Becoming a Woman of Grace CHAPTER EIGHT FREEDOM to SERVE For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Galatians 5:13 KJV Man is permitted to do nothing until God has done all that His grace designs. Good works grow out of, and are made possible by, the gracious work of God. Lewis Sperry Chafer Grace grants us freedom from sin and the flesh, and it grants us freedom to love and to serve. As we begin to serve, it is easy to focus on what we are doing and to measure our worth to God by our activity. Our service can often become a burden, robbing us of our freedom in Christ. How do we find the right balance? How do good works fit into our lives? We start by understanding that our faith does not consist in serving to earn favor with God or people. As a result, we will serve others in freedom, to the glory of God. Doers of the Word 1. Es sentially, service is obedience to God s direction in our lives. James speaks eloquently concerning doing. Summarize his teaching in James 1:22-27. 2. James continues his teaching on loving and serving others in James 2:1-13. How does he instruct us to live by the law of liberty? James directs Christians to govern and conduct themselves more especially by the law of Christ.... This will teach us, not only to be just and impartial, but very compassionate and merciful to the poor; and it will set us perfectly free from all sordid and undue regards to the rich.... We are under the law of Christ. It is a law of liberty, and one that we have no reason to complain of as a yoke or burden; for the service of God, according to the gospel, is perfect freedom; it sets us at liberty from all slavish regards, either to the persons or the things of this world. Matthew Henry 1
3. James strongly emphasizes impartiality in our relations with others. Why do you think the Scriptures speak so explicitly to this aspect of serving one another in love? The Works of Grace 4. Grace enables a new life in Christ. What do the following passages indicate this new life is to include? Ephesians 2:4-10 Titus 3:4-8 5. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught about the importance of doing good. Read His words in Matthew 5:13-16 and describe the intended purpose for the service to which God calls us. Works follow faith. Behavior follows belief. Fruit comes after the tree is wellrooted. Martin Luther s words come to mind: No one can be good and do good unless God s grace first makes him good; and no one becomes good by works, but good works are done only by him who is good. Just so the fruits do not make the tree, but the tree bears the fruit.... Therefore all works, no matter how good they are and how pretty they look, are in vain if they do not flow from grace. Charles R. Swindoll 6. Since we are to do good works, we need to have an accurate understanding of how these works relate to faith. What insights do you find in James 2:14-26? James did not say that works are essential to faith, or that faith is unimportant. His argument was that works are evidence of faith.... He has simply said that genuine faith is accompanied by good works. J. Ronald Blue 7. After studying these scriptures, how would you describe the place of works, or service, in your life in the context of grace and faith? 2
AUTHOR S REFLECTION Trying to be perfect, wanting to please God, serving the body of Christ adequately I often find that all these desires become blurred and I grow confused about how much or how little I must do. I don t always bridle my tongue; I rarely visit orphans and widows; I don t love impartially. I assume that I must try harder and do more to make up for my lack of obedience. At this point Grace exclaims, No! You now live in my realm of freedom, and you have the everpresent strength and help of the Holy Spirit. You must not try harder; you must strive less. You must acknowledge your helplessness and total dependence upon the Spirit for your guidance, your area of service, and your ability to love. You are created for good works, but they must flow out of your abiding communion with the living Vine. Just as Mary of Bethany sat at the feet of Jesus listening to His words (while Martha was serving anxiously), Mary could not help but rise up and serve her Lord. It was her love for Jesus that moved her to abide in Him. As she abided, she was prompted to take her alabaster jar of perfume to anoint the Lord for burial an incredible act of service that will always be told in remembrance of her. True service always finds its source in loving our Savior, wanting to hear His Word, and then promptly obeying. As we listen to the Lord in faith with a willing heart, He can use us and produce His fruit in us. Our major work is to trust, abide, and obey. This is freedom from the law, and it is freedom to serve. My trust and faith in walking in the Spirit, and my love for the Lord, will assure my good works. Under a sense of legalism, obedience is done with a view to meriting salvation or God s blessing on our lives. Under grace, obedience is a loving response to salvation already provided in Christ, and the assurance that, having provided salvation, God will also through Christ provide all else that we need. There is no question that obedience to God s commands prompted by fear or merit-seeking is not true obedience. The only obedience acceptable to God is constrained and impelled by love, because love is the fulfillment of the law. God s law as revealed in His Word prescribes our duty, but love provides the correct motive for obedience. We obey God s law, not to be loved, but because we are loved in Christ. Jerry Bridges Amazing Grace 8. The idea is not that we do work for God, but that we are so loyal to Him that He can do His work through us, writes Oswald Chambers. Do you struggle with anxious service, or any other aspect of serving God and others? Express your thoughts to God concerning the amazing freedom He has given you to serve in response to grace, not out of a need for approval. SUGGESTED SCRIPTURE MEMORY Galatians 5:13 3
CHAPTER EIGHT VERSES James 1:22-27 22. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24. For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 26. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man s religion is vain. 27. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. James 2:1-13 1. My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. 2. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; 3. And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 4. Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? 5. Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? 6. But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? 7. Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? 8. If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: 9. But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. 10. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. 11. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. 12. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. 13. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. Ephesians 2:4-10 4. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. 5. Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6. And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7. That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9. Not of works, lest any man should boast. 4
10. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Titus 3:4-8 4. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6. Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; 7. That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8. This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. Matthew 5:13-16 13. Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. James 2:14-26 14. What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? 15. If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16. And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17. Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works; shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well; the devils also believe, and tremble. 20. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 21. Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 22. Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 23. And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 24. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. 25. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? 26. For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. 5