Grace and Works Panel – Len G Brent H

This transcript was generated automatically. Its accuracy may vary

Short Summary
The panel discussion explores the relationship between grace, faith, and works in the Christian life, emphasizing that grace is God’s unmerited favor received through faith, while works are the outward expression and evidence of that faith necessary to maintain one’s standing in God’s grace. The speakers highlight that good works do not earn salvation but demonstrate genuine commitment and character transformation, drawing on scriptural references from Ephesians, James, and Galatians to illustrate how faith and works complement each other in the believer’s journey. Additionally, the discussion underscores the importance of showing grace to others, living out faith through daily actions, and persevering through trials with the support of the Christian community.

Long Summary
Detailed Summary of the Panel Discussion on Grace, Faith, and Works

Format and Setting
– The discussion is informal, conversational between two brothers, focusing on grace, faith, and works in Christian life.
– They reference a daily walk at a local park and introduce the topic by examining a popular evangelical tract titled *”Are You a Good Person?”* which uses a “test” of 10 moral questions.

Critique of Popular Evangelical Tracts
– The tract asks questions about lying, stealing, disrespecting parents, rejecting the Bible’s God, or misusing Jesus’ name.
– It concludes with the biblical teaching that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) and warns about eternal separation from God (hell).
– The speakers critique this approach as legalistic and fear-based, leading many to reject church involvement because it emphasizes getting “straight” before joining.

Clarifying Grace, Faith, and Works
– Grace is defined as God’s unmerited favor, freely given and cannot be earned by works. The Greek word *charis* means “undeserved kindness.”
– Faith is not mere mental assent but conviction and commitment to God, activating grace in the believer’s life.
– Works are the outgrowth or demonstration of faith, necessary to maintain and show one’s standing in grace.

Key Scripture: Ephesians 2:8-10
– “For 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. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
– Emphasizes salvation is by grace through faith, not works, but good works are the purpose and evidence of that salvation.

Relationship Between Faith and Works
– The speakers stress there is no opposition between faith and works; rather, works flow naturally from genuine faith.
– Works “keep the spiritual life breathing,” akin to how the body needs breath to live (James 2:26).
– Good works are not limited to church service but include everyday activities done “as unto the Lord.”

Addressing Common Misunderstandings
– The discussion includes the classic tension between Paul’s teaching (justification by faith) and James’ teaching (faith without works is dead).
– They reconcile these by explaining that works are the evidence and continuation of faith, not the cause of salvation.
– Abraham’s example is used: justified by faith but also justified by works when he offered Isaac (James 2:21-24, Romans 4).

Practical Examples of Works
– Works include everyday life tasks done with a Christian attitude, such as patience, kindness, and diligent work even in mundane tasks.
– Martin Luther’s revolutionary idea is cited: common daily tasks are as pleasing to God as monastic life if done with the right spirit.
– The parable of the talents is referenced to encourage using natural abilities to glorify God.

Grace as Both Received and Given
– The concept of “Two Dimensions of Grace” from Brother Tom Gilbert is introduced:
1. Receiving God’s grace.
2. Dispensing grace by showing kindness, forgiveness, and compassion to others (Ephesians 4:32).
– Forgiveness is linked to God’s grace, and believers are urged to be gracious and forgiving “as Christ has forgiven you.”

Christian Conduct and Speech
– Scriptures like Hebrews 12:14-15 remind believers to pursue peace and holiness to avoid falling from grace.
– Ephesians 4:28-29 and Colossians 4:6 emphasize wholesome, gracious speech that edifies others and reflects God’s grace.

The Majesty of God and His Grace
– The speakers reflect on God’s eternal nature (Psalm 90:2) and majesty revealed in creation (Psalm 19).
– They consider which is a greater manifestation of God’s majesty: His creation or His grace.
– The consensus leans toward God’s grace as the most beautiful expression of His character and love.

Encouragement from Trials and Community
– Peter’s words in 1 Peter 5:7-9 encourage believers to cast anxieties on God and resist the adversary in faith, knowing others share similar trials.
– The community’s support is seen as vital encouragement in the Christian walk.

Final Thoughts and Benediction
– Works do not earn salvation but are essential to maintain faith and demonstrate commitment.
– Faith must be “living” and active through works, both great and small.
– The speakers conclude with a benediction from 1 Peter 5:10, praising God who perfects, establishes, strengthens, and settles believers after suffering.

