Q88 // What are the outward and ordinary means by which Christ gives to us the benefits of redemption?
A // The outward and ordinary means by which Christ gives to us the benefits of redemption are his ordinances, especially the word, sacraments, and prayer, and all these are made effective in the salvation of the elect.
Last Thursday at Men’s Theology, we dived into the topic of ordinary means. The ordinary means of grace are those things that God uses to bless us. They are the things that don’t seem like much in themselves, but are miraculous in what they produce. I have always been enamored with this concept, so much so that we preached a sermon series on it, called ORDINARY, at the beginning of this year.
The fact that I have known this for some time does not mean I always feel it. As a matter of fact, most of the time the ordinary means feel a bit too ordinary. As a pastor, I want to see my church accomplishing extraordinary things for the sake of Jesus, but we are pretty ordinary. I have this inner turmoil of never feeling like we are becoming who we should be; doing all the things we could do. Not only do I want to see the Spirit moving through our church in big ways, but I want to feel it now, and always. How very modern: I want it all, I want it now; so I pray continually for the ability to find joy in the midst of the ordinary.
To find joy in the ordinary does not mean that we give up on the extraordinary. It means that we begin to allow God’s grace in the ordinary to shape our experience of the miraculous. We don’t view the times between the moments of tangible grace as empty or less than, they are the necessary compliment to the moments of extreme joy, presence, and awe. We need to practice the ordinary, and be content in it, in order to be able to see grace for what it is: undeserved. The day to day struggles of life, and the means of finding God in the midst of them, are a reoccurring sermon to us on our inherent desire for something more. Our discontentment with the ordinary is a beautiful reminder that we were created for something extraordinary. CS Lewis famously said:
If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.
We don’t need to give up our big hopes in order to be content; we aren’t required to simply settle. Instead, finding God in the ordinary allows us to be both discontent with this world while also being patient with the wait. His ordinary means: fellowship, prayer, Bible reading, Baptism, and Communion are the ways that we re calibrate the balance between these two.
Gathering on Sunday to practice these things with ordinary people is God’s grace to His people. May we never stop desiring the full redemption of Jesus, and may we never be overwhelmed with the repetition and normalcy of life. Instead, let’s be amazed at what God can and has done through such ordinary means and ordinary people. I love the ordinary people God has given me to practice these rhythms with.