This is a study of Jesus working in us and by us. Paul worked with great energy because of Jesus in him.

1. JESUS WAS WORKINGIN US AND BY US
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Colossians1:29 29
To this end I strenuouslycontend
with all the energy Christso powerfullyworks in me.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Manner In Which The Apostle DischargedHis Divinely Given Trust
Colossians 1:28, 29
T. CroskeryWhom we proclaim, admonishing every man, and teaching every
man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfectin Christ:
whereunto I labour also, striving according to his working who workethin me
mightily.
I. THE DUTY OF MINISTERS.It is to preachChrist.
1. It is not to preachmorality. Though it is right and necessaryto exhibit
moral duties in the light of the cross.
2. It is not to preacha philosophy or a thaumaturgy.) 1 Corinthians 1:22-24.)
3. It is to preach Christ crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:3.) Some preach Christ's
incarnation as the grand hope of man, but this is to present a brokenhope, if
it is not supplemented by the death of Christ.
4. It is to preach Christ as the only Saviour. "Neitheris there salvationin any
other" (Acts 4:12). There is no salvation in ordinances, in saints, in angels, in
images, in pictures, in works of righteousness.
5. It is to preach Christ as a sufficient Saviour. He is mighty to save, and "able
to save to the uttermost."
II. THE MANNER IN WHICH CHRIST IS TO BE PREACHED.
1. "Admonition." "Admonishing every man." This implies:

2. (1) The duty of rebuke in the case ofthose who repair to other saviours than
Christ. Preachers must, likewise, rebuke sin (Isaiah 58:1; 2 Timothy 3:17;
Hebrews 9:10).
(2) Preaching is to set forth examples of admonition (1 Corinthians 10:11).
(3) Great is the profit of admonition to those who receive it aright (Proverbs
28:13).
(4) It implies that all men need admonition, for all are apt to err or sin.
2. Teaching. Christianity is not a thaumaturgy, not a spectacularreligion;it is
the exhibition of Christ through the gospelof truth. The understanding must
be informed.
(1) There is the promise of the Spirit to lead us into all truth (John 14:26).
(2) There is the Word of truth, which preachers are rightly to divide (2
Timothy 2:15).
(3) We need to be instructed, for we are ignorant and prejudiced.
(4) There is immense variety in truth. "In all wisdom." Preachers must
preach wisely- not in the "wisdom of words" (1 Corinthians 1:17), but in the
truly Divine wisdom which enables us "to understand our own way"
(Proverbs 14:8), which teaches us humility - "becoming fools that we may be
wise (1 Corinthians 3:18); to walk not as fools, but as wise (Ephesians 5:15);
and "to considerour latter end, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom"
(Psalm 90:12).
III. THE DESIGN OF THIS PREACHING OF CHRIST. "Thatwe may
present every man perfect in Christ."
1. Perfectionis the aim. It will be attained in glory. It implies perfectionin
knowledge as wellas holiness. We are to seek perfection
(1) in doctrine (Hebrews 6:1);
(2) in faith (James 2:22);
(3) in hope (1 Peter1:13);
(4) in love (1 John 4:18);
(5) in understanding (1 Corinthians 14:20).
2. Perfectionis only to be realized in Christ.
(1) Its ultimate realization comes through him (Philippians 1:6).
(2) This thought ought to make saints seek a closerintercourse with Christ.

3. 3. It is a perfection designedfor all saints. "Everyman." It is not for an inner
circle of disciples, an initiated few, but for "every man." This universality of
blessing marks the distinction betweenthe gospelof Christ and the schools of
Judaeo-Gnostic speculation.
IV. THE SPIRIT IN WHICH MINISTERS OUGHT TO LABOUR IN THE
GOSPELOF CHRIST.
1. They must labour and strive. The ministry is a severe labour to body, mind,
and spirit. The apostle "laboured more abundantly than they all." The Lord's
work cannot be done negligently (2 Timothy 4:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 5:12).
2. Ministers must labour, not in their own strength, but in the Lord's strength.
"Striving according to his working, who workethin me mightily." It is the
Lord who works in his ministers for the salvationof souls. Paul may plant,
and Apollos water, but "it is God that giveth the increase"(1 Corinthians
3:6). - T. C.
Biblical Illustrator
Whereunto I also labour, striving according to His working.
Colossians 1:29
Work in us and work by us
C. H. Spurgeon.The work ofChrist in us and for us does not exempt us from
work. Nor does the Holy Spirit's operationsupersede human effort, but rather
excites it. This truth is illustrated in —
I. THE BELIEVER'S SALVATION. If any man be saved, the work within is
entirely wrought by the Holy Ghost, but that does not exempt from, but
necessitates, energeticlabour. To enforce this we remark —
1. That the Christian life is always describedas a thing of energy: as a
journey, a race, a boxing match.

4. 2. That there is no illustration in Scripture which allows the supposition that
heaven is won by sloth. That is everywhere condemned.
3. That it is natural it should be so. When the Holy Spirit comes the sinner
sees his danger, and exclaims, "What must I do to be saved?" He sees the
excellence ofsalvation, and is desirous of finding the pearl of greatprice at all
costs. Having found Christ, the believer is moved at once to glorify Him with
all his powers.
4. That it is most certain that all saving acts must be performed by the man
himself. Faith is the gift of God, but the Holy Ghostnever believed for
anybody. Repentance is His work, but the sinner must repent. He helps our
infirmities in prayer, but we have to pray.
5. That if He were not made active, but one simply calledupon, there is a
reduction of manhood to materialism. There is no moral goodor evil to me in
a work which is not my own. In the Square of St. Mark, at Venice, at certain
hours the bell of the clock is struck by two bronze figures as large as life,
wielding hammers. Now, nobody ever thought of presenting thanks to those
bronze men for the diligence with which they have struck the hours; of course,
they cannot help it, they are wrought upon by machinery, and they strike the
hours from necessity. Some years ago a strangerwas upon the top of the
tower, and incautiously went too near one of these bronze men; his time was
come to strike the hour; he knockedthe strangerfrom the battlement of the
towerand killed him; nobody said the bronze man ought to be hanged;
nobody ever laid it to his charge at all. There was no moral goodor moral evil,
because there was no will in the concern. It was not a moral act, because no
mind and heart gave consentto it. Am I to believe that grace reduces men to
this?
6. I warn any who imagine a man is a merely passive being in salvation
againstputting their theory into practice.
II. THE MINISTRYOF THE SAINTS IN THE CONVERSIONOF
OTHERS. The Holy Spirit alone canconvert a soul, but wherever He works,
as a generalrule, it is in connectionwith the earnestefforts of Christian
men.This is clear—
1. From the example of the text. Paul certifies that the salvationof souls is the
sole work of Christ, but he declares that He laboured "agonizing." Labouring
means —(1) Abundant work. No man canbe saidto labour who only does half
a day's work; and a soul labourer will not make his work a by-play, but put in
long hours, and be ever at it.(2) Hard work. He is no labourer who takes a
spade to play with it as a little child upon the sand.(3)Personalwork. No man

5. is a labourer who works through his servants;and the powerof the Church
lies in the personal influence of her members.(4)All this must have combined
with it inward soul conflict. If your heart never breaks for another, you will
never be the means of breaking his heart.
2. This is plain from the work itself.(1)Souls are not converted, as a rule,
without previous prayer. So we must be stirred up to prayer, and the petitions
God hears are not those of people half asleep.(2)Souls are saved
instrumentally through teaching, but not cold, dead teaching. Some warn
souls in such a careless tone as to create unbelief.(3)Teaching is not all; we
must use earnest, persevering persuasion.
3. Earnestzealis a natural result of the Spirit's working on the soul.(1) He
sanctifies in eachthe natural instinct which leads them to wish others to be
like themselves. Having experiencedsalvation, we desire others to have the
same happiness.(2)He bestirs in us the impulse of gratitude to Christ, and so
consecrationto Him.(3) He sanctifies the desire for the prosperity of the
community to which we belong, and so we ardently labour for the success of
the Church.
4. The whole history of the Church confirms what has been stated, our Lord's
ministry, Pentecost, and , Luther, etc.
(C. H. Spurgeon.).
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(29)Whereunto I also labour.—In
this verse St. Paul passes fromthe plural to the singular, evidently in
preparation for the strong personalremonstrance of Colossians 2:1-7.
His working . . .—See Ephesians 1:12, and Note there. Perhaps, as in
Galatians 2:8 (“He that wrought effectually in Peterto the Apostleship of the
Circumcision, the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles”), there is
specialallusion to the grace given to him for his Apostleship of the Gentiles.
MacLaren's ExpositionsColossians
CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOUR
Colossians 1:29.
I have chosenthis text principally because it brings togetherthe two subjects

6. which are naturally before us to-day. All ‘WesternChristendom,’ as it is
called, is to-day commemorating the Pentecostalgift. My text speaks about
that powerthat ‘workethin us mightily.’ True, the Apostle is speaking in
reference to the fiery energy and persistent toil which characterisedhim in
proclaiming Christ, that he might present men perfectbefore Him. But the
same energy which he expended on his apostolic office he expended on his
individual personality. And he would not have dischargedthe one unless he
had first laboured on the other. And although in a letter contemporary with
this one from which my text is taken he speaks ofhimself as no longer young,
but ‘such an one as Paul the aged, and likewise, also a prisoner of Jesus
Christ,’ the young spirit was in him, and the continual pressing forward to
unattained heights. And that is the spirit, not only of a sectionof the Church
divided from the rest by youth and by specialeffort, but of the whole Church
if it is worth calling a Church, and unless it is thus instinct, it is a mere dead
organisation.
So I hope that what few things I have to saymay apply to, and be felt to be
suitable by all of us, whether we are nominally Christian Endeavourers or
not. If we are Christian people, we are such. If we are not endeavouring, shall
I venture to say we are not Christians? At any rate, we are very poor ones.
Now here, then, are two plain things, a greatuniversal Christian duty and a
sufficient universal Christian endowment. ‘I work striving’; that is the
description of every true Christian. ‘I work striving, according to His
working, who workethin me mightily’: there is the greatgift which makes the
work and the striving possible. Let me briefly deal, then, with these two.
I. The solemn universal Christian obligation.
Now the two words which the Apostle employs here are both of them very
emphatic. ‘His words were half battles,’ was saidabout Luther. It may be as
truly said about Paul. And that word ‘work’which he employs, means, not
work with one hand, or with a delicate forefinger, but it means toil up to the
verge of weariness. The notion of fatigue is almost, I might say, uppermost in
the word as it is used in the New Testament. Some people like to ‘labour’ so as
never to turn a hair, or bring a sweat-dropon to their foreheads. Thatis not
Christian Endeavour. Work that does not ‘take it out of you’ is not worth
doing. The other word ‘striving’ brings up the picture of the arena with the
combatants’strain of muscle, their set teeth, their quick, short breathing,
their deadly struggle. Thatis Paul’s notion of Endeavour. Now ‘Endeavour,’

