Paul
reminds us in 1 Corinthians 8:1 that knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
Just knowing something does not change us, but grace does change us.
Hebrews
13:9
Do
not be led away diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to
be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted
to them.
Grace,
not believing the right things, is what changes our hearts and thus changes our
lives.
Grace
changes us because grace is a supernatural thing given to us by the Holy
Spirit. Knowledge is a culmination of facts, and knowing is good but cannot
change your life.
Grace
changes us in many areas of our lives but there are three foundational changes
the Holy Spirit by grace makes in every person who surrenders their life to
Jesus.
The
Holy Spirit by grace changes our desires.
Philippians
2:13
For
it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
God
gives us the desire to do what pleases Him. He also gives us the ability to do
what pleases Him, but it all begins with the desire to do God’s will.
The
Holy Spirit by grace changes our hearts to focus not on the things of this
world, but the things of the kingdom of God.
Colossians
3:1-2
If
then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where
Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are
above, not on things that are on earth.
Our
minds naturally focus on earthly things. Grace changes our minds to be focused
on things above, things that are of God. Thinking on earthly things is natural;
thinking on things above or heavenly things is supernatural. When we allow God
to do that in us, we will fulfill what Jesus tells us to do in Matthew 6:33
which is to seek above all else God, His kingdom, His righteousness.
Raise the Roof and
Remove the Walls
is allowing God’s grace to focus us on things above, not on things on the
earth.
The
Holy Spirit by grace changes the way we think.
Romans
12:2 tells us that we are not to be conformed to this world, meaning the
thinking and values of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our
minds. When our minds are renewed, we can know what God’s good, pleasing, and
perfect will is.
In
1 Corinthians 2, Paul is talking about the natural person not being able to
discern the things of God. He says in verse 16 that we as followers of Jesus
have the mind of Christ. By grace, the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to know
and understand the thinking of God.
Raise the Roof and
Remove the Walls
is allowing the Holy Spirit by grace to give us the mind of Jesus.
The
Holy Spirit by grace changes us by giving us the righteousness of God.
In
2 Corinthians 5:17 we are told that anyone who is in Christ is a new creation
and the old has gone and the new has come. Then in 2 Corinthians 5:21 we are
told that Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin so that we could become the
righteousness of God.
We
don’t change ourselves; the Holy Spirit changes us by making us new and that
newness means that we have the righteousness of God. That change is at the very
core of who we are. In Isaiah 64:6 Isaiah says that our human effort at
righteousness is like filthy rags. Our human effort at righteousness is useless
and worthless. Jesus is the only one who can make us righteous and it is only
through the gracious work of the Holy Spirit that we experience the reality of
that righteousness.
Raise the Roof and
Remove the Walls
is knowing that it is Jesus who makes us righteous and that by the gracious
work of the Holy Spirit we experience that righteousness.
As
a young believer I tried very hard to live in the way God wanted me to live and
failed. It was not until I surrendered everything in my life over to Jesus and
allowed the Holy Spirit by God’s grace to fill me and consume me that I saw the
changes in my life occur.
In
1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul says that it is by grace that he is what he is. It is
God’s grace that makes us who God wants us to be and thus who we really are.
By
Grace Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,
Joe
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