Grace for the Race

Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers in this world to abstain from the sensual urges that wage war against the soul. (1 Peter 2:11)

I don’t know about you, but when I hear the word “alien,” I think of the movie E.T. along with images of small, green, extraterrestrial creatures with antennae’s coming out of their oversized heads. Back in 1989, theologians Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon authored the book, Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony – discussing the nature of the church and its relationship to the surrounding culture. Confirming what the Bible teaches, the authors make the point that as followers of Jesus, we live as “Resident Aliens” in this world.

As followers of Jesus, we are still living in this world, but we are no longer of this world. We have been transferred from one dominion to another. We become “Resident Aliens” in the surrounding culture in which we live. At times we can feel disoriented and displaced while still living in the same place we have lived for years. This is because we are no longer what we once were. We are new creatures in Christ living for a new Master who has given us our marching orders that will, more often than not, have us marching in the opposite direction from the culture in which we live.

In Christ, we have been set free from the bondage to sin, Satan, and death, but we are not yet home. We are living in a land that is not yet ours. We are “aliens and strangers” as the apostle Peter puts it. Now, one day this land will be ours. When Jesus returns, He will establish the New Heavens and the New Earth where we will rule and reign with Him for ever and ever. But until then, we must remember this place is not our home. Yet, as Christians, we are to make an eternal difference in this world by being eternally different from this world. We are to seek both the peace and prosperity of the culture as we cultivate it for the glory of God.

Remember, God so loved the world – not the evil systems of the world – but the beautiful world He created very good. We are to love the world by holding in tension the inherent goodness of the world God created and the corruption Adam and Eve brought into it through their sinful rebellion. We must live as citizens of two kingdoms. When we are living for the glory of the Kingdom of God we will be living for the good of the kingdom of man. May this be the confession of our lives as “Resident Aliens!”

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

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee would bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

Far too many have removed Jesus from the throne of their lives. Yes, they love Jesus. Yes, they proclaim the name of Jesus. Yes, they serve Jesus. Yes, they pray to Jesus. But they see Jesus more as their colleague – someone who is on equal footing as they live out their faith. They feel they can critique and even criticize some of the demands Jesus makes for those who are His.

Let’s make one thing perfectly clear: Jesus is not our colleague. He is our Christ – the Anointed One who is the Ancient of Days, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End of all things. Perhaps you have seen the bumper sticker – Jesus is my co-pilot. Jesus is not our co-anything. He is Christ the Lord and we must relate to Him as the Lord over every aspect of our lives, even those aspects that are not currently measuring up to our current aspirations. You know you see Jesus more as a colleague when you confine Him to areas of your life, and not the entire whole of life.

When we have surrendered our lives to Jesus and given Him rule and reign over every area, Jesus is our Christ, not our colleague. This is where Jesus belongs, on the throne of our lives, as we surrender everything we are and everything we have to Him. We give Jesus our time, our talent, and our treasure. We give Him our dreams and our desires. We give Him our goals and our glories. As it as once been said, “Unless Jesus is Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.” So, have you brought every area of your life under the sovereign rule and reign of Jesus?  

Remember, Jesus will tolerate no rival. There is only room for one to sit upon the throne of your life and His name is Jesus the Christ, not Jesus the colleague. One final point – when the issue of “Lordship” is settled in our lives, every other issue is settled too because we give Jesus the last word regarding everything.  

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

Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” (Luke 6:20)

As Jesus continued teaching and ministering, the crowds continued gathering and growing from all over Judea, Jerusalem, the coast of Tyre and Sidon. The people had been waiting for the promised Messiah to free them from Roman rule and reestablish them as a nation, and now standing in their midst was Jesus. His healing touch and His hopeful teaching gave them cause to believe everything was now about to change for them. And change it did, but not in the way the people were hoping or expecting.

The blessings Jesus promises in today’s passage from the pen of the good doctor Luke (6:20-23), also known as “Beatitudes,” are promised in their current condition, right then and right now. He told them if they were currently poor, currently hungry, currently mourning, currently excluded, currently reviled, and currently rejected, they were blessed beyond measure. And the reason for their current blessed condition that to the natural man would seem more like a curse than a blessing? Because of the Son of Man.

This is the lot of the Lord’s people. When we are followers of Jesus, often we will be forsaken by the world. It comes down to the difference between the values in the Kingdom of God and the values in the kingdom of man. On this side of the grave, the greatest blessing for the followers of Christ is Christ Himself. As His disciples, He suffered and so will those who are committed to following Him wherever He leads. In the words of the apostle Paul, “It has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him” (Philippians 1:29).

Regardless of where this finds you today, because you are a follower of Jesus, you are blessed beyond measure in your current condition. Here is a truth that needs to be fixed in the heart – Jesus plus nothing equals EVERYTHING. And when you breathe your last, you will be received into glory where it is said, “Great is your reward in heaven.”

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

It is finished. (John 19:30)

Looking back a little over 2,000 years ago on Calvary’s Hill, the only people who would be thinking there was any “good” that Friday, would have been the enemies of Jesus. To be sure, the followers of Jesus would not have imagined anything good could come from what they had witnessed that day:

• Jesus was falsely accused
• Jesus was beaten and spit on
• Jesus was sentenced to death
• Jesus was scourged
• Jesus was given a crown of thorns
• Jesus was nailed to a cross
• Jesus was mocked and ridiculed while dying
• Jesus was dead before sundown

But three days later, on that first Easter morning, when Jesus walked out of the grave alive and well, the followers of Jesus, all those who loved Him, began to understand what God was doing on Friday, and it was indeed GOOD beyond measure. God sent His Son to die on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin. And God put His stamp of approval upon His Son on that third day when He raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus walked out of that grave alive and well. The question is this:

Has Jesus walked into your heart, making you alive and well?

