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Adult Class: September-November 2006

The Church

Lesson 6

Entering the Church: Man’s Response and God’s Gifts

            In the previous lesson, we noted that we do not “join the church,” but we are added to the church when we obey the gospel of Christ (Acts 2:47). The need for obedience to the gospel is clear when we contemplate the sins of which we are guilty. The stunning grace of God is seen in His mercy extended toward us in the sacrifice of Jesus as the means of making peace between us and God. However, the mercy offered us calls for a response from us. In order to accept His mercy, we must respond to His offer, and He tells us precisely what is needed from us to indicate our acceptance of His grace.

Man’s Response:

• Faith is the primary response required by human beings (Hebrews 11:6). It is faith that God has always wanted from His followers. The thing most lacking among the Israelites was faith in God that would lead them to order their lives according to His will.
              Faith begins with learning information that was previously unknown or at least unappreciated (Romans 10:17). This is why it is so necessary for us to know that Jesus is the Son of God, that we are condemned by our own sin and that grace is possible through Jesus Christ. Until we are convinced of these foundational facts, we will put no faith in Him or in His word.
              In addition to learning information, though, faith requires surrender and commitment (Romans 4:20-22). This is a crucial difference between mere intellectual acceptance of the historical facts of Jesus and truly saving faith. There must be surrender, so that He controls our lives. And there must be commitment to Him as the one and only way of life.
              Education and surrender lead to obedience of life (John 3:36). It is at this point that faith bears fruit that leads to salvation. Only when we are ready to obey Jesus as Lord of our lives can our faith lead us to the next level of response.
  
   
• Repentance is a complete reorientation of the personality (2 Corinthians 7:8-11) away from sinful conduct and toward obedience to the will of God. It involves sorrow for past actions—but a sorrow that goes beyond mere regret or remorse. It calls for a sorrow that drives us to reformation of life—we must change our conduct. And that change of conduct will only occur when we change our will so that we choose the right way.
              If faith is turning to God, repentance is turning away from sin. “The proof of repentance is seen in a changed life”—(Everett Ferguson).
  
   
• Baptism is the third part of human response to God’s grace, and is seen by many as the touchstone of conversion. Several passages show us the necessity of baptism (1 Peter 3:20b-22) so that we may be saved. When the first gospel sermon was preached by Peter, the hearers asked what possible action they might now take, and they were told that the great need in their lives was repentance and baptism (Acts 2:38). Being baptized is pictured as a burial and resurrection (Colossians 2:11-12; Romans 6:3-4), just as Jesus was buried and raised.
              It is accepted by all Biblical scholars that New Testament baptism is immersion, and that sprinkling and pouring were unknown in the earliest centuries of church history. The Scriptures make it clear that baptism is not optional, but is reserved for penitent believers in Jesus. It is at the moment of baptism that believers are ushered into the church as part of God’s family.
  
   

            These three elements make up the primary responses to God’s grace. When these responses are made, God grants gifts to us deal with every aspect of our lives, past, present and future.

God’s Gifts:

• Forgiveness of sins is usually felt to be our most pressing need. Our sin has contaminated our past and there is nothing we can do to undo our history. Our sin has condemned us and there is nothing we can do to redeem ourselves. However, because of God’s mercy, at the moment of baptism our sins are “washed away” (Acts 22:16). And this action is not only effective for our past sins; Christ’s blood continues to cleanse our sins (1 John 1:7—it is important to recognize that this passage was written to those who are already Christians and have experienced God’s saving grace in Christ).
  
   
• The Holy Spirit is granted to Christians when they obey the gospel. He is a part of our present lives, and is styled as the “seal” of our covenant with God through Christ (2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30). Within Christians, the Holy Spirit sanctifies us (1 Peter 1:2), gives us new life at baptism (John 3:5), and takes up residence within us (1 Corinthians 6:19).
              “The proper perspective is to view the gift of the Holy Spirit in the same way as the forgiveness of sins. Both rest on the promises of God, and God cannot life. We may not be able to explain how God forgives sins or how the Spirit dwells in us, and we may not be able to point to some experience as a personal guarantee. Just as we trust in God for the forgiveness of sins, so we trust in him that the Spirit dwells in us” (Everett Ferguson).
  
   
• Eternal life is the description of our future—yet it is a future that starts in this life. Eternal life is our great hope (Romans 6:22-23). This is the “now, but not yet” part of our salvation in Christ. Sometimes it is referred to in Scripture as a present possession; sometimes as a future hope. Eternal life is a quality of life that is characterized by eternity. That life will be in perfect harmony with this life (1 Thessalonians 5:4-9). We are left with many questions about this great gift from God, and we will enter eternity with many of them unsatisfied. Yet this is our great hope and our great promise from God.

            All these gifts from God are given to the members of the church, those who have responded properly to God’s overwhelming grace through Jesus Christ.