Strong in Grace “Thou therefore my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:1). Apostle Paul told Timothy to “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Grace is divine influence and it can also mean favor—undeserved favor. I have a few thoughts this morning on the undeserved favor aspect of grace. Grace can be bestowed and received. One may receive grace and one may give grace. If one were strong in grace I would imagine they would both give and receive grace. From a religious point of view grace is that which calls people to repentance. This is bestowed grace. Those who repent of their sins and come to Jesus receive grace. This is an act of faith on their part. Therefore, we read in (Ephesians 2:8) “For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God.” God’s grace is intended to be bestowed and received. If it is not received it is of no affect. One of the hardest obstacles to the Gospel message is convincing people to receive grace. Apostle Paul dealt with this perhaps more that any other subject. People basically have a hard time receiving grace. We do not want that which we do not feel we deserve or feel we have earned in some way. Most people when they first hear the call of God to repentance suddenly are awake to the rightness of God’s Holy law. But rather than continue in grace they set out to reform themselves by the dictates of conscience in accordance with God’s Holy Law. They now stop receiving grace and work for acceptance with God. They now feel as though God owes them eternal life based on their works of righteousness. But a gift is a gift is a gift, one can never earn what is given. Works is not of faith which is that component that receives grace. Jesus describes a faith attitude in (Luke 17:10) “…when ye, shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” If we accept the call to be a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ which has with it eternal life we are in no position to demand eternal life based on our service or works. Paul said “But if it is of works, then it is no more grace” (Romans 11:6). God’s Holy law was meant to show all people that they are sinners and we need grace. John wrote “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” The law was meant to show all people there need of salvation from sin. Apostle Paul referred to the law as a school master to bring us to Jesus Christ. But keeping the law as ones motive for salvation goes against the “gift by grace” (Romans 5:15). The apostle Paul said something very profound and which should clear up the whole matter and how righteousness is achieved. He said to the Galatians (2:21) “I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.” The point might be made even clearer from (Romans 1:5) He said “By whom [Jesus] we have received grace…for obedience to the faith….” Obedience to the law can only be achieved by faith in Jesus Christ and accepting righteousness as a gift not something that can be achieved in our own strength that we can then demand of God eternal life. Eternal life is a gift and so is righteousness. But if we receive an abundance of grace the result will be that which the law demands—righteousness, but notice (Romans 5:17) real righteousness is a gift by grace. Now we see what grace is, does it have any practical application? Yes, I think it does. Anyone can give grace (undeserved favor) and anyone can receive grace. But the Bible says all come short of God’s glory, in other words grace is not anybodies strong suite. In another place it says by nature we are children of disobedience or lack this ability to give or receive grace. Now you may think I am going off on a tangent but the gospel is practical so I feel I must show form my own life experiences how the lack of grace in my day to day life has been very hard to deal with. But not only the lack of grace shown to me, but my ability to receive it. My mind has literally been blown and is coming to a head, and which this study of grace is helping me to cope. The treatment of my family blows my mind; I can not get my head around the nastiness and malice. Another thing that blows my mind is my former church and that church which is most commonly accepted as the face of true religion in America, the evangelical 501c3 denominational churches. It blows my mind that their focus is on the pastor, paying a tithe, and worshipping in a building at a specific place. And now they have thrown in this blasphemous end times—left behind theology. And lastly my government blows my mind. I have been an activist for five years and the decline which I have seen for many years perpetrated by both major parties seems to continue to slide downward. I now attribute all these cultural declines on the lack of grace, giving grace and receiving grace. First I will describe my family and this goes way beyond my immediate family, this seems to be ingrained in my entire lineage. One can not give grace to my family members, if they can not guilt you out of something or beat you out of it they do not feel entitled and they will not accept anything, and if they can not beat you out of it, they do not want it. But if this does not work they will go to the next level and fight you to make sure that if they can not get what they want then they will do whatever they can to make sure you do not have it. My family will not accept anything if they think the giver deserves credit for giving it as a gift or as the expression goes “from the goodness of your heart.” My family will not accept anything from the goodness of my heart or from any other family member. Needless to say those who do not receive grace are very unlikely to give grace. They are not “strong in grace” they are very weak. This particular sin in my family as well as in yours is a sin of the heart as opposed to a sin of appetite and the scripture old and new calls it covetousness. It is not only the tenth commandment it is renounced everywhere in the New Testament. See (Romans 1:29, Ephesians 5:3, Colossians 3:5, Hebrews 13:5). The major tactic used to get what they want or see to that another can not retain what they feel is theirs and they can’t get is conflict. I call it control through conflict. I actually learned this as I focused much attention on the Muslim religion after the 9-11 attacks. As