Have you ever been comfortably seated watching TV, or reading a good book, and yet also been aware of (a) various necessary jobs to be done in the kitchen or elsewhere, and (b) a lack of will power to get up and do what has to be done?
It is common for human beings to experience in their moral and spiritual lives what Luther called in a famous book, “the bondage of the will”, a seeming lack of power to do what is known to be a duty and requirement. In the soul, as it were, there is not always a smooth gear change between what the conscience declares to be right and what the will alone can set in motion.
The weakness of the will of baptized believers in the Christian life of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ was well recognized by the apostles (see Romans 7-8) and by the bishops and teachers in the Early Church. This is why they called upon all to use the means of grace provided by the Gospel and to pursue sanctification before God. He who knows his own heart well knows that it is prone to lethargy; that it seems always ready to relapse into slumber as if it were satisfied with present attainments in the moral sphere. It needs constantly to be re-charged as it were and prompted to godly action.
Regrettably in much modern forms of Christianity, this truth and practical experience are not taken seriously (because there is such a low doctrine of human sinfulness) and it is assumed that people are free to do what is right if they so wish (see the Catechism or Outline of Faith in the ECUSA 1979 Prayer Book for such teaching, which we may call Pelagianism if we want to give it an ancient title.)
The Collect [set prayer] for the last Sunday of the Christian Year in the ancient Gregorian Sacramentary [service book] and in the medieval Sarum Use [service book used in medieval England] and in The Book of Common Prayer (1549 and later editions) took this bondage of the will to sin for granted as a reality experienced during the past year and prayed for the empowerment of the will by the Holy Spirit for the coming year. In its English form as translated by Archbishop Cranmer, it prays:
Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The will is stirred up whenever by the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit (directly or through the means of grace) the internal affections of reverence before God, hope in God and love for God are set in motion so as to give strength and motivation to the will. Yet, it remains within our power even when our wills are set in motion not to follow the lead of these godly affections; that is, we may resist and avoid their direction. The lethargic will, aroused by grace, can, as it were, turn over on its side and try to back to sleep. When this happens there is regression in the Christian life.
But Christ calls his disciples to follow him, to love God and the neighbor, to fulfill the great commission to evangelize and teach, and thus they ought, as and when aroused, to follow the direction of the Spirit and in his power do whatever duty is set before them, with joy and thanksgiving, bringing forth the fruit of the Spirit in practical Christian living. And a constant duty and vocation is to abound in good works for the benefit of men and the glory of God. [We recall that Dorcas is commended as having been “full of good works and alms-deeds which she did” (Acts 9:36); that Paul declared that we are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10) and we are to be “a peculiar people zealous of good works” (Titus 2:4).]
I would not work my soul to save for that my Lord has done;
But I would work like any slave for love of God’s dear Son.
Let us allow the Holy Spirit to stir up our wills and to inspire us to follow His lead into the production of the fruit of the Spirit & into good works to the glory of the Father.
An application at the corporate level for USA Anglicans/Episcopalians.
It would seem reasonable to affirm that at the recent “Hope and a Future Conference” in Pittsburgh (Nov 10-12) there was truly a stirring up of the wills of many people in the direction of good works in Christ’s name specifically towards the reformation and renewal of the Anglican Way in North America.
When a people is united, it is as though they have one will which can be stirred up, set alight and activated to do courageously what God is calling to be done. However, this one people has to have godly leadership to map out what exactly is to be done and how. Without such, their godly energy is dissipated. Bishops, as their pastors, must also have the experience of the stirring of the will and then freely decide to go with the godly motion of the Spirit, and, in so doing, lead their flocks into deeper engagement with God in Christ unto sanctification and consecration.
My great fear is that in waiting for leadership to show where to go and how and when, the Pittsburgh people will, as it were, eventually turn over in their beds and allow themselves to fall asleep again - thus losing another opportunity (as one was lost by the failure of the Episcopal Synod in 1990) to bring renewal to the Episcopal Way! Shepherds have to lead their flock and from in front!
O Lord Christ, do Thou not only stir up our wills but also give us a firm but gracious push into the doing of what Thou wouldst have us be and do; and not tomorrow,but today. Amen.
petertoon@msn.com November 18, 2005
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