James
4:6 says, “But He gives more grace. Therefore, it says, ‘God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble’.”
God
gives grace. Giving grace is God’s nature. We don’t have to beg for God’s
grace, we don’t have to even ask for God’s grace. He just gives grace.
This
verse also says that God gives grace to the humble but opposes the proud.
God
gives grace to the humble because the humble are open to receive grace because
the humble understand their need for grace.
God
opposes the proud because they are unwilling to receive grace. They don’t think
they need grace. The proud stand in opposition to the person and will of God.
God
by His nature extends grace to everyone. The key is that humble people
recognize their need for grace and accept it. Proud people don’t.
The
life of Paul shows us the way grace is poured out on the humble.
1
Corinthians 15:9-10
For
I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I
persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His
grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of
them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
Paul
says that he is the least of the apostles. He sees himself in that context
because he persecuted the church before his conversion.
But
he is an apostle by God’s grace.
And
he is effective in his ministry as an apostle by God’s grace.
It
is by God’s grace that we are saved and it is by God’s grace that we are called
into God’s service and made adequate in our service.
Did
Paul deserve to be an apostle? – No
Did
Paul deserve the blessing of effectiveness in his ministry? – No
Paul
expresses his knowledge of his unworthiness and inadequacy and acknowledges
that it is all by God’s grace.
Raise the Roof and
Remove the Walls
is knowing that it is God’s grace that makes us worthy and adequate.
Ephesians
3:8
To
me, through I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to
preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.
Paul
sees himself not as the first or most important of all the saints, but as the
least.
Paul,
who is arguably the most important Christian ever, doesn’t see himself in that
way. He sees himself as the least.
Paul
acknowledges that is God’s grace that gives him the anointing to proclaim God’s
Word to the Gentiles.
Paul
did not have the ability to effectively and powerfully proclaim God’s Word. He
knew it was by God’s grace that he was blessed to proclaim the truth of God.
Raise the Roof and
Remove the Walls
is experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit exercising God’s power in and
through us.
1
Timothy 1:15-16
This
saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy
for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His
perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal
life.
Paul
saw himself as the foremost or worst sinner. But he also acknowledged that
because of God’s grace and mercy he was saved from the penalty and guilt of
sin.
None
of us is worthy of Jesus dying on the cross as our sacrifice. He did it because
of His grace.
Raise the Roof and
Remove the Walls
is realizing the depth of our sin and the hugeness and power of God’s grace.
Ephesians
2:8-9 says that we are saved by faith, not by works, so that we cannot boast
that we had anything to do with our salvation.
Ephesians
2:10
For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God
prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
We
are God’s workmanship or God’s masterpiece.
We
were created in Jesus for good works.
God
prepared them before we were born.
We
live to accomplish the good works to honor God.
Works
don’t lead to grace.
Works
flow out of grace.
Paul’s
life shows us what a life lived in and by God’s grace looks like.
By
God’s Grace, Rising the Roof and Removing the Walls,
Joe
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