I watched and listened I could not help but notice their rhetoric just did not match their actions. They claimed to be victims yet they were and are causing death and destruction all over the world. That is when I saw it is about control not justice or fairness or anything else, just the promotion of that religion over every other religion. I began to notice that my family members could not be in a room for more than a couple of minutes when the tension would begin to rise. First all they had done and what they deserve in return. Than the recriminations most of which was pure fantasy. But that is when I realized this has nothing to do with fairness only control of the room. So I have learned that where ever I am if tension for no apparent reason begins to rise in the room than the source of that tension is trying to control that situation. Apostle James (3:16) says it this way “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” Apostle Paul said to the (Colossians 3:15) rather “let the peace of God rule in your hearts.” Next is the evangelical denominational churches, they blow my mind. A cult is any man centered religion; in this case these denominations are centered on the pastors and therefore operate in the cult mentality. Anyone who has ever been in a cult knows how difficult it is to escape. One has to deal with a lot of guilt, are they (have I) turned from God, that sort of thing. It has taken me years to come to this point where I could actually speak out against these wicked churches. I still have difficulty. Have I done something against God, should I just let them be, I still do not know exactly how to handle it. But once again it all comes down to the lack of grace. They do not receive grace and therefore can not give it. The evangelical message is at once all about guilt not grace. From their point of view, you are immediately pointed to your obligation to obey the pastor without question and pay him a salary, pay a tithe, and worship in a building at a specified place. Long story short, their entire gospel message is based on guilt. They even say, “if you feel guilty that is a sign you are saved, you are doing what you are supposed to do, unsaved people do not feel guilt.” Wicked, Wicked, Wicked doctrine is this. When a person’s heart is right with God, there isn’t any guilt or condemnation (Romans 8:1). These wicked churches will quote you verses to show that you have no guilt in your relationship with God, but all the while they keep you in guilt towards them. On tithing they say pay it or you are robbing God a verse taken out of context (Malachi 3;10). On paying taxes they call that a secret sin. No one can do Americas taxes accurately that was proved in 1985 but they guilt you over it rather than demand the tax code be simplified. They guilt single young men by talking about looking on a woman to lust after her in his heart. Once again a verse taken out of context (Mathew 5:27-28). Jesus was talking about unmarriageable people. They keep people stirred up with controversy. A few years ago it was a book called the Davinci Code. The author said it is fiction, and it is found in the fiction section of the book stores. Yet the Left Behind series is not only fiction it is blasphemous and that is found in the evangelical religious section of major book stores. Before that these churches led the controversy against major stores for using the term “Season Greetings” rather than “Merry Christmas” which is not even a scriptural holyday. And yet if you do not fall in behind and support them then you are made to feel guilty. I have heard many times in these churches pastors preaching against dark colors of clothing, and of course anyone who happened to be wearing a dark piece of clothing is made to feel guilty in the sight of everyone there. But in a real Church there would be no guilt anywhere. Guilt would be the exception not the rule and that person who was guilty of something would be dealt with from scripture in love. The whole church would not expect to be in guilt. One of the favorite things the evangelical’s churches do is ask if anyone in their midst is without sin or guilt. And I will tell you what, you had better not profess in that group to being freed from sin by God’s grace and being a true Christian. So what we have in these churches is a lack of grace, they have not received grace and therefore can not show grace or “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” They are under the law or actuated by motives of law not the gospel message and therefore can not find the liberty that is in Jesus Christ. Paul said “ Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14). There primary messages are always against others who are not in their numbers. But God would say forget the recriminations, don’t waist your time, My controversy is with you evangelical pastors (Hosea 4:4). Jesus says it this way “cast out first the beam that is in thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote [speck] that is in thy brother’s eye” (Luke 6:42). In other words until we are ready to receive grace we are in no way able or qualified to work on someone else. We either act by grace, or covetousness or the desire to take what we need. God said by Isaiah that they were not to put forth the finger. Evangelicals entire message is to point out sins that is over there, or in someone else. They are not interested in finding grace in the day of trouble for themselves, they are not interested in receiving the free gift of righteousness, only justifying themselves among other people by comparing themselves with others. (Isaiah 58:9 & Luke 16:15, 2 Cor. 10:12). If they are not as bad as that other person then they are OK. The sin of the evangelical denominational churches is also rooted in Covetousness. Jesus proclaimed it is better to give than to receive yet these churches are based on covetousness. The church becomes an end it itself, and the pastors aim is to grow in numbers and build bigger buildings. Nothing wrong with growing in numbers or worshipping in a building, it is wrong when this is the pastor’s primary goal and not receiving grace that they may in turn “minister grace to the hearers” Eph. (4:29). The pastor’s message should be entirely suited to minister grace to the hearers. But rather we see