Grace in Vain

 Grace in Vain

A Lesson on Serving God



"We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." ---(2 Cor. 6:1)

We are encouraged here to not receive the Grace of God in Vain.

What does that mean?

Well when we look at most of the verses in the previous chapter we see that God saved us so we can work to save others. 

We have the ministry of reconciliation. We are called to reconcile humans to God.

So, in chapter 6 Paul says to not receive the Grace of God in Vain. That means, for no purpose.

Many believers have gotten saved, and then have done nothing but sit in pews, singing songs, and heaping to themselves teachers, having itching ears. Hoping to hear some new thing.

They struggle with sin that God has already defeated and do nothing but drink milk.

They have received Grace in vain.

Have they ever led a person to Christ? Have they ever sat down with the hurting? Have they ever listened to the Spirit and moved forward To help someone? Have they even read the Bible? Have you?

So Paul goes on, speaking about what a life of service would look like.

He starts out by saying that we should be careful to not offend in anything lest it bring reproach on our service to Christ.

 

"Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:" 2 Cor. 6:3

This is talking about typical things that are offensive. Things that really don't matter but still cause distraction. Because the Bible teaches that the Gospel and believers are offensive to the lost. So, this is not talking about that. This verse is referring to being offensive in our actions and words. An example would be, attacking someone based upon political beliefs. And yes, I'm probably very guilty of this. But, I'm trying.

Then, Paul speaks of the servants life in Christ. It is a hard list. Let's go through it verse by verse.

In all things we show we are the ministers of God. Whether it's trouble or need.

Whether it's persecutions, or labor, or watchings or prayer. (Watchings is going without sleep in prayer. It's like fasting but with sleep)

We do this by "By pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,"

We also do it, "By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

 By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;"

The armor of righteousness is on us because we are righteous in Christ. Not by our own works. It is the breastplate spoken of in Ephesians. 6:14

We continue in this whether people speak good or bad of us. Whether they lie about us or not. Whether they call us liars as well. We continue to serve. We are pure in Christ. Not ourselves. We have knowledge He gives us. We are patient by His power through the fruit of the Holy Spirit. We are kind and we do not fake love. People can tell when you are fake. Let the Holy Spirit love others through you. It's hard.

As servants we continue to behave properly even in situations as these,

As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;

As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

This is how we are called to be in Christ as we serve Him. Bad things come into our lives, and we are broken by them, and use them to glorify God and to mold us. We use it as correction to be better. God brought us through for a purpose. That purpose is to serve Him and help others.

I know we live our lives and that this is somewhat radical. I know we fail. I fail terribly. But, it is our service.

We are called to abide in Him and spread the Gospel, building the Kingdom. We present ourselves to God confessing Him as our Lord and letting him guide us into what He would have us to do.

Has life broken you, and God brought you through? That might be a good place to start helping people. You have overcome through Christ, and others need your help. Pray about it. Ask God to use you. But, expect to be troubled. You might need to step out into something you don't like.

Listen to the Lord. Sometimes He will prompt you. He might put someone on your heart. Call them. Visit them. Pray for them.  Do not wait. The devil will snatch it from you. You might see someone in need and for a second feel that you should help. DO IT. Be safe. Be wise. But do it. He is calling you. When you hesitate Satan will fill you with fear, doubt and distraction.

Do you feel led to give to a ministry. DO IT. God won't let you go broke. He will bring it back. Has someone blessed you? Tell them. Spread love and good things. Pray for people without their knowing.

Do not let your salvation be all about sitting in a church pew and bible study. Go and let God work through you. We are called to abide and have a relationship with Him. This happens by seeing Him work. That doesn't happen sitting in a building. He wants to include you. Let him lead you. He will. Ask Him, and trust Him.

Praise God always, Confess your sins to Him always, and turn to Him in everything. No matter how bad things are do not cast Him aside. This is abiding. This is relationship. Add service to this. Seek to step out and serve Him and others and you will see Him move in your life. Some lessons cannot be learned in a classroom.

Realize that when I speak of this I am not talking about a loss of salvation.. If you are saved you cannot lose it. God keeps His Word. But, the question is, Are you really one with Christ if you do not want to build the kingdom? So, were you ever saved? And if so, it would be terrible to enter heaven having brought no one with you. Even the thief on the cross tried to bring someone.

I'm not trying to push guilt, fear and shame. I hate when preachers do that. But, we are soldiers in the army of Jesus Christ. And in an army there are sergeants who will push you to get up and fight.

We have a kingdom to build. We are in a war. The enemy is hurting people all around us.

Fight.

-----

Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ His newest book is called "The Future is Coming" and is a collection of dystopian short stories.

Follow Him on Medium: https://chris-bunton.medium.com/

Read His Spiritual Writings on Blogspot: https://chrisbunton.blogspot.com/

Buy a cup of Coffee

Support the work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=13514235&fan_landing=true&view_as=public

Losing Salvation

 Losing Salvation

A Lesson on Losing Our Salvation

Hebrews 6:4

A lot of people use this verse to claim that a person can lose their salvation.

