Laboring and Striving in the Spirit
For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.
Colossians 1:29
The reason the apostle Paul was so effective in his laboring and striving was because he continuously submitted to the Holy Spirit’s control and providences. It is imperative that every believer, especially pastors and church leaders, follow his example so we, too, can ”labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within [us]” (Col 1:29).
We’ve all witnessed pastors who operated in the flesh rather than the Spirit. Their character is like their preaching: boring, shallow, and ineffective. The fruit of the Spirit is sparse and sickly on the vine of their life. Like butchers, they drive their sheep rather than lead them like shepherds. They are constantly exerting their authority because most people do not naturally follow them as trusted leaders. They demand respect rather than enjoy it. Very few people want to be like them. They are endured more than esteemed, tolerated more than appreciated, and ignored more than heeded. For the most part, though they may be immensely popular with vast congregations, they are weak and spiritually fruitless, bereft of true godliness and power. Why? Because they are not Spirit-controlled; they are not surrendering to him on a moment-by-moment basis as he has revealed himself in his Word. Not so the apostle Paul, that choice servant of God whom we should all imitate. In fact, he has asked us to do so: “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1).
Indeed, our supreme example is our Savior and Lord, the God-man Jesus Christ. Although he was the Son of God, he, too, was Spirit-controlled. In his incarnation he voluntarily surrendered his preincarnate glories that he might become like us. As the supreme representative of mankind, he alone could fulfill our original purpose in glorifying God in perfect obedience, yet he alone could suffer and die in our place. He had to take upon himself the nature of man in order to be punished for our sin, yet he also had to be God in order to endure the sufferings of all the elect, a punishment only God could endure. The work of redemption demanded a theanthropon, a God-man—One in whom the human nature and the Godhead were inseparably joined together in one Person. A perfect man had to die, but only God is holy. Human flesh had to go to the grave, but only God could overcome it. God’s holy and infinite justice could not be satisfied apart from a holy and infinite ransom, and only by his own provision could such a remedy be accomplished. So both the human and divine natures had to be supernaturally woven together by the Holy Spirit, resulting in the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Lord Jesus was totally dependent upon the ministry of the Holy Spirit in all things, including his virgin conception and birth (Luke 1:34-35), his baptism (Luke 3:21-22), his temptation in the wilderness (Luke 4:1), his preaching (Luke 4:17-21), his crucifixion (Heb. 9:14), and his resurrection (Rom. 1:4; 8:11). It was the Holy Spirit who empowered him (Luke 4:14-15), filled him (John 3:34), and led him in ministry (Acts 1:2). The Spirit’s role in his life was even foretold in Isaiah’s prophecies (Isa. 11:2-3; 42:1; 61:1-3).
If the Son of God relied totally upon the Holy Spirit in his life, should we not do likewise?
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