What's So Amazing About Grace - Session 16 - Grace It's Really Accepting

The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying grace.  The title of the study is "What's So Amazing about Grace"

Grace is the most important concept in the Bible, Christianity, and the world. It is most clearly expressed in the promises of God revealed in Scripture and embodied in Jesus Christ himself.

For more than four months we’ve been talking about grace and how we extend it to others by letting them be what God wants them to be.  Grace gives other freedom and liberty in their relationship with Christ and others.  However as we learned in Session 15, we often resist and don't refuse to accept grace.  It is in accepting grace that we can begin to model amazing grace. Only then do we realize how good grace really is.

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 16

It is in accepting grace that we can begin to model amazing grace. Only then do we realize how good grace really is.

Here is a list of grace killers

from without: legalism, expectations,  traditionalism, manipulation, demands, negativism, control, comparison, perfectionism, competition, criticism, pettiness, 

from within: pride, fear, resentment, bitterness, an unforgiving spirit, insecurity, fleshly effort, guilt, shame, gossip, hypocrisy, and so many more.

Grace not only gives with joyful generosity, it receives with grateful humility. When a person truly experiences a “grace awakening” and begins to understand and demonstrate kind of grace we have been talking about the last four months there is not only the amazing desire to extend encouragement, affirmation, support, and reassurance to others, there is also an accepting attitude that allows others to reciprocate.

That sounds easy but it goes against our natural tendency to be self-sufficient and invulnerable. 

 It is especially difficult for those of us who pursue excellence in our relationship with Christ. We are often intolerant and legalistic.  

Many of us pride ourselves on discipline in our lifestyle.  We make sure that we have a quiet time every day, or read the bible every day, or don’t drink or smoke or whatever.  We are very disciplined.  So sometimes we tend to judge.

Sometimes because we Christians think we are better than other people.  We won’t admit it to others, but we do.  We can develop an attitude of elitism or superiority.

 Then when you combine these things there is pride.

Intolerance, impatience, elitism, and pride prevent us from accepting God’s grace and grace from others.  

Let’s look at each of these roadblocks. 

1. Intolerance - We may begin to judge others for not measuring up to our standards. 

Romans 15:7 NIV Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 

2. Disciplined Lifestyle -  

1 Corinthians 9:24‭-‬27 NIV Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 

Personal discipline is a great goal, but we want to be careful that we don’t become impatient or judge someone who is not as disciplined as you and refuse to accept grace from them in areas where you are not as disciplined. Be patient with them. 

Think about how tolerant and patient God has been and still is toward us and demonstrate tolerance and patience toward people who have different gifts and struggles than you do?  Remember that we are all one body and we need each other. 

1 Corinthians 12:12‭-‬27 NIV Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it..

3. Elitism or superiority - The more knowledgeable we become, the more we’re tempted to look down on those who don’t know as much as we do, and we often try to manipulate them or look down on them and belittle them.  We are killing their grace and we refuse to accept the grace they extend to us, because of course they are beneath us.  

When we start feeling superior, think about this;

1 Corinthians 1:26‭-‬31 NIV Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 4:7 NIV For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

4.  Pride - Proud people tend to resist God’s grace because they believe they have no needs, but remember 

James 4:6‭-‬10 NIV But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

We pride ourselves on our individual accomplishments and can’t stand to share the glory with another.   As a result, we face built-in obstacles to receiving God’s grace. Our culture is not a culture of grace; it’s a culture of merit. 

But it takes us admitting that we are not God, and we are not perfect.  

As long as we expect to do things perfectly, we are putting our confidence in the flesh. But God’s grace doesn’t operate that way. 

2 Corinthians 4:1‭-‬7 NIV Therefore, since through God’s mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

When we admit that we’re imperfect clay pots, we exhibit the power and glory of God’s work.    

It also takes an attitude of humility. It takes a willingness to play second fiddle to God and His work. Just like John the Baptist.

John 3:27‭-‬30 NIV To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.”

Our hearts must say to God, “I’m not here to make myself somebody. I’m here to point people to You.”

