Theology of the Church, Mentor's Guide, MG03

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T H E O L O G Y O F T H E C H U R C H

c. Gal. 2.21

d. Any good work or righteous act we do is a result of God’s grace working in us. Good works are the result of salvation not the cause of it. No good work gains us any extra favor with God. No one can be good enough to earn a relationship with God or eternal life with him in his Kingdom. We have his grace poured out on us because of Christ and what his work has done for us. Our good works are a response to the grace that God has given. Again, as the Apostle John says, “we love him because he first loved us,” 1 John 4.19.

II. Worship Is the Church’s Response to the Grace of God.

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Worship is always the single most important responsibility of the Church because it is the starting point for living by grace. In worship, we acknowledge that as James wrote in his Epistle, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights,” James 1.17a.

2

A. Two pivotal events in Christian worship (the meal and the bath)

In every Christian tradition, the Lord’s Supper and baptism are important parts of the way in which we experience the grace of God at work among us. Christians differ, however, as to how these acts of worship demonstrate God’s grace in the Church. Some churches call the Lord’s Supper and baptism “sacraments” and understand them as a “means of grace” while others refer to them as “ordinances” and understand them as a testimony to the grace of God. Let me explain the difference.

B. The meaning of “sacrament”

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1. A sacrament is usually defined as “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” Those who use the term sacrament would see baptism and the Lord’s Supper as a means by which the grace of God comes to us.