The Grace Issue by Newfrontiers USA

ISSUE 02 >>

2014

a newfrontiers usa publication

the grace issue Grace and Forgiveness! >> Tope Koleoso The Case for Grace! >> Tim Chambers Welcome Cityview Church >> York, Pennsylvania

SOUNDBITE • QUICK LOOK

GOD’S LAVISH GRACE • APPS

JOHN LANFERMAN >> Team Leader >> Newfrontiers USA

REIGNING

IN LIFE

Why do we worship God? Is God on some kind of an ego trip in commanding us to worship Him? Are there practical reasons why God desires our worship? Is it possibly necessary for us to worship Him in order to fulfill His purpose in us? I remember so clearly my sense of failure and self-loathing in my repeated failures. It seemed that no matter how hard I tried, my resolve would vanish and I would experience yet another failure. Of course these failures were inconsistent with my understanding of what it was to be a Christian. Often I thought of myself as a hypocrite, unable to resist temptation, making a resolve one minute but failing the next. My experience caused me to question my salvation. Frankly, “reigning in life” as declared in Romans 5:17 wasn’t my experience. Although I had no lack in desire or effort, each time I would resolve to do better it seemed I set myself up for another failure. My understanding of what it was to be a Christian was very law-driven. Living by rules and regulations, however, ends in failure and disappointment. When I succeeded in following the rules I still failed; it led to pride and judgment of those who didn’t follow the rules. Attempting to live by the law always ends in failure. The law actually seems to make you want to sin. It’s like telling a child not to touch something and then they immediately go and touch it.

RECOMMENDED READING

It was a most freeing day when I began to understand grace. Romans 5:17 doesn’t say that those who keep the rules will reign in life; it is those who receive an abundance of grace who reign in life. It’s about our already established position. The law is an overbearing husband who finds fault in us but is impotent to help us (Rom. 7:1-6). However, in Christ something amazing takes place; we are made to die to the law through Christ! Now that we have been joined to Jesus we can bear fruit. We are free from our marital obligation to the law through our death. We live in Christ’s righteousness now accredited to us. Even if you don’t feel very righteous you are still righteous, “…so through one act of righteousness the result is justification of life to all… so through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous” (Rom. 5:18-19). This is wonderful news: all my failures—past, present and future—have been taken care of! The more this awareness of our position in Christ breaks in upon us, the more we begin to enjoy freedom from failure and freedom to be fruitful. Bearing fruit has nothing to do with the law: it is all about being joined to Christ, having received the abundance of grace and now made able to reign in life. Terry Virgo makes this helpful statement, “the law came to rub it in; grace came to rub it out.”

a. One Way Love by Tullian Tchividijan b. Surprised by Grace: God's Relentless Pursuit of Rebels by Tullian Tchividijan

SOUNDBITE

Attempting to live by the law always ends in failure. The law actually seems to make you want to sin. It’s like telling a child not to touch something and then they immediately go and touch it.

What joy to know that we continue to be accepted by God as a result of the work of Jesus on our behalf in paying the penalty for our sins and not on the basis of our having kept the law. God’s acceptance of us is a fact, an absolute truth until the day we are presented “before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy” (Jude 24). The secret to reigning in life lies in receiving everything that Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross. “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins he sat down at the right hand of God…For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:12,14). Now that I have an understanding of my new position of righteousness being given and not earned, I no longer feel condemned. The desire to obey Jesus and the power to do so has been released to me. With joy and new mercies afforded to me daily, I rejoice! To receive the abundance of grace is to reign in life; you have the ability reign over sin. “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14). The awareness of being made righteous through Jesus results in peace, and peace results in joy. Having received an abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness, I reign in life through Jesus’ finished work on my behalf. This awareness inspires true worship, freedom, and power to overcome. Paul always found himself in worship and rejoicing when speaking about grace: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:25); “But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere” (2 Cor. 2:14). As Phillip Yancey says, “[if we truly grasped God’s grace, then] we would spend all our days trying to fathom, not exploit, God’s grace.”

