“But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:4–10, LSB)
In yesterday’s post, I contrasted the works-based religions of the world with the biblical gospel that says that Jesus Christ paid the full payment for sins on the cross and that this salvation is offered to sinful mankind by grace alone (sola gratia), and not based upon our merits. And since even our good works are tainted by our sin, we cannot hope to somehow earn salvation through our own righteousness. Paul called this whole predicament “dead in our trespasses and sins.”
Since we are dead in our sins and incapable of doing the good that God demands, God must act. In verses 4-7, Paul wrote that our salvation is given by the grace of God from beginning to end:
1. God is rich in mercy toward us. This is grace because we are sinners who don’t deserve God’s forgiveness!
2. God shows his great love to us by sending Christ to take our punishment for us. This too is grace since we are rebels against God, and we don’t want his love at first.
3. God shows us his great power by making us alive–first spiritually, and then one day he will resurrect us from the dead.
4. Finally, God demonstrates his massive generosity by seating us with Jesus Christ as royal children of the King. What grace! Remember that only a few short verses ago we were described as sons of disobedience, and then in verses 6-7 we are described as being seated with our King.
Verses 8-9 further drive this truth home. They say, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9, LSB). Faith in Jesus Christ alone is how we are saved. That message and the fact that it is offered to us is all of grace. Humanity did not deserve for God to send his son to earth to save us. We did not deserve Christ as our substitute on the bloody cross. We were not worthy, nor were we lovely and deserving. It was while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us. Salvation is God’s gracious gift. It is unearned and undeserved.
It is only after the Apostle Paul has laid out the gracious offer of the gospel that he introduces good works. Grace leads us to respond: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10, LSB).
In this verse, even good works are attributed to the Lord. He created them for us that we should walk in them. Even our good works are not truly our own. We must live in gratitude, but never with an attitude that we are gaining the favor of God by our works. We must be sure that our good works are meant to bring glory to our great God and Savior
What are the practical implications for the doctrine of Grace Alone?
We must ensure that our gospel witness does not downplay the reality of sin in a person’s life.
We must make sure that our gospel witness highlights the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
We must make sure that our gospel witness clarifies that good works are the fruit of salvation and not the root of salvation.
We must ensure that our own experience of the gospel leads us to worship and praise.
“And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” Ephesians 2:1–3 (LSB)
The Reformers did not set out to cause a split in the church. They wanted to bring the church back into a proper understanding of many of the doctrines that had been distorted and changed. The chief doctrine that they saw as the hinge of all their discussions was the doctrine of justification. How is a person made right with God? The doctrine of Soli Gratia (Grace Alone), and its connected doctrine of faith alone brought the true gospel to the forefront of the Reformers’ differences with the Roman Church.
This battle is not new. Jesus opposed the Pharisees, Paul fought the Judaizers, John fought the Gnostics, Athanasius fought against Arius, Augustine fought Pelagius, and Luther fought Erasmus, and the battles against false gospels continue to this day. All of them wanted to add the necessity of good works to their gospel message. Today, there is still a need for reformation because the gospel is still under attack, by cults, false religions, and even some within the church itself.
Soli Gratia, simply put, teaches us that salvation is not by works, but by the grace of God alone. Religious pluralism (above and beyond simple religious freedom) is the idea that there are many gods, many religions, and many roads that lead to heaven, and nobody is wrong as long as you are sincere. The opposite of pluralism is exclusivism. An example of exclusivism can be seen in Jesus’ words, “…I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6, LSB).
But there are at least three major problems in what religious pluralism teaches that need to be addressed:
Religious Pluralism says:
Man may be morally sick, but he has the strength to help himself. This is contrary to Ephesians 2:1: “And you were dead in your transgressions and sins,” (Ephesians 2:1, LSB)
This is the heresy called semi-Pelagianism and it is still inherent in the doctrine of salvation in the Roman Catholic Church as well as any church that teaches that man must exercise his free will to come to salvation.