I want to end this study with something from your workbook

When we overcome intolerance, impatience, elitism, and pride and replace them with an acceptance of our humanity and an attitude of humility, we become conduits of God’s grace. We are then free to accept the grace God offers us—the grace to accept ourselves the way we are, the grace to love others, and the grace to enjoy God and bathe in His unconditional love. Why would anyone not want to receive the grace our heavenly Father, our Abba, so freely offers us?

Then this poem by MICHAEL YACONELLI            

                  

The grace of God says to you and to me,  “I can make last place more significant than first place. I will use prostitutes to teach others about gratitude. I will use lepers as examples of cleanliness. I will take men who persecute the church and make them its pillars. I will take the dead and give them life. I will take uneducated fishermen and make them fishers of men.” God’s grace does not exist to make us successful. God’s grace exists to point people to a love like no other love they have ever known.

                     

                       

                  

                  

                       

What's So Amazing about Grace? - Session 15 Accepting Grace

The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying grace.  The title of the study is "What's So Amazing about Grace"

Grace is the most important concept in the Bible, Christianity, and the world. It is most clearly expressed in the promises of God revealed in Scripture and embodied in Jesus Christ himself.

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.

For nearly four months we’ve been talking about grace and how we extend it to others by letting them be what God wants them to be.  Grace gives other freedom and liberty in their relationship with Christ and others.  We’ve talked about not killing the joy of the grace that God gave us in saving and sanctifying us without attaching any strings to it.   We’ve talked about not being legalistic and requiring others to be like us in our worship and relationship with God for them to experience the freedom and liberty brings.   In the last couple of sessions, we’ve talked about the inevitable disagreements that come with the freedom of grace and how to deal with them without becoming disagreeable ourselves. We’ve talked about letting go.

What we have not really addressed is how we, or if we accept the grace, we’ve been talking about extending to others.    We sometimes even resist grace.  

Question: Just how open and accepting are you when others extend unexpected and undeserved grace in your direction?

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 15

A prayer asking God to help us extend grace:

Let's Pray:

God, You are perfectly kind. Thank You for Your lovingkindness that has been continuously shown to us. Thank You for Your help and Your encouragement to us when we have been undeserving. Would You please meet us in the areas of unkindness in our lives? Would You please help us to say no to our flesh and yes to the Spirit? We pray that the fruit of the Spirit's kindness would flourish. We ask that You would reveal ways we can grow.

Forgive us for not being kind to the people around us, for not being kind to ourselves even, and for neglecting this powerful way of living that honors You and blesses others. Remind us how to love well by being kind.

God, we know true kindness is not indifference and tolerance but sharing the truth in love. Help us to present hard truths when needed in compassionate ways with gracious words. We know that we all fall short of Your glory, and we pray for Your eyes in moments of difficult conversations to be able to communicate lovingly. For those who we disagree with, help us be kind. For those who we do not know, help us be kind. For those who we are closest with who see our worst, help us be kind. Lord, we cannot do this on our own; we need Your help.

Lord, You say in Galatians 6:9-10, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Part of showing kindness and living out this fruit of the Spirit is extending forgiveness to others. Would You please enable us to have softened hearts to show kindness to others when they let us down or hurt us? We have been 

forgiven so many times over by You, Jesus; help us to remember that as we grow in forgiving others.

We pray for kindness to young people. So often, it is easy to separate ourselves from children. Please help us to model Your love in the way we talk and act towards the least of these. Remind us that we have a ministry opportunity to point them to you by the kindness we show to them. Please give them insight into Your saving love through the ways that we treat them. Remove any temptation to be short-tempered as they are learning and growing. Take away any unkind thoughts or words that we are tempted to think or say to young people. Give us hearts for them as You have for them.

We ask lastly that You would help us to show kindness to those who are not kind to us. To those who hate us or treat us poorly, give us strength. Reveal ways that we can show genuine kindness by Your Holy Spirit. May the ways that we love them point to Your ultimate sacrifice for them. We pray that they would see You through our kindness because it is not natural; it is only from God.

