Practical Christian Ministry

    Even as a young clergyman I could never quite understand why God seemed to smile on the sinner. I mean, I was a good man. I gave up our family business to enter Christian ministry, so surely God smiled on me? Yes of course I had given my life to Jesus, but it was the going on with Christ that was the problem. The more I pressed on with faithful obedience, the more I failed. Indwelling sin became my daily master. I would often deny my state of loss, hide and bury my guilt. Finally I would face the mess and crawl back to the cross. Many of my friends gave up and just walked away from the mess. "It's all too hard", they would say. Luckily, like Wesley and many before and after, I finally discovered the grace of God at the foot of the cross.

    It is essential that like Wesley we understand the full extent of justification by grace through faith. Evangelical ministry, rests on a correct understanding of the doctrine of grace. Like Luther and Wesley, once we understand God's amazing grace the business of ministry falls into place.

Reformation truth

    Evangelical ministry rests on the doctrine of God's sovereign grace. In coming to grips with this doctrine we must first start from the theological premise that the apostle Paul served as the exegete of Jesus. His task was to expound Jesus' theology. The substance of this theology concerns God's gracious kindness. Grace is God's unmerited favour toward the sinner expedited in and through the death and resurrection of Jesus. This Biblical truth is encapsulated in the doctrine of justification, the notion that right standing, approval in the sight of God, and thus its consequence of salvation, is a gift of God's grace appropriated through the instrument of faith, and is not by works of the Law. When the apostle explains the doctrine of grace he explains the Master's mind.

    There are three related theological issues which are peculiar to Paul and by inference, peculiar to Jesus. They rest on the doctrine of grace, and they are justification, sanctification and the Law.

    For Paul, justification involves an eternal status of right-standing before God. He does not deny the old Adam, and would happily concur with Luther who said "there is no sinless Christian" for "the old Adam retains his power until he is deposited in the grave." Yet for Paul, when God declares us right, we are right, eternally right, for "God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus." Right-standing before God is an eternal possession, ours by grace through faith.

    For Paul sanctification (the progressive realization of what we are in Christ) proceeds by the same means as justification. The process of becoming what we are is a work of God's grace active in the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, and is appropriated through the instrument of faith. Thus sanctification, as with justification, is wholly by grace through faith.

    For Paul the Law is the Torah, the moral Law, and its prime function is to expose sin and thus drive the sinner to God for mercy. It does have a secondary function, namely providing a guide for the renewing work of the Spirit of Christ. Yet above all, the Law cannot promote godliness, either toward justification or sanctification. In fact, apart from God's mercy, it serves only to condemn.

    Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, 2:8-10, encapsulates the substance of his theology ("my gospel"), and by inference Jesus' theology, when he writes, "it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works (of the Law), so that no once 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." Justified, sanctified, by grace through faith, apart from works of the Law, this is the nub of Biblical truth, and is the foundation truth of Evangelical ministry.

The riddle of law and grace in the gospels

    The best way to test if we have properly understood the theology of grace is to consider the way we handle Jesus' use of the Law. Like the Pharisee, believers are tempted to use the Law as an instrument to shape righteousness in their lives (to progress sanctification). In the face of constant failure and guilt, we are driven to redefine the Law, reducing its requirements, justifying failure, dissipating guilt (putting it onto others - speck removal) and adopting methods of self-flagellation. When the believer discovers the path of grace all this disappears .

i] The Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5-7
    Which man am I? There are two men. The first is a wise man. He hears the words of Jesus and puts them into practice. He is like the man who builds his house on the rock. In the face of the great storm his house stands. The other man is a fool. He hears the words of Jesus and does not put them into practice. He is like the man who builds his house on the sand. In the face of the storm his house falls with a great crash, Matt.7:24-27.

    Which man am I? Well of course! I am the fool. I hear the words of Jesus, but do not put them into practice, and therefore I face that terrible and awful day. Woe am I, how shall I survive? In the face of my sin I turn to God, "poor in spirit", humbled in his presence. I "mourn" my state of loss, desiring to find comfort in God's presence. I yearn for my inheritance. I "hunger and thirst for righteousness" and I am filled. I seek mercy and I am forgiven, accepted and restored. Such grace!

    Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but rather to complete it. He came bearing a Law that exceeds the Mosaic Law of the Scribes and the Pharisees, the most law-righteous people of Jesus' day. In truth, those who fail to do this Law, to achieve this exceeding righteousness, will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

    Consider the demands of this exceeding Law. The Mosaic Law says do not murder, but Jesus sets an ideal of not hating, not even getting angry with a brother. Who can obey such a Law? We will all break this Law, so we ought to settle matters quickly with the Judge of the universe otherwise we will be cast into the prison of eternal damnation.

    The Torah says do not commit adultery, but Jesus sets an ideal of not even looking at a woman lustfully. We face hell unless we are willing to tear off our offending part. How can we obey such a Law?

