Romans 11:6 - But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.
Message: Keeping Grace Gracious
Time: The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans from the Greek city of Corinth in AD 57, just three years after the 16 year old Nero had ascended to the throne as Emperor of Rome. Persecution of Christians wouldn't begin until AD 64. The church was experiencing times of relative peace. From where he wrote, Corinth, was a hotbed of sexual immorality and idol worship.
What the Lord is Saying:
Life is about doing, for in life we live. Each day we are doing something, even if to others it looks like nothing. Each day as I go to work I have tasks that I do and am responsible to do. I have a new position at work I am learning. There are things I need to know about that position and there are things I want to accomplish so that at the end of its assignment I will have done it successfully. I think that is partly why I have been given this new task because the work I did previously was accepted as good and true. My desire is to do work that adds value, that meets expectations, that is pleasing to others and pleasing to myself.
Beyond work, I am a person that believes I am not here randomly but on purpose and that purpose was designed by my creator-- God. He is the reason I am here.
Because He created me, I believe He has a plan for me. Just like I have a job to do each day and it is defined a certain way as to how I am to work, God designed me to live a certain way. Yes, I am unique but my uniqueness still has an order to it and a way I am to live. Thus, my question to God is "Am I living according to Your design?"
The Bible is a book that tells the story of God and his creation and how people go about pleasing their creator. Early on is the discovery that the reason I am not living my life according to His plan is sin. Sin is disobedience to God. He has a plan for me but I get off track from that plan and this happens when I sin and seek after my plan. I think many people in the world believe there is only one plan - the plan of man. But I believe there are two plans - a Godly plan and the plan of man. The goal is for them to be in agreement.
This leads to the question - How do they come into agreement? The natural thinking is that because sin that I committed separated me from that plan, the way to get it restored is by me doing something good. And so many religions teach this - that there are things we can and must do to be in a right relationship with God. Yet, is that the only way? Christianity actually teaches that we are incapable of really getting ourselves back into a good relationship with God because we can never really be good enough because we always have this stain of sin on our life. But what if someone never sinned. Jesus is this person and through Him we can receive justification or be restored to God's plan.
So how does one acquire this? Basically, by believing it is so - having faith in God that His plan is the right plan. The other way would be by showing God it is so by what we do. But again, what I've studied and seen here in scripture is that the problem of showing God that I am worthy is really impossible because that stain of sin that I have committed can never be erased. Thus, the only way to truly be made right with God or justified is by faith alone in His Plan.
Faith gets me back into God's plan. But still I live and so once I am back in His plan the way I live now is different. Thus, it is not that good works are not necessary, it is simply they are not necessary for me to get back into God's plan but once I am there, my life is different. Today's verse says if is is by grace and the "it" here is being restored to God's plan, so if being restored to that plan is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. "No longer" is an interesting choice because it gives the idea that works formerly were involved or maybe they were thought to be involved to the audience being addressed. There was the thought by this audience that works were necessary. But this is saying they are not necessary. Because it says if works are needed to be restored to God's plan then grace is no longer grace.
The title of this message today is Keeping Grace Gracious, but I must also say keeping grace glorious, for it is amazing that I can be accepted by God based only on faith in what Christ has done. Yet, I need to continue now, after grace and faith, to be about obedience. Grace happened. It is finished (see John 19:30). Thus, how shall I now live. This brings us back to good works.
Good works are an essential part of my life. In Paul's introduction in Romans 1, in verse 5 he says --- "through whom (Jesus) we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake." We receive grace and then we are obedient. This is my calling. Grace and Obedience is my calling. In Titus 1:16 it even states that if we simply profess to know God and yet deny works, we are denying Him -- "They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him." Thus, again, it should be clear that deeds are not simply expected but required in the life of a Christian. And this is what James meant in James 2 that faith without works is dead and so work justifies the faith.
Yet, we still must go back to Romans 11:6, if being restored to God's plan is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Don't mix the two. Keep them separate. But keep them both extremely valuable.
Promise: From Tabletalk, it says, "We must relax our grip on our good works, confess our utter reliance on divine mercy and not bring our achievements before God as if He owes us His righteous declaration for our obedience. But all true Christians have a desire to obey God.
Prayer: Thank you God for giving me this time to think about me and why I'm here and how you have called me and how my security is completely resting on You and yet the live I life is to give you glory and to always be obedient. Help me to help others understand this truth.
Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines celebrating the 500th year of the Reformation. The month of June is about justification; May was about solus Christus - Christ Alone; April, salvation by grace alone; March, the sovereign providence of God; February, the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve; January, the doctrine of God.
Mankind's Condition - The Sins of the Gentiles - Though born with God being evident, Gentiles do not honor God or give thanks, look to their selves for truth, and God gives them over to their sin, and in the process God's wrath is sin which will culminate on the Day of the Lord. The Sins of the Jews - Jews thought their status meant only Gentiles were true sinners. Romans 2 and 3 explains that Jews are just as guilty before God.
The Law Speaks - The Law and Accountability - the Law reminds us we are sinners and doing good will not outweigh this bad; I am condemned. Righteousness According to the Law - The Law can make one righteous if obedient to all, but we are sinners. Human Inability - man cannot make himself righteous because he is a sinner.
Only Justified through Christ (God) - The Obedience of One - with Jesus all obedience was completed in Him which resulted in Him taking on all sin; we trust only in His words, not ours. God's Initiative In Justification - God initiates the act of justification through the work of Christ alone; he saves us out of His kindness. Faith and Justification - no one is continually righteous; only through Jesus one will be made righteous; to be made righteous one must believe in God, ask for His mercy.
Saved by Faith - Faith and Righteousness - Faith is what God uses in us to build the bridge to being accepted by God and restored to a right relationship with Him. Justification and Sin - Nothing changes the fact that we are sinners, but our status before God changes by Christ's obedience as this declares us to be righteous. Not by any of our works - Justification is by faith alone. By adding any work, we must add all works. Why Faith - Faith is the instrument [or what we do] to usher in to our life the finished act of righteousness.
Faith Works - What is Saving Faith - Saving faith is not simply understanding truth, it is believing the truth is true and then living by that truth. Justification and Our Good Works - Once God declares us righteous by the righteousness of Christ, we cannot help but do what is right.
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