Balance: Faith and works

Speaker: Matt Hails

Notes

Why Faith?

• The bar is high. Matthew 5:20.

• No-one makes it. Romans 3:23.

• It is essential to have faith (Heb 11:6) ... in Jesus (Rom 3:22) ... and only Jesus, in order to be saved (Acts 4:12).

• Our salvation is totally undeserved. Eph 2:8 - 9.

What about works?

If we don't need to do anything good to become a Christian, how come Christians generally seem to exhibit qualities of holy living and doing good?

James 2:14 - 19. Faith is shown by what you do (v18); "works" are an essential result of faith. Faith leads to salvation, which leads to works. Faith and works are intrinsically linked.

How do we keep in balance?

How do we avoid dangers of: (a) sitting back, saying I have faith, yet not being willing to change; (b) attempting to do good and live a holy life but with motive of earning God's love and acceptance.

Romans 8:3 - 4. The key is to live according to the Spirit - responding to the influence of the Holy Spirit within us.

What about miracles?

Galatians 3:1 - 5, esp v5. Miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit are simply down to faith! In the faith -> salvation -> works deal, they are part of the salvation package.

Application

Read Matthew 3:16 - 17. Note how Jesus knew his Father's love and approval before he'd done anything in his ministry. Do you find it easy to know God's love and acceptance of you, irrespective of what you've done? Have you had any life experiences that have made that more difficult? Have you managed to overcome that, if so, how?

Read Galatians 5:22 - 25. Does your life exhibit the fruit - the results - of saving faith in Jesus? How have you changed since making the decision to follow Jesus? Which things changed quickly, and which have been a process?

Read Galatians 3:5. Have you hung back from being filled with the Holy Spirit or moving in spiritual gifts because you felt you needed to be more mature as a Christian, or that stuff was only for "elite" Christians? Is anything holding you back from moving in spiritual gifts?

Luke 18:7 - 8. Why aren't we seeing more miracles, signs and wonders in TLC?

Posted: 16 May 2010