Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Faith that Works


Recently, in the Bible study group that my wife and I enjoy each week, our discussion on authentic Christianity turned to the topics of grace and works.  If you want to get a theological firestorm started, just get a debate going on the role grace and works play in one’s eternal salvation.  Personally, I am very thankful that the gift of Salvation is just that, a gift.  Forgiveness of sin, being made righteous before a holy God, and having the confidence of eternal life is nothing short of the undeserved favor (grace) that God pours upon the soul of a sinner who finally realizes his or her utter spiritual depravity and calls out to Jesus.  He alone can bring peace between sinful mankind and Holy God.

As the song writer penned, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.”
The Scriptures declare, He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.(Colossians 1: 13-14, NIV).

I know you will join me in giving praise to the Lord for His grace.  Yet, in our thanksgiving for God’s indescribable gift, we cannot forget that following grace must be a transformed life that declares through our actions that we have indeed received grace. In reading 1 Thessalonians, we get a glimpse of the power of the Gospel as it is displayed with both grace and works in the life of a believer.

“We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 1: 3, NIV)

The writer, Paul, was moved by the genuineness of the faith in these Thessalonian believers.  They had received the message of redemption through Christ and that knowledge had traveled 18 inches south from their ears to their heart.  They did not simply hear the Gospel, it transformed them.  Paul remarks, “We remember your WORK, your LABOR, and your ENDURANCE.” 

A few verses later, Paul states that he did not even have to write about their works of faith because the whole community was talking about them.  He said, “For they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. (1 Thessalonians 1: 9-10, NIV)

The Apostle James writes, “as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” (James 2: 26, NIV).

Even Jesus taught, “…a tree is recognized by its fruit.” (Matthew 12:33, NIV).

Life Application:

Are you a follower of Jesus?  If so, have you stopped to give thanks to God today for the incredible grace He offers you through Jesus?  As you give Him praise, ask Him to empower you to live out your faith so that others will believe your testimony by your actions.  Show others through your life that change Jesus makes.