Trick Question

After conferring with their team, the teens raced to write their answers on the white board. “What are two things you can do to earn God’s grace?” Repent? Believe? It was a trick question. Eddie fooled them! There isn’t one thing we can do to earn God’s grace.

Grace, by nature, is unmerited. In worship we sing “I didn’t earn it. I don’t deserve it. Still you give yourself away.” In the Bible we read “For it is by grace that 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.” This is a fundamental truth of orthodox Christian faith. How then, do we reconcile this with the teaching of Jesus recorded in Matthew 25:31-46?

When he returns in glory, surrounded by heaven’s host and seated on his throne, Jesus says he will come to judge humanity. With the nations gathered before him, he will separate his sheep from the goats.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Those who inherit eternal life, the righteous ones, have something in common. They acted. Changed by grace, they extended mercy to the needy, the stranger, the imprisoned. Having received grace they could not earn they willingly gave it to others who could neither earn nor repay it.

“What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” (James 2:14-19)

We are saved by grace, yes, but grace does not ever leave us unchanged. We repent, we believe, and we act because we have received God’s grace. It’s all grace! I pray you have been transformed by his grace and when you stand before Jesus he will see the evidence of it in your life.

Let’s be a church that shows our faith by our deeds. May we go, extending grace, living open handed, with hearts full of love for both our neighbor and the nations, until that great and awesome day.

Find us to be your faithful sheep, Lord.

Natalie