By Brother R. Michel Lankford
During the next several blog entries, I will be inviting you to explore a concept with me, which I have affectionately nicknamed CWOG. It's a guiding principle that I try to use and teach on a regular basis as I seek to grow into a more effective disciple of Yahweh Almighty God, and His Son Yeshua the Messiah. Like almost every indispensable truth out there, C.W.O.G. is easy to understand, that immensely challenging to master. May God bless you, as we study and apply God's Word together. Thank you for joining me into this challenging adventure in discipleship.
In an attempt to keep individual entries brief, this study will be divided into three parts:
First: Understanding C.W.O.G. What Is It?
Second: Why do we need C.W.O.G.? Isn't it obvious and self-explanatory?
Third: How does C.W.O.G. function in a practical way?
What is C.W.O.G?
It is often been said that in order to have an intelligent discussion with someone, we must first define our terms. So let us begin at the outset by defining C.W.O.G.Definition: C.W.O.G. is an abbreviation for a concept that I have summarized, but it's by no means an entirely new idea. It's a concept that has been practiced by people of faith for centuries. I just gave it this label as a way of easy reminder. C.W.O.G. stands for Cooperative Work of Grace. The idea behind it is very simple. It's all about cooperating with God's grace as He works in our lives. God's Word contains many awesome promises, blessings and benefits, but the vast majority of these great blessings and benefits and promises are NOT unconditional. With rare exceptions, almost all of God's promises and benefits come with specific conditions that the believer must agree to, believe, and follow, before one can fully receive, experience, and enjoy the promised result in their lives. Quite simply, if we do not fulfill God's specified conditions in any given situation, then we cannot rightly claim or expect to receive the scriptural promise to which the condition is attached. Basically, to C.W.O.G. is a practical way to make sure that you are obeying the word of God and putting it into practice so that one does not deceive oneself, (James 1:22-25).
This is a bedrock fundamental precept of relationships, and relationship with God in particular. A relationship by definition requires the active involvement and participation of at least two individuals, (in this case Almighty God, and myself), but it's also true of relationships between human beings. If only one party does all the participation and involvement, and the other person either spiritually, emotionally, mentally, or physically either disengages or refuses to get involved in any aspect, then is there any genuine relationship there? Of course not. No relationship can survive, let alone grow and thrive, if only one party is actively engaged.
As it relates to our relationship with Almighty God, it is definitely not a 50-50 proposition. In fact God's portion of the relationship might very well be 99.95% and we might be responsible only for the other .05%, but nevertheless a relationship with God requires our active involvement and participation in cooperation with Him, (even though God actually helps us to fulfill even our portion of it), we still have to be actively willing and obedient to participate with Him, otherwise, no true relationship exists.
Part of building healthy relationships is that each party must take their portion seriously. Breakdowns in relationships can occur if and when either party neglects their portion of that relationship. One of the things that makes relationships between human beings more difficult is that sometimes there is a breakdown or a hindrance in the relationship between people.
In the vast majority of cases, the exact cause of these hindrances or breakdowns in human relationships is more difficult to pin down and correct because the breakdowns are harder to trace. In relationships between people, a breakdown can occur when either party does not fully engage in a relationship or does not fulfill their portion of it. In most breakdowns of relationship between people, both parties have usually failed to do their part to some greater or lesser degree. That's why forgiveness between people is vital to maintaining and building solid relationships, because forgiveness is inevitably necessary since eventually we all fail one another in some manner, (Ephesians 4:32).
However, this cannot be true in our relationship with Almighty God. God is perfect. God is love. God does not fail. If there is some hindrance or breakdown in my relationship and intimacy with Almighty God and with Messiah, we always know where the blame fits. The problem is always 100% on the human end of the equation. the problem is never God's fault, ever. In one sense this makes restoration easier because we don't have to look far to see where the problem lays, so to speak.
God always does His part and He always does it right, because He is perfectly faithful. When it comes to relationship with God and myself, if ever there is a breakdown or hindrance, it's because somewhere I did not fulfill my part, because God always fulfills His portion correctly.
Therefore, if I'm not experiencing the fulfillment of some blessing or promise that I see in Scripture, it is because in all likelihood I am not correctly fulfilling the conditions and prerequisites that God has set in order for a person to receive and enjoy the particular promise and provision. It's that simple.
The bottom line is that most of our progress as individual believers or as a community of faith will be in direct proportion to how well we have cooperated with God's work of grace in our lives. Believe it or not, even our gift of salvation is not 100% unconditional. I can prove it using a verse that we all know and love. I will end our study for the day on this simple yet far-reaching example:
Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, (Romans 10:13)
That is an awesome promise, but let us purposely observe what is God's part in the promise, and what are the conditions which we as believers must agree to and fulfill in order to receive and enjoy the promise.
God's Part: That is a pretty great promise. Notice however, that it is by no means an unconditional promise. Like so many of God's promises, there is a part that God will do, and there is a part that God requires us to do as well. In this instance, what is God's part? Well, when you think about it, God definitely had the hard part when it comes to saving us. He miraculously conceived a child in the virgin's womb, and poured Himself into it. Jesus lived a sinless life. He obeyed the Scriptures perfectly, and then took the penalty and punishment for our sins and our violations of God's Holy Law. After His death, He took the keys of death hell and the grave away from the devil and was resurrected from the dead. So in this salvation process, there is no doubt that God definitely has the hard part. His part is saving us.
My Part: My part is comparatively easy. So what is my part in this instance? What is the prerequisite that I must fulfill in order to receive this awesome promise from God's Word. Well, obviously, I MUST CALL upon the name of the Lord (Yeshua, Jesus) to save me. In order to call upon Him to save me, I must also naturally believe that God will save me through Him, and what Messiah accomplished through His death and resurrection. So in this particular case, my part is believing and calling on His Name to save me. That is a very simple example, but almost every single scriptural promise works in the exact same way.
Therefore, if a person foolishly, (God forbid), refuses to believe and refuses to call upon the name of the Lord, will such a one truly receive the blessing of God's salvation? Not at all. That is a simple example, but almost every promise of God functions in exactly the same manner with different guarantees that God promises to accomplish, and different prerequisites or conditions which we are required to fulfill in order to receive and enjoy the blessing. I'm using this easy but key example in order to cement key principles into our minds. Remember, almost every promise of God as an "if" clause in it. It's at least implied when it is not outright stated.
C.W.O.G. is all about making sure that we fulfill the "IF" clauses which we find within God's many wonderful scriptural promises. That way we can truly abide in God's blessing, instead of just talking about it. We know that through Yeshua the Messiah, all of the promises of God are yes and amen, to everyone who believes (see 2 Corinthians 1:20), but please do not forget that in Biblical terms, what we believe is demonstrated by what we DO, and NOT by what we say, (James 1:22; James 2:14,18; 1 John 2:4,6; Luke 6:46).
I truly believe that the reason that God lays down certain conditions and prerequisites is to reveal the true conditions of our own hearts to ourselves. Obeying the conditions that Yahweh, or Yahweh through Messiah lays down is what separates those who believe from those who do not believe, because only those who believe God and His promises are going to be diligent to make sure that they follow the Laws, Commandments, Instructions and prerequisites that He sets forth, because they sincerely believe Him, and they want to receive what He has promised.
In the next installment, I will be bringing you some slightly more complicated examples as I explain in more detail why I believe that C.W.O.G. is sorely needed in the church at large. God be with you, and remember that true grace works in relationship, and is therefore, a Cooperative Work of Grace.
Brother Michel Lankford
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