As this blog will post a week before Thanksgiving (and may be my last until December), I thought I’d write on Psalm 103 (posted below in case your Bible isn’t handy). The whole time I was thinking about it a hymn from childhood kept going through my head. I hope this gets it running through yours!
COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS
1 When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
Refrain:
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one;
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.2 Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
2. Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, ev’ry doubt will fly,
And you will be singing as the days go by. [Refrain]
3. When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings, money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high. [Refrain]
4. So, amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end. [Refrain]
Baptist Hymnal, 1991*
Trusting you have at least one more blessing than challenge to count!
Pastor Scott
Psalm 103
Praise for the Lord’s Mercies. A Psalm of David.
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
3 Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
4 Who redeems your life from the pit,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;
5 Who satisfies your years with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.
6 The Lord performs righteous deeds
And judgments for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the sons of Israel.
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
9 He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him.
12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 Just as a father has compassion on his children,
So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
14 For He Himself knows our frame;
He is mindful that we are but dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 When the wind has passed over it, it is no more,
And its place acknowledges it no longer.
17 But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
18 To those who keep His covenant
And remember His precepts to do them.
19 The Lord has established His throne in the heavens,
And His sovereignty rules over all.
20 Bless the Lord, you His angels,
Mighty in strength, who perform His word,
Obeying the voice of His word!
21 Bless the Lord, all you His hosts,
You who serve Him, doing His will.
22 Bless the Lord, all you works of His,
In all places of His dominion;
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
*The song was published in 1897; 1991 was the pub. Date of the Baptist Hymnal I found online.
One of the characteristics of Free Grace Theology is that it makes a distinction between a believer and a disciple. A believer is somebody who has believed in Jesus for eternal life. They receive it as a gift. Works play no part in it whatsoever. A disciple is a believer who follows Christ in obedience. Discipleship involves works and is not free. All believers will be in the kingdom, but not all believers are disciples.Many Bible teachers disagree. They say we must do works to prove we are saved. They maintain that all believers are disciples. There is no difference between the two.This is a strange and contradictory teaching. Those who promote it say that eternal salvation is free, then quickly add that it will cost the person everything. That makes absolutely no sense. They do this because they think verses that say eternal salvation is free and verses about the cost of being a disciple are all talking about the same thing—salvation from hell. They try to make all these verses be about the same thing.We need only look at one example to see how nonsensical such a view is. Imagine preaching that salvation is absolutely free, then saying that Mark 1:16-20 is talking about the same thing. The Lord calls four fishermen to follow Him. The word follow is a discipleship term. It is an ongoing process. The Lord wants these men to walk after Him, learn from Him, and do the things He commands them to do. Receiving eternal life is not a process. It happens in a moment of time, when the person believes in Jesus for eternal life.Clearly, Jesus is not telling these men to believe in Him. He is not offering them a gift. These men had already believed and received the gift of life (John 1:37-42). Jesus is telling them to do something more and to get to work.The call to do work is also clear in what Jesus wants them to do. He wants them to learn how to fish for men. These four men were fishermen, and they knew the kind of work involved in that business. When Jesus called them to follow Him, they were doing hard work. Some were casting nets into the sea (v 16). Others were mending broken nets and getting them ready for the next trip out into the water (v 19).Recently, I went on a trip to the coast of Georgia. I did a tourist thing where a fisherman showed us how to catch fish with a large net. I volunteered, along with another man, to give it a try. We unfolded the net and waded about thirty yards out into the water. We dragged the net for about ten minutes. We caught a bunch of small fish. After those ten minutes, I was done. I needed to take a nap.It was obvious to me that fishing takes a great deal of work. Not a single one of those men whom Jesus called that day thought, “He is calling us to do something that is absolutely free and takes no work.” They understood that the Lord was urging them to follow Him by doing hard work.Even though I have heard it a thousand times, it still baffles me when I hear people say that the Lord was telling these fishermen to believe in Him for eternal life in these verses. If those four men heard somebody say that Jesus was offering them a free gift on the Sea of Galilee that day, they would have rolled on the ground laughing.There is no doubt that Christ was calling these men to be His disciples. That is not the same thing as believing in Him. Believing costs nothing. Discipleship is very costly. It is hard work. If you try to say they are the same thing, you only look foolish.Let’s keep them separate. Receiving eternal life is given freely by God’s grace through faith alone. Being a disciple will take hard work. Go to the coast of Georgia and drag a net in the ocean for ten minutes and you’ll see. Unless your theological tradition compels you do to so, you will never say that Mark 1:16-20 is an invitation for these men to receive a gift.
Grace Notes 