God is My Portion

 

God is My Portion

 

Psalm 73:26 says, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

 

The Palmist reminds us that our bodies will fail. James 4:14 reminds us that our life is like a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Life is finite & if we focus our lives on earthly temporary things we will miss the eternal things that God wants for us & that He wants to do through us.

 

The older I get, the more I think about what I am leaving behind through my life. In the song Only Jesus the chorus says:

And I, I don’t want to leave a legacy

I don’t care if they remember me

Only Jesus

And I, I’ve got one life to live

I’ll let every second point to Him

Only Jesus

 

That is what I want to leave behind with my life - only Jesus, because that is the only thing that will really last.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about living life with & for Jesus & leaving Jesus as our only legacy.

 

The Palmist also says that his heart will fail. We will face many disappointments & our hearts will be broken. In John 14:1 Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me.” Jesus knew that living in a fallen, sin dominated world would cause us to face discouragement & want to give up. But Jesus gives us an alternative to discouragement & hopelessness: faith in Him.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about, during difficult times that make us want to give up, turning to Jesus & making Him our hope.

 

Then the Palmist says, “But God.” That little two-word phrase changes everything.

 

The Palmist has God as the strength of his heart. When we face difficult circumstances, God is there to be our strength because we in ourselves have no strength.

 

In the song Waymaker, one portion of the song says:

Even when I don’t see it, You’re working

Even when I don’t feel it, You’re working

You never stop, You never stop working

You never stop, You never stop working

 

God is our strength even if we don’t see or feel Him working. He is working all the time.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting God to work even if we can’t see it or feel it.

 

God is also our portion forever. God is our share. This world is not our home & thus nothing in this world is our share. Jesus & His kingdom are our share & it is an eternal share. When we die, we take nothing with us out of this world. But if we have surrendered our lives to Jesus, we will go to be immediately with Him, He is all we need.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about having Jesus as our portion & leaving the things of this world behind.

 

Psalm 90:12 says, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Our lives are finite & we will face many difficult times, but we number our days. We recognize that life is short & at times difficult. When we place our lives in Jesus we will have a life full of godly wisdom & we will spend eternity with the One who is our Savior & Lord.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe

God's Plans, Not Ours

 

God’s Plans, Not Ours

 

In Isaiah 55:8-9 God says that His thoughts & ways are not our thoughts & ways & that His thoughts & ways are higher than ours. We are also told in Psalm 33:11 that God’s plans stand to all generations, meaning that God does not change His plans.

 

King David wanted to build a temple for God. In 1 Chronicles 28:2 King David says, “Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building.”

 

David wanted to build a temple that would honor God & be a place the people would come together to worship God. This was a worthy & God honoring plan.

 

But in 1 Chronicles 28:3 says, “But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for My name, for you are a man of war and have shed blood.’” It was not God’s plan for David to build Him a temple.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about us following God’s plans, not our own.

 

In Acts 16:6-8 Paul had a plan to go further into the province of Asia, but God said no. Then Paul had a plan to go to Bithynia & again God said no. In Acts 16:9-10 God gave Paul a vision of a man from Macedonia standing & urging Paul to come over & help them. Paul immediately left to go to Macedonia.

 

Paul had a plan. It was a worthy & God honoring plan. But it was not God’s plan.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about following God’s direction for our lives.

 

In the NLT Proverbs 16:1 says, “We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer.”

 

Our plan may be a worthy God-honoring plan, but we must let God gives us His plans & His directions for our lives.

God’s plans are always perfect & have the right timing. His plans are always right because He is all-knowing, all-powerful, & all-loving. So, His plans are always done with complete knowledge of the circumstances & what is right. His plans will always succeed because there is no power greater than God’s to stop them. His plans are always for His glory & our benefit because He loves us.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting God’s plans because He is all-knowing, all-powerful, & all-loving.

