"Let God..."

[chuckd]

I've always thought this language of "letting God" work in your life was from the Keswick / Higher Life movement era. I was surprised to see it in the Heidelberg Catechism.

Q103 What is God’s will for you in the fourth commandment?

A. First, that the gospel ministry and education for it be maintained, and that, especially on the festive day of rest, I diligently attend the assembly of God’s people to learn what God’s Word teaches, to participate in the sacraments, to pray to God publicly, and to bring Christian offerings for the poor. Second, that every day of my life I rest from my evil ways, let the Lord work in me through his Spirit, and so begin in this life the eternal Sabbath.

 

[Ryan&Amber2013]

I can see from the perspective of a Calvinist how that language sounds funky, but I think it is very much in line with a Biblical understanding. We are told we can quench the Spirit and Stephen accused the people of resisting God's Spirit. In reality, when we walk according to the flesh, we are walking against God's design and desire for us, which is in a sense not letting him do his good work inside of us at that moment. The debate between sovereignty and human will goes on, but I think we should all acknowledge that when we choose sin, we are not letting God work faith and holiness in us.

 

[MW]

The Keswick/Higher Life view is more of a passive quietism. Its spirituality is built on the idea of surrender so that God acts instead of you. The believer's inactivity is the condition for God's activity. In more popular terms -- "let go and let God." The Reformed view is insistent on active Spirit‑led obedience. "Work out your salvation … for God worketh in you," Phil. 2. God's work in us is the prerequisite for our work; and as the Catechism makes abundantly clear our work is in accord with His commandments. One does not stop acting so that God can act. The Spirit works in us so that we may walk, obey, and be led by Him.

 

[jezk]

The Keswick/Higher Life view is more of a passive quietism. Its spirituality is built on the idea of surrender so that God acts instead of you. The believer's inactivity is the condition for God's activity. In more popular terms -- "let go and let God." The Reformed view is insistent on active Spirit‑led obedience. "Work out your salvation … for God worketh in you," Phil. 2. God's work in us is the prerequisite for our work; and as the Catechism makes abundantly clear our work is in accord with His commandments. One does not stop acting so that God can act. The Spirit works in us so that we may walk, obey, and be led by Him.

That is not quite it. The goal is to act against human desires and especially human presumption. For example, to take one from "how I want to get Susan to marry me" and especially from "how I want to misinterpret the Bible and misapply Christianity to coerce Susan into marrying me by getting the pastor, the congregation and Susan's family to take my side" to "step back and truly evaluate whether God wants me to marry Susan or even to get married at all especially at this particular time." Of course active Spirit-led obedience is the goal of every Christian. What this does is act against the tendency to claim pursuit of your own desires and goals for active Spirit-led obedience. To put it another way, it is a precondition, a necessary precursor, to active Spirit-led obedience. To find another way to restate it: you cannot serve both God and mammon. This is a way of removing mammon from the picture, in particular by causing the person to end the self-delusion that mammon and the pursuit thereof is God's will and purpose for his life. Recall Simon Magus attempting to purchase the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Consider the very real possibility that Simon Magus sincerely wanted to use those gifts to serve God. That he would become famous and influential in the process would have been a mere happy byproduct, it would have been very easy to convince himself. This is a doctrine with the goal of disabusing someone of this type of thinking. One is free to disagree with the methodology of Keswick/Higher Life in this area, as well as their scriptural presuppositions, but their goal is a good one. A common refrain among adherents to this is "do not try to help God out" and their most common example is the business with Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. While I disagree with their interpretation - in my opinion Sarah was less concerned with fulfilling God's prophecy than with protecting her own interests as a childless woman in that social context - if their interpretation was correct it would be a good illustration of the principle: active Spirit-led obedience needs to be actual obedience and actually Spirit-led. What is being taken for passive quietism is actually restricting one's activity to things that are with absolute certainty the will of God because it is clearly commanded of every Christian in the Bible - Bible study, prayer, fasting, giving, meditation etc. - and taking the utmost caution with everything beyond that. Even lots of Christians who intellectually know that "God helps those who help themselves" actually isn't in the Bible nonetheless live their lives as if it were written in the Proverbs, restated and affirmed by Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount and restated again by Paul in 2nd Thessalonians.