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Selected Bible Verses Mentioned or Referenced:

– Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
– Ephesians 2:8-10 – Salvation by grace through faith, created for good works.
– James 2:14, 20, 21-26 – Faith without works is dead; Abraham justified by works.
– 2 Corinthians 8:12 – Accepted according to what a man has (willing mind).
– Psalm 90:2 – “From everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God.”
– Psalm 19 – The heavens declare the glory of God.
– Hebrews 12:14-15 – Pursue peace and holiness, lest falling from grace.
– Ephesians 4:28-32 – Gracious speech and kindness, forgiving one another.
– Colossians 4:6 – Let speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.
– 1 Peter 5:7-10 – Cast cares on God; He perfects and strengthens after suffering.
– Genesis 2:7 – God breathed life into man, forming a living soul.
– John 7 – Jesus’ warning about judgment and judging others.

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Summary Conclusion:
The panel stresses that grace, faith, and works are deeply interconnected in Christian life. Grace is God’s unmerited favor received through faith—a committed trust and conviction—not by works. However, good works are the natural and essential outgrowth of faith, demonstrating and sustaining a believer’s relationship with God. Christian life involves both receiving grace and extending it to others, including kindness, forgiveness, and holy conduct. The majesty of God’s grace surpasses even His creation, and believers are encouraged to live active, productive lives “as unto the Lord,” continually growing in faith and works until glorified in the Kingdom.

Transcript

This is a dialogue, brother, and Brett and I are going to kind of talk to each other. If you want to listen in, that’s okay with us.

But just a few words. We like it this kind of. This way better partly facing each other. Gretchen and I walk every morning at this little lake at our park, and those of you that have been at our convention know which one I’m talking about.

If you don’t, you’re welcome to come in January to our next convention and you can see it. But we’re walking around there one day and a guy’s going by and he hands us a tract, a little cartoon tract. This cartoon tract is the number one, I say number one seller. But people do owe it among evangelical and churches. Undoubtedly they spend over $50,000 a year on these tracts.

You can look it up. It’s called are you a good person. Anybody ever seen that tract? Seen it? I was going to show here, but I don’t want to take that much time.

But let me just highlight for you, and there’s a reason I want to give this to you. It’s called. It starts out with a thing called the test.

We have discovered that many people consider themselves to be good. Are you one of them? How do we define what a good person is? Tick the boxes. If your answer to yes is any of the following questions, there’s 10 questions including, have you ever told a lie?

Exaggerated, Told a half truth? Have you ever stolen anything of value? That value is irrelevant. Have you ever disrespected your parents by talking harshly to them? Boy, that would be a tough one for me.

A bit young, but do you reject that the God of the Bible is the only true God? Have you ever used the name of Jesus Christ for God as a swear word? Anyways, you get the gist of this. There’s 10 questions and then it says the consequences. The Bible says the wages of sin is death.

Romans 6:23. The punishment of our law breaking has been set at an eternity in a place called hell. Eternal separation from God is exactly what we deserve for our sin and neglect of our Creator. Tragically, this is going to be the reality for many people when they die. But it doesn’t have to be your reality.

I said, man, what a great comfort message that is. But that’s sort of. Think about it. That’s the most popular of position that we have. We’re going to talk about grace and works and it’s about the love of God and what he does for us.

But I think that as I saw that I don’t want to say it’s sort of scouting the competition, but that’s exactly what it is. That’s the message people hear. Is it any wonder why they want nothing to do with churches? Because the conclusion is here. Get yourself straight and join a church.

Okay, Romans 6 does say this says, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound, God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? So I think there’s misunderstanding, Brett, on this whole issue of grace, faith and works. Now we’re talking about grace and works, but I wanted to throw faith in only because we’re not including it here.

But it is related.

There are two guys riding in a car and they’re looking, they’re late for a meeting, and one pulls out his watch and says, oh, my watch is not telling the time. It’s stopped. I always had such faith in this watch, and the other one says it’s 10 o’ clock in the morning.

Maybe this is a case where you should have relied more on works.

I got another one in here. Maybe that will go over better. But when we think about grace, here’s the way I would define it. Brett, maybe you want to say how you would. Grace, faith and works are all important terms and connected, kind of like as a provider and a receiver.

Grace is, we’ve always defined it as kind of God’s unmerited favor, freely given. You can’t earn or work for God’s grace. He gives it to you. It’s sort of like being a guest at a feast. How do you define grace?

Well, literally in the Greek and New Testament, the word is expressly given to us.

Rhymes with Paris and it’s Charis, and it means, as you said, undeserved kindness, and I’ve always enjoyed in our ecclesiastical brother Michael Coletti defines it as unmerited. I better get this right. Undeserved kindness.

