Faith House United
Jesus said in Mark 3:25, “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” Our Faith House must stand together as a unit, if we say we believe the gospel, we must live in a way that demonstrates that belief. We can only do the works of the kingdom of heaven if we first believe in God. In Luke 9 after the mountain of transfiguration, the disciples come before Jesus with a problem that they solved. Someone was casting out demons in the name of Jesus, but he wasn’t part of their discipleship group, so they stopped him. But Jesus said, “he who is not against you is for you.” Jesus made it clear that it's not whether you are part of the right church or have the right doctrine, it's whether or not you are doing the works of the kingdom of heaven that makes you a disciple of Christ. We are called to be disciples not just followers - followers simply watch and observe, but disciples change their actions to become more like the person they are following.
We are saved by grace
The familiar passage of Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,” From this verse, we might come to the conclusion that faith is a gift of God, but faith is the object of the prepositional phrase “through faith” that describes grace. It is more likely that grace is the antecedent of the pronoun it - it is the gift of God. Faith is not really a static noun; it is more of an act of our will or our spirit. We are saved by grace, which we cannot earn, and we respond to this free gift through an act of our spirit - faith, and the obedience of our body - works. Jesus’ sacrifice is the foundation of our Faith House - the foundation is a free gift. The grace that is freely given to us is Christ’s completed work on the cross and departure from the tomb. The evidence that shows He[1] is true does not change, but we have to choose whether we want that wall to be part of our house. Our response to the evidence of God’s grace comes through our spiritual response of faith and our physical response of obedience. We will continue to grow our Faith House throughout the process of sanctification.
Grace is a free gift
Salvation by grace is a free gift from God alone apart from anything we could do to attain His grace. But this understanding that faith is an active response from receiving that grace makes us more accountable for our beliefs. We become responsible participants of His grace. We are responsible for our obedience both by the way we live our lives and by the way we believe. The emphasis has to be on grace which is the gift of God not on faith. Our Faith House is not built on faith but on God’s grace given through Jesus’ work. To strengthen our faith we have to return to the emphasis on God’s grace. Our faith grows when we focus on grace rather than faith. When you grow a tree, you don’t water and fertilize the tree itself, you fertilize the ground it is planted in. Faith will grow up like a tree in our life if we fertilize the ground it is planted in, which is God’s grace. We cannot grow our faith by believing harder, we cannot grow our works by trying harder to obey. We grow our faith by increasing our awareness and gratitude of God's grace in our life as we live out the newness of life He offers us. We grow our Faith House by letting the foundation of Christ become a bigger part of our life.
We must live by Grace
As disciples of Christ; we must live as Christ lived - by grace. Jesus came to serve not be served and to give His life for others. The best way we can grow in our discipleship relationship with Christ is serve and give. Serving others should be something that we naturally do as we spend time with Christ and become more like Him. The greatest way we can serve is by giving, and the greatest thing we have to give is our life. We live by grace when we give by grace.
So let me conclude by asking: How is Your faith house? Are you rooted in Jesus Christ as the foundation for your house? Have you studied the evidence of the gospels so you can give an answer to anyone who asks? And are your beliefs and behaviors working in unison, in alignment with the gospel.
