Session 7

The Means of Grace: The Bible & Sacraments

Practices of the Lord Supper and baptism
Spiritual cause and effect: the things that God has told us to do
 God use these things to build us up spiritually both individually and together
The means of Grace:
 The means God has instructed use to use to be faithful and consistent and appreciate
 It is not magic but the things God told us to do to identify ourselves as Christians and to practice
together.
 Those things that the Spirit uses to bestow Christ’s benefits upon the church
o Christ benefit: things we have that is a part of our salvation
o He gave all the means (all we need) to grow and to be obedience
 God has provided for us
 Objective: so we grow spiritually.
 It is the word of God (Bible) and the sacraments
o Growing in our knowledge and understanding, as well as application – how to see which is
relevant to the call God, to live out
o Both are central of the gospel of Jesus Christ
 They reflect good news of gospel
 The Word
o It is fundamentals – to help and understand what it means to be a Christians
 In order to be Christians, we have to believe the message
o It refers to the proclamation of the Bible – both in reading and in explanation/teaching of its
contents
 Paul commands Timothy – 1 Tim 4:13
 Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture to preaching and to teaching
 Timothy is just an example
 These are the fundamentals – preach to encourage them
o The centre of the Bible’s message is the gospel
o It’s the normal way in which people become Christians, the normal way in which people grow
and Christians
 There are other way – God has the freedom to do what He wishes to do consistent with
His will and His character
 But these are the way He prescribed.
 We are not individualistic Christians living in isolation, we are the body of Christ collectively (all
together bro and sis)
o God has provided the normal way to grow together and encourage one another, bear one
another’s burden
  The Sacraments
o Physical signs of the gospel, which Jesus told his followers to do
 Baptism: water
 Supper: bread and wine
 Meaning of those physical signs: appoints to the life and death of Christ
o Instructed by Christ in the Gospel and reinforced in the NT
 Together with the others
o Protestants hold 2 sacraments
 Baptism and the Lord’s supper
 Both are physical signs of the gospel
o Baptisms pictures the death and resurrection of Christ – The Lord’s Supper proclaims Christ’s
death until he comes’
o Jesus commanded His disciples in Mat 28:19
 All Christians are commanded to be baptized.
 For identification as Christians
 Baptism is the sign of the gospel by which people are welcomed into God’s covenant
people. It refers to a washing-with-water ceremony
 Covenant people: people of God in Christ
 Fulfilment of Davidic covenant
 Physical part: washing with water
 Bikin jadi part of community with other ppl who followed Christ and believe who He
is (God the Son – King and redeemer)
o Practices is not the only thing that differentiate Christians
 There are spiritual and theological significance behind those sacraments
o Lord’s Supper
 Paul reports in 1 Cor 11: 23-26
 <ayat kalo perjamuan>
 New covenant established by My blood
 Drink the wine and eat the bread – symbolic practice that showed Christ died from our
sin, rose, and coming again.
 it is a ritual
 it is the sign of the gospel by which believers are regularly reminded of Jesus’s death,
and by which they proclaim his death until he comes again.
 It refers to the sharing of bread and wine as a church
 Together – corporate as the church
Summary Recao
 The ‘means of grace’ are those things that the Spirit uses to bestow Christ’s benefits upon the church
o To help us grow in grace and understanding and faith to build us up spiritually
  Baptism – brought into God’s Family
 Lord Supper – identifying His life given for us
 Protestant hold that the means of grace are the Word and the Sacraments
o Bible: hearing it preaching it, learning from it
 The Word means the Bible, the centre of the Bible’s message is the gospel
 Sacraments are physical signs of the gospel, which Jesus told his followers to do
o Ada 2: Baptism and Lord’s Supper
o Physical symbolic signs

o Baptism is the sign of the gospel by which people are welcomed into God’s covenant people
 Part of global church community
o The Lord’s Supper is the sign of the gospel by which believers are regularly reminded of
Jesus’ death, and by which they proclaim his death until he comes again
 These sacraments bring the benefits of the gospel – including membership in God’s family, and the
presence of Jesus – to those who receive them by faith
o Not by magic but by the spirit of God
o Spirit help us to grow in spiritual life
o By faith: trusting God, that his Spirit in working on us