The semi-Pelagian slogan said this: “God will not deny his grace to those who do that which lies within their power.” This means that you do all that you can, and God will make up the difference where you fall short. The Roman Catholic Church called for people to draw close to God through the sacraments, and do their very best. When they fell short, they could add to their good works through the good works of others, such as purchasing indulgences, viewing relics, going on religious pilgrimages, and praying the rosary.
But this idea isn’t limited to the Roman Catholic system. It is part of every man-made system of religion, and unfortunately, we can find it in some Christian churches. If you think that praying, church attendance, ministry involvement, tithing, Bible reading, and other activities are things that earn God’s favor and help make you right in God’s eyes, then you are adding to the gospel.
Look at what the Bible says in Ephesians 2:1. It describes us before salvation in Christ as spiritually dead. Dead means incapable. We are not simply spiritually sick or weak. We are dead! We cannot do anything to please God in ourselves. We have no strength in ourselves to do anything that might earn us favor with God.
Religious Pluralism says:
2. Man has many paths by which he can achieve peace within and with God. This is contrary to Ephesians 2:2: “in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience,” (Ephesians 2:2, LSB)
If we accept that we can reach God on our own, assisted by our good works, then the next step would naturally be to discover the path that we must now take to achieve personal peace in ourselves and peace with God.
I mentioned the Catholic path of the sacraments, but the RCC isn’t the only religious group to make a pathway to gain peace with our good deeds. Jehovah’s Witnesses fulfill their duties as well by door-to-door witnessing and regular attendance at meetings. Mormons go on their mission and meet the standard of tithing and right living, as well as regular attendance at meetings. Muslims, Buddhists, Taoists, Hindus, animists, and every other religion on the planet all have various paths on which they seek to find inner peace and peace with their gods.
But look at what the Bible says in Ephesians 2:2: there is one course or path that all of humanity naturally takes. There are not many roads in this life although they may slightly vary. Just like it was said that “all roads lead to Rome,” in the seeking after inner peace, all roads lead to hell. The Bible calls it “the course of this world.” It is the path that follows Satan himself, called “the ruler of the power of the air.”
The relativist might think that he has chosen his own path, but his spiritual deadness makes him unaware that he is on the same road as everyone else—and the road that all unsaved men are on leads to destruction.
Religious Pluralism says:
3. Man has the power to change himself and society if he simply changes his behavior. This is Contrary to Ephesians 2:3: “among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” (Ephesians 2:3, LSB)
Another tenant of the pluralistic worldview says that we can all make a change in ourselves and our world if we simply try hard enough. Maybe you have seen the bumper stickers that say “Visualize World Peace.” This was a wacky campaign by a New Age group that taught that if enough people in the world stopped on a certain day and pictured in their minds a world without war and hostility, then it would come to be a reality. Guess what? It didn’t work! But that doesn’t stop people from trying!
Our society also thinks that things like education, economic equality, human rights, and environmental awareness will change society. However good these things might be, they are impotent to make lasting change. Why not? Because these things all require that we work on ourselves to be better persons. But this goes against what God says in Ephesians 2:3.
Simplified, this passage says that we are all selfish. We do what we want and only what we want. This makes us “children of wrath” because we oppose any sort of rule over us, and that includes God. We are children of God’s wrath. As the last phrase says, this isn’t just the worst criminals. This is all of us without Jesus Christ. This is our nature. That means it is who we are at our core. When we think about our ability to “just be good,” the prophet Jeremiah said, “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil” (Jer 13:23). You and I can’t just choose to be good because it is not in our nature. We are not sinners because we have sinned. In reality, we sin, because we are sinners by nature.
The baby tiger may drink milk when it is a toothless cub. But in that little tiger cub is the nature of a meat-eating man-killer. Time and opportunity will show that to be true. The same is true for all of mankind. We might be able to be good and religious for a time, but we will not be able to stay that way for long. Our true nature will eventually kick in and we will soon enough show who we truly are, sinners under the wrath of God.
These three reasons are why all man-made religions fall short of bringing salvation. We need to know this so we have a good grasp when we share with our unbelieving family and friends the difference between their understanding of salvation and the biblical gospel.
But we also need to make sure that our understanding is biblical and not a warped version of a do-it-yourself salvation.
So How Can a person be right with God? By Grace Alone!
