Glad tidings of Good Things – Part 4 – November 29, 2010

IMPACT SCHOOL OF MINISTRY NLRC Petaling Jaya

Study notes for November 29, 2010

THE EXTENT AND LIMIT OF GRACE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

FAVOR AND ENABLEMENT

Always bear in mind that God’s grace has two main components.

1. The free and unmerited favor of His giving.  Grace is always gift.  It is always the bestowal of that which is good.
2. There is power in grace as it enables the recipient to rise and accomplish those things being revealed and commanded by God.

PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE GRACE   (I PETER 1)

Throughout God’s dealings in history the grace of God that was available had distinct boundaries.  The extent to which God was able to give the varied grace of His favor and enabling were dictated by the means He was using.

Past grace

1. In the Old Covenant He gave the law written in tablets of stone.  But these words in themselves had not the power to transform the lives of those who heard them.  They did not give the hearer the enabling to fulfill them (Romans 3v20 & 8v3).
2. He gave grace to prophets in the past enabling them to speak of things to come (1 Peter 1v10 &11). To those who spoke these words this was future grace and concerned those things that were to be poured out from God through the Lord Jesus.
3. They spoke of things they themselves did not have, they looked into them wonderingly along with the angels who did the same (I Peter 1v12).

Present grace

1. Multiplied to us through the greater means of the Person of the Lord Jesus Whom the Father had chosen and the Spirit of God Who expedites what is available in Christ now (1 Peter 1v1&2).
2. In the New Testament the grace that is in and through Jesus is what is available to us.

Future grace

1. Christ at this point in time is in heaven thus limiting the fullness of that which we can receive now.  We await further grace from heaven.
2. When He is revealed from heaven then new grace shall come to us through Him.  Resurrection of the body shall be ours along with the salvation of our souls also (1 Peter 1v13 & 5-6).

 

JESUS IS THE “REGULATIVE PRINCIPLE”  (2 TIMOTHY 1 and 2)

We are hijacking a term used by churches in the Reformed Tradition who apply it to their worship practices.  It essentially means that they adopt no practice in their worship that is not mandated in the Holy Scriptures.  Their practices are ‘regulated’ by this principle.  In these New Testament times our experience of true grace is ‘regulated’ by what is in Christ Jesus alone.  We must not go beyond, nor hold back from the ‘riches of grace’ that are in Him (Ephesians 1v6&7).

1. Beware the teachings that lead us to expect grace that is not ‘in Him” for us now.  Do not detach any aspect of grace from Christ and give it a life of its own.
2. For example, the rampant doctrine of surefire prosperity is not part of the “grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 2v1).
3. Was Jesus prosperous in this world’s goods?  No.  What about Paul the apostle.  Sometimes, and sometimes not  (Philippians 4v10-13)
4. We must only be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ and not seek for things from God that are not being brought unto us through Him.  Those things appropriate for each of us, measured to us in His loving purpose towards us.
5. If I seek a prosperity that is outside of Him and His will for me my gain materially will prove loss spiritually.
6. False teachers pervert aspects of grace, not properly holding together in due proportion and order those things that pertain in Christ  (Jude 4).
7. They lay too much stress upon material benefits even including healing and these emphases inevitably lead people into sensuality and love of the things of this life (Jude 4).

 

ASPECTS OF GRACE GRANTED TO ALL

Repentance is a gracious gift available to us all, forgiveness of sins too.  There is justification and sanctification (separation from the former manner of life unto God) and these are all granted to us in Jesus Christ.  They are part of the life that is in Him.

1. These gifts of grace are freely given in Christ to all who would come to Him.  There is no respect of persons.
2. We are not to hold back from receiving them.
3. They are part of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 1v2)
4. If we receive the grace that is in the Life of the Lord Jesus it will lead to a life of holiness to God that is not a legalism made up of the externalities of dress and behavior patterns but a life conditioned by the grace that is in Him, not rules but wisdom and counsel that comes from Him as to personal modesty and godly behavior.
5. Fellowship with Him will regulate how we dress, how we are towards each other and those we work with and dwell together with in the churches.

 

ASPECTS OF GRACE THAT ARE ‘TAILOR MADE’ FOR EACH OF US

God gives grace in Jesus Christ to each individual as each has need and comes to Him for it.

1. There is no ‘blanket’ grace in these things (2 Tim 1v9).
2. God has a purpose for each of us, as well as His purpose common to us all.  We all can expect to receive the grace of Christ in our particular states and circumstances; it is individual and personal (2 Tim 1v9).
3. For Timothy this meant suffering.  He was to receive the grace to enable him to go through it without shame  (2 Tim 1v9).
4. All who live IN Christ Jesus will suffer in some way, but living within Him will also mean that they will receive the grace that is in Him that strengthens them  (2 Tim 2v1 & Hebrews 4v16)
5. We must all learn that the gain in spiritual life is through loss.  Grace works to help us ‘lose’ that we might increase in that which we cannot lose.
6. This always involves ‘loss of face’ in this world’s eye (2 Tim 1v8-14).
7. Those who live in Christ and whose lives are regulated by the grace that is in Him will be an offence to this world with its values.
8. When we stand firm in the life that is in Christ we will receive the power of God by His grace.