 

We made mistakes when we put our plans into motion & then ask God to bless them. We must seek God & humble ourselves under His authority & seek His plans & then follow them. His will in & through our lives. That glorifies God & that is what we were created to do.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe

But God Protects Us from Harm

 

But God Protects Us from Harm

 

Joseph is sold into slavery out of his brothers’ jealousy. In Genesis 45:8 Joseph says, “So it was not you who sent me here, but God; He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and a ruler over all the land of Egypt.”

 

Joseph recognizes that his brothers’ intent was for his harm, but that God is greater than others’ motives & actions. God is the One who arranged circumstances that brough Joseph to Egypt. It was Joseph’s obedience to God’s plan that allowed God to lift him into the high position in Egypt.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting God to arrange the circumstances of our lives for His glory & our benefit.

 

In Genesis 50:20 Joseph says to his brothers, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

 

Again, Joseph does not soft sell when he speaks to his brothers. He acknowledges they meant it for evil or harm against Him. But God uses it to save many people’s lives. God is a saving, redeeming God. In Luke 19:10 Jesus says that He came to seek & save the lost. God uses Joseph to save his family & it was through Joseph’s family that the Messiah comes. God has a plan & He is sovereign & He will accomplish His plan no matter what. In Philippians 1:6 Paul says that he is sure that He who began a good work in you will bring in completion in us at the day of Jesus Christ.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting God to fulfill His will in our lives.

 

David is being chased by King Saul so that he can kill David because Saul knew that God has rejected him & chosen David to be king.

 

In 1 Samuel 23:14 it says, “And David remained in the stronghold in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.”

Saul wanted to kill him, but he also knew that God had anointed him as king of Israel. David trusted that God would accomplish that. David in this situation stayed in the stronghold that God had provided for him to stay safe. Psalm 9:9 says, “The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.” David trusted God to be his stronghold to protect him from Saul’s hatred of him.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting God to be our stronghold that protects us from others who want to harm us.

 

Jesus does not promise us that we will have a problem-free life or that we will never face difficult times. He does promise us that His plan for our lives is good. He does promise us that He will fulfill His good plan in our lives. He does promise that He will be our stronghold to protect us from harm.

 

We must believe Him, trust Him, & obey Him. Satan means to kill, steal, & destroy, but Jesus came to give us life & life in abundance.

 

Believe It!

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe

God Protects Us from Dishonesty

 

God Protects Us from Dishonesty

 

Jacob’s name means supplanter, meaning one who manipulates others to get what they want. Jacob was certainly a manipulator. But Jacob gets a father-in-law Laban who made Jacob look like an amateur.

 

Genesis 31:6-8 says, “You know I have served your father with all my strength, yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times. But God did not permit him to harm me. If he said, ‘The spotted shall be your wages’, then all the flock bore spotted; and he said, ‘The striped shall be your wages’, then all the flock bore striped.”

 

Laban was trying to cheat Jacob out of a fair wage. But God was protecting Jocob & making sure that he got a fair wage.

 

That term “But God” is used several times in Scripture. Each time it is used it means that one thing was true, but God changed it. In this case it was Laban’s dishonesty with Jacob. Laban tried to cheat Jacob, but God changed the circumstances so that Jacob was not harmed. He was really blessed.

 

Let’s apply the truth of “But God” to our personal lives.

 

“But God” means that if someone is trying to cheat or harm me, God will intervene & change something to make for my good. Romans 8:28 says that God works all things for good in the lives of people who love Him & live to accomplish God’s purpose. Matthew 6:33 tells us that if we seek God’s kingdom & His righteousness above anything else, God will provide for our needs. God will not let us fall or be abandoned.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is trusting that God will make all things work for our good & provide what we need when place Him first.

 

Let’s apply the truth of “But God” to our culture.

 

Our American culture has many, many problems. I hear a lot about how we humans must go & fix all the problems in our culture. There are two huge problems with that approach.

 

The first is that we created the problems in the first place. God didn’t cause us as a nation to turn away from Him. That was our decision. So, if we caused it, how can we be the answer to fixing it? Second, we don’t have the power or authority to fix the problems. They are bigger than human wisdom or ability. When Laban changed Jacob’s wage from spotted to striped, God caused the livestock to produce what Jacob’s wages were. Did Jacon make that happen? No, God did. So, we bring before God our nation’s problems & then obey what He tells us to do & trust Him, not our efforts to fix the problems.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about turning our cultural problems over to God & obeying Him as to what we do, trusting the fixing to God.

