Saved to Serve the Lord

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8-10  (ESV)

We’re not saved by works. That is not how salvation works. we are saved by grace through faith. Our salvation is a gift from God.

So how do works fit in?

We are saved to serve the Lord.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works . . .

That is what it says. Verse 10 says as believers, we are “created in Christ Jesus for good works.” The conclusion is that we do not get engaged in good works as a means for obtaining salvation. Nor do we perform good works as a means of paying back God for His goodness.

We serve because we are saved.

We have been saved in order to serve the Lord, our Master, our God.

What makes it difficult to stick with that is the ideas and interpretations folks have that do not fit the theological framework of salvation. People believe half-truths that have been passed down for centuries from the pulpit to the pews. People take commentary as gospel. People accept the words of the pastor without checking the Scriptures like the believers in Berea (Acts 17:11).

The problem comes down to how folks accept and apply what they hear from others rather than placing their focus on what they hear from God.

Being called to salvation is the recruitment and enlistment into the kingdom of God, while it also ushers in the next phase of being called to serve the Lord. Just as we accept the terms of salvation, we must readily accept the terms of service to the Lord. The text in verse 10 says that “we should walk in them.” In other words, we should live out our faith in service, through good works.

The calling of a Christian is not just to salvation.  God wants us to understand that we were not just saved.

We were saved to serve the Lord.

 

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Suffering in Sin

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins– Ephesians 2:1(NASB)

“Grace is but glory begun, and glory is but grace perfected.”- Jonathan Edwards

Sin had us in a state of deadness.  Our trespasses and iniquities held us captive.  As Paul wrote in the New Testament, we were “slaves to sin.” Sin prohibited any ability to truly live.  We could see any way out of the grasp of sin.  Its stronghold had us blinded.  It blocked any sign of light from penetrating into our dark dwelling place.

God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins

– Colossians 2:13 (NIV)

Set Free

God set us free.  He freed us from guilt by grace.  He freed us from shame with salvation.  He freed us from pressure with perfection.

He set us free.

He set us free without condemnation.  He set us free with forgiveness.  He set us free through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God.

No Longer Dead But Alive with Christ

By freeing us from sin, He made us “alive with Christ” (Col. 2:13).  He took us from one state of being (dead) and led us to another state of being (alive).  He freed us that we might have life and life more abundantly (John 10:10).  We have that abundant life in and with Christ Jesus.  He’s the reason we are free, but He’s also our Redeemer.

Suffer No More

He freed us, but He wants us to live like Christ.  He saved us, but He desires us to follow the example of His Son.  He set us free so that we might not suffer any longer.

Live today fully liberated by the might work of the Lord’s saving power.

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. – Romans 6:11 (ESV)

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From Lost to Liberated

There isn’t much to worry about it.  It is already taken care of by Christ.  He’s done all of the heavy lifting.  We just have to accept it as so.

You see, we were once lost.  We were “slaves to sin” as Paul so eloquently depicts us all (Romans 6:20).  In other words, we were not just lost.  We were so lost that we were headed in the wrong direction and playing for the wrong team.  We were utterly living as “enemies of God.”

But isn’t God’s plan good?

Right when we were at our worst, Christ died for us and reconciled us with God.  He stood in as the propitiation of our sins.  He suffered and sacrificed for our salvation.  He saved us.  He took us from lost to liberated by grace as the atonement for our sins.

Christ has set us free for freedom.

Therefore, stand firm and don’t submit to

the bondage of slavery again.

– Galatians 5:1 (CEV)

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Leaving the Old and Living New in Christ

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.– 1 Corinthians 13:11, NKJV

I started to realize that I had not changed much.

No, I had aged somewhat.

Years had been added to my span of life.

But I had not changed much.

Childish things that Paul wrote about in Corinthians were still present in my life.  Childish ways still were part of my very nature and being.  Childish words escaped from my lips as if I had to filter and the Holy Spirit had never come upon me, or even dwelled within me.

I had not left the old man behind.

I had come to realization that I had simply dragged him along, bringing him with me to the foot of the cross and walking away from the cross with him still attached as apart of me.

I needed to live in the newness of of Christ.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. – 2 Corinthians 5:17, NKJV

If I simply learned to live in Christ, I had a chance to live as a new creation in Paul’s words.  I could begin to leave that old man behind and live as something new, different and changed in Christ.

I have begun to make those changes.  I have already started on my way.

Pray for soul’s struggles.

Pray for my victory over trials, tests and temptations.

Pray that God be glorified, even in my down times, and that praise for Him continually be in my mouth.

God is making a new me out of me, out of all the wretchedness of the filthy rag that I brought to Him when I accepted Him.

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Go Give and Take Up Your Cross

Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”- Mark 10:21

Jesus offers some straightforward advice to a rich young man who thought he had it together.  We see that Jesus looked on him and loved him before He laid it on him.  Jesus put it out there in simple terms.

Go and give what you own away, then come back and take up your cross to follow Me.(paraphrase)

We cannot let what we have hold us ao firmly that we fear letting go of it.  It cannot grip us so tightly that we have no freedom to do what we should do for the Lord.  If we lose sight or perspective, we run the risk of making ourselves into materialistic people with little spiritual substance.

How do I figure that?

The young walked away.  He was disturbed and distraught.  He was disheartened and discouraged.  He felt defeated.

Jesus went on to say that such a sad situation was like trying ro get a camel through the eye of a needle.  His disciples asked how anyone could be saved if such a man couldn’t get into heaven.  The Lord’s reply is sufficient: the impossible is made possible by God who created all things.

Free yourself of the junk and the clutter.  Rid yourself of the extra baggage you keep dragging along.  Get yourself freed up.

Once you are free, take up your cross.  Take up that cross and serve faithfully.  Then you are going to sow seeds that have no earthly reward.  Heaven will hold all the treasure that you will need.

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Saved as Sinners

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Romans 3:23

We all have sinned.

The Bible does not mince words when it comes to that. It speaks clearly on that fact, especially where Paul is concerned. We come to know that we never truly measure up to God’s standard.

Thank God for salvation.

Thank God that grace covers our sins. Praise be to God for the blood of Jesus that covers us so completely that we are not viewed by our sins but by His miraculous works.

Sin caused us to need the Savior, but it was not poweerful enough to keep us out of His family. He loves us as dear children, considering us both heirs and sons of God. He assures us that nothing and no one can pluck us from His hand.

We are still sinners, but God’s love for us ushered in salvation. Therefore, much akin to how Paul stated it to the Romans: we were saved as sinners.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8

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