What we're going to talk about today is in some ways a little bit of a theology of good works from a particular verse of scripture. And so we're going to kind of walk right into that. And think through as we are in Ephesians chapter 2.
So if you have a Bible, you'll want to be, whether it's on your phone or whether it is in the chair in front of you or you have your own, you'll want one this morning. There's a ton of scripture. a ton of scripture.
So I'm going to need you to follow along with me. And I'm going to have you turn to a little bit.
Someone will be on the screen. But we want to think pretty. Pretty clearly, because here's the problem that we deal with when it comes to this idea of good works in Protestant, Christian, especially evangelical theology. is that we sometimes don't have, ironically, A ton to say about it in terms of what it means for us eternally. And so we sort of have these like two errors that exist two gutters on each side, right?
On the one side we have this whole moral reformation system that we will work and we will earn favor with God by becoming a different kind of person. And so evangelicals tend to be pretty good at steering clear of that. Right. Then we come over here and in a sense, we we don't have a lot to say about what works are, and we see them as largely inconsequential. Of course, it's something that, you know, it will maybe show Christ to people, so we'd want to do it.
It might be the kind of thing that reflects well on God and His character, and so it's good for you to be good to others. It's good for you to take your work seriously. It's good for you to serve in the kingdom because it spreads the fame of the God who saved you. And that's true. Um But we don't have a kind of concept that works might actually be essential.
And they might actually... And now I'm going to say something, and some of you are going to go, oh no. Where is this message going? You stay with me.
Okay. They might actually be in one sense Essential for salvation.
Okay. Now, you're going to have to stay with me because some of you hear that and you go, oh. Oh my goodness, he's left. It's over. He just took an arrow and he shot Martin Luther.
Okay, didn't shoot Martin Luther, love Luther. You know that, I mean, the message last week, if you doubt it, listen to the message last week. It was all Ephesians 2:8 and 9. For by grace you've been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, right? It's a gift of God.
Not by works, so no one can boast, but then... We get this verse right after it. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. which God prepared beforehand that we should walk. in them.
Here's where it gets even more complicated. I'm going to put a a little graphic up for you. Um We have to do a little theology as we start. Justification is the doctrine that you have been declared to be right. in your standing before God.
Now The term that's used for justification, dikasunai, is in that whole realm of term, dikaiao, in Greek. Um has a broader meaning than just that. But when talking about salvation, it primarily refers to the idea that you have been declared to be right.
So you have a right standing before God because you stand on the merits of Jesus that are fully applied to you. When you believed and put your faith in Christ, he applied his righteousness to your life so that you could become the righteousness of God in him, right? He became sin for you so you could become righteous in him. 2 Corinthians 5, 21.
So we have texts like, in fact, take your Bibles and turn to Romans 4. Turn to Romans 4. We'll get back at Ephesians, but turn for a moment to Romans 4. And you'll see a crystal clear text about the fact that you are justified. Completely.
By faith. Verse 1 of Romans 4 says, What then shall we say was gained by Abraham our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about. but not before God. For what does the Scripture say?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.
Now, to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one. To whom God counts as righteousness apart from works. And then there's a quote there from the Old Testament.
But you go back, right, to verse 2. If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. And the next verse tells you that it's his belief that was credited to him as righteousness. It's pretty crystal clear. What is it that justifies, and it's faith that justifies, and it's not works, right?
You with me?
Okay, I'm feeling a little self-conscious. Come on.
Okay, there you go.
Now we're getting it.
Now. Go to James chapter 2. Go to James chapter 2. And you're familiar Possibly with one part of James chapter 2. But I want you to see Verse 21.
James 2. 21.
Now remember what we just read. Right? Was not Abraham our father justified by? Do you see it? By works.
when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar. You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works. And the scripture was fulfilled that says Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Quotes the same text. And he was called a friend of God, and then you get this statement: you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
So, which is it? I mean, I just read to you. Romans says you're justified by faith. James says You're justified by faith. But not faith alone.
By faith and works.
Now, here's what happens in oftentimes in Protestant theology: we go, Romans. WAAAAAAA Here we go, James, redheaded stepchild. Yeah. And we're like going to beat James down. We don't know what to do with James.
