Tag: works

Posted in theology

I’m not successful

Posted on by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

I read a good essay at The Master’s University site this morning. It’s a summary of Nathan Busenitz’s chapel sermon called “What Does it Mean to be Successful?“

“Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (Legacy Standard Bible). (2 Corinthians 5:9)

God cares about why we do things, not simply what we do. And this should change everything about how we pursue achievement because God Himself is the right measure of success. ~Nathan Busenitz

Source: What Does it Mean to be Successful?

I’ve thought a lot about the difference between secular success and Christian success over the years since I was saved. The article hit a home run with me.

Photo Source Unsplash – Štefan Štefančík

I was saved by grace at the age of 42, so I had a lot of years pursuing success in the secular world. I come from a well-heeled, highly successful family. Getting a Ph.D was a usual career path. My immediate family and extended family is full of high powered entrepreneurs, doctors, professors, and Silicon Valley software Google engineers. One cousin got into MENSA, the genius group. They’re all ‘wicked smaht’ as they say in New England.

So there is a lot of pressure to follow the family expectations. Which is a good thing. They pursue excellence, and they were fortunate enough to be able to afford Ivy league Higher Education and other great colleges to attain their goals. I’m proud of them.

I’m mimicking Paul’s defense now, (Philippians 3:3-6, Acts 22:3-5)-

I was on that path too. I was tapped to write a booklet for Brown University and it was published. As a Grad Student I was asked to co-write a piece for The Reading Teacher Journal and it was published. I was asked to be an Editorial Assistant for the University of Chicago’s National Association for the Study of Education 98th and 99th Annual Yearbook of Education Research and earned a credit in the foreword. I attained a 4.0 grade in my Master’s Degree in Education, and was vetted and pushed to continue into the Ph.D program. I founded and ran an award-winning newspaper, earning 2 New England Press Association awards for editorial writing and a 3rd for Advertising Excellence. I was trained by Bloomberg News. I was appointed by the Maine Senate to serve on a Maine State Legislative Committee to look into improving and protecting Maine’s Right to Know Laws. The recommendations of our committee were passed by the Legislature.

As a secular person, I was climbing the success ladder, earning credits, notoriety, and reputation. I thought I was good. Then I made the same discovery that Saul of Tarsus had made:

But whatever things were gain to me, these things I have counted as loss because of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them mere rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; if somehow I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:7-11).

I had potential. I was getting somewhere. I was becoming SOMEBODY. Only…outside of Christ we are nobody. We are pagans, wallowing in the mud, even lower than the pigs.

Christ came to serve. As a newly minted Christian I prepared to do the same. What I achieved before I must count as rubbish.

The very definition of my job now, is support. I serve. I serve kids in the classroom and the teacher I support. I am a Teacher’s Aide, a lowly job compared to the heights of others jobs I had potential to reach, and expectations to do so. However, Christ’s expectations are that we humble ourselves, be content in the arenas in which He desires to put us, and to serve in whatever fashion He may have readied us for.

Some serve in the heights. I am designated to serve in the lowlands, what would be considered a failure by world standards. A job where a full college degree isn’t required. In fact, I was rejected for a job as a teacher’s aide in another school when I first applied, they said I was overqualified. And I was…I am. But that is according to the world’s standards.

Pride is a deadly sin, infecting us thoroughly from birth. It was even found in the pure and righteous heaven, the place where glory dwells, in Lucifer’s heart. He was the guardian of the throne of God, (Ezekiel 28), blameless in his ways, till pride was found in him. No longer content to serve, he promised ‘I will’ ascend higher than God. (Isaiah 14:13). He won’t.

It took a while to release attraction to the world’s definition of success and look unto God’s version of success. I was proud of “my” successes, “my” heights, until I wasn’t. I had done it for me, not for God.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism describes what we are to do while drawing breath here on earth:

Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?

A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, [a] and to enjoy him for ever. [b][a]. Ps. 86:9; Isa. 60:21; Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 6:20; 10:31; Rev.
4:11[b]. Ps. 16:5-11; 144:15; Isa. 12:2; Luke 2:10; Phil. 4:4; Rev.
21:3-4

Q. 2. What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?

A. The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, [a] is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him. [b][a]. Matt. 19:4-5 with Gen. 2:24; Luke 24:27, 44; 1 Cor. 2:13;
14:37; 2 Pet.1:20-21; 3:2, 15-16[b]. Deut. 4:2; Ps. 19:7-11; Isa. 8:20; John 15:11; 20:30-31;
Acts 17:11; 2 Tim. 3:15-17; 1 John 1:4

Nothing we do apart from God is worth anything, because we are NOT doing not for God or to glorify Him. In fact, Romans 1:18-21 says we do the opposite of glorify Him, on purpose,

Romans 1:22 has the result of this deadly suppression of the truth of our main job on earth,

For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened.

