Grace for the Race

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. (John 15:16)

All throughout the Scriptures we see that salvation is of the Lord. We are saved by grace, through faith, and not because of anything we are or anything we do. Yet, after we are saved, we are then responsible to report for duty and the duty is to bear fruit, not behave like nuts.

When Jesus raises us from death to life, He renews the mind, recalibrates the heart, and realigns the will. In other words, the same grace that saves us is the same grace that sanctifies us – empowering us to live a life that is pleasing and acceptable to the One who has so graciously saved us. Now, when we see our salvation more as a religion than a relationship, we can become a little nutty. When I say ‘religion,’ I am speaking about the empty rituals and ceremonies that come from the imagination of man, not the revelation of God. It is the kind of life many of religious leaders were living at the time of Jesus, that so angered and disappointed Him. They kept God at a distance, because their religion replaced their relationship with God. And that, beloved is nuts.

To bear fruit is to be in a surrendered and submitted relationship with Jesus, living for His glory and for the good of others. As we engage in expanding the cause of the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, we are bearing the eternal fruit we were saved for. Remember, our verse today comes from Jesus as He was teaching about the Vine (Jesus), and the branches (us). Now that paints a pretty picture of a real and right relationship with our Lord. We are connected to Jesus. We are committed to Jesus. We are controlled by Jesus. As we remain in Him, we soak up His life-giving supernatural sap that causes us to bear fruit that will last.

So, how could you describe your current walk with Christ? More fruity or more nutty? Inasmuch as we all have a combination of both in our lives, we will be far more fruity when we fix our focus on Jesus regardless of the circumstances we face in life.   

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. (John 8:7)

The religious leaders brought to Jesus a woman caught in the act of adultery. Notice, they caught her in the act. Where was the man and why did they not bring him too? This gives us an indication as to their intent, as the text tells us they were trying to trap Jesus, “in order to have a basis for accusing him” (John 8:6).

Now the Law commanded the penalty for adultery was to be stoned to death. So, what does Jesus do? He stoops to write something on the ground, not once, but twice, during this encounter. The text never tells us what Jesus wrote. And this is the only place in Scripture where we see Jesus writing anything. But it just might be that Jesus wrote on the ground the names of those holding the stones and their hidden sins, known only to our all-seeing, all-knowing God.

After Jesus makes His stone-throwing statement and writes on the ground with his finger, “those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there” (John 8:9). With the older ones dropping their stones and leaving first, it seems to suggest the wisdom of their age helped them understand the message of Jesus. They realized Jesus could have exposed the depths of the depravity in each of their hearts.

Question: Was there anyone without sin in that group? Yes, of course. It was Jesus. Only Jesus had the right to pass ultimate judgment. We all are sinners and in need of a Savior moment by moment. We need to leave judgment to the One who judges justly. When we keep judging others, we grieve the Holy Spirit and give the devil a foothold in our lives. We all need to stop slinging stones – gossip, slander, judgment, anger, etc. – in our minds, in our words, and in our behavior. Remember, the greater our devotion to Jesus, the better we become at dropping our stones.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

 If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:36)

By nature, today’s passage of Scripture is one of the hardest to take hold of and appropriate to our hearts. At least it is for me and my heart. To be sure, I am not as free as God intends me to be in the gospel freedom He has died to give to His children.

Often, I let the devil accuse me in spite of the fact that I know there is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus. I have a tendency to think the more obedient I am the more God will love me, forgetting the fact that I am already completely loved in Christ no matter what I think, do, or say. That old sin nature that is still alive and well deep inside is busily engaged in trying to keep us all in bondage. And often the tactic is to use the deceitful promises of sin that for a moment, can deliver on their promises, but eventually leave us empty and wanting.

Only when we receive the truth of the gospel freedom we have in Jesus will respond by faith to the emancipation we have been given. This emancipation has two sides – because of our spiritual union with Jesus – we are freed from the penalty, the power, and the pleasures of sin – and we are freed to walk in the newness of life we have been given. Because we are new creatures in Christ, we are set free from the bondage and burden of sin and freed to the beauty and bounty of new life in Christ.

May that dual truth set us all free indeed to live the life Jesus has set us free to live, by grace through faith for the glory of God and the good of others.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Be still, and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)

There is one phrase I heard more than any other during my early elementary school days and that was, “SIT STILL TOMMY!” I had a difficult time staying in my seat and when I was in my seat, much of the time I was fidgeting. So, when I first encountered today’s verse, I just assumed God was telling me to ‘SIT STILL’ not ‘BE STILL’ and there is a world of gospel difference between the two.