Thank You for the gift to be kind. Thank You for the beauty of showing love and care for others. We pray that we would represent Your name well today and always. Amen.

First, marriage requires mutual unselfishness.

Marriage means a lifelong commitment.

Marriage includes times of trouble (troubles are inevitable)

• Grace releases and affirms. It doesn’t smother.    

      • Grace values the dignity of individuals. It doesn’t destroy.      

      • Grace supports and encourages. It isn’t jealous or suspicious.

 1 Peter 3:7 NIV Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

• Mutual equality (fellow)      
• Mutual dignity (heir )      
•  Mutual humility (grace)      
•  Mutual destiny (life)

Generous Giving 

First, it helps us keep a healthy balance. “But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also” (2 Cor. 8:7).

The second reason that giving is addictive is that in giving we model the same grace of Jesus Christ. 

Third, giving by grace is addictive because in doing so we counteract selfishness and covetousness. 

You can’t help but be generous when grace consumes you. “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully” (2 Cor. 9:6).

Accepting Grace

For the past nearly four months we’ve been talking about grace and how we extend it to others by letting them be what God wants them to be.  Grace gives other freedom and liberty in their relationship with Christ and others.  We’ve talked about not killing the joy of the grace that God gave us in saving and sanctifying us without attaching any strings to it.   We’ve talked about not being legalistic and requiring others to be like us in our worship and relationship with God for them to experience the freedom and liberty brings.   In the last couple of sessions, we’ve talked about the inevitable disagreements that come with the freedom of grace and how to deal with them without becoming disagreeable ourselves. We’ve talked about letting go.

What we have not really addressed is how we, or if we accept the grace we’ve been talking about extending.    We sometimes even resist grace.  

 Question: Just how open and accepting are you when others extend unexpected and undeserved grace in your direction?

We even struggle with unconditionally accepting God’s grace that’s why we are legalistic sometimes.  We don’t understand how a holy God can just forgive just because you believe.  We can’t get our heads around that.  If we feel that way about God’s grace, then no wonder we have a problem accepting grace from other human beings.  When we reject or don’t accept grace then we are operating in pride.

 Guilt and Shame are grace killers and keep us from accepting or even cause us to resist grace.

Let's look at Moses and how he resisted God's grace.

Let's first agree that Moses miraculously became a prince of Egypt and because he obviously knew he was Hebrew took it upon himself to do something about their condition. 

Exodus 2:11‭-‬15 NIV One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.” When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.

 Moses thought it was all over for him but God by His grace wanted to use Moses and granted Him grace by calling on him to free His people but Moses rejected God’s grace by resisting, because of his guilt and shame in taking matters into his own hands.

 So when God told Moses that he wanted to use him he resisted but saying he wasn’t worthy.

 Exodus 3:10‭-‬11 NIV So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

 We, like Moses, convince ourselves we’re not useful, and we think we cannot measure up. You may think, I must be somebody special to be useful or important to God. But the fact is He does great things through nobodies. He does some of His best work with those who think they are finished and, humanly speaking, should be.

 If you are God’s child because of His grace He will be with you and often like He did with Moses, He will give you a sign to reassure you.  

 

Exodus 3:12 NIV And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

 Moses still resisted by saying “what if”

Exodus 3:13 NIV Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

You know the story goes on and on until Moses says send somebody else.  

Exodus 4:13 NIV But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

God deals with this last objection to accepting God’s grace to empower Moses to lead His people by saying your brother is on the way.

Exodus 4:14‭-‬17 NIV Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

 So, God deals with all of Moses objections which he raised because of his guilt and shame resulting from his murder of the Egyptian trying to handle things his own way 40 years before.  Moses finally accepts God’s empowering grace.  

 Here’s the point. 

 We resist grace when our guilt and shame have not been dealt with. Most folks, it seems, are better acquainted with their guilt and shame than with their God. Grace nullifies guilt. It renders shame powerless. We often use our guilt and shame as a way to stay away from God’s best.

