by Richard Mansel

Salvation is the most desirable thing and we are helpless to find it on our own (Romans 3:23). Isaiah 59:2-3a says, "Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood." In order to obtain this salvation we have to find our way back to God.

Romans 5:6 says, "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." In Romans 6:3-4 and Galatians 3:27, we obey his will when we are immersed into his body. Grace gives us that privilege. Ephesians 2:8-9, "for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast."

Joseph Thayer says that "through" refers to the "Means or Instrument by which anything is effected" and "because what is done by means of a person or thing seems to pass as it were through the same." Grace is free and undeserved, yet only through faith can we obtain this special gift.

If grace is the room we enter, faith is the hallway to its entrance. We must pass through it before God will bestow this grace on us. His gift is so special that he has no reason to give it to someone who does not believe he is the Lord (John 3:16). Because it is bestowed on us, we have no right to boast of our worthiness.

Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

"Walk" is significant in that it "denotes the state in which one is living." Paul is saying that we exist in a state of service to God. He has created a place for us to work and serve him. Our focus is no longer on us, but on him. Our purpose is to bring glory to him as we work in his vineyard.

The argument for grace or works is framed with ourselves in the spotlight. What do we have to do or not do? Instead, we should turn our eyes upward and say, "What can I do for him?" We exist in his world, we have been washed by his Son's blood, walk in his kingdom and all we can think about is "what do we have to do?"

We come humbly to him and act like a servant doing the will of his Master. He asks us to do certain things and we do them out of gratitude and purpose. These works do not save us because 2:8-9 tells us that grace does. However, these works must be fruit in a life lived for him. The absence of these works means we are no longer useful to his purposes (John 15:1-8; James 2:20-26).

We should say, "Am I still being useful to His kingdom?" The Lord knows us. He knows whether we are continuing to walk for him and does not want "anyone to perish" (2 Peter 3:9). As long as we are trying to live for him, the Lord is there beside us.

We are saved by grace but we live, serve and work for him in his kingdom, by his purposes and designs. Obedience alone does not save, for the sacrifice of Christ is primary, but its absence will condemn us. We forget this at our peril.

After retail management and teaching, Richard began preaching full time in 1995. When he was ten he would read stories he had written to his classmates at school. He writes the newsletter Culture Wars.

by Michael E. Brooks

"Again, the devil took him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, 'All these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.' Then Jesus said to him, 'Away with you Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God and him only you shall serve"'" (Matthew 4:8-11).

I have never been a very effective bargainer. I usually don't have a proper idea of the true value of goods, and am easily intimidated by sellers who seem to know just what they deserve and who may seem offended by my offers. Since I have been traveling in areas where bargaining in the open market is a way of life, however, I have learned not only to participate but even to enjoy it.

Once on the streets of Kathmandu I was offered a "Kukhuri" (Gorka soldier's knife) at 3,500 Nepali rupees (about $50). I was actually planning to purchase one of them at some point, and having shopped a little I knew that their true price was closer to 600 or 700 rupees, or about $10. I offered 600, then kept walking. The vender followed me all the way to my hotel, gradually reducing his asking price, until just before I walked through the door and out of his reach he finally said, "Okay, I will take 600." I felt good about having succeeded in buying something I wanted at what I felt to be a fair price.

In many stores, however, bargaining is not practiced. One offers less than the listed price only to hear the storekeeper respond, "Fixed Price". Since that is the system that prevails in American retail business, I am usually pretty comfortable with it. Take it or leave it, the price is what it is. This system reflects a view of reality and a philosophy that is easily transferable to other matters.

Certain things are, or at least should be, non-negotiable. One's honor, a nation's security, truth, justice, genuine love -- there is no price on these things, no bargaining or negotiating them away. Jesus' reaction to Satan's attempt to buy his adoration was the appropriate response. Jesus' worship did not have a price -- it could not be purchased. He worshipped God, and only God; no one else could receive his devotion. Not all the kingdoms of the world nor any other enticement could change his allegiance.

Cynics claim, "Everyone has his price." Is that really true? Can we be bought? Can our faith, our love be purchased by enough money, or pleasure, or power? Or is it given to God who made us and to him alone?

Let us follow the example of our Lord and cry, "Away with you Satan! For it is written ...."