"From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed."
-- Acts 14:26

As we have noted, one important feature of the grace of God is its empowerment of the believer. For what purpose is this empowerment? Surely it concerns the ability to cope with the trauma of life. Surely it provides strength and enablement of personal character. Surely it fortifies faith.

Beyond all of this, the grace of God also enables the Christian for work. In this passage, Paul and Barnabas are described as "committed to the grace of God for the work."

"Let me assure you that this work did not concern the Levitical priesthood for Barnabas or tent-making for Paul. It concerned the work of the ministry. It concerned applied efforts in spreading the message of Christ.

Carefully note the wording Luke chooses in this statement. It does not say that they were committed to the work. They were committed to the grace of God to accomplish the work. Here the work was an accomplished fact but that does not change the point of this discussion.

Paul and Barnabas were faced with the work of this ministry. Possibly, they were bewildered if not outright overwhelmed at the magnitude of the task. No doubt they must have wondered at times, "Is this what God wants us to do, or is there something else instead?" "Just how is it that we are to go about this task of making disciples?" That the "leading of the Spirit" caused problems for them is evidenced by the division that occurred later between them. It caused problems again later when Paul went to Jerusalem against clear instructions from the Spirit (cp. 20:22-23, 21:4,11, 22:18-21).

All of which is to say that it is often difficult to decide exactly what the "work of the ministry" is! This is why it is important to be committed to grace instead of the work. If you mess up, as I believe Paul did with both Barnabas and the Jerusalem affair, grace allows for it all to turn out for the praise of God's glory.

There is a strong sense in which you must apply yourself to the ministry to which you believe you are called. You must commit yourself to the grace of God for your mistakes and errors in judgment -- that you will most certainly make. It is grace to which we Christians appeal, not results. It is not excellence or ennoblement or even courage in the face of danger (in which we sometimes indulge to prove something to ourselves or others).

We therefore do what we do in the light of our relationship and interaction with God. We believe that it is God that works in us, helping us to choose rightly and act according to his pleasure (Phil 2:13). We are committed to grace . . . for the work.