Today we start a new sermon on the means of grace.
In construction we learn that if you are wrong at the beginning, you are wrong everywhere.
That’s why it’s so important to lay the foundation right when it comes to the means of grace.
As we focus on some of the practices of the Christian faith, it will be very easy to move on from grace to a focus on human effort.
It’s like the scene in Saving Private Ryan, when Captain Miller whispers to the young private who has just been found and pulled from war at great cost, “earn this”.
Many Christians, after receiving the gift of salvation, feel the need to go on and “earn this”.
However, the New Testament is very clear. Grace cannot be earned, only received.
Ephesians 2:7 might just be the key verse to understanding Paul’s message of grace. Verse 7 is a purpose statement. It reveals the end goal of salvation.
in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
This is really extraordinary.
If you are in Christ, your ultimate purpose is to be a trophy of grace. That means the greater your sin, the greater your failures and inadequacies, the greater the opportunity for the display of grace!
There is a real sense in which you can say that God didn’t ultimately send Christ to die for our sake but for his – for the glory of his grace.
The beginning and end of our salvation is grace. When we get that right, all of our labor and struggle is fueled by faith in Christ and not by human effort. That makes all the difference in the world!
Tom Brown is the planting pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Wichita. Tom and his wife, Mandy, have worked together in ministry for over 20 years and have four children. More about Pastor Tom Brown