7. like a greatmany other words, has a baserand a nobler side to it. Some
people, when they say, ‘I will endeavour,’ mean that they are going to try in a
half-hearted way, with no prospectof succeeding. Thatis not Christian
Endeavour. The meaning of the word--for the expressionin my text might just
as well be rendered ‘endeavouring’ as ‘striving’--is that of a buoyant
confident effort of all the concentratedpowers, with the certainty of success.
That is the endeavourthat we have to cultivate as Christian men. And there is
only one field of human effort in which that absolute confidence that it shall
not be in vain is anything but presumptuous arrogance;namely, in the effort
after making ourselves whatGod means us to be, what Jesus Christ longs for
us to be, what the Spirit of God is given to us in order that we should be. ‘We
shall not fail,’ ought to be the word of every man and woman when they set
themselves to the greattask of working out, in their own characters and
personalities, the Divine intention which is made a Divine possibility by the
sacrifice ofJesus Christ and the gift of the Divine Spirit.
So then what we come to is just this, dear brethren, if we are Christians at all,
we have to make a business of our religion; to go about it as if we meant work.
Ah! what a contrastthere is betweenthe languid wayin which Christian men
pursue what the Bible designatestheir ‘calling’ and that in which men with
far paltrier aims pursue theirs! And what a still sadder contrastthere is
betweenthe wayin which we Christians go about our daily business, and the
way in which we go about our Christian life! Why, a man will take more pains
to learn some ornamental art, or some game, than he will ever take to make
himself a better Christian. The one is work. What is the other? To a very large
extent dawdling and make-believe.
You remember the old story,--it may raise a smile, but there should be a deep
thought below the smile,--of the little child that said as to his father that ‘he
was a Christian, but he had not been working much at it lately.’ Do not laugh.
It is a greatdeal too true of--I will not venture to say what percentage of--the
professing Christians of this day. Work at your religion. That is the great
lessonof my text. Endeavourwith confidence of success. The Book of
Proverbs says:‘He that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great
waster,’and that is true. A man that does ‘the work of the Lord negligently’ is
scarcelyto be credited with doing it at all. Dearfriends, young or old, if you
name the name of Christ, be in earnest, and make earnestwork of your
Christian character.
And now may I venture two or three very plain exhortations? First, I would

8. say--if you mean to make your Christian life a piece of genuine work and
striving, the first thing that you have to do is to endeavourin the direction of
keeping its aim very clearbefore you. There are many ways in which we may
state the goalof the Christian life, but let us put it now into the all-
comprehensive form of likeness to Jesus Christ, by entire conformity to His
Example and full interpretation of His life. I do not say ‘Heaven’; I say
‘Christ.’
That is our aim, the loftiestidea of development that any human spirit can
grasp, and rising high above a great many others which are noble but
incomplete. The Christian ideal is the greatestin the universe. There is no
other system of thought that paints man as he is, so darkly; there is none that
paints man as he is meant to be, in such radiant colours. The blacks upon the
palette of Christianity are blacker, and the whites are whiter, and the golden
is more radiant, than any other painter has ever mixed. And so just because
the aim which lies before the leastand lowest of us, possessing the most
imperfect and rudimentary Christianity, is so transcendentand lofty, it is
hard to keepit clearbefore our eyes, especiallywhen all the shabby little
necessitiesofdaily life come in to clutter up the foreground, and hide the great
distance. Men may live up at Darjeeling there on the heights for weeks,and
never see the Himalayas towering opposite. The lowerhills are clear;the
peaks are wreathedin cloud. So the little aims, the nearerpurposes, stand out
distinct and obtrusive, and force themselves, as it were, upon our eyeballs, and
the solemnwhite Throne of the Eternal awayacross the marshy levels, is often
hid, and it needs an effort for us to keepit clearbefore us. One of the main
reasons formuch that is unsatisfactoryin the spiritual condition of the
average Christianof this day is preciselythat he has not burning ever before
him there, the greataim to which he ought to be tending. So he gets loose and
diffused, and vague and uncertain. That is what Paul tells you when he
proposes himself as an example: ‘So run I, not as uncertainly,’ The man who
knows where he is running makes a bee-line for the goal. If he is not sure of
his destination, of course he zigzags. ‘So fight I, not as one that beateth the
air’--if I see my antagonistI can hit him. If I do not see him clearly I strike
like a swordsmanin the dark, at random, and my sword comes back
unstained. If you want to make the harbour, keepthe harbour lights always
clearbefore you, or you will go yawing about, and washing here and there, in
the trough of the wave, and the tempest will be your master. If you do not
know where you are going you will have to say, like the men in the old story in
the Old Book, ‘Thy servant went no whither.’ If you are going to endeavour,
endeavour first to keepthe goalclearbefore you.

9. And endeavour next to keepup communion with Jesus Christ, which is the
secretof all peacefuland of all noble living. And endeavournext after
concentration. And what does that mean? It means that you have to detach
yourself from hindrances. It means that you have to prosecute the Christian
aim all through the common things of Christian life. If it were not possible to
be pursuing the greataim of likeness to Jesus Christ, in the veriestsecularities
of the most insignificant and trivial occupations, then it would be no use
talking about that being our aim. If we are not making ourselves more like
Jesus Christ by the way in which we handle our books, orour pen, or our
loom, or our scalpel, orour kitchen utensils, then there is little chance ofour
ever making ourselves like Jesus Christ. For it is these trifles that make life,
and to concentrate ourselves onthe pursuit of the Christian aim is, in other
words, to carry that Christian aim into every triviality of our daily lives.
There are three Scripture passageswhichset forth various aspects ofthe aim
that we have before us, and from eachof these aspects deduce the one same
lesson. The Apostle says ‘giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue,’ etc.,
‘for if ye do these things ye shall never fail.’ He also exhorts:‘Give diligence to
make your calling and electionsure.’And finally he says:‘Be diligent, that ye
may be found of Him in peace, without spot, blameless.’There are three
aspects ofthe Christian course, and the Christian aim, the addition to our
faith of all the clustering graces andvirtues and powers that can be hung
upon it, like jewels onthe neck of a queen; the making our calling and election
sure, and the being found at lasttranquil, spotless, stainless, andbeing found
so by Him. These greataims are incumbent on all Christians, they require
diligence, and ennoble the diligence which they require.
So, brethren, we have all to be Endeavourers if we are Christians, and that to
the very end of our lives. Forour path is the only path on which men tread
that has for its goalan objectso far off that it never can be attained, so near
that it can everbe approached. This infinite goalof the Christian Endeavour
means inspiration for youth, and freshness for old age, and that man is happy
who can say:‘Not as though I had already attained’ at the end of a long life,
and cansay it, not because he has failed, but because in a measure he has
succeeded. Other courses oflife are like the voyages ofthe old mariners which
were confined within the narrow limits of the Mediterranean, and steered
from headland to headland. But the Christian passes through the jaws of the
straits, and comes out on a boundless sunlit oceanwhere, though he sees no
land ahead, he knows there is a peacefulshore, beyond the westernwaves. ‘I

10. work striving.’
Now one word as to the other thought that is here, and that is
II. The all-sufficient Christian gift.
‘According to His working, which workethin me mightily.’ I need not discuss
whether ‘His’ in my text refers to God or to Christ. The thing meant is the
operationupon the Christian spirit, of that Divine Spirit whose descentthe
Church to-day commemorates. At this stage of my sermon I can only remind
you in a word, first of all, that the Apostle here is arrogating to himself no
specialor peculiar gift, is not egotisticallysetting forth something which he
possessedand other Christian people did not--that power which, ‘working in
him mightily,’ workedin all his brethren as well. It was his conviction and his
teaching--wouldthat it were more operatively and vitally the conviction of all
professing Christians to-day, and would that it were more conspicuously, and
in due proportion to the restof Christian truth, the teaching of all Christian
teachers to-day!--that that Divine poweris in the very act of faith receivedand
implanted in every believing soul. ‘Know ye not,’ the Apostle could say to his
hearers, ‘that ye have the Spirit of God, exceptye be reprobates.’I doubt
whether the affirmative response would spring to the lips of all professing or
real Christians to-day as swiftly as it would have done then. And I cannot help
feeling, and feeling with increasing gravity of pressure as the days go on, that
the thing that our churches, and we as individuals, perhaps need most to-day,
is the replacing of that greattruth--I do not call it a ‘doctrine,’ that is cold, it
is experience--in its proper place. They who believe on Him do receive a new
life, a supernatural communication of the new Spirit, to be the very power
that rules in their lives.
It is an inward gift. It is not like the help that men canrender us, given from
without and apprehended and incorporatedwith ourselves through the
medium of the understanding or of the heart. There is an old story in the
history of Israelabout a young king that was bid by the prophet to bend his
bow againstthe enemies of Israel, as a symbol; and the old prophet put his
withered, skinny brown hand on the young man’s fleshy one, and then saidto
him, ‘Shoot.’ But this Divine Spirit comes to strengthen us in a more intimate
and blessedfashionthan that, for it glides into our hearts and dwells in our
spirits, and our work, as my text says, is His working. This ‘working within’ is
statedin the original of my text most emphatically, for it is literally ‘the
inworking which inworketh in me mightily.’

11. So, dear brethren, the first direct aim of all our endeavourought to be to
receive and to keepand to increase our gift of that Divine Spirit. The work
and the striving of which my text speaks wouldbe sheerslaveryunless we had
that help. It would be impossible of accomplishment unless we had it.
‘If any power we have, it is to ill, And all the poweris Thine, to do and eke to
will.’
Let us, then, begin our endeavour, not by working, but by receiving. Is not
that the very meaning of the doctrine that we are always talking about, that
men are saved, not by works but by faith? Does not that mean that the first
step is reception, and the first requisite is receptiveness, andthat then, and
after that, secondand not first, come working and striving? To keepour
hearts open by desire, to keepthem open by purity, are the essentials.The
dove will not come into a fouled nest. It is saidthat they forsake polluted
places. But also we have to use the power which is inwrought. Use is the way
to increase all gifts, from the muscle in your arm to the Christian life in your
spirit. Use it, and it grows. Neglectit, and it vanishes, and like the old Jewish
heroes, a man may go forth to exercise himselfas of old time, and know not
that the Spirit of God hath departed from him. Dearfriends, do not bind
yourselves to the slavery of Endeavour, until you come into the liberty and
wealth of receiving. He gives first, and then says to you, ‘Now go to work, and
keepthat goodthing which is committed unto thee.’
There is but one thought more in this last part of my text, which I must not
leave untouched, and that is that this sufficient and universal gift is not only
the means by which the great universal duty can be discharged, but it ought to
be the measure in which it is discharged. ‘I work according to the working in
me.’ That is, all the force that came into Paul by that Divine Spirit, came out
of Paul in his Christian conduct, and the gift was not only the source, but also
the measure, of this man’s Christian Endeavour. Is that true about us? They
say that the steam-engine is a most wastefulapplication of power, that a great
deal of the energywhich is generatedgoes withoutever doing any work. They
tell us that one of the greatdifficulties in the way of economic applicationof
electricityis the loss which comes through using accumulators. Is not that like
a greatmany of us? So much powerpoured into us; so little coming out from
us and translated into actual work!Such a ‘rushing mighty wind,’ and the air
about us so heavy and stagnantand corrupt! Such a blaze of fire, and we so
cold! Such a cataractofthe river of the waterof life, and our lips parched and

