The means of grace are indicators of the necessity of the church in Christian life. The Lord did not create us to live the Christian life in solitude. It has been said that believers are like hot coals. They extinguish in solitude, but if they are together, they will blaze. Public worship places us in the special presence of the ever-present God (Psalms 113:4, 139:7). Whenever God gathers His family together, Christ speaks to them thru the preaching of the Word (Romans 10:11-17, Ephesians 2:17), and we present our prayers thru the Holy Spirit and enjoy the presence of the Lord in the church service. Maintaining our gatherings and not forsaking them (Hebrews 10:25) does not just mean being alongside other Christians. The public assemblies of the church, under the supervision of its authorities, are a place to acquire the tools that keep us steadfast in our salvation. We must obtain the tools of grace thru faith and, with the help of the Bible, prepare ourselves to receive them and study their nature and use.
The instruments of grace will be useless in the absence of faith. Without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). The essence of faith is trust in the promises that God has made regarding Christ and the expectation that God's blessings will be bestowed upon us thru the Holy Spirit. The means of grace do not yield results by themselves; they are tools thru which we receive grace, but they are not machines that produce grace. The use of means of grace with the aim of remaining steadfast in grace relies us on the Triune God. We believe in the Father, who chose us for salvation, in the Son, who purchased our salvation, and in the Holy Spirit, who applies salvation and brings us into glory. We have been saved (Ephesians 2:8), we are being saved (1 Corinthians 1:18), and we will be saved (1 Peter 1:5). The Holy Spirit will certainly preserve the eternal life we have in Christ (John 14:16, Philippians 1:6). At the same time, "he who endures to the end will be saved." (Matthew 24:13, also see Revelation 3:21). The victory that will cause us to overcome the world is faith (1 John 5:4), for we will receive Jesus thru faith (Colossians 2:6). He who will be our wisdom from God, our righteousness, our sanctification, and our redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). Whoever believes in Jesus will be saved (Joel 2:32, Acts 2:21), but if we do not have faith, we will not stand firm (Isaiah 7:9). The means of grace are valuable because thru them we will have fellowship with the Lord. If we come to church to feel religious and respectful, but have not encountered the Triune God, we will have lost everything. Faith is the tool that brings us to God, the same God who came down thru the instrument of grace. Do we want to know Him better while we are in communion with God the Father thru Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit? God has established a two-way path between heaven and earth thru the instrument of grace. God comes to us thru this instrument, and we go to Him thru faith.
However, the practice of faith requires readiness and vigilance. Faith encompasses the whole person in terms of mind, heart, and will. We must know what we should believe in and what we should do. We need a heart that loves God the Father, the one who loved us and gave us His Son (1 John 3:16-18). We need the Holy Spirit to shape our feelings toward God, and we must surrender our will to Him. To get the most out of the means of grace, we must prepare our hearts for meeting the Lord thru public worship. The Bible assumes that Christians meditate (Psalms 119:2). Meditation means clear, careful, and scripture-based thinking, a thinking dedicated to the glory of the Lord, as He has revealed Himself in His word and deeds. Meditation changes the lives of Christians. We who know that God has promised to meet us in worship, do we worship Him? Do we know what pleases Him, and are we thinking about what He does and what we are truly doing when we worship? Do we expect to hear the voice of God in the preaching of the Word? Do we enjoy the love of the Father, He who raised His Son from the dead and told us to celebrate this reality on the first day of every week? Although the Holy Spirit reigns and acts in different times according to different standards, do we expect Him to remain faithful and bring us to Jesus thru the means of grace? In summary, thru preparation and contemplation, we shift our focus away from ourselves and direct it toward the Triune God, rightly utilizing the means of grace. What could be more beneficial for our souls than this? Preparing to receive the tools of grace teaches us to live as God wants: for His glory, alongside other people, with the aim of saving our souls.
But both faith and readiness to study are needed. Believers usually desire to study the Bible for a deeper understanding. This is good, provided that the study of the Bible is for God and not just to satisfy curiosity and quench the thirst for knowledge. Christianity can easily focus on my justification, my adoption, my sanctification, my trials, and my joys. Christianity is not just about receiving a list of beneficial rights, but about knowing the true God in the right way (John 17:3). The means of grace remind us that everything of importance in life is related to seeing the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). When we think about sermons and church rituals, we easily fall into the mindset that these things are the "work" of the preachers and have no impact on us personally. If preaching, church rituals, and public prayers are tools that the Triune God has provided us, then shouldn't we study the means of grace and their role in Christian life and encourage preachers to promote these things in public services? The work of other institutions is to offer external benefits in this life. Only the church gives us God, and God reveals Himself to us thru the instrument of grace. This world offers health, wealth, and success; God reveals Himself in the church and thru the church. The instruments of grace are the ways to seek and find God. When was the last time you read a book about preaching the Word? Do you study church rituals? Do you pray alone, in a family gathering, and in a public gathering?
The tools of grace promote faith and Christian life and strengthen Christian hope. The result will be love for God and neighbor. Just as a person dies without water and food, they will perish without receiving Jesus, who is the spiritual food and drink (John 6:53). Although the instruments of grace are simple and sometimes seemingly insignificant, the Lord accomplishes great things thru them. In our sanctification, we should expect our progress (most of the time) to be slow and steady. It is rare to quickly rid oneself of a sin, and likewise, great leaps in the path of sanctification are uncommon. The Lord quickly saves some people from sins that have deeply penetrated their being, but most of the time we must fight to mortify the deeds our flesh has committed with the help of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:13). The Triune God uses the tool of grace to kill sin in us and guide us toward righteousness for the sake of His name (Psalm 23:3). Not going to church is like skipping a meal. Not all meals need to be spectacular, but we need all of them to survive. Often, we do not appreciate the role of grace in our growth until we have neglected or lost the tools of grace.
God uses the instrument of grace to nourish our spiritual life in Jesus. We must expect that the Holy Spirit will bless the Father's chosen ones with faith. We must prepare to receive the means of grace thru study and meditation. We must have faith in the God who uses the means of grace to bring us to the Savior, not in the means themselves, but in the Savior. Let us seek the Lord thru the means of grace so that the work of faith, love, and hope's patience may be strengthened (1 Thessalonians 1:3) as we endure and persevere to the end (Hebrews 12:1). Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith, and if we use the means of grace He has appointed for walking with Him, He will set our feet in a large place (Psalm 31:8).
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