All of the blessings we experience in this life are ultimately undeserved, they are all of grace. In fact, for Peter, the entire Christian life is lived by grace (1 Peter 5:12).
But are there any special means that God uses to give additional grace to us? Specifically, within the fellowship of the church are there certain means, that is, certain activities, ceremonies, or functions that God uses to give more grace to us? Another way of formulating that question is to ask whether there are certain means through which the Holy Spirit works to convey blessings into the life of the believer. Of course, personal prayer, worship, and Bible study, and personal faith, are all means through which God works to bring grace to us as individual Christians.
We may define the means of grace as follows: The means of grace are any activities within the fellowship of the church that God uses to give more grace to Christians.
In the history of the discussion of “means of grace within the church,” some theologians have restricted them to three: the preaching of the Word, and the two sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper).
But is it wise to make such a short list of “means of grace”? If we wish to list and discuss all the means of receiving the Holy Spirit’s blessing that come to believers specifically through the fellowship of the church, then it does not seem wise to limit the “means of grace” to three activities whose administration is restricted to the ordained clergy or officers of the church.
But should we limit our discussion of the means of grace to these four activities only? It would seem more helpful to list all of the many varied activities within the church that God has given as special ways of receiving his “grace” day by day and week by week. Such a list may become quite long, and, depending on how it is organized, may include various numbers of elements. The following list may not be exhaustive, but it does include most of the means of grace that believers have access to within the fellowship of the church:
- Teaching of the Word
- Baptism
- The Lord’s Supper
- Prayer for one another
- Worship
- Church discipline
- Giving
- Spiritual gifts
- Fellowship
- Evangelism
- Personal ministry to individuals
All these are available to believers within the church. The Holy Spirit works through all of them to bring various kinds of blessing to individuals. Therefore, departing from the much shorter lists usually given in systematic theologies, I have decided to call all of these “means of grace” within the church.
Teaching of the Word. Even before people become Christians, the Word of God as preached and taught brings God’s grace to them in that it is the instrument God uses to impart spiritual life to them and bring them to salvation. Paul says that the gospel is the “power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16) and that the preaching of Christ is “the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). God caused us to be born again or “brought … forth by the word of truth” (James 1:18) and Peter says, “You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” (I Peter 1:23). It is the written Word of God, the Bible, that is “able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15).
Once we have become Christians, Paul reminds us that it is the Word of God that is “able to build you up” (Acts 20:32). It is necessary for spiritual nourishment and for maintaining spiritual life, because we do not live on bread alone but on “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Moses speaks of the absolute necessity of the written Word of God when he tells the people, “It is no trifle for you, but it is your life, and thereby you shall live long in the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess” (Deuteronomy 32:47).
It is the Word of God that convicts us of sin and turns us to righteousness, for it is profitable “for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). It gives direction and guidance as a “lamp” to our feet and a “light” to our path (Psalm 119:105). In the midst of an ungodly culture Scripture gives wisdom and guidance like “a lamp shining in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19). It is active in giving wisdom to all, even “making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7). It gives hope to those who are in despair, because Paul says that it was written “that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).
So closely are the growth and strength of the church linked to the reign of the Word of God in people’s lives that more than once the book of Acts can describe the growth of the church as the growth of the Word of God: “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem” (Acts 6:7); “But the word of God grew and multiplied” (Acts 12:24); “And the word of the Lord spread throughout all the region” (Acts 13:49).
It is appropriate that we list the teaching of the Word as the first and most important means of grace within the church. But we should add that such teaching includes not only officially recognized teaching by ordained clergy in the church, but also all the teaching that occurs in Bible studies, Sunday School classes, the reading of Christian books on Scripture, and even in personal Bible study.
Baptism. Since Jesus commanded his church to baptize (Matthew 28:19), we would expect that there would be a measure of blessing connected with baptism, because all obedience to God by Christians brings God’s favor with it. This obedience is specifically a public act of confessing Jesus as Savior, an act which in itself brings joy and blessing to a believer. It is a sign of the believer’s death and resurrection with Christ (see Romans 6:2-5; Colossians 2:12), and it seems fitting that the Holy Spirit would work through such a sign to increase our faith, to increase our experiential realization of death to the power and love of sin in our lives, and to increase our experience of the power of new resurrection life in Christ that we have as believers. Since baptism is a physical symbol of the death and resurrection of Christ and our participation in them, it should also give additional assurance of union with Christ to all believers who are present. Finally, since water baptism is an outward symbol of inward spiritual baptism by the Holy Spirit, we may expect that the Holy Spirit will ordinarily work alongside the baptism, giving to believers an increasing realization of the benefits of the spiritual baptism to which it points.