12. our crops searedand worthless!Ah, brethren! when we look at ourselves, and
when we think of the condition of so many of the churches to which we belong,
the old rebuke of the prophet comes back to us in this generation, ‘Thouthat
art named the House of Israel, is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? Are these
His doings?’We have an all-sufficient power. May our working and striving
be according to it, and may we work mightily, being ‘strong in the Lord, and
in the powerof His might!’
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary1:24-29 Boththe sufferings of the
Head and of the members are calledthe sufferings of Christ, and make up, as
it were, one body of sufferings. But He suffered for the redemption of the
church; we suffer on other accounts;for we do but slightly taste that cup of
afflictions of which Christ first drank deeply. A Christian may be said to fill
up that which remains of the sufferings of Christ, when he takes up his cross,
and after the pattern of Christ, bears patiently the afflictions God allots to
him. Let us be thankful that God has made knownto us mysteries hidden
from ages and generations, andhas showedthe riches of his glory among us.
As Christ is preachedamong us, let us seriouslyinquire, whether he dwells
and reigns in us; for this alone can warrant our assuredhope of his glory. We
must be faithful to death, through all trials, that we may receive the crown of
life, and obtain the end of our faith, the salvationof our souls.
Barnes'Notes on the BibleWhereunto I also labour - See the notes at 1
Corinthians 15:10.
Striving - Greek agonizing. He taxed all his energies to accomplishthis, as the
wrestlers strove for the mastery in the Greciangames.
According to his working - Not by my own strength, but by the power which
God alone can give; see the notes at 1 Corinthians 15:10.
Remarks On Colossians 1
Among the truths of practicalimportance taught by this chapter are the
following:
1. We should rejoice in the piety of others; Colossians1:2-8. It should be to us
a subject of unfeigned gratitude to God; when others are faithful to their high
calling, and when they so live as to adorn the blessedgospel. In all their faith,
and love, and joy, we should find occasionfor thankfulness to God. We should
not envy it, or be disposedto charge it to wrong motives, or suspectit of
insincerity or hypocrisy; but should welcome everyaccountof the zeal and
faithfulness of those who bear the Christian name - no matter who the persons
are, or with what denomination of Christians they may be connected.
Especiallyis this true in relationto our friends, or to those for whose salvation

13. we have labored. The source of high, est gratitude to a Christian, in relationto
his friends, should be, that they act as becomes the friends of God; the purest
joy that can swellthe bosomof a minister of Christ, is produced by the
evidence that they to whom he has ministered are advancing in knowledge
and love.
2. We should earnestlypray that they who have been much favored should be
prospered more and more; Colossians 1:9-11.
3. It is a goodtime to pray for Christians when they are already prosperous,
and are distinguished for zeal and love; Colossians 1:9-11. We have then
encouragementto do it. We feel that our prayers will not be in vain. Fora
man that is doing well, we feel encouragedto pray that he may do still better.
For a Christian who has true spiritual joy, we are encouragedto pray that he
may have more joy. For one who is aiming to make advances in the knowledge
of God, we are encouragedto pray that he may make still higher advances;
and if, therefore;we wish others to pray for us, we should, show them by our
efforts that there is some encouragementforthem to do it.
4. Let us cherishwith suitable gratitude the remembrance of the goodnessof
God, who has translated us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of
his dearSon; Colossians 1:12-13. Bynature we, like others, were under the
powerof darkness. In that kingdom of sin, and error, and misery, we were
born and reared, until God, in greatcompassion, brought us out from it, and
made us heirs of light. Now, if we are true Christians, we belong to a kingdom
of holiness, and knowledge,and happiness. No words can express
appropriately the goodness ofGod in thus making us heirs of light; and not an
hour of our lives should pass without a thoughtful remembrance of his mercy.
5. In the affections ofour hearts let the Saviour in all things have the pre-
eminence; Colossians 1:15-18. He is the image of God; and when we think of
him, we see what Godis - how holy, pure, benevolent. He is the first-born of
all things; the Sonof God; exaltedto the highest seatin the universe. When we
look on the sun, moon, and stars, let us remember that he createdthem all.
When we think of the angels, letus remember that they are the workmanship
of his hands. When we look on the earth - the floods, the rivers, the hills, let us
remember that all these were made by his power. The vast universe is still
sustainedby him. Its beautiful order and harmony are preservedby him; and
all its movements are under his control. So the church is under him. It is
subject to his command; receives its laws from his lips, and is bound to do his
will. Over all councils and synods; overall rule and authority in the church,
Christ is the Head; and whatever may be ordained by man, his will is to be
obeyed. So, when we think of the resurrection, Christ is chief. He first rose to

14. return to death no more; he rose as the pledge that his people should also rise.
As Christ is thus head over all things, so let him be first in the affections of
our hearts;as it is designedthat in every thing he shall have the pre-eminence,
so let him have the pre-eminence in the affections of our souls. None should be
loved by us as Christ is loved; and no friend, howeverdear, should be allowed
to displace him from the supremacyin our affections.
6. In all our wants let us go to Christ; Colossians1:19, "It pleasedthe Father
that in him should all fulness dwell." We do not have a need which he cannot
supply; there is not a sorrow of our lives in which he cannot comfort us; not a
temptation from which he cannotdeliver us; not a pain which he cannot
relieve, or enable us to hear. Every necessityof body or mind he can supply;
and we never can go to him, in any circumstance of life in which we can
possibly be placed, where we shall fail of consolationand support because
Christ is not able to help us. True piety learns day by day to live more by
simple dependence on the Saviour. As we advance in holiness, we become
more and more sensible of our weakness andinsufficiency, and more and
more disposedto live by the faith of the Son of God."
7. By religion we become united with the angels; Colossians 1:20. Harmony is
produced betweenheaven and earth. Alienated worlds are reconciledagain,
and from jarring elements there is rearing one great and harmonious empire.
The work of the atonementis designedto remove what separatedearth from
heaven; men from angels;man from God. The redeemedhave substantially
the same feelings now, which they have who are around the throne of God;
and though we are far inferior to them in rank, yet we shall be united with
them in affection and purpose, for ever and ever. What a glorious work is that
of the gospel!It reconcilesand harmonizes distant worlds, and produces
concordand love in millions of hearts which but for that would have been
alienatedforever.
8. By religion we become fitted for heaven; Colossians 1:12, Colossians1:22.
We are made "meet" to enter there; we shall be presentedthere unblamable
and unreprovable. No one will accuse us before the throne of God. Nor Satan,
nor our own consciences norour fellowmenwill then urge that we ought not
to be admitted to heaven. Redeemedand pardoned, renewedand sanctified,
the universe will be satisfiedthat we ought to be saved, and will rejoice. Satan
will no longer charge the friends of Jesus with insincerity and hypocrisy; our
own minds will be no longertroubled with doubts and fears;and holy angels
will welcome us to their presence. Nota voice will be lifted up in reproachor
condemnation, and the Universal Father will stretchout his arms and press to
his bosomthe returning prodigals. Clothed in the white robes of salvation, we

15. shall be welcome evenin heaven, and the universe will rejoice that we are
there.
9. It is a privilege to suffer for the welfare of the church; Colossians1:24. Paul
regardedit as such and rejoicedin the trials which came upon him in the
cause ofreligion. The Saviour so, regardedit, and shrank not from the great
sorrows involved in the work of saving his people. We may suffer much in
promoting the same object. We may be exposedto persecutionand death. We
may be called to part with all we have - to leave country and friends and
home, to go and preach the gospelto benighted people. On a foreignshore, far
from all that we hold dear on earth, we may lie down and die, and our grave,
unmarked by sculptured marble, may be soonforgotten. But to do good;to
defend truth; to promote virtue; to save the souls of the perishing, is worth all
which it costs, and he who accomplishes these things by exchanging for them
earthly comforts, and even life, has made a wise exchange. The universe gains
by it in happiness; and the benevolent heart should rejoice that there is such a
gain, though attended with our individual and personalsuffering.
continued...
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary29. Whereunto—namely, "to
present every man perfect in Christ."
I also labour—rather, "I labor also." I not only "proclaim" (English Version,
"preach")Christ, but I labor also.
striving—in "conflict" (Col 2:1) of spirit (compare Ro 8:26). The same Greek
word is used of Epaphras (Col 4:12), "laboring fervently for you in prayers":
literally, "agonizing," "striving as in the agonyof a contest." So Jesus in
Gethsemane whenpraying (Lu 22:44): so "strive" (the same Greek word,
"agonize"), Lu 13:24. So Jacob"wrestled" in prayer (Ge 32:24-29). Compare
"contention," Greek, "agony,"or"striving earnestness,"1Th2:2.
according to his working—Paulavows that he has powerto "strive" in spirit
for his converts, so far only as Christ works in him and by him (Eph 3:20; Php
4:13).
mightily—literally, "in power."
Matthew Poole's CommentaryTo perform which, saith he, I earnestly
endeavour and take pains to weariness,as a husbandman, 2 Timothy 2:6,
contending as one in an agony, 1 Thessalonians 5:12, by his grace whichwas
with me {1 Corinthians 15:10} in power;not by my own strength or wisdom to
do or suffer, but by his effectualaids, enabling me for his service which might,

16. Colossians 1:11 Romans 15:15-21 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 Ephesians 1:19,20 3:7
Philippians 4:13.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleWhereunto I also labour,.... In the word
and doctrine, by preaching Christ, warning sinners of their danger, teaching
them the way of salvation, and their duty; with this view, that, in thee great
day of account, he might bring a large number of them, and set them before
Christ as the seals of his ministry, as instances of the grace of Christ, and as
perfect in him:
striving according to his working, which workethin me mightily; meaning
either in his prayers, earnestlyentreating of God that he would succeedhis
labours, and bless them to the conversionof many; which sense is favoured by
the Syriac version, which renders it, "and make supplication"; that is, with
that effectualfervent prayer, which was powerfully wrought in him: or in his
ministry, combating with many enemies, fighting the goodfight of faith; not in
his ownstrength, but through the power of Christ; which enabled him to
preach the Gospelfar and near, in seasonandout of season;which supported
his outward man, and strengthenedhis inward man for that service, and
made it effectualto the goodof the souls of many: some refer this to the signs,
wonders, and miracles, which Christ wrought by him, for the confirmation of
the Gospel;but the other sense, whichtakes in both the power by which he
was assistedin preaching, both in body and soul, and that which went along
with his ministry to make it useful to others, is to be preferred.
Geneva Study BibleWhereunto I also labour, striving according to his
working, which workethin me mightily.
EXEGETICAL(ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT CommentaryHYPERLINK "/colossians/1-29.htm"Colossians
1:29. On the point of now urging upon the readers their obligation to fidelity
in the faith (Colossians 2:4), and that from the platform of the personal
relation in which he stoodtowards them as one unknown to them by face
(Colossians2:1), Paul now turns from the form of expressionembracing
others in common with himself, into which he had glided at Colossians1:28 in
harmony with its contents, back to the individual form (the first person
singular), and asserts,first of all, in connectionwith Colossians1:28, that for
the purpose of the παραστῆσαι κ.τ.λ. (εἰς ὅ, comp. 1 Timothy 4:10) he also
gives himself even toil (κοπιῶ, comp. Romans 16:6; Romans 16:12; 1
Corinthians 4:12), striving, etc.
καί]also, subjoins the κοπιᾶνto the καταγγέλλεινκ.τ.λ., in which he subjects

