Text:  Ephesians 2:1-10

Introduction:  Many people in the world today are hoping to go to heaven by their own efforts to live a good life.  Ephesians 2:1-10 is a primary biblical text on this subject, and it can be summarized in only two points.

1. We Are Not Saved By Doing Good Works (vv. 1-9).  Without Christ we are dead in our transgressions and sins (v. 1-2), gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature (v. 3).  But God’s rich mercy made us alive by His grace (v 4-5).  We have been raised up with Christ and seated in heavenly places (v. 6), so that in the future we’ll experience the incomparable wealth of heaven (v. 7).  And it is all by grace, not by works (v. 8-9).
2. We Are Saved To Do Good Works (v. 10).  Having been saved by grace, we are God’s workmanship, designed to do those good works that God prepared in advance for us to do.  We are not saved by doing good works; we are saved to do good works!

Conclusion:  Notice how perfectly this passage parallels Titus 3:3-8.  Without Christ we were foolish, living in pleasure, passion, malice, and hatred.  But the kindness and love of God our Father appeared, and He saved us, not by works that we have done but according to His mercy.  He saved us that those of us who have trusted in God may be careful to devote ourselves to doing good works.  Good works prove our faith and let our light shine before men, that our Father might be glorified (Matthew 5:16).  What good works have you and  I done today, this week, this month?

For the entire sermon, click here.

I’ve been in Southern Illinois much of the week, preaching at a well-attended joint FWB conference there; but away from the internet and unable to blog.  I’m happy to report that during my time there I managed to write my annual short story for TDF’s Christmas Eve service.  I’m back in Nashville now, and I wanted to post these pictures in my journal.  It’s a handful of our wedding photos, for today’s our 33rd wedding anniversary.

I had stumbled through the world’s worst proposal, and Katrina had accepted.  Truth was, we didn’t know one another all that well, and we finally decided we’d just get married and see what would happen.  On the last week of August, 1976, I laid down in the backseat of my parents’ car for the trip to New England.  I’d injured my back (from a sneeze of all things) and had been in excruciating pain.  We drove from Roan Mountain to somewhere in Pennsylvania, and then on to South Paris, Maine, the next day, where we checked into Goodwin’s Motel.  I went for long walks in the cemetery across the street, trying to loosen up my back and figure out what I was doing.  By the time of the wedding, I was a nervous wreck, and throughout the ceremony I shook like a man with Parkinson’s disease.  There was a luncheon after the ceremony, than Katrina and I took off for Canada.  We spent our first night in Montreal, our second in Toronto, and our remaining time in Niagara Falls.  Our wedding pictures were destroyed when our house burned down two years later, but someone salvaged some proofs for us, a few of which I’m posting here.

Katrina is the world’s one-and-only perfect woman for me!  We’re celebrating at home tonight.  I think I’m going to fix one of our favorite meals—creamed chicken over rice with biscuits, and perhaps one of Julia Child’s cakes for dessert, or maybe a pie from one of the butternut squash in the garden.

Happy anniversary, Katrina!  I love you!

[View with PicLens]

From this morning’s sermon: 

One of the most famous books in American history is Noah Webster’s Spelling Book.  It was used to teach spelling and reading to five generations of American students.  His books on spelling, reading, and grammar shaped the consciousness of Americans for 100 years. 

Webster was a committed Christian, and his books were grounded in Christian truth and thinking.  He believed that education was useless without the Bible.  The very first lesson in his spelling book began:  “Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor for your body, what ye shall put on; for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.”

In his American Spelling Book, Webster used a question-and-answer format.  This is the way that children once learned to read and write and think.  There is a section of cheerfulness in the Webster Speller:

Q:  Is cheerfulness a virtue?

A:  It doubtless is, and a moral duty to practice it.

Q:  Can we be cheerful when we please?

A:  In general it depends much on ourselves.  We can often mold our tempers into a cheerful frame….  To indulge in habitual gloominess of mind is weakness and sin.

Q:  What are the effects of cheerfulness on ourselves?

A:  Cheerfulness is a great preservative of health, over which it is our duty to watch with care.  We have no right to sacrifice our health by the indulgence of a gloomy state of mind….

Q:  What are the effects of cheerfulness on other?

A:  Cheerfulness is readily communicated to others, by which means their happiness is increased.

