Tag Archives: God’s grace

FAITHFUL STEWARDS OF GOD’S GRACE

Bible Study, ,

FAITHFUL STEWARDS OF GOD’S GRACE

Each of your should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4: 10, 11)

Get a hold of that!

Spiritual gifts – what are they? In many people’s book, they are the reason to put themselves a cut above other believers. ‘I have the gift of . . . ‘ Tongues? Word of knowledge? Discerning of spirits? Healing? Faith? Wisdom? These all have levels of superiority. If you have this gift, or that gift, you are a very spiritual Christian – in fact, if you can speak in tongues, you have the evidence that you are ‘Spirit-filled’! Really? Is that how Paul classified a true believer?

In my Bible the evidence of a child of God is clear:

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit are the children of God. (Rom. 8: 13, 14)

What is the purpose of spiritual gifts, then? Whose gifts are they? Some of us act as though they are our gifts – as though we earned them and we have them to enhance our prestige in the Christian world. God forbid! Spiritual gifts are gifts of the Spirit and they are lent to us for only one purpose – to serve the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit channels His power through ordinary human beings who are obedient to Him to minister to the needs of Jesus’s body.

We cannot claim to own any gift. The Holy Spirit gives them according to His will. He is free to give or withdraw His gifts as He chooses according to our availability and obedience. As always, we are to be stewards of God’s grace, not owners or dispensers as though we were handing out sweets t o little children. God’s gifts are a sacred trust. We cannot use them according to our whims but in obedience to His will.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them it is the same God at work. (1 Cor. 12: 4-6)

Spiritual gifts are not a title or an office but a function. Even functions like apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher are not offices or titles which give us a position in the church; they are functions which serve Jesus’s body.

So, Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. (Eph. 4: 11, 12)

How tragic that people who are supposed to serve in these functions have taken them to be titles and used them to elevate themselves over their fellow believers as the authority in the church! Even people who have had theological training think that they are a cut above unlearned believers, as though head knowledge makes them superior to everyone else.

As for you, the anointing you have received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit – just as it has taught you, remain in Him. (1 John 2:27)

Jesus chose relatively uneducated men to be His disciples so that He could teach them His truth and send them out to replicate Him in the world.

Spiritual gifts are a trust from God to us as His sons and daughters, not a reward for good behaviour, to be used to serve His people, not to enrich ourselves or to enhance our reputation. They will always remain His gifts, not ours. We are accountable to Him for what we do with them. We are to be stewards of His grace as faithful servants, always keeping the mind-set of a servant.

God’s grace is multi-faceted, ministering healing, deliverance and hope to the broken and helpless. He apportions His gifts of grace to reliable stewards who will use and not prostitute His gifts for the enrichment of self or others. In that spirit, let us give freely to the needy of that which He has given us.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

ADMINISTRATOR OF THE MYSTERY

Bible Study, ,

ADMINISTRATOR OF THE MYSTERY

I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of His power. Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given to me to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery which for ages past was kept hidden in God who created all things (Eph. 3: 7-9).

How easy it would be to get lost in Paul’s long sentences and profound declarations. To understand what he was saying, we must go back to the basics of the gospel.

The mystery he was exposing was the simple fact that God’s intention was always to include the whole world in His offer of mercy. He began with the nation of Israel because He was preparing them to receive the Messiah through whom Hiss mercy would reach the world.

It was never God’s intention to exclude those who did not belong to Israel. He wanted His people to remain separate from the pagan nations so that He could nurture them in His ways. When He sent His Son into the world, He wanted His people to understand sin, sacrifice, covenant, mercy and grace through the types and shadows of the Old Covenant so that they would recognise Him and receive Him as their Messiah.

As Paul has already explained, the death of Jesus opened the door for the Gentiles to be reconciled to God and to be united with the Jews into one family of believers, with no barriers of colour, culture or language to separate them. Faith in Jesus as Lord overrode all other loyalties and created a new race of people who were citizens of God’s heavenly kingdom.

Paul saw himself as a custodian of this good news. While the other apostles took the message of Jesus to their own people, God assigned the task of preaching to the Gentiles to Paul. It was a costly commission. Paul suffered persecution at the hands of Jews and Gentiles but there was no price too high for obedience. Not only did he carry the message of Jesus to the Roman world at the risk of his life, but he also made it plain in his letters to the churches. Without these, we would still flounder in our understanding of the purpose and ramifications of the cross.

On the strength of His identity as the Son of God and in full view of the disgusting worship of the pagans at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus entrusted the responsibility of interpreting His yoke – His interpretation and application of the Torah (in which is the seed truths of the whole Bible)  to His disciples (Matt. 1619). Under the direction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they would understand and explain the implications of His death to the people of the world. They would invite both Jew and Gentile into fellowship with the Father because of the forgiveness of sins He provided through the sacrifice of His Son.