17. himself also to the former; it is therefore augmentative, in harmony with the
climactic progress of the discourse;not a mere equalization of the aim and the
striving (de Wette). Neither this καί, nor even the transition to the singular of
the verb,—especiallysince the latter is not emphasized by the addition of an
ἐγώ,—canjustify the interpretation of Hofmann, according to which εἰς ὅ is,
contrary to its position, to be attachedto ἀγωνιζόμενος, and κοπιῷ is to mean:
“I become weary and faint” (comp. John 4:6; Revelation2:3, and Düsterdieck
in loc.). Paul, who has often impressedupon others the μὴ ἐκκακεῖν, and for
himself is certain of being more than conqueror in all things (Romans 8:37; 2
Corinthians 4:8, et al.), can hardly have borne testimony about himself in this
sense, with which, moreover, the ἀγωνίζεσθαι in the strength of Christ is not
consistent. In his case, as much as in that of any one, the οὐκ ἐκοπίασας of
Revelation2:3 holds good.
ἀγωνιζόμενος]Compare 1 Timothy 4:10. Here, however, according to the
context, Colossians2:1 ff., the inward striving (comp. Luke 13:24)against
difficulties and hostile forces, the striving of solicitude, of watching, of mental
and emotionalexertion, of prayer, etc., is meant; as respects which Paul, like
every regenerate person(Galatians 5:17), could not be raised above the
resistance ofthe σάρξ to the πνεῦμα ruling in him. Comp. Chrysostom:καὶ
οὐχ ἁπλῶς σπουδάζω, φησιν, οὐδὲ ὡς ἔτυχεν, ἀλλὰ κοπιῶ ἀγωνιζόμενος μετὰ
πολλῆς τῆς σπουδῆς, μετὰ πολλῆς τῆς ἀγρυπνίας. It is not: “tot me periculis ac
malis objicere” (Erasmus, comp. Grotius, Estius, Heinrichs, Bähr, and
others), which outward struggling, according to Flatt, de Wette, Baumgarten-
Crusius, and others, should be understood along with that inward striving;
Colossians 2:1 only points to the latter; comp. Colossians 4:12.
κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν κ.τ.λ.]for Paul does not contend, amid the labours of his
office, according to the measure of his own strength, but according to the
effectualworking of Christ (αὐτοῦ is not to be referred to God, as is done by
Chrysostom, Grotius, Flatt, Baumgarten-Crusius, and others), which worketh
in him. Comp. Php 4:13. How must this consciousness, atonce so humble and
confident of victory, have operatedupon the readers to stir them up and
strengthen them for stedfastness in the faith!
τὴν ἐνεργουμ.]is middle; see on 2 Corinthians 1:6; Galatians 5:6; Ephesians
3:20. The modal definition to it, ἐν δυνάμει, mightily (comp. on Romans 1:4),
is placed at the end significantly, as in 2 Thessalonians 1:11;it is groundlessly
regardedby Holtzmann as probably due to the interpolator.

18. Expositor's Greek TestamentHYPERLINK"/colossians/1-29.htm"Colossians
1:29. εἰς ὃ: to achieve which end.—κοπιῶ expresses toilcarried to the point of
weariness.—ἀγωνιζόμενος:a metaphor from the arena. Meyer takes the
reference to be to inward striving againstdifficulties and hostile forces.
Perhaps both inward and outward struggle are referred to (De W.).—κατὰ.
The struggle is carried on in proportion not to his natural powers, but to the
mightily working energy of Christ within him.—ἐνεργουμένην: a dynamic
middle (cf. Colossians 1:6).
Cambridge Bible for Schools andColleges29. also]i.e. “actually,” “asa matter
of fact.”
labour] The Greek verb denotes toil even to weariness. It (or its cognate noun)
occurs e.g. 1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 Corinthians 15:58;Galatians 4:11; Php
2:16; 1 Thessalonians1:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:12;1 Timothy 4:10; 2 Timothy
2:6; Revelation2:2-3.
striving] The Greek verb (our word “agony” is the descendantof a cognate)
occurs e.g. Luke 13:24; 1 Corinthians 9:25; below, Colossians4:12;1 Timothy
6:12; and a cognate, Php1:30 (see note); below, Colossians2:1 (see note); 1
Thessalonians 2:2; Hebrews 12:1 (“race” A.V.). By usage, the word gives the
thought of the strife and stress ofthe athletic arena;a thought conspicuous in
e.g. 1 Corinthians 9:25; 1 Timothy 6:12. It thus conveys an impression of
contestwith obstaclesin view of a definite goal.
See our note on a similar phrase, Php 1:27.
according to, &c.] Observe the intimation, at once restful and animating, that
the presence andmovement within him of the power (“working,” energeia)of
God were the force behind all his apostolic activity. “By Him he moves, in
Him he lives;” while yet the man’s “moving” and “living” is none the less
genuinely personal. Cp. 1 Corinthians 15:10;2 Corinthians 3:5; 2 Corinthians
4:7; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10;Php 2:12-13;Php 4:13; and above, Colossians
1:11.
mightily] Lit. and better, in power. Cp. above Colossians1:11, and note.
“Christ in him” was for St Paul not only “the hope of glory” but also the
mainspring of action; the secretof a “power” which was anything but
violence, or disorder, but which brought with it a wonderful victory and an

19. inexhaustible energy of life and love. For every “recipient of Christ” (John
1:12) the same secretis to do the same work, as it is reverently recognizedand
welcomed, according to eachone’s path of duty and service.
Bengel's GnomenHYPERLINK"/colossians/1-29.htm"Colossians1:29.
Ἀγωνιζόμενος, striving) In ch. Colossians 2:1, the conflict(comp. Colossians
4:12) refers to this word.—κατὰ, according to)Paul would not be able to
strive in himself: he is only mighty, according as Christ works in him.—αὐτοῦ,
of Him) of Christ.
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 29. - To which end also I toil hard, striving
according to his working (Colossians 2:1;Colossians 4:12, 13;1 Corinthians
15:10;Galatians 4:11; Philippians 2:16; 1 Timothy 4:10; Acts 20:35). Κοπιῶ,
to labour to weariness, oftenusedof manual labour, is a favourite word of St.
Paul's (1 Corinthians 4:12; 2 Corinthians 11:27; 1 Thessalonians 2:9:comp.
Ephesians 4:28; 1 Thessalonians 1:3;John 4:38). The figurative use of
"striving" ("agonizing," i.e. "contending in the arena")is only Pauline in the
New Testament:comp. Colossians 2:1;Colossians4:12;Philippians 1:30; 1
Corinthians 9:25; 1 Thessalonians2:2; 1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7; also
Luke 22:44; in 1 Timothy 4:10 (R.V.) it is againconnectedwith "toil"
(κοπιάω). We need not, with Meyer and Ellicott, distinguish inward from
outward striving in this word. The apostle's bodily sufferings (ver. 21) and his
mental anxiety (Colossians 2:1)alike enter into the mighty struggle which he
is maintaining on the Church's behalf, and which strains every fibre of his
nature to the utmost (comp. 2 Corinthians 11:28). "Striving" implies
opponents againstwhom he contends (Ephesians 6:12; 2 Thessalonians 3:2;2
Corinthians 11:26); "toiling hard," the painful efforts he has to make. In this
toll he is divinely sustained, for he "strives according to his [Christ's: comp.
Philippians 4:13] working." Ανεργεία ("energy," "operative force,""powerin
action")- another word of St. Paul's vocabulary (frequent also in Aristotle) -
is used by him only of supernatural power, "a working of God," "ofSatan" (2
Thessalonians 2:9, 11). Which workethin me with power(ver. 11; Ephesians
3:16; Philippians 2:13; Philippians 4:13; 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10). The "energy
of Christ" is such that it "effectuallyworks" in the apostle;the same idea is
repeatedin noun and verb (ver. 11, note). The verb is middle in voice, as this
"working" is that in which the Divine "energyof Christ" puts itself forth and
shows what it cando (comp. 2 Corinthians 13:3-6); see note on "bearing
fruit," ver. 6, and Winer's 'N. T. Grammar,' p. 318 (dynamic middle). So it
works unmistakably "in [or, 'with'] power." Neverdo we find this
consciousnessofthe Divine powerdwelling in himself expressedby St. Paul
with such joyous confidence as at this period (see Philippians 1:20, 21;

20. Philippians 4:13; Ephesians 3:9, 20; and comp. note on ver. 23 b).
Vincent's Word StudiesI labor (κοπιῶ)
Unto weariness. SeeonLuke 5:5. The connectionwith the following
ἀγωνιζόμενος contending in the arena, seems to show that I labor has the
specialsense oflabor in preparing for the contest. The same combination
occurs 1 Timothy 4:10, where the correctreading is ἀγωνιζόμεθα we strive for
ὀνειδιζόμεθα we sufferreproach; and there is a similar combination,
Philippians 2:16, run and labor. So Ignatius, Epistle to Polycarp, 6: "Labor ye
one with another (συγκοπιᾶτε);strive together (συναθλεῖτε, see Philippians
1:27); run together, suffer together, go to rest together, arise together" (the
last two probably with reference to the uniform hours prescribed for athletes
under training). So Clement of Rome: "Who have labored (κοπιάσαντες)
much, and contended(ἀγωνισάμενοι)honorably" (ii. 7). See on 1 Corinthians
9:24-27.
Striving (ἀγωνιζόμενος)
From ἀγών originally an assembly, a place of assembly, especiallyfor viewing
the games. Hence the contestitself, the word being united with different
adjectives indicating the characterofthe contest, as ἱππικός of horses;
γυμνικός gymnastic; μουσικός ofmusic; χάλκεος, where the prize is a brazen
shield, etc. Generally, any struggle or trial. Hence the verb means to enter a
contest, to contend, to struggle. The metaphor is a favorite one with Paul, and,
with the exceptionof three instances (Luke 13:24;John 18:36;Hebrews 12:1),
the words ἀγών contestand ἀγωνίζομαι to contend are found only in his
writings. See 1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7; 1 Corinthians 9:25 (note); 1
Thessalonians 2:2.
Working (ἐνέργειαν)
From ἐνεργής ἐν in, ἔργον work; lit. being in or at work. See on 1 Corinthians
16:9. Ἐνέργεια is the state of being at work;energy, efficiency. Used only of
superhuman energy, goodor evil.
Which worketh(τὴν ἐνεργουμένην)
Kindred with the preceding. See on James 5:16.