The most incredible part is still ahead in the following verses!
“If the axe is dull and he does not sharpen its edge, then he must exert more strength. Wisdom has the advantage of giving success.” Ecclesiastes 10:10 (LSB)
In a section where Solomon is writing about the necessity of wisdom in everyday life, the image of a man who must risk danger by man splitting logs (v. 9) is interrupted with sage counsel that could almost seem contradictory at first.
There is some risk involved in chopping wood with an axe. The axe might glance off to one side of the log, or it might miss the log altogether and return to strike the shin of the woodsman. The experienced logger might say that experience and correct form, with some safety precautions, would remove almost all dangers. But here is the counsel that seems to not make sense to the inexperienced log-splitter–sharpen your axe!
Now, if I am worried I might hurt myself because I don’t have a clue about what I am doing, I might think that sharpening this heavy instrument that can split a wood log (and my leg) would be foolish. But Solomon states that if you don’t sharpen your axe, your dull edge will require you to exert even more energy to accomplish less work. And as any cook will tell you, a dull knife (and a dull axe, for that matter) is more dangerous because all of the extra energy needed to make it accomplish the same work means you are more likely to wield that knife or axe more haphazardly.
But that still doesn’t answer the question as to why the wisest man on earth (outside of Jesus Christ) would waste time telling his readers to sharpen their axes. The answer is that he isn’t actually talking about the wood-splitting tool, but rather the use of wisdom to guide us in life: “…Wisdom has the advantage of giving success.” If we prepare our minds (the axe) for the work we have been given (splitting wood), we will be able to accomplish the work God has given us with more accuracy, speed, and ability. Sometimes we don’t take the time to sharpen our minds. We reason that we are too busy with the Lord’s work to do the heavy lifting required to think deeply about the Word, theology, and the world we live in. The church is filled with drive-thru Christians who want their Christianity to be fast, simple, and mediocre. They are okay leaving the deep thinking to someone else.
But life is funny in that it doesn’t present problems only to the people who think deeply about how theology applies to life. The average Christian will be faced with ethical dilemmas like whether they should turn off life support for a loved one, how they should think about infertility treatments, or what to do when a parent grows older and what their responsibility is as an adult child. Questions regarding how to interact with a homosexual coworker, an abusive brother-in-law, and a cheating neighbor who asks us to keep their secret to ourselves are all too real. When that “log” of a problem sits down to talk with you over coffee, what will you do? Will your axe be sharp enough? If you can’t handle the problem, it isn’t because the Bible doesn’t have an answer. Maybe it’s because you failed to sharpen that axe.
“Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17 (LSB)
Christians need one another. I state that knowing that there are still a lot of Christians who have not returned to church since they left during the COVID restrictions temporarily closed churches in 2020. Christians who somehow function without other believers are as unnatural as people who live in total isolation. It is spiritually unhealthy and among many consequences, I would say that it will eventually lead to the spiritual demise of anyone who continues in this state for extended periods. My quick response is simple–if you have stopped attending church “in person,” get back to church!
With that said, my main focus for writing today is not concerning the need for the average Christian to be involved in church, but rather that the leaders of the church need to stop behaving in similar ways by forsaking assembling with other Christian leaders because they are “independent.”
Look, I believe that the Bible supports the understanding that a local church is supposed to function under the authority of the Spirit, the Word of God, and godly, biblical leadership, namely elders, within the local church context. I admit that there may be problems when a pastor or church “goes rogue” since there isn’t an overarching synod, or denominational structure to hold them accountable, but my conviction is that since these man-made structures aren’t seen in the New Testament, they shouldn’t be present in the church today.
Having been a part of independent churches my whole life (as a member and a leader), I can say that our strength of independence can also be our greatest weakness. The pastor of an independent church can become so independently minded that he refuses to seek wise counsel and encouragement from other men who are like-minded in faith. Like the church member who thinks that he can get all he needs from his study, online articles, podcasts, and YouTube videos, some independent pastors do the same regarding their own spiritual needs. It’s a “me and Jesus” mentality that can lead to loneliness, discouragement, and warped unbiblical ideas. We need to get out of our echo chamber and allow others to hone our swords through good Christian relationships.
