gracEmails on obedience, works
following Jesus
We call ourselves Jesus' disciples, but what does that really mean? Solid character that can withstand life's storms develops daily by hearing Jesus and doing what he says (Matt. 7:24-37). Using the Sermon on the Mount as a summary of Jesus' ethical teaching (Matt. 5-7), such obedience involves particulars like the following: Be happy when judged falsely for doing right (5:11-12). Let the Jesus-light shine through your good deeds so others will praise God (5:16). Treasure what lasts and have lasting treasure (6:19-24).Trust God and don't worry (6:25-34). Instead, ask, seek and knock, for God responds (7:7-11).
response of graceA gracEmail subscriber asks: "How do verses such as 1 Peter 1:22 (you purify your souls through obeying the truth); 2 Peter 1:10 (make your calling and election sure); Acts 2:40 (save yourselves from this perverse generation) and Matthew 7:13, 21 (not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" to Jesus will be saved but those who do the Father's will) fit in with salvation by grace through faith?"
grace and responsibilityA gracEmail subscriber asks what responsibilities we might have if we are saved totally by God's grace.
grace and rules
A gracEmail reader in the West writes, "If we don't live under law but under grace, then what about God's commands? Somehow law, rule and command all seem like synonyms to me. I feel beaten down, struggling to feel worthy. I also can't find an official list of God's commands and everyone I talk to has a different list."
grace and lawlessnessA wise and mature Christian teacher recently commented, "I am concerned that in running from legalism, we don't become totally antinomian."
grace prompts obedienceSeveral gracEmail subscribers ask, if our obedience does not save us, what we do with all the scriptural admonitions to obey God and to be busy with good deeds.
means of grace
A gracEmail subscriber writes: "Over recent months I have felt the Holy Spirit leading me to study 'means of grace.' Are there God-given means of grace -- things we can do that will release grace to us? Is this a scriptural idea?"
obedient discipleshipObedience is not a popular topic today. As strange as it may sound, a great many people who call themselves followers and disciples of Jesus recoil at the suggestion that careful daily obedience either matters to God or ought to concern them. Yet according to Jesus himself, discipleship at its core involves listening to him and doing as he instructs.
trust and obeyAugustine was right when he argued against Pelagius that the path to God's forgiveness and favor lies in trusting Christ's achievements on our behalf .... Luther and Calvin were correct in making the same point .... But many of their evangelical descendants ... have lost both the sense and the experience of the full-bodied salvation which Scripture assures us is indeed "by grace through faith."
baby step in obedienceI recently traveled to Houston's medical center for a routine doctor's appointment. While driving, I often listen to recorded books. On this day I was engrossed in The Desire of the Everlasting Hills by Thomas Cahill, . . . discussing Jesus' judgment parable of the Sheep and the Goats. The charity that pleases Jesus, Cahill rightly expounded, is not only free-hearted and generous but joyful and spontaneous ....
a giant of faith (two gracEmails) James A. Harding, for whom Harding University is named, was a gospel preacher and educator whose life bridged the 19th and 20th centuries. His life was defined by unswerving personal trust in God -- on a daily basis, at the most practical level.
passing it onI still remember the words of my friend Roger at the visitation after my father died 37 years ago. "I know what you are going through," this classmate from grades 1-12 said quietly. "I lost my daddy, too." A dozen words, ten with one syllable, none either fancy or profound. But they came from a heart informed by experience and inspired by God to speak.... These words ... highlight two ... truths ... illustrated in the life of a gracEmail subscriber named Jim Hughes.
good reason to be baptizedA gracEmail subscriber writes: "If we are saved by being believers, what is the use in being baptized?"
church attendanceA gracEmail subscriber asks whether his family does wrong by not attending church every Sunday night and Wednesday night, although they never miss Sunday morning worship. Both parents work full time, they are sometimes traveling, and they believe their family time together at home is as important as going to church meetings on Sunday and Wednesday evenings.
spiritual disciplinesA gracEmail subscriber writes, "I have trouble keeping up the discipline to read my Bible and to pray daily. I struggle with this, and I always backslide. It makes me think I've never been saved. Sometimes I think that if I just got rebaptized things would get better, but I don't know if that would help. What can you recommend?"
is he doing enough?A gracEmail reader writes, "I see so many problems in the world and I am overwhelmed. I have turned my life around since I asked Jesus to come into my heart. I am showing more love for myself and others. Can I assume I am doing what God expects of me so long as it feels right in my heart of hearts?"
grace and responsibilityA gracEmail subscriber asks what responsibilities we might have if we are saved totally by God's grace.
justified by worksA gracEmail subscriber asks what the Epistle of James means in saying that one is "justified by works and not by faith only," when the Apostle Paul clearly teaches that only by trusting in Jesus are we set right with God.
obedienceResponding to a gracEmail warning against trusting in our own performance to set us right with God, a subscriber asked the relationship between our obedience and salvation. He had heard someone else say that obedience has "nothing to do with salvation." What does the Bible teach about this?
rebellious ChristiansA gracEmail subscriber in North Carolina asks "How will God deal with people who profess to be Christians but who live in complacency and rebellion, using the grace of God as a license to sin against God and other people?"
the rich man of La Madeleine"I'm eating a rich man's lunch today," I say to myself, pulling up my chair to the feast of rotisserie chicken, Caesar's salad, fresh-baked bread and assorted jellies and marmalades spread before me. I usually lunch on the cafeteria "special," but today I am splurging at La Madeleine, a charming French bakery and cafe with locations around Houston.... Suddenly a voice interrupts my reverie. "Sir, will you give me anything to buy some food?"
work out your own salvationA gracEmail subscriber from Texas writes, "Philippians 2:12 says to 'work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.' Does this mean that we must 'do our part' in addition to what Jesus has done?"