I understand now how I would drive my teachers a bit crazy because I was in constant motion throughout the school day. I was a distraction to them and to the other students from time to time. But this is not true in my relationship with God. I am never a distraction in God’s cosmic classroom. I never frustrate God and He never grows impatient with me, no matter how much my fidgeting interferes with my focus. But because I am His, and you see how distracted I can become on the inside, you remind me to ‘BE STILL.’

God is reminding the psalmist then and us today to rest in our redemption no matter what is going on around us. This is a call to trust in God even when we cannot trace Him. To know God is in complete control of everything that is going on in every aspect of our lives is “to know that I am God.” Because our God is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, we can surrender to His plan and purpose for our lives because He knows exactly what He is doing all the time, even when we cannot understand any of it.

Even today, I still have trouble “sitting still.” But I am growing in my ability to ‘BE STILL’ no matter what is going on in life. Knowing that there is indeed a God and I am not Him has been the key to being still even when I am not sitting still. Can I get a witness?

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. (Romans 9:15)

God has given to us an incredible privilege as we are called into full-time ministry of expanding the cause of His Kingdom in this world . . . regardless of our occupation. And our work is clear. We are responsible to sow His seeds of gospel truth and leave the results up to God. We must become indifferent to the outcomes so as not to be overwhelmed by them. The parable of the Sower tells us that some do and some don’t; some will and some won’t.

You might remember, when Jesus preached to the rich young ruler, whom He loved, He accepted His rejection as simply a fact of life. This is an important lesson we all must learn by way of personal experience. We cannot look at our sowing from a success-oriented cultural perspective. We are simply responsible to sow the seed, not grow the seed. We are to share the truths of the gospel and leave the results up to God.

So, how are you doing in all the areas of life that God has called you to? Are you sowing seeds of gospel truth? Remember, there are always two aspects of sowing. We are to sow seeds of gospel truth to those who know not the Christ, and we are to sow seeds of gospel truth to those who are in Christ. Yet, both results of growth are in the hands of the Almighty. We simply cannot let results affect us in any way. Paul said, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. (Jonah 2:2)

We have a tendency to see the story of Jonah more about a rebellious prophet than a redeeming God – more about a huge fish than a holy and faithful God. God called Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach repentance. Jonah said ‘No’ and headed in the opposite direction. He found a ship and tried to sail away from the Lord. While asleep in the boat, God pursued His rebellious prophet on the run and sent a storm that threatened to sink the vessel.

Now many see the storm as simply a punishment from God to His disobedient prophet. Yet, rather than seeing the storm as punishment, we are to see it as God pursuing His run-away prophet. God is interrupting Jonah’s flight away from Him with the grace of gale-force winds. This is God’s pattern. Throughout Scripture we see God’s people on the run away from Him followed by His hot pursuit of them by any means necessary. God is simply in the business of pursuing rebels on the run and that includes you and me.

When the sailors on the ship woke Jonah and questioned him, Jonah told them he was the reason for the storm. God sent it in response to His rebellion. He instructed them to simply throw him into the sea and the storm would subside. Instead of following his instruction, they decided to row harder back to shore to no avail, “for the sea grew even wilder than before” (Jonah 1:13). As strange as the solution sounded, it was God’s solution to the storm. So, when they finally threw Jonah overboard, the sea instantly grew calm.

Often God’s solution to the storms in our lives seems strange. But when we look back, we can see how often our attempt to row to safety was simply more rebellion. Only when we submit and surrender to the storms God sends, do we find ourselves rising above the winds and the waves as God works His grace in our lives.

So, regardless of the storm you might be facing today, receive it as God’s sent messenger of sanctification in your life. He is conforming you to the image of Jesus. Stop rowing and get going in the direction He is calling so God will not need to send a big fish to strengthen your faith.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

He shows no partiality to princes and does not favor the rich over the poor. (Job 34:19)

If you have ever been picked last to be on a team (and I have), then you know what it is like to be on the short end of the sports stick. My middle school years were difficult for me just trying to fit in and figure out what it meant to be in the middle of elementary and high school. Then add to that, the middle school P.E. experience. The top athletes would be chosen as captains and they would pick their teams for the particular sport we were playing at the time. Oh what an experience it is to see the line dwindle down as each name is called, and you are the last one standing there.

Well, I have good news for you today. God does not play favorites. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. In God’s economy we are all equal. God does not prefer the prince over the pauper. He loves and looks after each and every one of us equally. From the Good Lord’s perspective, there is no such thing as the wrong side of the tracks. Why? Because God is on both sides of them. God loves you so much He sent His Son to die in your place to have a relationship with you. Now, God does not need any of us. But He wants us. How cool is that truth. We are not needed, but we are wanted.

