November 13th

Today's reading from the One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is Acts 14:21-28, Galatians 1:1-3:23

Scripture
Galatians 3:3 Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?

Observation
In order to become a Christian we need to accept Christ's sacrifice on our behalf, acknowledging that there is no way we can follow the law in it's entirety, no way we can be good enough to work our way into heaven. Salvation is by God's grace through faith in Christ Jesus and nothing else. We rely on this grace through faith when we become Christians, but then we are tempted to become like Christ on our own power, through works, and we stop relying on faith. This is foolishness!

Application
Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

That's pretty easy for us to understand. No one is perfect. No one can be perfect. And perfection is what God requires. We have no hope on our own strength. We need the gift of God that comes only by faith in Christ Jesus.

We get that.

But then it is oh so easy to try to grow in our Christian lives through works instead of continuing to rely on faith.

In his sermon Can You Begin by the Spirit and Be Completed By the Flesh?, John Piper agrees with Paul that the answer is a resounding "No!"....
Since we began by the work of the Spirit, we must go on relying on the Spirit. The essence of the Galatian heresy is the teaching that you begin the Christian life by faith, and then you grow in the Christian life by works, that is, by drawing on powers in yourself to make your contribution to salvation. One modern form of the heresy is: "God helps those who help themselves." If you buy into that as a way of advancing in the Christian life, you have put works where faith belongs. Faith is the only response to God's Word which makes room for the Spirit to work in us and through us. Flesh, on the other hand, is the insubordinate, self-determining ego which in religious people responds to God's Word not with reliance on the Spirit but with reliance on self. It can produce a very rigorous morality, but it nullifies grace and removes the stumbling block of the cross.

I hope you can see that the essential mark of a Christian is not how far you have progressed in sanctification, but on what you are relying to get there. Are you striving for sanctification by works? Or are you striving for sanctification by faith? (Note well the issue in verse 3 is how to be completed, i.e., sanctification.) Are you advancing in the life of love by the power of the Spirit? Or are you trying to love in the power of the flesh, that is, by your own works?

OK, but how does that work itself out in our lives, practically speaking? Piper goes on to describe an acronym he uses....

APTAT: A—Acknowledge your inability to do good on your own. P—Pray for divine enablement. T—Trust the promises of God for help and strength and guidance. A—Act in obedience to God's Word. T—Thank God for whatever good comes....

Through the Spirit (not the flesh), by faith (not works), we wait for the hope of righteousness. Only when that is true can we say, "I am sure that the one who began a good work in me, he (and he alone!) will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6).

Prayer
Dear Lord, we thank you for your saving grace that we can receive through faith in Christ Jesus and Christ alone. Lord, we acknowledge our tendency to think we can achieve sanctification through our own strength, but Lord, we cannot. Again, we acknowledge our inability to do good on our own and we ask for Your help as we trust in Your promises. We commit to acting in obedience to Your Word and thank You for the good You are able to accomplish through us and give You all the glory. Amen.

Tomorrow's passage: Galatians 3:24-6:18, Acts 15:1-21