Godward Toil in Piper Sermon

I listened to a 2005 sermon by John Piper this morning, "Boiling for Christ."  The sermon is an exposition of  Romans 12:11  "Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord."   The primary exhortation in the message is to serve passionately ("feel!") and productively ("get it done!"), receiving the passion, strength, effectiveness, and service from Christ.   The whole sermon is glorious and I can't do it justice.  But the last 7 minutes or so (33:00-40:47 if you want to download and listen) particularly caught my attention because Piper brought together three verses that I had not previously enjoyed as a trio proclaiming that productivity for God is productivity from God:

• Romans 15:18, “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me
• Colossians 1:28-29:  “[Christ] we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”
• 1 Corinthians 15:10, “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

We work hard.  We must toil.   And even as we toil, it is Christ who is accomplishing.  How strange and marvelous to be God's conduit.   May the knowledge that it is not me working, spur me to work even harder!