And it actually, that’s very close to the Greek undeserved kindness. But I would pick up on your statement about faith being a very important element in this, and if I may, I would like to read from Ephesians, the second chapter, verses 8, 9 and 10. That’s Ephesians chapter two, verses 8, 9 and 10, and I want to give a little shout out at this point, brethren, if you want to make a note of this, this is worth your your time and energy to research this online.

There was a Herald article in May, June of 1994 entitled Grace and Works, and there is an article in that herald called the two dimensions of grace, and we’ll touch on this just a little bit by brother Tom Gilbert, and he starts out, Tom does by citing these verses from Ephesians, the second chapter, verses 8, 9, and then I’ll also include 10 into that and comment on it only briefly.

I’m reading from the King James. It says, for by grace you are saved through faith. Faith is what brings grace to you, your faith in God, and the word for faith here in the Greek doesn’t mean mere mental assent. It really means conviction.

So I think what Paul is saying in Ephesians 2, verse 8 is that our relationship to God in being recipients of his grace is based upon our commitment of faith to Him. It’s our we’ve made a consecration. The Lord has accepted that and he has bestowed his grace upon us, and it is not of ourselves. It’s nothing of ourselves.

It is a gift of God, and I really think the gift of God he’s speaking here is less the faith and it’s more the grace. That would be my take on this. Not of works lest any man boast. However, in preparation for this, Len and I mentioned this to you earlier that as was looking over notes and various articles and scriptures on the topic of grace and works, I must say, brethren, I came away more impressed than I’ve ever been about the importance of works in our life.

And we’ll certainly expand on that. I think it goes far beyond activities in the Lord’s service. It encompasses every moment of our consecrated lives, and then verse 10, which I’ll cite just briefly and then take it back to you. Then he said it is of faith, it’s not of works.

Then Paul says, for we are his workmen. Workmanship. We’re God’s workmanship. You and I created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So we are by God’s grace, we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto to do good works.

We don’t receive his grace because of the good works. We receive his grace, his unmerited favor because of our faith. But it’s our good works that follow from this and attest to our faith as vitally important for our continuation of remaining in God’s grace. Yeah, and I want to a little bit we’ll talk about maybe I like to get into the, you know, the James versus Paul argument because that’s a really popular one people have. Well, we’ve got Paul, this person that’s the hero of faith and James the proponent of works.

And I think there’s really no division between them, and we’ll talk about that in a little bit. To me, the faith part of it comes in that, you know, it’s how you activate the grace. You know, you feel God’s grace, but somehow you activate it. As I said, grace is sort of like being a guest at a feast.

And how do you activate your presence at a feast when you start eating, right. Been to a number of brethren’s house here and you know, they lay the food out, you have to eat it, and that’s really what I think the faith is. You know, you have to pick up on what God wants, and that’s how you get empowered, right?

It gives you the energy to do what you need to do. It changes your life. You know, our daughter Rachel is a dietitian and consults people on this all the time that you need food. You can’t go on a diet and eliminate everything. You have no energy to do anything.

You have to have that in order to go out and work. So there’s where danger comes in, in my mind, because you can’t prove that you’re acceptable to God just by being busy in the Lord’s service. Reminds me of. If this one doesn’t go over, I won’t say anything more.

Excuse the example, but these two priests are in the church and talking with each other, and all of a sudden they look in the back and there’s someone looks like Jesus coming in and, and they say, oh, there’s Jesus. What should we do? And the other one says, look, busy, God knows and gives us the work that we have to do. So sacrifice and works to me, sort of go together.

Our sacrifice should be works. How else do you sacrifice? You give your time, you give your effort, you give all those things so that you have a demonstration of your belief in this. That was one of the problems, I think, with the Jewish Christians, what they had. They were trying to escape that pure idea that I read at the beginning where here’s all these laws of the commandments.

As long as I’m doing this, you know, I’m going to be fine. But there’s a freedom that comes with Christ that we have to think about, and the requirements are that, you know, you do something with what you have and with the grace that you have. It’s not so much what you accomplish as your intention to have a higher standard of conduct in what you do. So anyways, anything else on Ephesians that you want to talk about?

Well, let me mention this. I did reference brother Tom Gilbert’s article, which I highly recommend, Brethren, and I wanted to touch on one concept that is very fundamental and practical in our Christian experience that Tom elaborates on in his article that is entitled the Two Dimensions of Grace. He gives the first dimension of grace as we are the recipients of God’s grace, and I think as our discussion evolves, we’ll see that grace in scriptures, and Len used the term earlier, we’re talking about God’s love that God’s grace has come, the scriptures say, through Christ.

