Micah 6 in the light of Ephesians 2

In our last Moms4Justice Gathering we listened to Greg Boyd's sermon "God's Heart for the Poor" which should actually have been titled "Know who your real enemy is".

He starts by referring back to comments that some had made about his previous sermon, where he looks at Micah 6 and the fact that the Lord requires of us to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. Some were concerned that he was meaning that these works are required for salvation. He clarifies that he is not saying salvation by works, and refers to Ephesians 2 "for it is by grace that you've been saved through faith". He then uses a very helpful metaphor - you really should go listen to it as I am not going to do it justice by trying to explain it - to explain that Micah 6 is not teaching salvation by works, but it is rather pointing to salvation FOR works. Ephesions 2 goes on to say "for we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

To quote Boyd: "The reason why we're saved by grace through faith so no one can boast is because we are God's handiwork, and we're created for good works. We're not saved by works, but we are saved for works. The reason why we're saved is to do the works that we were created to do."

"our job description was to receive His fulness of life and then to manifest that fullness of life back to God, to each other, to the animal kingdom and to the earth"

"the reason why Jesus Christ came down and saves us by grace through faith so that no one can boast is so that now we can recover that original design and begin to live out what it means to be God's handiwork made in the image of God, begin to live life the way God wanted us to live life. He saved us for these good works...acting justly...showing compassion and mercy... and walking humbly with our God."

I must admit that the more I understand God's heart for this world, I come to realise that issues of justice, poverty, compassion, and restoration are core to Jesus' gospel of salvation, not a nice-to-have addition. They are all included in the Good News that Jesus came to bring and live and die for!