THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN BELIEVER

C. THE BELIEVER'S CONVERSION: THE WORK OF GOD'S GRACE; SALVATION

-- { Ephesians 2:8-10 }  ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— ⁹ not the result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.  -- NRSV

Breath Prayer For The Week (A "breath prayer" is a brief sentence or simple phrase that can be repeated often to Jesus in one breath.)

Lord, thank you for your amazing grace.

Dear Friend, grace and peace be unto you from God our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Christ.  Amen.

This passage of Scripture is my second favorite, just behind John 3:16.  It is pure Lutheran theology: “By grace alone, through faith alone, to God alone be the glory.”

Paul shares with us how our salvation is the pure work of God.  There is nothing a person can do to save himself, nothing.

First, Paul shares with us that we are saved by God alone (2:8-9)  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”

These two verses set Christianity apart from every other religious faith in the world.  Last Sunday, Sandy and I attended an interfaith trialogue between speakers from Judaism, Christianity and Islam.  Of these three major religions in the world, the speakers for Judaism and Islam shared about how their good works play a role in determining their salvation.  Christianity has a completely different message.  Even though I don’t think a lot of Christians understand it themselves.  Here are the facts.

1. You are saved by God’s grace.  “Grace” (charis) means the favor and kindness of God.  But there is a uniqueness about God’s favor and kindness – it is given despite the fact that it is undeserved and unmerited.  God has done the unheard of.  He has given His grace to humankind despite their – cursing Him, rejecting Him, rebelling against Him, hostility against Him, denial of Him, neglect of Him, false worship, trespasses and sins.

Grace is giving but it is giving to people who do not deserve the gift.  The gift that is undeserved is Jesus.  Because God is by nature love and mercy He was compelled to show that mercy to humankind by sending His Son to save us – reconcile us too Himself.

As I shared last week, our God is not distant from us.  He is not disinterested but near to us expressing His love and mercy.  He has reached out to us in the most personal way in giving His Son, Jesus, to die for us.

Humankind, who had committed high treason against God deserved death and separation from Him forever – eternal death.  But Jesus came and took upon himself that treason and death so that we would not have too.  He died in our place – He died for you and me.

2. You are saved through faith.  This means that when we believe, really believe that Jesus died for us, bore our punishment on the cross, and accept this personally, that it is this faith, trust in Jesus that saves us for eternity.  

The point is this: it is our faith that causes God to look upon us as having been in Christ Jesus when He died.  It is our faith and trust in Jesus that causes God to credit us with salvation.  

Jesus has been wrapped up as a gift and handed to us.  But a gift is not ours until we believe it and receive it.  When a child is baptized they are participating in the act of receiving.  When we trust Jesus we are receiving Him as our Savior.  

The amazing thing about God’s grace is, however, that in the giving of it there is also the gift of being able to receive it.  Our dead spirit and mind are opened to respond in faith.  Therefore God gets all the glory.

3. You are not saved of yourselves.  This is the hardest lesson for humankind to learn.  This is clearly seen by the fact that all the other world religions think this is a possibility.  They are all based on good works.  But the Christian knows that there aren’t enough good works that he could do that would make him acceptable to God.  We would have to be perfect and that is impossible.

4. You are saved as a gift of God, not of works.  There are at least six reasons why salvation must be a free gift.

   1. Humankind cannot make God owe him.  We cannot put God in debt to us for work performed.  God is not obligated to us in any way for any reason.

   2. Humankind cannot bring perfection to God.  Only God is perfect and humankind is imperfect.  

   3. Humankind cannot make God forgive him.  We have broken our relationship with God and we cannot force Him to forgive us.  He must do it out of mercy.

   4. Humankind cannot heal God’s heart.  Sin breaks God’s heart.  We can only cast our selves at his mercy.

   5. Humankind cannot save itself.  No matter what law or ritual or work one chooses to do for salvation, there would be those who could not obtain it.  A person living this kind of life can never know if they have done enough to be saved.  There is no assurance.

   6. Humankind cannot make God love him.  Nothing we can do can make God love us.  True love is not earned or deserved.  True love, the love of God is unconditional towards us.

5. The reason salvation is by grace and not by works is to prevent humankind from ever boasting.  God is the only one who can boast.  He is the Supreme Creator.  He is the Eternal.  If humankind was saved by some effort of his own, he would be due some credit – some boast – some honor.  And of course this is the exact reason other religions are popular.  They can boast in themselves to some extent.  Christianity allows for no boasting whatsoever.  God in Jesus gets the credit for everything.

Second, Paul shares with us that we are God’s workmanship (2:10)  “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Paul is saying we are to “be all we can be” with Jesus.  This is what our Lenten Series “The Purpose Driven Life” will be all about.  We note two points.

1. We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.  The follower of Jesus experiences two creations – a natural birth and a spiritual birth.

2. We are created to do good works.  The person who is in a saved relationship with God through Jesus has a job to do – a purpose for their life that God wishes fulfilled.

The word “workmanship” (poiema) means work of art, masterpiece or poem.  We are individual works of art created by our God.  The implication is also that of a blueprint.  We are the results of God’s blueprint for us.  

This workmanship God desires to see worked out in our lives.  He gives us His grace to save us and to help us live out His plan for us – the best plan ever possible.

Paul says that “God prepared in advance” works for us to do.  We are not created as spectators on this planet but players.  We all have a place on God’s team – the Church.  

Doing good works is not an option for the Christian.  It is our new nature as we develop our relationship with Jesus.  We still fall short of God’s calling but in forgiveness we persist to run the race the best we are able with God’s help.  And we are secure in the fact that we are His children even when we mess up.  And His love of us never fails.  

As Psalm 1 states we “are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither…”

Heavenly Father, You have blessed us with a salvation that works.  Help us work out the salvation You have blessed us with according to Your plan.