 The last person on earth we forgive is ourselves.  We will forgive an enemy easier and quicker than we will forgive ourselves. But not until we have fully accepted the forgiveness of the Lord God will we be ready to let His grace awaken in us.

 Any person being greatly used of God is a recipient of God’s great grace. No one deserves it. No one is adequate for the blessings that he or she is receiving. But God in His sovereign mercy has chosen to give great grace to an imperfect, ill-deserving individual . . . in spite of and in greater measure than his or her guilt and shame.

 Samson is an example.   He was a strong man simply because of the grace of God.  His parents prayed the God’s grace would be on their child, and God answered.

Judges 13:2‭-‬5‭, ‬25 NIV A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was childless, unable to give birth. The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are barren and childless, but you are going to become pregnant and give birth to a son. Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. You will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

 Exactly as God predicted, he began to deliver Israel from the Philistines. The problem with Samson, as you may already know, is that he refused to control his lust, resulting in the collapse of his world.  We know the story. After the Philistines got one of his women to get him to tell the secret of his great strength he was captured and put in a place where he was ridiculed.  

 Judges 16:17‭-‬22 NIV So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.” When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him. Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison. But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

We would say he deserved what happened to him but God never runs out of grace.   His strength returned, so did his determination to fulfill the mandate given by God at his birth: to deliver Israel from the Philistines.

 Judges 16:25‭-‬28 NIV While they were in high spirits, they shouted, “Bring out Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them. When they stood him among the pillars, Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.” Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.”

 We accept grace when we release all our expectations.

Only when we release them are we ready to accept the grace God offers.

Only when we release them are we ready to accept the grace God offers.

 John 13:1‭-‬6 NIV It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

 Our Lord had stooped and reached out in grace, but Peter dogmatically refused. In rather emphatic Greek, John records Peter’s statement of independence:  “By no means will You wash my feet unto the age.” Today we’d say, “No way, Lord .         . . never!”    Here we find a third principle about receiving grace:

 We resist grace when our pride is still paramount.

Grace reaches, pride resists. Each time grace offers, pride refuses.   Yes, each and every time, pride leaves no room for grace. Awakening grace and a proudheart cannot coexist.

 Do you look for subtle ways to pay back when someone gives to you? Or can you simply and graciously say, “Thankyou”? Pride holds us back and conveys a false image that says, “I am without need.” The truth is that all of us are needy people; it’s just that some of us hide it better than others.

 Moses resisted grace because his guilt was not sufficiently dealt with. Second, Samson accepted grace because his expectations had been done away with. Third, Peter resisted grace because his pride was still paramount.

Now let's look at Paul. He accepted grace because he no longer put confidence in the flesh.

In the eyes of the world, he was impressive, but he realized that without God's grace he was nothing. 

 hilippians 3:4‭-‬12 NIV though I myself have reasons for such confidence. If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

We accept grace when we no longer put confidence in the flesh. 

First, it takes an admission of humanity. In other words, an attitude that says in authentic honesty, “I am only human—I’mno prima donna, I can’t walk on water, and I won’t try to impress you.” Grace awakens within folks like that.    

 Second, it takes an attitude of humility. Nothing is so welcomed by grace as true humility, which is nothing more than a realization of one’s standing before God  and a willingness to be cut down to size in order for Him to be exalted and glorified. Humility has learned the hard way that no person can operate in the flesh and produce any good thing, so it prevents us from trying.        

Bible Study Audio

What's So Amazing about Grace? - Session 14 - The Process that Leads to Grace Awakening

The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying grace.  The title of the study is "What's So Amazing about Grace"

Grace is the most important concept in the Bible, Christianity, and the world. It is most clearly expressed in the promises of God revealed in Scripture and embodied in Jesus Christ himself.

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.

There are five areas where we need to claim rest in God's grace:

Insecurity=Claiming the grace to be what I am.

Weakness=Claiming the grace to learn from what I suffer.

Abrasiveness=Claiming the grace to respond to what I encounter

Compromise=Claiming the grace to stand for what I believe.