 I’m not sure that message is getting out to children anymore, but we’re here to say it.  The Bible says, “Be joyful always,” and that’s not just a recommendation, it’s a rule.  There’s a tremendous amount of good that comes from memorizing and meditating on 1 Thessalonians 5:16:  Be joyful always!

PS – There’s a very encouraging article referring to my book, The Red Sea Rules, here:  One Family Answers Their Kids’ Questions ABout Cancer.

Was it a coincidence or was the Lord trying to get someone’s attention?

Powerful winds gusted through Minneapolis yesterday, and a tornado touched down on the city’s Convention Center where leaders of America’s largest Lutheran denomination began debating whether to ordain gay men and lesbians.  The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) is moving to permit noncelibate (sexually active) gay men and women to serve as pastors.  The tornado hit the building on the same afternoon (yesterday) that a vote was scheduled to relax the rules on gay couples in the church.

“I’m sick to my stomach,” said a Lutheran pastor from Charleston, West Virginia, who opposes the policy change.  “I do not believe that our church can condone what God has condemned.”

John Piper, who pastors a church in Minneapolis, called the tornado a “gentle but firm warning to the ELCA and all of us:  Turn from the approval of sin.  Turn from the promotion of behaviors that lead to destruction.  Reaffirm the great Lutheran heritage of allegiance to the truth and authority of Scripture.”

The ancient patriarch Job listened attentively to the voice that spoke from the whirlwind in Job 38, but many in the ELCA seems to think their tornado was only so much wind.

This story is all over the wire, but you can read a concise account here.

Today in Tampa I went for a morning run.  Halfway through, I took a deep, inhaling breath and closed my mouth, pressing my lips together.  At that moment, a monster bug of some sort flew into my face and smacked me in the lips. 

“Lord,” I said instinctively, “thank you for shutting my mouth!”

Then this thought came to me:  Maybe I’d be better off if I could offer that prayer more often!

This week I’m in Tampa, speaking at the Bible-Based Fellowship Church of Temple Terrace, a lively, friendly, Bible-loving church of mostly African-American worshippers, led by a terrific pastor named Earl Mason, who is a joy to me.  The meetings run through tomorrow night; so if you’re in the Tampa area, come on by!

Recently I was pleased to receive a new printing of my book, Jesus Loves Me, which has now been released as a beautifully-illustrated paperback (if you’d like to purchase a copy you can click this link).  Perhaps it’s the cover, but many people assume this book is for children.  Well, children will enjoy it; but it’s really an adult book — a biography of two remarkable sisters named Anna and Susan Warner.

As children, the Warner girls watched their family’s wealth evaporate in the financial collapse of 1837.  Losing their mansion in New York City, the family was forced to move into a ramshackled house on the Hudson River, across from the Military Academy at West Point.  There the girls grew up exploring, reading, and working the land.  They eventually realized their family was in perpetual debt, so they began writing and selling stories.  In time, Anna and Susan became two of the most popular writers of the Civil War era.

It was in one of their books they created the words to the hymn, “Jesus Loves Me.”  But today I’d like to share another hymn they wrote.  A beloved minister, Pastor Adams, told the sisters he was very weary, having preached three times that day, conducted Sunday School, led a prayer meeting and a class meeting, and cared for his people from early morning until late afternoon.  But, he said, it was one more day’s work for Jesus.  Shortly afterward, the sisters sent him awonderful poem and hymn.  Here is the first verse and chorus.  It speaks of our daily mission of serving Christ:

One more day’s work for Jesus,
One less of life for me!
But Heav’n is nearer, and Christ is clearer
Than yesterday, to me.
His love and light fill all my soul tonight.

One more day’s work for Jesus,
One more day’s work for Jesus,
One more day’s work for Jesus,
One less of life for me!

I haven’t blogged or twittered this week due to spending a few days in Roan Mountain.  I’d hoped to hike; wrote instead.  But I wanted to post the outline for tomorrow’s sermon for this week’s journal entry.   This could be a ten-point sermon, Bible lesson, Sunday School study, or personal devotion.  Or it could be the basis of a short series of sermons, even a Christmas series (if based on the angel’s message of “Good tidings of great joy”).   It came from my looking up all 218 verses that contain the word “joy” in the NIV.  (I didn’t look up related terms like rejoce, cheer, happiness, gladness, etc.  These are just from the usages of the word “joy” in the Bible).

