declare The Lewis Family. Campus Outreach Thailand

The Great Work of the Gospel-Closing

The Great Work of the Gospel is a great book. I will give some very brief ending thoughts of the study I have done on this book and blogged about here. I have enjoyed seeing God's love, justice, sovereignty, passion, commitment, mercy, grace, and joy unfold a chapter at a time. John Ensor has a wonderful way of taking the gospel and showing us into the depths of it. I benefited tremendously by him taking the different aspects of the gospel and making me pause and meditate on them. God sets us free from sin, guilt, shame and death through the works, life, death, and risen life of Jesus so that we can live passionately involved in the great commission. This is a book that I will put with my read again books.

The Great Work of the Gospel-10

The Great Work of the Gospel by John Ensor
Chapter 10 The Great Work Unsheathed: Serving in the Great Work
Study and overview by Marc

The final chapter of the book ends with a great call to be part of the Great Work. "We are...created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).

"The grace of God calls us to repentance and faith, produces a panting heart for God, ten commissions us to a life of service in a broken world. We breathe in salvation and we exhale servanthood."

I love that quote..."We breathe in salvation and we exhale servanthood." That makes you wonder about so many in the church that think the churches main duty is to have good programs for them to stay busy and keep their kids off drugs. I am not saying that all people of churches are like this, but we all see it, we all at times live like this as consumers not servants.

John leaves us with the challenge to get involved in doing something, some great works, that God is in. He gives us great statistics about the gospel movement around the world and encourages us to get involved in great things...

"The outworking of God's grace does not reach its end in our private reformation. It works outward toward the public good. It is the law of love at work in us for he sake of others. The law of love picks a fight with poverty and oppression and darkness. It produces entrepreneurs of grace and virtue capitalists. It fights a war of love against all things that destroy body and soul. In the process, some are able to shut the mouths of lions while others are sawn in two (Hebrews 11:32,37). The law of love obeyed leads to radical joy in God and muscular Christianity in the world. Where the law of love is obeyed, Matthew 25:35-36 says, the sick are cared for, not euthanized. The imprisoned are visited, not left to despair in their guilt. The immigrant is assisted, not despised. The thirsty are given a glass of water. Is it not amazing that fetching water can be one of the good works God has reared in advance that we should do? Love should lead some of us men to befriend the neighbor boy who has no dad. Love should lead some to check in on the elderly woman who has lost her husband and perhaps fix her faucet."

Let us see where we have come from and let us glorify God by showing the world what love is. What am I doing in my home, church, and community that shouts the praises of God? How is my faith muscle? We do not do these things in an attempt to pay God back, that is impossible and insulting to God. We do these things in His power and grace for His glory and the good of others, in doing so, we will have supreme joy!

The Great Work of the Gospel-9

The Great Work of the Gospel by John Ensor
Chapter 9 The Great Work Shared: Pushing Past Our Grudges
Study and overview by Marc

This chapter is about forgiving others. We have seen and believe that God has forgiven us, now we are reminded that God requires us to forgive others.

"If you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses."
Matthew 6:15

Ensor shares many examples of how people that he has ministered to have forgiven others that have all but destroyed their lives. Many of these stories show me how little my grudges in the past have been, and how weak my faith was as I sat with bitterness instead of forgiving and moving on in freedom and peace.

Forgiving others is not easy, but we must do it.

Ensor says that when believers are "cut , they bleed grace, and in the process, they receive a transfusion of grace!" and "we block the flow of mercy in our lives when we grip tightly to our grudges." "Holding on to grudges and contemplating revenge is an expression of no confidence in God acting righteously. leaving room for the wrath of God is trusting in God. It is the obedience that derives form faith (Romans 1:5). "God must supply the grace to forgive. But one way he does that is through our trust in the goodness of his commands."

Ensor helps us to see and trust in the sovereignty of God by sharing with us the story of Joseph and his brothers from Genesis. We see that his brothers meant evil against him, but God meant it for good.

The ability to forgive will be tremendously difficult for many, not just because of lack of faith, but the need for great faith. Their are evil and mean people in the world that have hurt, killed, rapped and the list goes on. They are to be forgiven. We are to trust God for the results. God tells us to forgive, He will provide the power and heart to do so, we must have faith.

"Pushing past grudges is the human experience of grace filling the soul to overflowing capacity. Such strength is found in beholding the outworking goodness of God."