You ask, “Well, where is this ten million dollar gift, sir?”
The man says, “I’ve placed it in a shallow well at the top of the hill over there.” He points to it, and you estimate it’s about a hundred yards away.
“Will you come with me, sir?”
“Absolutely,” he says.
So, you walk up the hill, reach into the cool, shallow water and pull out a strange, ancient looking box. After inspecting it ever so curiously, you turn to the man and say, “Sir, it appears to be locked.”
The man says, “Ask me for the key, and you can have it.”
“May I have the key, sir?” He hands you the key without hesitation.
You open the box, see the check, and with tears running down your face, you say…
I end the story there because the rest isn’t important. Feel free to finish it anyway you’d like. However, for the sake of illustration, imagine there are several invitees to the well, each with their own ten million dollar gift box, some of them having walked just twenty yards while others looking as if they had just walked across the country.
Allow me to ask you a few questions, please. In monetary terms, is the ten million dollars worth any less to you than it would be if he had simply dropped it onto your picnic blanket? Is it worth less to the person who only had to walk a very short distance to the well? Does ten million suddenly turn into twenty for the person who had to walk partway across the globe? The answer to all of these questions is “No.” Ten million dollars is worth exactly ten million dollars, regardless of where a person finds it. Its value is set.
Who did all of the work to make the ten million dollars in each of the boxes given out? The giver. Did you or anyone else have to work for it? Nope. This box is analogous to the Cross of Jesus Christ. More than two thousand years ago our Lord labored so that He could offer you a gift. You weren’t even born yet, so it is impossible for you to stake any claim to the Cross’ valuation. It is by grace alone that we are offered salvation on the merits of Jesus’ work.
But what about the walk to the well? Might that be construed as labor? Indeed it is. The distinction is that it neither increases nor diminishes the value of the gift. Whether a person has had to walk two feet or two hundred miles makes no difference in the value of the gift, itself. The value is set, just as Christ’s work on the Cross has been set. We ought never confuse His work with the work we accomplish jointly with Him (ala 1 Corinthians 3:8; 15:10; 2 Corinthians 10:15; Galatians 4:11, etc.).
Suppose the fictitious man told some other folks that day the gift box was up in a tree and all they had to do was climb to fetch it. Or maybe for others the box was out in a field, or under a rock, or stowed away in a cave in Egypt. Would any of that change the value of its contents? Nope. You get the point.
[Jesus said] “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
— Matthew 13:44-46
Jesus never said God’s grace implies we have no part in salvation. We just can’t stake a claim to accomplishing the work required to secure it. Someone once asked Him why so few are saved.
And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
— Luke 13:23-24
The Greek word translated “strive” is agonizomai (Can you see the English cognate “agonize” in there?). Jesus stated that salvation implies a certain struggle. The Greek word carries a wrestling connotation with it, meaning to contend for a prize. Are we to suppose that Jesus was suggesting additional work to the Cross as a requirement for salvation? May it never be! That work is complete, as Jesus said while on the Cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). In Luke 13:24, Jesus was referring to the analog of walking from our place of origin to the shallow well. Is salvation any more gracious - and therefore effective - for someone who is forced to take a longer walk (think of how many conversion stories you’ve heard over the years - they’re all unique)? How about a shorter walk, shall we presume a lesser grace, then? May it never be! The point I’m making is simple, but you might be surprised by how many people are confused about it, that is, confused about grace (Satan is a crafty one).
The gracious work of Jesus Christ on the Cross was completed when He cried tetelestai! (it is finished). Like the gift in the well, there’s nothing we can do to alter its value. Those who attempt to do so comprise legalistic religion, adding works to Christ’s sufficiency (as if Jesus was lying in John 19:30). Some of us have become so “gun shy” regarding this egregious error that the “walk to the well” is counted as adding to the finished work of the Cross. This is actually an error, too. It’s not an error, however, to quote Jesus’ own words (e.g., “strive to enter”) and label it as our part in our own conversion. I hope you see the distinction I’m making here, it is very important for your own freedom.
Grace is the unmerited favor of God. Nowhere in the Bible does it say grace is easy (as man’s flesh would define “easy”; that is, accommodating to man's fleshly sensibilities) - Jesus said entering through the “narrow gate” is akin to a wrestling match. We sweat when wrestling, some of us more than others. Heck, even evangelism is real work (1 Corinthians 3:9). The Bible says dogmatically that grace is sufficient for God’s purposes (2 Corinthians 12:9); but (and here’s the key), grace is always aligned with God’s purposes, not man’s. Considering Isaiah 55:8, it’s understandable that man gets his lines crossed.
It’s a good work to walk to the well when invited. It’s a bad work to suppose that in doing so you have increased what Jesus stated as finished on the Cross. Bad works in the Bible refer to attempts made to supplant Christ’s propitiatory work. Searching for the truth (e.g., answering God’s call) about salvation isn’t adding to Jesus’ salvific work. Jesus said, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness [ala “strive to enter through the narrow gate” - Luke 13:24], and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). Our Savior encourages the lost to come to the well, “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14). If you’ve ever read Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan you know what I’m getting at - an unbeliever must struggle with pride and their own love of sin, counting the cost of losing it (Luke 14:28), all of which amounts to real labor. Does this labor overlap with that performed on the Cross? Not at all, but it might mean a person’s in for a long walk.
There are some who hear the Gospel of grace and respond, “Meh.” I see this everyday - utter indifference. This is akin to a person in our fictitious story above responding to the giver with, “I have no need of your riches, sir, run along now.” This person is too lazy to even entertain counting the cost of salvation because they don’t see the need. The truth is that they are blind. “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). Does their indifference devalue the gift "in the well?" Not at all. Such is the point of this blog - the value of salvation is immutable. The value of man’s seeking for it varies greatly.
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,
“I WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE,
AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.”
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
— 1 Corinthians 1:18-21
Grace is Jesus accomplishing everything necessary to secure our eternal salvation. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). There’s nothing man could ever do to alter the value of Christ’s redemptive work. However, hearing the Gospel truth and understanding it leaves no one unchanged. A person is either moved towards receiving His so great salvation or they are moved to reject it. In both cases the Gospel makes a profound difference. Even an indifferent moron is forced to respond in their soul to the Holy Spirit’s convicting ministry. In each case the convicted person is forced to exert themselves (the Gospel demands it). This work is in the struggle either to cast aside the sinful pride of life and pursue salvation or to reject the Gospel (or even remain indifferent to it). Striving in one direction or the other doesn’t increase or diminish the value of the Cross in any way - that negotiation between Father and Son took place in Heaven long before man even walked the earth, as a function of God’s grace alone.
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins
