ALL THINGS FOR THE GOSPEL

Bible Verse:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of 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 (ESV)

Devotional:
The world is broken. Dallas-Fort Worth is broken. You are broken. I am broken. Everything is broken. And there is nothing we can do to fix it. Nothing. In our essence as men and women we are fractured, and no amount of self-help or education or money is going to fix that.

The greatest problem in the universe is sin. It is our sin that makes us broken. And no matter how many Max Lucado or Beth Moore books you read, no matter much you volunteer at Northwest, no matter how many R-rated movies you avoid, you can’t save yourself from your sin. You can’t do it. Jesus Christ is the only one who can fix that brokenness. In order to be agents of the gospel we have to know the gospel. God saved us in His sovereign grace. Paul says, “This is not of your own doing, this is not a result of works so that nobody can boast.” Because if it was our works that saved us, then we would just boast in ourselves and how we accomplished this or that goal.

As we build a new building or do anything as a body, it is vital to never forget the radical beauty of the gospel and its implications. I pray we would never become indifferent or apathetic to the gospel because we “get it” or because we have heard it so many times. We must praise God for His grace, for the cross, for Jesus every single day. We must not simply be hearers of the gospel, but must do the hard work of the gospel. Paul says we were created in Jesus ‘FOR good works’, not saved by them but created to walk in them, to do them after we have been saved. So we are saved FROM but also saved FOR! This is how we push back what is dark in this world, by serving our city and our world with the love and grace by which we were saved — tearing down all the walls that humanity puts up to divide.

Everyone is broken. So let’s not just be passionate at memorizing Scripture and doctrine, but let’s be passionate about serving the least of these — the oppressed, the forgotten, the poor — that those far from God would come near.

Prayer:
May we be people who constantly come before the cross of Jesus Christ and cry out, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” The Gospel calls us to humility, to an understanding that God has saved us out of the overflow of His mercy and love to mission. May we be people who both receive the Gospel and live out the Gospel in a broken world. Let’s pray for the beautiful depth of the Gospel to constantly challenge, confront, and expose our arrogance, our idols, and our works-righteousness. Let us also pray to be agents of the Gospel, to have Christ show us ways to be His hands and feet in the city of Dallas and the world.
John Newton said, “I am a great sinner, but Christ is a great Saviour.” May this truth be written in our hearts and lived out with our lives for the glory of God.

Written by R.D. McClenagan. R.D. has attended Northwest for one year.