All About Grace

A few days ago I found myself immersed in Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus and in need of more light on some passages than my mind was able to provide.  I went to a set of commentaries I carried with me out of retirement that were written by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones who was born in Wales in 1900 and died 81 years later.  He left a lucrative career as a physician when he was a young man to become a preacher.  He served as an associate with G. Campbell Morgan for five years before becoming the sole minister of Westminster Chapel.  His commentaries reflect his reputation as a strong expository preacher.   

As he explored the Ephesian phrase, "In Christ we have redemption through His blood,"  (Ephesians 1:7),  he speaks a word which needs to be heard by our contemporary brand of Christianity which wants to puts too much emphasis on what we can do and not enough on what God has done and is doing.  He reminds us that this is a word which reminds us we can never make ourselves Christian.  It is always about what Christ has done for us.  He also reminds us that Jesus did not come to tell us what we have to do in order to make ourselves Christian,  Neither did He come to tell us that God forgives us and loves us.  The cross is not a statement that God is ready to forgive us, but instead, that He has forgiven us.  

In a culture so caught up in fixing ourselves and staying busy with one activity after another, it is is not easy to hear a word which tells us that our relationship with God is not based on what we are able to, what we do for Him, or what we are planning to do, but upon what He has done and is doing for us.  It is not our faith that saves us, but God's grace.  Without grace, faith is like leaves blowing in the wind.  "For by grace you have been saved..."  Faith is not the primary means of salvation, it is and always will be grace.