21. PRECEPT AUSTIN RESOURCES
Work In Us And Work By Us BY SPURGEON
“Whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which works in me
mightily.”
Colossians 1:29
THE Apostle Paul could very truthfully assertthat he labored and agonized.
When the Holy Spirit had anointed the Apostles they all became ardent
enthusiasts for the spread of the Redeemer’s kingdom. Having the whole
world committed to them that they might enlighten it, they labored most
ardently–eachone in his sphere to spread abroadthe Truth of the Gospel–but
the Apostle of the Gentiles labored more abundantly than they all. Into how
many countries did he carry the testimony of Christ? How often did he cross
the sea, traverse mountains, and ford rivers?
One sees in his careersomething more than an ordinary Christian life. He was
so indefatigable in service that surely, nothing beyond could have been
possible to humanity, even under the help of God. His public labors were not
only abundant, but they were the cause of continual inward conflict. He never
preacheda sermon, wrote an Epistle, or attempted a work without earnest
prayer and soul-consuming zeal. Night and day with tears he said of a certain
Church that he had labored for its good. He was a man so whole-heartedand
intense in all that he did, that we ought to remember not merely the amount of
his labors, but the way in which he wore himself out by the intensity of his zeal
in them.
Probably no other man led a more intensely ardent life than he. Moreover,
added to all this, he carried a weightof care enough to crush him. For there
came upon him the care of all the Churches–to plant them, to defend them
againstrising errors, to prevent schisms from dividing the flock. To lead the
converts from Grace to Grace, to instruct them, and to present everyone
perfect before God. The burden resting upon the Apostle was greaterthan the
cares ofan empire.
And then, as if to complete the whole, he was calledto suffer persecutions of
which he has given us a list. A list of which, as we read it, makes us shudder
that one man should have endured so much–and makes us also glory in
humanity that it should be possible that so much should be borne and done
for Godby a single individual.

22. Yet, note it well, the Apostle takes no honor to himself. He humbly ascribes
whateverhe had done, or suffered, entirely to his Lord. He declares that he
labored and agonized, but he confessesthat it was through the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who mightily by the Holy Spirit workedin him. In another
place, when he had mentioned his abundant labors, he added, “Yet not I, but
the Grace ofGod which was with me.” He remembered where to put the
crown. He took care not to stealan atom of the glory for himself. He ascribed
all to the power of Him who loved him and gave Himself for him.
Let us imitate the Apostle in these two things. My Brethren, let us live, while
we live, a life of energy. But let us at the same time confess, whenwe have
done all, that we are unprofitable servants. And if there is any glory, any
praise resulting from the work which we achieve, let us be carefulto lay it all
at the Redeemer’s feet.
The doctrine of the text upon which I intend to preachthis morning, as I may
be enabled, is this–it is clearfrom what Paul has here said that the work of
Christ in us and for us does not exempt as from work and service, nor does
the Holy Spirit’s work supersede human effort, but rather excites it. Paul
speaks ofan inner work, a mighty work workedin him, but he also declares,
“whereunto I also labor, striving.” So that the doctrine of the work of the
Holy Spirit is not intended in any degree to lull our minds into sloth, but
whereverthe Holy Spirit works He makes men work.
He works in us to will and to do of His own goodpleasure, that we also may
work out our own salvation with fearand trembling. I shall try to illustrate
this Truth in two respects. First, in reference to a man’s own salvation. And
secondly, in the matter of the Christian man’s ministry for the salvationof
others. The work of the Holy Spirit does not supersede Christian effort in
either case.
1. First, then, IN THE BELIEVER’S SALVATION. We believe, eachone
of us, and we have Scriptural warrant for it, that if any man is saved,
the work within his soul is entirely workedby the Holy Spirit. Man is
dead in sin, and the dead cannot raise themselves from the grave.
Quickening and spiritual resurrectionmust be accomplishedby Divine
power. Man must be born again, and this birth must be effectedby
Divine power, for unless a man is born from Above, he cannot see the
kingdom of God.
As the commencementof salvation is dependent upon the Holy Spirit, so is the
carrying of it on. “Without Me you can do nothing,” is Christ’s testimony. We
shall never persevere exceptas Grace shall keepus from falling, nor may we

23. hope to be presentedfaultless before the august Presenceexceptas the Holy
Spirit shall sanctify us from day to day, and make us meet to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in light. I trust, my Brethren, I need not do more
than assertthis doctrine in your hearing, since you know how continually we
insist upon it, and our trumpet never gives an uncertain sound as to the great
Truth that God works all our works in us, and that salvationis of the Lord
from first to last.
But at this presenttime we intend to insist upon this further Truth of God–
that the working of the Holy Spirit in us does not exempt the Believerfrom
the most energetic labor, but rather necessitateshis doing all that lies in him.
To enforce this we remark, first, that the Christian life is always describedas
a thing of energy. Sometimes we read of it as a pilgrimage. That master
allegorist, JohnBunyan, has not pictured Christian as carried to Heaven
while asleepin an easychair. He makes Christian lose his burden at the foot
of the Cross.
He ascribes the deliverance of the man from the burden of his sin entirely to
the Lord Jesus, but he represents him as climbing the Hill Difficulty. Yes, and
on his hands and knees, too, Christian has to descendinto the Valley of
Humiliation, and to tread that dangerous pathway through the gloomy
horrors of the Shadow of Death. He has to be urgently watchful to keep
himself from sleeping in the EnchantedGround. Nowhere is he delivered from
the necessities incidentto the way, for even at the lasthe fords the black river
and struggles with its terrible billows.
Effort is used all the way through, and you that are pilgrims to the skies will
find it to be no allegory, but a real matter of fact. Your soul must gird up her
loins. You need your pilgrim’s staff and armor, and you must foot it all the
way to Heaven, contending with giants, fighting with lions, and combating
Apollyon himself.
Our life is in Scripture representedas a race which is even sterner work than
pilgrimage. In such footracesas were witnessedamong the Greeks, in every
case the man spent all the strength there was in him, and underwent a
training beforehand that he might be fit for the contest. It sometimes
happened, and indeed not seldom, that men fell dead at the winning-post,
through their extreme exertions. Running to Heaven is such running as that–
we are to strain every nerve. We shall require all the power we have, and
more, in order to win that incorruptible crownwhich now glitters before the
eyes of our faith. If we are so to run that we may obtain, we shall have no
energy to spare, but shall spend it all in our heavenly course.

24. Not infrequently the Apostle compares our spiritual life to a boxing match,
and the terms in the original Greek, if they were translated into pure
vernacular English, would remind us very much of a boxing ring and of the
place where wrestlers strive for mastery. To wit, in that notable passage, “I
keepunder my body,” we are told by scholars that the Greek wordalludes to
the getting of the antagonist’s headunder the arm and dealing it heavy blows.
So the flesh must be mortified. Now the wrestlers in the Greek and Roman
games strainedevery muscle and sinew, too–there was no part of the body
that was not brought into actionto overthrow their adversary.
For this they agonized till often blood would spurt from the nostrils, and veins
would burst. Such, in a spiritual sense, mustbe the agony of a Christian if he
is to overcome temptation and subdue the powerof sin. Ah Brethren, it is no
child’s play to win Heaven! Saved, as I repeatit, through the powerof
Christ’s blood and with the energyof His Holy Spirit within us, yet we have
no time to loiter, no space in which to trifle. We must labor, striving according
to His working who works in us mightily. All the figures which representthe
Christian life imply the most energetic exertion.
Secondly, be it remarked that there is no illustration used in Scripture to set
forth the heavenly life which allows the supposition that in any case Heavenis
won by sloth. I do not remember everfinding in Scripture the life of the
Christian described as a slumber. To the sluggardI find a warning always–
thorns and thistles in his garden–andrags and disease in his person. “The
hand of the diligent makes rich.” There may be occasionalopportunities by
which even idle men may become wealthy, but such spiritual wealth I have
never heard of. I find that whereverthe Spirit of Godcomes upon men, it
never leaves a savedman effortless orfruitless, but as soonas it descends
upon him, according to his capacityhe begins to work out his own salvation.
Remember the question of the inspired writer, “Likewise also was notRahab,
the harlot, justified by works, whenshe had receivedthe messengers,and had
sent them out anotherway?” Her faith savedher. And though it was very
weak and very ignorant faith, it made her work–andtherefore she hid the
spies to save their lives. Look at the dying thief, with his hands and feet
fastenedto the wood, and ready to expire, yet he rebuked the reviling
malefactor. Thus doing all he possibly could for his Lord, in Whom he trusted
for salvation, what more could he have done? It May be said of him, “He has
done what he could.” It shall be well if as much canbe said for us.
No, Brethren, you cannotbe carried to Heaven on “flowerybeds of ease.” You
must fight if you would reign. You must stem the flood, you must breast the
waves if you mean to reachthe further shore. Divine Grace will help you, else

25. were the work an impossibility. But even with the aid of Divine Grace you are
not permitted to slumber into Glory, nor sleep your way to the celestial
throne. You must be up and doing, watching diligently, lest any man fail of the
Grace of God. The trumpet sounds, and not the dulcimer–the call is to
conflict–notto feasting.
I would next bid you note, dear Friends, that it is natural it should be so. It is
unavoidable in the nature of things that when the Holy Spirit comes He should
not begeta spirit of slumber, but awakenus to diligent action. It is natural, I
say, because one of the first results of the Holy Spirit’s entrance into a man’s
heart is to let him see his sin and his danger. If I feel myself guilty and
perceive that God is angry with me and that I shall be castby-and-by into the
Lake of Fire, what is the inevitable result? Shall I not heara voice crying,
“Escapefor your life! Look not behind you! Stay not in all the plain”?
Wherever the Holy Spirit works a sense ofsin, the sinner is constrainedto cry,
“What must I do to be saved?” Neverdoes the Spirit effectuallyshow a man
his sin and then leave him to fold his arms and ask for “a little more sleepand
a little more slumber.” No, the awakenedsoulexclaims, “I am guilty, I am
accursedofGod. How can I escape?Lord help me, help me now to find rest if
rest is to be found!” Then the Holy Spirit farther reveals to us the excellence
of the salvationof Christ, the happiness of those who rest in Jesus, the future
reward of such as serve God on earth.
And what is the result? The enlightened soul cries, “I desire to find this pearl
of greatprice! I desire to be enriched by an interestin Christ! I too, would,
with the blessed, take my everlasting heritage.” Don’t you see, then, that the
Holy Spirit cannot make a man appreciate salvationwithout at the same time
creating a desire to gain it? And out of which desire arises prayerfor the
promised blessing. After a man has found Christ to the pardon of his sin, the
Holy Spirit is pleasedto endearChrist more and more to him. It is the office
of the spirit to take of the things of Christ and show them to us.
Now, my Brethren, you know very well that wheneveryou have a sight of the
preciousness ofChrist, you are moved at once to glorify Him. Do you not cry –
“Oh, for this love let rocks and hills
Their lasting silence break,
And all harmonious human tongues
The Savior’s praises speak”?
I know it is so! It is because we think so little of Christ that we do so little for
Him. But when Christ is brought with vivid power home to the mind, then at

