Words of Encouragement for October 7, 2009

Paul’s Letter to the Believers at Colosse (continued)

“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: for which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: in the which ye also walked sometime, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” Colossians 3:5-11

“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth … seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.” Since Christians are joined to Christ Jesus in His death and resurrection – their sins and sinful nature being crucified with Christ, and having been raised up with Christ by the mighty working of God’s Spirit to new life in fellowship with the LORD God – they are to put to death (mortify) their sinful nature with all its desires and put on the new man which is created by the Holy Spirit and seeks to be like Christ.

Christians in this world have two natures, called in the Bible the old man (inherited from sinful Adam) and the new man (created in them by the regenerating work of God’s Holy Spirit). In the beginning, man’s nature was single and united in love for God, trust in Him and the desire to honor and glorify His holy name, for the first man and woman were created in the image of God and knew Him and His will and desired to live for Him (Genesis 1:26-27). When Adam and Eve fell into sin, that nature was lost, for they doubted God’s Word, were afraid of God and even tried to hide themselves from His presence (Genesis 3). A reading of the pages of the Bible which follow the fall reveals the sinfulness and depravity of mankind.

Those who have been raised up from spiritual death and darkness to faith in Messiah Jesus – whether it was the Messiah yet to come in Old Testament times; or as it is now, the Christ who has come and accomplished mankind’s redemption – have a new nature which loves the LORD God, trusts in Him for salvation and all things and desires to live for Him and serve Him. But, as long as Christians are yet in this world, they have as well their old sinful nature, inherited from Adam.

Thus, the Christian life is a life of struggle, not only with the world without, but with the sinful nature within. Christians, thankful for the shed blood of Jesus and the blessings of forgiveness and life eternal He has won for them, love God and want to live for Him in accord with His Word. Yet, there remains within them a nature which loves self, doubts the Word of God and would rather go its own way and seek its own glory and pleasure.

St. Paul writes of this internal struggle to the believers in Rome: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do … For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members …” (Romans 7:18-19, 22-23).

This is why Christians rejoice in the fact of God’s continuing forgiveness for sins and shortcomings. They continually acknowledge their sins and trust that God is merciful to them and forgives them for the sake of Jesus and His blood shed upon the cross for the sins of the world. Christians do not deny or cover up their sinfulness, but walk in the light, trusting that “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth [them] from all sin.” They agree with God and confess their sins, trusting that He is faithful and just to forgive their sins and cleanse them from all unrighteousness for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is the propitiation – the atoning sacrifice – for the sins of all people (cf. 1 John 1:5 – 2:2).

It is also why believers look forward to the day of Christ’s return, for then the image of Christ will be perfectly restored in them – they will no longer be subject to sin and their old sinful nature. As the Bible says, “Our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself … We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is” (Philippians 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2).

And so, while believers in Christ await His glorious return and the redemption of their bodies (cf. Romans 8:23), they put to death the old man and all that is contrary to God’s Word and put on the new man which gladly and willingly seeks to live as God commands. They agree with God’s Word that such things as fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication and lying are wrong; and they acknowledge their sins and failures, trusting in Christ’s shed blood for forgiveness, and then seek God’s help and strength to live for Him in accord with His Word.

The battle is not easy, for the old sinful nature and inclination is strong and is encouraged and incited by the devil and the sinful world in which Christians live. No matter how hard people try, they cannot drive out the darkness of sin from their lives. But Christians, by the grace of God, turn to Christ Jesus, the Light of the world. He cleanses them of all sin with His own holy and precious blood, and He strengthens and keeps them in the true and right way unto life everlasting!

O Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for the sake of Your blood shed for me upon the cross, forgive me for my utter sinfulness and for my many shortcomings and transgressions in regard to Your holy commandments. Fill me with Your Spirit, give me the desire to walk in Your ways, and keep me in the true and saving faith unto life everlasting. Amen.

Pastor Randy Moll

We All Believe in One True God:

A Summary of Biblical Doctrine

(The entire book is posted under Pages on the Church Web log)

V. Saving Grace

Grace is love. But this specific term does not denote love bestowed upon an object worthy of such love and rightly entitled to it, as the love of husband and wife, parent and child, friend and friend. Grace is love bestowed upon the unworthy. Specifically, the saving grace of God is His divine forgiving love bestowed upon poor unworthy sinners. Every Christian believes in this divine grace, for Christianity is the religion of grace, and Christian faith is trust and confidence in the saving grace of the triune God.