And it has come upon, it says upon all men first, you and I in this age and in the kingdom age, his grace will come upon all. You know, just a little sidelight before I go on, brethren. I’m still a little on the emotional side of this, but my, my sister’s husband, my brother in law just passed away a couple of weeks ago. Nicest man you ever met. Gentle spirit, loving person.

And my poor sister, who really doesn’t have a sharply defined faith of her own, she’s really struggling and it makes to me the prospect of the kingdom so much more real. I’ve tried to talk to her, she’s on Vancouver island in Canada, and I try not to push too much, but God’s grace is beyond our comprehension.

Brent, let me ask you a question on that because I think it relates to it. As many will say, why don’t you know, when you ask someone what’s holding you back from consecration or something, they always say, well, I’m not worthy. How does grace, how do you think grace fits into that? Because it has an influence, right? I mean, are any of us worthy?

When I think about it, there’s a scripture in second Corinthians says if there is a willing mind, this is 2nd Corinthians 8:12. It is accepted according to that which a man hath and not according to that which he hath not. Seems to me that’s talking about grace, right? Yes, and what the man has is faith as well.

That’s the important ingredient. None of us are worthy. I remember an old time, brethren used to say all the time that there but by the grace of God go I, when we should have a very tolerant and understanding and appreciative view of our neighbors and people in the world at large, and we need to be very careful and very generous to realize that they don’t have what we have, the understanding of the grace of God, and if I can just take a moment and pose a question to you brethren, and I’ll start off this way and I’ll make it as brief as I possibly can.

Who wrote the initial? The first and not the first in the list? Who wrote the first song, the earliest song? Who wrote it?

My initial thing is David, but I’m sure I’m wrong. Right? I’m sure you’re wrong. Yeah.

Who wrote it? Moses. Aha. Sister Karen, thank you. 500 and some odd 50 years before the time of David.

Psalm 90 now, and I’ll speed this up. So once I get talking, you can’t stop me, but pull my mic away from me if you have to. Sorry. Dialogue with yourself.

Think, brethren, of the words of moses in Psalm 90. I think it’s the second verse. Before the mountains were. Were. Before the earth was.

God was, and he says, this sentiment alone just fries my brain. Moses said, from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. Now think. I want you to focus in on this for a moment, brethren.

The majesty of God that you and I, I think we probably don’t have a problem with through our faith in projecting living forever in the future. But how can our brains wrap around the idea that in the everlasting other direction, God has always been. So hold on to that thought for a moment. That just fries my brain. I short circuit.

I can’t comprehend. But hang on to that thought for a minute and then connect it with the 19th Psalm that talks about the majesty of God being revealed through the heavens, through his creation. Now let me ask you, brethren, a simple question. The majesty of God in that he is from everlasting to everlasting his creation is beyond, beyond our comprehension. It’s whatever 13.8 billion years since he began the creative process to bring the earth and man, etc.

So the majesty of God in His holiness and in his creation, demonstrated what is greater. That or God’s grace.

I love your excitement. His character reflected in his grace, his plan of the ages. Which of the two would you choose as the greater manifestation of the majesty of God? How would you answer that? I don’t know.

That’s a tough choice, right? The majesty of God is something that’s almost incomprehensible, and I think God must have created us that way. You know, in mathematics, you think about the term infinity. Anybody here understand infinity?

We know it exists because a line in mathematics is infinite. We have the symbol of infinity. But when you think about infinity, you can’t, because, and I think God sort of purposed it that way so that we have to have some element of faith in that. But so to me, that part of God, the fact that he has existed forever and ever and ever.

Well, not even forever, because there is no forever.

Well, I would lean on the side of saying that his grace is more beautiful than his creation, and I think, brethren, how does the Habakkuk scripture go? I know I’ll butcher this, so I may need some help. That in the kingdom the knowledge of the glory of God will fill the earth as what the waters cover the great deep, etc. Cover the sea.

Cover the sea. So think for a moment, brethren, of his grace in the kingdom covering the earth and all men coming back into harmony with God. Where is that text? Is it Philip? I think it’s Philippians.

I’ve forgotten where it is now that says that it is his purpose to bring back all in heaven and in earth, and think of the world of mankind coming to know God and His grace and his glory, and this experience that the wise man in Ecclesiastes says, this sore prevail has God given to the sons of men to be exercised by all on earth and in heaven, lifting their voices together and singing praises to God. I just think his majesty of his love, his grace, I think exceeds his creation and his incredible being. Thank you.