For 78-80 years of a usual female life span here in America, I could have gone along and been somebody. I could have, and would have, spending my lifetime cultivating reputation, accolades, personal satisfaction. And that would have been great- until I died.

And just as it is destined for people to die once, and after this comes judgment, (Hebrews 9:27).

What would I say to God? ‘I did it my way’? ‘It was fun while it lasted’? ‘I was making my legacy’? Our lives are but a vapor, and our legacy or reputation even less. It’s a few words carved on a headstone, one that after a few years is covered over with leaves and sunken crooked and obscured by frost heaves.

Where is their legacy? How is their reputation? What are their achievements? EPrata photo

The only reputation is Jesus’. The only legacy is His from the cross. The only way is His WAY.

Who am I? Who was Moses? Pharaoh’s daughter’s adopted son, rather than enjoying the riches of Egypt he was willing to suffer with his people instead, and thus was considered a friend of God and the most humble man on earth. His was a far better trade. Who was David? King of Israel, reputed warrior, yet content to dance nearly naked in public for joy in God’s mighty works. Who was Solomon? God personally said to him, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you” and Solomon answered by calling himself a little child and pleaded for wisdom to do right by God’s people. (1 Kings 3:9). Who was Paul? A Hebrew of Hebrews, attaining heights unusual for someone his age, from the reputable tribe of Benjamin, yet counted all his efforts for God prior to that moment on the road to Damascus as vile rubbish.

So who am I? No one. No one like Moses, David, Solomon, Paul. Make myself of no account and make much of Jesus.

Nobody…except a child of God. A person made in His image and given grace to repent and become adopted into His family. With a future bright with eternal bliss and joy, worshiping in the presence of the One True God. A woman given means to glorify Him in ways that hopefully actually glorify Him. Earning not an earthly, temporary, vaporous reputation, but one that will last in heaven as He resounds with the hoped-for welcome-to-heaven comment, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

The only good is from Him. The only service is to Him. And it’s enough.

Posted in encouragement, Uncategorized

Behold the Works!

Posted on by elizabethprata

On Sunday, our pastor was preaching through Galatians 5. Paul is reminding the Galatians about the grace that saved them, and how they have fallen away from it by adding works (of the Law-circumcision). Our pastor spent some time dwelling on this.

Galatians 5:2-6:

Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

At one point he was talking of how we must remember how utterly depraved we are in the sight of Jesus. Our sins are dirty, polluted, corrupted and our sins dirty, pollute and corrupt everything and anything we try to do for Jesus, unless we are saved by Grace. Even if we try to preach that salvation is grace PLUS works, it is still a dirty doing. People think they can be saved by works, or add works to grace, because they forget just how holy Jesus is, and how filthy we are. The Galatians certainly did.

Our pastor said it’s like a master artist, who had painted a glorious masterpiece, and someone came along and added to it. Someone thinks, “Let me just add to this…” and wrongly believes that Jesus will accept or even needs our help. How could we even possibly believe that even one atom of our help could be added to a work of Jesus and not immediately pollute it?

When he said that, it reminded me of the very real event that had occurred a few years ago in Spain. What happens when you have an old church, an elderly woman, and a fresco that needs restoring?

An elderly woman has unintentionally destroyed a valuable piece of artwork after she decided to ‘restore’ the painting herself. The painting was a 19th century Spanish fresco titled “Ecce Homo” by painter Elias Garcia Martinez. It was donated to the Centro de Estudios Borjanos in Borja, Spain, by the painter’s granddaughter, according to the Telegraph. The centro reportedly holds an extensive archive of regional religious paintings. The woman, a neighbor of the church reportedly in her 80s, thought she would save the church both time and money by restoring the painting herself. The Telegraph described the restoration as, “a botched repair where the intricate brush strokes of Martinez were replaced with a haphazard splattering of the octogenarian’s paint. Years of carefully calculated depth of expression simply washed out by copious amounts of red and brown.” (source)

Cecilia Ginenez, the octogenarian aforementioned, truly was sincere in her attempts to “help” the painting. She was not out to ruin it. But she thought more highly of her ability and works than she ought. And so, her results made the painting worse for the wear.

