Grace, Faith, Works and Jumping to Mars

July is one of those months you can see the planet Mars shining brightly in the southeastern night sky. It looks like a shiny polished red sandstone.

Could anyone ever jump to Mars? Tie up those sneakers, take a running start, and go for broke! I can get about 2 inches off the ground. NBA players in their prime can probably top that over tenfold. Neither of us could make that 33.9-million-mile trip to the fourth planet from the sun, at least by physical stremgth alone. If humans are ever to get to Mars, they will need external technologies to make it happen, like spacesuits, rockets, building materials, food sources, reliable information about conditions on the planet, and much more. Properly equipped it is possible to make that interplanetary voyage. One can say that about the journey into God’s kingdom. We will never get close upon our own strength, and it literally takes an act of God to get us into the promise land.

The Apostle Paul sums up our journey to heavenly glory this way:

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 (Eph. 2:8-10, ESV).

God created man in His own image, both male and female. Adam and Eve sinned and they fell into a state of constant sin terminated by death (Gen. 1-3). Even Adam and Eve’s progeny could never escape this stain of original sin. All people are then born fallen in sin and separated from a relationship with God. They are lost and face an eternity separated from their Maker. They need to be saved from their sin. On account of this, God the Father then sent His Son to be incarnated in the person of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to redeem sinners, and rose again the third day so that whosoever believes can have eternal life (John 3:16; Rom. 3:9-26). It is only through Jesus Christ can a sinner be saved (Acts 4:12), and the sinner is then saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8-9). It is through the proclamation of the Gospel concerning Christ death and resurrection that sinners repent and receive salvation by faith (1 Cor. 15:1-11; Rom. 10:1-17).

Salvation from sin is never the final destination for the Christian of course; rather, it is the beginning of a new life with God. Paul tells us:

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Col. 3:1-4, ESV).

Our salvation is an ongoing relationship with God through union with Christ. It is a progressive sanctification out of conformity to this sinful world and into conformity to God’s holiness. It is being what God intended us to be from the beginning. Craig Keener writes, “Good works flow from what God does in us, rather than God’s work in us flowing from our works. God redeemed Israel before he gave them commandments (Ex 20:1); it was always his purpose for good works to flow from his grace, even if Israel (like many people today) did not always grasp that point (Deut 5:29; 30:6, 11–14).”¹ Similarly, Eastern theologian Vladimir Lossky wrote, “After the fall, human history is a long shipwreck awaiting rescue: but the port of salvation is not the goal; it is the possibility for the shipwrecked to resume his journey whose sole goal is union with God.”²

Faith and works go hand-in-hand. We do nothing to earn or deserve our salvation. Every heavenly blessing is lavished upon us by the grace of the Almighty. In the same breath, we can recognize that all that God has given to us is for our life and journey through this world into the new heaven and new earth, where indwells righteousness. Expelled from the Garden of Eden, the Lord has made a way for us to return home. We were dead but Christ has raised us up from the dead. No ordinary human can jump the chasm between heaven and earth. Once humanity is reconnected to God, entrance into the heavenly kingdom becomes possible for God can make it happen (Matt. 19:26; Mark 9:23; 14:36.

It is God who gives to us the way into the heavenly kingdom and sustains all along the way.

— WGN

Notes:

1. Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Eph 2:8–10.
2. Vladimir Lossky, Orthodox Theology: An Introduction (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1978), 84.