When baptism very closely accompanies someone’s initial profession of faith and is in fact the outward form that profession of faith takes, there is certainly a connection between baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, for Peter says to his hearers at Pentecost, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Paul says, “You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12). The statement that it is “through faith in the working of God” that this happens reminds us that there is no magical property in the act of baptism itself, which causes a spiritual result to come about, yet the verse also indicates that when faith accompanies baptism there is genuine spiritual work in the life of the person being baptized. As we would expect, sometimes great spiritual joy follows upon baptism, a great joy in the Lord and in the salvation that baptism so vividly pictures.
The Lord’s Supper. In addition to baptism, the other ordinance or ceremony that Jesus commanded the church to carry out is participation in the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is not simply an ordinary meal among human beings, it is a fellowship with Christ, in his presence and at his table.
We must avoid the idea that any automatic or magical benefit comes from sharing in the Lord’s Supper, whether a person participates in faith or not. But when a person participates in faith, renewing and strengthening his or her own trust in Christ for salvation, and believing that the Holy Spirit will bring spiritual blessing through such participation, then certainly additional blessing may be expected. Paul says, “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation (Gk. koinania, “sharing,” “fellowship”) in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation [koiniinia] in the body of Christ?” (1 Corinthians 10:16). Because there is such a sharing in the body and blood of Christ (apparently meaning a sharing in the benefits of Christ’s body and blood given for us), the unity of believers is beautifully exhibited at the time of the Lord’s Supper: “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:17). And since we are participants at “the table of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 10:21), Paul warns the Corinthians that they cannot participate in the Lord’s table and also participate in idol worship: “You cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons” (1 Corinthians 10:21). There is a spiritual union among believers and with the Lord that is strengthened and solidified at the Lord’s Supper, and it is not to be taken lightly.
This is why the Corinthians were experiencing judgment for their abuse of the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:29 – 30: “For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died”). But if Paul says there will be judgment for wrong participation in the Lord’s Supper, then certainly we should expect blessing for right participation in the Lord’s Supper. When we obey Jesus’ command, “Take, eat” (Matthew 26:26), and go through the physical activity of eating and drinking at the Lord’s table, our physical action pictures a corresponding spiritual nourishment, a nourishment of our souls that will occur when we participate in obedience and faith. Jesus says, “For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:55 – 56).
As with baptism, therefore, we should expect that the Lord would give spiritual blessing as we participate in the Lord’s Supper in faith and in obedience to the directions laid down in Scripture, and in this way, it is a “means of grace” which the Holy Spirit uses to convey blessing to us.
Prayer. Corporate prayer within the church as it assembles, and prayer by church members for one another, are powerful means which the Holy Spirit uses daily to bring blessing to Christians within the church. We are to pray together as well as individually, following the example of the early church. When they heard the threats of the Jewish leaders, “they lifted their voices together to God” in prayer (Acts 4:24-30), “And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31). When Peter was put in prison, “earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church” (Acts 12:5).
If prayer from the church is not simply the mouthing of words without heartfelt intention, but is the genuine expression of our hearts and the reflection of sincere faith, then we should expect that the Holy Spirit will bring a great blessing through it. When prayer is done “in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18 “pray in the Holy Spirit”), it involves fellowship with the Holy Spirit and therefore a ministry of the Holy Spirit to the people praying. And the author of Hebrews reminds us that as we “draw near” to God in prayer before the throne of grace, we do so “that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
The more the genuine fellowship of a church increases, the more there ought to be continual prayer for one another within the church, and the more genuine spiritual blessing from the Holy Spirit may be expected to flow through the church.
Worship. Genuine worship is worship “in spirit” (John 4:23 – 24; Philippians 3:3), which probably means worship that is in the spiritual realm of activity (not merely the outward physical action of attendance at a worship service or singing of songs). When we enter that spiritual realm of activity and minister to the Lord in worship, God also ministers to us. So, for example, in the church at Antioch, it was “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting” that “the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them'” (Acts 13:2). This parallels the experience of the people of Israel in the Old Testament who knew the presence of God when they engaged in genuine worship:
When the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the LORD, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the LORD was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God. (2 Chronicles 5:13 – 14)
When God’s people worshiped, he came in a very visible way to dwell in their midst. Similarly, in the New Testament, James promises, “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8).
