Grace Revels Who We Are

I am not a very structured person. I like routine but structure, at times, I have felt was limiting. But one of the things that studying God’s grace is teaching me is the value of the structure of knowing who I am.

When we know who we are based on a solid biblical foundation, it frees us to really obey God’s Word. Grace enables us to not only know who we are but live that out in the reality of daily living.

First, we have to know who we are in relationship to the Father. We are His children.

John 1:11-12

He came unto His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.

As God’s children we are to honor our Father. Honoring God means obeying His Word and His Will. It means making sure that all we do in every part of our lives fulfills His will and thus brings Him honor.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is seeing ourselves as children of God and obeying our Father.

Second, we have to know who we are in relationship to Jesus.

1 Corinthians 12:27

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. We are the parts of Jesus’ body.

As the body of Christ, we need to see ourselves as servants of Jesus reflecting His character to the world. We were, at the beginning, created in the image of God. Sin marred the image of God in us and we began reflecting our own image. Salvation restores that image of God so that more and more we look like Jesus. We then can reflect Jesus to the world and that is what the world needs.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is becoming like Jesus and reflecting Him to the world.

Third, we have to know who we are in relationship to the Holy Spirit. We are His temple.

1 Corinthians 3:16

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

We as the temple are being indwelt by the Holy Spirit and are to show the difference between our lives and the lives of those people who don’t have the Holy Spirit indwelling them.

God’s people are to act different, speak different, believe different, desire different, and prioritize different than the people of this world. We are not of this world; we are people of God’s kingdom.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living in the power of the Holy Spirit and living with different values than the world.  

Fourth, we need to know who we are in relationship to each other. We are the church; we are brothers and sisters with each other.

1 Timothy 3:14-15

I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

When Jesus’ mother and brothers came to a house where Jesus was teaching and He was told they were there, Jesus asked who were His mother and brothers. He said that those who did the will of His Father were His mother and brothers and sisters.

We as brothers and sisters in Jesus are to love each other, encourage each other, and hold each other accountable.

Raise the Roof and Raise the Roof is seeing other believers as our brothers and sisters and living in community with each other.

Fifth, we need to know who we are in relationship to our community. We are to be good neighbors.

Mark 12:31

The second is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

We as neighbors are to love our neighbors. We as God’s people the church are to be a positive contributor to the community God has placed us in. We need to be individually and collectively good neighbors.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is living as God’s people in our communities as good neighbors.

This knowing who we are and structuring to live it out is all by God’s grace.

By God’s Grace Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                         Joe

Grace Enables, Equips, and Reveals

2 Corinthians 9:8

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 

God’s grace enables, equips, and reveals. God’s grace gives us what we need when we need it to accomplish God’s will and bring honor to Him. All of this so the world may know Him.

In the book of Daniel, we have an illustration of how this works.

In the second chapter of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. He calls for all his wise men to tell him the dream and then the interpretation of the dream. None of the wise man can do it, so Nebuchadnezzar is going to kill them.

In Daniel 2:17-18 Daniel goes to his three companions and asks them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning the mystery of the dream so that Daniel and his companions and the rest of the wise men of Babylon will not be killed.

In Daniel 2:19 God reveals to Daniel the dream and what the dream meant in a vision at night. God responds to people when they come seeking Him for mercy. In Luke 18 Jesus tells the story of a tax collector and a Pharisee going to the temple to pray. The tax collector asked for mercy and received it, and the Pharisee who told God how good he was did not receive mercy.

God wants to extend mercy and grace to us; we just have to ask  

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is seeking God for mercy in time of need.

Daniel then praises God who reveals deep and hidden things. God also is He who knows what is in the darkness because He is light. Daniel also gives God thanks for giving him wisdom and might and for giving him the knowledge that he needed for the situation with the king’s dream.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing God’s grace to move us to praise Him.

Daniel then goes to the man who had been ordered to kill the wise men and tells him not to kill them because he has the dream’s interpretation. The man then brings Daniel to the king and tells the king that Daniel has the interpretation.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is having the courage to believe God and put yourself out there so He can be honored.

