“Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord” (Romans 12:10-11).
Many people today seem to be utterly confused when it comes to the question of how to live the Christian life. On the one hand, there are many people who say that since we are redeemed by grace then we are no longer under the Law and can now live as we please; this is called license. On the other hand, there are those who say that Jesus redeemed us by grace, but we must also keep the Law if we will be saved; this is called legalism. However, the Bible condemns both positions. Yes, we are saved completely by the grace of God without any merit of ours, but we are redeemed to live a life of thankful obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we do this by obeying His Word (John 14:15, 15:14; Eph. 2:10). Thankful obedience is neither license nor legalism. Romans chapter 6 makes it abundantly clear that believers are redeemed from being slaves of Satan and sin in order to become the slaves of Christ and of righteousness.
You see, we are not redeemed to do our own will or go our own way; rather we are redeemed to be conformed into the image of Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:29), and it was Christ who said to the Father, “Not my will, but Thy will be done.” And again, “Behold, I have come; in the volume of the book it is written of Me; to do Your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:7). The Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 86, says it this way, “Since then we are redeemed from our misery by grace through Christ, without any merit of ours, why should we do good works? Because Christ, having redeemed us by His blood, also renews us by His Holy Spirit after His own image, that with our whole life we show ourselves thankful to God for His blessing, and also that He be glorified through us; then also, that we ourselves may be assured of our faith by the fruits thereof; and by our godly walk win also others to Christ.” And the answer to question 64 tells us that “it is impossible that those who are implanted into Christ by true faith should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness.”
In our text, the Apostle Paul exhorts every believer to live a genuine life of love and avoid the hypocrisy of the unbelieving world. Because believers have received the mercies of God (Rom. 12:1), the apostle tells us to hate evil, love good, be zealous in service to the Lord, walk in hope, be patient in tribulation, continue in prayer, and be given to hospitality. And all these verbs in the Greek text are present tense, which means continual action. Certainly, these are virtues every believer desires more and more in his life because they demonstrate a life of true thankfulness to the Lord of our salvation. Nevertheless, we must always remember that the Christian life is lived out of thankfulness to the Lord because of His great mercy towards us. Christ has justified us completely by His perfect law-abiding life and perfect sin-atoning death, and so our hope, trust, and confidence must always rest in what Jesus has done and not upon what we do. This truth motivates true faith in Christ to respond with a life of thankful obedience.
Do you understand your Christian duty to live a life of good works (Titus 3:8, 14) because you are one redeemed by the precious blood of Christ? You see, as believers we are called to live a life of good works NOT to become the children of God, but because we are already the blood bought, purchased possession of Jesus Christ, and it is through Him that we are adopted as the dear children of God. Therefore, get busy glorifying the Lord who bought you by your diligent use of words and your faithful deeds of kindness so that “men may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
Tuesday Encouragement: December 1, 2020
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry