Word of Salvation – Vol.42 No.05 – February 1997

 

The Life Of Thankfulness

 

Sermon by Rev. W. Wiersma on Lord’s Day 32

 

Dear Congregation,

The question before us today is this: Why should Christians be good?

I would like to introduce the Scriptural answer to this question by drawing your attention to two verses which are mentioned by the Catechism under question and answer 86.  I am referring to 1Peter 2:9 and Matthew 5:16.

Let’s start with Matthew 5:16, where Jesus says to his followers: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”  It is God’s will that we do good, so that people seeing what we are doing may give praise to God our Father.  It is for this very reason that we are actually saved – so that we will be freed from bad/evil works and enabled to do what is pleasing to God.

That’s the goal of salvation as we read in Revelations 7: John saw “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.  They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands, and they cried with a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

It is also stated beautifully in 1Peter 2:9 where Peter addresses Christian believers in these words: “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Now to “declare God’s praises,” the praises of Him who has brought us out of darkness into His marvellous light, is not only a matter of the mouth.  It is not just a matter of singing or of talking, because the desire of the true believer, the true worshipper of God, is that the Lord will enable him to live a life made up of praise in every part.

Our whole bearing, our whole attitude and whole behaviour as Christians should win the respect of those around us.  That’s what God wants.  That is what Jesus tells us.  Your behaviour should be such that you win the respect of those around you; the respect of those with whom you live, or work.  Who see you operate.  Our life should lead them to admire our God.

So, as I said, it is the will of God that we do good – that our life in word and deed should be a reflection of the character and will of God.  We should be like Jesus who said, “…He who has seen me has seen the Father.”  We should reflect the image of the Father so that people may see something of the Father in us.

But, as the Catechism says in question 86, how does this square with the teaching, which the Catechism has tried to drum into us (if I may put it that way), that we are not saved by good works?  We have been strongly advised to devalue good works as a way, or as a means, to be saved.  All our efforts can do nothing to pay our debt, all our striving cannot give us peace with God.

That is true, and we are not going to take anything away from that today.  We are saved – we are delivered from the curse and power of sin – only by God’s grace through Jesus Christ.

But, you see, to be redeemed, to be set free from the curse and power of sin, is more than only being justified.  It is more than only being forgiven and reconciled to God.  The best way I can illustrate that is to use the example of our adoption as the children of God.

To be redeemed is to be saved from the realm of the devil, the realm of ignorance, deceit and death, and to be brought into the family of God.  It means being redeemed from that realm in which there is lying, cheating, pretence and death, to the realm where there is life, truth, light and love.  To be redeemed is to be saved from something to something.

Now, there are two things to remember:

First, as we have already noted before, God wants his children to behave as His children.  That’s what the apostle Paul teaches in Ephesians 5:2: “Therefore as beloved children of God – that’s how we are to think of ourselves as believers; as the beloved children of God.  And if you can’t think of yourself in those terms, you have missed the boat, you have missed the point.  So as the beloved children of God – be imitators of God and live a life of love.”

But, there is another factor not to be forgotten, and that is this: we are not left to ourselves to live a life that is pleasing to God.  And this is something I want to stress very strongly.

To quote the words of Paul in Philippians 2: “God is at work in you to will and to do what is pleasing to Him.”  This is part of the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is part of the whole package of being saved and brought into the family of God.  When you are a child of God, then God is at work in you to will (to make you desire) and to do (to make you able to do) what is pleasing to Him.

It is true that we have no ability to do good in and of ourselves.  But that is not the only truth.  As the Catechism says: It is true that by nature we are unable to do good, in fact we are very much disposed to hate God and our neighbour.

We are familiar with that statement of the Catechism in the section on misery.  But we should not forget, or overlook, something that is also said there: Yes, we are inclined toward all evil, unable to do any good, UNLESS WE ARE BORN AGAIN BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD.

Now, the saving work of Christ includes the gift of the Holy Spirit; it includes the renewing work of God in our hearts and minds.  Christ not only sets us free by his blood.  He also renews us to become more and more like himself by his Spirit.  This means that the Lord Jesus by His Holy Spirit enables us to do what God commands us to do.

For the believer – for the person united with Christ – the commands of Jesus are not just statements of his will, they are commands which enable his members to do what he wants them to do.  We are like so many parts of Christ’s body.  If Jesus, our head, wants us to do something he empowers us do it.

