Insightful Musings on the New Testament
by
Ray Sparre, NU class of '67
Ray
has a wealth of experience as a Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary,
and student of the Word. He believes and practices his faith where the
rubber meets the road. You'll find his writings to be practical,
insightful, and grounded in a truly Christ-centered world view.
Below
are links to a printable daily Bible reading guide which Ray is
following, and an archive of all his daily devotional
writings for 2010.
| Daily Reading Guide | 2010 Devotion Archives |
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10 September 2010
Passage: Ephesians 4:1-16
Focus: “…to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” Ephesians 4:12
No.
I won’t presume to settle here the debate over the practical
relationship of grace, faith, and works that has been active within the
Christian community for centuries. But I want to offer a few
thoughts and observations that flow out of this passage that I believe
speaks to the extreme position of extreme grace.
There are those who
choose to believe that there is basically nothing they can do in or of
themselves to receive and/or maintain their salvation. For them
it is totally accomplished by the grace of God. I believe I have
beheld too many cases where this view becomes a theological license for
one to live the way he wants to live and still get in on all the
benefits of salvation. This view holds that once this gift of God’s
grace is received there is nothing that can be done to revoke it.
In support of this persuasion, Ephesians 2:8-9 is often quoted.
Let me quote it here for our review. “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.” They would say,
“See…there it is. Works have nothing to do with our
salvation.” But I think it is important to point out the
technicality that the main idea of that statement has to do with the
origin of the gift…that works could never pay for it, win it, or
deserve it. It is not realized or achieved by following a bunch
of rules, memorizing a bunch of scriptures, or performing a bunch of
good deeds. While it is true that the gift of salvation is made
available by God’s love and grace to which we respond in faith, this
saving faith is much more than so much mental activity. In fact,
this faith is declared by James (James 2:14-26) to be dead and
worthless without works…without responses and actions of obedience to
what the gift requires. Furthermore, I think it’s helpful to give
heed to the next verse following Ephesians 2:8-9…that is, verse
10. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do
good WORKS, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” That
seems to me to put things into a balanced perspective. Our
salvation is a gift of God’s grace that is specifically designed by God
to equip and program the receiver to do good works. So there may
be some good works without salvation, but I can’t see valid support for
a salvation without good works.
Today’s reading carries some of the same emphasis. Why has God
instituted the ministry gifts within the Church? “To prepare
God’s people for WORKS OF SERVICE.” And the purpose of it
all? “So that the body of Christ may be built up until we all
reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and
become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of
Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13).
Even the last word of the last verse of today’s reading is the word
WORK. “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every
supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part
does its WORK.”
“The word EASY only appears once in the New Testament, and then in
connection with the YOKE.” (Mtt. 11:29-30)