The Ordinary Means of Grace

Order of Service

• Prelude
• Call to Worship — John 1:14
• Hymn — Amazing Grace
• Prayer of Invocation
• Heidelberg Catechism — Lord's Day 45, Questions 116–119 (The Lord's Prayer)
• Hymn — Who with God Most High Finds Shelter (#91B)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — Acts 2:41–47
• Sermon
• Closing Prayer
• Hymn — How Firm a Foundation (#243)
• Benediction

---

Sermon Title: The Ordinary Means of Grace

Scripture: Acts 2:41–47

I. Ordinary

A. The word ordinary suggests something normal, plain, or unexciting — the opposite of what we naturally crave

1. We desire extraordinary experiences: Pentecost, signs, wonders, mass conversions
2. The transition in Acts 2:41–42 is intentional — the extraordinary event of Pentecost bleeds immediately into the very ordinary means of grace: word, sacrament, and prayer

B. The key word in Acts 2:42 is devoted — meaning persistence, steadfastness, strength

1. The same word appears in Acts 6:4 — the apostles devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word
2. Used in Colossians 4:2 — "Continue steadfastly in prayer"
3. A cognate is used in 1 Timothy 4:13 — devote yourself to public reading of Scripture, exhortation, and teaching
4. Scripture never commands believers to devote themselves to tongues, ecstatic experiences, revival conferences, or political activism

C. What happens when the church abandons the ordinary for the extraordinary?

1. Burnout results from pressure to sustain extraordinary experiences — the extraordinary inevitably becomes the new ordinary
2. The church loses its footing, chasing perpetual renewal rather than standing on the foundation of the apostles with Christ as the cornerstone
3. Isaiah 53:2 — Christ himself had no striking appearance; he is an ordinary-looking Savior who leaves us ordinary means
4. Illustration: Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent — extraordinary power hidden beneath an ordinary exterior
5. 1 Corinthians 2 — the cross is a stumbling block and foolishness, yet it is the power of God unto salvation; God's explosive power is hidden under ordinary means

II. Means

A. The means of grace are distinguished from God's decrees

1. God's decretive will is eternal and unchanging — his elect are predestined before the foundation of the world, unconditionally
2. That decree is carried out in history through particular means — the ordinary means of grace
3. Through gospel proclamation the Spirit works faith, union, and communion with Christ in the hearts of the elect

B. The means of grace are varied channels through which the one Word of God is brought to bear on our hearts

1. The word read, the word preached, the word sung, the word prayed, and the word seen in the sacraments (cf. Terry Johnson, Reformed Worship)
2. Scripture reading, preaching, prayer, singing, and sacraments all flow from the same authoritative source — the Word of God

C. The Reformers navigated between two errors

1. Rome severed word from sacrament, making the sacrament spiritually efficacious in itself apart from the gospel word — salvation bound up in the institution
2. The Anabaptists focused regeneration on the immediate operation of the Spirit apart from any means — effectively minimizing the institution of the church and the word
3. The Reformers said: the sacraments hold no spiritual efficacy apart from the word of God in Christ received by faith alone; yet the means and instruments are necessary channels by which the word, through the Spirit, convicts and shapes Christ in us

D. The variety of means produces well-rounded, mature Christians

1. We receive and engage our hearts in the word differently as we sing, confess, listen, pray, and see/taste/touch
2. Illustration: a well-rounded young person who can engage in many topics at the dinner table — the variety of means does the same for our spiritual maturity
3. The means move us from "Jesus loves me, the Bible tells me so" to a rich, multi-faceted knowledge of Christ across all the faculties of our being
4. Illustration: Olympic athletes — devoted, varied training prepares them for the event; likewise God gives us these ordinary means to train our hearts and souls for the day of glory

III. Grace

A. The ordinary means communicate God's grace — he condescends to be with his sinful people through them

B. Illustration: the gracious host

1. A gracious host gives their guest their ear (listens), their voice (speaks), and their food (dines without demanding anything in return)
2. God as gracious host gives us his ear as we sing and pray; his voice as we hear his word read and proclaimed; water to cleanse us in baptism; his food as we eat and drink in the Lord's Supper — the best he has to offer, his perfect Son
3. All he asks is that we come with open mouths, ready to be fed

C. Warning: the bad dinner guest

1. The dinner party has been on the calendar all week — it is no surprise
2. Yet we fatten ourselves Monday through Saturday on the world and arrive with no hunger left for what God has prepared
3. Matthew 5:6 — "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness"
4. We are to come hungry, with our souls wide open, ready to receive the grace that is ours in Christ by the Spirit through faith alone