{"id":2454,"date":"2010-12-01T01:00:13","date_gmt":"2010-12-01T09:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/?p=2454"},"modified":"2010-12-01T11:43:10","modified_gmt":"2010-12-01T19:43:10","slug":"living-theology-46-means-of-grace-within-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/2010\/12\/01\/living-theology-46-means-of-grace-within-the-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Theology #46 – Means of Grace Within the Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Garrett Glende<\/em><\/p>\n

As we resume our walk through Wayne Grudem\u2019s Systematic Theology<\/em>, we come to chapter 48, “Means of Grace within the Church.” The purpose of this section is to inform us of how God has blessed believers through the local church. There might be a little bit of confusion from the usage of the term \u201cmeans of grace\u201d because of the Catholic meaning behind it. While the Roman Catholics claim that these different activities within the church actually contribute towards one\u2019s justification, the correct understanding of the term is that these means of grace are simply additional blessings in a Christian\u2019s life. Grudem lists eleven different means and goes into some detail for each of them. We won\u2019t have the space to go into each one fully, so I will just highlight a few.<\/p>\n

(Here is the full list from Grudem if you were wondering):<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. teaching of the word,<\/li>\n
  2. baptism,<\/li>\n
  3. the Lord\u2019s Supper,<\/li>\n
  4. prayer for one another,<\/li>\n
  5. worship,<\/li>\n
  6. church discipline,<\/li>\n
  7. giving,<\/li>\n
  8. spiritual gifts,<\/li>\n
  9. fellowship,<\/li>\n
  10. evangelism, and<\/li>\n
  11. personal ministry to individuals.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Certainly, this is not an exhaustive list, as there are many ways by which God blesses those within the fellowship of the church, but these are the most prominent. And there are really none greater than the teaching of the word itself. This is the primary function of the church and it is how God uses the church to bless the world. Yes, you can read your Bible even if you do not attend a church, but it is nearly impossible to have the same impact on your life as opposed to having the word taught to you. We need to digest God\u2019s truth in many different ways. One of the methods through which this takes place is by hearing the word taught from the pulpit. We need this to take place in our churches because the Bible is the only thing that can really cause change. The Holy Spirit working through the truths of God\u2019s word is the sole instrument for sanctification in the lives of believers. We see this in Jesus\u2019 prayer for his disciples, as he asks that they may be \u201csanctified in the truth; your word is truth\u201d (John 17:17). God\u2019s word not only brings us towards holiness, but it also guides us as a lamp (Psalm 119:105) and grants us wisdom to make the best decisions (Psalm 19:7). If the word of God is central to the fellowship of the church, then there will be tremendous spiritual growth and people\u2019s lives will be truly changed.<\/p>\n

    Another true blessing that God has given to us through the church is the company of fellowship. There is no other organization, group, team, or community that is able to provide the type of grace that comes from true Christian fellowship. It is a unique thing to have what really is a second family. Being baptized into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13) means that all Christians are now a part of the same body and the same family. We can now truly bear one another\u2019s burdens, rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. We can come alongside one another and give an encouraging word. We can lift one another up in prayer together. All in all, we get to share our lives together! The Christian life is not meant to be lived alone. There are no lone ranger Christians. We need the rest of the church body to help us through struggles and be there next to us during the greatest joys. We need a brother or sister to confront us in our sin. And all of this happens because God has united us together through Christ\u2019s death and resurrection and we are now able to love God and love one another. The fellowship found within the church is truly a rare thing.<\/p>\n

    It really is amazing that God has given us these blessings through the church, but the question is, do we take advantage of it? If you aren\u2019t involved in a local body, then you\u2019re missing out on all of these benefits! Yes, there is work to be done and a commitment to be made, but the rewards of church membership far outweigh the costs. Pastor Patrick has written a lot recently about this issue, so go and read his articles in the pastor\u2019s corner section (they\u2019re better than mine anyway). But I\u2019ll assume many of you are already members of a local church and have committed to contributing to its life. So my question for you is, are you truly invested in it? Being a member of a church is not just about attending every Sunday and occasionally serving. It\u2019s about being involved in the lives of your fellow brothers and sisters. It\u2019s about making sacrifices for their sake and doing so in order that they would be sanctified and God would be glorified. We really must take advantage of every opportunity that God has given us to invest in the church. I believe the saying is true that \u201cthe more you put into it, the more you get out of it.\u201d Also, since it is the Thanksgiving season, I believe we should spend some time reflecting on the ways that God has blessed us through the church. After all, these \u201cmeans of grace\u201d are all things that we hardly deserve. So let\u2019s be thankful. If we had to make a list, I\u2019m sure it would be quite long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Garrett Glende As we resume our walk through Wayne Grudem\u2019s Systematic Theology, we come to chapter 48, “Means of Grace within the Church.” The purpose of this section is to inform us of how God has blessed believers through the local church. There might be a little bit of confusion from the usage of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":469,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-living-theology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/469"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2454"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2456,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2454\/revisions\/2456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lighthousebc.com\/beacon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}