God so loved

Summary

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” is part of the last verse of our lesson from Ephesians this morning.

In this verse the Apostle Paul is speaking to us about our purpose in life.  We, the people of God, saved by grace through our faith in Jesus Christ are to be about doing good in the lives of others.  It’s really quite simple.

Yet, somehow understanding the simple, and then living it out, can be quite hard.  Too often as Christians we have turned what is our purpose, doing good works, into our way of salvation.  Too often Christianity struggles with the false idea that God’s grace is earned by being a good person who does good things.  We have somehow decided that God rewards us with his love and eternal life, because of the good works that we do.  A lot of people believe this.

From the world’s stand-point it makes sense, because our world is about the survival of the fittest.  So why shouldn’t God want us to strive to be the most righteous, good people and then reward us with a place in heaven?  It sounds right, right?  Thankfully though, God does not do things like we humans would.

No, rather Jesus says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

Our salvation has nothing to do with our good works, rather, it begins with God’s love for us, for you and me. So, how is it that God’s love is enough for our salvation?

Let me share with you my understanding of God’s love.

On March 12^th 2004 I held in my arms for the first time the little one whom Emily and I had been awaiting.  And I can profess to you this morning, that immediately I loved that little boy deeply and fully.  Fourteen years later nothing has changed, except that my love has grown more deep and full as that little babe has grown into my teenager.  And now I get to love twice as much, because I am the father of two wonderful sons.

I speak of March 12^th 2004 as remarkable because that was the day I first became a father.  That morning was the first time that I felt the uninhibited love of a parent for a child.  In the moment when the nurse placed my son in my arms it was as if my heart exploded.  I knew at that moment that I wanted to do everything in my power to help this little one grow into the person God created him to be.

Each day since has been a step in the journey of raising each of my boys to become the people whom God has created and calls them to be.  As their father there is much that I can do to love, teach and care for them, by helping them to grow.  Yet I have also learned that there is so much to each of my boys and their personalities that is simply a part of them right from the beginning.  So I have done a lot of simply watching my son’s personalities and talents appear and grow.

Isn’t watching a child grow and learn and explore, half the fun of being a parent, grandparent, and friend?

So, what does my fatherly love for my sons have to do with salvation?  Everything.  We are created in the image of God, and so, if I love my boys to the point that I would do anything for them, even die if need be, God, who is perfect would, and has, done even more for his beloved Son, and all of God’s children.

God’s love for us is so deep, that he sacrificed his beloved son Jesus, that we his children and creation might be given salvation, the salvation that it is impossible for us to earn through good works.

We are saved simply by having faith, by believing, and looking to Jesus for salvation.

Paul puts it this way in Ephesians, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God-not because of works, lest any man should boast.”

God loves us, and so through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus we are saved.  Salvation is that simple.  Believe in Jesus, and live.

So, really the question we need to answer is, “How do good works come into play in our Christian lives?  Are good works a part of Christian life?”

Yes, of course good works are a part of our Christian lives.  Jesus calls us to live lives of active, loving relationship because we are Christians.  This means good works.  We do good works because we want others to experience God’s grace too.  We want them to experience God’s grace spiritually, but also in their physical lives.  For, we are not only called to share our words, but our deeds with the world, so that they may know the love of Jesus, as we do.

The first time I learned what the physical sharing of God’s love can mean, was in the summer after my junior year in high school.  Nine youth and four adults from my home church drove down to Juarez, Mexico.  We stayed at an orphanage for a week and each day worked to help build a house for a family in a barrio, a poor neighborhood.  This family of four was living in a one room shack of constructed piece-meal, of a mix of plywood, cardboard and random pieces of corrugated metal. Its roof was held in place by the weight of old tires laid on top.

Our group soon became the entertainment of the neighborhood as everyone around came by to catch a glimpse of these ‘norteamericanos,’ digging, mixing cement by shovel, and laying crooked block for their neighbors’ new home.  As we worked alongside the homeowner to erect a more substantial house for he and his family the question was asked many times, “Why are you doing this?”

Two of our leaders had been missionaries in Peru and were fluent in Spanish, and so they explained that we wanted to share Jesus’ love by helping this family to build a new house, that they could call home.  And the people of the neighborhood were amazed that we had driven all the way from the North, giving up two weeks of our lives, and hundreds of dollars of our own money to come and do this.  Some were simply dumbfounded, it just didn’t make sense, but some grasped what we were doing and why.

Since then I have been involved in many different experiences that ultimately were about sharing God’s love through physically improving someone else’s life, and opening doors to genuine conversation and even relationship.

One day when the boys were young, we were all in the car, going somewhere.  Nestor, who was about 5 years old at the time, was telling us about how when he grew up he wanted to be a scientist so he could study and learn all there is about dinosaurs.  He then asked Johan, who was 2 ½ years old at the time what he wanted to be when he grew up, and Johan responded, “A dinosaur.”

Quite often we talk about what it is we want to be in life or what it is we want to do with life.  In reality we are discussing our life’s purpose.  What are we going to do with the lives we have been given?

Like my boys and their conversation in the car, we each have the desires and passions for certain things in life, things we want to do whether it be in our careers, our hobbies or our relationships.  Yet we all share one thing in common, Christ creates all of us for the purpose of doing ‘good works’ in our lives for the sake of others and the glory of God.

A trip to Mexico, or Ghana, or any other locale, is an extraordinary means of living out God’s love in people’s lives.  But, usually it is the exception, not the norm.

What I mean is, that we are called by Jesus, commanded even, to reach out in our daily lives to do good works in the lives of those with whom we share life.

I have experienced God’s love shared in my own life, when other people have shared their good works with me.  For instance, when meals were shared with us immediately after my son’s birth and we were struggling with some health concerns.  I also remember a gift of money given by an older retired missionary that allowed me to pay bills so I could learn and serve in the church in Mexico when I was in my twenties.  And of course, the conversations over the years that I have shared with numerous people, that have allowed me to feel cared for, and loved.

I have seen people in the churches throughout my life, give shelter, clothing, food and best of all friendship to others, simply because they wanted to share the love of Jesus that they knew and lived each day in their own lives.  The sharing of God’s love, of doing good works as Christians, is not to earn salvation, but rather to share it, with the world.

I am going to end with the words to the chorus of a song by Keith Green based on today’s scripture from Ephesians,

“We are His workmanship, created for good works in Christ.

He calls us to offer up ourselves a living sacrifice.”

We offer up our lives, our love and our good works as an offering, as a living sacrifice, to the world, and to God because he loves us.

Amen.

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