The 5 Gs
On the Sunday of the recent General Synod, Bishop Paul led the combined General Synod and St John’s Unley worship service and shared a message on the four Gs that flow from the following bible passage:
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10.
The following is the essence of Bishop Paul’s message:
Four words that describe our common purpose as people of grace. These are the four “Gs” of our gospel life as the church of Jesus Christ: Gift – Grace – Gathered – for Good works.
‘Gift’ comes directly from the text, in which St Paul highlights the ‘generous, giving heart of God’ to his congregation at Ephesus. The wonderful thing about gifts is that they are not earned. A gift is something that someone hands to you, with their heart and mind directed to you … It is not an award. It is not an acknowledgement of service.
This focus on the giving heart of God takes us directly to the second “G” word – a word at the heart of our Scripture passage from Ephesians and central to faith: grace. It’s grace that unites us. Grace is not just a theological concept – but it is the call to make central to our witness.
The third ‘G’ word is not noticeable at first look in Ephesians 2 – unless you pay attention to the plural language. There are plural verbs everywhere: For by grace you (ALL) have been saved through faith, and this is not (ALL) your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we (ALL) are what he has made us (ALL), created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be (ALL) of our way of life”. Our third “G” word is “gathered”. We are gathered together in one body.
The fourth ‘G’ word in the text, good works, reminds us that being gathered together in the gift of God’s grace is not just a fact but faith that is active in love. The apostle gives his explanation of where this all leads to: “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life”. We serve as little Christs to those around us and to each other. His grace has equipped us for this service.
And what of the 5th G? Well, Bishop Paul said while he had highlighted four ‘G’ words as part of the church’s gospel life, there was ‘actually a little hidden fifth one at the end of our Scripture. It taps into the call to action of the Great Commission – Go. We are sent to go out into the world to live as people of this gift of grace.
