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 main scriptures are John 1:14 & 17. Yesterday we also looked at Galatians 5:11&12. Today we will look at Galatians 5:13 in three translations.
(John 1:14 NIV)
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 NIV)
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
(Galatians 5:13 The Passion Translation)
Beloved ones, God has called us to live a life of freedom in the Holy Spirit. But don’t view this wonderful freedom as an opportunity to set up a base of operations in the natural realm. Freedom means that we become so completely free of self-indulgence that we become servants of one another, expressing love in all we do.
(Galatians 5:13 Easy to Read Version)
My brothers and sisters, God chose you to be free. But don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do what pleases your sinful selves. Instead, serve each other with love.
(Galatians 5:13 Message Bible)
It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows.
So what does this mean for you today? A few things:
1. Grace is not a license to sin.
Whenever grace is taught, religious people often rebuff the freedom God’s grace offers with some form of the following statement: “Wait a minute Rick. Does this means you can do anything you want? Does this mean you are free to sin?” This just happened to me yesterday on Facebook. My answer is simple: of course not.
If you think this way, you are missing the message of God’s grace. Paul addressed this type of thinking in his letter to the believers in Rome. After making it clear that sin can never overtake grace, Paul asked the question: “So do you think we should continue sinning so that God will give us more and more grace?” Of course not! Grace does not make you FREE TO SIN. Grace makes you FREE FROM SIN. So Paul answered his own question and said, “God forbid! Our old sinful life ended. It’s dead. So how can we continue living in sin?” (Romans 6:1,2).
In the text we are looking at this morning, Galatians 5:13, the Apostle Paul said, “God has called us to live a life of freedom in the Holy Spirit.” To be clear, this freedom is not a freedom to sin or a freedom to do whatever you want. The goal of the grace Jesus ushered us into is to be led by the Spirit in all things. And the Spirit of God will never lead you contrary to the Word of God.
2. God’s grace frees you from the limits of your humanity.
Pauls said, “It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom (Galatians 5:13 Message). Another translation reads, “Beloved ones, God has called us to live a life of freedom in the Holy Spirit. But don’t view this wonderful freedom as an opportunity to set up a base of operations in the natural realm.”
— When you peel back the layers of revelation concerning what God is saying to us through Paul, what you realize is that God’s grace frees you from the limits and boundaries of mere humanity.
— By the grace of God, we are free to allow God’s power to flow through us in this world.
— The grace of God empowers us to be free enough to become the men/women we were born to be.
— By God’s grace, we are free to live as human conduits of the divine, and this has nothing to do with sin, self or selfishness.
— If all you think about is sin when you hear the message of God’s grace, you have missed the message altogether.
3. Grace is about your freedom to operate in God’s power, not your flesh.
— Grace is not a license for laziness, selfishness, or sin. True grace is about receiving the power of God to live free from sin.
— Grace is about doing what you were born and are destined to do and about operating in ways that exceed your ability, power, and strength.
— Grace puts God’s Super on your natural, enabling you to operate in the supernatural. Grace empowers you to do what you could never do without God.
— When you get a revelation of God’s grace, and you open up your heart to His limitless power (free from the limits of your abilities and unbound from the perceived goodness or lack thereof of your performance) you are finally in a position to live as a human conduit of the divine. You are free to hear from heaven, to say whatever God tells you to say, to do whatever God leads you to do, and to attempt (by faith) things that clearly exceed your power, ability, and strength. This is #TheGraceLife, and it is how you are able to get beyond the limits of humanity.
— When you live empowered by the grace of God, free from the flaws and limits of your humanity, and basically just free from yourself, God is free to live through you unhindered becuase you have finally gotten yourself out of the way. This is how you get to experience heaven-on-earth, and this is how people experience God through you.
— This only happens when you decouple your expectation of God’s goodness towards you (faith) from your level of perceived performance towards Him (religion). Religion kills faith. Because your performance will never measure up to the size of your assignment. You cannot perform for it. You have to believe for it.
— If God only gave you what you deserve, you could never do what He has called you to do. If God only blessed you based on your performance, you would never be qualified to change the world on the level that He has called you to change it.
— God is not looking for you to earn it your assignment. God is looking for you to believe: to believe in His goodness, His grace, and His dedication to you and what He called you to do. Will you? Will you open your heart to believe? God has provided the grace. Will you provide the faith? If you do, God will change the world through you! Not because you are so good, but because He is!
I will stop here. That is enough for today.
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for opening my eyes to Your grace. In response, I open my heart to believe without limits. I no longer base my faith towards You on the level of my perceived performance or goodness. I base my faith on Your grace. Your grace is immeasurable, inexhaustible, and limitless. Therefore, my faith is strong and unwavering. My faith works by love.
I am convinced that You love me, that You called me, and that You want to use me because of Your grace, not my performance. So I am free to believe, receive and become the man/woman I am destined to be. I live free from sin, self, and selfishness.
I live free from the limits of humanity. I am free to be used by You to change the world. I enter this day as a human conduit of the divine. You live IN me. You flow THROUGH me. You change the world WITH me! I am FREE! Therefore, GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