    When it comes to divorce, the Mosaic Law allows for the dissolution of a marriage, but Jesus, based on the principle of the one-flesh union, allows for no divorce, except on the ground of unfaithfulness. No wonder the disciples, when faced with this ideal, said it was therefore better not to get married. Marriages do break down. Can anyone be sure they would never break this Law?

    Then there is keeping our word, let our yes be yes and our no be no. Even harder to reach, there is the Law on revenge. What next! A piety that is perfect, these are the ideals of the righteousness that exceeds that of the Scribes and the Pharisees.

    The truth is, only those who do the Father's will enter the Kingdom of heaven. In the face of this Law of exceeding righteousness, who then can be saved? The secret lies in God's grace. "Ask and it will be given you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you."

    It is true that the Sermon on the Mount gives the believer a set of ideals that can give direction to the renewing work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Yet, the prime function of Law is to expose sin and drive us to the cross for mercy. In this sermon Jesus sought to strip away every vestige of self righteousness. It is simply not possible to read the sermon as if anyone can do the Law. It but reminds us that we are unworthy servants in need of a saviour. It prompts us to "hunger and thirst for righteousness", not to think we can do righteousness. It prompts us to ask for mercy.

    The sad reality is that many believers have spent a lifetime trying to live the Sermon on the Mount as if it were a righteousness to be done. Even to this day the church regulates divorce on the basis of the ethic of Jesus rather than Moses, as if our "hardness of heart" is any different to that of Israel. So, without adultery in the marriage, we refuse remarriage in the church to all accept attending members who should know better anyway. This is pure pharisaism of the sort denounced by both Jesus and Paul.

    The tendency of believers to move toward Law-obedience stems from a failure to grasp the full measure of God's grace. It is very easy to think that our standing before God, his approval of us (justification), has something to do with our obedience. Even more so, we can easily assume that our progress in the Christian life (sanctification) has something to do with our obedience. The truth is that both our justification and sanctification is by grace through faith and not works of the Law.

    Righteousness is a gift of God's grace. The believer rests in the righteousness of Christ, not their own. Christ's perfection gains us God's approval. As a gift of grace God imputes righteousness to us for our justification, and imparts it to us for our sanctification. Therefore the righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, is not earned by doing, but given by asking.

ii] Two men with a big question
  Two men, on two different occasions, asked Jesus "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" The first was an expert in the Law, so Jesus got him to recite its substance. "Do this", said Jesus, "and you will live." This seemed reasonable to the expert, but then there was that difficult question as to "who is my neighbor?"

    In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Lk.10:25-37, Jesus outlines the nature of neighborly love. The punch line is "Go and do likewise." The point is simple enough, who can love as the Samaritan loved? The story condemns self-righteousness, it exposes sin and leads us to seek mercy.

    The second man to ask the question was a rich young ruler, Lk.18:18-30. Jesus listed off some of the ten commandments and the ruler foolishly claimed he had kept them. Jesus then gave him a command that reflects the true meaning of neighborly love - "sell everything you have and give to the poor." The ruler's response was beautiful to behold. He could have rejected Jesus, laughed at him, but instead he was "very sad". Had he finally faced the reality of his sinfulness in the sight of God? Looking at him Jesus said, "how hard it is for a person with possessions to enter the Kingdom of God." Someone standing near commented, "Who then can be saved?" We are all locked into this age, we all possess and therefore none of us can love our neighbor as ourselves. So we all stand condemned. Yet, salvation is by grace through faith and not works of the Law. "All things are possible with God".

    Jesus loves good little boys and girls and so that's why we should all try to be good Sams. This classic piece of pharisaism comes out of a failure to properly understand the purpose of the Law. The Law serves to expose sin and drive us into the arms of a merciful God. Jesus doesn't love good people, he loves repentant sinners, for no one is good but God alone, Matt.9:9-13.

iii] The righteous man and the sinner. Luke.18:9-14
    Two men went down to the temple to pray, a man confident in his own righteousness, and the other man a sinner. The self righteous man thanked God for his goodness, the sinner cried out "God have mercy on me." Jesus said that out of the two it was the sinner who "went home justified before God." The fact is that "there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who don't (think they) need to repent", Lk.15:7.

    Right standing in the sight of God is a gift of grace appropriated through faith and is not of works of the Law.

    So often, like the "circumcision group" in Galatia, we forget that a "person is not justified by observing the Law, but by faith in Jesus Christ", Gal.2:16. When we forget the extent of this truth we start reading the ethic of Jesus as if it is a Law to be done. Most often we see it as the means of progressing our righteousness (sanctification). Yet the truth is "I have died to the Law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me", Gal.2:19-20. The Law serves only to drive me to Christ. Righteousness, whether imputed (justified) or imparted (sanctified), is by grace through faith.

    Both Luther and Wesley found in the theology of grace "that it is for freedom Christ has set us free". Grace is the fundamental truth that powerfully shapes Evangelical ministry.