Pride=Claiming the grace to submit to what I need

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 14

Ephesians 2:8‭-‬9 NIV For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

To live in unity with one another they should stop passing judgment about “disputable matters”

Romans 14:1 NIV Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters.

Romans 14:12‭-‬18 NIV So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.

Paul speaks about how we relate to differences within the body of Christ, saying that “each one of us will give an account of ourselves to God”. He then addresses how we, as believers, should relate to one another. Paul encouraged the Romans to stop making a point and to start making a difference in how they treated one another.

We should not put a stumbling block in somebody’s way.  While we should not suppress others through legalism, we also must not entice ourselves or others to sin through an unhealthy use of freedom.  Make sure that we are acting in love by not agreeing with sin but being cautious in 

in instances where moral choice is an individual matter (v. 15). We must not use the freedom we have in Christ to destroy one another. If we do that, it is evil.  

Sometimes we need to refrain from certain things in the presence of others. Even though you may not be sinning, you can restrain your actions based on the love for your brother or sister in Christ, choosing to put them above yourself.

1 Corinthians 6:1‭-‬8 NIV If any of you has a dispute with another, do you dare to take it before the ungodly for judgment instead of before the Lord’s people? Or do you not know that the Lord’s people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life! Therefore, if you have disputes about such matters, do you ask for a ruling from those whose way of life is scorned in the church? I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother takes another to court—and this in front of unbelievers! The very fact that you have lawsuits among you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong, and you do this to your brothers and sisters.

What should you do when a disagreement escalates between believers? We realize that we are all sinners, and sin can draw a wedge between people. As Christians, we are not spared from these conflicts. But is legal action advisable between two Christians who clash?

In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul addresses some believers in Corinth who were at odds with one another. The situation had become so hostile that they were going to court. Notice Paul’s dismay when he writes, “[D]o you dare to take it before the ungodly?” (v. 1). Paul was not concerned that the Corinthian judges were unjust, but that believers would sue one another before an unrighteous judge and spectators.

In Corinth, the judge’s seat, known as the bema seat, was in the center of the town square. You can still see some court houses in town centers today. And much like today, lawsuits then were public knowledge. While cable news didn’t cover these trials 24/7, crowds gathered for entertainment, and reputations would be ruined.

It is no wonder Paul was appalled by the idea of Christians suing one another. It goes completely against the gospel message of grace, charity, and forgiveness. Paul reminded the Corinthian believers that they were citizens of another world and kingdom (vv. 2–3).

Paul was not against ever taking legal action. In Acts 22:25 and 25:10– 11, he appealed to the Roman courts for his own rights. Likewise, we are grateful for the legal experts who protect believers today. However, Paul thought it reprehensible for one believer to attack another in court. When possible, Christians should seek to settle disputes themselves according to the values, principles, and truths of Scripture.

Father, in recent conflicts, show us what we did or said wrong so we can ask for forgiveness. We ask You to work also in the people with whom we clashed. As Your children, help us make peace with one another.

MODELING GRACE THROUGH DISAGREEABLE TIMES

First, always leave room for an opposing viewpoint. 

Second, if an argument must occur, don’t assassinate. 

Third, if you don’t get your way, get over it and get on with life. If you don't get your way in a vote at a church, get over it.       

      

Fourth, sometimes the best solution is a separation. There is good biblical support for this, remember. Paul and Barnabas simply couldn't go on together, so they separated. If you  can’t go on with the way things are in a particular ministry, leave.  Who knows? This may be God’sway of moving you on to another dimension of ministry.

THE PROCESS THAT LEADS TO GRACE AWAKENING

Five areas where we need to claim rest in God's grace: insecurity, weakness, abrasiveness,  compromise, and pride. 

Insecurity Claiming the grace to be what I am

1 Corinthians 15:6‭-‬11 NIV After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

Because of his history of persecuting Christianity Paul could have easily felt insecure in now preaching the gospel and being compared to men and women who walked with and talked with and saw and heard Jesus.

