LIVING BY FAITH IN FUTURE GRACE

I reflected on this content the last week. So what I might want to do is explain how after that substance out living by confidence in future beauty and how confidence in future effortlessness turns into the conductor of God's energy into your life

now let's go through a passage

• This end [that is, so you will wonder about Christ when he comes again] we generally appeal to God for you, that our God may make you deserving of his calling and may satisfy each purpose for good [or great resolve] and each work of confidence by his energy, with the goal that the name of our Lord Jesus might be celebrated in you, and you in him, as indicated by the beauty of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ*

There are eight totally critical things to find in Paul's petition.

1. THE CALLING OF GOD

To begin with, there is the calling of God. Verse 11: "That our God may make you deserving of his calling." This calling is our eminent predetermination in God's kingdom and eminence. That is the thing that Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2:12: "We charged you to stroll in a way deserving of God, who calls you into his own particular kingdom and transcendence." Your calling is to be in the kingdom of God and to share the magnificence of God, as we will see in one minute.

1. BEING MADE WORTHY

Second, there is our being made deserving of God's calling. Verse 11: "that our God may make you deserving of his calling." Being made commendable doesn't mean being made meriting. It implies being made reasonable or fitting or proper due to the value of another. So we would state, "I have to repair this room in light of the fact that the Queen of England will remain with us and the room should be deserving of her nobility. It should fit, reasonable, suitable." She didn't choose to come in light of the fact that the room is lovely. The room ought to be made excellent in light of the fact that she's coming. So we are being made appropriate for our calling into God's kingdom and radiance.

1. SATISFACTION OF GOOD RESOLVES

Third, there is the satisfaction of good purposes. Verse 11: "That our God may make you deserving of his calling and may satisfy each determination for good." The Christian life is a settling, arranging, purposing, aiming life. We have brains and wills, and God expects that we will utilize them to frame resolves and plans and purposes as indicated by his will. These purposes are to be satisfied. Be that as it may, how?

1. SATISFIED BY GOD'S POWER

That is the fourth thing: by the energy of God. Verse 11: "That our God may make you deserving of his calling and may satisfy each determination for good and each work of confidence by his energy." If our purposes were satisfied by our energy, we would get the wonderfulness. In any case, it will be plain in one minute that God plans to get the eminence for the satisfaction of our great purposes. So he satisfies them by his energy, not our own. So our obligation is to take advantage of his energy. How?

1. LIVING BY FAITH

That is the fifth thing: by confidence. Verse 11: "That our God may make you deserving of his calling and may satisfy each purpose for good and each work of confidence by his energy." When God satisfies a determination for good, it turns into a work of confidence on the grounds that the methods by which we get the ability to satisfy the purpose and transform it into a deed is confidence. So the deed or the work or the demonstration is known as a "work of confidence" or a "deed of confidence" or a "demonstration of confidence." So from God's side the purpose turned into a deed by God's energy. What's more, from our side the purpose turned into a deed by confidence. Confidence in that power. By confidence we put stock in God for the ability to satisfy the purpose and, by that power, through that confidence, the determination turned into a deed or work, a work of confidence. This wrongdoing was crushed. This honesty was performed. Why? Since we turned away from ourselves to God and all his capable impacts in our lives.

1. JESUS IS GLORIFIED

"God satisfies our purposes by his energy through our confidence with the goal that the name of Jesus gets brilliance."

In this way the 6th thing to find in this content is that the name of Jesus is celebrated when God's energy satisfies our purposes and through confidence transforms them into deeds. Verse 12: "With the goal that the name of our Lord Jesus might be celebrated in you." That is, God satisfies our purposes by his energy through our confidence so the name of Jesus gets transcendence. This expect the energy of God is coming to us on account of Jesus. Since Jesus has passed on for us, God's energy is presently not against us but rather for us. So when that power empowers us to transform our purposes into deeds of affection, Jesus and the Father get the eminence.