It’s like that song we have. Our God is an awesome God. Right? But yeah, that characteristic is certainly one that should be emphasized by. Because no matter what we do, the fact that God is willing to reach down and take us, that is something we should appreciate with grace.

And I wanted to talk a little bit about Galatians and Paul’s statements in Galatians around grace, because there’s always this debate that goes on between grace and works and show that there really isn’t that much Galatians. The theme of the book of Galatians really is what we would say is grace. Do you agree that grace is a big. Yeah, with a very particular slant towards Paul’s strong words to the Judaizers and saying they’re going to be accursed and oh, foolish Galatians that you would listen to them, and I think in the.

The fifth chapter, I think is where you want to go. If you embrace the circumcision and it’s a symbol of accepting all the Jewish law, then Christ is of no effect to you if you embrace the. The path to God, the access to God being through the works of the law. Because under the works of the law, no man can be justified, and the reason I think this is important is because we have a faith that also appeals to our Intellect, I mean, the truth is just beyond belief.

We know that comes from God, but we can get so caught up with that that we forget the grace side of it, and understanding why Paul, the way Paul was dealing with the Judaizers and the Jews in that period of time is important because then it ties in with what we think about, when we think about the kind of things we should be doing. You know, that when we look at Galatians, it was written to a group of churches that were really at the time in Asia Minor, a lot of them, and the original inhabitants were from the Phrygian people, and a lot of Jews lived in the cities there, and it’s interesting that Paul visited twice, once on his first journey and then on his third journey.

But there’s no record that he founded those churches, and in Acts 16:6, he was actually forbidden to go there and preach, and you wonder, well, why was that true? I think there are two threats in Galatia and the things that he had to do. One was regarding a priority around doctrine.

It’s like we have, and a priority around conduct. These two things, grace and works. Because yes, he said, salvation comes from the Jews, but works are necessary. Then there was the other side. The Judaizers said, oh, it’s just about obeying the right laws.

And when they Talked about in 4, 10, we had stepped statement saying, you know, that Paul is saying, you know, you’ve got to give up that bondage of thinking that those are the things that God is more interested in. So it was a mixing of the law with faith, and that’s the thing that Paul was trying to, I think, tell them to avoid that they work together. They don’t work in opposite ways, and it’s the same.

And when he showed that Abraham’s justification really was by faith alone, he didn’t have the law at that point. Came 430 years before the Mosaic Law, and he was still justified, and his conclusion is the test. Then you can’t mix up the legalism with the grace. Would you agree that there are like two separate ideas?

Absolutely. But they have to complement each other. So there is a test. Paul never preached this idea of the Judaizers to the Gentiles. If anything, it was the opposite of that.

So that’s one important concept that he’s trying to divide this idea of works and grace, because grace is one issue, works is another.

But we have in James 2:26, for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. How do we sort of reconcile that idea. James goes through this simile of human life when he talks about this, and he says, you’ve got two elements of life. You’ve got the body and the breath.

And like we read in Genesis 2:7, it forms a living soul, the spiritual life. Our spiritual life is also composed of two elements, grace and works, and that’s kind of where we’re. We are here in talking about these have to fit together. What does it do?

The works supply the organism, and works keep that organism functioning. Just like food keeps it functioning. If you don’t breathe, we can’t hold our breath for a long time. For a reason is because if you do, you would die, right? You can hold it for a long time, but the action of breathing is what keeps that life.

And that’s sort of how works fit in. Those works keep that spiritual life breathing. If you don’t have that active functioning of doing something with what you got in that grace, what happens? Spiritual death.

I want to think about James, the second chapter of James for a second, and in verses 14 to 26, he goes through kind of a list. Here, James, in 14, 20 of chapter two, he talks about the test of good works, and then 21 through 26, he talks about the example of Abraham, which is similar to what Paul talks about in Romans 4.

So the question comes up, how does James sort of justification by works, which really isn’t justification by works, it’s feeding the justification through works.

He uses that, in a sense, that if we’re. If we’re to accept that full atonement from Jesus as we sing in the song, you know, that moment from Jesus, full, you know, atonement received. If we’re to accept that, then we have to make a full commitment, and that’s where consecration comes in. The consecration is a full commitment to the grace of God.

