A Question About Grace

I received this question from a sister in the faith. I am posting so that it may help someone else.

Question
So a co-worker and I have been doing a great deal to understand the concept of grace. Of course we know the "book" definition of what grace is. However, if Jesus died to save everyone from sin and God's grace is for everyone, what is the motivation to live right?
For the non-practicing Christian that is.
Meaning they believe, but they aren't walking in it daily.


Answer
I want to say right off the bat that Grace is not a get out jail free card. The Christian has to understand the price Christ paid on the cross for our salvation. Now if a “Christian” can look upon the death, burial and resurrection of Christ and not feel any conviction and motivation to live for Him something is wrong. The grace of God is the motivation. John says we love Him because he first loved us. Paul teaches that any man in Christ is a new creation. The old has passed away behold the new has come. The grace of God makes us free but it does not make us WILD. We are not free to break the laws of God. No on the contrary the love and grace of God compels us to please Him. If we say to ourselves we can do what we want because we are forgiven, then we are acting contrary to what teaches. We should live for the ONE who died for our sins and not for ourselves. Lastly, the Bible teaches20God is not mocked. Paul says in Galatians, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

The Christian should be all about living for Christ and being dead to sin. The grace of God frees us from the condemnation of the law so that we are free to walk in righteousness. Romans 6:11-14 says, “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

One last thing. In the Bible believing is doing. To believe something and not act in accordance with it is an indication that one may not believe as they say they do. I do not want to oversimplify because we have our flaws however pressing toward the mark of the high calling realizing our shortcoming is not the same as living a rebellious life. Remember is it our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that teaches us that a tree is known by its fruit. In other religions there may be categories of “practicing” and “non-practicing” but in Christ you are either with Him or against Him.

There is an article that I will find on the Mortification of Sin by John Owen if any are interested. It is deep reading but worth it (it can be found on the web).

Leaving a Legacy

This summer I had the awesome privilege of baptizing my youngest son, Brandon. This was one of the greatest moments of my life, because now all my sons have accepted Christ and have been baptized. I was so proud of him and so happy that his grandparents were here to share in this moment. I cannot express the joy in my heart, not only have all my sons come to Christ, but I was able to baptize each of them.

Naturally, all this got me to thinking about the legacy that I received from my parents and the legacy I am passing on to my children. When I was just a little boy, my Mother made sure that I knew that I came from a family of ministers and laymen and women and I was expected to take what had been entrusted to me and continue serving God with it. After my brother received Christ I can remember my Mother saying that if the Lord took her home now, she would be alright because all her children were saved. That’s how important our Salvation was to her. I also have that same passion and zeal for the things of God and on that Sunday after Brandon was baptized, I understood exactly what she meant. It is a wonderful thing to know that your children are in the Kingdom of God and you will spend eternity with them.

I want to remind all who read this, whether you realize it or not, you are leaving a legacy to your children. Sometimes, we may emphasize the worldly aspects of life such as education, employment, finances, etc. too much and we forget to stress the spiritual things. We must model a healthy spiritual life for our children in order to pass on the things of God to them. In Matthew 16:26 Christ asks, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?” It is not enough to only teach this, but we, as parents must model this lifestyle to our children. In Deuteronomy, Chapter 6, Moses instructed the people of God to do this, just before crossing over into the promised land.

As you read Deuteronomy, Chapter 6, here are some points to ponder:

1. Deuteronomy 6: 1-3. The people of God must fear the Lord their God, their sons and their son’s sons by keeping all his statutes and commandments all the days of their life. The word of God is not just for you but for your children and your children’s children. We are expected to have a relationship with our child that models the Christian life and to instruct our children in the things of God.

2. Deuteronomy 6: 4-19. The people of God should have the words of God on their heart and we are to teach them diligently to our children. According to scripture, we are to speak the word of God and keep his statutes and commandments when we sit in our houses, when we walk by the way, when we lie down and when we rise. This passage instructs us to keep a constant dialogue concerning the laws of God with our children in order to teach them and to pass down what God has taught us.

3. Deuteronomy 6: 20-25. In time, our children will come to us for the meaning of these testimonies, statutes and rules that the Lord our God has commanded us. We are to show them from the word of God why we do what we do and show them how He delivered His people from slavery and made them a nation in order to fulfill the covenant that He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We are to teach our children that even when God brought his people to a land flowing with milk and honey, they still did not heed His words so, God sent his Son Jesus Christ to redeem man once and for all. We are to tell them that all who believe in Jesus Christ are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to the promise (Gal. 3:29) and now we do not live for ourselves but for the one who died for us that is Jesus Christ.