Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast: Episode 123
TRANSCRIPT
If you had to assign God’s Grace a color, what color would it be? Silly question, right? That would be really hard to choose one color. Maybe the best choice would be to make it multi-colored because God’s Grace comes to us in many different ways and actually has different functions. In this week’s podcast we are going to look at God’s Grace and how it applies to each of our lives.
I’m Lee Whitman with Restoring the Foundations and I welcome you into this Hope Healing and Freedom Podcast. The Grace of God is a huge subject and many many books have been written about it. So I am not going to attempt a deep theological study of Grace, but rather I want to look at how God’s Grace can and will empower you to live life as a child of Father God.
The verse for today is Hebrews 12:15 “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God.” In this podcast I want to look at a few of the different aspects of the Grace of God presented in the bible. It really is multifaceted. Understanding and experiencing the Grace of God is one of the most important things in our relationship with God, and in fact it might be the most important. Our relationship with God is all about grace. As it says in 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.” Because of grace we can draw near to the throne of God with confidence instead of fear in our time of need. How amazing. Incredible comfort is found at the throne of grace, and we can come boldly to the one who sits on the throne because of grace.
Let’s begin by defining grace. The theological definition that is given most often for grace is God’s unmerited favor and love. Because it is unmerited, it cannot be earned or deserved. There is nothing we can do to earn the grace of God and we certainly do not deserve such grace and love. The word favor carries the meaning of something done or granted out of goodwill, rather than from justice or earned. It is an act of kindness.
This unmerited favor is found in salvation itself. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” There was nothing you could do in order to become saved. It is totally as a result of the gift of God’s unmerited favor that you could even enter into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I also think this verse indicates that even the faith we needed to receive Christ is given to us by God. Wow! That is really unmerited favor.
I have also heard people define grace by using the acronym for the word grace as God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense, G-R-A-C-E. My favorite definition for grace is God doing for man what man could not do for himself. We could not get saved from our own efforts so out of His grace God sent Jesus to save us from our sinful condition. We also can not live the Christian life out of our own strength and ability so out of His grace Christ came to live His life in us and through us. So even coming into a relationship with Father God can only be done because of this wonderful unmerited favor.
Then it is the grace of God that allows us to be able to live this life as children of God. Romans 6:14 says “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” This is huge. Let me break this down a bit. Unfortunately many believers are still living their lives under the law. The law is not the levitical laws seen in the Old Testament. No, this law is a mindset that says that you have to work for everything that you receive from God. This law is a list of rules and regulations that you have to follow in order to be right with God. We did two podcasts that clearly describe the difference between living under the law and living under grace. If you have not listened to them, go to our website restoringthefoundations.org and click on the resources tab at the top and there will be a dropdown for podcasts. There you will find the library of all of our past podcasts including the two podcasts called Law vs Grace.
- “Law” vs, “Grace” | Part 1 – Hope, Healing, and Freedom Podcast
- “Law” vs, “Grace” | Part 2 – Hope, Healing, and Freedom Podcast
Why would someone continue living under the law when grace is available? Because most of this world, and even many of our churches live by the law. For many believers the law is a very safe way to live their lives. The law tells people what they need to do in order to gain favor with God and man. It takes all of the guesswork out of having to figure out what is right and what is wrong. Just follow this list of rules and regulations, and stay away from this list of sinful things and you will be OK. The problem is that it takes all of the relationship out of it as well.
Living this way by the law actually causes sin to increase in our lives. 1 Corinthians 15:56 says “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” In other words telling someone to do something or to not do something actually causes them to want to do it even more. Let me give you an example. Let’s say that next to a sidewalk that receives heavy foot traffic there is a 6 foot wooden privacy fence. Let’s say that in that wooden privacy fence there is a knot hole in the fence. People walk by it every day without paying any attention to that knot hole. But one day we put a sign below that knot hole that says “Do not look in this knot hole”. What do you think is going to happen? People who had previously walked by that knot hole day in and day out and never had the desire to look in the hole are now going to be drawn to look in the hole, right? There is something that works on us called the power of sin that will say, “Why can’t I look in that hole. I now want to look in the hole. And who are you to tell me I can’t look in the hole.” According to 1 Corinthians 15:56 the law works to stir up sin.
Let me give another example that you may connect with. Most diets do not work because they are trying to use the law to get people to lose weight. The diet will say you can’t eat this certain food. So you go through your day saying to yourself, “I can’t eat that, I can’t eat that, I can’t eat that.” You are actually focusing on the thing you can’t have and the power of sin will kick in and cause you to want that food even more than normal. When the law says you can’t have it the power of sin will make you want it even more than before. Grace would say that you are free from the law and you can do anything you want to do. The question is what do you really want to do? If you really want to lose weight then grace would say you can eat anything you want, but since you want to lose weight you know that some foods are better for you than others. The law would say don’t you dare eat that, if you take even one little bite you have completely failed. Grace says, “You know what, you can eat whatever you want. It is your choice. What do you really want to do?” Titus 2:11-12 says “ For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” It teaches us to say no to ungodliness by removing the law and letting us live in the power of grace.
The spiritual gifts that God gives to His children are called grace gifts. The word for grace is Charis which is where the word Charismatic came from. Ephesians 4:7 says “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” These are the gifts given to lead the church. It goes on in Ephesians 4 to describe these gifts. “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,” These spiritual positions are gifts of God’s grace to the church. They are given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. You may have experienced some leader who aspired to attain one of these positions who did not have the gift of God’s grace on their life. These are not positions that you can just say, “I think I am going to be a pastor, or an apostle,” or any of these other positions without having the grace of God upon your life. These positions are given by the unmerited favor of Father God.
Another place we see the unmerited favor of God being given to people is in the giving of spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 says “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:” I used to be one of those who said, “I don’t do spiritual gifts.” I thought they are either too weird or they are for the super spiritual. How about you? Have you ever thought something like that? But really the spiritual gifts are a normal and natural part of our relationship with God. He is the one who gives them. This verse says that these gifts are given to each one not just to the super spiritual. And the reason God gives these grace gifts is for the profit of all. I remember the first time I had a prophetic word for someone outside of church. I was in a restaurant and I could not get this thought out of my mind to give to our server. Instead of talking to the young man we paid the bill and left. I got outside and I was so stirred by the Holy Spirit that I had to go back and talk to this young man. I walked up to him and asked if I could talk with him. The first words out of his mouth were “You have a word from God for me don’t you?” God had been telling him that someone was going to give him a word from God and God was telling me to talk to this young man. The word I had for him confirmed something that God had been speaking to him about his future direction. It was awesome and powerful. I learned that day to speak the words that God gives me because you never know the impact they will have.
I want to leave you with an image about the grace of God. I think the grace of God is a person. Titus 2:11 says “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.” When we accept Jesus we are accepting God’s unmerited favor in a person. When you look at the way that Jesus lived His life, by never saying or doing anything that He did not see His Father saying or doing, He demonstrated for us how grace can live in us and through us. There is no one better to help us to experience the grace of God than grace Himself.
Prayer
Father God thank you for your unmerited favor. Thank you that you sent your unmerited favor in the person of Jesus to this world to save us from sin and hell. Thank you that unmerited favor can daily live His life in us that through us. Father would you search us and show us any way we might still be living under law so we can totally and fully live in your grace. Amen
To end this podcast I am going to pray Numbers 6:25 over you.
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”
If the ministry of Restoring the Foundations has blessed your life and you would like to partner with by investing in this ministry with a one time gift or with a monthly donation, go to our website restoringthefoundations.org and click on the Donate button at the top of the page. Thank you for joining us today and we look forward to being with you again next week.
