But God!

The thing about grace that amazes and blows me away is that grace is not just something nice that Jesus does for good people. Grace is a perfect, holy, righteous God showing unmerited favor to imperfect, unholy, unrighteous people. It is God doing good for us humans who desire only bad.

The term in Scripture that shows that truth is “But God”. “But God” connects our unworthiness with God’s grace. We see this most clearly in Ephesians 2.

Ephesians 2:1-3

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Ephesians 2:11-12

Therefore remember that at one time Gentiles in the flesh called “the uncircumcision ” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands – remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world

Ephesians 2:19

So, then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God

Before experiencing God’s grace that saves and changes us, we were:

Dead in trespasses and sins

Following the course of the world, the devil, a spirit of disobedience

Living in the passions of the flesh

Carrying out the desires of the body and of the mind

By nature, children of wrath

Separated from the people of God and from Christ

Strangers to God’s covenants

Without hope, without God

Strangers and aliens in this world

But God!

Ephesians 2:4-7

But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:13-18

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Ephesians 2:20-22

Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Grace makes us:

Recipients of God’s mercy and love, and of the peace of Christ

Made alive, and made a part of the people of God

Raised with Christ

Seated with Christ in the heavenly places

Set to receive grace throughout eternity

Reconciled to God

No hostility between God and man

Access in the Spirit to God the Father

Citizens and members of God’s house

Built upon Christ and His Word

Growing into a holy temple in the Lord

Built into a dwelling place for God

What makes the difference?

Not our goodness

Not our deserving it

Not our earning it

God’s grace is what makes the difference. It is the only things that makes the difference.

Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls is experiencing God’s grace and being transformed by that grace.

By God’s Grace, Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls,

                                      Joe

Grace and a Boat

Jesus used what was available to proclaim the gospel. In Luke 5 Jesus used a fishing boat to do three huge things.

Luke 5:1-3

On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on Him to hear the Word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and He saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, He asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people from the boat.

Jesus uses whatever is available to share God’s Word.

Jesus uses the boat as a platform to teach the Word of God. Jesus taught the Word of God in many different locations. He taught in a boat, on a hillside, in synagogues, in the Temple courts, and as He walked along roads in Israel. Jesus didn’t follow tradition or religious rituals in teaching God’s Word.

We can follow Jesus’ example by using what God puts at our disposal to share the Gospel of Jesus. We have media in our hands that can be used to share the Gospel. We have groups and organizations by which we can share the gospel. We have community events we can use to share the gospel. We have above everything else personal relationship in which God can use us to share the gospel.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is using all things to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus.

Luke 5:4-7

And when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at Your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signal to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.

Jesus uses the boat to give a great blessing to Simon and his fishing partners.

The normal way of fishing in that time was to go out in the evening in the shallow water. They had done that and spent all night fishing and caught nothing. But only because Jesus told Simon to push off from the land and let down the nets did Simon do it. Simon was not expecting to catch anything. They caught so many fish that their nets were breaking and that it almost sank the two boats.

Jesus wants to bless us. He will not always do it the way we anticipate and never the way the world expects it to be done.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is receiving blessings from Jesus in His way and in His timing.

Luke 5:8-11

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

Jesus uses the boat to show Simon and the others their sinfulness, His power, and the call to follow Him.

Before we can really follow Jesus, we have to acknowledge our sin.

Before we can really follow Jesus, we have to experience His power to forgive our sin and remove it from our lives.

Before we can really follow Jesus, we have to leave everything.

Following Jesus is not a part time thing or a thing we do when it is convenient or comfortable. Following Jesus is a 24/7, 365-day focus.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being willing to leave everything so we can 100% follow Jesus.

All that Jesus does in this passage is based in grace. Neither Simon nor anyone else asked Jesus to teach God’s Word or bless Simon and no one asked Jesus if they could follow Him. Jesus did all this by His grace.

Jesus wants to use us, His people, to share the Gospel of His Grace with the world.

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

                                           Joe

Grace and the Birth of Jesus

I know it is July but I read Luke 2 this week and noticed how full of God’s grace the birth of Jesus is. God had given the promise of the Messiah as early as Genesis 3. Jesus came not because people or even a person saw the need and prayed for a Savior to come. Jesus came because of God’s love for us, His human creation, and because of God’s grace.

Jesus’ birth draws groups to converge to show the world the majesty and greatness of God.

