The title of this email is seemingly an oxymoron, right?  Grace, after all is unearned/unmerited favor.  Workers work and earn their wages, so how does this title make sense?  Well if you read through the Bible, you’ll see this dichotomy, over and over again.  We are accepted by God solely based on Christ’s work on the cross, yet we are called to workers for the gospel.

For example Ephesians 2:8-10 –  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

How then does God want us to work?  Definitely not as someone who believes they are righteous because of our works, but not someone who indifferently stands by when there is much good work God wants to accomplish in and through each of us.

2 Timothy 2:4-6 – “⁴No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. ⁵ An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. ⁶It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.”

John 14:15 – “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

1 John 5:3 – “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” 

What are the great commandments of God?  To love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matt 22:36-39).  Now I don’t know about you all, but I definitely don’t do that all the time.  More than that, I don’t do that perfectly, as God requires, any of the time.  So how can that not be a burden?  Grace.  The knowledge that God has reconciled all of me, all of my sin and failings on the cross.  God has then imputed (big Christian-ese word meaning credited to me) Christ’s righteousness and His perfect life to me.  That is grace for the believer.

Now, we all love the grace of God, but here is my question.  Do you love God enough to desire to work hard to keep his commandments?  Not because He will accept you if you do, but because your eyes have been opened to see the beauty of Jesus Christ, that He already has accepted you if you trust Him, and you want more of Him in your life.

Lately God has been pressing more and more into my own heart the need for more spiritual discipline.  If someone desires to get in better shape, they work out, and exercising spiritual discipline is the same idea.  What are the things in my life that can bring more of God into my heart and mind?  I definitely wouldn’t limit it to this list, but here are some things I’ve found helpful, and grounded Biblically.
·         Daily time of meditation and prayer through the Bible, God’s Word – After all, if the Bible is God’s revelation of Himself and His will to us, that’d be a pretty good place to start, right?

·         Prayer – Are we seeking God in prayer?  Not just giving Him a list of wants – not that that’s wrong, God does want us to bring those requests to Him, but does your prayer life begin and end with a desire for God?

·         Confession of Sin to God – If your sin has been covered by Christ, holding onto it, only seeks to bring God down by either ignoring that God already knows, or thinking that your sin is too bad to be forgiven, which there are none.  Does your heart see that this is an opportunity to be renewed by the grace of God, to thank Him for doing for you, what you could never do for yourself?

·         Confession of Sin to others – Do you see this as an opportunity to manifest the grace of God to others?  Both in knowing that in Christ your sin has been forgiven, and to encourage yourself and others to draw closer to God in holiness?

·         Fasting – Have you ever wondered why God made us have a need for food?  God certainly didn’t have to; He’s God and could have made us without that need.  Jesus fasted – why? Could it be that when we fast what we are really doing is skipping the physical need (food) to remind ourselves that our greatest need is met in God alone?

·         Financial Giving – Do you see all of your money, not just 10%, as a means to enter into God’s work, and draw closer to Him?  I’m not saying you should go out and give all your money away, because I don’t believe the Bible says that. I could ask you about your 401k and your retirement plans and get hear the results of some great financial planning, but are you investing your money now to show the world that God is more valuable than anything money could buy?

·         Serving Others – especially those who are incapable of paying you back, or those who are undeserving.  Can your service be reminding you of how you must’ve been to God, when He was walking to the cross carrying all of our sin with Him?  We could never pay Him back, we were completely undeserving – can your service be a means for God to manifest Himself to you, and then to others?
We all make plans.  We even make a list for the grocery store.  Do you plan how you are going to draw closer to God in your life?  By the grace of God, you love Him.  Now you are free to have as much of Him in your life as you want.  Do you see that all the “work” of God is really a means of grace itself?  God is calling us to work, to keep His commandments because these are the things that will draw us closer to Him.  Sin and the world will offer us happiness in many ways, but if we’ve been freed from that deception, to know that the things in the world can only point us to God as our joy, but never be a substitute for Him – all of these “works” will be good news.

The grace of God will lead us to live passionately for an eternal reward, God Himself.  By the grace of God purchased by the finished work of Jesus, we are free to work in joy towards having more of God in our lives now, and manifesting Him to others.  The grace of God enables us to work and fail, knowing that Christ never did, and never will.

Grace and Peace,
Adam