The king asks Daniel if he can tell him what the dream means. Daniel tells the king that no wise men can tell the king the meaning of the dream but God can because God is a God who reveals mysteries.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is knowing that it is only by God’s grace that we are enabled and equipped and that truth is revealed to us.

In Daniel 2:30, Daniel says that it was not because of any wisdom that he has that God gave him the dream’s interpretation. It was because God wanted the king to know the interpretation. The king needed to know because the dream was a warning for the king. God wants people to know Him and obey His will.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is listening to and obeying the will of God.

Grace is not just for salvation. Grace is also our enabling and equipping to live out our relationship with the God who created us, loves us and by His grace blesses us. Many times, that equates to God revealing some truths from His Word to us.

By God’s Grace Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                             Joe

God's Presence Brings God's Grace

There is an old hymn Grace That Is Greater written in 1911. It was recorded by Bart Millard in 2008. It contrasts the grace of God with our sin and guilt.

It says:

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord

Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt

Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,

There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Grace, grace, God’s grace

Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

Grace, grace, God’s grace

Grace that is greater than our all our sin

God’s grace is greater, bigger, more powerful, overcomes all of the sins I have or will ever commit.

The key in us experiencing the reality of God’s grace is acknowledging that we need grace because we have sinned. It is only when I acknowledge my need that my need can be met. If I play the game that I have not sinned, and thus, have no real need for Jesus and His grace, then I will not experience it.

Hebrews 4:14-16

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Notice that Jesus has been tempted in every way just as you and I have. Jesus can understand everything we go through. Yet Jesus never sinned. That all means that we can approach His throne, which is a throne of grace, to receive mercy and find grace in our times of need.

Mercy and grace are a part of Jesus’ nature. They are the natural characteristics of Jesus and what He desires to pour out on us. We have to cooperate with Him by seeking His presence and receiving His grace and mercy.

When people want God, He will be found.

When people want God, He will reveal Himself.

When people want God, He will display His glory and power.

There is a pattern in Scripture that, when God sees people desiring His presence, He shows them His presence.

Exodus 40:34-35

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

2 Chronicles 7:1-3

As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house. When all the people saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.”

Acts 2:1-4

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

There are several things that are different in each of these situations. But there are two things that are the same.

First, all three situations were initiated by God. God saw the desire of the people and saw their obedience and His presence filled the tabernacle, the temple, and their bodies. These were they places that God wanted to indwell. The tabernacle was the place that Israel met with God until the temple, and then the temple became the place that the people met with God. Then on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to indwell the new place of worship: the believers’ bodies.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing the Holy Spirit to invade and dwell in your body.

Second, the presence of God filled the tabernacle and filled the temple and filled the believers’ bodies. The key in experiencing God’s grace is experiencing God’s presence. God’s presence with us and in us will always bring His grace to us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing God’s grace by experiencing God’s presence.

God is real and He wants us to experience His presence, not just go through religious traditions.

By God’s Grace Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                         Joe

Grace Overcome Blindness

I love how the Gospels share the day in and day out activities of Jesus. He didn’t go primarily to the synagogue, but to the places that the people were on a daily basis. Jesus did not hide from or isolate himself from sinners. In Matthew 9:13 Jesus said that He came to call sinners, not the righteous.

In Matthew 20 Jesus is leaving Jericho and two blind men are sitting by the side of the road and they cry out to Jesus. They say, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”

Notice two things about what the men cry out. First, they cry out for mercy. Hebrews 4:16 invites us to draw near to God’s throne of grace with needs, and they brought their need to Jesus and asked for mercy. Second, they refer to Jesus as the Son of David. This is a Messianic title and carries political overtones.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is bringing our needs to Jesus and asking for His mercy.

The crowd rebukes the two men, telling them to be silent. The response of the men was to cry out louder. When people are really desperate for Jesus nothing hinders them from coming toward Jesus. And when people are not desperate for Him, we will find not much going on. Jesus will not just barge in. He waits for us to realize our need and call out to Him. When we do that, the grace of Jesus moves Him to meet our needs.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being desperate for Jesus and not letting anything hinder us from getting to Him.

