God, Help! “No!”

Colossians 2:6 (ESV) 6  Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him,
Did the title confuse you?  Did it seem counter intuitive? Have you not asked God for help?  And if that is the case why the title?

I want you to stop and think for a moment.  When you came to Christ did you come to Him asking for help or did you come to Him as He moved you to repentance and to salvation?  Did you somehow participate in your salvation, which “help” implies, or were you a recipient of His grace in salvation acknowledging your total helplessness?

Paul made it clear to Titus that our salvation was not brought about by any righteous acts on our part but according to His grace and mercy (Titus 3:5).   We didn’t somehow get to a place of certain righteousness, or willingness (Romans 3:10), however imperfect, and then God finished the work of salvation.  No, it was while we were going our own way, with no understanding of the true nature of God (Romans 3:11).  We confessed we were helpless and that no amount of self-effort would save us from His wrath. It would only be by the initiative God drawing us to himself (John 6:44) and Christ taking our place in judgment for sin we would be saved (Romans 3:24; I John 2:2; 4:10). It was a complete work of God from beginning to end.

So, Paul calls upon the Colossian church to walk in Christ the same way they came to Christ, by faith, relying on His grace and mercy.

In reminding the Corinthian believers of their calling, Paul emphasized the fact that God did not look to their strengths in his effectual call to salvation (I Corinthians 1:26:28).  He did not call them as His children because they were brilliant or wealthy or powerful.  Their status in life was irrelevant to God. They were saved out of their spiritual bankruptcy like all others were. There was no preferential treatment based on perceived life value or spiritual status.  God chose the weak, the foolish, and the despised so that no flesh could take the glory or boast in God’s presence (vs.29).

In speaking to the  church at Ephesus Paul reminded them that their salvation was a total work of God “according to the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:6), “to the praise of his glorious grace” (vs.6), “to the praise of his glorious grace” (vs.7), ”according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ” (vs.9), and “having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will” (vs.11). The gift of salvation is therefore, for His purposes according to His will, for His glory!

This could only be possible if the work done in us was totally of God, apart from any work by us (Ephesians 2:8; Titus 3:5). He didn’t need or want our help. And any help we could or would have given would have been deficient and robbed God of glory.

So it is with our walk. “As your received Christ the Lord, so walk in Him” (Colossians 2:6).  Our prayer life is not “help me Lord,” but “give me grace to be fully dependent upon You.” Our walk in Christ is absolutely dependent on His grace as it was in salvation.  We don’t help Him, we rely upon Him in faith for a Christ-like walk. We need to ”know (intimately) Him and the power of his resurrection, and …. share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10). Our goal is to humble ourselves (Philippians 2:5-8) walk in submission to His will, His grace, and His mercy. We are not on His team, helping our Lord produce righteousness. He doesn’t need our help. He produces righteousness in us and through us as weak, broken earthen vessels, by His grace and mercy for His glory. More often than not, it’s not help we need, when we pray, but the grace to abandon self-effort for the grace, mercy, wisdom, and empowerment of God. “Help” is appropriate only if we are confessing our total helplessness.

2 Peter 3:18 (ESV) 18  But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

-Michael Holtzinger

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