Paul was well aware that his part in this commission was an act of God’s grace. Before he met Jesus on the Damascus road, he was an ardent supporter of Judaism, going as far as trying to eradicate the message of Jesus by eliminating His followers. It took a personal encounter with the risen Christ to change his mind and set his feet on this way – the way of Jesus to the Father.

He could do no other but obey this call and go to the ends of the earth with the message of grace that had rescued him from his fanatical unbelief, no matter how high the price because nothing could substitute for the mercy he had received in Christ Jesus. Not only had he received grace, but he had also been given the task of administering this grace to whoever would receive it regardless of who they were. Grace was God free gift to everyone through Christ. Paul wanted the whole world to know that the God who had extended grace to him would respond in mercy to anyone who would recognise and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

This confession, based on the conviction that Jesus is Lord – not some god of human imagination or the devil masquerading as God, is the door that opens the floodgates of God’s favour and blessing to whoever will receive Him. From a human perspective, all these words and promises don’t seem like much, but to those who have received Him and live in the glow of God’s love and favour, the difference that faith in Jesus makes is remarkable.

Jesus had given His followers the legacy of His love, His joy and His peace – priceless gifts in a world of uncertainty, insecurity and fear. In the midst of a collapsing world economy, a corrupt and evil society and crumbling relationships, He is the solid rock on which those who trust in Him stand. He backs His promises with His incorruptible and unchanging character. When the chips are down, He secures those who trust in Him with His strong right hand.

He did not promise His followers a trouble-free life, unending good health or a limitless supply of money. Unfortunately, some have lured desperate people into faith in Jesus for the wrong reasons. Being disciples is of far greater value – His unconditional love and His permanent presence and, with Him around, we cannot lose.

Keep free from the love of many and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? (Heb. 13: 5-6)

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

My second book, Learning to be a Disciple – The Way of the Master (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing), a companion volume to Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart, has been released in paperback and digital format on www.amazon.com.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – A JOB WELL DONE

Bible Study, ,

A JOB WELL DONE

“Paul and Barnabas handpicked leaders in each church. After praying — their prayers intensified by fasting — they presented these new leaders to the Master to whom they had entrusted their lives. Working their way back through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia and preached in Perga. Finally, they made it to Attalia and caught a ship back to Antioch, where it had all started — launched by God’s grace and now safely home by God’s grace. A good piece of work.

“On arrival they got the church together and reported on their trip, telling in detail how God had used them to throw the door of faith wide open so people of all nations could come streaming in. Then they settled down for a long, leisurely visit with the disciples.” Acts 14:23-28 (The Message).

“Life is lived forward and understood backwards,” Many months before, two rookie missionaries set out from Antioch. They had no mission board behind them, no regularly monthly stipend paid into their bank accounts, no cell phones or email to keep them in contact with home base; just them and the Holy Spirit in them.

Now they were back home, back in the safety and comfort of their circle of brothers and sisters, reporting on both harrowing and joyful experiences which were all in a day’s work for two courageous pioneers. What did they tell them back home? What were their greatest moments on their journey through unknown territory, both geographically and spiritually?

It seems, not a word about their suffering! Did they have enough to eat? How did they get from town to town? Where did they sleep? Who did their laundry? Who cared for them when they got sick? No. They returned to their home church to report on the work God had accomplished through them. They joyfully shared their story of a wide open door for Gentiles to enter God’s kingdom through faith in Jesus.

King George VI once quoted these words in his New Year message: “I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, ‘Give me a lamp that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ He said to me, ‘Put your hand in the hand of God. That will be to you better than a light and safer than a known way.'”

Paul and Barnabas surely found those words to be profoundly true. A long look backwards revealed the hand of a faithful God on them in spite of suffering and hardship. Forgotten were the weary days, the cold nights, the steep and stony roads, the growling stomachs and the taunts and cruel words of unbelievers. It was the memory of the God who sustained them and carried them through, the God who opened hearts and gathered people into His kingdom that filled them with joy.

We may not be facing the trials and troubles that Paul and Barnabas had to embrace to do their Master’s will. By comparison, our lives may seem cushy but, nevertheless, each one of us has his or her testing to endure. The same God who sustained them is with us on our journey, but our experience of him depends on our perspective as it did theirs. They did not dwell on the hardships. Those were part of the package to toughen them up to reach their goal.

After all he went through, this was Paul’s perspective: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen it temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NIV).

Faithful Stewards Of God’s Grace

Bible Study, , ,

FAITHFUL STEWARDS OF GOD’S GRACE

Each of your should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4: 10, 11)

Get a hold of that!