This is some of what Luther's problem was, a little bit. Do you see up there where it says justification? And there are two bullet points under justification. Forensic? And final.
Okay. That's because the term isn't just completely in its context and its usage just monolithic every single time. It has to do with your right standing before God. But what you have, and this is so important for us to grasp. You have the term being used in two distinct ways.
One way in Romans, and another way, or at least in another time frame, in James.
So in Romans, it is. You, at the moment of belief, are declared to be right before God. You are justified. before him. And You walk through life.
Right? And you have a whole framework to your life. You're set apart to God. That's what sanctification means. You're set apart to him.
And you're set apart to him like positionally. The illustration in the Bible, even, is like a vessel that's set apart in a temple or tabernacle for God's use. And then you. Act out, you do stuff, you serve him, you grow in your faith, you grow in discipleship, you pursue him, and you're you find a moral transformation. We call that in big theological terms the progressive aspect of sanctification.
And then one day there won't be any more kind of moral kind of peace. There might be character pieces, but I mean moral in the sense that you're going to still be fighting sin, you won't be fighting sin anymore, you'll be perfectly sanctified. It's not going to happen in this life. But when you see him as he is, and you are fully known, you'll be perfectly sanctified. At that moment.
You are transformed, especially when you get a new glorified body, according to what 1 Corinthians 15 tells us and other texts. And you have the fullness of transformation at that point. We call that glorification, but here's the point. All that's up there. And other stuff.
We could talk about regeneration. That's part of it. That's kind of the beginnings of glorification, in a way. But All that's up there is what we mean when we say salvation. It's why theologians, it's why Great theologian, John Stott, talks about how we can say things like: we have been saved, right?
We are being saved, and we will be saved. Salvation is a big term. that happens.
So the reformers had a statement. They said, faith alone saves, and then they said, and everybody remembers the first part. But they had another Part to that. The faith alone saves and The faith that saves. is not alone.
The idea is that the faith that saves, how do we know that that faith is a real Vibrant, genuine faith. James will say, look, the demons believe. The demons believe in God. The demons can look and see that God sent his son. The demons have observational capacities.
But the demons believe, does that mean that the demons have eternal life? No, and James will use the demons contrastively with authentic faith. And what's the distinction? A faith that is not alone. That is, a residual The fact From sort of the grenade, if you will, of faith that goes off in the life of a person.
So in that sense The fact that you and I would have Have a life where we reflect God's character by doing good works is not non-essential. to what it means to be a Christian. There is no such thing as a Christian who believes and has no life transformation. None. There's no such thing as a Christian who believes and whose faith does not tip.
The domino. of works. They are here. You can't stick your finger up between them and knock works over. That's just law-based morality.
But if you knock real faith over, necessarily, the domino of works happens such that the enterprise known as salvation, sometimes in your text, sees them. as a whole. How do we know that? Texts like: Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you. His good pleasure.
Philippians 2.
So The idea is I don't trust my works. I don't lean into my works. They aren't meriting anything. But they're telling a story of what happened. They're like the evidence in a crime scene investigation.
They're telling me that something actually really did happen over here. And they have a story to tell that's deeply important. for us. And it's not incidental.
So, what we need to have is a kind of appropriate theology and place for good works within the Christian economy of the understanding of what it means for us in our relationship, not just to the world, so the world believes, but actually in relationship to God Himself.
So. Ephesians 2. Be there with me. Look at verse 10 again, and we'll spend our time there this morning. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.
Which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. I'm going to give you six observations about God's work in relation to our work. And here's the first one: God is the initial worker. God is it. We are his workmanship.
That is, there's no works without his work. But he's the initial worker, so God creates. The world As he creates, he creates. Humans He invests in those humans, his image. We call that the image of God or the imago day in theology.
And that image reflects aspects of God. One of them is that we are a worker. That's a part of that image. And yet he creates, but it's not just about him creating in our natural sense of what we look at around us or what we see in each other or what we are aware of in ourselves. It's not just your birth that is part of his creative act, but it is also your rebirth that is part of his creative act, right?
So. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ... They've come. To receive Christ, to believe and trust in him. They're a new, he is a new creation.