 

 

THE FAITH AND LOVE THAT ARE IN CHRIST JESUS (2 TIMOTHY 1v14)

Note the number of times that this phrase ‘that are in Christ Jesus’ is mentioned in these verses (1v 1,9,13 & 2v1) We must desire nothing that is outside the grace of God in Jesus that flows to us from Him!

1. We want no wealth and prosperity that comes not as a grace that is in Him and from Him.
2. We want no health either.
3. We seek for no married state that is outside the gift of His grace to us in Christ Jesus.  Our marriage partner must be regarded as a gift of God’s grace to us.
4. If you are single, do not look for the partner, rest in God’s grace in Christ for you and let Him bring perfectly to your need.
5. We seek no gift, no job, nothing at all but only that is coming to us from Him.  The grace, life, faith, love, purpose and strengthening that is in Him for us.

 

THE GRACE THAT IS FROM HIM TO EACH ONE

In acceptance lies peace.  We must learn to abide contentedly in what He has apportioned to us and comes to us in and through His Son.

1. Do not read into the scripture that which is not there.  The spirit of acquisitiveness, grasping for more carnally.  Much preaching in some churches is really reading into scriptures ideas that are birthed in man’s wisdom.
2. For example, the word ‘power’ in the New Testament carries with it an interpretation read into it by Pentecostal churches.  The idea of dynamite and dynamic life but more often than not in the scriptures the word is associated with the ability to be patient, longsuffering, gentle and forbearing.  It is enablement to live not only to be ‘powerful’ in the usually taught image of what that means.  Remember the universe if being run by the Lamb upon the throne.  Lambs do not exactly look dynamically powerful!  Though to the eyes of the man in the Spirit we can see the seven eyes and seven horns that signify His perfect wisdom and authority (Rev 4v2 &5v6).
3. Do not use ‘eisegesis’ on the scripture.  This means to read into it from a perspective of the world’s ways to obtain and build and conduct life.  We must be those who exegete the scriptures, we come humbly from ‘underneath’ them, letting them unfold their treasures to us.  ‘Eis’ is the Greek for ‘into’ and ‘Ex’ means to come out of.  If we are eisegetes we will read into God’s word imbalance for sure and it will not be the grace that is in Christ Jesus but if we exegete faithfully we shall receive the grace of Christ which will be true grace not distorted grace.

 

LIVING WITHIN THE LIMITS OF CHRIST IN OUR PRAYER LIFE (JOHN 15)

Apply the principles of exegesis to the words of Jesus concerning the vine and branches.

1. He is the vine.  All the virtues (enzymes such as in a papaya plant) come up through the sap.  We the branches get our sap from Him.
2. If we abide in Him His word will abide in us.
3. This will mean that we the branches will be prayerful asking the Father for only that which is rising up from Christ within our own being namely His longings, desires and mind and will.  Our longings, desires and will, will be in right in line with His.  We will not desire any grace in our lives that is not coming to us through and in Him.
4. It is unlikely that if we are abiding in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, living in Him, that we will pray and grasp for a Ferrari or some great palace of a house!  Our prayers and requests will be regulated by the grace in Christ for us.
5. Through His grace perfectly apportioned to us we can live in every state contentedly, receiving it from Him.
6. We shall be fruitful thereby.

 

DO NOT GRASP, ABIDE IN CHRIST AND LEARN TO RECEIVE HIS GRACE

1. Through Him we are able to receive single hood as a gift.
2. Lack as gain.
3. Bereavement, though painful becomes opportunity for He gives more grace so that we are able to bear it and increase in spiritual life and understanding.
4. Childlessness can be opportunity for us to learn more grace from Him.
5. A difficult home situation; complicated and made painful by someone strongly bearing down upon us will be an opportunity for Him to give more grace to us (James 4v6).
6. There is no situation in which we cannot receive His grace measured to us perfectly through our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

ACCORDING TO THE MEASURE OF THE GRACE OF CHRIST  (EPHESIANS 4V7)

The riches of His grace are without limit and yet they are measured unto us exactly according to our need at each different era of our lives.

1. Grace is unendingly available.
2. God gives to the humble, not the proud demanding ones (James 4v6)
3. Come boldly to His throne to obtain what you need today (Hebrews 4v16).
4. He gives grace upon grace as we live up to the hilt in the grace He is giving us (John 1v16).
5. Let it be your greatest desire to live within the parameters of the grace He has given to you, to move in the measure of the gifts that He has given to you by His grace and as you do He will likely increase the measure and deepen the your life at the same time.
6. By grace we are saved, always saved and ever shall be saved and that means every day and every situation (Ephesians 2).