The Gospel Misunderstood
Ephesians 2: 8-10 (p 827) Feb. 19, 2012
INTRODUCTION:
Here’s the premise of today’s message… “The gospel that saves us from work saves us to work.”
Folks, if we want to see the people of God unleashed…really set free to fulfill their purpose in the world…It all starts with the church understanding the truth of the gospel…and yet confusion abounds concerning the gospel in the church today…
Imagine if you will a man I’ll call William…a couple of years ago “Bill” made a confession of his faith in Christ, he was baptized...but according to William his actions have nothing to do with his salvation…God’s grace saved him…he says he accepted that in faith…he comes to church even attends a small group, but Christ is not clear in his character or his care for other people. Bill isn’t all that concerned about the lost, even those who have never heard of Christ…He turns a deaf ear to the cries of hurting people, even those who are part of his church he doesn’t’ want to get involved…he doesn’t have time.
And although William claims to believe the gospel there is no real fruit of faith in his life beyond the religious routine of cultural Christianity.
Or imagine Mary…all her life she’s been in church in fact she’s been baptized 4 times...She has listened to sermon after sermon…she has attended every woman’s bible study…
She wants more than anything to please God, and she works extraordinarily hard to do everything possible to please Him. “Yet…she never feels like she’s done enough…Mary has never been confident in her salvation and always feels unworthy of God’s love.
Both William and Mary attend Fern Creek…..William thinks work has nothing to do with salvation and Mary thinks work has everything to do with being saved.
Both are confused…and both are wrong. And until they get a right understanding of the gospel they can never really accomplish the purpose of God.
Unleashing (filling) “Radical” people into the world requires the gospel as our foundation and our motivation…
That’s why it’s essential for you and I, for William and Mary to embrace a gospel that both saves us from work and saves us to work.
I SAVED FROM WORK
I’m not sure which one scares me the most in their misunderstanding of the gospel, Mary or “Bill”.
But when Mary hears the radical challenge of Jesus to “deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me...she immediately thinks…
“I need to work harder for God…I need to sell my house and car I need to do, more sacrificial stuff to make Jesus happy.”
Guilt will always be the motivation for her obedience…working hard is her duty to God.
If you understand the gospel like Mary you will never be Radical enough…no matter what you do even if you sell all your stuff, move to Zimbabwe to save starving children…you cannot do enough to be accepted by God.
And the beauty of the gospel is…”you don’t have to!” “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” (Eph 2: 8, 9)
It’s hard to accept this truth…I’ll never be worthy…none of us can…God loves us in spite of our unworthiness, despite being hopelessly lost in sin.
He loved us so much He gave His only son…god in the flesh…lived a perfect life…one I could never live…Jesus alone kept God’s commands perfectly. He alone was faithful enough to always please His father, generous enough; compassionate enough…Jesus alone was “Radical” enough.
And although Jesus was free from sin in His life, he bore the penalty for sin at His death... He took my place…your place…he died the death we deserved… Then he rose from the grave in Victory over sin...
And to Mary and all those who struggle with working hard enough when you turn from yourself and trust in your Savior…He cleanses you from your rebellion…he clothes you in His righteousness…the starting point of your radical life is your radical death…
You see when I was baptized into Christ at the age of 17 I knew the old “Ricky” has to die…all the rebellion, the selfish attitude, the sinful hurt I’d heaped on others…
Jesus spirit had already convicted me of this sin…He cut my heart to the core…my baptism wasn’t a bath... it wasn’t an outward cleansing…it was a union with his death…His burial, His resurrection...I rose to walk in a new life…because His Spirit made me new…He changed everything within me…
Why do I believe this is essential? Not a work…because unless you die to your old self and receive God’s gift of grace through faith…you cannot be born from above.
Can you just get wet… absolutely…Jesus said He that “repents and is baptized will be saved” (Mk 16:16)
Peter’s call in Acts 2:38 was “Repent and be baptized.”
If your baptized with no true repentance…if you are not respondent to God’s grace in faith…It’s just a bath…Only God can convince, convict and draw us to Himself…How can you tell if true repentance exists…
The gospel says we are
II SAVED TO WORK
Right after the apostle Paul identifies salvation by grace through faith he says
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to go good works… (Eph 2: 10)
And last week we heard James say “faith without deeds is useless and dead”
In Johns’ letter which detects the assurances we have in our salvation through God’s Spirit he describes “how anyone who sees his brother in need but has no pity on him does not have the love of God in him.”