That's the language that's used. They're a new work of God. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from. God.
Who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation?
So the initial The thing you have to know is that God is the great worker, and there's nothing to say about my works, there's nothing to say about your works, there's nothing to properly place those works in the economy of our relationship with God without understanding that everything we do is both reactionary. And it is empowered by God in His. Creative work, both in giving us life and in giving us new life, from which that grenade of faith, so to speak, that explodes within us. and allows for something now to take place. Number two.
God recreates us. Four. Four good works. Look at your text. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus.
For good works. Created in Christ Jesus there means what? Redeemed. It's two, eight, and nine. It's that you've been saved by grace through faith.
This is not of yourselves, it's a gift.
So you get the gift. You get the gospel. He moves in your heart. He changes the framework from which you operate in your life. We can say it philosophically: like your is what you are, is different, constituted.
Now you ought to do different things, you can do different things, and a whole new world opens up to you. But what you need to see is that his intent in rescuing you. His intent in saving you is not, so you go, Ew. Man!
So go ahead, don't go to hell. Isn't it great that I'm going to heaven? And you so focus on the eternal state. As a ticket of a kind that you can now.
sort of have punched properly to get to eternity. that you missed the point that the reason He rescued you and didn't kill you when he rescued you. Is so you would actually be fruitful in this life. for something distinct that he's called you to.
So I told you, I'm going to give you a bunch of scripture. Titus 2:13 and 14. It kind of picks up, verse 13 picks up almost like in the mid-sentence, waiting for our blessed hope. The appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself. For us, to redeem us from all lawlessness.
and to purify for himself For his own a people for his own possession. And then you get this at the end. Who are what? who are zealous For good works. This is his intent in saving you.
It's to rescue you so you would be passionate to go impact people's lives for the sake of God's honor and glory in the expansion of God's kingdom.
So that means that if that's not on your meter. Then you're actually not living out the purpose not of your Christian life. You're not living out the purpose of Salvation. That's why he rescued you. It becomes even more clear in a text that's all about the sacrifice of Christ in Hebrews 9:11.
But when Christ. appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves. but by means of his own blood. Thus, securing an eternal redemption.
So, what he's doing, right, is he's talking to these Jewish people. The Hebrews, and he's showing the glorious supremacy of Jesus over against their law and their old ceremonial sacrificial practices. And he's saying, Christ has gone into a greater tent, he has offered greater sacrifices. In fact, he'll say in chapter 10, one sacrifice singularly for all. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works?
What? Yeah, don't lose it. He's telling you why Jesus would give his life. He would give his life to purify you. To cleanse you from sin for what?
So you're holy?
So you're acceptable? Note. It's the next step.
So that In being cleansed, you would serve the living God. That's the intent of your redemption. That's why you get forgiven. You don't get forgiven so you get to go to heaven. You don't get forgiven so you don't get to go to hell.
You don't get forgiven so you punch your belief card. You don't get forgiven so you have a new standing. You get forgiven so that you. And I may do. That's what enables us.
to be able to serve him in that way. Number three. God's work. of recreating us for good works makes our works Non-meritorious. What what do I what do I mean by that?
Um The idea here is that Any Working. on our part is always a response to what he has initially Done. I'm not meriting something. Gaining or garnering something down the line with God. Because now he sees, as though Christ's righteousness applied to me was insufficient.
And yet, He has Recreated me so that I would act like, look like, and live like a new creature. creation. It's God's initiation that makes it non-meritorious. If it was the flip and I was recreating myself or I was earning favor with God so then that He would then respond to me with a kind of gift wherein I had done my part, so now He'll do mine in a quid pro quo.
Now we would have a problem because that would go against biblical theology because He's the great initiator, He's the great mover, I am the respondent, the reactor. And this text, even the cadence, the logic of it to eight, nine, and then ten show us that my works follow that which is His work in my life. Again, to even enable it to be possible.
Now I want to spend some time with you on the next couple of points. God's work of recreating us for good works. makes our work deeply Meaningful. It is as though God who moves from creation Through the fall of man and woman to redemption and then recreation. It's as though now in redeeming us, he pulls us to himself and places us within the context of a larger enterprise wherein the things that we do now have a substantive implication.
for all of eternity. Where prior, they didn't have that kind of implication. Um Good works can be done and performed by lost people. And we don't have to somehow demonize those and think somehow they're not social or moral goods. They are social and moral goods, some of which contribute immensely to the cultivation of healthy aspects of civilization.