In fact, as God’s people worshiped, he delivered them from their enemies (2 Chronicles 20:18 – 23), or at other times gave them true spiritual insight into the nature of events around them (Psalm 73:17: “Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end”).
If worship is genuinely an experience of drawing near to God, coming into his presence, and giving him the praise he deserves, then we certainly ought to count it one of the primary “means of grace” available to the church. Through genuine congregational worship God will very often bring great blessing, both individually and corporately, to his people.
Church Discipline. Because church discipline is a means by which the purity of the church is advanced and holiness of life is encouraged, we certainly should count it as a “means of grace” as well. However, blessing is not automatically given: when the church disciplines, no spiritual good comes to the wrongdoer unless the Holy Spirit convicts him or her of sin and brings about a “godly grief” that “produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret” (2 Corinthians 7:10), and no spiritual good comes to the church unless the Holy Spirit is active in the other members’ lives when they become aware of the process. This is why the church is to carry out discipline with the knowledge that it is done in the presence of the Lord (1 Corinthians 5:4), and with the assurance that it has heavenly sanction connected with it (Matthew 16:19; 18:18-20).
It would be very healthy for the church to begin to think of church discipline not as an onerous burden placed upon it by the Lord, but as a genuine “means of grace” by which great blessing can come to the church, in reconciling believers to one another and to God, in restoring the erring brother or sister to walk in obedience, in warning all to “stand in fear” (1 Timothy 5:20), in increasing moral purity in the church, and in protecting and advancing Christ’s honor. Though sorrow and pain are often connected with church discipline, when it is rightly done, with faith that the Lord is working through it, the sorrow will “bring no regret” (2 Corinthians 7:10). When carried out in this way, church discipline should certainly be seen as a means of grace by which the Holy Spirit will bring blessing to his church.”
Giving. Giving is ordinarily done through the church as it receives and distributes gifts to the various ministries and needs cared for by the church. Once again, there is no automatic or mechanical bestowing of benefits on those who give. Simon the sorcerer was strongly rebuked for thinking that he “could obtain the gift of God with money” (Acts 8:20). But if giving is done in faith, out of commitment to Christ and love for his people, then certainly there will be great blessing in it. It is most pleasing to God when gifts of money are accompanied by an intensification of the giver’s own personal commitment to God, as was the case among the Macedonians who “first . . . gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God” (2 Corinthians 8:5), and then gave to help the poor Christians in Jerusalem. When giving is carried out joyfully, “not reluctantly or under compulsion,” there is the great reward of God’s favor with it, “for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).
Paul views the giving of money to the Lord’s work as spiritual sowing that will lead to a harvest: “he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6). And Paul expects that as the Corinthians give rightly God will bless them: “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed” (2 Corinthians 9:8). He tells them, “You will be enriched in every way for great generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God” (2 Corinthians 9:11). Therefore, giving blesses the recipient in that his or her needs are met and faith and thanksgiving for God’s provision are increased; it blesses the giver because “God loves a cheerful giver” and will grant an abundant spiritual harvest, and brings blessing to all who know about it since it produces a harvest of “many thanksgivings to God” (2 Corinthians 9:12). Rather than seeing giving as an unpleasant obligation, we would do well to view it as a rich means of grace within the church, and to expect that through it the Holy Spirit will bring blessing.
Spiritual Gifts. Peter views spiritual gifts as channels through which God’s grace comes to the church because he says, “As each has received a gift, employ it for one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10). When gifts are used for one another in the church, God’s grace is thereby dispensed to those for whom God intended it. Great blessing will come to the church through proper use of spiritual gifts, as the church follows Paul’s command to use the gifts to “strive to excel in building up the church” (1 Corinthians 14:12).
