Grace and peace... part 2

The Lord has been putting grace on my heart a bunch recently and then last night I had the privilege of leading a small group on the topic of "peace". So I figured "Hey, I'm going to write a blog post on 'grace and peace'" only to remember that I JUST wrote one a few weeks ago. Well I have more thoughts on these two loaded words.

First of all- the Lord has been putting grace on my heart a lot the last few days. Do you ever just stop and consider the significance of grace in our lives? And how without it... we wouldn't be here? "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith..." (Eph 2:8-9) The Grace of God is ridiculous. Ludicrous. It doesn't make sense. It isn't fair. We will never do anything to deserve it. And yet it saves us. Makes us whole again. Redeems us. Reconciles us.

If we take a few minutes to consider the effect of grace in our lives, I am 100% confident that we will live out the Greatest Commandments infinitely better. How so?

If someone were to make an amazing sacrifice for you (say, giving His only Son to take your place so that He might reveal His beauty and glory to the world and allow us to know Him), would you not love Him and devote your life to Him? Would you not be beside yourself with seeking ways to please Him out of love? I'm not talking about trying to repay a debt- I'm talking about loving them because their sacrifice revealed something about their character that you can't get over. Have you ever met someone and then left feeling like "WOW. That person is unbelievable." and then you can't sit still (internally) until you just tell someone/everyone about them?! Maybe it was their generosity, or their humility, or their "sweetness" or their genuineness. Multiply all of those things times 1,000,000 and you'll *begin* to approach how awesome God is.

Grace also will cause us to "love our neighbors as ourselves" much better because, the more we consider how glorious and abundant the grace of God is in our lives, the less and less we will find the sins of others to be, especially the sins against us. When we consider the glory that we are rejecting on a daily basis, we will recognize that the faint reflection that our friends are rejecting in us (when they trespass against us) doesn't even come close to comparing to our rejection of the Lord. Then grace will abound in our lives to the world around us and people will see Jesus in us and yearn for Him. Isn't THIS what we want? To point all people to the Awesome Creator?

And "peace". Matthew 5:9 says "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God." What is super-cool about this verse is that, while on the surface it looks like just a call to put out 'fires' in relationships and ensure that people around you aren't fighting, Jesus is (according to the ESV Study Bible) actually referencing the Hebrew word "Shalom", which means "total well-being both personally and communally". So when He is calling us to be "peacemakers", I believe it's also (more) along the lines of us encouraging and inspiring others into that "shalom" peace- the wholeness we can have through the redemption of Christ. And if everyone is experiencing that "shalom" with God, with themselves, and with others, there won't be any fights or 'fires' to put out!

On top of that, Paul writes that if we "present our requests before God" by "prayer and thanksgiving", the "peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard [our] hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." (Phil 4:6-7) Francis Chan writes about this in his book Forgotten God. He says that too many Christians today want 'just enough peace' to make it through the day- just enough peace to get to that deadline at work, to get through this stressful situation. But God promises that we'll have peace that "surpasses all understanding". Notice he didn't write "your understanding" or "some understanding" but "all understanding"- a peace that is so insane and extraordinary that people will look at our lives and say 'your God, He is Lord.' Is this peace being exhibited in your life? If it's not, ever stop and wonder why that is the case?

Let's live out and radiate grace and peace to the world, so that all will see that "Jesus our God is great and mighty to be praised"- 'With Everything', Hillsong United.

Truly, His glory is my reward.

Luke

Adoption

What a past few weeks it has been! Lots of lessons learned and many things that make God famous.

One of the lessons learned: eating penne covered in Alfredo sauce and then trying to work out within a few hours afterwards does not usually turn out too well. By the grace of God, the penne stayed in my stomach, but while jogging on the treadmill I felt like death. People might wonder what Ephesians 2 means when it says we were "dead in our trespasses" (2:5)... I think I experienced a literal feeling of that last night.

On a different note, I have been loving two songs lately: "I Need a Doctor" by Dr. Dre, Eminem and Skylar Grey and "Your Great Name" by Natalie Grant. Two phenomenally different songs, yes. But check out these words:

"All I know is you came to me when I was at my lowest

You picked me up, breathed new life in me. I owe my life to you...

But I can never repay you, what you did for me was way more."

