works – Gospel Minutes for Everyday Missionaries

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Saturday, I drove a 20-foot moving van to north of Bellingham. One of my sons and his wife moved there to start the next chapter in their life together. For her it will be graduate school, and for him it will be starting a new job. The truck was large and fully packed. It was wide enough to fill the lane of any road, and when you add the mirrors on either side, it stretched from line to line. Halfway there, I picked up one of my other sons. I was looking forward to the time together, and we were talking about jobs and technology and life. It was great, but about 30 or 40 minutes into that leg, the brake lights on the cars directly in front of me suddenly flashed. Smoke billowed from their tires from hard braking. Almost simultaneously, plastic parts filled the air and I think one of the cars was lifted into the air from its now-missing bumper.

On Sunday, Pastor Steve preached from Philippians 3, where Paul contrasts a life by works and a life by grace. Paul recounted his previous attempt to gain favor with God by what he (Paul) did. He was born one of God’s chosen people, followed the law, and persecuted those who chose Jesus. After his encounter with the resurrected Christ, he realized none of that mattered. Nothing he could do would be good enough, and Jesus had provided the only way to salvation. He did not deserve it, but it was given to him by God’s grace.

I’ll admit, I am a mass of insecurity and contradiction, but my bedrock faith is in Christ. The Bible shapes my worldview. In the good times, I understand the nature of sin and its effects. Bad things happen, sometimes without my having done anything wrong. I say “in the good times” to say that in the bad times, I already know that it is the result of a fallen world. God is sovereign, He is in control, and He is active in our lives. He knows the beginning and the end. He is grieved by sin and its consequences, but through Jesus we can be rescued, reconciled, and renewed. Still the consequences on this earth, at this time, remain. I’m treading into deep theological waters, and that’s not the point of where I’m heading.

Many of you know that nine years ago I was unemployed for 54 weeks. Gene Davies consistently prayed for me and would greet me each Sunday with “Do you have a job yet?” He was convinced God was going to give me a job. I will forever remember him and be thankful for him, but I did not share that same conviction. Instead, I was convinced that God would see me and my family through to whatever would achieve his purposes. God’s promise in Christ is true. The belief in promises of material blessing is made up and dangerous. I can find no other explanation for the real suffering of Christians whose faith is so much greater than mine.

Along with my view of God, sovereignty, and sin, the Bible gives wisdom. We can choose to do things that put us at risk, but we are taught to recognize danger and act accordingly. I honestly can’t say how the accident unfolded in front of me. I jumped on the brake and Fran, who was following behind me, says the truck tires smoked as they brought us to a stop. We stopped in a straight line a truck’s length or two from the four or five vehicles that collided. It happened so quickly, I don’t know if I reacted from the instant it started or further along. I think a half second or so divided us from being a part of that mess. If we had collided, the mass of that truck could have caused serious injury to those people.

The point is before setting out on the trip, I consciously thought about driving an unfamiliar, large vehicle and determined to stay in the right lane and keep an extra distance between me and the cars ahead. Sometimes that meant dropping below the speed limit, which is frustrating to me on a long trip. It was a prudent choice based on the conditions. I could have driven normally, and I would have been much closer and had less time to react. But again, it happened so fast, I can’t say if our safety was due to cautious actions or divine intervention or both. I do know that I expressed my gratitude to God for the outcome. No one appeared to be injured, though several vehicles were a total loss.

Right now, 2020 feels like an unfamiliar truck hurtling down an interstate on a variety of levels. I want to get to the other end of this journey as quickly as possible, but I have chosen a path of caution. I know some will agree this is prudent and others will disagree that it is unnecessary and needlessly disrupts our fellowship together. These are extra-grace-required situations. But I hope you will understand why I do what I do.

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By Jeff Foerster

The commands of God can seem daunting—there are over 600 listed throughout Scripture. That may conjure an image of a multipage checklist that might best be used to overwhelm rather than instruct. Add to this what James says: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” Now that’s a downer if I’ve ever heard one. Breaking even one command, even once, bears the guilt of breaking it all. Now before you throw caution, and good theology, to the wind and say, What’s the use? it’s important to understand the purpose of the law—the commands of God.

The law has become our instructor, our “tutor,” to give us a clear picture of our dire situation before God. All religions build a stairway to heaven, one step after another—works or actions, things to do or things to deny oneself. Not so with Jesus. He, and He alone, has completed the law, living a perfect life on Earth, in the presence of man and God. Our pathway IS Jesus, not mimicking His behaviors or tailor selecting some commands of God to emphasize and proudly display to others. You bring nothing to salvation. God’s work in you produces a humble spirit, one willing to say as Jesus did, “Not as I will, but as You will.”

And there it is. A right understanding and heart acceptance of the commands of God produces obedience, not hopelessness. It brings life and not burden. It brings contentment and joy, not anxiety and despair. This idea strikes a chord in me, personally. I recall a few years back when I was frequenting the King County jail system, visiting inmates. We would organize an informal service with singing, a message, and prayer. It was in this regular time that I heard my fellow worker (we went in as pairs) as he spoke of “peace.” He did so frequently and, quite frankly, I wasn’t feeling it. I felt exhausted, tired from work, tired from service—just plain exhausted.

I remember hearing about the fruit of the Christian life being joy and contentment. And I thought, “Great, something else on my plate.” I felt I had yet another task: to produce a smile and a positive attitude to attract nonbelieving folks to Christ. That, as I saw it, was my duty as a follower of Jesus. Exhausted. The commands of God can look the same—more work to do. What was the problem? My way of living was heavy on “doing.” Living in Christ is like being saved in Christ: works follow, they don’t construct, they don’t create a relationship with Jesus. Works don’t maintain or replace a relationship with God—time spent is what nourishes.

More and more, my enthusiasm for life and service comes from my time of quiet, my time with the Lord and His instruction, His commands. Instruction comes from Scripture and from prompting of the Holy Spirit applying God’s word. “Your word I have treasured in my heart.” If you desire detail and precision on working this out, I understand. Many questions I myself have asked. Yet the answers don’t come from me. We must go directly to God.

Don’t have time to spend with God? Allow me to stab at the heart of American consumerism: we all need downtime. We don’t need entertainment. If your pace is frantic, entertainment, often found in screen time, will not bring you the peace that your soul needs. Only time with Jesus can do that. Know anyone who says they spend too much time with God? That their life could benefit from more entertainment? There is fulfillment in no other thing and no other person. We were made for relationship with the Almighty, for communion with our true soul mate.

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Tag: works

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