“Am I good enough for God to love me?”
“Can I be a Christian even though I [insert your failing here]?”
“I don’t have enough self-discipline to be ‘holy.’”
If you’ve ever said any of these things, you’re in the right place.
I can guarantee you that almost every person around you in the church has said these things. And, if you can find someone who hasn’t said them, they need to even more than you do.
One of the greatest misunderstandings that keeps people away from God is the mistaken belief that righteousness is a pre-condition—but nothing could be further from the truth.
Jesus said in Luke, chapter 5, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
In Psalm 51:17, David writes, “My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.”
His sin he wrote that about wasn’t some minor transgression, but having committed the worst offenses possible against people who were loyal to him and trusted him.
Again and again in the Old Testament, God speaks through the prophets to remind the people that the sacrifice he wants isn’t a slaughtered animal, but a broken spirit. God seems to find joy in healing and restoring wholeness.
Yes, Christians believe in doing good works: works of piety through which we worship and serve God, and works of mercy through which we love and serve God’s creation. But those works do not and cannot earn us salvation or God’s love—God’s love is his free gift to us.
We use the word “grace” a lot. Think of grace as a gift given, not only with no strings attached, but to someone who has nothing to give in return.
Many of the “gifts” we give come with the expectation or recognition of something we may receive or have received.
We give gifts to people who love us and make us happy. We give gifts to people who are in a position to make our lives better. We give gifts to people who have given us things or blessed us in some way.
Grace, though, is a gift given to someone who has nothing to give in return, and to whom no obligation is owed. That is the kind of giving God offer us.
As Paul said in Romans, chapter 11, “And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”
Knowing that you’re not good enough to earn God’s love is the first step toward accepting it.
– Rev. Mark Fleming
This is part of a sermon/reading series in July-August, 2024, looking at some core Christian beliefs, along with distinctive emphases of the Methodist branch of Christianity.
The daily readings are my own, but they are loosely based on the topics covered in the Catechism of the Global Methodist Church. The column at the right contains the questions from the catechism and the sources it lists.
You can find the full catechism and other information about the Global Methodist Church at globalmethodist.org.
I invite you to join us for worship and other church gatherings at China Methodist Church and Forest Park Methodist Church.
Respectful conversation is welcome. Use the comment section at the end of this post.
18. Are we made righteous by works?
No. We are never made righteous inwardly nor accounted righteous before God through our works or merit.
Luke 5:32 “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Romans 3:21-30 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
Romans 4:2-5 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God.What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.
Romans 11:6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
Galatians 2:15-16 “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”
Ephesians 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Titus 2:14 … who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.
Titus 3:4-7 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Confession of Faith, Article IX* We believe we are never accounted righteous before God through our works or merit, but that penitent sinners are justified or accounted righteous before God only by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
We believe regeneration is the renewal of man in righteousness through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, whereby we are made partakers of the divine nature and experience newness of life. By this new birth the believer becomes reconciled to God and is enabled to serve him with the will and the affections. We believe, although we have experienced regeneration, it is possible to depart from grace and fall into sin; and we may even then, by the grace of God, be renewed in righteousness.
*From the Confession of Faith of the Evangelical United Brethren Church, a predecessor denomination of the Global Methodist Church