Spiritual gifts – what are they? In many people’s book, they are the reason to put themselves a cut above other believers. ‘I have the gift of . . . ‘ Tongues? Word of knowledge? Discerning of spirits? Healing? Faith? Wisdom? These all have levels of superiority. If you have this gift, or that gift, you are a very spiritual Christian – in fact, if you can speak in tongues, you have the evidence that you are ‘Spirit-filled’! Really? Is that how Paul classified a true believer?

In my Bible the evidence of a child of God is clear:

For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit are the children of God. (Rom. 8: 13, 14)

What is the purpose of spiritual gifts, then? Whose gifts are they? Some of us act as though they are our gifts – as though we earned them and we have them to enhance our prestige in the Christian world. God forbid! Spiritual gifts are gifts of the Spirit and they are lent to us for only one purpose – to serve the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit channels His power through ordinary human beings who are obedient to Him to minister to the needs of Jesus’s body.

We cannot claim to own any gift. The Holy Spirit gives them according to His will. He is free to give or withdraw His gifts as He chooses according to our availability and obedience. As always, we are to stewards of God’s grace, not owners or dispensers as though we were handing out sweets to little children. God’s gifts are a sacred trust. We cannot use them according to our whims but in obedience to His will.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them it is the same God at work. (1 Cor. 12: 4-6)

Spiritual gifts are not a title or an office but a function. Even functions like apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher are not offices or titles which give us a position in the church; they are functions which serve Jesus’s body.

So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. (Eph. 4: 11, 12)

How tragic that people who are supposed to serve in these functions have taken them to be titles and used them to elevate themselves over their fellow believers as the authority in the church! Even people who have had theological training think that they are a cut above unlearned believers, as though head knowledge makes them superior to everyone else.

As for you, the anointing you have received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit – just as it has taught you, remain in Him. (1 John 2:27)

Jesus chose relatively uneducated men to be His disciples so that He could teach them His truth and send them out to replicate Him in the world.

Spiritual gifts are a trust from God to us as His sons and daughters, not a reward for good behaviour, to be used to serve His people, not to enrich ourselves or to enhance our reputation. They will always remain His gifts, not ours. We are accountable to Him for what we do with them. We are to be stewards of His grace as faithful servants, always keeping the mind-set of a servant.

God’s grace is multi-faceted, ministering healing, deliverance and hope to the broken and helpless. He apportions His gifts of grace to reliable stewards who will use and not prostitute His gifts for the enrichment of others. In that spirit let us give freely to the needy of that which He has given us.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

What’s Going On Here?

Christian Life, ,

WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?

“Meanwhile, the Chief Priest and his cronies convened the High Council, Israel’s senate, and sent to the jail to have the prisoners brought in. When the police got there, they couldn’t find them anywhere in the jail. They went back and reported, ‘We found the jail locked tight as a drum and the guards posted at the doors, but when we went inside we didn’t find a soul.’

“The chief of the Temple police and the high priests were puzzled.’What’s going on here anyway?’

“Just then someone showed up and said, ‘Did you know that the men you put in jail are back in the Temple teaching the people?’ The chief and his police went and got them, but they handled them gently, fearful that the people would riot and turn on them.” Acts 5:21-26 (The Message).

What an impossible situation! How could these puny humans think they could challenge God? Surely this crazy turn of events should have warned them to back off!

After considering everything that God has done to restore us to fellowship with Himself and all the possible adversities and reverses we can experience in life to cut us off from Him again, the Apostle Paul came to this conclusion: “What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?….I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:33, 37-39 (NIV).

The story of Jesus’ apostles takes many twists and turns. They were jailed and sometimes supernaturally released, like Peter and John, and sometimes stayed incarcerated for a long time. Some were executed, like James and Stephen while others were released. Doesn’t this seem a rather unfair and arbitrary way for God to treat His followers?

Paul’s ringing testimony negates a silly conclusion like that. “And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 (NIV). It all depends on one’s point of view.

If we are in it for what we can get out of it, life’s vicissitudes will be very frustrating. It is difficult to get God to do what we want when He has a different agenda. We can “name it and claim it” or practise our faith techniques all we like, but God happens to be in charge and He is painting on a bigger canvas than we can see.

When we finally come to the conclusion that He is not obliged to do anything for us, life begins to make much more sense and the joy of being free to love Him because He is who He is, is a glorious experience. What we deserve is what Jesus suffered for us. What He does for us is entirely out of grace because He wants to and not because He has to.

The apostles were free to enjoy their journey because they could trust the One who was in charge. As long as they were alive, they got on with the job at hand. If their lives were cut short, as many of them were, they enjoyed the reward for their obedience and the benefits of the kingdom they represented.

There is both pathos and humour in the story. The Jewish hierarchy was playing cat and mouse but its “mouse” had the unfair advantage of having God rooting for them. Their quarry was not at their mercy but in the safe hands of God who was both using them for His purposes and honing them as sons for His glory.