July 2023
The Call to Fruitful Faith
INTO THE WORD
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One of the objections lodged against the Protestant Reformers was that the doctrine of justification by faith alone would lead people to neglect good works and even to disobey the law of God. The Reformers’ opponents thought that if our good works are not in any way the basis of our right standing before God, we will have no incentive to be fruitful servants of the Lord.
The Reformers countered that the kind of faith that lays hold of the righteousness of Christ and justifies us before God is the faith that bears fruit in good works of loving service to God and neighbor. Their reply, of course, grew out of the New Testament’s teaching on authentic faith. This month as we continue our study of Luke’s gospel, we will look at Christ’s teaching on the fruitfulness of true saving faith. We will base some of our studies on Dr. R.C. Sproul’s teaching series Keeping in Step with the Spirit.
Making our way through Luke 13–14, we will also consider some of Jesus’ most well-known parables and the cost of Christian discipleship. We gain far more than we leave behind when we commit ourselves to following our Lord and Savior in the narrow way of salvation.
These verses parallel the themes of the studies each week. We encourage you to hide them in your heart so that you may not sin against the Lord:
abiding in the word
- James 2:18
- 1 Corinthians 13:4
- Luke 13:24
- Luke 14:11
- Deuteronomy 4:1