When we met last week, we beat up on accountants.
Ripped up and trashed balance sheets.
        Had one unnamed fellow come up to me after church and said, "Ah, we got the brunt of it again." Almost felt sorry for him.... eh Peter?

        Seriously, though - the type of accounting that we trashed was the sort that insisted on weighing, balancing, valuing life according to what we put out. The line of thinking which claims that the more we do, the better the product, the more perfect we perform, the greater our value –
– to each other and to the Lord.

        We remembered what has to be one of the singularly most important words in the entire Christian faith – grace.
        Grace is what Jesus taught in Matthew 20's parable of workers in the vineyard. No matter what each puts out, at th end of the day there is an equal full day’s pay given to them - to each of them as a gift of the Vineyard owner from the goodness of His heart. In a way that makes no mathematical, no financial, no labour relations sense.
        No more sense than a father welcoming home a son who has trashed the family name, squandered his wealth, and made a total pig of himself.

Grace - telling us that:
Our standing with God is absolutely NOT related to what we DO.
        It has everything to do with who we ARE -
                - forgiven children of God, saved through Jesus and what HE DID.

Grace -
        God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.
                It’s what saves us.
                It’s what gives us hope for today.
                It’s what gives us purpose for tomorrow.
                It’s what joins us together as the family of Christ.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith... not by works, so that no one can boast." [Eph 2.8-9]
        It’s what takes the pressure off – totally off – the way we go about our living each day, each week, each year as a person proudly wearing the label "Christian" – "member of Christ’s family."
 

It is against the backdrop of grace that we can read v.10 of Ephesians 2 -
        "For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

And it is with this background of grace firmly planted in our minds and heart that we can read from the Heidelberg Catechism, Q/A 86. I’d invite you to join me in reciting the answer to this question:

86 Q. We have been delivered from our misery
by God's grace alone through Christ
and not because we have earned it:
why then must we still do good?

A. To be sure, Christ has redeemed us by his blood.
        But we do good because
        Christ by his Spirit is also renewing us to be like himself,
        so that in all our living
        we may show that we are thankful to God
        for all he has done for us,
        and so that he may be praised through us.

        And we do good
        so that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits,
        and so that by our godly living
        our neighbors may be won over to Christ.

"For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." [Eph 2.10]

God’s workmanship -
        We know God is an artist. Just have to look around at the spectacular Fall colours. Breath taking. Even more breath taking, though, is that the God who with magnificent might swept into place the galaxies, with delicate detail created tiny microorganisms and subatomic particles, and with amazing intricacy knit us together in our mother’s womb (Ps 139) --
        -- this God put a paintbrush into our hands.
                He, the Supreme Holy artist, calls us to be artisans for Him.
                He calls us to be creators, makers, do-ers for His Kingdom.
 

To flesh out the grace that gives joyful peace to our lives and eternal hope to our hearts;
        To take the faith that is so central to who we are as Christians and give it a 3-dimensional animated character.

God plants us firmly in time and eternity because of who He has made us to be, who we ARE in Jesus.
        And then – afterwards –
                rock solidly based on this being we have
                        which no one can take away from us
        we can go out and DO.

Never forget that — the DOING of Christian living
                comes
                        AFTER
                                the BEING an adopted child of God.
 

It’s the fruit of faith, 3 dimensional fruit.
Fruit for which God planted the seed in our hearts.
Fruit for which God guides and prunes our lives.
Fruit for which God equips, gifts and talents us.
Fruit for which God leads us into and through circumstances and experiences.
        As Ephesians says, "to do the good works which God prepared in advance for us to do."

God has prepared us.
And God has prepared the settings and occasions where we can serve Him.
        It is what Philippians 2:13 speaks of -- "For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."
        Allowing us to breathe a daily prayer of thanksgiving and anticipation:

"Lord, You have created me. And You have created the opportunities that will await me, and which You will allow me to use as occasions to serve You. Thank you for the open door through which You’ll invite me to go."

Of course, we won’t always get it right.
Sometimes we read the signals wrong.

        Like the old pastor taking a walk past some beautiful old homes. He noticed a small boy attempting to ring the doorbell on the porch of one of them. He was short, and the old-fashioned doorbell was set high in the door.
        Despite his leaping attempts, the boy could not quite reach it. The pastor, seeing a good work at hand, seized the opportunity. He stepped up on the porch and vigorously rang the bell for him. "And now what young man?" inquired the minister. "Now," exclaimed the boy, "we run like crazy!"
        Thank the Lord for Grace – that forgives, picks us up, dusts us off, and gives us new chances again and again; new opportunities; new open doors.... or doorbells.