When the Bible uses the word joy, it isn’t referring to positive thinking, or walking on the sunny side of the street, or calling the glass half full, or knowing that every cloud has a silver lining.  It’s not describing a temporary feeling of euphoria.  All those things may be the outworkings of true joy.  But when the writers of Scripture used the word joy they were talking about an eternal, essential attribute of God Himself. 

Joy is the way God is.  Joy is a character trait of God, as we see Him revealed in the Bible.  As a result, joy is an essential element of vibrant Christianity.  Romans 14:17 says:  For the kingdom of God is… joy in the Holy Spirit.  Galatians 5:22:  The fruit of the Spirit is… joy.  Peter said:  Though you do not see Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy (1 Peter 1:8).  There are 218 occurrences of the word joy in the New International Version of the Bible.  When we take the time to look up these verses, here are ten facts that we could call Ten Buttons on the Jacket of Joy.

1.  Joy is the Air God Breathes
Joy is the atmosphere in which God lives.  First Chronicles 16:25 says:  Splendor and majesty are before Him, strength and joy in His dwelling place.

2.  Joy is the Atmosphere of God’s Creation
Job 28:4-7 tells us that the angels shouted for joy as God created the earth.  Psalm 65 says that sunrise and sunset call for songs of joy.  Psalm 96 says:  The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved… Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them.  Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy.  Psalm 98 says:  Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music… Shout for joy before the Lord, the King.  Let the sea resound and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.  Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy….  God is a God of joy, and joy vibrates through all the created order.

3.  Joy is the Oxygen of the Christan Life
1 Chronicles 29:22 says of the worshippers in Solomon’s day:  They ate and drank with great joy in the presence of the Lord that day.  Psalm 16:11 says:  You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.  Psalm 21:6 says:  Surely You have granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of Your presence.  Luke 10:21 says about Jesus, He was full of joy through the Holy Spirit.  Romans 15:13 says:  May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

4.  Joy is a Characteristic of Corporate Worship
Psalm 100 says:  Make a joyful noise before the Lord, all ye lands.  Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.  Know ye that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and now we ourselves.  We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.  In Nehemiah 12, we read:  The choirs sang under the direction of Jezrahiah.  And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy.  The women and children also rejoiced.  The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.

5.  Joy Increases as We Grasp God’s Word
The prophet Jeremiah, who was melancholy by nature and who lived in truly tragic times said:  Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your Word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart—Jeremiah 15:16 (NKJV).  In John 15:11 (NKJV), Jesus told His disciples:  These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.   Nehemiah 8:12 says:  Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them, referring to Ezra’s teaching of the Law and of the Word of God.  Psalm 19:8 says:  The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.  And Psalm 119:111-120 says:  Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.  My heart is set on keeping Your decrees to the very end.

6.  God’s Joy Energizes Our Daily Lives
Nehemiah 8:8, which says:  The joy of the Lord is your strength.

7.  Troubles Can Dampen Our Joy, but Prayer and Faith Renew It
Life can knock the breath out of us like a bad fall; but Christians have a way of soon loosening our lungs again and breathing in the oxygen of joy.  Psalm 94:18-19 are great verses on this subject:  When I said, “My foot is slipping,” Your love, O Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, Your consolation brought joy to my soul.  Psalm 28 is another good example.  At the beginning of that Psalm, the writer is frantic.  He says:  To you I call, O Lord my Rock; do not turn a deaf ear to me.  For if you remain silent, I will be like those who have gone down to the pit….  But during the course of this Psalm, this man prays his way through his problem, he regains the footing of faith, and by here is the way the Psalm ends :  The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song.  In John 16, Jesus said:  I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices.  You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.  A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come, but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.  So with you:  Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and your will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.  In that day you will no longer ask Me anything.  I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in My name.  Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. As and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

8.  Sin Can Short-Circuit our Joy, but Confession and Repentance Can Restore It
Psalm 107:  Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.  They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress.  He sent forth His word and healed them; He rescued them from the grave.  Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds to men.  Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of His works with songs of joy.  Psalm 51 is the prayer of deep contrition and repentance that David composed after his sin of immorality.  Down in the interior of the Psalm, he said:  Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation….

