Day 39

3/15/2015

Matthew 10:32-33 (ESV) 32 “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

Meditative thoughts:
How do people around me know that Jesus is the highest priority in my life?
How is my love for God visible in comparison to my visible love of others?

Judy Grulke

3/15/2015 11:28:43 pm

“By Grace You Have Been Saved” (Sermon on Ephesians 2:1-10, by Pr. Charles Henrickson)
http://steadfastlutherans.org/2015/03/by-grace-you-have-been-saved/

…Grace is a gift word. And this gift extends even to the faith by which we take hold of Christ. Paul says: “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.” “This is not your own doing”! And the “this” here includes the very faith by which you are saved. This too is a gift. It’s not because you “made your decision for Christ.” It’s not because you “accepted Jesus” and “let him into your heart.” No, rather, it’s because God made you alive in Christ, even when you were dead in your sins. It’s because God gave you the gift of faith to receive the gift of salvation.

Like Luther writes in the Small Catechism: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” Yes, even your coming to faith in Christ is a gift. It’s grace all the way.

By grace you have been saved. Which is great, because then you can be sure of your salvation. If it depended on you at any stage along the way, then you could not be certain. You could not be sure that you had done enough to satisfy God. You could not be certain you had believed strongly enough or were sincere enough when you “made your decision for Christ.” But that whole monster of uncertainty is slain and swept away when everything depends on God and his mercy and his promise and his action. And that is what you have. Salvation by grace through faith, 100% God’s doing. This is a promise you can rely on and have confidence in, all the days of your life.

And speaking of all those days, God’s grace is so rich it also enlivens what you do for those days. Verse 10 of Ephesians 2 rounds out the picture. There Paul writes: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” You see, God is in favor of you doing good works. These works do not save you. That’s already been taken care of by Christ’s work on the cross. But now that you are saved, God has good works for you to do. God created you for this life of good works, so that you would walk in them. They’re already there, waiting for you to discover them as you walk as a child of God in the days and weeks to come. This too is God’s doing. He has prepared you to carry out these works of love for your neighbor. So look for those opportunities this week. It will be that person in your path, that person you encounter in your life who could use your help. God has put you there for a purpose and prepared you to reflect your new nature as a child of God, equipped to love and care and serve.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: By grace you have been saved. By grace you will serve. By grace you will be saved when Christ comes again. Yes, from start to finish–and for eternity–it’s all God’s doing, and it’s all a gift.
stmatthewbt.org

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Day 39

Walking in the Word