Strong in the Grace: By Tim Kernan

Acts 20:32 “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

I remember as a young disciple working the night shift as a security guard reading “What’s so amazing about grace?” by Phillip Yancy. I had not fully understood the principle God’s of grace yet and that book totally blew me away! This is the meaning of the word grace: overflow, extra, bountiful. God is full of grace and mercy but also in all things. He didn’t make one star; He made billions of stars. He didn’t make one type of food; he made millions of flavours in incredible abundance. He didn’t make one kind of flower; he made thousands of species. God is graceful in power, in wisdom, in detail, in creation, in glory, in mercy and in all ways! A good book can really open your eyes to a great principle!

A couple of months later I attended the “Pass the Torch” conference in Toronto with thousands of Canadian disciples. I remember seeing a hundred singers singing with all their hearts to a crowd of thousands by torch light in a massive darkened room at the Canadian conference centre. I remember being struck at how the unlimited power of the grace of God had saved all these souls. It didn’t just “save” them, it also brought them together in perfect harmony and joy. That was the night I got truly “got” what God is trying to do through the church and it made me zealous. Grace had attacked.
Grace is a bankrupt student finding a lottery ticket. It’s a repentant murderer being freed and given another chance. It’s a friend forgiving a betrayal. It can build you up and give you an inheritance; it can give you unlimited chances to change. When grace attacks nothing stays the same.

Strong in the Grace

2 Timothy 2: 1 “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.”

Here Paul is instructing Timothy to be strong in the grace of Christ. Strong in the grace means feeling forgiven, feeling grateful, feeling like you’ve got space to breathe and nothing is coming at you too fast for God to handle. Being strong in the grace means you are rested, even when you’re busy. It’s always terrible to see disciples who are not strong in the grace. The worries of life, the stresses of change, the guilt of sin, the anger and bitterness of a lack of forgiveness make them look like death warmed over. While others are flourishing they are dying because of their reliance on their talents, ability and pride. Their independence won’t let them take advantage of God’s grace.

On the other hand, those who are strong in the grace are joyful because they trust that God is working through all things (Romans 8:28), even when there are problems. They consider it pure joy because they know that it is making them mature (James 1:2-8) and that God will give them a way out (1 Cor 10:13). They are humble, they seek advice and they ask people for help after asking God for help (Phil 4:4-7) so that they don’t get overwhelmed and they don’t drag others down either. They use the bible to do all the heavy lifting they need to do. They are disciplined in their thinking, demolishing arguments, capturing every ungodly and discouraging thought and making it obedient to Christ (1 Cor 10:5).

When plans fail

2 Peter 1: 3-9 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

“For this very reason”. One can’t ask for a better segue than that. Peter tells us that because of grace, for this very reason, we need to work on our characters. Adding to our knowledge goodness, knowledge, self control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and love. Its a seque with a promise: if you work on your character, you will be effective and productive as a disciple! Wow, what an awesome promise!

It’s a terrible thing when the perfect plan collapses and it falls right down on a weak character! Ouch! There have been many times whern I was putting all of my chips down on a plan and when it fell through, it collapsed right on to my character that was weak in the faith… now that’s disappointing! In fact when I’m not allowing grace to work on my character, God will actively oppose my plan: Proverbs 21:30 “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD”. 1 Peter 5:5 “Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t plan. Of course we should! Proverbs 14:22 “…those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.” It means that our plans need to be based on discipling the character.

God wants us to be productive, fruitful and effective through our characters not only though our plans, insights, wisdom, etc. Strong plans and weak characters is the downfall of a movement! I don’t want to be the weak link and neither should you! Lets get “strong in the grace” and advance our good plans with power and character. By working on our hearts we are going to be fruitful. We will recieve the Glory and Honour (Romans 2:7) we will become the legends God wants us to be as His children. Right now are you strong in the grace or is your strength coming through only when things go your way? What about those you are discipling? Can you help them to build convictions on being strong in the Grace? Can you dedicate more time to working on their characters with them? We need people who will be strong in the grace!

Love,

Tim

Recommended further reading: Victory of Surrender, Mind Change, What’s So Amazing about Grace.