Why Grace is Given

“For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.”

- Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

Hat Tip: Of First Importance

Picture from Wikipedia article.

Gospel Obedience

This is from Zach Nielsen at Take Your Vitamin Z, , quoting Dan Cruver on the proper interpretation of James 1:27, which says:

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."

Cruver's comments were :

The world tells us that our fundamental identity is determined by our performance not by the performance of another (i.e., Jesus). It seduces us to believing (often unknowingly) that our main sense of significance is found in what we do or in what we’re involved in.

It might look like this: “God is pleased with me because I have given my life to caring for the least of these.” Now, does God smile at us when we care for orphans? Yes, but if the main way we sense his smile is by our efforts to care for orphans, then the chances are that we’ve become stained by the world.

If our primary sense of God’s smile upon us comes from our involvement in caring for the least of these, then it’s highly likely that to some extent our lives are performance-based rather than grace-based. In other words, it may be that my functional paradigm of Christian living is: “I share God’s heart for the orphans; therefore, God is pleased with me,” rather than “God is pleased with me because of Jesus; therefore, I am freed to care for the orphan.” There is a massive difference between these two ways of thinking. To think the first way is to be stained by the world. To think the second way is to be unstained by the world.

I found this to be a good exposition of what Gospel Obedience - Gospel Spirituality - is all about. As I have said before, Gospel Spirituality is always response to God's grace, never a human initiative to obtain Gods' favor or blessing. Cruver is right; these are two distinct ways of thinking and believing. Only the second one is fully compatible with the Gospel.

God's Work & the Work of God

Saw Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds quoting Francis Schaeffer's No Little People this week:

Chapter 4 of Francis Schaeffer's No Little People is entitled "The Lord's Work in the Lord's Way." The thesis is that "The Lord's work in the Lord's way is the Lord's work in the power of the Holy Spirit and not in the power of the flesh." Schaeffer argues that "the central problem of our age" is that "the church of the Lord Jesus Chris, individually or corporately, tending to do do the Lord's work in the power of the flesh rather than of the Spirit. The central problem is always in the midst of the people of God, not in the circumstances surrounding them" (p. 66).

Schaeffer was both timely and ahead of his time. His writings seem more and more timeless to me.

I heard another haunting quote this week that fits here: "Do not let the work you do for God hinder the work God is doing in you." Doing God's work in human strength and confidence may hinder the work of transformation He is wanting in us.

Something to think about.