Growing in Grace
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Here some oxymorons for you: diet ice-cream. Act naturally; Alone together; bittersweet; jumbo shirmp; only choice; original copy; Temporary Tax increase.
That’s kind of how you might think about growth and grace.
18 Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.
How do growth and grace fit together? Let’s look at what Grace is not and what it is...
Growth is not how many.
Growth is not how many.
Not how many times you go to church. how many meetings you go to at church, not how many minutes you spend in QT per day, not how many Christian books you read last year…
None of those are bad, but just because we involve ourselves in potentially growth activities, doesn’t mean we will grow. Too many people think that if they just go to church more, that they would automatically grow. It doesn’t work that way.
It would be like if you wanted to get into shape and joined the health club, but went over there and just watched… It doesn’t matter how much you enjoyed watching, you don’t get into shape unless you exercise. Same with growth.
Just doing things doesn’t mean we are growing.
Growth is how much.
Growth is how much.
Talking about your quality of Christian life. How much closer to God are you right now than this time last year? Its about how much more you love your family because of God’s grace… It’s about how your character is changing because of God’s work in you.
Jesus didn’t say he came to give you more things to do…He came to give you abundant life.
God’s purpose for us is to become more and more like Jesus. That requires change and growth.
There is a process of growth that God will use that will drastically change your life.
22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
1. Put off the old self.
1. Put off the old self.
Put off your life before Jesus… whatever that was. We know we have to put that off… drinking, partying… etc.
But there some things we do to try to grow that we need to put off as well.
You don’t grow by doing good.
You don’t grow by doing good.
By this I mean you don’t grow by trying to do enough good things …
It doesn’t work and Jesus gives us a great picture of why …
17 “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine is stored in new wineskins so that both are preserved.”
In that day they would pour the new wine into a leather wineskin and as the wine fermented it would expand and the wineskin would expand with it. Outside, the sun would beat down on it and the wineskin would harden, then they'd pour the wine out. If you took new wine and poured it back into that old hardened wineskin it would burst as it began to expand.
What Jesus was saying was this: Sometimes it looks like it will fit, it fits in the beginning but there's no room for growth, for expansion. Sometimes it looks like if I could just do enough good things, I'm going to grow. That will work but there's no room for genuine change in that. There's no room for becoming all that God wants me to be. I can't grow just by doing more and more good things.
You don’t grow by keeping rules.
You don’t grow by keeping rules.
Rules are not bad, but keeping them doesn’t cause you to grow.
9 Do not let all kinds of strange teachings lead you into the wrong way. Your hearts should be strengthened by God’s grace, not by obeying rules about foods, which do not help those who obey them.
It’s not obeying rules that strengthens me, it’s by God’s Grace.
There is a time for rules… like when your kids are young. But rules don’t produce growth. A 25 year old needs a little more freedom. Power doesn’t come from the rules, it comes from God’s grace.
It’s like being on a row boat in the middle of the Gulf… you are lost and going to die, but then a cruise ship pulls up beside you and they take you on the boat. They have all kinds of things for you… it’s nice. Would you go get your row boat out and go back to rowing? You would be stupid to do that, but that’s what we do spiritually. We know God in his grace has so much for us, but we go back to doing things the way we used to....
You don’t grow by trying to feel bad all the time.
You don’t grow by trying to feel bad all the time.
Some people think that if they just feel bad enough about themselves, then they will grow. You condemn yourself even though God doesn’t condemn you.
34 Who then will condemn us? Will Christ? No! For he is the one who died for us and came back to life again for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us there in heaven.
God doesn’t condemn us. He forgives and saves us.
You have to put off the old self and the way you used to handle your life…
2. Put on the New You!
2. Put on the New You!
17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
This is a promise. He says we are new people because of Christ. It’s not about a bunch of rules.
We don’t have to work for our new life
We don’t have to work for our new life
You don’t have to try harder to have a new life… as a matter of fact you cant work hard enough to get it. You are a new creation. God is the one who brings new out of old.
Jesus paid your bill.
We do have to put on this new life.
We do have to put on this new life.
You have to make the decision to put on the new life … to receive it.
You don’t put the new on over the old… you have to take the old off. You can’t wear both.
God is saying… you have this old way of living and dealing with people. Take it off and put the new on. Stop talking one way and start talking another way. Stop stealing and start working. Stop using and be filled with the HS.
God wants you to be life Jesus… How do you do that?
3. Be renewed in your mind.
3. Be renewed in your mind.
2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
Transform from one thing to another…
Transformation comes from God changing the way we think. He changes it so we can see it the way he does. He wants us to see us like he does. He wants us to look at others the way he does.
The thing si this… when you become a Christian… when you give your life to Jesus and ask him to be your savior and Lord, you become a NEW person. It happens by grace.
3 You began your life in Christ by the Spirit. Now are you trying to make it complete by your own power? That is foolish.
A renewed mind is not just determination, but determined dependance on God. You become determined to depend on God.
You will fall, but when you ask, God will pick you right up and get you going again.
Being renewed in your mind is a process. You begin to think about God in a different way....
I know people who are not believers who think, I can not give my life to Jesus… there are too many rules to follow. I’d like to be a Christian, I just can’t deal with the rules.
Neither can I. Listen. The Christian Life is not a bunch of rules. The Christian life is a life of power. Power to overcome temptations. Power to do the new desires you begin to have.
Real faith in Christ is built on God’s grace.
2 Questions people have
2 Questions people have
Why does it take so long?
Why does it take so long?
We live in a microwave world. We want to change and we want to change now. Anything worthwhile takes time. CROPS take time to grow, Growth is a process that points toward eternity. When God changes your character, it's not for a few months or years, it's for the eternal life He has for you. Because growth is a process that points toward eternity, yes, it takes some time but yes, the time is worth it.
Where do I get Started?
Where do I get Started?
It starts with trust.
It starts with trust.
Start by believing in God's ability to accomplish this growth goal in your life. The motivational power for growth isn't found within you. It's found within Him. The minute you become a follower of Jesus, he begins the process of you growing up to be the man or woman of God he wants you to be.
The motivation / desire to do what God wants and the power to do what he wants come from HIm. That should help you or relieve you of the pressure. It starts and ends with God.
Growth is not accomplished by trying hard. It’s accomplished by trusting him.
6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
God is at work in you and will continue it until he accomplishes what he wants. He is the one doing the work.
13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
He gives you the desire to grow… to change and the power to do that.
Without Jesus you don’t have a chance,