us with Him in the heavenly places

Transcription

1 Motivated by Love As we begin this morning, let s ask ourselves one question. What motivates us? Parents often seek ways to motivate their children to clean their rooms or get up and get ready for school. Supervisors are always seeking ways to motivate employees to achieve the company s goals or complete the assigned tasks in a timely manner. Often, parents and supervisors resort to rewards and punishments to try and motivate. The truth is that neither will work for any length of time. For some, these methods will achieve short term results. Children will soon realize that they will get the ice cream either way or employees will no longer perform at the same level because of an increase in salary. What motivates people? What causes people to do things that seem to be contrary to their nature or desires? This is the focus of today s message. There is a tension underlying the Bible story. Yes, we may quickly pick up on the tension between good and evil but there is another tension that we may see with just a little thought. The tension of which I refer is between grace and works. We will follow this tension for a few minutes this morning and see if we may better understand the dynamics of God s plan. We will read a couple of passages that will highlight this tension. The first is found in Paul s letter to the Ephesians. We will read in the 2 nd chapter beginning with the 4 th verse. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated 1

2 us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:4-9 NASB) Clearly we have just read that we are saved by grace and not works. God through Jesus provided for our salvation. He planned it and brought it into existence. There is nothing that any of us can do or were ever in a place to demand our salvation. We could never be good enough to earn our salvation. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Now, let s turn to another passage that sets the tension in place. Turn with me to James the 2 nd chapter where we will begin reading with the 14 th verse. As we read this passage, remember that we just read that we are saved by grace through faith. Now we will see what James has to say. Most scholars believe that the book of James was written by James the brother of Jesus. What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works. (James 2:14-18 NASB) 2

3 We now have the tension. Which is it-faith or works? Is there a real conflict here? Is this just another example where we fail to see the whole picture because we are led by failing to put things in context? There was a time when we listened to preachers who would pound on pulpits and shout about the coming doom for those who were not doing the will of God. This style of preaching soon gave way to the preachers presenting a loving God that offers salvation through grace. The reality is that both are right. The real problem is when we fail to step back and look at the complete picture. As parents, we start out training our children with an authoritarian approach. We demand certain behavior and soon, with luck, we see that our children learn the acceptable behaviors within our family setting. Sometimes it becomes necessary to inforce the rules with some form of punishment. We may even use a system of rewards and punishments to establish the pattern of behavior. As our children grow and mature, we soon see that the fear of punishment is less effective. Our grown children are now beyond our thread of wait til your father gets home. The same is true for most adults who attend any worship service. The ranting and raving; the pulpit pounding; the threats of dire consequences will no longer motivate us to action. If anything, it tends to drive us away from the very message that we need. Yes, there may be times when we need to use drastic means to call people to action or to wake them from the lull of complacency. However, we need to understand that, just like our grown children, our motivation to do things that are pleasing to God must come from a love of God not a dread of punishment. 3

4 In the 14 th chapter of John, Jesus is preparing His disciples for the events that will lead to His crucifixion, death, resurrection, and return to heaven. His disciples had been with Him for approximately three years and had heard His teachings, witnessed His miracles, shared in the most important times in the history of the world. Now they are confused that Jesus is leaving and they will be set adrift. First Jesus tells them: If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. (John 14:15 NASB) From that point, Jesus tells them of the Holy Spirit that will come to comfort them and guide them. Again, He reminds them to obey or keep His words. This reminder is prefaced with love not fear. Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. (John 14:23 NASB) There is another point to ponder as we look in this chapter, Jesus was living in every way as a human. As an equal with God, He had the power to stop the impending torturous death. Yet, when we read the last part of verse 31, we see that love compelled Jesus to obey God. I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. (John 14:31 NASB) The Holy Spirit that Jesus promised is not a spirit of fear or cowering. In fact, Paul wrote to the young preacher Timothy and said in 2 Timothy 1:7: For God has not given us a spirit of timidity (or fear), but of power and love and discipline (or self-control). (2 Timothy 1:7 NASB) 4

5 The spirit, as given by God, is the spirit of love. Love that helps us to control our urges and lust. Love becomes the motivation for our actions. Let s look at what Paul wrote to Titus in the 2 nd chapter. We will begin reading in verse11. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. (Titus 2:11-14 NASB) Through the sacrifice of Jesus, we have been redeemed. We live in hope and anticipation not fear. We become zealous for good deeds. We don t do good deeds out of fear of punishment. We are filled with zeal. We desire to do good deeds. We live to do good deeds. It becomes our driving force not a drudge. Fear no longer is in control. Just as we grow into maturity, we no longer are afraid of daddy s belt we choose to do the right thing because we love our dad. We know that he has always had our best interest in mind as he helped to mold us into the adult that we became. So it is with Jesus. In the second letter to the Corinthians, we read in the 5 th chapter: For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NASB) Our realization of the sacrifice that Jesus made for us now controls our lives and actions. We realize that we no longer live unto ourselves we live for Jesus. 5

6 The tension that we addressed earlier this morning concerned doing good works, salvation, and grace. We should never forget that we are saved by grace. Our works are not payment for our salvation. We would never be able to tip the scales by our deeds. Our deeds are not an escape from punishment. John writes about love in his epistles. In the 4 th chapter of his 1 st letter, we read about love and fear. Let s look at this as we read verses 17 and 18. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected (or made complete) in love. (1 John 4:17-18 NASB) Let all of our actions be motivated by our love of God. We love God and appreciate everything that He has done for us. The crowning gift from God is salvation through Jesus the Christ. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. (Colossians 3:17 NASB) 6