The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying grace. The title of the study is "What's So Amazing about Grace"
There could have been no grace whatsoever for us but for the fact that God the Son volunteered to take our place and redeem us: Grace... came through Jesus Christ.
FOUR BIBLICAL GUIDELINES THAT MAGNIFY GRACE
Guideline 1: Accepting others is basic to letting them be.
Guideline 2: Refusing to dictate to others allows the Lord freedom to direct their lives.
Guideline 3: Freeing others means we never assume a position we’re not qualified to fill.
Guideline 4: Loving others requires us to express our liberty wisely.
We are using the books, "The Grace Awakening: Believing In Grace Is One Thing. Living it is Another", and "The Grace Awakening Workbook" by Charles E. Swindoll. You can study along with us by clicking the above links or the images after the notes.
These are the notes to Session 12.
FOUR BIBLICAL GUIDELINES THAT MAGNIFY GRACE
Guideline 1: Accepting others is basic to letting them be.
Guideline 2: Refusing to dictate to others allows the Lord freedom to direct their lives.
Guideline 3: Freeing others means we never assume a position we’re not qualified to fill.
Guideline 4: Loving others requires us to express our liberty wisely.
Guideline 1: Accepting others is basic to letting them be.
The absence of judgment makes room for an acceptance motivated by love. We tend to turn the fire on high when we’re not comfortable with a fellow believer’s choices.
Guideline 2: Refusing to dictate to others allows the Lord freedom to direct their lives.
Give people room to make up their minds. Let them grow up differently. Let them learn at their own pace, just as you had to learn, including failures and mistakes. Be easier on them than others were on you. Don’t make up their minds . . . let them! Don’t step in and push your weight around . . . give them plenty of space. Whatever you do, don’t control and manipulate them to get what you want.
Guideline 3: Freeing others means we never assume a position we’re not qualified to fill.
We’re not qualified.
What keeps us from being qualified to judge?
• We do not know all the facts.
• We are unable to read motives.
• We find it impossible to be completly objective.
• We lack “the big picture.”
• We live with blind spots.
• We are prejudiced and have a blurred perspective.
• Most of all, we ourselves are imperfect and inconsistent.
Example:
In Connecticut city, fifty-three residents of a certain neighborhood signed a petition to stop reckless driving on their streets. The police set a watch. A few nights later five violators were caught. All five had signed the petition.
There are people with whom you and I may not agree. That’s fine . . . we can still be civil to each other. You will be much happier if you accept the fact that others won’t always fall in line with your convictions. That’s okay. But the main thing you and I must guard against is judging. I repeat, we are not qualified to fill that role. God alone is to be our Judge and Jury.
Romans 14:13-18 NLT So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall. I know and am convinced on the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food, in and of itself, is wrong to eat. But if someone believes it is wrong, then for that person it is wrong. And if another believer is distressed by what you eat, you are not acting in love if you eat it. Don’t let your eating ruin someone for whom Christ died. Then you will not be criticized for doing something you believe is good. For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too.
Guideline 4: Loving others requires us to express our liberty wisely.
In other words, love must rule. I’m not my own; I’m bought with a price. My goal isn't to please me; it is to please my Lord Jesus, my God. It is not to please you; it is to please my Lord. The same is true for you. So, the bottom line is this: I don't adapt my life according to what you may say; I adapt my life according to the basis of my love for you because I answer to Christ. And so do you.
To paraphrase those verses, we just read from Romans: “Nothing that is not specifically designated as evil in Scripture is evil—but rather a matter of one’s personal preference or taste. So let it be. Even if you personally would not do what another is doing, let it be. And you who feel the freedom to do so, don’t flaunt it or mock those who disagree. God’s big-picture kingdom plan is not being shaped by small things like what one person prefers over another, but by large things, like righteousness and peace and joy.”
One of the marks of maturity is the ability to handle liberty without flaunting it. Mature folks don’t flaunt their privileges. They enjoy them fully, yet quietly. privately . . . with those of like mind, who aren’t offended by liberty.
Card playing or having a drink, or going to Vegas
Don't flaunt your liberty. Grace never gives us the right to rub anyone’s nose in our liberty.
Before you burn another believer by imposing your convictions on them or by leading them astray with liberties, they’re not free to enjoy, ask yourself how you would like someone who had different ideas, on things that were not specifically addressed in Scripture to treat you, and act accordingly.
A FEW ACTIONS THAT SIGNIFY GRACE
Romans 14:19-20 NIV Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble.
Concentrate on things that encourage peace and assist other’s growth
Remember that sabotaging saints hurts the work of God
Exercise your liberty only with those who can enjoy it with you
Determine where you stand and refuse to play God in anyone else’s life.
1. Concentrate on things that encourage peace and assist others’ growth. Here are two questions to ask yourself before you engage with another person: a believer or nonbeliever.
(a) Is this going to make a lot of waves, or will it encourage peace?
(b) Is this going to hurt and offend, or will it help and strengthen my brother or sister? Remember our job is to encourage God will direct.
2. Remember that sabotaging saints hurts the work of God. “Don’t tear down the work of God for the sake of food” (v. 20). You sabotage the saints when you flaunt your liberty, knowing that they have convictions against it.
Romans 14:1-3 NIV Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.
Enjoy your liberty with discretion. Scripture calls it “regarding with contempt” and counsels us against it.
3. Exercise your liberty only with those who can enjoy it with you. Don’t flaunt your liberty. What others don’t know can’t hurt them. That’s not deception; it’s wise and necessary restraint. It isn’t prompted by hypocrisy but by love.
4. Determine where you stand and refuse to play God in anyone else’s life. That may sound simple and easy, but it is tougher than it may seem. Be absolutely sure you are right, then press on, regardless. By letting others be, you free yourself to give full attention to what God is trying to make of you. You have neither the time nor the energy to keep holding on. Love demands that you let go.
Bible Study Audio
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