Commemoration: The Martyrs of Uganda
O God, by whose providence the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church: Grant that we who remember before you the blessed martyrs of Uganda, may, like them, be steadfast in our faith in Jesus Christ, to whom they gave obedience, even unto death, and by their sacrifice brought forth a plentiful harvest; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
Faith, as we have seen, is not merely mental assent or rudimentary human response to God's gracious initiative in giving his Son to die for our sins. True faith, the faith through which salvation is wrought in the life of the believer, involves abandoning oneself so completely and utterly to Christ as to be literally "crucified with Christ" (Galatians 2.20). Such abandonment of oneself is impossible for fallen human beings, left to their own devices. Only God, who by his grace created human beings in his image and likeness, is able by that same grace to create faith within the heart of his chosen ones.
It is even something of a misnomer to say faith is a condition of salvation, although such a term has been used in times past when, perhaps, it carried less humanistic connotations. Christ's sacrifice on the cross is effective for all humanity, whether or not all humanity accepts it. Those with faith who accept this gracious gift will enter into salvation and eternal life; those without faith who reject it will enter into judgment and eternal torment. But it is, ultimately, the sacrifice itself, being an act of unspeakable self-giving on the part of God, which determines the destiny of all humanity, faithful and unfaithful alike.
It is undeniably true, then, that without faith, it is impossible to be saved. Yet faith is impossible without God's grace awakening it in the heart of the believer. Faith, then, is not (as some present-day fundamentalists claim) the "necessary first step" in salvation. The "first step" was taken by Christ at Calvary and it was neither necessary on God's part nor requested on humanity's part. Rather, it was an act of total self-giving by a God whose love, mercy, and grace were so boundless that he would literally span heaven and earth to win back that which he had created in his own image.
The role of faith can best be described as that of the necessary means through which God effects salvation in the life of the believer. He who gave of and abandoned himself completely, unconditionally, and sacrificially to rescue a fallen race expects nothing more and nothing less than the same complete, unconditional, and sacrificial act of self-giving and self-abandonment (literally being "crucified with Christ") on the part of those to whom his gift of salvation is offered.
Let Us Plead for Faith Alone
Let us plead for faith alone
Faith which by our works is shown;
God it is Who justifies,
Only faith the grace applies.
Active faith that lives within,
Conquers hell and death and sin,
Hallows whom it first made whole,
Forms the Savior in the soul.
Let us for this faith contend,
Sure salvation is the end;
Heaven already is begun,
Everlasting life is won.
Only let us persevere
Till we see our Lord appear,
Never from the Rock remove,
Saved by faith which works by love.
- Charles Wesley
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