26. once we cry, “Lord, what would You have me to do?” And we, by His Grace,
bestir ourselves to honor Him.
Brethren, the factthat the Holy Spirit is working in a man never canbe a
reasonfor his not working. On the contrary, the moment a man perceives that
the Spirit is helping him, he is encourageddiligently to labor. “Why,” says he,
“my work may fail, but if it is the Spirit’s work it cannotfail.” I bow my knee
in prayer, and if I believe that all acceptable prayeris workedin me by the
Holy Spirit, I am fully assuredthat God will not refuse to grant what He
Himself, by His Spirit suggeststo me to ask. If the Holy One of IsraelHimself
breaks my heart and leads me to long after a Savior, surely He does not intend
to tantalize me.
He will continue His work till He has savedme. Thus encouraged, a man is
certain to give diligence to make his calling and electionsure. Moreoverevery
intelligent man feels that if he does not work when the Spirit of God is
working in him, he is dishonoring that Divine Person, and is running the
solemn peril of committing the sin againstthe Holy Spirit escape ifwe neglect
so greatsalvation?“ Neglect–mereneglect–nobodyevergets to Heaven by it.
But ah, how many perish by that alone!
To conclude this point, it is most certainthat all saving acts must be
performed by the man himself. Faith is the gift of God, but the Holy Spirit
never believed for anybody. It is not His office to believe. The sinner must
believe. Repentance is the work of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit never
repented. What had He to repent of? He has done no ill. It cannot be possible
for Him to repent for us. No, we ourselves must repent. My Brethren, this is
self-evident to every candid mind. There must be in every man a personal
faith and a personalrepentance. And though these are workedin him by the
Holy Spirit, yet they are his ownacts. They cannot be the acts of anybody else,
or else the man has not believed, and has not repented, and there is no life in
him.
Right on to the end of the Christian life all those acts which bring us into
communion with God are our own. For instance, the Holy Spirit helps men to
pray. He helps their infirmities. But they pray. They themselves pray. Prove
to me that the man does not, himself, pray, and I will be bold to tell you that
he is not saved. The intercessionofChrist is prevalent, but it will not save
those who live and die without praying for themselves. True desires after God
must be your own desires. The desire is workedin you, but still it is yours.
And the expressionof that desire is helped by the teaching of the Spirit, but
still it is your own expression, or else whatare you but a dead soul? There

27. must be a voluntary putting forth on your part of the life which is quickened
in you by the Spirit. This is so plain as to be self-evident.
Note again, if we were not made active, but are simply actedon by the Holy
Spirit, there is a reduction of manhood to materialism. If the man does not
believe nor pray, and if spiritual acts are not a man’s own acts, but the acts of
another in him, then what is the man? There is no moral goodor moral evil in
a work which is not my own–Imean no moral goodor evil to me. A work
which I do not myself perform may be creditable or discreditable to somebody
else, it is neither to me.
Take an illustration. In the Square of St. Mark, at Venice, at certainhours the
bell of the clock is struck by two bronze figures as large as life, wielding
hammers. Now, nobody everthought of presenting thanks to those bronze
men for the diligence with which they have struck the hours. Of course not,
they cannot help it–they are workedupon by machinery–and they strike the
hours from necessity. Some years ago a strangerwas upon the top of the
tower, and incautiously went too near one of these bronze men. It was time to
strike the hour and he knockedthe strangerfrom the battlement of the tower
and killed him.
Nobody said the bronze man ought to be hanged–nobodyever laid it to his
charge at all. There was no moral goodor moral evil, because there was no
will in the concern. It was not a moral act, because no mind and heart gave
consentto it. Am I to believe that Grace reduces men to this? I tell you, Sirs, if
you think to glorify the Grace of God by such a theory, you know not what
you do. To carve blocks, and move logs is small glory–but this is the glory of
God’s Grace–thatwithout violating the human will, He yet achieves His own
purposes, and treating men as men, He conquers their hearts with love, and
wins their affections by His Divine Grace.
I warn any here present who imagine that man is a merely passive being in
salvationagainstputting their theory in practice. I am alarmed for you if you
say, “God will save me if He so decrees,and therefore I will sit still and wait.”
My Hearer, I am afraid for you! You are neglecting the greatsalvation, and I
againremind you of the warning–“How shallwe escape if we neglectso great
salvation?” I confess, Ihave no hope for you. But on the contrary, if you cry,
“Lord, save, or I perish,” I have goodhope for you, you shall not perish–the
Spirit of Godis working in you these desires and this longing and seeking.
Whosoevercalls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I pray you check
not your aspirations. Quenchnot the Spirit. Led and guided by His mighty
working, come to the footof Christ’s Cross. Trustalone to Him, and a voice

28. shall sound in your heart, “Your sins which are many, are all forgiven you.”
God grant it may be so.
II. We shall now turn to the secondpart of our subjectin reference to THE
MINISTRYOF THE SAINTS FOR THE CONVERSION OF OTHERS. The
Holy Spirit alone canconvert a soul. All the ministries in the world put
together, be they what they may, are utterly powerless forthe salvation of a
single soul apart from the Holy Spirit. “Notby might nor by power, but by
My Spirit says the Lord.” But wherever the Holy Spirit works, as a general
rule (so generalthat I scarcelyknow anexception), it is in connectionwith the
earnestefforts of Christian men.
This is clear, first, from the example of the text. The Apostle Paul certifies that
the salvationof souls is the sole work of Christ, but he declares that he
labored, and the next word he adds “striving,” or as in the Greek,
“agonizing.” Thoughthe Spirit did the work, it was in connectionwith the
Apostle’s labor and agony for souls. Now, my Brethren, laboring implies
abundant work. No man canbe said to labor who only does half an hour’s
work in a day. A man who is a thorough laborer makes long hours, and is ever
at it. The Apostle Paul was this.
The winning of souls was not a piece of by-play with him. It was his one object
to which he consecratedeverything. He was “in labors more abundant.” In
the morning he sowedhis seed, and in the evening he withheld not his hand. If
we are to have souls saved we must do the same. No tradesman expects his
shop to prosper who has it open only one hour a day–and you must not expect
to be soul-winners if you only now and then seek to be such. There must be, as
far as time and capacity allow, the consecrationof yourselves to this work,
even to an abundance of effort.
Labor, again, means hard work. It is not trifling. He is no laborer who takes
the spade to play with it as a little child upon the sand. He that labors works
till the sweatstreams from his face. And he that would win souls will find that,
though it is all of the Holy Spirit, yet it involves on his part the sternestform
of spiritual work. Baxter used to say if any minister found his ministry easy,
he would find it hard to answerfor it at the Day of Judgment. And I add, if
any one of you teaching in your classes,orofficiating in any form of Christian
work, find it easy, you will find it hard to give an accountof your stewardship
at the Lord’s coming.
The labor must be personal labor, for no man is a laborer who does it through
his servants. He may be an employer, and in a certain sense he may be said to
do the work, but he cannotsay, “I labor.” The Apostle performed personal

29. work. Ah, Brethren, the power of the Church very much lies under God in the
personalinfluence of her members. On this platform I feelthat I am a long
way off from you. I wish I could devise some mode of speechby which I could
thrust my hand into your hearts and get my soul to pulsate close by yours to
make you feel what I feel.
Betweenthe pulpit and the pew there is too often a greatgulf fixed. But you
who getyour friends into the parlor and talk concerning eternalthings–you
have a fine opportunity. Your personalinfluence then bears with mighty force
upon the personwith whom you are speaking, and you may hope that a
blessing will be the result. Learn from your adversaries. Whatis the strength
of the fools of Rome? What but their conversing with men and women by
themselves at the confessional?Who could not prevail, with such an
instrument? We, with nobler ends and aims, must use personal, private
conversationin all honest earnestnessto bring men to repentance, to faith,
and to the footof the Cross.
My Brethren, I do not believe that even this will suffice. Abundant Christian
work, and hard Christian work, and personalChristian work must have
combined with it inward soul conflict. If your soul never breaks for another,
you will not be the means of breaking that other’s heart. But when it comes to
this, “I must have that soulsaved, I cannot bear the thought that it should be
castaway”–youare nearwinning that soul. Suppose it is your child, your
unconverted husband, or your brother–and you are enabled to say in yourself,
“I have continual heaviness for my kinsmen according to the flesh”–sothat
you could almost sacrifice your ownsoul if they might but be saved?
When it comes to tears, the Lord will not deny you. My Brothers, when your
heart breaks with love to souls, they shall be yours. But there must be
conflicts. I pity that minister whose life is one of uninterrupted spiritual ease.
What? Can we see you backslide and not weeptill you come back to the
Cross? CanI know that among these thousands who are listening to my voice,
perhaps half are dead in trespasses andsins–andcan I be insensible as a
marble statue? Then God have mercy upon me as well as upon you! Unhappy
souls to be entrusted to the care of one so utterly unfit for such a service!
No, the heart must be stirred, there must be an anguishing and yearning for
souls. They tell us that in the sea certain waves rise from the bottom, and these
cause the ground swells and the breakers. There must be greatground swells
of desire within us that souls may, by some means, be delivered from the
wrath to come. And where these deep searching of the heart are found, there
will be conversions. Where these four things of which we have spokenare the
result of the Holy Spirit working in any of you, it is as certainthat souls will

30. be saved as that spring will follow when the sun returns from his southern
tropic.
We must further note that this is plain from the work itself. For, Brethren,
souls are not converted as a rule without previous prayer for them on the part
of someone or another. Well, then, we must be stirred up to prayer, and the
praying which God hears is not that of people half asleep. The petitions which
pierce the ears of God are not those that fall from carelesslips. They must
come from your heart or they will never go to His heart. The importunate
pleader prevails with Heaven. Souls are savedinstrumentally through
teaching, but the teaching which saves souls is never cold, dead teaching. God
may occasionallybless suchwords, for He does greatwonders, but as a rule
the teaching that convinces and enlightens is earnestand enthusiastic.
We have heard of a traveler who, journeying onward, met with one who said,
“Sir, the night is dark, and I should not advise you to go on to the river, for
the bridge is broken in the middle. You will be in the stream before you know
it.” This was said in so carelessa tone that the traveler went on. He was met
sometime afterwards, fortunately for him, by another who againwarned him–
“The bridge is broken! Don’t go on, you will be sure to lose your life if you
attempt it. You cannotford the streamand the bridge is broken.” The
traveler replied, “Why, I have been told that tale before, but the man who told
me it spoke in such a tone that I could see through him, I knew it was all a
hoax.”
“Oh, but Sir,” said the other, “it is true! I have but now escapedmyself. I am
sure it is true!” “But,” saidthe traveler, “I am not so easily scared.”“Well,
then,” said the other, “I beseechyou once again, do not go on, for you will
perish,” and rushing up to him he said, “I will not let you go.” He graspedhim
and held him fast. “Now,” saidthe other, “I believe you have spokenthe truth,
and I will turn with you.” So there are some who warn souls of their dangerin
such a carelesstone that they create anunbelief which many an earnest
tongue will not be able to dispel.
But if you gethold of the soul and say to it, “I will not let you perish.” If you
say to your friends as Whitfield would sayto his congregation, “If you perish
it shall not be for want of praying for you. It shall not be for want of weeping
over you. If you are damned it shall not be because my heart was coldtowards
you,” you will win them–they will be led to believe, by His Grace, from your
earnestness. Who knows how many earnest spirits you may bring to Jesus?
Praying and teaching, if effectual, must be earnest. And therefore when the
Spirit comes to save the sons of men He always gives us earnestpraying men
and earnestteachers.