Read more from John and other writers in the Link at: www.confluenceblog.org

GRACE IN TRANSITION Radiant Church >> Visalia, CA

We are grateful for our family of churches, especially in times of transition! We got to taste the blessing of apostolic leadership in our local church last fall. In September, we merged with another church in town. This wasn’t something we planned on, but God’s purposes were clear and so we adjusted accordingly. Before the merger was even on our radar we planned for Terry Virgo to visit and teach on grace for three nights in October. John and Linda Lanferman came out for this visit along with other friends from our Newfrontiers family. It was perfect timing to have family join us in the transition. However, our plans were detoured when, 5 hours before Terry was to teach, we discovered he was dropped off at the wrong terminal and missed his flight. John Lanferman encouraged us to find a way where there was no way! We sent a pilot from our church to get Terry and he arrived just as worship was concluding and it was time to teach. He taught with no notes (lost luggage) and our church was blessed by those foundational teachings on grace. Also that week, while unaware of our transition, Sam Poe prophesied that God was establishing a beachhead for mission in our church and moving us into something fresh and new. Many also received powerful prophetic encouragement for their own lives that week. Radiant Church and our leaders are still experiencing the effects of the encouraging grace shared with us in October!

TOPE KOLEOSO >> Jubilee Church >> London, England

GRACE AND

FORGIVENESS It was Terry Virgo who introduced me to the doctrine of grace. At first I found the message of grace offensive, then later refreshing, and eventually amazing. From the moment I began to truly understand it, I have become completely preoccupied by it. If I have learned anything, it is this: God’s grace is inexhaustible. The grace of God is multifaceted. From salvation to sanctification and eventually glorification, the grace of God saves, sustains, and helps us change. It is therefore critical for the Christian to be aware of anything that can obstruct the flow of grace in our lives. Many sins can stifle our ability to apprehend grace, but perhaps the sin of unforgiveness is the most common and most damaging.

But later, the same servant found a fellow servant who owed him 100 denarii, estimated to be about 100 days’ wages. He seized him and began to choke him, saying, “Pay what you owe.” The fellow servant pleaded with him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you,” but he refused and put him in prison. The king was informed and had the wicked servant imprisoned until he could pay back what he owed.

Forgiveness in the Bible

Evidences of Unforgiveness

In Matthew 18, Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive an offending brother. Peter then suggested seven times, exceeding the common understanding of forgiving three times (see Amos). But Jesus said to him, “not seven times, but seventy times seven times”, meaning without ceasing. As a Christian who has been forgiven much, I am called to keep on forgiving continuously, unrelentingly and completely. Jesus told the parable of the unforgiving servant. A king settling his accounts found one of his servants owed him 10,000 talents. Estimates vary as to what this is in today’s money. Some say $6 billion or 200,000 years’ wages; either way, it was an unfathomable amount that could not possibly be paid back. The king ordered for the servant and his family and possessions to be sold in payment, but the servant pleaded with the king, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything”. The king forgave him, cancelled his debt, and the servant was released without punishment. This is the Gospel: the Bible rightly paints us as debtors who can never pay, but Jesus paid the price for our sin and we have been forgiven and set free.

Evidence of unforgiveness includes holding grudges against the offender until they make things right. Unforgiveness seeks judgement or retaliation, not letting things go, but continually digging them up. It involves interpreting every action of the offender in the light of the past hurt. It can present itself in mild irritation, frustration or full-blown condemnation. As a child of God who has been forgiven much – $6 billion or 200,000 years’ wages! –, God expects you to forgive. As Phillip Yancey states, “Forgiveness is an unnatural act.” However, God gives us the power to forgive. So if you will not forgive, it is not because you cannot, but because you have chosen not to.

The Consequences of Unforgiveness There are consequences for unforgiveness: Unforgiveness locks people up. The servant had his fellow servant physically thrown in prison. Spiritually, when we don’t forgive, we lock our offenders in a box and never see them as anything better than their offence, no matter what good they might subsequently do.

T rig can p

This is the Gospel: the Bible ghtly paints us as debtors who n never pay, but Jesus paid the price for our sin and we have been forgiven and set free.