 

Let’s apply the truth of “But God” to the church.

 

Are there problems with the church? Yes, the church is not perfect mainly because it is made of flawed people. So, do we abandon the church? No, because it is not our church. The church is God’s. So, we don’t ignore the problems & we don’t, in our own wisdom, try to fix the church. We go to God’s word & let Him conform His church to His word & thus to His will.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about acknowledging the church has problems & seeking God to conform us as His church to His word & His will.

 

“But God” is a powerful truth & we need to learn how to face the problems in our personal lives, in our culture & in the church by obeying God & letting the One who is all-powerful & all-knowing & who has all authority & who is all-loving to fix the problems.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

                         Joe

Why I Believe

 

Why I Believe

 

In 1993 Rich Mullins released a song called Creed. The first few lines of the song say:

I believe in God the Father

Almighty Maker of heaven and Maker of earth

And Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, our Lord

He was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

 

Rich Mullins is testifying to his belief that there is a God & that He is the Creator of all & that Jesus is the Christ & God the Son & that the Holy Spirit is God the Spirit.

 

The chorus says:

And I believe what I believe is what makes what I am

I did not make it, no it is making me

It is the very truth of God not the invention of any man

 

He is saying in the chorus that what he believes was not invented by him or any human & that it is not what he or anyone has made up about God. It is what God has revealed to him about who God is & it is this truth that makes him the person he is.

 

I love this song. I love it because it is truth, but also because I relate to it as to how I have come to know & believe God.

 

My life verse has been for many years Philippians 3:10. It says, “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death.” Lately I find more & more the culture questioning my faith in Jesus as God & as my Savior & Lord. So, I have asked myself two questions.

 

Raise the Roof & Removing the Walls is about knowing Jesus & experiencing His presence in our lives.

 

Question #1: Why do I believe that Jesus is God & is my Savior & Lord?

 

The answer is that I know Jesus.

 

Question #2: Why do I believe that the Bible is God’s word & it true?

 

The answer is that I know Jesus.

 

Now, when I say I know Jesus I mean I know Jesus as a person. I don’t know Him as a theological truth or a theological concept. And I don’t mean I know about Him like some historical figure. I mean I know Jesus like I know my wife or my son. I know Jesus as a real person, up close & intimately.

 

The word know that is used in Philippians 3:10 means to experience. It is knowing based on having personally experienced someone. In this case I have personally come to experience Jesus.

 

In John 17:3 Jesus defines eternal life as knowing the only true God & Jesus Christ whom the only true God sent. Jesus defines eternal life not as something God gives but as a relationship with God where we know Him. The same word for know is used in this verse. Eternal life is experiencing the personal reality of Jesus in our lives.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about knowing that eternal life is about experiencing the reality of Jesus in our lives.  

 

I believe the Bible because I know Jesus. I have experienced Jesus personally in my life & I know His words when He speaks to my spirit. It is like I recognize my wife’s voice or my son’s voice because I have experienced the reality of them in my life.

 

I am not basing believing that Jesus is God & that the Bible is true on historical or archaeologically or scientific evidence, though there is plenty to justify believing. I am basing my faith in Jesus as God & the Bible as true & the word of God on my personal experience of Jesus as a real person in my life.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about basing faith in Jesus on a personal relationship with Jesus as Lord.

 

Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists, and He rewards those who seek Him.”

 

A relationship with Jesus is based on faith. Faith in Jesus that He is who He claims to be in the Bible. The reward for having that kind of faith is we get to experience Jesus in our daily lives as our Savior, Lord, & friend.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about relating to Jesus based on faith in Him as God the Son, our Lord.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

                         Joe

Jesus & the Culture

 

Jesus & the Culture

 

We, as Paul did, live in a culture that is not open or even friendly to the gospel of Jesus. Paul shows us ways that we can show the truth of the gospel to our culture in Galatians 6:11-18.

