“Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.”
2 Timothy 2:21
Why did God save you? For what purpose did He cleanse you from your sins and declare you righteous in Christ?
If God’s only purpose was to forgive our sins and make us fit for eternity, why doesn’t He rapture us straight to heaven at the moment of saving faith? Wouldn’t that avoid all the struggle with remaining sin in our lives and the brokenness of the world?
But no, that wouldn’t work – because it would leave the rest of the people on earth to deal with their sin and the brokenness in the world. If you missed the blog last week, go back for “the Big Story”, a re-orientation to the Bible as the one story of the One God. I am riffing on the material of a new friend, Fran Sciacca, the author of Have we Lost the Plot? and the host of The Road to Shalom, a fantastic podcast about the Bible and the Christian life.
Mr. Sciacca (please pronounce it correctly – SHAH-kuh) helpfully points out the weakness of “2D theology.”
One dimensional (personal) theology is just me and God – only vertical. Using the example of “righteousness,” I can personally celebrate the gospel truth that I am declared righteous – justified – in Christ (Rom. 3:24). If we add the horizontal dimension of a worship service – we can rejoice in the grace of Jesus together as we sing, “dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne!” These are two wonderful dimensions of gospel truth!
But is that all?
Fran adds the third dimension of extending God’s common grace to the world and the fourth dimension of the special grace of God to the world through the Church on mission. Don’t get hung up on where the lines and boxes are drawn – the images are mine and are simply to illustrate Fran’s point that God’s grace to us is not meant to stop in us – it is meant to flow through us to a world in need.
With the righteousness example, all people on earth can bring greater justice and flourishing to the world simply by doing significant, meaningful work. Serving people cheeseburgers at McDonald’s meets a fundamental need. Efficiently stocking shelves or cheerfully greeting people at Walmart can make a real difference in the lives of people. This is “common grace” but is still an expression of the generous heart of God.
Special grace flows through the church – the body of Christ. We bring the salt of good deeds and the light of God’s truth to a dark and dying world. As Fran likes to say, we are working to “restore shalom.” To fill out the cube:
If we’re honest, don’t we tend to get stuck in 2D theology? It is wonderful to know and celebrate God’s grace to me and to us, but what about the world? What about the mission?
What role does my “regular” work play in life and history? Does God care what kind of work I do and how I do it? Does work matter?
And what about “good works”? We know they don’t contribute to our salvation but does that mean they don’t matter? The Bible sure seems to indicate that they very much do matter. In fact, it seems that good works are precisely the reason for the good news.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:8-10
2D theology stops at verse 9. 4D theology digests and applies verse 10.
As Fran says so well – “we are pipes not pots,” – we are channels not cups, streams not ponds. Here is my favorite Sciacca quote:
“Contrary to popular belief, Christians are not casting life preservers from the bank to people in a river. They’re not rescuing the drowning by dragging them to safety. No, it’s more like throwing a rope to people on the bank, pulling them into the raging torrent of grace with us.” Have we Lost the Plot? p. 89
Who do you see just standing on the bank? How can you cast them a line this fall to help them Meet Jesus and dive into the river of His grace?