Digging For Truth

   Quotations from the writings of Ellen G. White with the phrase . . .

     The phrase 'co-workers with Him'  appears  70  times in the writings of EGW           page not on Original site            Related phrase:    co-worker with Christ  ( below )  - -  co-laborer with Jesus  (  )

After relating the parable, Christ said, “The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.” That is, worldly-wise men display more wisdom and earnestness in serving themselves than do the professed children of God in their service to Him. So it was in Christ’s day. So it is now. Look at the life of many who claim to be Christians.  The Lord has endowed them with capabilities, and power, and influence; He has entrusted them with money, that they may be co-workers with Him in the great redemption. All His gifts are to be used in blessing humanity, in relieving the suffering and the needy. We are to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to care for the widow and the fatherless, to minister to the distressed and downtrodden. God never meant that the widespread misery in the world should exist. He never meant that one man should have an abundance of the luxuries of life, while the children of others should cry for bread. The means over and above the actual necessities of life are entrusted to man to do good, to bless humanity. The Lord says, “Sell that ye have, and give alms.” Luke 12:33.  Be “ready to distribute, willing to communicate.” 1 Timothy 6:18.  “When thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.” Luke 14:13.  “Loose the bands of wickedness,” “undo the heavy burdens,” “let the oppressed go free,” “break every yoke.” “Deal thy bread to the hungry,” “bring the poor that are cast out to thy house.” “When thou seest the naked, ... cover him.” “Satisfy the afflicted soul.” Isaiah 58:6, 7, 10.  “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15.  These are the Lord’s commands. Are the great body of professed Christians doing this work?  { COL 370.1}  Read entire Chapter 26

God never leads His children otherwise than they would choose to be led, if they could see the end from the beginning, and discern the glory of the purpose which they are fulfilling as co-workers with Him. Not Enoch, who was translated to heaven, not Elijah, who ascended in a chariot of fire, was greater or more honored than John the Baptist, who perished alone in the dungeon. “Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake.” Philippians 1:29. And of all the gifts that Heaven can bestow upon men, fellowship with Christ in His sufferings is the most weighty trust and the highest honor. { DA 224.5}   Read entire Chapter 22

Christ’s figures and illustrations help make the truth plain — Christ has the right and power to lay all human agencies and influences under tribute in His work for humanity. He uses human instrumentalities, and He does not destroy the individuality of His servants. He puts the Holy Spirit upon them, and shuts them in with Himself, and they have the mind of Christ, and become co-workers with Him. He presents before their minds figures and illustrations with which they are familiar, to make plain the truth He wishes them to communicate, and the Holy Spirit assists them in the use of these figures and illustrations. —BE Aug. 19, 1895. { PaM 193.3}

The Majesty of Heaven, whom angels worshiped, who was rich in honor, splendor, and glory, came to the earth, and when he found himself in fashion as a man, he did not plead his refined nature as an excuse to hold himself aloof from the unfortunate. He was found in his work among the afflicted, the poor, distressed, and needy ones. Christ was the embodiment of refinement and purity. His was an exalted life and character, yet he was found in his labor, not among men of high-sounding titles, not among the most honorable of this world, but with the despised and needy. “I came,” says the divine Teacher, “to save that which was lost.” Yes, the Majesty of Heaven was ever found working to help those who most needed help. May the example of Christ put to shame the excuses of that class who are so attracted to their poor self that they consider it beneath their refined taste and their high calling to help the most helpless. Such have taken a position higher than their Lord, and in the end will be astonished to find themselves even lower than that class, to mingle with, and to work for whom, shocked their refined, sensitive natures. True, it may not always be agreeable or pleasant to unite with the Master and be co-workers with him in helping the very class who stand most in need of help. But this is the work Christ humbled himself to do. Is the servant greater than his Lord? He has given the example, and enjoins upon us to copy it. It may be disagreeable, yet duty demands that just such a work be performed. { SA 164.1 }  also  { 2T 467.1 }

But few have a true sense of what is comprised in the word Christian. It is to be Christlike, to do others good, to be divested of all selfishness, and to have our lives marked with acts of disinterested benevolence. Our Redeemer throws souls into the arms of the church, for them to care for unselfishly and train for heaven, and thus be co-workers with Him. But the church too often thrusts them away, upon the devil’s battlefield. One member will say, “It is not my duty,” and then bring up some trifling excuse. “Well,” says another, “neither is it my duty;” and finally it is nobody’s duty, and the soul is left uncared for to perish. It is the duty of every Christian to engage in this self-denying, self-sacrificing enterprise. Cannot God return into their granaries and increase their flocks, so that instead of loss there shall be increase? “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.” { 2T 331.1}

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