For a long time, critics have faulted evangelicals for prioritizing personal spirituality. It is better, they argue, to fixate upon solving today’s social evils. According to them, spiritual life concerns are the same as Nero fiddling while Rome burned.
Yet, all the world’s depravity springs out of the individual human heart. The holocaust itself began in the secrecy of one man’s personal space. With nothing spiritual to combat the evil there, it eventually grew into the ovens of Auschwitz. We are justifiably concerned with what goes on in the interior of people.
Beginning with our own selves.
Like a seed, the gospel of grace has entered our hearts, but it must find suitable soil so it can flourish and grow. For one thing, Jesus warned about things buried within us that frustrate spiritual progress. Consider the parable of Matthew chapter 13.
3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away.
Then, a few verses later, he explains what this parable means.
20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
This is a person who has rocks, hardened places, in his heart. He received the word with joy, but as the root of it reached deeper, it encountered unrelenting resistance. You could say these are entrenched sinful patterns, areas that won’t give in to God’s kind advances, places that forbid deepening downward growth. The root redirects, shifts, and looks for an alternate route where it won’t hear the word ‘no.’ But ultimately it can’t find a way, because it keeps encountering immovable objects.
Finally, running into so many of these stony areas, the seed has to back off and settle for living on the face of the ground, as though it were surface vegetation. But hostility in this world is so strong against faith, that eventually, such a shallow life cannot survive. The shallow Christian won’t last. Eventually, he or she gives up and becomes another one of those people who claim to be born again, but nobody can tell by looking at their lifestyle. Or even their social media posts.
I searched for high-profile examples of recognizable celebrities who have believed in Jesus and experienced subsequent breakthroughs following their salvation. I couldn’t find many. In fact, most of their impressive anecdotes only revolved around their initial repentance. As I checked into what they’ve done since, I found that in some cases, these folks circled around and re-involved themselves in what they originally came out of. Many have fallen into other questionable behaviors, like extravagant living that led to bankruptcies, legal problems, and generally things that don’t resonate with spiritual maturity.
It reminded me how hard it is for our faith to thrive when we overlook the multitude of blockades in our hearts—not just the big sins, the boulders, but the little ones that exist in us like layers of pea gravel. Many of those things we excuse—I have a special history/circumstances. Some we defend—I have a right to pleasure and fulfillment; besides, this is normal. And some we quietly tolerate—I know it’s wrong, but this is just part of my life.
If you want to last as an active growing Christian, you can’t afford to overlook what is going on within.
What are we to do? Paul said, “Work out your own salvation.”
Phil. 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
This does not mean to believe in yourself and save yourself. You are not the Savior; Jesus is. It means that since God has saved you, you are to work that salvation out, that is, work the soil of your own heart. Tend it like a garden. Participate in your Christian life. And do it with fear and trembling, because when the root of the word reaches a rock in your heart and seeks to get through, you know God is at work within. The moment is not to be taken lightly. His grace is reaching something lodged and hidden within you.
However, He is only working in you to make you work. He influences you to want to do it, and then he enables you to do it, but he will not do it for you. This doesn’t provoke us into the futile gloom we find in Romans 7, where a Christian tries and fails repeatedly, only to come under a burden of religious condemnation. Nor, obviously, does working out salvation call for passivity, where one waits for God to take care of it. No, we must accept the grace that God gives and then act on it. The outcome will be no less than God’s good pleasure. That is why after a believer obeys God, especially after a drawn-out struggle, a fresh, powerful sense of revival will occur in him or her.
David Powlison, author of How Does Sanctification Work? described his entrance into Harvard as a brilliant young man. Full of youthful pride, he was resistant to the gospel. Even when his studies in social work attested that the Christian faith could alleviate problems both he and other people were experiencing, he still kept Jesus at bay. Finally, a friend spoke an honest word to him: “I respect you more than anyone I know, but you are destroying yourself.” With that remark, God finally got through. The young man came to Christ.
But Powlison didn’t live happily ever after. There’s always more than one rock in the human heart. The divine work of sanctification reaches down into us like a corkscrew to progressively deeper levels. And so the intense work of grace found him again, at seminary, this time as a believer struggling with rigorous coursework, and pressing responsibilities. In the face of these new challenges, he did what came natural to him, which was to control it all with superior discipline and above-average intelligence. Regardless, anxiety issues began to crop up with their myriad ill effects. God was at work in the man, and the root of His word was colliding with the interior rocks of pride and self-sufficiency. Without a breakthrough, he would have defaulted to an ongoing shallow belief in God’s ability, a flabby spirit of prayer, and a certain blindness to the presence of God.
However, according to Powlison, God reached him through “a suite of complementary truths,” that is, biblical teaching, friends in church community, and of course the Holy Spirit within him. These provided the working grace in him necessary to enter a completely new level of trust and power.
One way to move a rock is to dynamite it out in one explosive crisis moment. The other is to chip it away through a slow process of lifelong dealing. God can use either approach and frequently uses a combination of both. Admittedly on paper, the Bible describes a tidy, clean description of this working dynamic. In the midst of the situation though, the Christian “struggles forward amid many variables, contingencies, and uncertainties.”¹
When you look back on your previous Christian life, you’ll see things in the rearview—now quite small—that loomed large and immovable at one point in time. But you got through them. How? God worked. The Holy Spirit brought in the power of the cross of Christ and applied it to your heart, chipping away at your stubbornness. He offered the power of resurrection so you could do and be what pleases Him.
Such work always culminates with something practical. For instance, the Lord touches you about your need to read the Bible more. You want to, but it still doesn’t happen. Why? After practical consideration, you might realize that dental appointments, grocery shopping, and household projects are all carried out on a regular basis because they get written down on to-do lists. Bible reading has never made any such lists, so it keeps being forgotten. The solution then, is no longer purely spiritual, since God has already worked in you the willingness to do it. Instead, it is practical, which in this case concludes with writing it down.
This example may need something more. For an effective working out, you might need to choose a generalized reading plan. What part of the Bible will you read? When and where will you read? How much? Once you answer these questions, you’ve made significant progress in working out God’s work in you. Finally, you may need a partner.
All of those things—consideration, planning, and accountability, are part of working out your salvation. The same goes for developing generosity, sharing the gospel, praying, and service. And of course, for nailing sins, like out-of-control internet spending, use of pornography, office or church gossip, road rage, political rage, and a host of other negatives.
Salvation in the daily sense only becomes consequential when we translate it into practical dimensions. Although God initiates and enables it, His work ends up on the far end with a believer thinking, planning, and doing.
Or rather, working the soil, and digging out the rocks.
¹ Powlison, David. How Does Sanctification Work? (Wheaton: Crossway, 2017) kindle book, chapter 9.
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This is an updated edition of a post originally published on John Myer
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