The right response to amazing grace?
Yet again last Sunday morning, we heard the testimony of someone who is a recipient of God’s amazing grace in Christ: The wonderful story of conviction of sin being amazingly met with forgiveness because Jesus has already taken all the punishment deserved on the cross. The stunning reality that His resurrection from the dead sealed the certainty of future hope. Redemption’s work is done again, as it is for every true Christian!
Yet, what is a right response to such amazing grace? We saw on Sunday morning that it’s to take the Lord Jesus seriously. That’s what the young man who shared his story with us was so eager to do as he was baptised. It’s the story we find all over the New Testament as men and women respond to God’s Grace in Christ. It’s what the Lord Jesus intended as He established the great commission:
Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt 28:18-20)
It would be easy to misunderstand the Gospel as spiritual soap: ‘come to get your sins washed away and go on your way’…. but that would be to deny His Lordship of our lives.
Instead, those who put their faith in Him have the opportunity to be disciples, with all that implies for the whole of our lives. It’s NOT that we are saved by grace and saved by works! Rather, we respond to grace by loving Him as Lord.
Spencer Shaw