“As weak as a baby” is a common phrase that expresses total weakness and even absolute helplessness. Jesus came as a baby but, because of the grace of God, His birth brings circumstances and groups to accomplish the will of God.

Luke 2:1-7

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Augustus Caesar was ruling the Roman Empire, but God was in charge. God used Caesar’s edict to move Joseph and Mary seventy-five miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem to fulfill God’s Word. When Joseph and Mary submitted to being used to bring the Messiah into the world, they were available to do whatever God chose for them.

God promised that the Messiah-Savior would be:

A Human

A Jew

A Member of the Tribe of Judah

A Member of the Family of David

An Offspring of a Virgin

A Birth Occurring in Bethlehem

God accomplished all of these by His grace through the faith of Joseph and Mary.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing God to direct our life’s paths and destinations.

Luke 2:8-14

And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you; you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

God’s grace draws the angels from heaven to the earth to announce the good news of the coming of Jesus the Savior into the world. The wonder of the Creator being born as a creature moved the angels to praise God. The first announcement of the Savior’s birth came to a group of anonymous shepherds. This visiting of the angels to the shepherds reveals the grace of God toward humanity. It was an unmerited and undeserved gift of a gracious, loving God to sinful humanity.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is worshiping God for who He is – Grace.

Luke 2:15-20

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made know to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made know the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorify and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

The announcement of the angels about the birth of the Savior in Bethlehem drew the shepherds out of the fields into Bethlehem. Shepherds were considered unclean because their work was ceremonially unclean. It also kept them away from worship at the Temple for weeks at a time so they could be declared clean. In revealing the birth of Jesus to the shepherds God was showing that it is not just to the rich and mighty that God works, but in the poor and humble. These shepherds are great examples of what to do when we experience the grace of God proclaim: it to everyone God brings into our lives.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the grace of God and with great joy proclaiming and sharing that with others.

Angels have never experienced the grace of God, so they can’t bear witness as we as humans can. Telling others about the Savior and His grace is not just an obligation, but an awesome privilege, and we who are followers of Jesus have been given that privilege.

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

                                          Joe

God's Grace Leads to True Freedom

Romans 6:16 (NLT)

Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not!

God’s grace has set us free.

We just celebrated 243 years on us being a country. 243 years of political freedom. But are we really free?

Freedom is the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint of choice or action.

True freedom comes from God. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Jesus’ death and resurrection are what makes it possible for us to be free. It is the Holy Spirit indwelling us that makes freedom real in our lives. People can live in politically free countries, like the United States, but still not experience real freedom. Real freedom comes when we know that sin and death don’t control our lives. Only through Jesus’ death and resurrection and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit can that freedom be experienced.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is acknowledging that it is only Jesus’ death and resurrection and the Holy Spirit’s presence that make us free.

Peter says in 1 Peter 2:16 that we are to live as people who are free and not use our freedom as a cover-up for evil, but live as servants of God. And Paul says in Galatians 5:13 that we were called to freedom and we are not to use our freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but live as servants of God.

God has provided freedom so that His people can live as His servants serving others. God has not provided freedom so that we can use it for evil or for us to use it as an opportunity for selfish purposes. Freedom was not provided to us by Jesus for us to use it for ourselves, but to use it to honor Him. When we use our freedom to honor Jesus it creates even more freedom in our lives. When we use freedom to do what we want, it can lead us back into slavery to sin and death.

In Galatians 5:1 Paul says that Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery God wants people to be free yoke to all who labor and are heavy laden. Jesus promises rest when we take His yoke on us. We can have rest because when we are yoked with Jesus, He does the heavy pulling and we can find true rest.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing freedom in Jesus as we take His yoke of rest.

We are given a warning about freedom in 2 Peter 2:19. Peter says, “They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.”

There are many things that people promise will bring freedom to us. Those things cannot bring freedom because they are not Jesus and only Jesus brings freedom. Anything that controls our lives we are thus enslaved to. If Jesus controls our lives, we can experience freedom; but if anything else controls our lives, we are enslaved.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is allowing Jesus to control our lives and give us real freedom.

I joined with most of our nation in celebrating the founding our nation and the political freedom that we enjoy by being an American. I want to celebrate with even more joy and passion Jesus and His death and resurrection that brings me true freedom.

In Freedom by Jesus’ Grace Raising the Roof and Remove the Walls,

                                                  Joe

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