The Biblical doctrine of grace presupposes the sinful condition of all men by nature, of which we spoke in the previous chapter of this book. Being conceived and born in sin and utterly unable to help themselves out of this condition, all men are in need of grace. The Law way to salvation is closed to sinful mortals, as we read: “As many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse” (Gal. 3:10). The grace way to salvation is therefore the only hope for sinful mortals. Thus divine grace is absolutely necessary to every man if he is to be saved from the eternal punishment justly due to his sins. “We are worthy of none of the things for which we pray, neither have we deserved them;” but we pray “that He would grant them all to us by grace; for we daily sin much and indeed deserve nothing but punishment.” We can neither by our own efforts induce God to give us a Savior nor by our own reason or strength believe in Him or accept by faith the Savior whom God has bestowed. We can certainly do nothing for our own salvation, and therefore God’s grace must do all: “By grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9). Thus divine grace is absolutely necessary for our salvation. But no “necessity” of bestowing grace must be ascribed to God. The very nature of grace, as bestowed on those who have no claim upon it, implies that it must be “free,” so far as God is concerned — freely bestowed by His good pleasure. Yet God’s free grace is as universal as man’s need for it.

We may now, on the basis of Scripture testimony, define saving grace as the gracious favor or forgiving love (forgiveness of sins) which God for Christ’s sake has in His heart toward all sinful mankind, and which moved Him to do everything that was necessary in order to save us from sin and Satan, make us His children, and take us to heaven. This grace is attested in the Gospel and is to be believed by all men on the authority of the Gospel.

The grace of God, as we have said, is free grace. We have done and can do nothing to merit it. Yet God did not bestow it arbitrarily, in such a way as to violate His immutable justice. Rather did His grace move Him to provide a way to reconcile His own just anger against sinful men by the vicarious sacrifice of His own Son, so that without violating His justice He might lay His anger by and give free course to His grace. “We are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:24–26). Thus God’s grace both provides the Savior and is based upon the Savior’s work. To imagine a forgiving love of God toward men aside from “the cost,” as Luther calls it, namely, the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, is not the Christian doctrine of grace but a completely heathenish and unscriptural dream. When God in His merciful forbearance, even before Christ came in the flesh, refrained from punishing the sins of believers in the promised Messiah, He did so only on the basis of that sacrifice which was to be offered by “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8), through whose death upon Calvary God’s righteousness was declared and His justice vindicated, showing that He could be and is both just and the Justifier of sinners. Saving grace is always grace for Christ’s sake.

It is surely already sufficiently evident that divine grace is not something poured into us and inherent in us, as the Papists falsely teach, but a gracious disposition in the heart of God. Therefore grace is contrasted with our works and with everything which is ours. When we say that God bestows His grace on us we mean that He exercises His forgiving love toward us. Grace agrees with faith, for it is by faith that we receive God’s grace, that is, believe that God is gracious to us: “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed” (Rom. 4:16). Grace is opposed to works: “And if by grace, then it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace” (Rom. 11:6). Romans 3:28: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law.” Galatians 2:16: “By the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.” So diametrically opposed to saving grace is the attempt to be justified before God by works that St. Paul, speaking by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, warns the Galatians: “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the Law; ye are fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4). Of course this does not mean that the doctrine of grace hinders the doing of good works. On the contrary, it produces good works which flow from faith as a thank-offering for God’s grace. In fact only the believer in salvation by grace without works can ever do any good works, for only the believer in God’s free grace has escaped the dominion of sin: “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the Law, but under grace” (Rom. 6:14).

Having considered the central meaning of divine grace, as God’s way of salvation, in contrast to all humanly contrived work-righteousness, we may now proceed to enumerate the characteristics of saving grace, as they are enumerated in Holy Scripture:

A. Saving grace is grace in Christ. As grace is denied when human merit is united with it (Rom. 11: 6, quoted above), just so grace is abrogated if it is severed from Christ’s vicarious satisfaction. Saving grace is always based upon “the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). Of this we have also spoken at some length above.

B. Saving grace is universal grace. We have already said that God’s free grace is as universal as man’s need for it. It is most important that we hold this truth fast. For if even one human being were excluded from God’s gracious will of salvation, each one whose conscience has been aroused by God’s Law to a knowledge of sin would necessarily conclude that he himself must be that unhappy being; and thus faith in God’s grace would be impossible. Holy Scripture proves the universality of God’s saving grace in three classes of texts:

a). Texts which say that God’s grace extends to all men: Titus 2:11: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men, hath appeared” (marginal reading of the KJV). 1 Tim. 2:4: “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son.” 1 John 2:2: “And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

b). Texts which say that God’s grace extends to each and every man: 2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Ezek. 33:11: “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.”

c). Texts which say that God’s grace extends also to those who ultimately perish: 2 Peter 2:1: “Even denying the Lord that bought them, and bringing upon themselves swift destruction.” Matt. 23:37: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.” No soul of man is ever lost because of a deficiency in God’s grace, but only because of his rejection of the grace which is meant for him too.