 But Paul refused to cringe and hide, crippled awakening, invigorating grace changed his whole perspective. 

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them,

 yet not I, but the grace of God with me” (1 Cor. 15:10).

      

Grace made him what he was. Grace gave him courage to be who he was. Grace energized him to accomplish what he did. By realizing that he did not deserve and could never earn the privileges given him, Paul was freed to be exactly who he was and do precisely what he was called to do.

When you understand that God is the one, by His grace, that enables you to do what He has gifted you have no reason to compare yourself to and compete with anybody else. Grace relieves us of all that. God is the one who qualified you. 

Weakness: Claiming the grace to learn from what I suffer.

2 Corinthians 12:5‭-‬10 NIV I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Because we are human even though we are saved,  sanctified,  Holy Ghost filled, fire baptized,  we still have weaknesses. We suffer. We hurt. We fail. We blow it. We feel bad. We are imperfect. 

Even though we have weaknesses we like Paul need to come to the realization that God's grace overcomes weakness. 

You don't have to rely on material things or the acceptance of people.  How easy for those things to become unspoken grace killers.

       

Abrasiveness Claiming the grace to respond to what I encounter

Colossians 4:5‭-‬6 NIV Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

This “grace” has to do with our response to people.  We need to use tact in the way we respond to difficult circumstances and people.  We have to depend on God’s grace so that we respond with grace. 

Even if our response is true and right. Truth alone can be a bit harsh and abrasive. Occasionally it is too sharp, sometimes brutal. Grace helps us cushion our words so that the truth can be received without needless offense

Compromise: Claiming the grace to stand for what I believe.

Hebrews 13:7‭-‬9 NIV Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so.

Grace gives us the courage to stand when confronted by those who do not believe as we do. Grace strengthens us. Grace helps us to be ourselves so that when we speak of our faith it rings true. 

Pride Claiming the grace to submit to what I need

James 4:6‭-‬7 NIV But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

1 Peter 5:5 NIV In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

Few qualities are more persistent within us than pride. as Paul put it earlier we don't have anything to feel proud about. Because it doesn’t fit the Christian life for anyone to be overly proud, we find our pride in other ways: our work, our salaries, our prestige, our power and influence, our titles, our clothing, our approach to people, our tendency to manipulate. It's All so unattractive, so inappropriate.

1 Corinthians 1:26‭-‬31 NIV Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Are You Really A Minister of Grace?

Some questions 

• When you do what you do, do you dispense grace?

      

      •  Are the people you serve given the freedom to be who they are, or do you force them to be who you expect them to be?

            

      •  Do you let others go, or do you smother them . . . control them?

      

      •  Would folks feel intimidated or relieved in your presence?

      

      •  Are you cultivating spontaneous, creative celebrants or fearful captives?

 •  Do you encourage, build up, and affirm those to whom you minister?

• Are you one who models and ministers grace or not?

•  Is what you’re doing the work of your own flesh energized by your own strength? 

• Are you relying on your charisma to pull it off? 

• Do you often have a hidden agenda? 

• How about your motive? 

• With a captive audience hanging on to your words and following your ministry with unquestioned loyalty, do you exploit them . . . do you use your power for your own purposes? 

• Is the enhancement of your image of major importance to you, or can you honestly say that your work is directed and empowered by the Spirit of God? 

• Is yours a grace-awakening ministry?

• 
  

Don't rely on your own charisma. If you don’t, you will live to regret it. 

Zechariah 4:6 NIV So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.

If you operate in grace you are not operating in the energy of the flesh. Operating in the flesh is a grace killer.   

Those who operate in the flesh use human might in order to accomplish things visible you can see.  Great emphasis is placed on “success.” There is no hesitation to use strategies from the world, secular managerial styles are employed, impressive techniques are used, size and numbers mean too much, and manipulative methods are used for raising money for ministries or churches. A person who uses power and might       uses them for unfair advantage, bullies them if they get in the way, and discard them once they are no longer “useful.”