But God has uniquely pulled you as a believer. He has uniquely brought you into a realm where the things that you do genuinely can matter for eternity and be deeply meaningful. I want to highlight a couple of ways that this is the case. The first is they're meaningful. in our sanctification.
So, our sanctification, as I mentioned to you, right, is the idea that I've been set apart from the world to God. A vessel Fit for him.
So that he can fill it, so that he can use it. How he chooses.
Now my works then become crucial to that process. to that process. All of the commands of Scripture are not given to God. God doesn't give commands to himself. He gives them to you.
He gives them to you. Because you. are the one who has the responsibility to obey them. and to execute on them. And yet, in his mercy, as you'll see in a minute, he doesn't leave us alone in that enterprise.
He doesn't leave us to our own devices. in it. Um let's consider Romans 6:22. But now that you have been set free from sin, sanctified, have become slaves of God. What happens?
The fruit you get, that's the stuff that comes from your life. leads to sanctification. It leads to you becoming more. And more? And more set apart to him, and its end is eternal life.
So we say here at Lifeline a lot: life is uphill. If you take your foot off the gas, what happens? You'll go backward. You go backward. If you're in neutral, you will not coast.
you'll actually go backward because you're going against the fallen world.
So God Moves in your life, and out of salvation, he gives you this fruit that is this sort of shrapnel that's destroying your flesh from this grenade that explodes, if you will, of faith. And as it happens, you're transformed, and the fruit you get is this progressive movement.
Now, does it shh? You just take off unhindered? No, it's fits and starts. It's sometimes two steps forward, one step back, three steps forward, two steps back, two steps forward, two steps back sometimes. But there's a movement.
And the movement is yielding something. Look, and its end? eternal life. It's putting the whole that first slide that I put up. It's putting that all in its kind of economic structure.
It's showing that salvation is this thing. And a part of it is the idea that God, who grants you by His grace, salvation, moves in you. And the faith that comes, the faith alone that saves doesn't come alone because there's a residual effect. And that transformation is part of what's moving you toward eternity in His economy. Listen to a.
Quote by a guy named Charles Lee Irons. He goes by Lee Irons. The merit of Christ What Christ did for us on the cross necessarily and ineluctably results in progressive sanctification. That's what we're saying. It results in you being progressively more set apart to Christ.
Anyone who claims to have the right entitle to eternal life but lives as if they are on the way to death has an empty profession and a hollow claim.
So here's another way of saying that. Belief is not commitment, and commitment is not belief. You can commit to things you don't believe in. People do it all the time. People do it all the time.
I've shared with you many times Dallas Willard's famous statement to students who would come, turn in their philosophy paper at USC, and he would say, Do you believe everything you've written?
Well the answer is well no, they wrote it because they wanted to get a right answer. They committed to it. That doesn't mean they believed it.
So you could commit to Christ. Because of your parents, you could commit to Christ because you want something. You could commit to Christ because you want a coping mechanism to commit to Christ for a million reasons. It doesn't mean you believed.
So he goes on. If you have the right and title to eternal life, then you are obligated to live as one who is on the highway to eternal life and to show, even now, in the midst of your mortal existence in a non-glorified, sin-tempted body, in the midst of your failures and partial obedience, the marks of one who is heaven-bound. And you show this best not by perfectly avoiding sin, which is impossible. While you are in this mortal flesh, but by fighting against your sin. I'm going to quote Dallas Willard again.
Grace is opposed to earning. Grace is not opposed to effort. Grace is opposed to earning. Grace is opposed to effort. You can do nothing to earn favor with God.
You can do nothing to be somehow more. I mentioned to you last week that you are as much loved by God in your sin as you are in the most righteous act that you commit. God's character doesn't change because of you and I. We don't have that power in regard to him. He stays faithful, he stays the same.
All right. But I Get. The benefits. of what it means for me. To live a life that coheres, matches His holiness, it's meaningful in my sanctification.
