Grace Plus Nothing Part Three of Four

Grace Plus Nothing 

Part Three of Four

It was 1949 and I think my mother was about 23 years old. She had married my father in 1947. Her grandmother decided to go to see the new evangelist everyone was talking about. Grandmother invited her granddaughter to go with her, and that is how my ancestors ended up going to the absolutely epic beginning of Billy Graham’s career. The service must have been moving, for my grandmother (of whom I have no memory) and my mother prayed to receive Christ.

Going back to my father and explaining her decision must have been difficult for her. My father was fairly strong in his unbelief, but after talking it over they decided they would raise all their children to “decide for themselves”. Mom made peace with this decision. After all, children seemed to be denied her. Had they not been married for two years? Indeed, it was not until 1952 that the first boy (me) was born.

Looking back in her many notes that she made, mostly later in life, I find that she sort of cheated in their agreement. Outwardly, she did what they had agreed to; inwardly she held all of her four boys up to God in prayer and asked God to save them. All four boys grew up and eventually came to peace with Christ, most becoming fine disciples of Christ.

Dad was pretty comfortable with his unbelief though he had several memories of things he could not explain. He pointed out the obvious hypocrisy of many people that they knew going to church. Mom sort of decided his view was correct and did not go to church at all. But her prayers must have been the deciding factor, for all four boys chose to believe in Christ. Three of them became leaders in the church, even to the point of speaking often. From her notes, this must have provided her with a great deal of comfort in her older years, before a sudden cancer took her.

As I look back on her life, I find many questions. Oh, there is no doubt in my mind that I will see her in heaven, along with a grandmother I have no memory of, and probably many others that I do not see. What a delight that will be! According to what I think, the Bible speaks of seven years that we will spend in heaven together. For Jesus told the apostles right before he left that where I am, there you may be also. Part of that time will be the glorious Marriage Supper of the Lamb, but I expect a great deal will be coming to a realization of just how inter-related we all really are. Certainly, all will be our brothers and sisters by our decision for Christ, but many of us will discover an ancestry that goes back in Christ for generations.

But, as I said, I have many questions, not about the future, of which I have been told, but about the place my mother found herself in after accepting Christ. She was a seed which had germinated. Her faith was important to her, but she had absolutely no discipleship. Yet, at the age of seventy, as she was about to pass away, my wife asked her whether she needed to make anything right with God. Mom replied, “I gave it all to Him a long time ago, and if that is not enough, I am done.”

So, no matter how I twist it, Mother trusted Christ for her salvation. Completely. But never grew in doctrine or discipleship. Had no church habit. But loved and trusted what she knew of Christ. Yet, today I have many non-thinking speakers in church declaring that every Christian must show their decision. They quote James, which talks about showing my faith by my works.

Yet, I might point out that we must all appear before God. James did not suggest that we would demonstrate our faith to God by our works, rather he practically pointed out that Christians tend to reveal themselves by their works; God, who sees the hearts will know those who are his. He will have no need to check over our works. Commendable works Christ has promised to look over at the bema seat of judgment for believers. Condemnable works will be judged harshly by our Father in heaven.

I am driven back to think of the parable of the sower. What if God was really pointing out there are different degrees of seed with types of believers? Some would be his vessels in the way that he wanted and would go on to reproduce many times. Others would germinate, but not ever be successful plants. Could not a great many of us be in this category? Jesus reminded us that blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

As a part of my early ministry, I was called to serve for years with the homeless in a rescue mission. I saw broken people which many of us do not even think about. I saw men and women of a very low intellect, that had hard times and more hard times. Often, they would make a decision for Christ, which I saw signs of conversion afterward, but I discerned that they had a really difficult time in growing. I saw alcoholics and drug addicts that lost their entire families convert to Christ. A few made it back to their families after conversion; most did not.

I ask the question. No, I do not ask the question. Rather, I am driven to contemplate the problem. If Christ did not die for these, who am I to think he died for me? I see only one answer; it is never on the basis of what we have done. It is always on the basis of what Christ has done. There is no cost except the cost of choosing to believe. Jesus told us plainly of this cost when they asked him, What shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus replied, This is the work of God, that you believe in him who he hath sent.

I think we will find a whole host of believers in heaven which we did not anticipate. It is not our job to judge whether someone believes or not. It can only be in the province of God. Ephesians 2: 8 says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. Either God is truthful or he is not. As for me and my house, we will trust in him.

On the other side, I do not doubt we will miss some whom we misjudge as brothers or sisters. Do we not discover “Christians” who do not really believe? John tells us that they went out from us because they were really not of us. Who has not worked next to someone who appears to be a brother, only to find them straying away? Who himself has not strayed?

I call it the Great Sortout. It is God alone who shall judge on that day. But I fully expect to see my mother and greet my grandmother when we finally get there, to see Him as He really is.

James 2:18
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Ephesians 2:8&9
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

John 6:28, 29
Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Chafer’s Corner

Grace ceases to be grace if God is compelled to withdraw it in the presence of human failure and sin. In fact, grace cannot be exercised where there is the slightest degree of human merit to be recognized.
Chafer, Lewis Sperry. Grace (p. 7). Biblos Project. Kindle Edition.

Chafer, Lewis Sperry. Grace (p. 7). Biblos Project. Kindle Edition.