31. But, Brethren, teaching is not all. We must come to persuasionwith men, and
that persuasionmust be very persevering. Certain men we must dog day after
day with our entreaties. Some souls will not come with one invitation, they
must therefore be plied with many. I remember a minister who went to see a
dying laborer, and the man growledfrom his bed, “Tellhim to be gone–Iwant
none of the likes of him to disturb me.” He calledagain, and receivedthe same
rude answer. He calledagain, and went halfway up the stairs. He heard an
oath, and would not intrude. He continued to call till he had numbered twenty
times, and the twenty-first time the man said, “Well, as you are so set on it,
you may come in,” and he did go in, and that soul was wonfor God!
Humanly speaking, where had that man been but for persevering zeal? When
the Lord means to save men by you, He will give you perseverance inseeking
them. He will work in you mightily by His Spirit. You will feel a
determination, that twist and turn as they may with indefatigable earnestness
of self-destruction, you will still pursue them if by any means you may prevent
their everlasting misery. Earnestzeal is a natural result of the Holy Spirit’s
working upon the souls of men. Wheneverthe Spirit of God comes, He
sanctifies in men the natural instinct which leads them to wish others to be
like themselves. Whethera man is bad or good, he seeksto make others like
himself. The Holy Spirit lays hold of this and constrains Christians to desire to
bring others to their state of mind.
This done, He arouses in the Christian mind the commendable principle of
love to our fellow men. Having experienced the blessednessofsalvation for
ourselves, we desire to see others enjoying like happiness. The patriot’s bosom
glows with the same passionas before, but now it is refined and purified, and
he prays for his nation that not only it may be free, but that the Spirit of God
may make it free, indeed. The Holy Spirit bestirs in us the impulse of
gratitude, “Has Christ savedme?” Then the man exclaims, “I will live for
Him!” The Spirit gives impetus to that suggestion, and we resolve that since
Jesus has loved us so, we will give to Him all that we are, and all that we have.
In addition to this, the Holy Spirit sanctifies many other natural emotions.
Such, for instance, that which we sometimes callthe esprit de corps, by which
men are moved to desire the prosperity of the community to which they
belong. The Holy Spirit makes us feel one with Christ’s Church and we
ardently desire her success. A holy emulation as to which shall serve the
Mastermost runs through our ranks–notthat we may get honor–but that we
may honor Him. We cannotendure it that our Brethren should go to the war
and we sit still. We begin to be afraid lestthe denunciation should go forth
againstus, “Curse you Meroz, said the angelof the Lord, curse you bitterly

32. the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the
help of the Lord againstthe mighty.” Inspired by such feelings we rush to the
fight that we may rescue souls for Christ.
Then the Spirit in some men–I pray it may be in your case,my dear Friends–
sheds abroad the love of Christ at such a rate that the soulis all on fire to
exalt Christ. No, in some He has made this sacredpassionto eat them up till
they have been consumed with holy zeal. Like men inspired, like ancient
Apostles, certainchoice spirits have lived the life of Christ on earth with an
awful vehemence of enthusiasm. Whereversuch men are raisedup, God is
about to save souls!Wheneveryou listen to a man who is carriedawayby an
all-consuming desire for the glory of God, you may conclude that he is the
instrument of God to thousands. His lips shall feed many, he shall be the
spiritual progenitor of tribes of Believers. Thus where the Spirit of God
comes, energyis evinced and souls are saved. And we do not find it otherwise.
I would have you notice, once more, that the whole history of the Church
confirms what I have stated. When the Holy Spirit descended, there were two
signs of His Presence.The one was a rushing mighty wind, the other was the
tongue of fire. Now if the Holy Spirit intended to do all the work Himself–
without using us as earnestinstruments–the first emblem would have been
stagnantair. And the next might have been a mass of ice, or what you will, but
certainly not a tongue of fire. The first emblem was not only wind, but it was a
mighty wind, and not only that, but a rushing mighty wind, as if to show us
that He intended to setevery spiritual sailin the most rapid motion.
And as birds are drifted before the gale, so would He impel His people
forward with His mighty influences. The other emblem was fire, a consuming,
devouring, imperial element. May we be baptized in the Holy Spirit, and in
fire–and so we shall know what is meant by the symbol. Our Lord’s
commencementof the Gospelministry was signalizedby vehemence. Here is
His own experience, “Fromthe days of John the Baptist until now the
kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” Christ’s
ministry and life were notably earnest, He was clad with zeal as with a cloak.
His Apostles, also, were men so vehement that in their earliestdeliverances
they were thought to be drunken with wine. Every era of the Church’s
prosperity has been marked by this same holy violence. Hear Chrysostom
speak, he is no player upon a goodlyinstrument, he gives forth no dulcet tones
for gentle ears. Listen to his denunciation of the Empress Eudoxia! Hear how
he denounces the sins of the times! How vehemently he calls upon men to
escape fortheir lives because ofcoming judgment!

33. Listen to Augustine, his vehement tones you will not soonforget. Turn to the
notable era of the Reformation. The men who workedthe Reformationwere
no dullards, no men of polite speech, ofelegantand dainty sentences. Luther
was a type of them all, vehement to the extreme of vehemence. I saynot that
their natural violence was the power which workedthe Reformation, but that
the Holy Spirit made their hearts vehement, and so they workedmarvels. And
we, dear Brethren–if we are to see in these days a genuine revival of religion,
worthy of the name–must return to the old enthusiasm which once made the
Church fair as the moon, clearas the sun, and terrible as an army with
banners. O that we may live to see it, and the Lord’s name shall be glorified!
The conclusionof the whole matter is just this–let us combine the two things
of which we have spoken. DearBrethren, let us rely upon the Holy Spirit, and
the Holy Spirit only. Let us not conduct a warfare at our own charges. Letus
believe that without the Lord, nothing goodcanbe done. But let us rest
assuredthat Jesus is never absent where He gives the spirit of prayer, as He
has given to this Church. And that He never deserts those to whom He
vouchsafes holy zealfor His kingdom, such as He has bestowedon many here
present. Let us be encouragedby His Presence. Gideon, whenhe obtained the
tokenof the fleece wetwith dew, and when by night he heard the story of the
barley cake that overturned the tents of Midian–because Godwas with him–
did not straightwaygo to his home and renounce the enterprise.
No, but on the contrary, thus encouraged, he gatheredtogetherhis three
hundred valiant men in the darkness ofthe night. They broke the pitchers,
bade the torches shine, and shouted the watchword, “The swordof the Lord
and of Gideon! The swordof the Lord and of Gideon!” Even so let it be, by
God’s Grace, with us at this hour. Knowing that God the Holy Spirit is with
us, let us lift the cry amid the midnight of our age, “The swordof the Lord
and of His SonJesus!” and we shall see what God will do, for He will surely
put to flight the armies of the aliens, and getto Himself renown.
But, Brethren, let us combine with this confidence in the Holy Spirit, the most
earnesteffort on the part of everyone to do all he can. I have a scene before
my mind’s eye at this moment. I see in this Church and neighborhoodthe
counterpart of the mountainside when the multitude were fainting for lack of
bread. They must be fed, Christ willed it. The disciples must bring their
barley loaves and fishes–whatwere they among so many? Christ must break
and multiply. The disciples must receive from His hands. They must then go
among the many, the fifties and the hundreds, and break the bread that
Christ had blessed–forthe hungry must be fed. Not only men, but women and
children must be satisfied.

34. Behold, my Brethren, this greatcity hungry and faint, and ready to die. Bring
here, all you disciples of Christ, your loaves and fishes–Imean not to me but
to the Master. Whatyou have of ability, howeverslender, bring it out. Christ
will not begin to multiply till you have brought forth all you have. Miracles
are not to be expectedtill nature is brought to a nonplus. Bring out, then,
whateverof talent or Divine Grace you have–consecrate itall to Jesus–and
then as He begins to multiply, stand ready as your master’s servants to wait
upon the crowd. And if they push and clamor, yet weary not–break the bread
till every soul shall have been supplied.
Go on, go on, and do not saythe toil is hard! It is so blessedto do goodto
others–itis thrice blessed–no,sevenfoldblessed, to turn a sinner from the
error of his ways, and save a soul from death! No, wearynot, though you have
been so long at it that your spirit is faint. My Brother, your physical frame is
weary, but be of goodcheer. Do you not hear them? Hearken, I pray you! Up
yonder, there are angels bending from their thrones, and I think I hear them
say, “How blesseda work to feed the hungry, and those men, how honored to
be permitted to hand round the Master’s precious gifts! Do they not whisper,
"We would gladly be with them”?
One bright spirit thinks he would exchange his crownwith the meanestof the
disciples, if he might share the service of Gospelteaching!Might they not envy
you–those blessedharpers upon the sea of glass–because youcan do what they
cannot? You can tell of Jesus, you can fetch in the prodigals, you can find the
lost jewels for the Master’s crown!
I charge you, my Brethren, by the living God–unless your religion is
hypocrisy–help me this month, help my Brethren, the Elders and Deacons,
help us everyone of you. By the blood that bought you, if you are, indeed,
redeemed–by the Holy Spirit that is in you, except you be reprobates–by
everything that Godin loving kindness has done for you–I charge you come to
the help of the Masterin this, the hopeful hour.
So may the Lord do unto you as you shall deal with us this day. If you shall,
indeed, consecrateyourselves to Him, and serve Him, may He enrich you with
the increase ofGod, and may the peace ofGod that passes allunderstanding
keepyour hearts and minds. But if you refuse your service, the Lord shall
judge you. He that knows his Master’s will and does it not, shall be beaten
with many stripes.
BRUCE HURT MD

