Grace Based Obedience

            Have you ever considered how important the gospel is for Christians? Of course, most all Christians acknowledge that the gospel is vital for non-Christians. After all, the gospel is the good news that sinful people can be in a right relationship with God through faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

            God punished Jesus on the cross in the place of sinful people. Then on the third day, God raised Jesus from the dead to prove that everything he said and did was valid. Now, God can be a just judge and still offer free forgiveness to those who put their trust in Jesus.

            This is what the most famous sentence in the Bible is all about. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). If you are not a Christian, this is great news. You don’t have to be punished by God for your sins. You can trust Christ right now and receive the gift of his righteousness in exchange for your sins.

            But this same gospel is also for Christians. Have you ever noticed how much attention the New Testament letters to churches give to the gospel? The gospel is not something for Christians to pass by occasionally and be thankful; it is the grounding of our Christian lives.

            In the letter to the Ephesian church, Paul lays a very thick gospel foundation. In fact, all of Ephesians 1–3 is about the blessings of the gospel. There are virtually no commands anywhere in those three chapters of the Bible. Meanwhile, in Ephesians 4–6 there is almost nothing but commands. 

            Ephesians 4:1 is the hinge between the two halves of the letter.

 “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” 

            The calling that Paul is talking about is their salvation call. Alongside the “therefore” at the beginning of the verse, their calling looks back to the first half of the letter and all of their salvation blessings. In those chapters Paul has celebrated God’s sovereign grace in choosing them for salvation, sending Jesus to die for their sins, having the Holy Spirit draw them to Christ and seal them for the final day when Jesus returns, their riches in Christ, God’s love, God’s grace, the Jews and Gentiles being racially reconciled within the church, getting this message out, and even more about God’s love and grace. 

            Paul might be imagining one of those old scales with two pans hanging from chains from the arms of the scale (like the statue of blind Justice at the Supreme Court). One of those pans is filled with the salvation blessings. Now, he says to walk worthy of those blessings. The other pan is the worthy walk.

            The New Testament uses the word walk to represent our lifestyles. You walking around, is you living. So Paul challenges Christians to live out their lives in the light of God’s amazing gospel grace to them. You can begin to see the importance of the Bible writers to continually reinforce the gospel to their Christian readers––the gospel is the basis of all Christian living.

            A Christian is never saved by their good works, but they are most certainly saved unto good works. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8–10).

            If you really take the commands of the Bible seriously, you could become seriously discouraged. Even if you just look at the command in Eph 5:2, which says, “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God,” you might begin to panic. 

            Consider the serious nature of that this is a holy command from God. Then imagine all of the times you have thought more about yourself than the needs of others. Then imagine all of the times you have kind of done loving things, but have had mixed motives, like to get things for yourself in return for your love, or just to be thought well of by others, etc.. You can see that you have completely failed to perfectly obey this one basic command, and that you deserve God’s wrath for your disobedience. 

            That is why even Christians need the gospel again and again. You are not condemned by God’s just wrath, even for your lack of perfect love. Why? Because God grades on the curve? No. You are right with God only because you trust in Jesus who did perfectly love his neighbor and who died in the place of you for your very lack of love.

            Now with a heart filled with gratitude for gospel-grace you are set free to love. You are motivated and inspired by Christ’s loving death for you and now you strive to love others for Christ’s sake. You are joyful because Christ’s death covers even your imperfect efforts and frees you up to do your best as his weak son or daughter.

            Remembering the gospel ought not tempt a true Christian to coast for Christ and stop striving to obey his commands. No way. Because we love him, we want to obey. Because he has put his Spirit within us we are motivated and empowered to obey. 

            Don’t be tempted to skip over the Bible’s gospel reminders and get to the obedience stuff. You need the gospel. The gospel is the foundation, motivation, and inspiration for our obedience. May we always strive to obey the One who gave his life for our imperfect obedience.