And then Paul, James uses the term works really to mean what you do as an outward evidence of your commitment. If you say, well, I’ve got God’s grace, and thank you, Lord, I’m ready, and that’s really. When I read these pamphlets, that’s exactly what comes out. It’s, you know, so there’s more to our spiritual life than just accepting the grace.

We’ve got to show God that we appreciate it by doing something with it.

I’ll end with this example. Michelangelo. Michelangelo, the sculptor. Not the artist that painted the Vatican, but he was by and large a sculptor, and he had this big block one day of marble that he was carving.

The David. The David. It wasn’t the David. Oh, it was not, but it was another one coming in, and they said as he was chiseling away, someone came by and he said, michelangelo, what are you making?

He says, I’m not making anything. I’m trying to release the angel that’s inside. That’s really how this works. What God gives us the grace to release what’s inside you, to come out with something at the end that is the product of being in conformity with what Jesus is, and that’s the way I look at works.

Our works are to help us get into that conformity with Jesus, accepting him, but then doing something to promote ourselves, to walk in his footsteps. Let me add to the story of Michelangelo in the David. He found as he was working on it, a. What do they call it, Like a void in the marble that. That he had to change the configuration of the stance of the David.

And I think there’s a beautiful lesson in that, that we have flaws as individuals, but the Lord knows how to work with that. In James, the second chapter, it’s fascinating. Brethren make reference first to Romans, the fourth chapter, where in the first few verses it says explicitly that Abraham was not justified by his works, but was justified by his faith. Says carte blanche, just very simple. However, as was read here in verse 21, James now says, was not Abraham our father, justified by works?

Well, it’s obvious that he was, is the approach that he is taking here. But I really like the way Len has expressed this. Our works have not brought us God’s grace, but our works are the means whereby we remain in God’s grace because they are the outgrowth of our faith. If you have faith, the Greek meaning commitment, if you are committed to God, if it burns in your soul, it will find expression on your lips and it’ll move your hands to do his bidding. Those are the works.

And the works are both external in the Lord’s service, spreading the gospel, supporting the brotherhood, etc. But the works also are on your daily activities. I see brother Stefan there, and Stefan, I don’t remember the title of your discourse that you gave in Portland just a couple of weeks ago. We’re going to get it posted.

I’m looking at Nathan right now. Nathan, you gotta get that posted. Stephan gave the most beautiful lesson that had some of our brethren in tears about how the works in our life, of our transformative works, they are essential to maintaining our justification, maintaining the continuation of the grace of God in our lives.

It is not just about all your other activities, and I have a citation here. From Martin Luther, he said exactly that, brethren. He wrote for a magazine called the Common Good magazine. I’d never heard of this before.

And in there he said that our works, and this was revolutionary for the time, he stated that the common tasks of our everyday life, of farming, of household work, are just as pleasing to God as monastic life, as noted, and we’ll give them a little pass there on the monastic life because that was so common for the day. But that was Brother Stephan’s point that he mentioned. Many of us old timers can’t do the things that we used to be able to do. But what we are able to do and what we do do is still loved by God, appreciated by God and considered part of that which are offering to God.

I’m going to stop there because I. Well, a question on that because one of the things I wanted us at least to talk about. What kind of works are we talking about? Because here in this 21st verse, he says of James, he says, was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son upon the altar? So that’s important because it’s an act of faith that he had enough, but that was counted as wood works because he acted upon his faith.

So do we have to do a certain kinds of things to be counted as works for God? Some I know, brother. Some of you may remember Brother George Eldredge lived in Florida. I spent two ecclesia with him in Jackson and then also in Delaware Valley. But George used to say, when I see a guy on the corner, I feel compelled to go up to him and talk to him about the Lord.

Now, not everybody can do that. We have a brother in our class in Phoenix that, you know, he’s pounding the table on. Man, how many tracts did you give out today? Things like that, that’s fine. But what counts in your mind, Brent, as works?

Can we define anything that would say these are acceptable works? These are not acceptable works? Well, the scripture says whatever you do, do as unto the Lord. That’s a work, and I try and remind myself I’m at that weird transitional stage where I’m.

I’m not a spring chicken anymore and I don’t enjoy my work as much as I used to, and I’m transitioning into retirement, so I try and remind myself that I work as unto the Lord, and even though I’m on a teams meeting with a bunch of people in Bangalore, India or Malaysia, which my work requires, I just want to. To do a good job to the glory of God and where I can I think whatever we do as Christians, our character development is all the works that add to glorifying God and our character development of being patient, and for me, that’s a big work sometimes because I’m not a very patient person.

