In part 1 of this ‘series’ I wrote about how we can leave ourselves with the wrong impression when asking the question, “Am I saved?” This question can give the unfortunate impression that salvation is primarily a status change and little else. Instead of asking simply, “Am I saved?” We would be wise to ask if we are participating on the way of salvation. This points closer to how salvation has been understood through the history of the church as both a status and a process. But now, let’s focus on the partnership that is required for progression in sanctification through what are called the means of grace. To do this, we need to consider first, what the means of grace are and second, what makes them effective.
What are the means of grace? John Wesley identifies the means as “ordinary channels whereby [God] might convey to men, preventing, justifying, or sanctifying grace.”1
This brief, 3 1/2 minute video introduces the concept. Take a minute to have a quick watch/listen.
If you check out the video, you will see that Wesley identifies two broad domains: works of piety and works of mercy. Taking Wesley’s definition into account could lead us to conclude that there is a lot that could function as means of grace in our lives. (Indeed, it is worthwhile to consider at length what unique ways God is conveying grace to us today.) But the ones that we know for sure are valuable and worthwhile are the ones that we can observe in Scripture through the life, work, ministry and teaching of Jesus. We see in the teaching and life of Jesus that prayer, fasting, searching of Scripture, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper are important ‘works of piety. In Jesus’ life and teachings, we also see that taking care of the ‘least of these’ is a working out of the gospel and a maturation in holiness though giving to the poor, visiting the jailed, taking care of the widow and the orphan, clothing the naked, and feeding the hungry.2 Those we consider works of mercy. So, in the means of grace, through works of piety and mercy, we align our minds with the Spirit of Christ, and we allow our hearts to be reprogrammed to be the hands and feet of Jesus and to be the gospel in action. However, this reprogramming and our ability to take on the hands, heart, and feet of Jesus do not happen simply because we determine to do these things—otherwise, we make the means into ends! So how can these means go from being ends to being effective means to the right end?
To be the effective hands and feet of Jesus and to have the powerful heartbeat of Jesus, we need to participate in these means in partnership with the Holy Spirit. We need to respond to our sanctification dance partner if you will. Wesley scholar Randy Maddox argues that, for Wesley, “rote performance of such actions as regular worship and prayer are not salvific unless one recognizes and responds to God’s gracious prevenience expressed through them.”3 And, in Wesley’s own words, “all outward means whatever, if separate from the Spirit of God, cannot profit at all, cannot conduce, in any degree, either to the knowledge or love of God.”4 Unless one understands and responds to God’s first action, there is no effective thing happening in the hearts or the minds of those who engage in such activities. We can ineffectively participate in the means of grace when we decide that we want to take the lead role or that we want to prove that we can do it ourselves. Participating in the means of grace apart from a humble acknowledgement of the Spirit’s lead is about as silly as attempting a solo Tango!
In a conversation with Dallas Willard, Richard Foster says that we need an, “interactive, cooperative relationship in the means of grace.”5 This includes ourselves and the Holy Spirit. It includes works of mercy and works of piety. It truly is interactive.There is no effectiveness for the means of grace apart from the Spirit of God. It takes two to tango, after all. Someone has to lead though, and the one who has to lead is the Spirit of God. Not us. if we try to get on the dance floor of sanctification without the Holy Spirit at all, we make fools of ourselves. If we try to get on the dance floor, desiring a progression of our sanctification—of moving forward in maturity in salvation—and try to lead and take the Spirit’s role, we make fools of ourselves. But, if we take the hands of the Spirit and participate in these means of grace as we are led by the Spirit, we will be in the right spot o eventually complete the dance in a final turn full of beauty—the clear, evident beauty of a true heart change into Christlikeness and eventual glorification.
We don’t exercise or participate in the means of grace or spiritual disciplines just so that we can say that we’ve done them. (As though we are set and saved.) We do them so that we can say that God is able to do a work of grace in us. We do them as the Spirit leads, with each means of grace acting as another beautiful movement in a series of movements with a purpose. Like a dance, these movements often repeat with a purpose until a final crescendo that all anticipate with excitement. But we cannot participate if we think the dance is all our own or ours to lead. We cannot enjoy the beauty that comes from the movement and progression if we delude ourselves into thinking that we have the dance figured out ourselves. We must recognize our need to progress in salvation towards its full end as we are made holy by the Holy Spirit himself. We must humbly partner with the Holy Spirit in his means of grace. When we do so, we partner with God in the process he works out in us to make us holy, which ultimately is the process of sanctification.
Now to you.
Do you have questions about this concept? How are you partnering with the Holy Spirit in being made holy? Are there unique (or extraordinary) means of grace that you have seen God convey his grace in your life?
Grace and peace,
-Tim
- John Wesley and Charles Wesley, Selected Works of John and Charles Wesley (Almont Spings: OakTree Software, 1997). Accordance electronic ed. “The Means of Grace.” §II.1 Wesley draws upon Acts 2.42, 44 in his introduction to those which Christ “hath or-dained.” ↩
- Luke 4.16-19; Matthew 25.31-40; James 1.27 ↩
- Randy L. Maddox, Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology (Nashville, TN: Kingswood Books, 1994). Kobo ebook, chapter 8. ↩
- John Wesley and Charles Wesley, Selected Works of John and Charles Wesley (Almont Spings: OakTree Software, 1997). Accordance electronic ed. “The Means of Grace.” §II.3. ↩
- Dallas Willard Richard Foster, “Christian Disciplines as a Means to Grace: A Conversation Between Richard Foster and Dallas Willard.” (2006): accessed September 15, 2022, https://conversatio.org/christian-disciplines-as-a-means-to-grace/. ↩