Good Works/Fruits!

Eph 2:8-10 "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.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

Paul is pretty adamant in stressing the point that we are freely positioned into Christ as a GIFT by His GRACE (through Faith and not works or any effort on our part).

He goes on to say that we are HIS WORKMANSHIP, created IN CHRIST JESUS.
For centuries many have taken it upon themselves to emphasise the "GOOD WORKS" part of this text, and while I completely agree with this fact and truth, I'm emphasising "HIS WORKMANSHIP" and "IN CHRIST JESUS" (I do this because while it is true that God does indeed have wonderful, powerful, liberating works in store for us to be PARTAKERS of, Paul's previous comment eludes to the fact that our works OUTSIDE OF Christ Jesus is actually a dead fruit since our lives are to be found IN Him) - Paul tells the Collosian church that our "lives are hidden in Christ", so it is IN CHRIST that we will discover our good works.

"Workmanship" (Poy-ay-mah in the Greek) refers to being a product or fabric of something/someone, so until we discover who we are as a joint fibre (having the DNA and fullness of Christ Himself engraved into our very fibre) our efforts will be in vain and strenuously laborious. Scripture is pretty clear here that we were not just created, but actually created IN Christ Jesus.

It is very easy to use scripture to control people who are searching for truth, and effectively this is what the church has been subject to at large for centuries, especially when the bible does refer to our participation and outward fruits as such. But what is God actually looking for?

Mar 12:41-43 "And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums.
And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And he called his disciples to him and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box."

Jesus looks at out heart.
In Mark (as seen above), we see a whole lot of people doing a good work - i.e giving financially to the Lord. Of course to an onlooker judging this, the fruit of giving is clearly visible, yet Jesus points out that the right motive/heart makes the difference.

So how do we get this "Heart/motive"?

Friends, there are indeed many awesome works for us, but I struggle with the term "working FOR Jesus", when in fact "It's no longer we that live, but Christ that lives in us". Our works and fruitfulness are expected to naturally ooze from us, since they are embedded in the fibre of who we are (IN CHRIST JESUS) woohoo!!!

As we saturate ourselves with the truth of a completed work (the gospel of Jesus Christ), we begin to grow in revelation of this powerful reality (our freedom), and a willful response to what we begin to hear spoken in us by Holy Spirit (who is tasked to lead us into all truth), will allow Christ Himself to manifest (through powerful and awesome good "works") - it's not us who work FOR Him, it's Him who works THROUGH us.

Revelation of the gospel will empower us far more than sheer will-power could ever, and as we hear Holy Spirit, let's respond to what He is saying (I simply encourage you).

So let's Press into the finished works of Christ (The Gospel) - soak in it, be saturated with it and drink it up...His pure, undiluted love for you!

Eph 2:10 cannot be read as an instruction to go work, but rather a calling to find our lives which are IN CHRIST (which naturally engraved within it's DNA are the works prepared beforehand).

Be blessed and encouraged!

"FREE indeed" !!

"All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be enslaved by anything." (1 Corinthians 6:12)

"We are saved by grace, not by our actions.
Therefore, Christians can technically do anything and retain their salvation, but God forbid that they would think that way (1Jo 3:3). Christians have a new nature that doesn't want to sin, and they are also aware that sin gives Satan access to them to cause misery and pain in this life.

This is the point that Paul was making. He was free in Christ to do whatever he wanted to do, but he didn't want to do anything that would bring him under the oppressive power of Satan. Those who have truly been born again get their "want to" changed.

Verse 13 is a continuation of the thought Paul had in the previous verse. Paul was free in Christ to do as he wished, but he chose not to do those things that gave Satan opportunity in his life." (Andrew Wommack)

A Complete Gospel...not a Potential Gospel !!

The love of God, and His forgiveness towards ALL of mankind, are a done deal. It's accessing that grace (by faith alone) that renders one a new creation.

Sadly, unbelievers will go to hell ... well ... for not believing, and NOT for being a wrong-doer (unfortunately there is no euphemism for that statement).

Here is an article by Steve Mcvey, enjoy:

Jesus didn't sit down by the right hand of the Father because He was tired. He sat down because He was finished. All that the Father, Son and Spirit had planned to do for mankind had been accomplished at the cross. The first Adam had brought humanity down into the darkness of sin, but the Last Adam remedied what the first Adam had done. He gathered us all up into Himself, took us to the cross with Him, and then and there the Adamic race died. Out from the tomb walked a new humanity - one reconciled to God because in Jesus we were forgiven and justified.

The gospel is the fantastic news that because of what Jesus has done, we can now live in freedom. Freedom from our religious attempts to justify ourselves before God. Freedom from guilt and condemnation. Freedom from fearing God. Freedom to be who we are - a new creation in Christ Jesus.

What Jesus has done, He has done and nobody's unbelief is big enough to negate it. Unbelief simply causes a person to continue to stand in his own personal darkness, with all of its implications and subjective consequences, despite the fact that the Light of the World has come and taken care of the need of every one us without asking so much as an opinion on the matter from us. Our faith doesn't make it true. Faith simply allows us to walk in what was already true before there was an inkling of belief stirring inside us. God showed mankind just how much He loved in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (See Romans 5:8)

The Bible doesn't present a potential gospel - what can happen. It presents a complete gospel of what has happened in Jesus Christ. Theologian Thomas Torrance summarized the gospel well:

God loves you so utterly and completely that he has given himself for you in Jesus Christ his beloved Son, and has thereby pledged his very being as God for your salvation. In Jesus Christ God has actualised his unconditional love for you in your human nature in such a once for all way, that he cannot go back upon it without undoing the Incarnation and the Cross and thereby denying himself. Jesus Christ died for you precisely because you are sinful and utterly unworthy of him, and has thereby already made you his own before and apart from your ever believing in him. He has bound you to himself by his love in a way that he will never let you go, for even if you refuse him and damn yourself in hell his love will never cease. Therefore, repent and believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour. (T. F. Torrance, “The Mediation of Christ,” 94)

Let's make sure when we share the gospel that we offer the finished work of Christ as the answer. Anything less is a watered down version of the gospel and a watered down gospel is no gospel at all.