OBVIOUS MARKS OF GRACE-AWAKENING 

1.   Absence of selfishness

      

      2. Absence of predictability

      

      3. Absence of dogmatic Bible-bashing

      

      4. Absence of expectations

      

      5. Absence of shame

The first of these characteristics is generosity with personal possessions

Acts 4:32‭-‬35 NIV All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

An atmosphere of grace creates an absence of selfishness. After all, it isn’t your money; it’s God’s money. So you give it. It isn’t your church; it’s God’s church, so you share it. They aren’t your people, they’re God’s people, so you release them. It isn’t your project; it’s God’s project, so you rely on Him..

Second characteristic of a grace awakening is the absence of predictability. Where grace abounds you will not only find generosity with personal possessions, you will also find encouragement in unusual settings. Grace keeps us flexible, and willing to adapt.

Acts 11:19‭-‬20 NIV Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.

They first went to Jews alone, but later they found themselves surrounded by Greeks, and so they went to the Greeks also. They didn’t change their message. They were still preaching the Lord Jesus. The target changed from strictly Jews to Jews and Gentiles. 

Missionaries who do the best job are people of grace. If they minister cross-culturally, they don’t try to change people into Western Christians. 

That is grace! There is a lack of predictability, true freedom,

willing adaptability—a sense of comfort in other methods of expression. The absence of a narrow, rule-book mentality frees anyone for an open-hearted ministry. There is affirmation along with a lot of flexibility.

Rather than requiring a predictable style of response, grace-awakening people encourage openness, acceptance, and a willingness to go with the cultural flow. We don’t force people to be like us to worship like us to praise like us.  Corporate praise and worship is okay but we can’t dictate what other believers do even when they are with us. New believers need to be given plenty of freedom to learn and to grow.

The third characteristic is life beyond the letter of Scripture. When there is a grace-awakening ministry, there is an absence of dogmatism and Bible Bashing. 

2 Corinthians 3:5‭-‬6 NIV Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The emphasis here is on a ministry of grace rather than law.

2 Corinthians 3:17 NIV Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

The scripture we just read also give us  a fourth characteristic of a grace-awakening ministry: liberty with creative expression. When grace is present, there is plenty of freedom provided for creative expression.

We are very liberal when we are evangelizing a non-believer and Most of us don’t require the lost person to clean up his life before he comes to the Savior. We flex, we bend, we forgive, we tolerate whatever among the unsaved. But we don’t provide nearly as much liberty once folks come to the Savior. 

Once they are converted, however, where’s the grace?  We expect everything that we ignored before conversion to be reversed immediately after conversion.  We forget that sanctification takes time and we forget that we weren't spotless after conversion and we are not spotless today.

Why are we so intolerant of and impatient with our brothers and sisters? Where's the grace? Think of what others must put up with when it comes to you and me.

         

Think of the things in your life that are not yet cleaned up. Where is all this liberty and freedom we’ve been talking about?

If the Spirit of the Lord provides liberty,mhow great it would be—how full of grace, actually—to give them all the room they need to fail and recover, to learn and grow.   Just like we had.

One more characteristic is release from shame or past failures. A ministry of grace doesn’t keep bringing up the past for the purpose of holding it over people. 

1 Timothy 1:12‭-‬14 NIV I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Paul had every reason to feel ashamed. He was one whose past was dreadful.  Yet he wrote that he wasn’t ashamed because God’s grace was so abundantly pored on him.  Blasphemy had abounded in his past, but grace superabounded. You could change blasphemer to homosexual, drug addict, alcoholic, murderer, whatever. None of those things in the past is allowed to hold those people in bondage. They are released, forgiven, and the believer is allowed to go on to a new life in Christ.  

Grace releases people not only from sin but from shame. If a person wants to use their past in their own testimony that’s great but we should never remind a   Shame is a classic grace killer.

Christians can be such shamers! We not only make people ashamed of their wrongs, we shame them for being different

Let’s look at Shame-Based Spirituality vs. Healthy Spiritually

2 Timothy 2:1 NIV You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

Make grace your aim, your pursuit, your passion. Model it. Teach it. Demonstrate it.