 

Verses 11-12: Overcoming Political Correctness

Paul writes with his own hand to those who are trying to force the believers to be circumcised. He knows they are doing it so that they will not be persecuted because of the cross of Christ. It wasn’t because they sincerely thought that circumcision was necessary for salvation, but so they would not be persecuted.

 

It is easy in our culture today to go with the secular culture & not be fully surrendered to the will of God & just privately practice religion. It is also easy to go with a church culture that attacks & demonizes those who are not followers of Jesus by calling them evil or of the devil. What Jesus calls us to do is neither. Jesus calls us to speak the truth in love living out the gospel in our everyday lives & see those who reject Jesus as victims & love them as Jesus does.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about not compromising the truth but living out the truth of the gospel with the love of Jesus for others.

 

Verse 13: Overcoming Hypocrisy

Paul says that those who were being circumcised to avoid persecution were not doing so to follow the law but to pridefully boast about themselves.

 

Following Jesus is not about just an outward display of piety. Following Jesus is about denying selfish ambitions, dying to the old sinful nature, following Jesus by being a servant to others. That is not just outward action but an inner surrender to Jesus as Lord.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about outwardly & inwardly being surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus.

 

Verses 14-15: Exalting the Cross of Jesus above Everything

Paul says that he will boast only in the cross of Jesus because it is through the cross that the world has been crucified to him & him to the world. Paul was fully surrendered to Jesus as his Lord. Then he says that it is not about religious traditions or rituals or rules. It is about becoming a new creation.

We become a new creation only in Jesus, not by being religious. It is only by Jesus’ death & resurrection & our surrendering our lives to Jesus as Savior & Lord that we become a new creation.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about becoming a new creation in Jesus.

 

Verses 16-18: Praying for Others

Paul prays that the Galatian believers will walk in peace, showing mercy to others. Paul mentions that he bears the marks of persecution on his body. He then prays for the grace of Jesus to be on the believers.

 

Prayer is not hard. It is talking to Jesus as our all-power, all-loving Lord. It is sharing our lives with Him & interceding for the needs of others. Communication is the key in any intimate loving relationship & so prayer is the key to our relationship with Jesus.

 

Revelation 12:11 says that they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb & by the word of their testimony because they did not love life even unto death. We overcome cultural pressure & hypocrisy by exalting the cross, living out in love the truth of the gospel, & serving others in Jesus’ name.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

                         Joe

Don't Give Up Doing Good

 

Don’t Give Up Doing Good

Galatians 6:1-10

 

In 1910 William Booth was too ill to attend the Salvation Army’s annual convention. He sent a telegram to encourage the other members. It was a one-word telegram it simply said, “Others.” Paul’s message in Galatians 6:1-10 is saying do good to others.

 

Verses 1-2: Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

 

Paul gives us guidelines for helping other believers.

Restore a fellow believer with gentleness.

Remember that we all are vulnerable to being tempted.

Bear other’s burdens.

 

When we do these things, we fulfill the law of Christ. We fulfill what Jesus desires for us to do.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about, through gentleness & humility & love, doing what Jesus desires for us to do.

 

Verses 3-5: For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load.

 

One key to helping others is to realize that we must be willing to submit our lives to Jesus & exalt Him, not ourselves. It is to not be dependent on parents or spouse or friends but understanding that Jesus looks at our works done out of our faith. We are to see ourselves as accountable to God.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about submitting ourselves to Jesus & being accountable to Him as our Lord.

 

Verses 6-8: Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches. Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

 

A second key to helping others is to understand that God has established spiritual principles just as He established natural principles. God wants us to share the blessings that He graciously gives us with others. What we sow is what we will reap. If we sow to our own flesh, meaning we spend our lives focused on gratifying our old sinful nature, we will reap corruption which means to waste away. When a person lives as self-centered, they waste their life. If they sow to the Spirit, meaning the Holy Spirit, they will reap eternal life. Life lived directed by the Holy Spirit will enable us to live helping others & our lives will have meaning.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about living our lives with Jesus as Lord & enabled by the Holy Spirit to be a help to others.

