This is the first post in series about essential practices of Christian Leadership
- Saved by grace through faith, and not by works
The primary problem of our age; and of most ages is works-righteousness. This is the un-truth that your well being can be achieved through hard work. In ages past, as in during the time of Martin Luther in 1517 of the common era it was widely taught and accepted that a person must perform certain religious acts to merit a place in heaven, and everlasting life. This resulted in most people living in fear of God and the church; of wasting much of their resources including time and money on meaningless rituals.
Luther sought to reform the church and the behaviors of people to be less burdensome; and more realistic. He said to not bother with so much pomp and circumstance and rather to simply have faith in God. Faith was the primary thing a person ought to work on. In fact, faith is a kind of anti-work. It isn’t passive, it is certainly active but it’s primarily about trusting in God to save, as proclaimed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Grace is what saves a person, a church, a people, a planet, a universe. Grace is God’s love which emanates from God toward you, even if you are a despicable sinner. God’s grace changes the hearts and minds of people to be more compassionate and brave. Grace is all of the things that support and make life possible that can’t be earned like: sunshine, air, water, land, stars, birds, fish, plants, animals, humans, and resting on the sabbath.
So if there is just one thing you need to know; and if you have just one opportunity to say something about anything you’re best bet is: Grace. If you are interested in any way of becoming a pastor, then you have got to talk about Grace. You need to have your elevator pitch be about Grace. Suppose someone asks you about what you believe: be ready to talk about Grace. In fact, you should write down a testimony, a personal statement about Grace in your life. Do it. I’ll do it too, to give you an example.
Example Testimony:
Our back door wasn’t closing properly. If someone exited quickly and flung the door shoot as they left, it would bounce against the jam and the “striker” mechanism would not catch in the door jam. At first we didn’t know this was happening, but then the dog figured it out. So after we left in the car, we’d return home and find the back door wide open with the dog happy as a clam comfortable in the house all the while we were gone. He’d wag his tail and smile at us greeting us from inside the house when we returned home. So after a few weeks of this I set to fix the door. My father in law showed me what I needed to do, I needed to enlarge the hole of the strike plate. I got out a hammer and standard screwdriver and took a few whacks at it. I could tell that this was just distorting the strike plate into something unusable, so I stopped. I got out a screw driver and took the plate off. I tried to bend part of it open more, but again the whole plate bent. In my mind I looked at the plate and thought, “What I really need here is a hacksaw blade to slighting cut through the brass a few millimeters on each side and then bend it open neatly with pliers and vice grips. I thought about the hacksaw I had and that it wouldn’t fit with the bow and handle. I looked in the top of my toolbox just to see what was there. And there it was. A single metal cutting hacksaw blade by itself. I took it out and half heartedly tried cutting the strike plate. After a few passes about a millimeter was cut. Amazing! So I started to cut in earnest both sides and in a matter of minutes I was bending out the cut portions and even reshaping the plate to be flat with one side swooping out. I chiseled the hole in the door jam and screwed the plate back on. It worked like a dream, the door clicked shut securely even with a gentle or a hard fling shut.
Why was that little hacksaw blade right where I needed it when I needed it? Grace! God provides little things in our time of need. God provides big things like eternal life, forgiveness, and salvation too. Not because we are so clever or worthy, but because God is that good.
So what’s a story from your life about God’s grace?
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