have more of God.
Paul was so enamored of this increasing of the spirit of God, which is the spirit of Christ in his life that he surrendered himself almost completely to it (he wasn’t perfect!).
For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not worked (katergazomai) by means of me, to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed. (Romans 15:18)
How Paul worked together with God is our example today. He lived to experience the energizing of the spirit of Christ within being expressed in and through his life, knowing that doing so would result in an ever-increasing supply of the spirit of God.