Three versions of Ecce Homo: left, the original version;
center, the deteriorated fresco; right, the attempted restoration by Cecilia Giménez

Wikipedia describes the event:

The Ecce Homo (Behold the Man) in the Sanctuary of Mercy church in Borja, Spain, is a fresco painted circa 1930 by the Spanish painter Elías García Martínez depicting Jesus crowned with thorns. …[I]ts fame derives from a good faith attempt to restore the fresco by Cecilia Giménez, an untrained elderly amateur, in 2012. The intervention reinterpreted the painting and made it look similar to a monkey, and for this reason it is sometimes known as Ecce Mono (Behold the Monkey).

No…we are saved by glorious grace alone. We do not add works to our salvation as part of the initial justification event. Afterward, of course, while we are being sanctified, we work for Jesus because we obey Him, we love Him, and we are grateful to Him. But before justification, our works are nothing but filthy rags, rubbish, dung, and counts for nothing toward righteousness. What a relief that Jesus does it ALL. Otherwise, take heed, or you will Behold the Monkey!

—————————————–
Further Reading:

What Role do Works have in Salvation?

Is Salvation by Faith Alone, or faith plus works?

Are we saved by faith alone, or do we need works, too?

Posted in encouragement, Uncategorized

Losing my salvation

Posted on by elizabethprata

John MacArthur has famously said on more than one occasion, “If I could lose my salvation, I would.” His comment is a succinct but devastatingly incisive statement about the fallenness of man. The fleshly part of man wants to be in control. It wants to be king of our lives. Even Christians who understand our own depravity and desire to work FOR God soon find that if they do not carefully reign in the flesh, that we are not participating in our own sanctification, but we’re bossing God around and replacing Him with the idol of works.

MacArthur wasn’t guessing when he said what he said. I’ts grounded in the bible. There is biblical precedent for his statement.

God instituted a Doctrine of Works. Don’t bristle. Stay with me. In Genesis 2, God told Adam,

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:15-16).

As Martyn Lloyd Jones said of the Doctrine of Works in his sermon “The Covenant of Grace in the Old Testament“, the Genesis verses are obviously a doctrine of works. God told Adam to–

–work the Garden
–keep the Garden
–not eat of the fruit.

The inheritance of the reward from God was entirely dependent upon what Adam did or did not do. This is works.

It failed.

It failed immediately and utterly. Adam failed to work correctly for his reward from God. Since we are all in Adam from the moment of birth, from the moment of conception even, (Romans 5:12, Psalm 51:5) we, too, will fail to please God with our works. (Hebrews 11:6).

Once again Lloyd Jones, “If man in a perfect position didn’t keep the covenant of works, then what is the point of God making a new Covenant of Works? And indeed He didn’t. He then made a Covenant of Grace.”

We cannot, cannot, inherit any reward from God based on our own works. We have proved this. It was tried, it failed, it’s done. God made a Covenant of Grace which is that we receive a reward from Him based on HIS choice, HIS will, HIS election, HIS grace. Our reward is all based on faith, and guess what? The faith we have is also a granted gift from Him. (Galatians 3:22). It is a faith that HE keeps for us and in us. It’s sealed. (2 Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13).

This knowledge of works v. faith has import for those who are in a works-based religion – which is to say everyone else in all other religions, even atheism. Mormons try to reach god through their covenant of works. Catholics try to pile up works so as to acquire enough to please God. Islam teaches “To those who believe and do deeds of righteousness hath Allah promised forgiveness and a great reward,” (Surah 5:9). And so on. And so on. And so on…

Our working out of our salvation through fear and trembling is a result of the sovereign choice of God to dispense faith and repentance to us. It’s based on our knowledge of the above, that our works while in the flesh count as filthy rags. It’s all Jesus, from start to finish, including His reward to us. We receive a glorified body so that we may no longer sin against Him. We become sons, adopted to His family, and thus co-heirs. We receive manifold and eternal mercies in heaven. Most of all we receive HIM. Jesus is our treasure. In His grace he shared Himself with us, gladly, voluntarily.

Praise God for the Covenant of Grace. Because, if I could lose my salvation, I would.

riches of his grace verse