If yes, then today is a great day of celebration, for it is indeed GOOD FRIDAY. If no, then why not simply surrender your life to Jesus right now. Admit your sin and the fact that you simply cannot save yourself, no matter how hard you try. Cry out to Jesus for salvation. He has promised to save all those who call upon His name, for there is “no other name under heaven given to man by which we must be saved” (Acts 4;12).

Remember, the GOOD in GOOD FRIDAY has a name and it is JESUS CHRIST. Call on Him and know these twin truths: Jesus will never leave nor forsake you . . .  and . . .  the good work he has begun in you, He has promised to bring to completion. Let those truths set you free.

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

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Between yesterday’s deliverance and tomorrow’s dreams, we will be confronted by the unpredictable and inevitable storms of life. Jesus has promised us storms as the Lord of the storm. Now, these storms come in many different forms: disappointment and defeat; poverty and pain; sickness and sorrow; alienation and accusation. And more often than not, they come when we least expect them. But they come not to cause us to doubt God’s love, but to drive us into His presence to experience the depth of His love.

Storms are His servant’s sent to teach us how to surrender more and more of our lives to His control. Many people have a hard time seeing God as loving if He is the One sending storms. But it is because God is Love that He sends storms as His servants in the life-long process of our sanctification – growing in Christ-likeness. God sent a storm to retrieve His rebellious and run-away prophet Jonah. God sent a storm on the Sea of Galilee with all the disciples in a boat in order to see the omnipotent power of Jesus to calm it right before their eyes. The storms God sends are not designed to disrupt your life. But rather, they are designed to deliver you from the disruptions in your life distracting you from God.

So, what storm has God sent into your life today? Remember, your past is littered with one deliverance after another and your future is filled with dreams and desires. In the “in-between” you will face many storms that you think has been sent to break you, but when God brings you through the other side, you will know it was sent to make you. Here is something I once read that has stuck with me –

I asked God, “Why are you taking me through troubles waters?”

God replied, “It’s because the enemies chasing you can’t swim.”

May that truth set all of us free to find the Lord of the storm in every storm we face knowing God has promised to get us safely to our divine destination.

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

Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? (Job 1:10)

When Satan came to God asking permission to tempt His servant Job, Satan speaks about a hedge God has put around him. Satan knew God had a special hedge of protection around His servant Job, and in order to be able to do anything to Job, God would have to allow him access inside of His “HOLY HEDGE.” Make no mistake, we serve a God of hedges.

God is in the business of protecting His children. He installs hedges of protection – spiritual walls, fences, or partitions – around us to protect us. But we must learn a biblical truth from the story of Job. Sometimes, God allows Satan to gain access inside of the hedge He has put around us in order to grow and mature us in our faith. In His infinite wisdom, God allows Satan to tempt us, and just like in the story of Job, we often do not know the exact reason why. But what we do know is this – God is using all things for our ultimate good and His glory. When God allowed Satan inside the hedge around Job, Satan was allowed to take everything from Job except his life. And in the end, Job never lost his integrity and commitment to God.

You see, as children of God, we are eternally protected. Satan can do nothing to keep us out of heaven. But God does allow him to tempt and test us. What we need to remember is we have a “HOLY HEDGE” in Jesus. He is our refuge and our fortress and has promised to keep us from eternal harm. Whatever storm wind God allows to blow in our lives is to strengthen us in our faith and conform us more into the image of Jesus.

Remember, when you face trials of any kind, if God does not remove you from the trial, He is refining you in the trial. Look to Jesus and trust Him no matter what it is you are facing, knowing you are never facing it alone. You not only have a hedge of protection, Jesus is that “HOLY HEDGE” for you.  

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

If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. (John 4:10)

Today’s passage comes from a divine appointment Jesus had at the well of Jacob with a Samaritan woman. This woman had absolutely no idea who Jesus was. The furthest thing from her mind was that Jesus was the promised “GIFT OF GOD!” Yet, there Jesus was, in a place respectable Jewish men would never be in. This was Samaria, the place of the hated and despised half-breed Samaritans, and Jesus was speaking, no less, to a woman.

Now this woman was a shunned outcast even in her society. She came out to draw water at high noon, the apex of the heat of the day, when no one would be at the well. Jesus identifies her as having five previous husbands and currently living with a man who was not her husband. He knew everything about her and by the end of the conversation, she understood that Jesus was indeed the promised “GIFT OF GOD.” We know this truth because of her report when she ran back into town shouting, “He told me everything I ever did.”

This woman was transformed by the love of Jesus. Here is a powerful example of one of the deepest gospel truths – we are fully known and completely loved. Think about it. Jesus knows everything you ever did and He is still for you, with you, and in you. Now I know this is hard for us to understand because so often love comes with conditions in this life. But not with Jesus. His love is unwavering even when we are wavering. That’s the beauty and the blessing of understanding Jesus as the “GIFT OF GOD!”  

So, how are you experiencing the love of God in Christ Jesus today? Do you believe Jesus loves you with no strings attached? Remember, Jesus is the “GIFT OF GOD” and a gift is something that is freely given. You have been rescued from your rebellion not because of anything you have ever done or ever will do. But simply because Jesus loves you. Not that’s the “GIFT” that keeps on giving.

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

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!