 

Verses 9-10: And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

 

A third key to helping others is to believe God’s promises. God promises that if we do not grow weary doing good, we will reap a good harvest. We continue to do good by using the opportunities that God gives to help others. We are to help other believers, but others also all have needs. Just as the parable of the good Samaritan illustrates, our neighbor is anyone who has a need.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about reaping a good harvest by doing good to others who have needs.

 

Jesus came to serve & not to be served. We as the body of Christ need to serve & not be served.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe

Keeping in Step with the Spirit Who Enables Us

 

Keeping in Step with the Spirit Who Enables Us

Galatians 5:16-26

 

Zechariah 4:6 says, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord of Hosts.” We do not accomplish God’s will by human might or power but by the working of the Holy Spirit in us & through us. In Galatians 5:16-26 we see how to overcome our flesh & produce fruit that honors God.

 

Verses 16-21, 24: The Spirit Enables Us to Overcome the Flesh

 

If we walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh. We who have been redeemed & transformed by Jesus still have an old nature in us that is sinful & opposes the new nature of Jesus that is in us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The old nature opposes the new nature & tries to get us to not do what God desires & what is really best for us. The law is no help because it can only show us what we have done wrong & has no power to help us do what God desires. The Holy Spirit enables us to overcome the old nature & let the new nature of Jesus be manifested. Paul lists the works of the flesh so that when we see them manifested in our lives, we recognize them. When we recognize the works of the flesh, we are to crucify them so that the passions & desires of the old nature are killed. Those who belong to Jesus have died to selfish & ungodly desires just as Jesus tells us to do in Luke 9:23 which says that if we want to follow Him, we must deny ourselves & take up our cross daily. 

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about allowing the Holy Spirit to crucify our old sinful nature & overcome its ungodly desires & passions.

 

Verses 22-23, 25-26: The Spirit Enables Us to Produce Fruit

 

Paul then shares with us the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in our lives. Notice that it is works of the flesh, but it is the fruit of the Spirit. We produce the works of the flesh but it is fruit or what the Spirit produces in our lives that pleases God & that the law cannot produce. Also notice it is fruit not fruits. The Holy Spirit produces one fruit with nine different flavors. The Holy Spirit produces all these character traits at the same time in our lives. These character traits reflect the nature of Jesus in us & through us. Paul then tells how to allow the Holy Spirit to enable us to produce this godly fruit. We live by the Spirit & keep in step with the Spirit. We live everyday knowing that we are filled with Spirit & then obey what the Spirit is directing us to do. But we also need to be careful that, in the process of walking by the Spirit, we don’t become conceited & that we don’t provoke others & that we don’t envy how the Spirit is working in others.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about being enabled by the Holy Spirit to produce in us the character of Jesus.

 

We as disciples & followers of Jesus are to be dramatically different than those who are not disciples & followers of Jesus. This difference is to not make us prideful or conceited, thinking we are better than others. It is to enable us to live righteous & holy lives so that others will see our lives & be drawn to what makes us different, a love relationship with Jesus.

 

By the Holy Spirit Raising the Roof & Removing the Walls,

                                      Joe

Freedom in Jesus

 

Freedom in Jesus

Galatians 5:1-15

 

In Galatians 5:1-15 we are given options as to how we live life. We can live as a slave or a debtor or a runner or a free person.

 

Galatians 5:1: A Slave

For Freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

 

In Romans 3:10-12 those who have not surrendered their lives to Jesus as Lord are described as not righteous, not seeking God, turning aside from God, & not doing good. We were slaves to sin. Jesus came & through His death & resurrection has given us the chance to be freed from being a slave of sin. But Jesus will not force us, so we can remind slaves to sin or, by surrendering our lives to Jesus, we are made free.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about being freed from the slavery of sin through Jesus’ death & resurrection.

 

Galatians 5:2-6: A Debtor

Look: I Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.