9.  We Should Spread our Joy to Others
Joy is a very contagious attitude.  If there is one joyful person in a household, that home will be uplifted.  If there is one joyful person in a church, that church will be strengthened.  The apostle Paul wrote to his friend, Philemon:  I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints.  I pray that you will be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.  Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the heart of the saints.

10.  Joy Begins When We Receive Jesus Christ as Savior
The Christmas song of the angels was this:  Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!

Last year, my son-in-law, Joshua Rowe, and I visited Assisi, Italy, to study the life of Francis.  While there, I picked up a local biography of the famous saint, and here’s a story culled from its pages:

One day a man named Masseo asked St. Francis of Assisi, “I wonder why the whole world runs after you more than others, and everyone wants to see and hear and obey you?  You are not fair of body, or deeply learned, or of noble birth.  Why does the whole world run after you?”

When Frances heard this, he rejoiced and turned his eyes toward heaven and stood a long time with his soul lifted up to God.  When he had come to himself, he knelt down and gave thanks and praise to God.  Then turning to Brother Masseo, he said:

“Do you want to know why this happens to me?  I know it from the all-highest God who sees the good and bad in all the earth.  His most holy eyes have nowhere seen a greater, a more miserable, poorer sinner than I.  Because in the whole world He found no more wretched being to do the wonderful work He wishes to done, therefore He has chosen me, so as to put to shame the noble and the great, strength and beauty and worldly wisdom; that all may know that power and virtue come from Him alone, and not from any creature, and that no one can exalt themselves before His face.”

[Adapted from the Life of St. Francis of Assisi by Nesta De Robeck (Assisi, Italy:  Casa Editrice Francescana Frati Minori Conventuali, 2000), 56].

Well, this has been a demanding week, with one book deadline (met in the nick of time), one out-of-town trip (an overnight getaway), two deaths, two conversions, five sermons or Bible studies (if you count the Sundays on each end), and a handful of meetings, visits, and other routine obligations.  Thank goodness the topic for my sermon at TDF for tomorrow is on rejoicing in the Lord.  The passage is Philippians 4:4-9, which everyone on earth should know by heart.  Here’s an excerpt from the printed manuscript:

We may not be able to rejoice in our load, but we can rejoice in our Lord. You may have little joy in your situation, but you can rejoice in your Savior. You may be encased in shadows, but you can still walk in the light as He is in the light.

To rejoice in the Lord means that we rejoice in our unassailable, unchanging relationship with the Sovereign Lord and in His qualities, gifts, promises, and attributes.

• Deuteronomy 26:11 says we should rejoice in all the Lord’s good gifts.
• 2 Chronicles 6:41 says we should rejoice in God’s goodness.
• Psalm 9:14 says we should rejoice in His salvation.
• Psalm 31:7 says we should rejoice in His love.
• Psalm 89:16 says that we can rejoice in His name all day long.
• Psalm 119:14 tells us to rejoice in following His statutes as one rejoices in great riches.
• Psalm 119:162 tells us to rejoice in God’s promises.
• Isaiah 65:18 tells us to rejoice forever in what God has created.
• Jeremiah 31:12 tells us to rejoice in the bounty of the Lord.
• And Romans 5:2 tells us to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

So why be down in the dumps?  Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!

Today I’m happy to report that I am finally finishing a book project that has taken much more of my time and energy than anticipated.  The working title is “A Hymn a Day.”  It’s a selection of hymns for daily devotions, based on dates connected in some way with the hymns or their authors or composers.  The release date is a year off, but here’s a sample  — the installment for November 19:

I find it fascinating and comforting that the love of Jesus is described as being cube-shaped in Ephesians 3:18, perfect on all its sides, infinite in all its dimensions—long, high, wide, and deep.  Drawing from this verse, Samuel Trevor Francis, who was born in England on November 19, 1834, makes the love of Christ real to us in this immortal hymn.  His vivid image came from his own background.  As a child, Samuel wrote poems and sang in the church choir; but as a young man he struggled with questions and considered drowning himself in the River Thames.  Then he was wonderfully changed by a personal experience of the love of Christ.  He eventually became a London merchant; but his real love was hymn-writing and open-air preaching, which occupied him all his life, until his death at age 92.

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
’Tis an ocean full of blessing, ’tis a haven giving rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ’tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!

…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ that passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.—Ephesians 3:17-19