Should we make an effort to pay God back for his grace? NO! It is dangerous to suggest that we live out the gospel that way. Gratitude is good—but we must do it the right way. We disparage the gospel if we view the Christian life as simply an effort to pay back the debt we owe God, even if we admit we can never fully pay it off. To put it fairly, it unintentionally disparages God’s grace. What does this mean, exactly?
“‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:35-36).
“For I do not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me . . .” (Rom. 15:18).
Why does Paul add this? Because paying back grace boasts of works rather than grace. It by mistake suggests that the gospel saves (i.e. justification), but works, without grace, conforms us to the image of Christ (i.e. sanctification)—that works without grace magnify the supremacy of Christ. It mistakenly puts forward that fruit bearing is primary rather than abiding in Christ (see Jn. 15:1-5). Fruit bearing is only possible with Christ. Now, if that is true, why does Paul . . . no, why does the whole counsel of Scripture demand obedience to live out the gospel and pursue Christlikeness? How can we pursue Christlikeness and, at the same time, avoid working to pay God back for his free grace? To the first question, we must put off the old self (Eph. 4:22) and put on the new self (v. 24) because in Christ, we have been created (i.e. new self) in the likeness of God. For that reason, we should demonstrate our joy in the value of God’s gift of Jesus Christ “in a way that honors the nature and aim of God’s . . . gift of free grace” (John Piper, Brothers, We Are Not Professionals, 37). We demonstrate our joy [gratitude] in a way that honors God when we put off the old self, reflecting the glory of God outwardly—not in order to pay God back, but in order to make Christ famous . . . a fragrant aroma (5:2). To the second question: 1) we are disciplined by grace, 2) we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to do good works, and 3) we must put sin to death.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
The seldom quoted Ephesians 2:10 supports your post! Ephesians 2:8-9 focuses in on how all of salvation is the gift of God. Our sanctification is part of the greater sphere of salvation. We were “created in Christ for good works” and they aren’t even our good works but they are the good works God “prepared beforehand!” Sanctification is not a paying back God for the gift of salvation but a vital part of salvation itself–our good works are the necessary result of having been created in Christ Jesus–which comes about only by the gracious action of God upon wretched sinners like you and me!
Great post Kevin–I want to grow to be more like Jesus but I will always fail if I try to do that on my own!
Hey Drew, thanks for commenting about Eph. 2:8-10. In fact, the following 3 posts will center on Eph. 2-4. I preached these four topics (Paying Back Grace, Disciplined By Grace, Enabled by the Holy Spirit to Do Good Works, and We Must Put Sin to Death) over three weeks @ CBC (been preaching through Ephesians since the third week of July now . . . almost done).
“God didn’t give you your gifts so you could be perfect or win competitions. He gave them so you could bless others,” I once told a friend discouraged after her performance at a vocal competition. The next day I realized I hadn’t been living that. I was incredibly frustrated that my activity plans for our Awana High School trip were all flopping. And I keep doing that. I need all the reminders I can get. Thanks for this one.
This Friday I was at a Bible study really bringing out these points (to my life, at least), that perfection shouldn’t be the focus. Our works are not the object. Being sensitive to the Holy Spirit is hard enough without getting distracted by paying God back. Reality refutes our illusions of good works, too. Whenever I’m not relying on God, the works in my life fall off.
My Sunday school class has been studying grace the past two months, and the teacher who wrote the lessons moved suddenly. She had listed a topic, “How Grace Disciplines Us,” and I’ve been trying to figure out what that means. I still can’t. Then you mentioned it, and so I wondered if there’s an explanation.
To God be all glory,
Lisa of Longbourn
Hey Lisa, I’m putting together three more posts to go with it . . . don’t know if I’ll answer your question directly.
The next post will be: Paying Back Grace? (2/4) . . . Disciplined By Grace. It will look closely at Titus 2:11-12 and Phil. 1:6 with some help from Jerry Bridges (he wrote a book called “Disciplined By Grace”). So, his book will actually be a much better look at it!
Ok, I’ll be patient.
To God be all glory,
Lisa of Longbourn
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