I will never forget in August of 2018 God speaking to my spirit. He said one word, grace. God became clearer on what He wanted in relationship to that word as I prayed about what I was to do. He wanted me to teach for a whole year on grace. I had never in over four decades as a youth pastor or a lead pastor ever taught on one subject for a year. I didn’t think I could do it. God said that it was that important. I began to study grace and collect ideas for the teachings. When I looked at the year, I saw I needed forty-nine grace teachings. When I finished putting together the teachings, I saw I had fifty-seven teachings on grace. As of today, December 29, I have delivered forty-nine teachings on Sundays about grace to my family faith. I have also developed five teachings called Grace Abounds to do has a church wide study at the end of January.
So, what have I learned about grace? I am so glad you asked.
I have learned that grace is lacking in our culture and many times misunderstood in the church.
Grace being undeserved goes against the entitled attitude in our culture. God’s Word constantly challenges us to let God’s grace guide our lives.
Romans 12:3
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Philippians 2:3-4
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Grace moves us out of the mindset that it is only about us and guides us into the truth that we need to be servants of God serving others. That goes against the concept of entitlement.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting grace enable us to focus on others, not ourselves.
I have learned that God’s grace has to be my motivation for everything I do.
In Galatians 1:15 Paul says that God set him apart before he was born and called him by grace. It is through grace that I exist and it is by grace that I am saved and it is by grace that God has called me to serve Him. In other words, everything I have and everything I am is by God’s grace. Because that is true, I submit myself to God and obey His will, not out of duty or to earn something, but out of my great gratitude to God.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is letting God’s grace motivate me to serve and obey Him.
I have learned that God’s grace is to characterize my life as a follower of Jesus.
John 1:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son of God from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Jesus is full of grace and truth.
2 Corinthians 3:18
And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Salvation is not just about going to heaven. Salvation is about restoring in us as humans what was given up: that we were created in the image of God. It is about reforming the image of God in us. According to Colossians 1:15 Jesus is the image of the invisible God. As a follower of Jesus, I need to reflect the truth of who He is and grace is certainly who Jesus is.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is by God’s grace being formed more and more into the image of Jesus.
I have learned that grace is what makes Christianity different than any other religion, worldview, or philosophy.
Grace is used over one hundred times in the Bible. Other religions and worldviews have high standards of morality, caring for others, and doing things that help humanity. But Christianity is the only religion or worldview that teaches that God accepts us based on Him and not our effort and that what we do is to flow out of grace.
Galatians 2:20-21
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Other religions and worldviews make it all about what the person does. Christianity makes it all about Jesus and what He did.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about being God’s peculiar people, people saved and changed and formed by and through God’s grace.
I have learned that grace is the heart of God.
1 John 4:8 and 16 say that God is love. God’s love is made real in our lives through the grace that God gives us through Jesus.
Grace is the practical reality of God’s love applied to our lives.
Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the reality of God’s love through His grace daily in our lives.
Thanks for listening to and reading God’s grace teachings this year. And have an awesome 2020.
In God’s Grace Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,
Joe
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