1. WE ARE GLORIFIED IN HIM

Seventh, is Jesus celebrated in us, as well as we are celebrated in him. Verse 12: "with the goal that the name of our Lord Jesus might be celebrated in you, and you in him." at the end of the day, as Jesus extols himself in obtaining the energy of God to be made deserving of our calling, we too are being celebrated. What's more, the day will come when that moderate procedure in this world will be finished in the twinkling of an eye, and we will "be spared to sin no more." This is the calling for which we are being made commendable, appropriate.

8.ITS ALL OF GRACE

At long last, eighth, the majority of this procedure of being made deserving of our calling and satisfying our great purposes and doing acts of kindness by confidence in God's energy, is "as per the finesse of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." Verse 12: "With the goal that the name of our Lord Jesus might be celebrated in you, and you in him, as indicated by the beauty of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." It was all of elegance. The energy of God that comes to us minute by minute satisfying our purposes in works of confidence is the energy of elegance.

The Eights Pieces In Summary

Presently let me set up the eight sorts out in the request that they really work. Paul finished with the establishment of everything — the finesse of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. We should begin with the establishment and fabricate the structure of the Christian existence with these eight pieces. In the event that you are a Christian, this is your life.

Everything begins with and is based on the beauty of God. That elegance is communicated in God's energy toward his kids. See the finish of verse 11: "by his energy." That benevolent power which God applies toward his youngsters is appropriated, gotten, taken advantage of by confidence. The way we encounter the energy of God is by believing him to be for us all that we require with the goal that great purposes progress toward becoming deeds of confidence.

The impact of this power, as we believe him for it, is to satisfy our purposes for good and transform them into acts, deeds, which he calls "works of confidence." Thus the life of the Christian is lived by confidence. Christianity isn't a self control religion. We will things. We resolve. We design. We shape purposes. Yet, as we draw in our wills to act, we look to God. Furthermore, we cherish him. We cherish him. We believe him that the power will be given to satisfy the determination.

The effect of this power, as we trust him for it, is to fulfill our resolves for good and turn them into acts, deeds, which he calls “works of faith.” Thus the life of the Christian is lived by faith. Christianity is not a will-power religion. We will things. We resolve. We plan. We form purposes. But as we engage our wills to act, we look to God. And we treasure him. We love him. We trust him that the power will be given to fulfill the resolve.

A Panorama Of The Christian Life

In this way, then, we are made worthy of our calling. A life of God-dependent obedience is a life fitting, or appropriate, or suitable for our calling into God’s kingdom and glory. And this being made worthy is the first stage in our being fully glorified in Christ and Christ’s being fully glorified through us.

So when you stand back and look at these two verses, they are an amazing panorama of the Christian life and of the meaning of existence. Everything flows from the free grace of God in Christ. And everything is moving toward the fullest glory of God in us and through us. And between the foundation of grace and the goal of glory, there is the power of grace daily arriving in our lives through faith turning daily resolves and plans and purposes into deeds of faith and fitting us for glory. Oh Bethlehem, live these verses!

That’s your life as a Christian. Daily, hourly, tapping into the flow of God’s grace for the awakening and fulfilling of your good resolves, so that as you are made increasingly worthy of his calling — fitted for his kingdom and glory — Jesus gets more and more glory in your life.

What It Means For The Everyday

Now let me step back and draw out of these two verses — this amazing picture of the Christian life — what I mean by the thirty-year theological trademark of living by faith in future grace. Because what I mean is all right here either explicitly or implicitly.

Grace, in the New Testament, as we have seen, is not only God’s disposition to do good for us when we don’t deserve it — undeserved favor. It is also a power from God that acts in our lives and makes good things happen in us and for us. Paul said that we fulfill our resolves for good “by his power” (verse 11). And then he adds at the end of verse 12, “according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” That power that actually works in our lives to make Christ-exalting obedience possible is an extension of the grace of God.

You can see this also I 1 Corinthians 15:10: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” So grace is an active, present, transformative, obedience-enabling power.

Therefore, this grace which moves in power from God to you at a point in time is both past and future. It has already done something for you or in you and therefore is past. And it is about to do something in you and for you, and so it is future — both five seconds away and five million years away.