Whatever we do, we do as unto the Lord. So in Martin Luther’s words here, our common everyday life, whatever we do, do as unto the Lord, whether it’s making a peanut butter sandwich to distribute or whatever, as well as do not neglect other services if privileges come along, and I marvel as you do. I remember many years ago staying in the Hagenseck home, and Carl had just gotten an invitation to serve somewhere, and it was on the same weekend that he was already serving somewhere else. But Carl always felt compelled to accept offers of service.

I don’t feel particularly that way, but I so admired that dedication. So on this particular instance, he flew to the convention and stayed for a Saturday and then left Saturday afternoon and flew to the other convention to be there on Sunday. I’ll stop there. Yeah. Well, not everybody’s got that level of energy, right?

But I like the statement that there are many Christians who do nothing, but there are no Christians who have nothing to do, and it really is focusing. As we said, this is the food that gives you the energy with that grace that comes into you. So whatever you find to do, if it is a blessing known only to God and knows that you’re working on that, it’s fine. I think the talents that we have, the parable, the talents where it shows when we’re producing from the things that we have natural abilities to do, we’re pointing those towards God.

It’s great. I know Brother George Taback gave a talk way back in Jackson, many, many years ago. It was probably in the 70s, but it held me kind of spellbound because I was young at the time. But he said, you know, we all have to work, right? Paul says, you don’t work, you don’t eat.

And that means spiritually, too. You have to work and support yourself. So one of the things we should always think about is that we should, as much as possible, try to arrange our lives so we have the time, especially at the end, productive time in our life, be able to do God’s work however we see that, however it comes along. So if we can, that’s a desire. I know it spurred me to sort of say, well, this is what.

How long I want to go, I want to retire and spend this time working for the Lord. So I think we have sometimes a misnomer about what do we have to do you have to find something that’s giving you the cause to act on your consecration, on what you’ve given to God and the grace he’s given to you, and it can be the smallest thing to the largest thing. It’s. There was.

Maybe it was. We were in Romania, Michael Nicora and I. We did the Romanian seminars early back in the 90s. But one of the Miagu girls mentioned. I don’t remember who it was.

Is Mariana here? There she is, way in the back. It was either Marianna was pretty young when I we first were there, but one of them made the statement that I might not do great things, but I can do small things great, and that’s the whole key, you know, you don’t have to set the world on fire. Nobody may ever know except God.

But working on the grace he’s given you and feeling like you’re giving something back. People love to give things back. We need to give back to God for what he’s given to us. So I think that’s the way we look at works. Lyn, may I interject something there?

Having said that our doing those good things in our daily lives are to be considered works and done as unto the Lord. It doesn’t negate the thought that we should be prioritizing and looking for privileges of service of any large, small whatever, and pray to the Lord, never forget, ask the Lord if you think that, you know, you have some abilities to give you the opportunities and then pursue opportunities you know, don’t be negligent in thinking of what you can and cannot do, and we have to get our priorities saying sometimes the problem we get is that you put that first. You have the responsibilities in your life, first to take care of your own and then to use whatever you have in sacrifice of your own time and your own efforts to put in for God.

I wanted to touch on, at least have us touch on giving grace to others. God has given us such grace. How do we reflect that in our own lives, in giving grace to other people? I’m glad you brought that up because it kind of brings me back to Brother Tom Gilbert’s article that two dimensions of grace, the second dimension, the first dimension, is our receiving God’s grace. The second, that that Brother Tom expresses in this article is our dispensing or giving grace, being gracious towards others.

And Ephesians 4:32 is salient to this brethren. It says be kind to one another, compassionate, and it says forgiving, and this is I can’t speak Greek, but it is pronounced something like charismai, and it’s from the same word of charis, or grace that we receive of God.

So the idea of being gracious and forgiving towards others, he says, forgiving, showing even as Christ has forgiven you. So he is telling us that being administering grace from others is not being hypercritical. It is not being overly demanding and being generous of one another, and for any of us that may struggle with this, brethren, I always hearken back to Jesus words on the Sermon on the Mount, and not so very long ago, I came across an article by Brother Russell where Brother Russell said that the Sermon on the Mount is really a blueprint for Christians on how to make their call.

Calling an election. Sure. I never thought of it quite like that before. I just find that interesting. Jesus said in John the seventh chapter in the first few verses that be careful how you judge, because the judgment that you judge with, if you will be judged with by the Lord.

If you are harshly. Think of it this way, brethren. If you are critical of others and harsh with others, I would suggest, brethren, you do not have a prayer of making your calling an election. Sure. If you’re harshly critical of others, you don’t have a prayer of making your calling an election.