 

We can try to achieve salvation by keeping the law. If we try to achieve salvation through the law, we must keep every part of the law all the time. We cannot fail to keep even one part of law one time; we must obey the whole law all of our lives. That is an impossible task. The other way is through God’s grace. Paul says that it is not about being a debtor to the law, but it is about faith in Jesus working through our love for Jesus.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about faith in Jesus working through our love for Him & not trying to follow every aspect of the law. 

 

Galatians 5:7-12: A Runner

You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion is not from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!

 

We have two options as to where we can run. We can run away from Jesus & the cross or we can run to Jesus & the cross. When we run away from Jesus & the cross, we are running away from life & peace. When we run to Jesus & the cross, we are running to life & peace.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about running to Jesus & the cross to receive life & peace.

 

Galatians 5:13-14: The Free Person

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “ You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

 

We are called to freedom. We have been delivered from slavery to sin to freedom in Jesus. We are to use our freedom in Jesus to, in love, serve one another. We are not to use our freedom in Jesus to satisfy the desires of our old nature. We also are not to use this freedom to hurt & condemn others.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about being free in Jesus & using our freedom to serve others.

 

Jesus sets us free, so we do not have to be a slave to sin or a debtor to the law or run away from Him. We can live as free people through grace by our faith in Jesus to help & serve others in the name of Jesus.  

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

                         Joe

Choosing Grace or Law

 

Choosing Grace or Law

Galatians 4:21-31

 

Our culture gives many options in almost every area of life. God vastly simplifies options when it comes to spiritual matters. In the area of salvation & how to relate to Him, He gives us two choices: law, or grace. In Galatians 4:21 Paul asked the Galatian Christians a question, “Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you listen to the law?” Paul is asking, “Do you who want to relate to God & receive salvation through following the law even listen to what the law really says?”

 

In Galatians 4:22-31 Paul uses Hagar & Ishmael to represent the law & Sarah & Isaac to represent grace. He shows us seven contrasts between the attempt to receive salvation & relate to God based in the law or receiving salvation & relating to God based in God’s grace.

 

Contrast #1 is between freedom & slavery.

When we try to experience salvation through keeping all the regulations of the law, we fail & we become trapped by trying harder & harder & continuing to fail. When trying to relate to God based on keeping the law, we find no communion, we are still separated from God because we cannot keep the whole law. When we receive salvation through God’s grace, we experience a freedom because we have received salvation as a grace gift from Jesus. When we relate to God based in His grace, we are free to enjoy the relationship & not worry if we are keeping all the rules.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about relating to God & experiencing salvation based in grace & thus experiencing freedom in our lives.

 

Contrast #2 is between work done by God’s promised miracle & work done by the flesh.

We can try & obey & serve God based in our abilities & resources. The results will be very limited, limited to what we can do. We can depend on the all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, all-loving Creator & Lord of all creation & not be limited by our finite knowledge & power.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about surrendering our lives to Jesus as Lord & depending on His might & power to enable us to serve Him.

 

Contrast #3 is between heaven & earth.

Paul says there are two Jerusalems. One is the Jerusalem on the earth & those who look to it are in slavery. The other Jerusalem is above & those who look to it are free. If we look to the things of the earth, even religion, to satisfy us, we will be in slavery to those earthly things. When we look to heaven, we will be free to experience God working in & through our lives.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about looking to God & not earthly things to satisfy our need.

 

Contrast #4 is between many more & more.

In John 15:5 Jesus says that apart from Him we can nothing. When we are relating to God based in His grace, we will produce much fruit that will bless others. When we are depending on the law we will produce a little outward fruit, but it will not be lasting fruit that blesses others.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about producing lasting fruit that blesses others through God’s grace.

 

Contrast #5 is between the persecuted & the persecuting.

When we have a relationship with Jesus based in God’s grace, it frees us from having to try & force others to believe what we believe. We can love others & trust God to work through us to show them the truth of who Jesus is. When we try & relate to God based in legalistic rules, it causes us to what to make others follow those same rules.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about being free to show the love & truth of Jesus to others without trying to control them.

