About Jesus  -  Steve Sweetman

Saved To Serve

Evangelical Christians are familiar with Ephesians 2:8 and 9.  "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God  - not by works, so that no one can boast."  There is absolutely no doubt about it.  We are saved solely by trusting the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  No good work on our part can save us and no good work on our part can keep us saved, but there is more.

Paul goes on to say that "we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10).  According to Paul, we are saved to do good works which God has planned for us to do long before we were saved.  The Apostle James agrees with Paul when he says that if we have genuine faith, we will do good works (James 2:17).          

Note that Christians are God's workmanship.  Our English word "workmanship" is translated from the Greek word "poiema," which we derive our English word "poem."  The idea here is that each believer is a divine, ongoing, project in the hands of a creative God.  Another way to say it is that each believer is a divinely penned poem that declares the grace of God for all to read.           

All this tells me that salvation is not just about being a Christian.  It's about being inspired by faith to do good works a Christian is preordained to do.  Paul understood this.  "But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles" (Galatians 1:15).  Paul's work was to preach the grace of God, something he gladly did with joy, despite the hardships that accompanied his preaching.    

Being saved to serve is what being part of the Body of Christ, the church, is all about.  Each and every Christian, none excluded, has a God ordained ministry.  Each believer is a poem that is in the process of being penned by God to declare His grace for all to read.  We are not saved just to be a Christian.  We are saved to serve.