Remarkable Grace
Our theme for Influencers this year is Remarkable. When you’re a Christian, non-Christians expect you to live a remarkable life… a life outside of the norms of popular culture. Jesus himself was remarkable. He loved the unloveable. He blessed those who persecuted him. When they crucified him, He said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.”
James 1:2-4 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
God will refine us through the trials of life. Thank God for his fire of refinement. We will be transformed from the common when he refines us according to his purpose. For tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.
God will take the common raw material of our sinful lives to refine us according to his purpose. For he who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
He calls us to be remarkable. His spirit of life in Christ is what makes us remarkable. With Christ in us the hope of glory, we press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. We’re saved by grace not because of who we are but because of who he is. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast.
If you are sharing your faith, how would you define grace? Grace is God’s divine favor given to the one who didn’t deserve to receive it by the one who didn’t need to give it. Grace is because of God’s love: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved…”. (Ephesians 2:4-5)
According to 2 Corinthians 6:1, “WE then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.” We’re never worthy to receive the grace of God. We’re not wise enough, strong enough, rich enough or competent enough. We’re just not good enough to receive God’s gracious gift. Because we could never earn it, Jesus Christ paid for God’s gift on our behalf. We’re saved from the consequences of sin because Jesus paid for our sin with his righteous innocent life in exchange for our guilty life that was worthy of of sin and death.
We did not receive God’s gift of grace in vain. We’ve been given his gracious gift to use for the purpose for which he’s called us. God doesn’t call the qualified….he qualifies the called according to his grace.
Men find it difficult to accept a gift of grace. They would rather earn it. However, the gift of God is not of works lest any man should boast. The gift of grace is for His glory, not ours. Our boast is not in ourselves but in him.
Grace reconciles our hearts to God. In our earthly flesh, we cannot approach a holy God. However, Jesus Christ is the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf. We are justified freely by his gracious gift. We’re at peace with God because Jesus Christ became sin for us who knew no sin that we may be made the righteousness of God in him. For there is one God and one mediator between men and God, the man Christ Jesus.
Grace is all of thee and none of me. Justification is through the just payment that Jesus made to justify our debt of sin. We’re righteous because Jesus shed his innocent blood on our behalf… What shall wash away, redeem, cleanse, justify, and expunge my sin? …nothing but the blood of Jesus. In him (Jesus Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.
The life of Joseph is a picture of God’s grace. Joseph endured suffering, pain and tribulation. However, God delivered him because Joseph honored God regardless of the storms of life.
Grace forgives unconditionally. The love of God is a result of God’s grace. God’s gracious gift of salvation gives us the capacity to love with Christ’s heart behind our heart. The love of God keeps no record of wrongs done. Because he loves us, he will put us on the bench so that we will learn humility. On the bench, we’ll learn that our glory is not in ourselves but in him alone. On the bench we’ll learn that serving God is by serving those whom he’s called us to minister. As Jesus said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
Forgiving in grace means not to speak evil of others. It means to let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good for the use of edifying that it may minister grace to them that hear it. Living in grace means that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks edification and glory to God.
Because of God’s gracious gift of Holy Spirit we can love with His heart behind our heart. Only by his Grace can we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Paul said, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. However because of God’s remarkable grace, his gift of Holy Spirit, of Christ in us the hope of glory, we’re his poem, his workmanship, his great work created unto good works which he’s foreordained that we should walk in them.
We’re set free according to God’s remarkable grace and forgiveness. I forgave and set the prisoner free, only to find that the prisoner was me. Therefore, thank God for his gracious gift. Thankfulness is the result of grace. Because of Christ in us, we have the capacity to keep a grateful heart…
… That we may we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael