A Good Day's Work
Posted: March 21st, 2009, 1:47 am
HEALING SHELTER MINISTRIES #131aj Re-Written 21MAR09
Save Me Today—Part Thirty Six: A Good Day’s Work
by rev dave c
Much like the sentience, sapience, and volition conduits that bridge and manifest between the distinctive body, mind, and spirit aspects of our existence—there are aspects of justification that overlap with sanctification; and there are aspects of sanctification that overlap with glorification. While the primary result of justification is God granting us salvation by declaring us righteous in a “legal” or “technical” sense, a second result is our being “set aside” for God’s purposes. This being set aside is the beginning of the sanctification process. The relationship between justification and sanctification is at least suggested by Paul’s comments in Ephesians 2:8-10: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (NIV).
Salvation through faith as solely the gift of God is justification realized in a vertical relationship with the Divine. Being consequently set aside to do good works in Christ’s name is justification actualized in the beginnings of sanctification which includes a horizontal relationship with humanity. In John 4:23&24, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” (NIV). If we are to genuinely worship God, we must worship Him “in spirit” (in the grateful assurance of our hope and faith) and we must worship Him “in truth” (in our obedient attitudes, thoughts, and actions right here and right now before God and before man).
Far from being in conflict with James 2:14-26 regarding the role of justification by faith and sanctification through works, Paul expresses the same sentiment throughout his writings. Besides the verses quoted earlier from Ephesians, listen to Paul’s testimony before King Agrippa in Acts 26:19&20: "So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds (NIV).
The importance of “good deeds” in salvation actualized is a theme frequently visited in the Epistles of Peter. [All verses from the NIV] First Peter 1:17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. ...22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. First Peter 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. ...15 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. First Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. Second Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature [“love, light, and logos” as “volition, discernment, and communication”] and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. ...8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ...10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure [“prove our repentance by our deeds”]. For if you do these things, you will never fall [we will not fail in our daily obedience—we will live out our “being saved today”], 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ [we will receive crowns, or rewards, in the next life based on our deeds now].
John the Beloved is in complete agreement. We read in First John 3:10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. 11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. ...16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20 whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. [Let us make these next verses our prayer] 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us (NIV). Amen.
Save Me Today—Part Thirty Six: A Good Day’s Work
by rev dave c
Much like the sentience, sapience, and volition conduits that bridge and manifest between the distinctive body, mind, and spirit aspects of our existence—there are aspects of justification that overlap with sanctification; and there are aspects of sanctification that overlap with glorification. While the primary result of justification is God granting us salvation by declaring us righteous in a “legal” or “technical” sense, a second result is our being “set aside” for God’s purposes. This being set aside is the beginning of the sanctification process. The relationship between justification and sanctification is at least suggested by Paul’s comments in Ephesians 2:8-10: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (NIV).
Salvation through faith as solely the gift of God is justification realized in a vertical relationship with the Divine. Being consequently set aside to do good works in Christ’s name is justification actualized in the beginnings of sanctification which includes a horizontal relationship with humanity. In John 4:23&24, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth” (NIV). If we are to genuinely worship God, we must worship Him “in spirit” (in the grateful assurance of our hope and faith) and we must worship Him “in truth” (in our obedient attitudes, thoughts, and actions right here and right now before God and before man).
Far from being in conflict with James 2:14-26 regarding the role of justification by faith and sanctification through works, Paul expresses the same sentiment throughout his writings. Besides the verses quoted earlier from Ephesians, listen to Paul’s testimony before King Agrippa in Acts 26:19&20: "So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds (NIV).
The importance of “good deeds” in salvation actualized is a theme frequently visited in the Epistles of Peter. [All verses from the NIV] First Peter 1:17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. ...22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. First Peter 2:12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. ...15 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. First Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. Second Peter 1:3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature [“love, light, and logos” as “volition, discernment, and communication”] and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. ...8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ...10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure [“prove our repentance by our deeds”]. For if you do these things, you will never fall [we will not fail in our daily obedience—we will live out our “being saved today”], 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ [we will receive crowns, or rewards, in the next life based on our deeds now].
John the Beloved is in complete agreement. We read in First John 3:10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. 11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. ...16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20 whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. [Let us make these next verses our prayer] 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us (NIV). Amen.