Jesus then stops and calls them over to Him. Jesus hears us when we cry out to Him. In Luke 18 Jesus tells about two men who went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee bragged about how good he was and how lucky God was to have someone like him. The tax collector humbly asked for mercy from God. Jesus said that the tax collector, not the Pharisee, went away justified. Jesus hears us when we humbly cry out to Him for mercy.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about being humble and seeking mercy from God.

Then Jesus asked the one of the men, Bartimaeus, what he wanted Jesus to do. Bartimaeus said, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” That is a question that I hear from Jesus over and over. In this situation it is very obvious what the need of these men was, but Jesus wanted them to admit to Him what they wanted from Him. When Jesus asks us that question, He is inviting us to ask Him to meet our need.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is honestly acknowledging our need and asking Jesus to meet that need.

Jesus, out of compassion, touches the eyes of the two men. Jesus is willing to meet the men’s needs, not out of the men deserving it or earning it but out of Jesus’ grace. Our salvation and our blessings come from God’s grace, not our goodness.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is depending not on our goodness but on Jesus’ grace.

The men’s blindness was immediately done away with. They immediately regained their sight. One of the verses to Amazing Grace says, “I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.” The picture of Jesus restoring these men’s eyesight reveals to us what He does for us in relationship to our salvation. The moment we acknowledge our lostness and ask Jesus to save us, He immediately saves us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is acknowledging our need to Jesus and experiencing His grace through Him meeting that need.

Then the men began to follow Jesus. The purpose of all that Jesus does for us is to enable us to know Him and follow Him. Following Jesus is about having a relationship with God, and Jesus’ death and resurrection provides that.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing Jesus’ grace through the forgiveness of our sin and being enabled to know Him and follow Him with our whole life.

God’s grace, not our goodness, is the key to experiencing an abundant life with Jesus.

By God’s Grace, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                            Joe

I Got You!

One of the great advantages in studying grace for several months is that I see grace more in the everyday things of daily living. I see it in the way that God speaks to me through His Word. I see it in the things that Jan does for me just because she loves me. I see it in the enabling from God to do things that I normally don’t do well. I even see it in television programs I watch. I believe that the more we focus our lives on God’s grace, the truer we will find passages like Romans 5:20-21.

Romans 5:20-21

Now the law came to increase the trespass, but where sin increased grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The more I focus on God’s grace the more it abounds all the more, and as I focus on God’s grace it also reigns or rules my life. When I focus on the negative things in life, then that is what abounds and rules my life. This is not about positive thinking; it is about positive faithing (I know that is not a real word but it should be). It is about believing God more than I believe circumstances or feelings.

In John 16:33 Jesus says, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” There are troubles, struggles, heartaches, failures, and very difficult times as we live in this fallen world, but that is not what we are to focus on. We focus on the truth that Jesus has overcome the world. We focus on the grace of God that gives us His victory.

As I said, even in television programs, I see God’s grace illustrated. An example is in a series called The Village.

The series focuses on a group of residents in a New York City apartment building. All of these people are in some way broken. The difference I see in the people in this series is that they know they are broken. There is even a hint that some of them may even know that God is the solution to their brokenness.

One of the characters is a pregnant seventeen-year-old, the daughter of a single mom. Her father has just come back into the picture. The girl has an accident and delivers the baby early, and there are some complications with the delivery, and the baby may have suffered some brain damage. The girl had planned to give the baby up, but when the baby is born and she sees him, she loves him, and even with the potential brain damage, decides to keep him. She reaches into the incubator and touches the baby and says to him, “You’re not broken because I’m your mother and I have got you.”

When I heard that, I realized that God was speaking that to me and to you. We came into a broken world as broken people. The Bible reveals to us that the world is fallen because of sin. The Bible also reveals that we have all sinned and come short of God’s holy standard. But the Bible also reveals to us that Jesus came as the perfect person (unbroken) and gave His life, taking my sin and giving me His righteousness.

When Jesus says that in this world, we will have trouble, He is saying we are broken people living in a broken world. But when He says to “take heart, I have overcome the world”, He is saying, “I am your Lord and Savior and I have got you.”

Hebrews 4:16

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The grace of God means that God is our Abba and He has got us.

By God’s grace you and I are:

Loved

Healed

Restored

Redeemed

Renewed

Made Whole

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is “God’s got you!”

In God’s Grace, Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                           Joe