Our Sole Responsibility

The message of the New Testament is simple, direct, and unmistakable. We are saved by God's grace through faith alone, not on the basis of any good works we have done. The sole responsibility of a Christian is to believe in the love and grace which God freely offers.

This clear message stands in sharp contrast to the teachings of those who want us to trust in Christ and obey certain rules or practice certain rites. These teachers call their message a gospel, but it isn't really good news at all. They claim that in order to be acceptable to God, we need to do adequate works. Law and works are placed side by side with grace as a two-part ticket to righteousness. Contrary to these teachers, however, the New Testament insists that it is not law and works that justify, but God's grace and our response of faith.

We are faced with a classic either/or situation. Righteousness must either come by faith in Christ alone, or by a perfect keeping of God's law. Right standing with God by faith or salvation by works are mutually exclusive. When we seek righteousness before God, we must make our choice and not look for some compromising middle ground.

Abraham was a man who simply believed God, and God accounted him righteous. We stand on the same ground as Abraham and are heirs of the same blessings and promises that he enjoyed. This place of privilege comes only by faith, not by obedience to a code of law or a set of rules. If we seek to be righteous before God by our works, rather than by faith, we find ourselves under a curse. There are no exceptions to this rule.

If we look to the law as our hope of assurance before God, the only way we can know security is to keep every commandment flawlessly. As Paul wrote, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Galatians 3:10). This means we could never really know if we were saved until we died, and who can live with that kind of pressure?

Imagine that you lived a perfect life, keeping every commandment, never committing a wrong action. One day, you decide to cross the street while the walk sign is lit. Suddenly, some driver runs the red light and strikes you down. As you watch his car's transmission pass over your head, you raise your fist and your parting words before leaving this world are your assessment of this idiot's driving habits. In that one small act, you missed the mark. You fell from perfection. You sinned - and the Bible says the wages of sin is death.

You may be able to keep nine of God's commandments perfectly, but if you fall short on number ten, you've missed the target. You have sinned. And the bad news is, unless you keep the whole law and do all that is written in it, you are guilty. It doesn't matter which law you violate; just one failure puts you out.

Therefore, you don't stand a ghost of a chance of being declared righteous on the basis of your goodness. You are already out. You've already missed the mark. All you can expect is the curse of the law. Justification by good works is impossible because it relies on imperfect human effort. Legalism is the way of the curse.

Conversely, the avenue of true righteousness and blessing is the way of faith because it relies not on your effort but on God's great mercy and abundant grace toward you in Jesus Christ. Though you have missed the mark - though you have utterly failed to be righteous by your own efforts - God has justified, you in His Son. Jesus took the responsibility for your falling short of God's standard and paid the penalty that you owed but could never pay. He gives you His perfect righteousness if you will just believe in Him and place your faith in Him. And now, being made right with God through Him, you are a beneficiary of all the wonderful blessings of God.

A Tragic Error

One of the most tragic errors the church can make is to emphasize the work that believers should be doing for God. How many times have you heard heavy, condemning sermons that tell you, "You ought to be praying more! You ought to be giving more! You ought to be witnessing more, or reading your Bible more, or serving God on some committee more!" How often do you go to church looking for encouragement only to hear about your failure and how disappointed God must be with you?

The last thing I need is for someone to lay a heavy burden on me about my failures. I know I ought to be doing more. No one needs to tell me that I don't pray enough or read my Bible enough or give to God enough. All I get from such messages is a huge guilt complex. My frustration increases because I really want to love God more, to pray more, to have a deeper fellowship with Him. When we place our emphasis on areas of failure, we end up creating defeated, discouraged Christians who give up and drop out of the race.

What a different message we see when we turn to the New Testament! It highlights not what we ought to be doing for God, but what God has already done for us. What we can do for God can never be enough. Our efforts at righteousness are always marred by our imperfections. But what God has done for us is perfect, beautiful, complete, and fantastic. How sad that we have reversed the equation and constantly harp upon our responsibility instead of God's wonderful grace! This is why we see so much of the church on the verge of dying out. We don't need someone to remind us of our failure as much as we need someone to show us the way out of our predicament. We need grace, not guilt.

Your One Duty

God has given you but one simple responsibility: to believe in His promise. You can enjoy the blessing of a relationship with God even though you may not pray enough, or give enough, or sacrifice enough because of your faith in what God has already done for you.

God made Jesus to be sin for you that you might be made the righteousness of God through Him. Jesus imparts to you His righteousness when you simply place your faith and trust in the work He has done for you. His work is all of grace.

Paul opened his letter to the Galatians with the salutation, "Grace be to you." He closed it with, "Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen." His benediction takes on a rich depth of meaning in light of the letter's sharp focus on the glorious grace of God. The grace of Jesus, not the law of Moses, was the Galatians' greatest need. To walk in the power of His Spirit, not in the vain efforts of the flesh, was their calling.

How did the Galatians respond? We are not told. Perhaps this is because the question raised in Galatia is always an open one. Will you rely on your own righteousness, or will you trust in God's gracious provision? Will you remain in the simple message of salvation by grace through faith? Or will you add your own list of righteous works to the finished work of Christ? Will you walk in the flesh or in the Spirit? Will you glory in the cross of Christ alone? Or will you seek the approval and rewards of this world so that you may glory in your flesh?

These are issues that every believer in every generation eventually must wrestle with. The answers you stand for will spell the difference between peace and fear, pride and true humility, even spiritual life and death.

May you stand without wavering for the grace of Jesus Christ. May you not be moved by the deceptive desire to please men. May you be so heavenly minded that you are of the greatest earthly good, holding out the word of life in an increasingly dark and hopeless world. And may you glory this day in what Jesus has done for you, and in that alone.