Folk’s in the Bible sometimes the word “works” can mean two different things…
If I say, “I’ve got a flat” in America” most would realize my automobile tire has no air. If I say “I’ve got a flat” in England the Brits would believe I rented an apartment”.
Same word…..two meanings.
Sometimes in scripture the word work means something positive in scripture…”Actions fueled by faith that glorify god.”
Every time James refers to a work that’s what he means…a deed or action spurred on by love…the apostle Paul also uses “work” in a positive way…”Every act prompted by your faith (1 Thess 1:3) and then in 2 Thess 1”11 and Gal 5:6 “faith expressing itself through acts of love”
Sometimes in scripture the word works is used in a negative way…like in our text…”We are not saved by works”…these are actions fueled by the flesh…done out of duty or obligation to the law…trying to merit our righteousness before God…The gospel saves us from this kind of work.
So I’d want to tell Williams something important “so called belief or faith without acts prompted by that faith are a farce…real faith always creates fruit.
I love this quote from David Platt in Radical Together.
The reality is that when you believe in Christ for salvation, you not only are declared right before God as Father, but you also begin to walk with God as friend. In addition to new birth, Jesus gives you new life: a life of joyful obedience and overflowing love. So when you hear Christ’s radical call to live sacrificially, you do not think, in the gospel I am free to flout his commands. Instead you think, in the gospel I am free to follow his commands. And the faith that God has graciously given to you begins to produce radical fruit from you.
That’s what being saved by grace through faith is all about…that how we are unleashed by the gospel instead of held captive by guilt.
“True faith in Christ inevitably produces great work for Christ, not works fueled by the flesh in an attempt to earn our way to God, but works fueled by faith is a life that is abandoned to God.”
All of it’s by Grace…Christ is the generous gift from God…even our faith is a generous gift from God—and the fruit of our salvation “work” is a gracious gift from God…It’s how the one who gives the grace ultimately gets the glory…The gospel saves us to work…
Maybe the Key to it all is…
III THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION
The most difficult people Jesus dealt with on earth, during his ministry were “His own” especially the religious hierarchy.
They felt a sense of entitlement…they were “children of Abraham” therefore automatically “children of God”
Maybe a little like William they thought this alone was their salvation…and yet they demanded everyone else work like Mary if they would be saved. That’s why Jesus told them…”Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites you shut the Kingdom of Heaven in men’s faces you yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to (Matt 23: 12,14)
The Kingdom of Heaven is not the automatic birthright of the Jew or the gentile…it is not purchased by good works…in fact none of us would ever see the need for change unless our heavenly father didn’t pursue us, call us, break us and ultimately transform us…
Most of the world is like Nicodemus who says “Can a man be born again when he is old…He can’t go back in his mothers; womb a 2nd time can he?”
And Jesus looks at this teacher of Israel and says “Its, the Spirit, not the flesh...I’m talking about…It’s the Spirit that give birth to our “Spirit”
(Conclusion)
Romans 8:10 says “If Christ is in you your body is dead because of Sin, yet your Spirit is alive because of righteousness.”
Remember William…Remember Mary….Bill has no real desire to live any differently than he did before his profession of faith…Mary constantly lives in a state of guilt and insecurity…the gospel hasn’t become “good news” to either of them.
One thinks salvation is his get out of jail free card and the other is in jail under the constant chains of obligation and duty…
The problem is neither Bill or Mary are being led by God’s Spirit…One is not allowing the Holy spirit to help him put to death the misdeeds of the body and the other isn’t allowing her to cry out “Abba…Daddy”…She lives with God as a stingy judge…not a gracious father.
The gospel will always be misunderstood…by both those who try to earn God’s favor under the crusty weight of the law and those who believe grace is “cheap” and allow you to live unchanged….why….
Because neither understood “Adoption”…neither understood what God’s Spirit is doing nor do they allow him to do it….
God’s Spirit continually bumps us to an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father….God’s Spirit teaches us His will…God’s Spirit unites us to other family members…It’s a relationship of Love & Grace…Listen
Romans 8:11-17 (p 800)