Sure. That’s always a good thing. Fallback scripture to kind of slap you on the face a little bit. That’s pretty powerful, isn’t it? You know, if we demand, well, we need God’s unmerited favor, grace to sustain our relationship with Him.

That’s how we’re justified. His grace through Jesus justifies us. We also need that with one another unmerited favor to sustain our relationships with each other, and if we always demand justice, then we can’t exercise unmerited favor. Right.

Because you got justice. You paid for that. A few scriptures I wanted to throw in here on this issue. Hebrews 12, 14, 15. Pursue peace with all and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord looking diligently, lest anyone fall back from the grace of God.

So you know, the once in grace, always in grace. But the idea is bitterness can help us make us fall back. So he says, lest any root of bitterness bringing up trouble, and thereby many be defiled. So that’s one thing we have to keep in mind. Grace is linked to the character and the spirit that we manifest toward others.

Verse 28 says, Wherefore we receive a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have or show grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, and this includes Our communications. That’s sometimes where we get in problems, especially those amongst us who might be X users or the old Facebook. As you know, Ephesians 4, 28, 29, 32 says, let no unwholesome words proceed out of your mouth. There’s a challenge for me, I tell you, no unwholesome words out of your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification, but according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.

And that means our conversations with others. Let your speech, he says in Colossians 4, 6. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person.

We’ve got just a minute or two now. I’ll make just a comment and maybe you wrap up with something you have. This works do not earn God’s favor or salvation for us. We can work for him and do works, but it doesn’t earn us anything. It demonstrates, however, our faith, and that’s really the grace that we have.

That was the lesson we had in James. In Ephesians 2, 8, 10, Paul says that God’s purpose in giving us a new life in Christ is to carry out good works that he has prepared in advance for us. God is pointing you in directions if you look for, and a genuine faith we have has to be a living faith. That was what he really said in Ephesians the second chapter.

So we make our faith a living faith by being engaged in activities for the Lord doesn’t say there has to be this huge putting on the photo drama kind of work. I mean, that was tremendous work. How many of us would ever do that? But do you write a letter? Do you make a phone call?

Those are works. All those are works. It’s acting on your faith, and I think that’s the point. We need to make sure we’re doing things to feed that new creature that’s in us.

And that’s really what works are about. Brother Lynn, I go back to Jesus. Words on the Sermon on the Mount, and here, after giving the Beatitudes, he tells the disciples specially and those within the hearing, but his words were directed to the disciples specifically. You’re the salt of the earth, he says.

You are a light of. You are the light of the world ascending. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Do not hide your candle or put it under a bushel, let it shine, and those are our works, our character reflected in being gracious and generous towards people speaking the Word in season, when we can, and demonstrating a sweet spirit, people.

So he said that in verse 16, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works in your behavior and in your things that you do, and they may glorify your Father in heaven, and I just like to wrap up, brethren, in my portion of this, at least in reading Peter’s words in First Peter, the fifth chapter. You know, as I look out upon the group here, we are by and large a very mature group. We’ve been around for a while. Are you calling me old?

I’ll continue speaking when I stop and think of individually and collectively, all that you have been through in your Christian life, the fiery trials, the hard experiences that are required of you and I for our testing, for our development.

We spend a lot of our lives trying to avoid stresses and avoid troubles and difficulties. Well, that’s nice and it’s practical, but the Lord knows that we’re developed under stress, under trial, and all of those things, and so, in the words of the apostle Peter, when I look out upon my brethren, individually and collectively, and I think of all that you’ve been through, and you’re still here, and you’re rejoicing in the Lord and the maturity that I see in my brethren, you are such an example to me. You have no idea how much strength I take from my brethren and encouragement, because like everyone, I struggle from time to time, and the help of the brethren is wonderful.

Paul says in First Peter, the fifth chapter, Peter says, what did I say, Paul? That’s a typical thing here. He said here that we are to resist the adversary. We’re to cast all of our anxieties and cares upon the Lord because he cares for us. Resisted.

Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary tries to destroy you whom resist in the faith, knowing this, that these same afflictions, these same troubles are accomplished in your brethren in the world. I take such strength from that. Brethren, we got a quick. Brett. Oh, let me, let me finish.

Let me finish. I’ll talk in hyperspeed. But the God of all grace. Brethren, this is our closing benediction. Who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered, make you perfect, establish, strengthen and settle you to him be glory, dominion, forever and ever.

Amen. Thank you.

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