To God Be the Glory!

 

What an amazing blessing to serve at Fowler Ave. Baptist Church where Pastor Theron Chewning and His wife Elaine are models of faith, faithfulness, and Godly service! This Sunday, our church will celebrate 62 years of their leadership. Through their vision, Holy Spirit inspiration, and God's grace, the church has not only survived in times when others have closed their doors, but thrived. Praise God for their commitment to preaching and teaching God's Word, supporting worldwide missions, reaching and blessing our local community, leading souls to Him, and mentoring, encouraging and uplifting believers.

Not surprisingly, our Pastor's favorite hymn is Fanny Crosby's classic, "To God Be the Glory." This is his theme in his ministry, always praising, blessing, thanking and honoring God for allowing him and his flock to serve Him faithfully. He embodies his favorite saying that "Every day is a gift" and that we are blessed with "one more day in Paradise!"

Despite his lifetime of good works to honor and serve the Lord Jesus Christ, our Pastor has never lost sight of the fundamental doctrine that we are not saved by works, but saved by grace through faith, and saved for the purpose of doing good works during the time God has so graciously allotted to us (Ephesians 3:8-9). 

Thinking of our Pastor and his legacy of unwavering faith and faithful service led me to repost the following article from the archives, originally titled "Ask Not What You Can Do For God." 

Praise God that we don’t have to do anything to be accepted as His adopted children, because our salvation is not based on our works, but on His grace (Ephesians 2:8-10). It’s true that once we are born again, we want to keep from sin and to do good works to further His kingdom, not because we have to, but because we want to! Our good works don’t get us saved, but they flow from us once we are saved because we love Him for taking us in despite our being so unlovable. Good works are the living proof of our faith (James 2:14-26).

But the amazing thing is that God loves us even while we are sinners (Romans 5:8). And that no matter what we do, He couldn’t love us any more or any less (1 John 4:8-10;19). Even though we were God’s enemies, He adopts us as His sons (Ephesians 1:5) once we turn from our sins and trust Jesus as our Savior. He doesn’t adopt us because of anything we can give Him, because He is completely self-sufficient and needs nothing, and because all that we have He gave us in the first place (James 1:17).

He adopts us because it is His will that all should be saved and come to repentance, and our coming to Him as children gives Him great pleasure because He loves us infinitely. Parents seeking to adopt a child don’t ask whether the child can pay rent, or if he can afford to pay for his own education, or if he will work in the parents’ business. It’s not about what the child can do for them; it’s about what they can do for the child because of the great love they want to share.

It’s the same way with Our Heavenly Father – we can’t earn His love or work our way to being adopted by Him – we can only trust in His infinite love and accept His gift of amazing grace. We are accepted by God because we trust in Jesus, His Son, and His perfect sacrifice on the cross to pay for all our sins. Jesus rose from the dead to give us eternal life, all of which is reason to praise Him! (Ephesians 1:6-8).

God’s mercy is to redeem us through the blood of Jesus, forgiving our sins that deserve eternal punishment in hell. Because of His grace, He gives us what we don’t deserve – eternal, abundant life with Him beginning at the moment of our salvation and continuing through Heaven and the Millennial Kingdom throughout eternity. We can trust His wisdom to give us what we need, not necessarily what we think we want. He created us for His pleasure, and nothing pleases Him more than to see us fulfilling His perfect will for our life.

Ephesians 1: 9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: 10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: 11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

God’s grace is to give us the inheritance worthy of His children, namely all His blessings including eternal life with Him in Heaven. He saved us for a purpose – which is to praise and glorify Him in all we do. So, ask not what you can do for God, but know through His Holy Word what He will do for you. And then, rest assured that as His child, you will want to spend your earthly days doing His will, praising, and glorifying Him! 

Laurie Collett

Copyright 2011

Expanded, edited and reposted from the archives