Today we will continue our series entitled “God’s Grace & Our Faith.” We are looking at The Law given under Moses vs. the Grace provided by Jesus. Our primary scriptures are John 1:14 & 17. In our last message, we also looked at Galatians 6:12,13. We will go back to these verses today.
(John 1:14 New International Version)
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(John 1:17 New International Version)
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
(Galatians 6:12,13 The Passion Translation)
12 All those who insist that you be circumcised are recruiting you so they can boast in their own works. They are attempting to avoid the persecution that comes with preaching the liberating message of the cross of Messiah!
13 Not even those who are circumcised keep every detail of the written law. Yet they push you to be circumcised so that they can boast that you have become like them.
So what does this mean for you today? I will share a few things as I focus on this line: “They are attempting to avoid the persecution that comes with preaching the liberating message of the cross of Messiah!“
1. Some fight the message of God’s grace because it takes the spotlight OFF OF their performance.
Paul talked about the persecution that comes when you preach the liberating message of God’s grace. This sounds awkward. I understand opposition when you are preaching “fire and brimstone.” But why would you be persecuted for preaching God’s goodness? What was Paul talking about? The Apostle was not referring to opposition from the world. Many who are lost openly receive the message of God’s grace. It is the goodness of God that causes them to repent (Romans 2:4). The issue is not from sinners.
The opposition Paul is talking about comes from religious believers. The religious people of Jesus’ day fought Him with all their might. Ultimately, they did all they could to have Him killed. Just like they fought Him, they will oppose you tooth-and-nail if you tell them that their works are not earning God’s righteousness. They are so fixated on performance-based religion that they cannot see nor accept that Jesus already performed FOR us. They are so focused on working for God’s blessing that they can’t accept the fact that God wants to bless us simply because He is good. In short, they reject grace and would rather focus on works.
If you grew up this way, I know the message of God’s grace may be hard to accept. But please, search the scriptures for yourself, spend time (alone) with the Holy Spirit in prayer, and allow God to minister to you. If you do, you will come to the realization that God made plans for you before the world began, that while you were born in sin because of one man (Adam), God made a way for you to be Born-Again because of another man (Jesus), and that once you are Born-Again sin is not your issue. Your sin was nailed to the cross with Jesus. Your only challenge now is accepting God’s goodness, renewing your mind to think and act like God, and embracing the grace to become the man/woman you are called to be.
2. Grace is seemingly too good to be true.
The message of grace sounds almost too good to be true, so people fight it. It’s almost easier to believe in a God who requires you to do everything right, in order to be right with Him, than a God who made you right by grace. Our God is so good that His grace seems too good.
— No matter how good it seems, the truth is that God is actually better than you imagine.
— God’s goodness towards you cannot be earned. It can only be believed and received.
— Grace is a gift. You cannot work for a gift. If you work for it, then it is no longer a gift (Romans 11:6). All you can do with a gift is receive it.
3. Grace is liberating.
Paul says that the message of God’s grace is “liberating.” God’s grace truly makes you free.
— When you fully embrace God’s grace, you know you could never be good enough to earn or deserve God’s call. So like any gift, you simply receive His call and pursue it by faith.
— You know His assignment far exceeds your performance. So you stop trying to work “FOR” grace. Instead, you work “BY” grace.
— You know God’s blessing (past, present, and future) is not contingent upon you doing everything right. So you are truly free. You are free to open your heart to God’s goodness. You are free to believe what God believes about you. You are free to receive God’s call and to walk in it by faith, not because you are good, but simply because God is.
4. When you are genuinely FREE, you can GLORY in your WEAKNESSES.
Paul was so free that he got to the point where he was able to glory in his weaknesses. One of the greatest lessons Paul learned was: “When I am weak, then I am made strong. God’s strength is made perfect in my weakness.” (2 Cor 12).
— Paul knew he was not good enough, but God called him anyway.
— Paul knew that where his ability ended, God’s ability could kick in. When he got to the end of Himself, God was able to put His “super” on Paul’s natural, so the supernatural could be manifested in his life.
— It took Paul years to learn of and open his heart to the enormity of God’s grace. I pray you learn from Paul.
— Embrace God’s grace. Glory in your weaknesses. If you ever graduate to this point, the grace and power of God will flow through you in ways that far exceed your power, ability, and strength.
— When you open your heart to God’s grace, you live a life that is beyond YOU. The grace of God empowers you to live beyond your limits, faults, flaws, and failures.
— When you die to self (which includes dying to your limitations), you also wind up dying to selfish desires. As a result, you wind up living the life God planned. This does not happen because you are good or because of your performance. It simply happens because God is good and because He chose you before the world began!
— When you stop trying to perform to earn God’s blessing, you realize that it is then, and only then, that God will perform THROUGH you because God will not compete with you.
— If you are determined to do all the work, God will stand by and rest until you get tired. When you learn to rest in God, you will learn that He will live and work through you!
— When you get a revelation of God’s grace, you get to live like Jesus on this planet. You say what Jesus said: “It is the Father who lives in me. He gives me the words and He performs the work. So if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. Me and my Father are ONE!” But you will never be able to make a statement like this and believe it if it were not for the grace of God becuase you could never be good enough on your own.
— When you get to the point where you die to self and allow God to live through you, your weaknesses (what you can or cannot do) mean nothing because the God who can do all things is living through you! As a matter of fact, you wind up glorying in your weakness. You wind up doing things you never imagined you could do, going places you never imagined you would go, and impacting lives in ways that exceed your wildest imagination. And when people ask you how you did it, you glory in your weakness. You let everyone everywhere know that you could have NEVER done it without God. You make it clear that you are NOT a self-made man or woman. You are who you are and what you are by the grace of God! But even then, people will say, “Yeah, but you had something to do with it.” They will say, “Yeah, but don’t diminish what you did. You was the person who did this or that.” They do this because they refuse to accept the fact that God is SO good. They get uncomfortable when He gets all the credit. Religious want to attribute at least SOME of the credit to human performance. But don’t fall into that trap. Don’t take God’s glory. Instead, glory in your weaknesses and make sure everyone knows that it was GOD and not you!
If you keep DEFLECTING the glory, God will keep blessing and exalting you so He can be glorified on the earth. But if you ever TAKE HIS GLORY (taking credit for things He clearly did through you), God will humble you, and it won’t be pretty. If you humble yourself, God will exalt you. If you exalt yourself, God will humble you. I have tried both. Take it from me; humbling yourself is better!
Stay humble, give God His credit, make sure your life brings HIM glory, and you will experience grace that will exceed your wildest imagination. I am a witness to the fact that God’s grace is SO good that it almost seems TOO GOOD to be true!
That’s enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I accept Your grace. I was born in sin and shaped in iniquity because of one man, Adam. But I was Born-Again because of another man, the last Adam, Jesus the Christ, my Lord.
I am IN Christ, and Christ is IN me. My sin was nailed to the cross. You are not holding my sin against me. Sin has no power over me. I am now free to embrace all You have called me to be and do.
I meditate and medicate on Your Word day and night. My mind is renewed to the point where I now believe what You believe about me. I see myself the way You see me. I am who You say I am, and I can do what You say I can do.
I know You live IN me. You give me the words, and You perform the work IN me, WITH me, and THROUGH me every day. I can glory in my weaknesses because I am not limited by them anymore. There is nothing You can’t do. Therefore, there is nothing I can’t do because You are living through me.
Glorify me, Father, that I may glorify thee in this world. I am a world changer, atmosphere setter, and power releaser. I am a success going somewhere to succeed. Not becuase I am good, but because You are! I am a human conduit of the divine, and I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
