Believe. Act. Receive by grace.

Today I heard an almost-true sermon.

Or, well, hm, how shall I put this?  I’m not sure that the pastor is wrong.  I am sure that the nuances I noticed him say today (and I was zoned out for just enough of his sermon, thinking about things like these nuances, that I probably did not notice every relevant thing he said) are things that are very scripturally problematic.  I am worried that people believe those problematic nuances.

I wouldn’t be surprised if when I’m done saying what I think here, a lot of other people think that this has scripturally problematic nuances.  Because I am pretty sure that there are actual disagreements here.

And by the way, I’ve changed my mind about this since I was a small child, so I really wouldn’t be surprised if other people disagree – I did.

I do also have a pretty strong opinion here.  Yes, I think I’m right.  That’s kind of the definition of having an opinion at all...

I’m not sure I’ll even present what the “other side” is, though.  I think I’ll simply say what it is I think.  Maybe the pastor would in fact agree with what I write here.  I’m not sure.  I’ll leave you to find places you disagree and decide after reading whether you still disagree.  “Picking sides” can be profitable, but it isn’t always, and here I think it would not be.

Rest assured that the pastor’s sermon was not totally heretical like a great many possible disagreements from what I’m about to say would be.  I’m trying to write many of the basics of the Christian faith, but with the nuances which I believe, not the nuances I heard in the sermon today.  The disagreement is not in the main point, but in subtleties.  “Mere Christianity” still stands as one for the vast majority of this.

Really I’m using this sermon more as a prompt, a leaping-off point, than as a thing to argue against.

Without further ado:

All of God’s gifts are gifts we receive by grace, and almost all are gifts which we must also believe and act in order to receive.

How does that tension work?

As Dr. Reynolds once said in a lecture (paraphrased from my memory), God sees our feeble efforts, our faintest stirrings of reaching toward Him, and He says, “That’s enough!  Just a little righteousness!  I’ll treat you as if you were as righteous as My Son.”

Belief and good actions do not mean that we merit God’s good gifts.  They do not mean that we earned them.  We did not.  We aren’t even close.

God in His goodness multiplies our efforts so far beyond what we could ever earn.

We are given eternal salvation, justification, the Holy Spirit living inside us, answers to prayers, and incredible assistance in living well each day, all simply when we believe that Jesus is Lord and begin to intend to serve Him.  That belief should not make us feel smug or righteous.  All our righteousness is as filthy rags, but he washes us and dresses us in bright robes of his own.  Our feeble effort does not come close to paying for our sin.

Yet that feeble effort is the price God requires.  He asks for belief and, yes, for the intent to serve Him.  Is that enough?  Not even close, except by the work Christ did on the cross – the most absurd extremity of grace.  Can we congratulate ourselves on this salvation?  No, no, a thousand times no!  Can we even say we are better than those who do not believe?  No, no, all have sinned, all have offended God abominably, and do you truly believe that under no circumstances would you fail to believe in Jesus?  If so, you are quite deluded.

Believe, act, and receive by grace a life superabundantly beyond anything you could ever earn.

Your salvation?  Believe, act, and receive by grace what for all your efforts, you did not earn.

Knowledge of Scripture?  Believe, act, and receive by grace what for all your efforts, you did not earn.  No one can deserve the blessing of knowing God’s words to humanity and seeing how it can aid us today.  No one can deserve the promptings of the Holy Spirit as to how God’s words to, say, King David affect how we live today.  But by God’s grace, and, yes, a boatload of study, many people do achieve a great knowledge of Scripture.  They did not study enough to earn it, but God chose to bless their study with knowledge.

A happy marriage?  Believe, act, and receive by grace what for all your efforts, you did not earn.  (And if, like me, you have no such thing, do not curse God as if you had earned it and He withheld it.)  No one can deserve to possess and be possessed by another soul in love.  But many do receive that, by God’s grace and, yes, a boatload of hard work and faithfulness – but not nearly enough hard work and faithfulness to earn it.

Contentment in all circumstances?  Believe, act, and receive by grace what for all your efforts, you did not earn.  No one can deserve the knowledge that we are God's children and He will give us what we really need.  No one can deserve to be taken care of by the love of the omnipotent creator.  No one can deserve the "peace that passes understanding" - yet as Paul said when talking about how he had learned to be content with little or with much, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me" - with only a little belief and trust and the grace of God, we can receive contentment.  Christ strengthens us, and our little effort is multiplied a thousandfold in its effects.

God gives sun and rain to the righteous and the unrighteous.  If you want to produce a large crop you had better do some work… and acknowledge that however much you work, that crop is still a gift, that only by God’s incredible power and aid does a seed become a plant.  We plant and God gives the growth.

Believe, act, and receive by grace.  All those things belong together.  They are not contradictory.  We are not saved by works we do.  We are not saved because our faith pleased God so much He realized it just wouldn’t be right to withhold salvation from such stalwart souls.  Yet by God’s grace, we are saved through faith.  Have faith, and as James says, help the widow and the orphan; do good in God’s name.  Be humbled by God’s great mercy and by the wonder of the cross.  Never believe you have earned the smallest gift, but never stop working out your salvation with fear and trembling.  It is God who works in you.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me, a sinner.  Holy Spirit, help me to do Your will.  Father in heaven, how You have blessed me, how You love me, how gracious You are!  O God, I can never thank You enough, but that does not mean I should give up saying it.  Thank You, thank You, a thousand times thank You!  For Your Son, for life itself, for sustaining me with joy, for leading me to Oregon, for sun and rain, for evergreen trees, for my family, for laughter, for health, for pain which leads me toward holiness, for comfort in sorrow, for men and women who showed me what it is to love You, for Scripture, for the Holy Spirit, for answers to prayer at my lowest points.  You are Lord.  Give me the courage and the will to honor You.