 

Contrast #6 is between inheriting all & inheriting nothing.

It is through the spiritual descendants of Abraham who are children of the promise & will inherit all that God has promised. Spiritual descendants of Abraham are those who have placed their faith in Jesus as Savior & Lord by God’s grace. Those who are simply the physical descendants of Abraham & not spiritual descendants will inherit nothing.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about being spiritual descendants of Abraham by grace through faith in Jesus as Savior & Lord.

 

Contrast #7 is between a relationship based on trusting God & a relationship based on law-keeping.

If we base our relationship on accepting Jesus’ death on the cross to pay for our sins & trusting Jesus to be our Savior & Lord, we will know freedom, forgiveness, & peace. If we base our relationship with God on keeping all His commandments, we will fail & know failure & spiritual bondage.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about trusting Jesus & not trusting in ourselves.  

 

We have the choice on what we base our relationship with God on: God’s grace or our keeping the law.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe

 

  

 

Truth, Mercy, & Grace

 

Truth, Mercy, & Grace

Galatians 4:12-20

 

In this passage Paul talks about what many people see as things that are not compatible: mercy & grace & truth. Most of us can see that mercy & grace are compatible but don’t see how those two characteristics are compatible with truth.

 

In verses 12-14 Paul talks about the mercy that the Galatian Christians showed to him when he first came to them. Paul had some type of illness when he arrived in Galatia, but the Galatian Christians welcomed him, cared for him even though it was a burden for them to do so. The Galatian Christians modeled the kind of mercy that Jesus showed when He healed people with all types of diseases & injuries. That is the kind of mercy we as followers of Jesus are to show to others.

 

Jesus says in Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.” The reason the woman at the well in John 4 responded to Jesus was that He showed her mercy. We many times as Christians bemoan the fact that the culture rejects what we belief & what we say. Could it be that they do that because we show condemnation & not mercy?   

 

Jesus has shown it to us.

 

In verses 15-18 Paul says that their mercy had turned to rejection because he was sharing the truth with them. In John 14:6 Jesus reveals to us that He is the Truth. So, as followers of Jesus, we are commanded to speak the Truth. In Ephesians 4:15 Paul tells us to speak the truth in love & that we do that by growing up spiritually to be like Jesus.

 

Jesus did not speak truth to people to condemn or judge them. He spoke truth out of love to transform them. We need to speak truth to our culture & we do it in love with the desire for people to be transformed & turn to Jesus as Savior & Lord. Speaking truth does not mean trying to win arguments or persuading people over to our way of thinking. Speaking truth in love is sharing the truth of the gospel & trusting the Holy Spirit to transform people’s lives.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about speaking the truth in love & trusting the Holy Spirit to use it to enable people to experience the presence of Jesus in their lives.

 

In verses 19-20 Paul expresses his anguish over their rejection of him & how he wants to be present with them & change his tone. Paul wants to be reconciled with these Galatian Christians. We see Paul extending grace to these Christians & desiring for them to relate to him once again as brothers & sisters in Jesus. Paul did not reject them when they seemingly rejected him. Paul instead extended grace.

 

Grace is God’s unmerited & undeserved favor that He gives us. Grace is the source of salvation & all of God’s blessings. Paul captures the essence of grace in Ephesians 4:32. It says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” We have been given grace & truth from Jesus. When we sin, grace abounds more so that our sin can be forgiven. Since we have experienced God grace through Jesus, we are to show grace to others.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about showing grace to others because we have experienced God’s grace.

 

We as humans have trouble speaking truth & mercy & grace. Jesus shows us how that looks as He died on the cross. God the Father shows us the truth of what sin does & He judges sin through Jesus’ suffering on the cross. But the cross also shows us God’s grace & mercy.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe

Living as a Slave or as a Child of God

 

Living as a Slave or as a Child of God

Galatians 4:8-11

 

Verse 8 says, “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those things that by nature are not gods.”

 

In Bob Dylan’s song, You Gotta Serve Somebody, he says that all of us will serve someone or something. Paul is saying a similar thing in this verse. The Galatian Christians had in the past served things that were not gods. They had been enslaved to those things & they had served them because they did not serve the one true God.