from the evangelical churches guilt. And why? Peter said it is because of what I said earlier, covetousness, and their covetousness leads to guilt and bondage. Notice (2 Peter 2:3 + 19). “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you:…While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage.” If you are in bondage to sin and guilt, it is because your leadership is in bondage; they have not received the gift of grace. The opposite of this can be seen in words from Apostle Paul in (1 Thessalonians 2:3—8) This is quite different from the evangelical mindset and if you are in there you need to leave. Lastly my government blows my mind. This government was set up to elect people to serve the people and represent them. This is even a written guarantee according to 4§4 US Con. The government like the evangelical church has become an end itself so the government does not serve the people the people serve the government. Because of the parties we have two rival factions who do not see themselves as partners in government on behalf of the people; and the promotion of the party has become the main goal. Also like the evangelical church it is all about growing numbers within the party and building bigger buildings to house bigger bureaucracies. And also like the evangelical churches they keep the people embroiled in endless controversy, jumping from chaos issue to chaos issue. And why does the Government not serve the people only its own ends? The same reason as the others, they as people do not know how and are unwilling to receive grace and therefore nothing they do is gracious, it does not spread grace or good will, only contention. Notice the recent government shut-down, do you see any grace (undeserved favor) from either side? No! Not one bit. Both sides say to the other we will not talk to you. If you will not talk to each other how can ones words be seasoned with salt ministering grace to the hearers? This problem does not even require grace to fix, just solicit what their constituents want and do it. But parties are so steeped in this same covetousness of the heart that I described above where the promotion of their party has become the most important thing, an end in itself, that they will not even do what they were elected to do, represent their constituents. The two political parties like my family do not want to be seen accepting something from the other party that may be bestowed by grace, and because their covetousness is so strong they only want what they can guilt out of the other party or beat out of the other party. That is why we have all these unnecessary frivolous battles like the evangelical churches battle over fiction books or Christmas. The parties employ so called battles of race, or wars on women. These are so ludicrous yet the parties have the whole country continually stirred up over these things. What should our response be to all this? First we must learn to receive the grace of God and then learn to give grace. We need to learn to receive grace from each other and then learn to give grace to each other. Apostle Paul said it this way and sums up everything I have been saying. You will need to read (Ephesians 5:1—7.) But notice it says walk in love as Christ also loved us. We know how Christ loved us, he bestows underserved favor/grace on us. True grace as from Jesus causes us to want to please Him, it does not try to guilt or demand satisfaction. Second we need to recognize those who are covetous and unwilling to bestowe grace, and “be not partakers with them.” This does not mean you have to avoid all family functions, sometimes it is better to show up even though you know some family members will use the occasion not for grace but for covetousness. But you can certainly leave that evangelical church you are part of and should. And you do not have to vote for those involved in political parties. But like your family if they are elected than they are your Representative or Senator and you may have to try and work with them on occasion. I had and issue recently and I presented it to both my States local Rep and Senator each from a different party. One took the issue up the other declined. But I did not vote for either of them just because they are in America’s two evil parties. Our founders said only a religious and moral people can be governed by the form or Government they set up. But do we really need to hear from them on this matter, is it not common sense that we first need to receive grace from God before we can give grace to our fellow citizens. In the salutation to the Revelation of Jesus Christ it says “Grace be unto you and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; And from Jesus Christ.” The last verse of this prophecy which was also written for the hereafter Church or the Church after the apostles or our Church time is “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. A-men.” Grace is very important, and of all the other books of the Bible these words of grace was written specifically to you. The writer to the Hebrews said (12:15) “Looking diligently lest any man fail the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” Not properly receiving grace or giving grace has certainly set me back a few paces, more than a few to be honest. I also know all around me there are many who have failed the grace of God right along with me, my family, my former church, and my government, and that troubles me. But I intend to do what this verse says, I intend to begin to look diligently to God’s grace that I may learn how to better receive His grace so that I also may begin to better bestow grace on others. The Bible teaches we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7). I realize that if I want more grace showed towards me from my fellow man than I have to show more favor—undeserved favor to them. Like it says in (Hebrews 12:28 “let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably.” This is my desire. Let this letter which I have written with my own hand this morning serve as an act of grace to my family, to my former church and to my government. “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” A-men. 10/6/2013
Posted on: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 13:14:23 +0000
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