UFC: Mastering the Message

And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
(Mark 16:15, KJV)

As we proceed in our series, Ultimate Faith Challenge, Mastering the Message was the topic of Sunday's study.

The Gospel gives us an optimistic message of hope and good news. As 1 Corinthians 15 lays out the "good news", we must believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, rose on the third day, and was seen by many witnesses. We are saved! He died for our sins...He conquered DEATH.

The goal for every believer should be to become more like Christ. And because we are saved, we will suffer, we will be persecuted, but we MUST persevere through this spiritual journey so that one day we will be glorified.

Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

God providentially works all things in our lives towards the ultimate intended good of our conformity to Christ. We must trust that God will bring His work in us to completion...He has declared us righteous (justified), He has set us apart and made us holy (sanctified), and He will bring us to complete maturity (glorified).

So...what is the message? Grace. God's grace toward sinful mankind.

UFC: Accepting by Faith Alone

Accepting by Faith Alone was our topic of discussion in ABF this week. Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." But exactly what are grace and faith? Grace is simply God's unmerited favor shown to mankind. Faith is abandoning all trust in our own resources and casting oneself on the mercy of God. How do grace and faith work together in salvation and where do works come in to play? Salvation is a gift of God's love, grace and mercy. The definition of salvation is the act of delivering from sin or saving from evil. We can only be delivered through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. John 3:16 clearly demonstrates that salvation is through faith alone.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Though the basis of salvation is not works, the goal of salvation is good works (Eph 2:10). We were not saved by works, we were saved for works. Once we have been saved, we are re-created into a “masterpiece” of God’s grace in order to do the good works that God had designed for us to do.

UFC: Identifying with the Humanity of Jesus

As we returned to our study entitled, Ultimate Faith Challenge, we discussed Identifying with the Humanity of Jesus. God has bestowed His grace on us by taking on our suffering. Romans 1:5 states that we receive God's grace only through Jesus Christ. God came to earth as a man and was mocked, beaten and crucified in human form so that we could relate better with our creator. But, the incarnation is about more than a moment in history when God became man. It is also about the daily call for men and women to become like Christ by humbling ourselves and laying down our lives to serve a spouse, a child, a grandchild, a parent, and a world that desperately needs to see Jesus "in flesh and blood."

I could never myself believe in God if it were not for the cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I turn to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness.

That is the God for me. He set aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death.

John R. W. Stott, The Cross of Christ