Secondly, it's meaningful in service. And I'll just put these verses up here. One was part of your scripture reading this morning. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see. Your good works.
And then that they would give glory. To your Father who is in heaven. Hebrews 13:16. Don't neglect to do good and share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing. to God.
So they're meaningful. In that they actually are impactful both horizontally, people look and go. That's what a believer looks like. But they're also reflective. They give glory to God.
There's a sense in which people see and then see. God is gorgeous because you have put him on display in your life. And then finally, They're meaningful for eternity, something not actually talked about too much. Let me show you a verse. that evidences this.
2 Peter 3.10. But the day of the Lord The day of the Lord. will come like a thief, Then the heavens will pass away with a roar. And the heavenly bodies will be burned up. and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be and I don't like the translation.
Exposed. Um The word is Eurisco, it would be better said, the works that are done on it will be found. The word means to discover. or to find. to discover or to find.
Euriska, think Eureka, I found it. Mm-hmm. The to discover it.
So what's he saying?
Well, there's things that you enter into that you are working on and working for As you do that, as a believer, you're contributing to the culture of eternity. There are people. who will be in eternity. Because you were faithful. As a witness.
You were faithful as a worker. You are faithful as a friend. You are faithful as somebody engaging.
Okay. Um you get to Revelation 21, 23 and 24. Speaking of the eternal city, it says, And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it. For the glory of God gives its light, and its lamp is the lamp. By its light will the nations walk.
And then it says, This. and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. And its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night there. If you think, like if your approach to this world is, it doesn't matter what I do, it's all going to burn anyway. I've heard people Christians say that.
What does it matter? It's all gonna burn anyway. What? Do you think right now? The work that you are doing.
Does not have eternal implications? Of course it does. Of course it does. It's not just gonna Yeah. It's going to be recreated, and those things that are found to be eternally worthy are brought into the kingdom.
So, in that way. Are you working for eternity? Not if you mean working so I get eternity. Are you working for eternity in the sense that the artifacts? The implications of you working diligently have eternity in view 100%.
Yeah. 100%. It's not full stop, start over. It's stop, carry over. That's what happens.
as we walk in. to the new heavens and the new earth. Number five.
Okay. God's work includes mapping out our works. Look at your text. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. which God Prepared.
beforehand.
Okay, so a number of years ago A handful of us at Lifeline. This was early, early days of lifeline. I don't know if anybody here was on that trip or not, but. probably uh at least 15 years ago. Um we went down to Zion National Park, a bunch of us guys.
And we hiked Angel's Landing. Anyone here ever hiked Angel's Landing? A couple of you have.
Okay. So we got up, we're going up Angels Landing. If you don't like heights, you're not going to like Angels Landing.
So it's a spine that goes out and then kind of opens up to a small little island, kind of. But that spine, if you look on one side, it's about 700 feet down. You look on the other, it's close to 1,000 feet down. And when I say spine, I mean you're going up. And you can look down this way and you can kind of tip your head over and you can look down this way in Ports.
And at times it's about this wide. And they have over time concreted in metal posts with chain link that you can hold on to it as you go across. And if you don't hold on to it, you're not just dumb, you're dead.
Okay, so you you can kind of make your way across. Uh about a month and a half after we went there, uh a family was up there and the mom fell to her death.
So it's a place where annually people die up there because they Step off one way, they scratch their nose, take their hand off, and see you later.
Okay. So it's a hairy little deal, but it's fantastic. I mean, it's amazing. The view is unprecedented. You know, it's just wonderful.
But as you go, can you imagine doing it? Like I went up and I'm like, who put these posts in here? I mean, that's a stud. Whoever did that? But as you go You are Going on a trail.
You're really going. Trust me. I did it. But I wouldn't have been able to do it. if it wasn't mapped out for me.
I would not have had the capacity. to do it. if I didn't have the tools in place to be able to do it. Works prepared beforehand. in that way.
that we could walk in them. What are the implications of having that mapped out by God for us? Not done by God for us. mapped out by God for us. What are the implications of it?
Let me, I'm going to run through five quick for you. Here we go. I told you, I've got a lot. It means you can work with confidence or poise. That's the first thing.