If we listed all the spiritual gifts as separate means of grace, our list of the means of grace would be much longer than eleven items. But even if we contain them all in this one category, we should recognize that the different spiritual gifts in the church are all means by which the Holy Spirit brings blessing through individual Christians. This should remind us of the abundant favor that God has given us as undeserving sinners, and should also make us realize that many different Christians, with diverse gifts, can be the channels through which grace comes to us. In fact, in Peter’s exhortation to use spiritual gifts as stewards of “God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10), the word translated “varied” (Gk. poikilos) means “having many facets or aspects; richly varied; having great diversity.” We should remember that these gifts are distributed not only to clergy or a limited number of Christians, but to all believers who have the Holy Spirit within them (1 Corinthians 12:7, 11; 1 Peter 4:10).
Fellowship. We should not neglect ordinary Christian fellowship as a valuable means of grace within the church. The early church “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). And the author of Hebrews reminds believers, “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25). In the fellowship of believers, ordinary friendship and affection for one another will grow, and Jesus’ injunction that we “love one another” (John 15:12) will be fulfilled. As believers care for one another, they will “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).
An emphasis on the fellowship of believers with one another as a means of grace would also help to overcome an excessive focus on the ordained clergy as the primary dispensers of grace within the church, and particularly when the church as a whole is assembled. It would also be healthy to recognize that a measure of God’s grace is experienced when Christians talk together and eat together, when they have times of work and play together, enjoying one another’s fellowship. “And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people” (Acts 2:46 – 47).
Evangelism. In Acts, there is a frequent connection between proclaiming the gospel (even in the face of opposition) and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Evangelism is a means of grace then, not only in the sense that it ministers saving grace to the unsaved, but also because those who evangelize experience more of the Holy Spirit’s presence and blessing in their own lives. Sometimes evangelism is carried out by individuals, but at other times it is a corporate activity of the church. And even individual evangelism often involves other church members who will welcome an unbelieving visitor and give attention to his or her needs. Evangelism is rightly considered a means of grace in the church.
Personal Ministry to Individuals. Along with the previous ten “means of grace” within the church, it is appropriate to list one more specific means that the Holy Spirit very frequently uses to bring blessing to individual Christians. This means of grace operates when one or more Christians within the church take time to minister, in various ways, to very specific needs of another individual in the church.
Sometimes this ministry takes the form of words of encouragement or exhortation or wise counsel. We are to “teach and admonish one another in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16), and to speak words that “impart grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29). We are to attempt to bring back “a sinner from the error of his way” (James 5:20) and to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” and to be “encouraging one another” (Hebrews 10:24 – 25). At other times, such ministry involves giving to assist the material needs of a brother or sister: James rebukes those who merely say, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without “giving them the things needed for the body” (James 2:16). John warns us, “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” (1 John 3:17). Therefore, the early church gave readily to the needs of poor Christians, so that “There was not a needy person among them” (Acts 4:34). And Paul said that the leaders of the church in Jerusalem “would have us remember the poor, which very thing I was eager to do” (Galatians 2:10).
Another form this interpersonal ministry may take is the anointing with oil in conjunction with prayer for a sick person. Jesus’ disciples “anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them” (Mark 6:13). James says that a sick person should “call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14). In these cases, the oil seems to have been a physical symbol of the healing power of the Holy Spirit coming to the sick person.
Finally, one more means of exercising personal ministry to individuals in the New Testament is the use of physical touch, particularly the laying on of hands in connection with prayer for someone in need. A survey of the New Testament may bring surprise to many modern Christians when they see how frequently the laying on of hands and other kinds of physical touch are seen to function as a “means of grace” in the ministry of Jesus and the early church.
It seems that the laying on of hands was by far the most common method that Jesus used to pray for people. When crowds came bringing people “with various diseases” to him, “he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them” (Luke 4:40). Other passages specifically describe Jesus’ placing his hands on people to heal them (Matthew 8:3; Mark 1:41; 6:5; 8:23 – 25; Luke 5:13; 13:13). But more significant than these individual passages is the fact that people who came to Jesus for healing would come specifically asking him to lay his hands on a sick person: “Come and lay your hand on her, and she will live” (Matthew 9:18), or “Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live” (Mark 5:23). The fact that people came with this request suggests that the laying on of hands was commonly recognized as the method Jesus usually used to heal people. In imitation of Jesus’ method of healing, when the father of Publius was sick, “Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him healed him” (Acts 28:8).”
In other cases people sought more generally to touch Jesus, or asked that he would touch them, in order to be healed. “And some people brought to him a blind man, and begged him to touch him” (Mark 8:22). People “brought to him all that were sick, and besought him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment; and as many as touched it were made well” (Matthew 14:35 – 36). This was because the power of the Holy Spirit was conveyed through Jesus’ physical touch, and came forth and healed people. “All the crowd sought to touch him, for power came forth from him and healed them all” (Luke 6:19).