Regardless of where this finds you today, God is quite fond of you. You are the apple of His eye and the object of His Almighty affection. He loves you unconditionally and has loved you from eternity past. There never was a time when God did not love you – AND – there will never be a time when He stops loving you. He will not love you less when you mess things up. And He will not love you more when you get it right. He simply loves you. He wanted me to remind you of that today.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. (Jeremiah 29:12)

Did you know there is a failproof and a foolproof method for curing knocking knees? It’s kneeling on them and lifting your voice up to heaven. Regardless of what is causing your knees to knock, whether it is personal, professional, or relational, getting on them in prayerful communion with God is the way to receive that peace that passes all human understanding.

Jesus opened the way for us to come into God’s presence 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Now, it’s not like we are coming to God with something He does not already know. God knows your name, the number of hairs on your head, and everything about every circumstance in your life. In fact, it is God who has ordained all things in your life for His glory and your ultimate good. He obviously knows the answer to every question and the solution to every problem before we bring any of it to Him. But God delights in us when we come into His presence to share with Him what is going on in our lives.

Now the Bible commands us to pray and prayer is to be the bedrock of the believer’s life. But beyond the command, is God’s cosmic care for us. Like any Father, God loves when we come to Him for any reason at any time. And not just when things are hard. God loves to hear from us when things are going well. God simply wants to be in constant communion with us throughout our day.

So, regardless of what is causing your knees to knock, bring it to God. Come into His presence and sit awhile and tell Him what is on your heart. He not only cares for you, He is working everything in your life for your ultimate good. The more you pray, the more you practice the presence of God and that is the best practice in the world to keep your knees from knocking.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Walk by faith, not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

In the world we live in, it is much easier to live by sight rather than by faith. The sights and sounds of the world we live in capture our attention and control our affections. We end up living for the here and now, rather than the there and then. But God wants us to live according to His promises even though we cannot see them, which empowers us to live in the now with a view to the then.

It was Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” Because God is sovereign and in complete control of everything, we can simply look to Him and trust in where He is leading us. We don’t need to know the twists and turns in the path He has put us on. All we need to know is the One who is leading us every step of the way. When Paul tells us to walk by faith and not by sight, he is telling us to build our lives on the things that have eternal value and to live in light of eternity.

Every child of God can use an occasional faith-lift. We need to be reminded of God’s plan and purpose for our lives and resist our natural inclinations to follow our own plan and purpose. A faith-lift is shifting our trust away from ourselves and putting it on our Savior. A faith-lift is leaning not on our own understanding, but putting all our weight on our Lord and following wherever He is leading.

Remember, a faith-lift is rising above feelings that can be so fickle. We feel one way in this moment, and another way in the next. It is rising above the circumstances of life and fixing our focus squarely on Christ. This requires a recommitment to surrender and a refusal to live in self-reliance. Cling to Christ and allow God’s power to renew your mind, recalibrate your heart, and realign your will. This is the kind of faith-lift we all could use.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. (Hebrews 8:12)

Because we know that God knows everything, everywhere, and at all times, what in the world does it mean He will remember our sins no more? Does God really forget our sins? Not exactly. God does know everything, everywhere, and at all times. But He chooses to leave our sins, all our sins, nailed to the cross. God simply refuses to bring up our past sins no matter what we do.

Listen, the memory of past mistakes, shortcomings, and sins can cause us to live in the past rather than learn from the past. Yet, God wants us to treat the past like a school. We are to learn the lesson, but not live there. It is Satan that whispers in our ears – remember what you did back then – how could you do that again – perhaps you are not even a child of God – all the while trying to shift our focus away from our Savior and put in on ourselves.

As a pastor, I often have people tell me in our coaching sessions, “I just can’t forgive myself.” That is one of Stan’s sharpest darts aimed at the heart of the believer. Do you see just how man-centered that statement is? It’s not about forgiving yourself. It’s about appropriating God’s promised forgiveness that has been secured by Jesus in His crucifixion and resurrection. When we sin and repent of our sin, that is the end of it. When we are in a saving relationship with Jesus, all of our sins are forgiven, past, present, and the ones still to come. What we need to do is have a good forgettery – and not let our past sins keep us in bondage to our sinful past.

So, how well is your forgettery working? Are you letting your past sins and failures drag you down into the mudflats of life? Look to the cross and rise above Satan’s strategy to keep you remembering your sins. Remember, God has chosen to forget them, all of them. This is to be the confession of our lives.

This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!