C. Saving grace is serious and efficacious grace. God has truly set His heart on the conversion of all men and puts His full power into the means of grace to effect His purpose. Christ has commanded His church to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15), and it is His will “that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations” (Luke 24:47). And the Holy Ghost earnestly seeks to engender faith in the Gospel in all who hear the Gospel (see Matt. 23:37, quoted above) and to preserve faith where it has been enkindled (Phil. 1:6). Therefore the reason why so many hearers of the Gospel never come to faith is not due to God’s passing them by or to any lack of serious effort on the part of the Holy Spirit, but always and only to their persistent resistance to His gracious operation: “Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost” (Acts 7:51).

When the Christian hears or reads or thinks of the universal, serious, and efficacious saving grace of God in Christ Jesus, his heart must break forth in joyful song:

“By grace! This ground of our salvation, As long as God is true, endures:

What saints have penned by inspiration, What God by His own Word assures,

What all our faith must rest upon, Is grace, free grace, through His dear Son.”

(Cf. Lutheran Hymnal, Hymn 373, stanza 5)

By Wallace H. McLaughlin

Bible Study in Preparation for Sunday

The Adult Bible Class will this Sunday begin a new study of the Gospel of John. To prepare, read John 1:1-14. Who is the Word in 1:1? What do these verses say of Him? How long has the Word been existence? What was His role in creation? How did He give life? In what does this life consist? How is the life the light of men? What happens as this light shines in the darkness? What was the role of John the Baptist? How do men receive the Word?

The Catechism Class will begin studying the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed and learning of Jesus and what He has done to redeem all mankind. Catechumens may prepare by reading the second article of the Apostles’ Creed and Luther’s explanation of it in the Small Catechism. What is the meaning of the name Jesus? What is Jesus’ title and what does it mean?

Sunday School Classes are scheduled to study Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Bible texts behind the lesson are in 1 Kings 18.

The Sunday Sermon will be based on II Peter 2:19-22. In preparation, read the chapter and consider the following: Can those who have once believed turn back into sin and be overcome? What is the end result when this happens? Cf. Jude; Hebrews 3:7ff.; Hebrews 6:4ff.; Hebrews 10:19-39; 1 John 5:16ff.; Matthew 12:31-32, 43-45.

What Do We Believe?

What do we believe about Conversion? Consider the following summary statement and look up the supporting Bible passages:

CONVERSION

We believe that conversion is the converting of a lost and condemned sinner to faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. It is the turning of an unbeliever into a believer. It occurs when a man, condemned by the Law of God, is brought to faith in the Gospel and believes that God is gracious to him and forgives all his sins for the sake of Christ’s redemption (Acts 2:37ff.; 3:19; 11:21; 16:29-34; 26:18; Titus 3:3-7; Isaiah 55:7). We believe that conversion is entirely the result of God’s gracious working in us; for man, as he is by nature, is spiritually blind, dead, and an enemy of God, and therefore cannot by his own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ as Savior or come to Him (Ephesians 2:1-10; Romans 3:10-18; Genesis 6:5; 8:21; John 1:12-13; 3:3-6; 6:44,63,65; 1 Corinthians 2:14; 12:3; Colossians 2:11-15; Philippians 1:29; Jeremiah 31:18; 1 Peter 1:2-5, 23-25). We therefore reject as false all teaching which attributes a man’s conversion to his own will or decision rather than to God’s grace alone, and also any teaching which would limit God’s gracious desire and working for the salvation of all men.

Remember to Pray

Remember to pray for our church and for our families that none be lost to Christ’s kingdom, but that all continue in repentance and be strengthened and built up in the true and saving faith in Christ Jesus through the hearing and study of His Word.

Mutual Encouragement

Now, more than ever, it is so important that we encourage our fellow believers to stand fast in the faith and not forsake the assembling of ourselves together for mutual encouragement and the comfort of God’s Word. We have been so blessed by God to have the precious promises of His Word and the assurance of God’s mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus given us each Sunday as we remember our Lord’s death until He comes. I encourage you to come and be with us as we worship and hear God’s life-giving Word, and I urge you to share that encouragement with others that they too might come and partake of God’s blessings with us.

“And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.” Acts 20:32

Upcoming Events

The Regular October Voters’ Meeting of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is set for Sunday, Oct. 18. A potluck dinner will follow the service, and the meeting will follow the dinner. On the agenda is a review of the congregation’s constitution and by-laws.

A Reformation Hay Ride is scheduled for 6 p.m. Oct. 24. A sign-up sheet is in the back of the church.

Bake Sale Items will be available this Sunday at the church to benefit the church’ youth group activities.

Information for bulletins or newsletters may be sent to Pastor Moll by calling him at 479-233-0081 or by e-mail at randy@mollfoto.com.

[Scripture in this Newsletter is taken from the King James Version of the Bible]