What the Word of Grace Does to Us (Acts 20:32-37)

Quick quiz. Don’t answer out loud. Just hold your answer in your head. True or false? “If you tell people that they are saved on by the grace of God in Jesus Christ alone, without any assistance or cooperation from their own works or obedience, they won’t work for God and they won’t obey God. They’ll just do whatever they want.”

Sadly, that statement is too often true. Perhaps preachers and churches are not explaining salvation by grace clearly enough. Maybe people just aren’t listening closely enough. Regardless, people routinely come to the disastrously wrong conclusion that salvation by grace means that obeying God and working for God are irrelevant.

But do you know how Paul responds to that idea? One helpful summary comes from the letter he wrote to Titus (AD 63)

Titus 2:11-12 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.

In other words, the truth of salvation by grace teaches us to live for Jesus, not ourselves. We work for him and obey him because he has saved us by his grace.

Or think about what he had said to the Ephesian church—the one these elders in Acts 20 are serving.

Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not 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.

That is to say, God recreated us in Jesus Christ so that we could live a life of good works for him. If you go back to the very beginning of Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, you’ll find that God prepared both the salvation and the grace and the works for the Ephesian Christians before time began—and for us, too. He wrote that around AD 61.

Paul met with the elders of the Ephesian church in Miletus in about AD 57—four years before he wrote the letter to the Ephesian church. That means that what we have in Acts 20 is some of Paul’s earliest teaching about the nature of the doctrine of salvation by grace and how it relates to our lives. We can be sure that he had already taught them much about this during the three years that he was with them. Everything that he has said so far in this short meeting has just been review and reinforcement of what he has already taught them, with exhortation to remain true to it.

This matters because some voices in the evangelical world these days are saying that the gospel of grace totally frees us from any concern about working for God or obeying God or turning from sin or renouncing Satan or living right in the eyes of the world. Some of them even go so far as to say that this is Reformed truth. Listen to what Paul says by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 20:32-37

• end of Paul’s third missionary journey

Acts 20  ³² And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace,… 

• “commend you to” = “step away & surrender you to the care of”

Acts 14 ²¹ When [Paul and Barnabas] had preached the gospel to the city [of Derbe] and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, ²² strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. ²³ And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Acts 20  ³² And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace,… 

Paul is in Miletus, saying farewell to the Ephesian elders, with these words: “I am leaving you now and surrendering you to the care of God and the word of his grace.” He is letting them know that very likely they will never benefit from his personal leading, teaching, training, or discipleship again. He’s leaving them in the care of God, which is far better than his care anyway. But specifically he is commending them to “the word of God’s grace.” What in the Dickens is that?

The word of God’s grace is the message of our acceptance by God and our final salvation before God as a gift from God (“grace”).

We are saved by the grace of God in Jesus Christ, not by the works of the Law or any other choices or actions or efforts of our own. This is the same message, the same gospel, that he has been preaching in city after city all around the eastern Mediterranean world. He seems to believe that God will exercise his care over the Ephesian church through the gospel of grace. He points out specific thing the gospel of grace does to people. In particular, we’re going to notice four this morning: four effects the gospel of grace has on true believers in Jesus Christ. We’ll see quickly that cutting us loose to go live like the devil isn’t one of them.

ONE The gospel of grace builds us up

³² And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up…  

Paul reminds the Ephesian elders that the gospel of grace has power to strengthen them and to equip them to defend the flock from the wolves who will come, speaking twisted things to pervert the true gospel. The elders need to learn the truth of the grace of God, and they need to train all the Ephesian Christians in the truth of the grace of God. Have you ever noticed how much the grace of God figures in Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church? Go home and read it this afternoon. You’ll see exactly what I mean.

While you do that, you might also take some time to read the letter right before Ephesians. Paul’s letter to the galatians is also hyper focused on the truth that we are saved by grace, through faith, without relying on our works to supplement the saving power of the blood of Jesus, given to us by grace alone through faith alone. Get collations also makes it clear that those who are saved by grace live transformed lives full of good works, not to complete or compliment their salvation, it’s simply to live out the salvation that is ours by grace alone.

Both Galatians and Ephesians are chock full of severe warnings about false doctrine that mixes grace with works In deadly and damnable ways. Specifically, once again, we do works as is joyful answer to the gracious gift have salvation given to us by God. Jesus is the one who lived the way we couldn’t live. Jesus is the one who died the death we should have died. Our confidence is in him and him alone. We do not look to our own religious actions or affections as any reason God should accept us or forgive us. Jesus is our savior, and Jesus alone. Every one of us needs to hear that truth over and over again to build us up and strengthen us against false doctrine that could confuse us or distract us. Our Lord Jesus Christ alone deserves our attention and affection.

TWO The gospel of grace pulls us in

³² And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. 

• T&R&E Ephesians 1:13-21
• the gospel gets you into your inheritance
• a place of your own in God’s family
• a place of your own in God’s eternal home
• it matters what YOU BELIEVE

THREE The gospel of grace teaches us to work

³³ I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel. ³⁴ You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 

• It’s tempting to think that Paul is going on to another subject here
• but just keep reading to verse 35
• becomes clear that Paul is using himself as an example of somebody whose entire lifestyle has been transformed by the gospel of grace… including his work ethic
• T&R&E 1 Thess 4:1-12
• transformed by grace à sexual ethics & work ethic equally

FOUR The gospel of grace shows us others

³⁵ In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

• Paul à Ephesian elders à Ephesian church
• example of hard work
• working hard before the eyes of unbelievers and new believers
• showing them they need to work hard to take care of their own needs
• showing them they need to work hard to take care of their other people’s needs
• showing them this is the ultimate example of working to help others
• Who is actually learning the grace of God?

1. “I have my salvation as a gift of the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Because he worked and suffered and bled for me, now I’m free to just be a slug and do whatever I feel like.”

OR

2. “I have my salvation as a gift of the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Because he worked and suffered and bled for me, now I’m eager to pour myself out for the good of others.”

WHAT

• Questions for the Lord’s Supper and the gospel of grace

1. Do I turn from my sin and trust Jesus alone to make me right with God?

• Am I trusting in Jesus alone to make me right with God = Am I settled in the truth that my salvation is by grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone? Has grace led me to saving faith?

2. Has my trust in Jesus led me to follow him in baptism, like he wants?

• Have I, moved by faith, done this first work of grace? More correctly, has it been done to me?

3. Has my trust in Jesus led me to be part of a specific church family, like he wants?

• Do I, moved by faith, to this weekly work of grace? More correctly, is it given to me each Lord’s Day?

4. Is there some other sin I need to turn away from right now, before I eat and drink?

• Because I am saved by grace alone, do I turn from my sin on a regular basis, trusting Jesus alone to make me and keeping right with God?

Eternal Father, in this very moment, we turn again from our sin and ourselves to you and your glory,

Trusting only in your Son’s sacrifice for our sins to make us right with you.

We want to shelter ourselves in the shadow of his cross,

Bathe ourselves in the blood that he shed there for us,

Robe ourselves in his righteousness,

Renew ourselves in his resurrection,

Lose ourselves in his Lordship,

And find ourselves in his friendship.

We want him to become for us, for today and forever, wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and salvation.

For he is the One who suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to you, our Father.