In this Sunday’s sermon we talked about the great debate between Law and Grace. If you would like a short and helpful little scholarly book on this subject, get your hands on Alva J. McClain’s book Law and Grace is an excellent read! One of the temptations for us as Christians is to think that God saves us by grace through faith in Christ, but then think we are going to now live the Christian life by our own effort or our own works. We’re afraid grace will lead to license, so we’d better err on the side of legalism, right? Not so fast. In the letter to the Galatians, Paul makes it clear that we are saved by grace though faith in Christ and will live by grace through faith in Christ too because apart from Him we can do nothing. One of my favorite illustrations (and most of you know this already but I remind us anyway) that demonstrates why grace will outperform Law every time is that of the country dog vs. the city dog. A city dog lives under Law. It lives under restrictions. It has boundaries. A leash, a collar, a chain, and a fence to keep it from getting loose and running free. His obedience is forced upon him. “No, no, no,” he is told. So what’s the first thing that the city dog when you let him off his leash and open the gate? He wants to book it! To run free! He’s tired of it! – same with the Law. Law produces rebellion. The power of sin is the law. It’s a supercharger for sin (2 Cor. 3:6-12; Romans 7). By the way, the problem is not in the Law but in us. We have a law of sin at work in the member of our body called the sin nature that is triggered by the Law (Rom. 7). The country dog, on the other hand, lives under grace. It doesn’t have the restrictions a city dog has. When I lived in the country at our family farm, our dog never had a leash or chain or fence. It didn’t even have a collar for that matter! A country dog has all the freedom in the world to run around and explore and have a good ole time! But where do you find the country dog most of the time? Right at home, sitting peacefully on the porch, waiting eagerly for his master to come home. Grace has a similar effect on us. It produces this overflowing obedience that the master desires. This is why we want to be actuated by grace. We live and serve Christ from our position in Him – knowing we have been accepted – and we are not living or serving for acceptance. No true Christian work for the Lord is ever done in our own efforts. It is accomplished not by man’s might, nor by man’s power, but by God’s Spirit (Zech. 4:6). Since Eden, Satan has been trying to get us to operate independently of God, but we weren’t designed to operate apart from Him! We were made to operate from grace, not for grace. Grace isn’t earned. In the following chart below, I recommend that you compare and contrast what the Bible says about the difference between Law and Grace. I think by the end of it you will see that there is no reason why anyone should ever even want to tip toe over into Law. It has a deadly effect on us spiritually. Grace, however, brings life and peace and true spiritual fruit for God! In His grace with you,
Pastor Justin
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Chapter 13 was a pivotal chapter in the book of Acts. In this chapter, Paul becomes the hero – the leading apostle to the Gentiles who takes center stage from here on out. But one thing we often miss is how much we can learn from Barnabas when it comes to making disciples. There’s no Paul without Barnabas.
Because of Saul’s past as a persecutor of the church, others were afraid of him. Barnabas was the one who took Saul under his wing and encouraged him and believed in him (Acts 9:27). Barnabas was the one who, recognizing the gift that Jesus had invested in Saul, called him to join the ministry staff at Syrian Antioch. For a while, Barnabas was still the leader in that ministry. It was Saul who tagged along with Barnabas. Barnabas and Saul... Barnabas and Saul… Barnabas and Saul. But Barnabas, being the great leader that he was, was willing to step aside and let Saul share, and even take over, the spotlight. “Barnabas and Saul” eventually became “Paul & Barnabas,” or “Paul and company.” One man said that, “Good leadership can often be measured by whether it leaves a trail of successors behind it.” Barnabas, even though he is not the “leader” anymore, is actually being a good leader by refusing to hog the spotlight. He recognizes Saul is gifted and has a calling on his life. Do we recognize the gifts and calling of others in our lives? In our church? Who is it in your life that needs someone to encourage them and believe in them when others maybe don't? In Christ with you, Pastor Justin Well, I’ll be honest – this week’s sermon with the talk of hell and eternal destinies wasn’t exactly the Mother’s Day sermon you might be used too. But I do want to encourage the mothers out there by reminding them just how great of a difference a mother can make on her children’s life and destiny. Two mothers in Scripture who have become great examples and an encouragement for others are Lois and Eunice from 2 Timothy 1:5. Paul, writing to his young pastor Timothy, says, “For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, Acts 16:1 tells us that Timothy’s father was a Gentile and likely, an unbeliever. Like many fathers, though a respected man, he just didn’t have much of a spiritual impact on Timothy. However, that didn’t stop his Jewish mom, Eunice, and grandmother, Lois, from selflessly nurturing Timothy in Lord and laying a spiritual foundation in those key formative years. While Lois and Eunice may have accepted Christ through Paul’s ministry and though Paul had discipled Timothy as a son in the faith, he seems to attribute Timothy’s faith to the sincere faith of his mother and grandmother. While verse 3 tells us that Paul’s faith was in line with his “forefathers”, we could say Timothy’s faith was in line with his “foremothers”!
A sincere faith is a genuine faith. It is something that is lived out. Sometimes faith can be seen (Matt. 9:2; Luke 5:20)! What Timothy saw in his mother and grandmother that he might not have seen in his successful, but unbelieving father, was a vibrant faith that made him want to live for something more than this life – to live for God and His kingdom. When did Timothy see this sincere faith? We could imagine he saw it as they rocked him to sleep at times while singing and humming the great psalms of the Bible. He saw it as they prayed the prayers of Moses and David before bed. He saw faith in them as they retold story after story from the Old Testament where God worked and revealed His wisdom and power. He saw faith in them when they passionately taught Timothy from sunup to sundown the instruction of God that they themselves were applying to their own lives (Deut. 6:4-8). He saw that a home with Christ in it could bring peace, love, and hope to the family even in the hardest times. He saw their sincere faith and came to faith himself. Only God knows how many times these two mothers prayed for Timothy and with Timothy. Timothy being in the pastorate or not, they had no greater joy than to see him walk with the Lord wherever God called him (3 John 1:4). What these mothers understood was that the greatest inheritance they could pass down wasn’t money or possessions or sports scholarships, but it was a spiritual, eternal inheritance in Christ. Our children are a gift, but they also come with a responsibility to bring them up in discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). Knowing that parents have the greatest impact on the next generation, we should ask, “Do my children see a sincere faith in me? Am I seeking to point them to Christ and His instruction each day?” If so, you’re on the right track. Keep singing those Bible songs and telling those bedtime Bible stories to the little ones. Keep praying with and for your children. Keep encouraging them as they grow older and model the gospel for them. Keep spending time with them and investing in them individually. Keep passing on that spiritual heritage! Also, who can you trace your spiritual heritage back too? Was it a mom or grandma? For many of us it was. Be sure to thank them this Mother’s Day for passing on the spiritual heritage in Christ! In Christ with you, Pastor Justin |
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