 

[MW]

That is not quite it. The goal is to act against human desires and especially human presumption. For example, to take one from "how I want to get Susan to marry me" and especially from "how I want to misinterpret the Bible and misapply Christianity to coerce Susan into marrying me by getting the pastor, the congregation and Susan's family to take my side" to "step back and truly evaluate whether God wants me to marry Susan or even to get married at all especially at this particular time." Of course active Spirit-led obedience is the goal of every Christian. What this does is act against the tendency to claim pursuit of your own desires and goals for active Spirit-led obedience. To put it another way, it is a precondition, a necessary precursor, to active Spirit-led obedience. To find another way to restate it: you cannot serve both God and mammon. This is a way of removing mammon from the picture, in particular by causing the person to end the self-delusion that mammon and the pursuit thereof is God's will and purpose for his life. Recall Simon Magus attempting to purchase the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Consider the very real possibility that Simon Magus sincerely wanted to use those gifts to serve God. That he would become famous and influential in the process would have been a mere happy byproduct, it would have been very easy to convince himself. This is a doctrine with the goal of disabusing someone of this type of thinking. One is free to disagree with the methodology of Keswick/Higher Life in this area, as well as their scriptural presuppositions, but their goal is a good one. A common refrain among adherents to this is "do not try to help God out" and their most common example is the business with Abraham, Sarah and Hagar. While I disagree with their interpretation - in my opinion Sarah was less concerned with fulfilling God's prophecy than with protecting her own interests as a childless woman in that social context - if their interpretation was correct it would be a good illustration of the principle: active Spirit-led obedience needs to be actual obedience and actually Spirit-led. What is being taken for passive quietism is actually restricting one's activity to things that are with absolute certainty the will of God because it is clearly commanded of every Christian in the Bible - Bible study, prayer, fasting, giving, meditation etc. - and taking the utmost caution with everything beyond that. Even lots of Christians who intellectually know that "God helps those who help themselves" actually isn't in the Bible nonetheless live their lives as if it were written in the Proverbs, restated and affirmed by Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount and restated again by Paul in 2nd Thessalonians.

I can't quite make out what you are ultimately trying to say here. Taking your statements at face value, I would say that there is no virtue in denying that we pursue "our own desires and goals" as if "active Spirit-led obedience" takes place apart from us. The Spirit renews our desires and goals. That is part of the leading. Any theory that doesn't see the individual as being integrally involved in the process of sanctification is misguided. As for the problem of "motive," whatever one's theory of sanctification, the possibility of being more holy than another remains, and with that comes the temptation to think of oneself higher than he ought to think. But the Scriptures provide sobering reminders that we can do nothing of ourselves and that we ought not to boast as if we have not received everything we have. Indeed, if we think we stand to take heed lest we fall. And it is the Reformed view that applies these with greatest effectiveness because it reminds us that our motives will remain mixed in this life because of indwelling sin. This drives us out of ourselves to seek for that perfect righteousness that is found in Christ alone.

 

[chuckd]

The Keswick/Higher Life view is more of a passive quietism. Its spirituality is built on the idea of surrender so that God acts instead of you. The believer's inactivity is the condition for God's activity. In more popular terms -- "let go and let God." The Reformed view is insistent on active Spirit‑led obedience. "Work out your salvation … for God worketh in you," Phil. 2. God's work in us is the prerequisite for our work; and as the Catechism makes abundantly clear our work is in accord with His commandments. One does not stop acting so that God can act. The Spirit works in us so that we may walk, obey, and be led by Him.

I guess I'm hung up on the direction - "let the Lord work in me". As if I'm giving him permission to do something. Or I should move out of the way of him working.

 

[MW]

I guess I'm hung up on the direction - "let the Lord work in me". As if I'm giving him permission to do something. Or I should move out of the way of him working.

Psalm 119 is very helpful. E.g., v. 33-40. Notice the distinction of terms -- teach, make, incline, quicken, turn, stabish; in connection with the terms that refer to us -- keep, observe, go, delight, devoted. All in association with the precept and the prayer. God commands us what to do. He promises to work His grace in us to do it. We pray to Him to do it in us and we resolve to do it in His strength.

33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.
34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.
36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.
37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.
38 Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.
39 Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good.
40 Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.