QUICK LOOK

An Identity of Grace Chapter 8 in TERRY VIRGO’S God’s Lavish Grace

summarized by James Priest Lifehouse Church >> Nashville, TN Unforgiveness locks you in. The wicked servant was imprisoned. The word wicked connotes the idea of sticks that have been soaked in water and taken on a new and twisted shape that becomes permanent when they have dried out. Unforgiveness locks things up inside you and makes you become someone other than who you really are. Hurts can shape anyone, but a child of God must resist this by remembering you were freely forgiven and therefore should freely forgive. Do you love God more than the things you’re holding onto? Unforgiveness blocks grace out. Like a rock in a pipe, unforgiveness lodges on the inside and restricts the flow of grace in your life. The person who will not forgive in effect says to God, “I want to hold onto unforgiveness more than I need your grace for forgiveness”. In the end, the wicked servant was required to pay back everything he owed. Christian, by grace you have been taken out from under condemnation. Would you now go back under it?

Amazing Grace God has not dealt with us according to our sin, but according to His grace that is unending, unfailing, unlimited, unmerited and continuously flowing into your life. Let us therefore be kind to one another, forgiving one another as God forgave us (Ephesians 4:32).

God has total assurance in His identity: “I am what I am” (Exodus 3:14). He offers us this same assurance in our new identity in Christ. We see evidence of this confidence in Paul’s statement to the Corinthian church, which questioned his identity and ability as an apostle of Christ. Paul, once a vicious opponent of Christ, replied to them: “By the grace of God, I am what I am” (1 Cor. 15:10). Whatever we once were before we believed in Christ, whatever charges anyone else brings against us, God now sees us as His beloved children. If we can trust in God for all things, surely we can trust in how He assesses us. The more we believe in our new identity, the more we can leave our old selves behind. God’s perfect grace does not come to us in vain, but we risk squandering it by frustrating His purposes in us and for us. We can refuse our new identity by comparing ourselves to others. We can fall into thinking that this forgiveness means we can do whatever we like, or trying to earn God’s favor by following rules. We can stray into false or pointless teachings instead of devoting our zeal to God and His church. We can shrink back from the good works for which God has called and qualified us. All of these attitudes squander God’s grace. In all we do, grace works and partners with us to accomplish God’s work in and through us. By grace, we can find contentment in any circumstance, for though we may feel insufficient or seem to have insufficient means, God is our sufficiency by grace. Grace teaches us to lose confidence in our flesh and to gain confidence in God. This work happens not merely by believing in this teaching, but by opening ourselves to experiencing grace daily. By God’s grace, you are what you are. Rejoice!

TIM CHAMBERS >> Christ’s Church of Joplin >> Joplin, MO

THE CASE FOR

GRACE

Grace is a very good deal! I think our amazement at the kindness of God and our wonder at what Jesus has done for us will still be growing in a thousand years. Allow me to give some reasons why living in the grace of God is better than any other life. You could never be right with God through your own effort because He is perfect and you have failed miserably. You can’t even live up to your own expectations. However, you can be right with God forever by believing that Jesus lived and died to pay your debt, to cleanse you, and to restore you to your Father. You are justified by grace through faith in Jesus. You cannot be justified any other way. By grace we who were the appropriate objects of God’s wrath are now in His favor. He is delighted with His Son, in whom we are now hidden. By grace we are born into God’s family. We are adopted as brothers and sisters of Jesus. God loves His kids and gives them presents. Grace transforms us now. Through the grace that is in Jesus, we receive new hearts, new desires, a new identity, and a new family. We also receive a new Spirit. The Holy Spirit deserves His own point. He is a gift we could never have earned, a gift that keeps on giving.

He lives in our bodies and in the community. He refreshes us like water and empowers us like wind. The Holy Spirit makes us holy people. Grace is truth and power for living. Since the first century there have been Christians who, once justified by grace, have tried to please God by rule keeping. This never works. Rules are good for showing you your faults, but they are worthless when it comes to restraining ungodly desires. Grace gives us reasons and strength to say no to sin. Grace replaces lists of laws with the rule of Christ and the law of love. Instead of following the perfect set of rules, we are now following the perfect person. Grace syncs with faith. Living in grace means trusting someone other than oneself – not just for heaven at the end, but also for daily provision. Whatever wisdom or strength you need will be freely supplied. What a relief! We’re halfway through the list. Let’s pause… So a man living under law and a man living by grace walked into a bar. No, wait. Maybe one of them didn’t. Now, back to our topic...