Pastor Alex Montoya has reminded independent pastors of this danger for many years by pointing to the romanticized idea of a lone wolf howling alone in the light of a full moon. The reality, he says, is that a lone wolf is a dead wolf. Wolves are pack animals, and they need each other. The strength of the wolf is the pack. We cannot be “solo lobos,” Montoya says. If one of our members told us that they were going to be fine all on their own and didn’t need the church, we would scoff. We would warn of the dangers of a solo Christian. We would point to the reality that there is no such thing as a solo Christian that is outside of the local assembly in the New Testament. And we would be right. But we must also look at our own isolation. Are we guilty of being a “solo lobo?”
Before Covid struck, our society was already rapidly moving toward self-imposed isolationism. Before iPhones were invented, there was the Sony Walkman, a music device that removed listening to music from a group experience to a personal one. Then came the Walkman, allowing teenagers all over the planet to retreat to their own little world. The iPod replaced the Walkman, and then the little computer in our hands moved the whole world’s focus to one foot in front of its face. This internalization of attention has possibly been one of the most destructive changes our society has faced because it provides a false sense of social interaction for people. Social media has made us increasingly isolated and lonely.
Pastor, you can see the effects this has had on others. Where are you being sharpened and honed? Do you have a group of godly men that you can interact with, pray with, challenge, and be challenged by? The spiritual war hasn’t ended, and we will need to be strong and focused as we prepare for the next stages of the conflict. That means we need each other more than at any other time.
If you want this sort of interaction–iron sharpening iron–and you don’t know where to begin, might I offer you one option? IFCA International, the ministry I am privileged to lead, has many such opportunities to sharpen one another–for churches, pastors, missionaries, Christian leaders, and Christian organizations. If you aren’t already finding this type of fellowship where you are serving the Lord, I want to invite you to look into IFCA to see if we can help bridge that gap and help introduce you to godly, independent Christian men who want to be sharpened by others. Interdependence that doesn’t sacrifice convictions. Find out more at www.ifca.org
“But, “Ah, Lord Yahweh!” I said, “Behold, the prophets are saying to them, ‘You will not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you true peace in this place.’” Then Yahweh said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a vision of lies, divination, futility, and the deception of their own hearts. “Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—by that sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end!” (Jeremiah 14:13–15, LSB)
As the penalty for Judah’s sin was imminent, the majority of voices that claimed to speak for God declared peace and prosperity. And although the people already didn’t like the prophecies of Jeremiah, in contrast with the positive prophecies of the false prophets, Jeremiah’s words from the Lord seemed overly dramatic and harsh, leading people to heap upon him further hatred.
Our world has always been filled with so-called prophets that seek a hearing for themselves as a way to enrich their pockets or draw followers to themselves. They exist now in the 21st Century as they did in Jeremiah’s day. And today, their dangerous lies are even more potent since we now live in a world where “image is everything” and “the medium is the message.” Books, TikTok videos, outrageous stunts, and pop music are used in the arsenal of these false teachers to grow their popularity and audience. And although their ability to blind others with these lies has grown, the lies themselves are still the same–“Peace, peace. The judgment of God will not come. He is a God of love and would never punish you for being you. After all, He is the One who made you this way.”
In this vacuum there continues to be the need for God’s people to speak up as the Jeremiah’s of our day. They need to have tender hearts–for the people who need to hear the truth because they are the objects of God’s destructive judgment, but they need to have tender hearts toward God and His inerrant Word so that they will not compromise, water down, or alter His message to our world. Thereis objective truth and God has made it known to the world. And there are severe consequences for all those who buy into the lies of the false prophets, just as there were in Jeremiah’s day, and just as certainly as there will be on that Day when all mankind will stand before the Great Judge and give an account for their sins.
Dear Christian, we are living in a day when we cannot compromise our message. The false prophets of our world are lulling the world to sleep and giving them a false sense of security even as the smoke of the coming judgment of God is rising. We cannot remain silent nor can we be fearful of what men may do to us. Open your mouth and speak the faithful and true words of our God to this generation. If we won’t do it, who will?
Always Reforming 