Can you tell which song that comes from? It comes from Eminem rapping about Dr. Dre, but (to me, at least) it can easily be taken as us crying out to God. The Psalms have similar verses to this- "He picked me up out of the miry pit... set my feet upon a rock. He put a new song in my lips, a song of praise to our God." (Psalm 40:2-3) Do I agree with everything that Eminem says in the song? Of course not. But I love Skylar Grey's voice, I'm a big fan of Eminem and I hope that we can all see that there is some Truth in his songs. God has gifted Eminem in a way that very few others have been gifted and I pray that one day He would see the Truth and start laying tracks with more of a focus on the true King and hope he can have in Jesus.

As far as Natalie Grant's song goes, the chorus says "Jesus, worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and man You are high and lifted up, that all the world will praise Your great Name"! When I hear this song, the Lord burdens my heart for the cause of the Name of Christ and I pray that God would empower me to inspire and encourage others to revere and treasure this precious and powerful Name. Read Philippians 2:5-11 for a glimpse of what this Name really means.

I was studying Galatians 4 this morning and the Lord really stirred my heart about the concept of us being "adopted as sons (and daughters)". Check out verses 1-7:

I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

So the passage starts out by talking about being "heirs" (continuing from chapter 3, which says that if we are children of Abraham through the blessed Offspring- faith in Jesus- we are also "heirs"). In the ancient times, apparently, until you obtained your inheritance, you were "no different than a slave"- still under the instruction of "guardians and managers" until Daddy said it was time. You didn't have too much freedom to do what you wanted to- maybe even less than a slave! But the difference is that you were destined to inherit, whereas the slave was not.

We were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. Consider this word, for Paul chose it wisely: "enslaved". This doesn't just mean "commanded by" or "influenced by". It means we were OWNED by these principles, with no hope for freedom unless someone purchased our freedom from our master. Now comes the good news: But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

God's timing is perfect. This is a phrase that often gives me hope and is also full of truth- God could have sent His Son to rescue the Israelites from exile, or from the reign of any of their terrible kings, or during the '400 years of silence', but the fullness of time had not yet come. God was preparing the world to receive His Son and He sent Him at the perfect time.

Now comes the idea of adoption. I feel like many of us often look at this idea (found 5 times in the New Testament- all in Paul's letters) and just skim over it. "Adoption- that's a nice thought". Or we say a quick 'thanks' prayer to God for adoption. I believe that a main reason for this is that many of us don't really know what it means to be adopted. 'Adoption is a nice thing that some people are 'called to',' we say, but inwardly we usually think of the cost and the burdens we think it might bring.

Try asking a child who was orphaned from infancy and spent their entire youth without a family... then, at the age of 14 or 15, a very loving, caring family adopted them and brought them into their house. They received them as their own, treating them just like a biological child and loving them with the agape love of God. What do you think adoption means to that child?

I believe the child would say: "belonging", "acceptance", "hope", "love" and "joy" among other things. Guess what? This is what God does for us. We who have grown up in a family, be them very loving or not, have a tough time comprehending this idea of "adoption" because we've never had to face the realities of living without a family. But that's what we were like before Christ. Before His Spirit entered our hearts, we were enslaved to the principles of the world, without hope of a promising future. But God sent His Son to redeem us and bring us into His family to be adopted as His own. To go from a slave to the world to belonging to God is an amazing transformation that I oftentimes take for granted.

But God didn't stop there. He could have just said "adoption is enough... they're a part of the family". But He put His Spirit in our hearts that is crying "Abba! Father!" You know who else calls the Father "Abba"? Jesus Christ in Mark 14:36. Does this not blow your mind?! We are not only welcomed into His family, but we can call Him "Father". And He not only allows us to call Him by the same name Jesus calls Him (His "only begotten Son"- John 3:16), He puts His Spirit inside of us so that we are compelled to call Him by it! What love of the Father!

Take a moment today to consider this and then pray a prayer of thanks to God for His adoption and His Spirit inside of us.

"Hungry souls receive grace at the sound of Your Great Name. The fatherless they find their rest at the sound of Your Great Name." -Natalie Grant

Forgive me for taking this for granted, Father. Worthy is the Lamb.

For the sake of His Name...

Luke