 

We are to serve the one true God & turn away from serving anyone or anything that is not the true God. We can only do that as we surrender our lives to Jesus as Savior & Lord & come to know God.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about giving our lives to Jesus & through Him, come to know the one true God.

 

Verse 9 says, “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?”

 

Being a Christian is about having a personal, loving, & intimate relationship with Jesus. It is about knowing Him, but also being known by Him. God wants that for us because it is the best thing for us, now & for eternity. When we trust the things of this world, we become enslaved to them & they are weak & worthless. Jesus is powerful & the most valuable person in all of creation.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about having an intimate relationship with the most powerful & valuable person in all creation, Jesus.

 

Verses 10 & 11 say, “You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.”

 

The Galatian Christians have come to know God through God’s grace & through their faith in Jesus. Now, they seemed to be turning back to religious rituals & rules & traditions. All that Paul had taught them & modeled for them seems to have been in vain.

 

We also need to be careful that we don’t depend on religious rituals or rules or traditions to bring salvation or to make us holy. I love God’s church, but church involvement does not bring salvation or make us holy. Observing certain religious celebrations does not bring salvation or make us holy. Having a family heritage of Christianity does not bring salvation or make us holy. It is a personal relationship with Jesus as our Savior & Lord that brings salvation & makes us holy.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about relationship, not religion.

 

The Galatian Christians had abandoned liberty in Jesus for bondage to religion with no relationship with God. They were giving up the power of the gospel for the weakness of religion, & the wealth of the gospel for the poverty of religion. Let us not be guilty of doing the same thing.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe

Adopted as Children & Heirs of God

 

Adopted as Children & Heirs of God

Galatians 4:1-7

 

We as followers of Jesus are not natural born children of God, but we have been adopted into God’s family as His children. We do not enter God’s family by adoption the way a homeless child would enter a loving family in our culture. The New Testament word for adoption means to place as an adult child. It has to do with our standing in the family of God.

 

In Galatians 4:1-7 Paul shares with us the journey of becoming an adult child of God.

 

Verses 1-3: What We Were: Children in Bondage

A minor child is under guardians & managers until a time set by their father. In Roman culture the children of wealthy parents were looked over by a slave. The slave was under the master of the house & the child under the slave. This was the spiritual condition of the Jews under the law. They were being taught by the law their need & preparing them for the coming of the Messiah. The Father had set the time for their becoming adult children when Jesus came. Legalism is not a step to maturity, but a step back into childhood. Jesus, not the law, is the final revelation of God to us.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about growing into mature adult children of God through Jesus.

 

Verses 4-5: What God Did: Redeemed Us

When the fullness of time had come which was determined by God the Father, the Messiah, Jesus came as a human & as part of the nation of Israel, so He was under the law. He came to redeem or pay the ransom price for those under the law so they could become adult children of God & to be witnesses of the gospel of Jesus to the world.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about being redeemed from sin & a legalistic approach to God & coming to a relationship with God through Jesus as His adult children.

 

Verses 6-7: What We Are: Children & Heirs

When we become adult children of God, we receive the Holy Spirit & the privilege of calling God our Abba or Dad. So, we are no longer slaves but children. Notice, the contrast is now between a slave & a child.

In this passage there are five contrasts between a slave & a child:

The child has the same nature as the father; the slave does not.

The child has a father, while the slave has a master.

The child obeys out of love, while the slave obeys out of duty.

The child is rich, while the slave is poor.

The child has a future, while the slave does not.

 

But also, the adult child is an heir & as heirs we inherit all of God’s promises.  We inherit a new nature that is not controlled by sin. We also inherit an eternity with God.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about surrendering our lives to Jesus as Savior & Lord & becoming adult children & heirs of God.

 

We were created by God to be His adult children & enjoy a loving relationship with Him through Jesus being our Savior & Lord. The law cannot make this a reality. It is only through God’s grace that this will be a reality in our lives. 

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

                         Joe