Let me explain what I mean.  My arm does what my head tells it to do.  My arm does not argue with my head.  If I want to use my arm to pick up a ball and throw it, my head doesn’t just inform my arm to do some throwing and then leave it to the arm to decide whether it will do any throwing or not.  So when Christ wants to use us to do something, he not only commands, he also empowers us and activates us, his members, by His Spirit.

Let me use another illustration.  Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, was dead.  Jesus commanded him to come out of the grave.  With that command Jesus not only gave an order.  If that is all it had been, a simple order, then Lazarus would never have heard him or been able to move as much as his little toe.  No, Jesus’ command was an expression of His divine will and that very command enabled Lazarus to hear and to act on Jesus’ word.

The apostle Paul calls the Gospel the power of God to all who believe.  And Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the vine, you are the branches, if you abide in me – if you stay connected with me – you will bear much fruit.  Apart from me you can do nothing.”

The apostle Paul takes up this thought in his letter to the Galatians and talks about the fruit of the Spirit.  Now the fruit of the Spirit is good works coming from a renewed heart.  The power to do them is from the living Lord Jesus and the Spirit of God.  You might say the Spirit of Jesus is the Spirit of Christian action.  Doing good is a matter of acting in faith.  Acting in union with Christ.

This is all in line with the commandment, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”  That’s what this is all about.  Love God, be thankful.  Love… love to God and love to the neighbour, that’s what the fruit of the Spirit is all about.

Now this is very important.  This has some very far reaching implications.  It means that we have the power to do the will of God.  And that in turn means that we may not use any excuses for sin in ourselves.  There is no excuse for sin, any sin, by a child of God.  I say this because we sometimes excuse bad behaviour by saying something like: “I can’t help it, that’s me.”  Or, “I can’t change,” or “I can’t forgive.”  “I can’t give that up!”  “I can’t love her/him!”

If we are Christ’s, then we are joined to Him who has all of the Spirit of God at his disposal; all power and authority in heaven and earth.  We can do anything we want to do in obedience to Christ who himself strengthens us.

Our problem is in the wanting.

I say, we can do anything we want to do when we are joined to Christ by faith, because we have the Spirit of Christ within us, and He enables us to do what is pleasing to God.  But our problem is that in many instances we don’t want to do God’s will, and we don’t want to deal with our not wanting to.  And that is really the level at which we must deal with unholy and ungodly behaviour.  That’s where real confession of our sin comes in.

You know that don’t you?  I hope you do.  I hope that you know what it means to say to God:

Lord, I know what I ought to do, I know what I have to give up, and in a way I do want to do your will.  But Lord, in another way I don’t want to, because I actually enjoy the wrong I am doing.  I don’t want to give it up.  Lord forgive me for liking what I know is wrong.  Will you please rid me of it, take it away.  Please make me willing.

That’s what Spurgeon prayed on his 50th birthday.  Lord, please make me willing to be willing.

Christ is working on that in his own people.  He makes us aware of what is in our hearts – the Spirit sharpens our conscience and directs us to Christ.  Not only as our Master but also as our Saviour.

Think!  If God gave his Son for our salvation, if Jesus gave his life that we might be free to live for God and each other, should I not be grateful to God, and is it not right to express gratitude to God?

Ask yourself: Do I really accept Jesus Christ as God’s gift for my salvation?  Do I believe that for Christ’s sake I am a child of God?  That I have been redeemed by the blood of Christ?  That in Jesus I have the hope of glory?

If we are not sure of that, how can we possibly live a Christian life?  How can we be thankful to God?  Let us pray that we may be able to see the greatness of God’s love in Christ.

That’s the true motive for Christian living isn’t it?  We love because He has first loved us.  You and I should do what is right for God’s sake.  That’s again the level at which we have to deal with our spiritual awareness.

So many of us live under the influence of the evil one, whose aim it has always been to rob us of contentment and gratitude.  Has that not always been the ploy of the devil, to suggest that we can’t be happy with what God has given us?  And we allow ourselves to be persuaded that we are hard done by.  We are ungrateful.

But, if we believe in Jesus, should our life not be lived in the light of Jesus, rather than in the darkness of the father of lies?  Do we not know: How vast the benefits divine which we in Christ possess!  We are redeemed from sin and shame and called to holiness!  Looking to Christ and the future we have with him, we have every reason to be grateful and content, haven’t we?

Let’s sing Psalter Hymnal 449 / BoW 440:

Fill Thou my life, O Lord my God
in every part with praise.
That my whole being may proclaim,
Thy being and Thy ways.
Not only for the lips of praise, I ask,
nor even for just a praising heart.
but for a life made up of praise in every part.