Freedom, Power, and Works

Hello everybody!
Sunday night marked the last of our "Open Door" series. I talked about the freedom and power in Christ that characterizes life when we step forward in faith to what God has for us. We can easily get caught up in this mentality that we have to do good things in order for God to love us, or in order to get into heaven. The truth is, the work was done by Christ on the Cross. The Bible says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). We are free from works.

However, there is another side to it. We are free from works according to salvation, so we don't have to beat ourselves up or agonize over our sin. We are forgiven in Christ, and God loves us. In that sense, we are free from works. On the other hand, we are not free from works. We pursue works, according to Luther, in order to make the outer life conform to what has taken place inside of us because of Christ. Works help us make progress in our spiritual lives. This fits with what James says when he writes, "Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (James 2:17).

I want to post the things that Martin Luther wrote about this so that you might have time to reflect on what he said. These quotes come from his work entitled "The Freedom of a Christian Man." I took the quotes from Hillerbrand, H. ed. The Protestant Reformation. Harper Torchbooks; New York, 1968. The page numbers are listed after each quote.

"A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all" (p. 4).

"Insofar as he is free he does no works, but insofar as he is a servant he does all kinds of works..." (p. 16)

"...a man is abundantly and sufficiently justified by faith inwardly...[yet] in this life he must control his own body and have dealings with men. Here the works begin; here a man cannot enjoy leisure; here he must indeed take care to discipline his body...and to subject it to the Spirit so that it will obey and conform to the inner man and faith and not revolt against faith and hinder the inner man, as it is the nature of the body to do if it is not held in check..." (p. 16).

Awesome stuff! This is great! And this writing is nearly 500 years old! It's a bit of a dense read, but what Luther is saying is that works help us make spiritual progress, and help our outer lives conform to what has taken place inside when we came to Christ.

I hope this is encouraging, and inspires us to conform our lives to the image of Christ so that our outer lives reflect what God has done inside, and we experience the power of God as we make progress in our faith and seek to transform the world.

God bless you all!
See you next week at the Gathering.
-Tim

Moving Foward

After the Israelites wondered through the wilderness for 40 years, they were presented with a new challenge to entering into to the Promised Land, namely, the Jordan River. And it was at flood stage! A whole new generation got to experience the power of God for themselves as their parents did when God parted the water for them. So they stepped up in faith and experienced God for themselves. The river was in the way, it was flooding its banks, yet they moved forward trusting God and God revealed his power.

I pray that we become people that move forward in faith. I believe that God wants to show his power to us, that we might see it with our own eyes and experience him in our own lives. Sometimes the waters of life are raging. God can and will part a way. We move forward, and God provides. We see God's power, and we humbly bow in adoration.

There is a river that we stand before now. It is a river that changes lives, a river that brings us into the kingdom of God, by which we have access to God and his Spirit comes to dwell with power in us. The river runs from the cross of Christ...the blood of the man Jesus who was God dying for us.

I pray that we walk through it with confidence, dedication, and commitment. I pray that 2007 is a year that we go deeper with God, we grow in our relationship with Christ, we become more committed disciples of Jesus, more passionate worshippers of God, and the fruit of the Spirit is produced in us and through us.

What an awesome service Sunday night! God was with us and I was so excited to share that time with you all. We are pressing forward into the future that God has for us. As I said on Sunday, we are standing at the door. God goes before us, and we step forward in faith.

There are a lot of exciting things coming up in 2007. Some of us will be going to other parts of the world, sharing our faith with others, reaching out to our community, joining small groups, serving with set-up needs, trusting God with our money, our relationship, our careers, or doing other things that God presents us with. I hope that as we continue to move throughout the year, we grow deeper in our faith and in our love for God, each other, and the world. God wants to show us his power in our lives. He has gone before us. Will we trust him and follow?

God bless you all.
See you next week at the Gathering!
-Tim

Happy New Year!

Hello All!
I hope you had a chance to get some rest, catch up with friends or family, or do something enjoyable over the last couple of weeks to enjoy Christmas and the New Year. Our Christmas Eve service was amazing! And New Years Eve was full of cheese chunks, sparkling cider, and a few moments of very memorable song and dance. I'm glad I got to share it with you all.

Holidays can be a difficult time for many people for many reasons. That is why I am grateful that God gave us community. I hope that the Gathering feels like home, and that you feel you are among family when you are here. I am looking forward to what God has in store for us and through us in 2007, you are all a bunch of blessings.

See you next week at the Gathering!
-Tim