WELS CHRISTIANS
Have you ever heard someone say,
“They’re so heavenly minded they are no earthly good?” That’s not a compliment.
It’s a dig that Christians and churches can sometimes receive. It means that
the person or church cares only about a person’s eternal well being that they
care nothing for the earthly well being. It’s worth thinking about. Can that
even be true? I suppose if a person withdrew from society so that they never
rubbed shoulders with another person and simply thought about God and read the
Bible every day that it might look that way. But really can that be true? Can a
Christian or church be so heavenly minded they are of no earthly good? No way!
If you are heavenly minded you have in mind and take most seriously the things
of God, what He says. It’s actually true that the more heavenly minded you are
the more earthly good you do.
God
makes that clear to us in Ephesians 2:8-10. This is a such a key passage of
Scripture we should probably all have it memorized. Let’s start that process by
saying it together.
…So
Heavenly minded, we do earthly Good.
Ephesians 2:8-10
(NIV 1984) “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this
not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in
advance for us to do.”
WELS Christians are equipped to be so heavenly minded we do earthly good. Do you
see how that’s true. We know we are saved by grace, solely because God loves
us. We know salvation comes only through trusting in the works of Jesus Christ,
not our own. That’s heavenly minded. Out of love and thankfulness we want to do
the good works God prepared in advance for us to do. Let’s look at an example
of WELS Christians doing earthly good helped by the work and planning of WELS Christian
Aid and Relief.
Video
When we are heavenly minded we do
earthly good. We love our neighbor as ourselves. We respond to earthly needs.
And that leads to our second point. When we are earthly minded, striving to
care for earthly needs we need to remember, the mission Jesus gave us, to be
His witnesses. We remember the truth. Those who died without faith in Jesus
Christ die eternally. As Jesus said, “What
does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” As we
do earthly good then we remember to keep our eyes on heaven. The Apostle Paul
encouraged that thinking in his letter to the Colossians.
…So earthly minded, we do heavenly Good.
Colossians
4:2-6 (NIV 1984) “Devote
yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3And pray for us, too, that God
may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ,
for which I am in chains. 4Pray that I may proclaim it
clearly, as I should. 5Be wise in the way you act toward
outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always
full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
First
the heavenly minded Paul encouraged the heavenly minded activity of prayer.
Then he encouraged earthly actions that are heavenly mind. Be wise in your
actions. Let conversations be seasoned with the salt of the Gospel message.
Let’s watch now a great example of that in action again spurred on by the
activity of WELS Christian Aid and Relief.
Watch
video
Brothers
and sisters, this is what we are. WELS Christians. We are so heavenly minded we
do earthly good and while doing earthly good we remember to stay heavenly
minded. May the Lord of our Church bless all our efforts so more and more are
added each day to the number of those being saved.
Amen.
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