God’s grace is ever cascading over the waterfall of the present from the inexhaustible river of grace coming to us from the future into the ever-increasing reservoir of grace in the past. In the next five minutes, you will receive sustaining grace flowing to you from the future, and you will accumulate another five minutes’ worth of grace in the reservoir of the past.

Gratitude and Faith

The proper response to grace that you have experienced in the past is gratitude — a profoundly humble and transforming spirit in itself. And the proper response to grace promised to you in the future is faith. We are thankful for past grace, and we are confident in future grace. This is where I get the idea of faith in future grace. That’s what Paul is talking about in 2 Thessalonians 1:11–12. We fulfill our good resolves by the power of grace arriving second by second as we trust God for it on the basis of Christ’s work.

“To trust in past grace means to draw from it confidence in future grace.”

And so we live in those moments by faith in the constant arrival of future grace. It is not wrong to say that we trust in past grace — like the grace God showed us at the cross and in our new birth — but what we mean by that is: we believe that because of these acts of past grace — the cross and the new birth — a river of future grace will never, ever stop flowing to us for all eternity. I just read this week in my devotions: “Christ is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Christ died for us and he lives for us. And because his death is all-purchasing, and his life is all-providing, grace will never stop flowing to us. Therefore to trust in past grace means to draw from it confidence in future grace.

So even though our faith is founded on decisive acts of past redeeming grace, the way faith works moment by moment to turn our resolves for good into deeds of purity and love (patience, kindness, meekness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control) is by looking up and forward to the boundless fountain of grace that comes to us through a river of promises for every moment of the day. We live by faith in the ever-arriving power of future grace.

Satisfied With All His Promises

And here’s another aspect of this thirty-year theological trademark. When we speak of faith — faith in future grace — we mean being satisfied with all that God promises to be for us in Christ. Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). In other words: Believing in me means receiving me as the satisfier of the thirst of your soul. Being satisfied with all that God promises to be for us in Christ.

Faith is not only a serious assent to the truth of God’s promises, it is also a satisfying embrace of Christ in those promises. When Paul says, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ” (Philippians 3:8), he means that moment by moment in every situation Christ satisfies. “I have learned in whatever situation I am,” Paul said, “to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11–13).

Paul is “content” — satisfied — in every circumstance. How? Because he has learned a secret. What? I have learned to trust him for moment by moment strengthening. “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” The future grace of all that God is for me in Christ, arriving every moment of my life, in every circumstance, for every need, is enough. It satisfies. I am content. That is what we mean by faith in future grace.

So when Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1:11–12 that God fulfills our good resolves by his power through our faith according to his grace, he means that we defeat sin and we do righteousness by faith in future grace, that is, by being satisfied with all that God promises to be for us in Christ in the next five minutes, five weeks, five months, five years, five decades, five centuries, and five million ages of ages.

Six Examples

1. If you set your heart to give sacrificially and generously, the power of God to fulfill this resolve will come to you as you trust his future grace in this promise: “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:19). And this promise: “Whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” 2 Corinthians 9:6). And this promise: “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).

1. If you set your heart to return good for evil, the power of God to fulfill this resolve will come to you as you trust his future grace in this promise: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 5:11–12).

1. If you set your heart to renounce pornography, the power of God to fulfill this resolve will come to you as you trust his future grace in this promise: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). “It is better that you tear out your eye than that your whole body be thrown into hell” (Matthew 5:29). Much better. Wonderfully better. All-satisfyingly better.

1. If you set your heart to speak out for Christ when the opportunity comes, the power of God to fulfill this resolve will come to you as you trust his future grace in this promise: “Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour” (Matthew 10:19).

1. If you set your heart to risk your life by ministering to the needy in a dangerous place, the power of God to fulfill this resolve will come to you as you trust his future grace in this promise: “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). “Don’t fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. . . . Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:28–30).

1. If you set your heart to invite some for Thanksgiving who cannot repay you, the power of God to fulfill this resolve will come to you as you trust his future grace in this promise: “You will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:13–14).

May God increase our daily faith in his inexhaustible, blood-bought, Christ-exalting future grace.