The God Who Reveals: Part Three

Now this is where the rubber meets the road. This is where the story above meets us, The Village Community church, challenging us in our understanding and in our actions.

Romans 10:9 shows us the way to salvation as Paul writes “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” The problem is that far to often we begin and end here and pay very little attention to Christian duty. Now don’t get me wrong, resting in the wonders of our salvation, and remembering the work of Christ is not something that is bad but there is a problem when we fail to be moved into action by the knowledge of these things, when we fail to see that our justification is significant but so are our works.

Our works do not make us justified but it is clear in Scripture that those who are justified are known by their actions, just as those who are not justified are known by theirs. See Matthew 7:16-20.  Those who have truly believed would not only rest in the arms of their Savior but they would live by the very same Spirit that he did, loving as he did, preaching as he did.  

May be an illustration would help explain this better. The Christian stand as a tree, Christ the water that flows through the roots bringing life and refreshment. Though life has been brought to the tree the process does no stop there for the tree begins to show signs of having been refreshed, leaves and fruit begin to dangle form those limbs that were once dead and withering away.

The reality is that far too often, this is not the case for us. Far too often we find ourselves submitting to the yoke of fear and comfort, rather than submitting to the yoke of Christ, a yoke that is easy and a burden that is light.

So how do we fix this problem? This lack of completion of our duty is not one that can be fixed simply from working harder, or learning techniques, but one that can only be fixed if we return to the word of God and truly understand the judgment and estrangement that comes to those who do not believed. We must ask our selves if we truly love our neighbors if the answer is no, then we must pray that  our hearts  would be changed, softened, awaken to the point where we weep for our neighbors, pray for our neighbors, and plead with our neighbors to repent and be reconciled to God. Village Community Church this is our duty, our joy, or privilege!

Further Readings: Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God- Packer, Evangelism- Stiles

Grace and Peace

MC