But I had to pick poise because they're all peas. And of course, we have to make sacrifices to keep them alliterated. Poise. You don't have to get ruffled.
So I'm up there in Angels Landing. And yeah, there's a little butt shiver when I look over this way. I mean, I'm not gonna lie to you. But I'm here. I can hold on.
You know what I mean? If I didn't have that... Oh, it's full-on panic attack, man. And the Prozac up there to get me down.
Okay. Poise. You can work with power. In fact, let me give you an illustration of poise real quick. Just before we move on.
This is 2 Corinthians 3, 1 through 6. In ministry, Paul says, Are we beginning to commend ourselves again, or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to or from you? Apparently, they're being challenged by people, right? The Corinthians had been upset with them at various points. You yourselves, he says, are a letter of recommendation written on our hearts to be known and read by all, and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink.
But with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant. Not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
His point is, in and of ourselves, we're not stepping out in this ministry and somehow planting churches and correcting you and leading you in eternal things. We're doing it because God has made a way for us to do it, and so we can do it through the power of his spirit in the confidence and poise that he provides. Secondly, you can work with his power. with his power. I'll give you a passage of scripture that I think is often overlooked on this.
There's never existed any human on earth more powerful than Jesus.
Now, he wasn't only human, he was the God-man, but he was 100% man. No one has existed with more power. And interestingly, you see him operate in a way that you would not expect with someone who has infinite power accessible to him. Luke 4. 16.
And he came to Nazareth. where he'd been brought up. As was his custom, he, Jesus, went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll.
And found the place where it was written, and here's the quote. The Spirit, this is a quote from Isaiah 61, 1 and 2. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
Then he, right? Then he rolls it back up and sits down. And the implication is what? This text is talking about him. He's reading it.
Commencing His ministry And making the point that I'm the one that text talked about. What I want you to see is he's gonna do, do, do, he's gonna proclaim, he's gonna work, he's gonna minister. How? And the Spirit of the Lord anointed him. To do it.
You see it repeatedly in Jesus. He does, and the power of the Spirit came upon him and he. All right. By the power of the Spirit, He. But he's God.
Why does the second person of the Trinity in fleshed in human form need the third person of the Trinity? Because you and I are supposed to look and go, maybe if he needed that, we might need that. We're supposed to learn something. about what it means to access power. From him.
You can work with purpose because he maps it out. Purpose. I love this quote from Chuck Coulson. One of the most wonderful things about being a Christian is that I don't ever get up in the morning and wonder if what I do matters. I live every day to the fullest.
You do that? Every day. Or is it kinda same old, same old? Because I can live it through Christ. No, I don't want to happen to this marriage.
Live it through Christ. I don't want to happen to this parenting. Live it through Christ. I don't want to happen to these in-laws. Live it through Christ.
I don't want to happen to this job. I hate it. Live it through Christ. Because I can live it through Christ, and I know no matter what I do today, I'm going to do something.
Something To advance the kingdom of God. Here's a thought: at the end of your day, ask yourself that question. This lay down at night. Before you fall asleep, Pray, review your day. Think of what you're grateful for.
And then think. What did I do today? that advanced the kingdom. Did you love your child? You advanced the kingdom.
Did you speak words of kindness? You advanced the kingdom. Did you overcome oppression? You advanced the kingdom. Did you return?
with kindness Unkindness. But you returned it kindly. You advance the kingdom. Did you say no and refuse the temptations of your own ego? You advance the kingdom.
Did you get caught up in a bunch of nonsense and arguments that don't really amount to hill of beans? It didn't advance the kingdom. Did you admit so think about that? Every day. You can do something.
to advance The kingdom. Fourth. You can work with perseverance. Work with perseverance. And let us not grow weary of doing good.
For in due season we will reap if if we don't give up.
So then as we have opportunity. Let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
So seek the opportunities. Seize the moments and don't quit. And what has to come along with perseverance, the final P, is. Patience. See, perseverance sometimes you can get because you can get grit.
Grit and patience are not the same. You can be a frustrated codger with grit. You can be an ornery cuss with grit. You can be utterly unlovable. But darn it all, you got grit.
