Brethren, we must always give thanks to God where you are concerned, which is correct, because your faith grows so much and your love for each other grows, to the point that we glorify ourselves in you in the churches of God, in view of . of your perseverance and your faith, in all your persecutions and in the tribulations that you suffer, a clear sign of the just judgment of God, so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which, in truth, you are suffering. ; If, indeed, it is right before God that you must pay tribulation to those who afflict you and others who are afflicted, relieve with us, when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven with the angels of his power, in flames of fire, take revenge of those who do not know God and of those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, banished from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his power, when he comes to be glorified in his saints and admired by all who believed on that day (because our testimony has been believed among you) . . Therefore, we do not stop praying for you, so that our God will make you worthy of your vocation and fulfill with power every goal of goodness and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you, in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 1: 3-12).
I preached in this text on the last Sunday of 1985, I did not know that I discovered in verses 11 and 12 the foundations of what would become one of our most practical and important theological marks of the thirty years, that is, living by faith in grace future So what I would like to do here is summarize these two verses and then detail what it means to live through faith in future grace and how faith in future grace becomes the channel of God’s power in your life.
There are eight absolutely crucial things to note in Paul’s prayer
First, there is God’s call. Verse 11: “That our God may make you worthy of His call. “This call is our glorious destiny in the kingdom and in the glory of God. This is what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2:12: “We exhort you, comfort you, and urge you to live in a way worthy of God, who calls you to his kingdom and glory. “Your call is to own the kingdom of God and share the glory of God, as we will see a little later.
Second, we are worthy of God’s call. Verse 11: “May our God make you worthy of his call. “Being worthy doesn’t mean being worthy. This means being suitable, appropriate or adapted by the courage of another, so we would say, I need to repair this piece because the Queen of England will stay with us and the coin must be worthy of her majesty. , adequate and appropriate. She didn’t decide to come because the room is beautiful. The room should be beautiful as you approach. In this way we become fit for our call to the kingdom and to the glory of God.
Thirdly, good resolutions are applied. Verse 11: “That our God may make you worthy of your vocation and carry out with power every goal of goodness. “Christian life is a life of resolve, planning, purpose and intent. We have spirit and will, and God expects you to use them to form resolutions, plans, and goals, according to His will. These resolutions must be respected, but how?
This is the fourth thing: by the power of God. Verse 11: “That is why we always pray for you, may our God make you worthy of your vocation, and fulfill all the desires of your goodness and the work of faith with power. “If our resolutions were fulfilled with our power, we would gain glory. But in a moment it will be clear that God intends to attain glory by fulfilling our good resolutions. Therefore, he fulfills them with his power, not ours. , our duty is to exploit his power.
This is the fifth thing: by faith. Verse 11: “That our God may make you worthy of his vocation and to carry out with power every purpose of goodness and work of faith”. When God makes a good resolution, it becomes a work of faith, because the means by which we receive the power to at achieve resolution and turn it into an act is faith. So the act, work or action is called the?Work of faith? Or? Act of faith or “action of faith”. Then, on God’s part, resolution became an act by the power of God. And for our part, resolution has become an action by faith – faith in this power. Through faith, we trust in God by the power to at achieve resolution, and by that power, through that faith, resolution has become an act or a work, a work of faith. This sin has been overcome. Justice has been fulfilled, because we look to God and all its powerful effects on our lives.
The sixth thing to see in this text is that the name of Jesus is glorified when the power of God fulfills our resolutions and by faith transforms them into actions. Verse 12: “That the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you. “In other words, God fulfills our purposes by his power through our faith, so that the name of Jesus may be glorified. This presupposes that God’s power comes to us for Jesus. Because Jesus died for us, the power of God is no longer against us, but for us. So when this power allows us to turn our resolutions into acts of love, Jesus and the Father receive glory.
Seventh, Jesus is not only glorified in us, but we are glorified in Him. Verse 12: “That the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him. “In other words, because Jesus prides himself on acquiring God’s power to be worthy of our call, we are also glorified. And the day will come when this slow process in this world will be completed in the blink of an eye, and “we will be saved so as not to sin any more. “it is the call to which we have made it dignified and appropriate.
Finally, eighth, this whole process of being worthy of our call, of fulfilling our good resolutions, and doing good works through faith in the power of God, is “according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ”. Verse 12 : “That the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ”. Everything was done for free. The power of God that comes to us, at all times, fulfilling our purposes in works of faith is the power of grace.
Let me now gather the eight parts in the order in which they actually occur. Paul concluded with the foundation of all the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s start with the foundation and build the structure of Christian life. with these eight parts. If you’re a Christian, this is your life.
It all begins and is based on God’s grace. This grace is expressed in God’s power to his children. See verse 11: “with power. ” This power of grace that God wields for his children is appropriate, received, and used by faith. The way we experience God’s power is by trusting that He is all we need for good resolutions to become actions of faith.
The effect of this power, when we trust it, is to fulfill our purposes for good and transform them into acts, actions, to what it calls works of faith; thus, the life of the Christian is lived by faith. Christianity is not a religion of will.
