Grace Empowerment: The Enabling, Transforming Power of God

SUBJECT

CHAPTER 1: GOOD NEWS

But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

—Acts 20:24

First Church of the Forsaken

I’ve been blessed to grow up in a church that God attends. Nevertheless, I’ve been to the First Church of the Forsaken.

You know the place. If you haven’t seen it firsthand or even attended there at some point in your life, I’m sure you have met some of its members.

It’s the church where half of the members are terminally ill along with the pastor’s sermon outlines. They hold regular prayer meetings to discuss who is sick with what and who backslid with whom and to take surveys to find out the current pastor’s latest approval ratings. (They give the pastor higher marks if he’s sick and poor.)

Do you know the church I’m talking about? It should sound familiar to you, because there are churches like the one I’ve described all over the place. They talk about the grace of God, but they don’t know what it is!

Paul said in Acts 20:24 that he was to be a living testimony to the gospel of grace! We should remember that gospel first of all means good news, yet we have entire church groups that center on suffering and misery. They think it’s holy and humble to be miserable for Jesus. But this is not the gospel of grace that Paul is talking about. Let’s read Acts 20:24 again:

But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

In this passage, Paul indicates that his life is a testimony of the good news of God’s grace and that his ministry is to testify of the good news of God’s grace. So, if Paul’s life was a testimony of the gospel of grace, what was Paul’s testimony?

The Testimony of Grace

In Acts 20:24, look at the phrase that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry. Part of the testimony of God’s grace is for us to finish. Look at what Paul writes in 2 Timothy 4:7: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." Paul finished his race and fulfilled his ministry. Not only that, but he finished it with joy.

It was God’s plan of redemption that through the power of grace we would become finishers with joy. A lot of people start out in life serving God but end up shipwrecked, having lost the joy of their salvation. The good news is not only that God will empower us by His grace to finish and fulfill the call of God on our lives but also that He will make us finish with joy.

God never intended for us to live and die without accomplishing every objective He has placed on our hearts. Jesus Himself stated three very important words when He hung and died on the cross: It is finished. Hebrews 12:2 reads:

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

As we look at the life of Jesus, we see the example of what our life is to be in Him. Jesus finished what He started and did so joyfully. I’m not saying that His suffering was pleasant, just that He kept His joy before Him. The good news of grace is that from the start it enables us to finish with joy, not regret.

How to Finish

If grace is what empowers us to finish our course in life and complete our ministry, how do we unlock this grace in our lives to finish with joy? Why is it that so many Christians don’t finish, period?

It seems like a tough question and a complex problem, but the answer to finishing through grace is simple: Don’t quit. As long as we are obeying God and moving forward, God’s grace will sustain us. However, as soon as we draw the lines with God and say no more, we cut off God’s flow of grace in our lives.

If we look once again at Acts 20:24, we will see that Paul had two conditions to meet in order to finish his course and ministry.

Condition number one: "But none of these things move me … "

Paul was not moved. The things that Paul was specifically talking about are found in the preceding verse: chains and tribulations. When things got tough, Paul stuck it out. He didn’t sit down in his Christian walk and have a pity party! He didn’t look at his circumstances as bigger obstacles than that which he could endure.

I was once asked to speak on the subject of grace at a ladies’ Bible study. We were gathered together, packed into a tight circle for prayer. After taking a lengthy list of prayer requests, one of the ladies opened in prayer. I listened intently as each of the ladies took turns praying in a mournful tone. For the most part, the prayers consisted of extraordinarily detailed descriptions of people who were sick, poor, miserable, depressed or backslidden. I realized at that moment that many of these ladies wouldn’t have known what to pray for if they didn’t have these types of troubles to talk about. Some of the prayers were more depressing than the situations of the people for whom they were praying!

After the prayer, when I started to teach on the subject of grace, I noticed a lot of puzzled looks around the room. I knew that what I was saying was uncharted territory for many of these ladies. Grace is God’s power working through you, I told them. This was not the kind of message that reflected the prayer time we had just endured. I then pointed out that their prayers would be ineffective if they spent more time magnifying their problems than magnifying God.