However, it was not simply to heal that Jesus and the early church laid on hands or touched people. When children came to Jesus “he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands upon them” (Mark 10:16).
When Jesus so frequently touched people to bring healing or otherwise to bring blessing to them, it is not surprising that people would mention the miracles done by his hands: “What mighty works (Gk. dynamis, “miracle”) are wrought by his hands!” (Mark 6:2). When Paul and Barnabas were on their first missionary journey, the Lord “bore witness to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands” (Acts 14:3). In the same way, “God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul” (Acts 19:11). Since there was, as with the other means of grace, no automatic or magical power inherent in the hands of the early Christians, but healing and other kinds of blessing only came as God himself was pleased to work through the laying on of hands, it is not surprising that the early church prayed specifically that God would stretch forth his hand to heal. They prayed, “And now, Lord, look upon their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal” (Acts 4:29-30). They realized that while they stretched forth their hands to touch those who were sick it would not be effective at all unless God’s own mighty hand of power was working through their hands.
At other times, the laying on of hands was done for some other purpose. It was done in connection with asking God to empower or equip people for some service or ministry. When the first deacons were appointed, the church brought them before the apostles, “and they prayed and laid their hands upon them” (Acts 6:6). When the church at Antioch sent out Paul and Barnabas, “When they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away” (Acts 13:3).
When the gospel came to a new group of people, those who proclaimed the gospel would sometimes lay hands on the new believers in order that they might receive the new covenant power of the Holy Spirit. At Samaria, the apostles “laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:17). Ananias laid his hands on Saul in order that he might regain his sight and “be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:17). When Paul “laid his hands upon” the disciples at Ephesus who had just come to believe in Jesus, “the Holy Spirit came on them” (Acts 19:6).
In other cases, the laying on of hands resulted in the impartation of some spiritual gift. In the incident just mentioned, the disciples at Ephesus also “spoke with tongues and prophesied” (Acts 19:6) after Paul laid his hands on them. He reminds Timothy, “Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophetic utterance (literally, “through prophecy”) when the council of elders laid their hands upon you” (1 Timothy 4:14). Paul may have been referring to the same event or a different one when he said later, “I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands” (2 Timothy 1:6). (In 1 Timothy 5:22, the statement “Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands” refers to the ordination of elders)
If people in the early church were frequently praying for one another’s needs, and if they imitated the example of Jesus and his disciples in the laying on of hands to pray for people for healing, for bringing blessing, for receiving the Holy Spirit at the time of conversion, for receiving spiritual gifts, or for empowering for ministry, then we would expect that instruction given to new Christians would have included the teaching that prayer for individual needs would ordinarily be accompanied by the placing of a hand or hands upon the person who was being prayed for. If this were so, then it would not be surprising that “the laying on of hands” would be classified as an “elementary” doctrine, something that belongs to the “foundation” of Christian instruction, which is in fact what we find in Hebrews 6:1 – 2. Although some have understood this to refer more narrowly to the laying on of hands that accompanies installation in some specific church office, that is only one small aspect of the pattern of situations in which laying on of hands is found in the New Testament. It seems much better to understand this phrase in Hebrews 6:2 to refer to elementary instruction about how to pray for others in various situations of need so that young Christians would immediately be able to begin ministering to others as well.
It seems appropriate then to count the laying on of hands as one other dimension of the rich diversity of “means of grace” that God has placed within the church to bring blessing to his people.
At the end of this discussion of the means of grace within the church, we should realize first of all that when any of these are carried out in faith and obedience, we should eagerly expect and look for evidence that the Holy Spirit is actually ministering to people at the same time as these actions are being done. We as Christians ought not to neglect to “meet together” (Hebrews 10:25), but ought to look forward eagerly to any assembly of believers in which any of these means would occur, expecting that God will bring blessing from each of these means!
On the other hand, we must realize that all of these means of grace occur within the fellowship of the church. Those who neglect the fellowship of the church willfully cut themselves off from all of these means of grace and thereby cut themselves off from most of the ordinary means that the Holy Spirit uses to bring blessing to his people. These means of grace ought to give us great appreciation for the amazing privilege of being members of the body of Christ, the church.