We want things, we make resolutions, we plan, we set goals, but when we commit ourselves to our will to act, we turn to God, and we appreciate, love, and trust that we will be given power to achieve resolution.
Therefore, we are worthy of our vocation. A life of God-dependent obedience is an appropriate or appropriate life for our call to the kingdom and the glory of God, and being made worthy is the first step for us to be fully glorified in Christ and Christ to be fully glorified through us.
So when you step back and look at these two verses, they are an astonishing picture of Christian life and the meaning of existence. Everything flows from God’s free grace in Christ. And everything goes to God’s fullest glory in us and through us. And between the foundation of grace and the purpose of glory is the power of grace that comes into our lives daily by faith, transforming daily resolutions and plans and purposes into acts of faith, and adjusting to them. Glory, long live these worms!
This is your Christian life. Every day, every hour, should you immerse yourself in the flow of God’s grace to awaken you to the fulfillment of your good purposes, so that as you become increasingly worthy of your call?Fit for your kingdom and glory? Jesus receives more and more glory in his life.
Now let me take a step back and extract these two verses, this incredible picture of the Christian life. what I mean by the theological mark of thirty years of life by faith in future grace, because what I mean is here, explicitly or implicitly.
Grace in the New Testament, as we have seen, is not only God’s will to do us good when we do not deserve it:an undeserved favor. It is also a power of God that acts in our lives and makes good things happen in us and for us. Did Paul say we keep our good resolutions?(verse 11). And then add to the end of verse 12, “according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. “This power that truly acts in our lives to make possible the obedience that exalts Christ is an extension of God’s grace.
You can also see it in 1 Corinthians 15:10:? But, by the grace of God, I am who I am; and his grace, which was granted to me, was not in vain; Before I worked much more than everyone; however, not me, but the grace of God with me? Therefore, grace is an active, present, and transforming power that enables obedience.
Therefore, this grace, which grants you the power of God in an instant, has happened and is future, has already done something for you or in you and therefore has happened, and is about to do something for you and for you. , and is this the future? five seconds and five million years.
God’s grace always falls through the cascade of the present, from the inexhaustible river of grace that comes from the future to the ever-increasing reservoir of grace in the past. For the next five minutes, you will receive a sustained grace that will sink you. of the future, and will accumulate another five minutes of grace in the deposit of the past.
Is the proper response to the grace you have experienced in the past gratitude?A deeply humble and transformative spirit in itself. And the correct answer to the grace promised to them in the future is faith. We are grateful for past grace and trust in future grace. This is where I have the idea of faith in future grace. This is what Paul speaks of in 2 Thessalonians. 2: 11-12. We do our good purposes by the power of grace, coming back and second, while trusting that God will, based on the work of Christ; and so we live these moments by faith in the constant arrival of future grace.
Isn’t it wrong to say that we trust in past grace?like the grace God showed us on the cross and in our new birth?but what we mean by that is: do we believe it because of these past acts of grace?the cross and the new birth?a river of future grace will never cease to flow to us for eternity.
I just finished reading this week in my devotions:?Can [Christ] totally save those who approach God through him, and still live to intercede for them?(Heb 7. 25). Christ died for us and lives for us, and because his death is a perfect rescue and his life is totally providential, grace will never cease to flow to us, so trusting in past grace means gaining confidence in future grace.
Thus, although our faith is based on decisive acts of redeeming grace of the past, the way in which faith works at every moment to transform our good works into acts of purity and love (patience, kindness, meekness, kindness, fidelity, self-control). is to look up and forward at the infinite source of grace that comes to us through a river of promises for every moment of the day. We live by faith in the ever-present power of future grace.
Here’s another aspect of this thirty-year-old theological mark: When do we talk about faith in future grace?We want to be satisfied with all that God promises to be for us in Christ. Jesus said, “Anyone who believes in me never be thirsty?(Jo 6:35). In other words: believing in me means receiving me as the one who quenches the thirst of your soul. Satisfy us with all that God promises to be to us in Christ.
Faith is not only a serious nod to the truth of God’s promises, it is also a satisfying embrace of Christ in these promises. When Paul says, “Yes, I really regard everything as a loss, because of the sublime knowledge of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:8), means that Christ satisfies him at every moment and in every situation. “I learned to live happily in all situations. I know how to be humiliated and honest; of all and in all circumstances, I already have the experience, both of abundance and of hunger; abundance and scarcity; Can I do everything for the One who strengthens me?(Philippians 4:11-13).
Paul’s happy? In all circumstances. As? Because he learned a secret, what?I learned to trust him to strengthen me at every moment. “All I can for the One who strengthens me. ” The future grace of all that God is to me in Christ, reaching every moment of my life, in all circumstances, for every need is sufficient. That’s a good one. I am happy. This is what we mean by faith in future grace.
Thus, when Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1. 11 that God fulfills our good resolutions by his power by our faith according to his grace, he means that we defeat sin and do what is right by faith in future grace, that is: to be satisfied with all that God promises to be for us in Christ in the next five minutes , five weeks, five months, five years, five decades, five centuries and five million ages.
That is why God increases our daily faith in his inexhaustible future grace, bought with blood and exalting Christ!