I know people like that. Right? They'll persevere. It's just that you can't stand them. But somebody who's patient.
That means somebody who can weather life. without looking weathered. That means somebody who can weather the difficulty. without it discombobulating them in all shapes and sizes in life. That's someone who's patient.
So here's a picture of this, and I love the illustration. What's what's a patient What's a patient employment? What's a patient job? Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits?
I mean, is there anything less sexy than farming? I mean, we got dating sites now that are trying to help us with this, right? FarmersOnly.com. Here it is.
Some of you need help there? You can watch a show now, a reality show called Farmer Wants a Wife. Farmer wants a wife. Patient, nothing sexy about a farmer. Farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth.
being patient about it until it receives The early and the late rains, you also be patient. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand. A farmer goes out and he waters. A farmer goes out and he tills. A farmer goes out and he tends.
And he does it again and again and again and again and again and again and again. And he does it repeatedly when he sees nothing coming up. But he knows. He knows that he must attend daily to that thing that is unseen if that thing that is unseen will ever materialize. All right.
He tends it. Patience. See, if I know that God has something mapped out for me. Then I can hang with it. I'm be patient with it.
I know it done all right on me. I can wait. I can shift to his timeline, if that's the case. When I don't shift to his timeline, and I. Struggle.
It's an indication. that I think it might be my work and not something that he's mapped out for me to do. Final point: God does not mean that you do not work. God's work does not mean that you do not work.
So, the fact that God does all this and He maps it out, look at your text, look at the end. Prepared beforehand What? That we Should Walk in them. Arist active First person plural subjunctive. Subjunctive means should.
This is what you ought to do. Snapshot. Arist. active what you should be doing. What is it you should be doing?
Walking. You should be going up hanging on to the cliff. You should keep one foot in front of the other, pressing forward and plodding. You should keep going keep going, keep. going.
A verse that sort of is a summary of this whole passage. It's a parallel passage to Ephesians 2, 8, 9, and 10. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because. Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. For he poured out on us richly through Christ Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, being declared to be right, Legally, forensically, by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
We're pointed towards heaven. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God. What does it say? Maybe careful. To devote themselves to good works.
These things are excellent and profitable. for people. And now I'm going to give you a verse that says this even stronger. Hebrews ten thirty six. For you have need of endurance.
So that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what is promised. Think about that. What are you promised?
Well, it told you eternal life. You'll receive it, what, when you've done what you should do. The point isn't that you're earning it. The point is that the most natural. Essential And necessary consequent that will happen if you have genuinely believed.
is that you will live a transformed life. You will. You will not be perfect. But you will be fighting sin. You will not always do everything as you should, but you will be asking the question.
How can I walk with Christ to a richer, fuller? Degree. You'll go throughout your life not just self-conscious, but as the Puritans say, you'll look to Christ. 10 times for every time you look within yourself. You'll be looking to him.
You'll be looking to him. You'll be looking to him. Again, And again, I'll leave you with a quote. From a neo-Orthodox theologian that sometimes gets an overly bad rap in the evangelical church, but who saved us from liberalism and speaking German. Yeah.
The distinctive thing Karl Bart said about Christian or theological ethics is that we do not have to do any carrying without remembering that we are carried. I love that statement. Do you carry? Yes, you carry burdens. Do you carry, yes, you carry the weight of a life that needs to count for God's kingdom.
Do you carry yes? You carry the weight of a sphere of influence in your life that you are called to pour into multiple spheres. But you are carried. into every one of those spheres. That's what it means to be his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for works that he prepared beforehand, good works he prepared beforehand, that you would walk in them.
But you never walk alone.
So the faith that saves Saves. And it's faith alone that saves. But the faith that saves is not alone. And the works that accompany that are themselves not alone. but they themselves are given to you.
mapped out for you. By a God who loves you. and has redeemed you for his service. Father, thank you for our time this morning. In your word, and I pray that you would help us to be a motivated people.
Okay. to live according to your pleasure. according to your mercies and your grace.
Okay. to serve well, knowing that we have been redeemed. And yet, Lord, to live in the reality that we're not left alone. But you are working. True.
Us. You have prepared works for us. Help us have eyes to see and the courage to walk those out. In Jesus' name, amen.
