Grace? Law? (Beth Moore Simulcast 2013)

“The Word we study has to be the Word we pray. My personal experience of the relentless tenderness of God came not from exegetes, theologians, and spiritual writers, but from sitting still in the presence of the living Word and beseeching Him to help me understand with my head and heart His written Word. Sheer scholarship alone cannot reveal to us the gospel of grace. We must never allow the authority of books, institutions, or leaders to replace the authority of *knowing* Jesus Christ personally and directly. When the religious views of others interpose between us and the primary experience of Jesus as the Christ, we become unconvicted and unpersuasive travel agents handing out brochures to places we have never visited.”
― Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

Grace… it is all grace.  We say it often, but do we really understand what living under grace means?  This is what Beth Moore’s simulcast was about.  Do we really live under Grace or do we live under the law?  Which should we desire to live under? She declared that we should say “No longer”…  no longer to being a slave to the law, but free under Grace!

She took us to Romans 6:14.  For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. 

She reminded us that we are called to stand in Grace. 

 Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. 

We looked at the big definition on Grace- charis (particularly that which causes, joy, pleasure,  favor, acceptance, for a kindness granted, a benefit,  the absolutely free expression of the loving kindness of God, unearned merit, changes the individual without destroying individuality.     She noted that some times we wrongly thing that grace is just a new testament concept.  Favor is the old testament  word used for Grace. Favor is used over 100 times in the Old Testament.

1.       Somethings in our lives need  to hear a loud “no longer”.    Bitterness?  No longer!  Fear?  No longer?  Jealousy?  No longer.   Anxiety?  No longer. 

She said it is her belief that too many Christians have spiritual paralysis but we are called to have no other masters except God.  

 

2.       The power to live out a lasting “no longer” can’t be found under the law.    (Remember, we are not under the law but under grace.

She said we know the doctrine more than we live it.   We need to learn to live under grace.

 

Next she gave us a pop quiz and asked us some questions that we were to answer as true or false.

1.      I don’t feel that I am in God’s good graces even after I repent.

2.      I often ask for God’s forgiveness more than once for the same sin.

3.      When I sin and repent, I still feel I must complete a penance (an act done to make up my sin to God).

4.      I think God loves me in spite of myself.

5.      I have anxiety in my life.

6.      I often feel self condemnation.

7.      It is easier for me to say that God loves you than to say God loves me.

8.      I must bear up with people no matter how they treat me.

9.      I feel guilty over the good things in my life.

10.  I feel that is I have a choice between the hard route and an easier route, God’s will for me is to choose the hard route.

11.  I know God loves me but I think he is often disappointed in me.

 

I hope it is obvious that the goal is to have all  “False”as our answers.

 Do you know God can Not be disappointed in you?   The word "disappoint" or "disappointed" is only found in scripture (God's WORD) a handful of times, in some translations not at all or only ONCE. And where it IS found in scripture, the word is not referring to God's disappointment. For example:  "And this hope will never disappoint us..." Romans 5:5   God is NOT disappointed in us.

disappointed:  (of a person) sad or displeased because someone or something has failed to fulfill one's hopes or expectations.

It is IMPOSSIBLE for God to be disappointed! We can never fail to fulfill His expectations of us because He already KNOWS who we are, what we are, what we will or will not do...better than we know these things ourselves!

"You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely." Psalm 139:1-4

She said that obedience is vital. Grace isn’t a license to sin, but the ability to get back up again when we do.

The law leads to shame, but Grace helps us to focus on His name and the salvation He gives through it. We should be boasting in Christ. (Look what He did for me!). (Romans 3: 22-31)

Grace isn’t permission to sin, but the power to grow in Christ.    She said we must remember that our old self is crucified (Romans 6:6).  She said we have to stop trying to resuscitate our old dead selves. 

She had us look at Luke 15 (the prodigal son).  When you sin or mess up, do you flee from God or to Him? Do you avoid His word or Bible study because you feel unworthy?  Guess  what? We were NEVER worthy!  That is Grace!  Christ is worthy enough for all of us! 

Galatians 4:4-7    But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.^{[a] 6} Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba,^[b] Father.” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

 

Live  as  you dwell upon that you are a new creation and Grace abounds over you.  Trade your “no longer worthy” for   “ I ‘m no longer the same.”      She said,   “I don’t care what you have done or where you have been, you can’t get Jesus dirty.”    God wants us!  The prodigal son parable demonstrates that so well.

Her last point was “We will see the face of Grace (Christ) and need grace to bear the beauty.”  

When we dwell upon our unworthiness, but He choose you any way. .. When you dwell upon the great gift of salvation and Grace given to you, out of an overwhelmed heart ..full of gratitude… You will obey and give grace to those around you, without feeling the burden of the law.

Lots to digest… J