35. Colossians 1:29 Forthis purpose also I labor (1SPAI) striving (PMPMSN)
according to His power whichmightily works (PMPFSA)within me (NASB:
Lockman)
Greek:eis ho kai kopiHYPERLINK
"http://studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=2872"o(1SPAI)
agonizomenos (PMPMSN)kata tenenergeianautou ten energoumenen
(PMPFSA)en emoi en dunamei.
Amplified: Forthis I labor [unto weariness], striving with all the
superhuman energy which He so mightily enkindles and works within
me. (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
Analyzed Literal: "for which also I labor, striving according to His
supernatural working, the one supernaturally working in me in power."
Lightfoot: Forthis end I train myself in the discipline of self-denial; for
this end I commit myself to the arena of suffering and toil, putting forth
in the conflict all that energywhich He inspires, and which works in me
so powerfully.’
Moffatt: I labour for that end, striving for it with the divine energy
which is a powerwithin me
Net: Towardthis goalI also labor, struggling according to his power
that powerfully works in me. (NET Bible)
NKJV: To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which
works in me mightily
Phillips: This is what I am working at all the time, with all the strength
that God gives me. (Phillips: Touchstone)
Weymouth: To this end, like an earnestwrestler, I exert all my strength
in reliance upon the powerof Him who is mightily at work within me.
Wuest: to which end also I am constantly laboring to the point of
exhaustion, engaging in a contestin which I am controlledby His
energy which operates in me in power.
Young's Literal: I work very hard at this, as I depend on Christ's
mighty powerthat works within me.
AND FOR THIS PURPOSE ILABOR: eis o kai kopio (1SPAI) agonizomenos
(PMPMSN):

36. • labour: Col4:12 Acts 20:35 1Co 15:10 2Co 5:9 6:5 2Co 11:21-33 Php
2:16 1Th 2:9 2Th 3:8 2Ti2:10 Rev 2:3
• Colossians 1 Resources -Multiple Sermons and Commentaries
For this end I train myself in the discipline of self-denial; for this end I
commit myself to the arena of suffering and toil’ (Lightfoot)
to which end also I am constantlylaboring to the point of exhaustion
(Wuest)
For this I labor unto weariness](Amplified)
for which also I labor, striving according to His supernatural working,
the one supernaturally working in me in power. (Analyzed Literal)
Towardthis goalI also labor (NET)
Purpose (for this end, unto this end) is not in the original Greek sentence but
it is implied. The idea of the preposition for (eis) expressesmotion toward,
thus one could translate it "towardthis end". What end? Every man complete
in Christ. One is reminded of Paul's descriptionof his physical toil in 2Co
11:21-33 and the revealing addition, "Apart from such external things, there
is the daily pressure upon me of concernfor all the churches." (2Co 11:28).
As an aside (hopefully an encouragementand a challenge), Colossians 1:29 is
one of those verses (along with Colossians 1:28)upon which we do well to
frequently meditate, begging the Spirit to open the eyes of our heart to
understand and experience "the surpassing greatness ofHis power" (the same
powerthat raised Jesus from the dead! - see Eph 1:18-20-note)in our lives,
our marriages, our ministry, our workplaces, etc. Beginby committing
Colossians 1:28-29 to memory. Then take a few moments eachday to
prayerfully meditate on these two passages,eventaking time to recordyour
observations and praying these truths back to God, that you might imitate
Paul's experience of a supernatural life, in which, yes, the labor is to the point
of fainting, but the life is one of His power working in and through you for His
glory. I canguarantee time and eternity will show that this was time well
spent!
In his letter to the saints in Thessalonicahe sums up the effort required
writing "Foryou recall, brethren, our labor (kopos = engage in an activity
that is burdensome with associateddistress, trouble, discomfort, difficulty))
and hardship, how working night and day so as not to be a burden to any of
you, we proclaimed to you the gospelof God. (1Thes 2:9-note)
Adam Clarke - Whoeverconsiders the original words (the Greek
sentence)...willfind that no verbal translation canconvey their sense. God

37. workedenergeticallyin St. Paul, and he wrought energeticallywith God;
(Colossians1 - Adam Clarke Commentary)
John Eadie - To attain this blessedend, I also toil — agonizomenos —
“intensely struggling,” oras Wycliffe renders—I traueilein stryuynge. It was
no light work, no pastime; it made a demand upon every faculty and every
moment. 1Ti4:10. Since the apostle had many adversaries to contend with, as
is evident from numerous allusions in his epistles, Php 1:29, 30, 1Ti 6:5, 2Th.
3:2, many suppose that such struggles are either prominently alluded to here,
or at leastare distinctly implied in the use of the participle. But the context
does not favour such a hypothesis. It would seemfrom the following verses,
that it is to an agonyof spiritual earnestness thatthe apostle refers—to that
profound yearning which occasionedso many wrestlings in prayer, and drew
from him so many tears; meta pollestes spoudes, as Chrysostomparaphrases
it. When we reflectupon the motive—the presentationof perfect men to God,
and upon the instrument—the preaching of the cross, we ceaseto wonder at
the apostle's zealand toils. For there is no function (pursuit in life) so
momentous,—notthat which studies the constitution of man, in order to
ascertainhis diseasesand remove them; nor that which labors for social
improvement, and the promotion of science and civilization; nor that which
unfolds the resources ofa nation, and secures it a free and patriotic
government—far more important than all, is the function of the Christian
ministry. What in other spheres is enthusiasm, is in it but sobriety. Barnes
well says—“Insucha work it is a privilege to exhaust our strength; in the
performance of the duties of such an office, it is an honor to be permitted to
wearout life itself.” It was, indeed, no sluggishheart that beatin the apostle's
bosom. His was no torpid temperament. There was such a keennessin all its
emotions and anxieties, that its resolve and actionwere simultaneous
movements. But though he labored so industriously, and suffered so bravely
in the aim of winning souls to Christ and glory, still he owned that all was
owing to Divine power lodgedwithin him— (Colossians -Eadie)
The work to be perform'd is ours,
The strength is all His own;
'Tis He that works to will,
'Tis He that works to do;
His is the power by which we act,
His be the glory too.
Labor (2872)(kopiao from kopos = labor which involves toil and weariness
and sorrow)means to engage in hard work and implies difficulties and

38. trouble. Kopiao speaks ofintense toil even sweating and straining to the point
of exhaustion if necessary. (presenttense = continually) Kopiao was usedfor
work which left one so weary it was as if the person had takena beating.
Henry Blackabysays that God will wearyou out when you are in the centerof
His will. It is not surprising to see that Paul uses kopiao frequently to describe
the quality of labor involved in ministry for the Lord . Kopiao was sometimes
used to refer to athletic training. It was also common used among the down-
trodden masses ofthe Roman world.
The present tense emphasizes that this was Paul's lifestyle. The active voice
indicates this is his volitional choice. Rememberthat Paul calls us all to be
imitators of him, just as he is of Christ Jesus!
Kopiao -23x in 21v - Study all of Paul's uses of kopiao to geta good sense of
what it means to toil and labor in ministry - Meditate especiallyon 1
Corinthians 15:10. Memorize it. Imitate it! See commentary on 1 Corinthians
15:10.
Kopiao is translated in the NAS as: diligently labor, 1; grown weary, 1; hard-
working, 1; labor, 3; labored, 4; labors, 1; toil, 4; wearied, 1; weary, 1; work
hard, 1; worked, 2; workedhard, 1; workedhard, 1; workers, 1;working
hard, 1.
Matthew 6:28HYPERLINK
"https://www.preceptaustin.org/matthew_627-29#6:28"+ "And why are
you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow;
they do not toil nor do they spin,
Matthew 11:28HYPERLINK
"https://www.preceptaustin.org/matthew_1128_commentary"+ "Come
to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Luke 5:5HYPERLINK "/luke-5-commentary#5:5"+Simonanswered
and said, "Master, we workedhard all night and caughtnothing, but I
will do as You say and let down the nets."
Luke 12:27HYPERLINK "/luke-12-commentary#12:27"+ "Consider
the lilies, how they grow:they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not
even Solomonin all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
John 4:6 and Jacob's wellwas there. So Jesus, being weariedfrom His
journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
John 4:38 "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored;
others have labored and you have entered into their labor (kopos)."

39. Acts 20:35HYPERLINK"/acts-20-commentary#20:35"+ "Ineverything
I showedyou that by working hard in this manner you must help the
weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said,
'It is more blessedto give than to receive.'"
Romans 16:6HYPERLINK
"https://www.preceptaustin.org/romans_16_notes_pt2#16:6"+Greet
Mary, who has workedhard for you.
Romans 16:12HYPERLINK
"https://www.preceptaustin.org/romans_16_notes_pt2#16:12"+ Greet
Tryphaena and Tryphosa, workers in the Lord. Greet Persis the
beloved, who has workedhard in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 4:12 and we toil, working with our own hands; when we
are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure;
1 Corinthians 15:10HYPERLINK
"https://www.preceptaustin.org/1_corinthians_1510_commentary"+
But by the grace ofGod I am what I am, and His grace towardme did
not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but
the grace ofGod with me.
1 Corinthians 16:16 that you also be in subjection to such men and to
everyone who helps in the work and labors.
Galatians 4:11HYPERLINK"/galatians-4-commentary#4:11"+ Ifear
for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.
Ephesians 4:28HYPERLINK
"https://www.preceptaustin.org/ephesians_428#4:28"+ He who steals
must stealno longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own
hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one
who has need.
Philippians 2:16HYPERLINK
"https://www.preceptaustin.org/philippians_216#2:16"+ holding fast
the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reasonto glory
because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.
Colossians 1:29 Forthis purpose also I labor, striving according to His
power, which mightily works within me.
1 Thessalonians 5:12HYPERLINK
"https://www.preceptaustin.org/1thessalonians_512-13#5:12"+But we
request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor

40. among you, and have charge overyou in the Lord and give you
instruction,
1 Timothy 4:10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have
fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially
of believers.
1 Timothy 5:17 The elders who rule well are to be consideredworthy of
double honor, especiallythose who work hard at preaching and
teaching.
2 Timothy 2:6HYPERLINK
"https://www.preceptaustin.org/2_timothy_26#2:6"+ The hard-working
farmer ought to be the first to receive his share of the crops.
Revelation2:3HYPERLINK
"http://www.spiritandtruth.org/id/revc.htm?2:3"+ and you have
perseverance andhave endured for My name's sake, and have not
grown weary.
Kopiao is the word Jesus usedin His famous invitation "Come (Yes, Jesus
invites, but He does so by issuing the invitation in the form of a loving
command - ) to Me, all who are weary(worn out, ready to faint from
exhaustion) and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." (Mt 11:28-note)
Come, ye weary, heavy laden,
Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you’re better,
You will never come at all.
(Sung by Fernando Ortega & Amy Grant)
A FISH
ILLUSTRATION
An excellentillustration of toiling according to our powerversus God's power
is found in Luke 5. Peterthe famous fisherman is given instructions by Jesus
to "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch". (Lk 5:4)
Peterwas an experiencedfisherman and could have ignored Jesus'command,
but insteadhe submitted and said "Master, we workedhard (kopiao)all night
and caughtnothing, but (this term of contrast is like a hinge - here it separates
spiritual failure, from spiritual victory!) at Your bidding I will let down the
nets." (Luke 5:5) What was the result when Peterworkedaccording to "His
power"? Luke records that he experiencedsupernatural results and "enclosed
a greatquantity of fish; and their nets began to break!" (Luke 5:6)