And as we walk through those open doors, we’ll discover that the faith we paint into action has repercussions in three directions:
        Towards heaven.
        Towards ourselves.
        Towards those around us.
                The three directions that the catechism mentions in Q/A 86.
                        [Andrew Kuyvenhoven Comfort And Joy]

Our grace-based works glorify God. They please Him.
Because, unlike what some might suggest - that God is some impassive, distant, uncaring force – He does care.
        He made the Cosmos.
        And remains intimately connected to it.
        Concerned about it.
        And delighted when we treat it well, develop it carefully, and enjoy it.

        Which is why Romans 12 reminds us that the act of worship, though it may well begin in church on Sunday, carries well out beyond these walls into our daily routine through the things we do.
        Writing code at your workstation is just as much worship as lifting your hands to heaven in prayer, or singing a praise song from the bottom of your heart.

        It is why James says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (James 1.27)

        It is why Jesus, at the Second Coming, will be so concerned about how we’ve treated the hungry and thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the prisoner. (Mt 25.31-46)

That’s the first dimension of what we do. The heavenly dimension.

The second dimension points right back at ourselves.
        Good works have a real effect on the life of the person doing them. It is like a feed-back loop.
        Know what I mean by that? That’s where you have some system which puts out a product. You monitor that product, and feed back some kind of signal about that output product back into the production process, affecting how future product is made. What you make changes what you’ll make in the future.
Could be for the better.... OR.....

If, for example, I go out on a limb for Jesus at school, there is a good chance that it’ll make me feel His presence more deeply. I’ll probably end up feeling His peace more deeply.

The Joy of Jesus flourishes better in an environment where we take hold of His way of living, rather than in one where we merely talk about Him.
        Faith separated from action is a widow.
        In fact, says James, it’s on a dead-end track. (Jas 2:26)

        Faith and action works the same way as our body and some sort of athletic workout -- the more our faith is exercised, the stronger it becomes.
        Which really ought to be no surprise. Unless, of course, we want to believe that our souls are somehow blocked off, cut off, disjointed, from the rest of our existence.

        I’m sure we’re all aware that our bodily health, our emotional state, and our social well-being are all connected. Get sick and you won’t be so happy. Be in a grumpy mood and your social life will suffer. Get too busy at work, and you won’t think so clearly. Could end up short-tempered or extra weepy.
        Everything is connected.
                Including our spiritual side.

Eat healthy, exercise well.... and you’ll feel better.
        On the other hand – keep slurpin’ back poutine, bacon and coffee and don’t be too surprised when your doctor reads you the riot act.
Practice what you preach about Jesus..... and your faith will deepen & mature.
        On the other hand – keep your faith as a sort of Sunday suit and don’t be too surprised when it starts to seem stale, when heaven seems far away.

The second dimension of faith living.

Finally - the third dimension. That’s the one that reaches out to those around us, the ones we see and those we don’t.

The quiet believer in the office who values the dignity of fellow workers, who takes the time to listen to them, who cares about the product they put out, and giving an honest day’s effort -
        no surprise when someone pauses somewhere along the line to tap this one on the shoulder and say, "I’ve noticed that somehow you’re different than the others. Can we talk?"

"Let your light shine before people, that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven." said Jesus (Mt 5.16)

How are people going to find out about Jesus?
How are they going to find out what being part of a Church family is about?
How are they going to discover what it means to be a Christian?
        By sitting back and carefully studying carefully prepared doctrinal statements?
        Hardly!

When someone is out kicking spiritual tires, so to speak, most of the time they stand back and watch. When people at work find out that you’re a Christian, ever notice how they begin to watch what you say and do a lot more closely?

You’re painting a picture for them.
They’re waiting to see how deep it goes. How real it is. How well it stands up when the waters of life get rough. They’ll want to know what you do from Monday to Friday with words like love, forgiveness, acceptance and caring.

        Election time is looming on the horizon. One of the greatest battles that politicians face today is voter apathy and cynicism. Pollsters tell us that’s because there are so many words heaped up in campaigns – words that seem to bear very little relationship to what actually happens once someone is sworn into office.
        Does your life add to or take away from cynicism and apathy about Jesus?
 

Gordon Spykman once said,

"Often we can say more to a person in trouble by putting our arm around his shoulder than by a ten minute talk. And when we visit the poor, our words of comfort are empty unless we also pull out our wallet.... The door of the church stands open towards the world, and through it must flow a steady stream of good works, so that the world – our neighbours – may see the peace and joy and love that God has given us, and so be led to find Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.
"You are writing a gospel, a chapter each day;
By deeds that you do, and words you say.
Folks read what you write, whether faithless or true -
Say - what is the gospel according to you?"