Not By Works

How many times must I be reminded that salvation is by grace alone and not by works?

It seems like every time I dare to suggest that following Christ involves things like feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, preaching the Gospel, or giving away everything for the sake of Christ, someone is gracious enough to remind me that we’re not saved by these works, we’re saved by grace.

Thank you.  I appreciate the reminder.  Sometimes I forget.

(Warning: Rant Alert – Be prepared for mild to moderate lambasting in the remainder of the article)

Deep breath . . . NO DUH!!!

Listen, I gave to charity one time before I knew Christ.  I dropped $5.00 in a Red Cross umbrella at a Target after Hurricane Katrina, and on the drive home afterwards, I stopped at a Taco Bell and was ticked that I didn’t have enough cash to get dessert because of my moment of weak generosity.  I didn’t help my friends, I didn’t love my family, I most certainly never associated with someone beneath my social circle, and I collected stuff to the point that there literally wasn’t room to walk in some of the rooms of my house. 

When I was saved by God’s grace, I sold everything, gave it all away, and now live solely for the sake of Christ and loving others.

Works didn’t save me.  God’s grace saved me, but He saved me into a life of working for Him. 

I’ll tell you what: you “show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.  You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?”  (James 2:18-20)

If you’re quick to throw out that verse about being saved by grace and not works anytime the topic comes up because you don’t want to give up anything for Christ, you’re a lazy servant at best.  Do you know what happens to lazy servants? 

Jesus says this to them:

You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 25:26-30)

You can’t work you’re way to heaven, but you can't sit around on your grace all day and hope to get there either.  This is not an either/or thing.  If you don’t have works, you don’t have any evidence of God's grace.  You certainly don't love Jesus.  Because when you love Him, you're compelled to love others.  And love is demonstrated in works.  So repent and get right with God. 

Yikes!  Did I really say it?  You betcha!  Somebody has to. 

For the record, I’m not claiming to be the guy with ten talents.  Most likely, I’m the guy with one, but you better believe I’m going to give a proper account and hand in two when the Master returns.  Not because I want to boast, but because I love Him so much.  If I can give Him three, four, or more, I will.  I’ll give Him everything because He’s worthy.

Will you?

(End of Rant: My apologies to my regular readers.  This post stems from frustrating conversations in other arenas, but everyone needs to vent sometimes.)

Come and Buy

“Hey all, the next round is on me!”  You hear that phrase a lot in movies when someone is celebrating in a bar.  In all my years of drinking in bars, I never once heard someone offer everyone in the bar the next round.  Does this really happen?

I guess it did happen to me once.  It wasn’t in a bar, mind you, and it wasn’t a round of drinks either.  But once I drank what this Guy was offering, I haven’t even wanted to go back to a bar or drink alcohol again.  His stuff was so much better.

He came up to me and said, “Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.” (Isaiah 55:1-2)

And so I bought some of what He was offering, it was free after all, not cheap, but free.  I drank deeply of the Living water.  Ate my full of the broken bread from heaven.  I sipped from the cup of wine he shed for me, and grew from the milk of His word. 

Unlike the drink I was used to, indulging in what He offered didn’t cloud my mind; it made everything clear.  Maybe for the first time in my life, I felt like I could drive myself home, and He was kind enough to show me the path—I had wandered so far, and the road was a narrow one-way street, but it leads straight home. 

I asked the Man who gave me so much for so little how I could ever repay Him, and He said,  “As surely as you feed the hungry, give the thirsty something to drink, invite in the stranger, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and imprisoned in my name, you will have done it to me.” 

“What’s your name?” I asked desperate to know Him.

He face began to shine like the sun as He smiled deeply and said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.

But I will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations. For the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death" (Revelation 21:6-7/Exodus 34:6-7)

Like the men of old, I fell before the Ancient of Days and worshipped.  I’ve been worshipping ever since and will be worshipping forevermore.  Come, come and buy without money; the next round is on Jesus!  Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come!

Resistance

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we could walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

"Are you a born writer? Were you put on earth to be a painter, a scientist, an apostle of peace? In the end the question can only be answered by action.

Do it or don't do it.

If you don't do it . . . [y]ou shame the angels who watch over you, and you spite the Almighty, who created you and only you with your unique gifts, for the sole purpose of nudging the human race one millimeter farther along its path back to God

Don't cheat us of your contribution.

Give us what you've got!" (Steven Pressfield)

"We've all been there.

Everyone who has a pulse has experienced resistance, and it usually comes in the form of procrastination.

[But] resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates the strength of the Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That's why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there'd be no Resistance.

If you feel any degree of fear or anxiety about acting on the desire God has put in your soul--then you must do it.

Live the desires of your heart.

God has put you here to do certain good for Him--you, and only you. Not your parents, not your friends, not your pastors--you.

Fight resistance.

Find resolve." (Palmer Chinchen)

May we all do what we were created to do and bring glory and honor to our Creator.