That is not true. I will explain why.

First, if you read the entire context of the verse starting in verse 6:1 and going to verse 6:10 you will see

 the writer says that as we mature as believers we move away from doctrines regarding salvation, baptisms, etc. Because we rest in the fact that we are saved and can grow in Christ. We know that God's grace and Christ's Blood washes us of all sin, so we do not need to keep going around and around bickering on these subjects.

It doesn't help us to grow and serve in Christ. It's milk not meat.

Next in verses, 4-6 he explains what happens to a person who "falls away".

The first thing to notice is the word "impossible". That should send up a red flag. Because Jesus said "with God ALL things are possible."

This is a direct contradiction. Or is it? If you know your stuff, then you know God's Word doesn't contradict itself. Any apparent contradiction is an invitation to pray, listen to the Holy Spirit and dive deeper.

Remember this because it's important. We will come back to it.

Next, the writer tells us a list of things that God gives us freely or allows us to experience.

If you think you experienced these things and then fell away unto a loss of salvation. Then, you probably never really experienced the full measure of these things from God. You experienced something else.

Once you know Christ you cannot speak ill of Him or turn from Him. I am not talking about sin. We are dead to sin. It does not impact our salvation. God holds it.

The person described in this verse is someone who has been exposed to Christ and still rejects or tries to climb up some other way. This person was never saved. They had every chance but rejected. They even saw the truth. But rejected.

Next the verse says to "restore them to repentance".

I want you to consider what Jesus said in Matthew 12:43-45

That when a man is clean. The demon goes to desert places, then returns with 7 others and the last State of this man was worse than the first.

This verse says the same thing as the Hebrews verse. If Jesus sets you free, and you turn back, you will be worse off than before.

But neither verse says Jesus casts you aside and rejects you. Neither verse says you are condemned. If you think you walk a perfect life after salvation, then you really need to talk with God.

You basically open the doors for demonic activity to harass you. Consider a drug addict who is set free from drugs. But starts using again. The addiction is worse and the person believes they are a failure and everyone else tells them they are a failure. It becomes "impossible" to get back to that state of feeling free. It's harder to quit next time. It's talking about a battle with Satan, not a loss of salvation.

BUT...keep reading and remember, we are not saved by Works.

Notice it speaks of putting Christ to shame. This person the verse is speaking of never knew Jesus. They were never saved. When God shows you the heavenly gifts, and the truth of the Word, and the Holy Spirit convicts you and draws you. If you then reject Him. You are not saved and you put Christ to an open shame. That's what the verse is saying, in context.

Next the writer speaks of God pouring out blessings as rain.  Jesus said "He let's the rain fall on the just and unjust. "  That means that God let's the unsaved see and feel His blessings because He hopes they will turn to Him. But if not, then they reject Christ and put Him to open shame. When God calls us, He let's us see the Truth. We can choose to reject. And that's what Hebrews is saying. God revealed truth, and a person rejected.

The verse in Hebrews seems to be referring to a great Saint in Christ, but it's not. It's referring to someone who is not saved  or has let the enemy back into their life. It's not a loss of salvation.

Next the writer speaks of the water and says this rain from God waters the ground and brings forth good fruits or thorns and thistles.

This matches what Jesus said in the parable of the sower. ( Matthew Chapter 13)

God sows His truth into the world, and some lands on good soil, While others do not. Some soil receives the word but thorns and thistles grow up choking it out. Again, it never says they lost salvation. We are not saved by Works, nor do we maintain our salvation.

This again refers to a struggle with this world, the flesh and the demons who fight us.

The bottom line is real simple. A person is either saved or not. They either saw the blessings of God and rejected. Or they saw the blessings of God,  received Christ and are saved, but have fallen away, and are having a tough time.

Either way the answer is to turn to God. With God all things are possible. If a person "loses salvation" they were never really saved. They experienced the Word, and saw the kingdom but rejected Christ anyway.

At the end, Jesus will say either "well done thy good and faithful servant" or "depart from me I NEVER knew you."

Because you were NEVER saved. You never had a relationship with Him, because if you had you would not reject Him.  I'm not talking about sin. We all sin. We are dead to sin.

I'm saying you NEVER confessed Him as Lord and trusted Him to save you. You try to save yourself and try to obey rules, that is not salvation.

As the writer of Hebrews says. "God knows what you've done." But your salvation has nothing to do with that. Jesus said I NEVER knew you. A person cannot lose salvation. They NEVER had it.

It's all about Christ. Turn to Him. Nothing is impossible with God. We are not saved by works.

-----

Bio: Chris Bunton is a writer, poet and blogger from Southern Illinois. He has published in several magazines, and has written a poetry eBook called “Against the Man” and an Addiction Recovery eBook called “Made Free: Overcoming Addiction“ His newest book is called "The Future is Coming" and is a collection of dystopian short stories.

Follow Him on Medium: https://chris-bunton.medium.com/

Read His Spiritual Writings on Blogspot: https://chrisbunton.blogspot.com/

Buy a cup of Coffee

Support the work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=13514235&fan_landing=true&view_as=public