So it is in our walk with God. We cannot afford to be moved by our circumstances and times of hardship if we expect to finish! When we walk in grace, we cannot stop and take detours just because the road gets rough. This was the first of Paul’s conditions for finishing.

Condition number two: Nor do I count my life dear to myself …

Paul did not live by selfish ambition. Many people do not finish their course because they have an ulterior motive: themselves. People fail to complete all that God has for them to do simply because they don’t fit God into their work schedule. But God does not give us grace to please ourselves.

So, what is the Christian’s work, anyway?

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

—Romans 12:1

Don’t tell me that you don’t have time to obey God! Someone who is truly a living sacrifice has no time for anything else! What part of which is your reasonable service don’t you understand?

From Start to Finish

As you can see, there is a lot more to grace than just a good Christian catch phrase. Grace takes us from start to finish in life and maximizes the in-between time:

Which has come to you [the gospel], as it has also in all the world; and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth.

—Colossians 1:6

The above Scripture reveals that as we come to a deeper understanding of grace, it will cause us to bear fruit. It is my prayer that we will get a revelation of grace in our lives so that we can walk in its benefits and obtain our destinies to their maximum potential.

In the following chapters, we will continue to unravel truth concerning the good news of God’s grace.

CHAPTER 2: OLD TESTAMENT GRACE ECONOMICS

If indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you …

—Ephesians 3:2

How Grace is Dispensed

If you ever listen to talk radio, chances are you’ve heard someone blame the Clinton administration for society’s woes.

Or perhaps you’ve heard Rush Limbaugh talk about Reagan Economics. With each new president, we receive a new team of administrators that operates under different governmental policies and promotes different economic packages. Both of these examples are a good picture of what the word dispensation entails in Ephesians 3:2.

In the third chapter of Ephesians, Paul teaches a new dispensation of grace. The Greek word for dispensation is oikonomia, which can be translated as administration, economy, or stewardship. This is the main text to which many Bible teachers refer when they make the statement, We are living in the age of grace. What may not be understood, however, is that grace was in operation long before the age of grace began. We have just had a change in administration, operate under a better economy, and have a different stewardship.

Operating with the Old Economy

When I first began to understand grace as the Holy Spirit was teaching me, it came leaping off the pages of the New Testament. But as I began to study grace in the Old Testament, it gave me an even greater appreciation for what Jesus did at Calvary and a better understanding of the potency of grace empowerment. With this in mind, I would like to go over a few scriptures regarding the operation of grace in the Old Testament.

Note that the main Hebrew word in the Old Testament used for grace is chen, which simply means favor. This is the Hebrew word used in the following Old Testament scriptures that we are about to study. These verses show examples of the operation of grace in the old economy.

First, in Genesis 6:7-8, we see that the operation of grace saved Noah from destruction:

So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

In Genesis 19:19, the operation of grace brought mercy to Lot and saved his life:

Indeed now, your servant has found favor [grace] in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life.

In Genesis 39:3-4, 21, the operation of grace caused Joseph to prosper, obtain favor, and gain promotion:

And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor [grace] in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority … but the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor [grace] in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

In Exodus 3:21, the operation of grace enabled the Israelites to obtain deliverance, prosperity, and respect from their enemies:

And I will give this people favor [grace] in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed.

In Exodus 11:3, the operation of grace exalted Israel’s leadership in the sight of its enemies:

And the Lord gave the people favor [grace] in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.

In Exodus 12:36, the operation of grace allowed the Israelites to plunder the wealth of their enemies:

And the Lord had given the people favor [grace] in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

New Testament writers such as Luke in Acts 7:9-10 would later note how the operation of grace brought Joseph complete deliverance, authority, and wisdom:

And the patriarchs, becoming envious, sold Joseph into Egypt. But God was with him and delivered him out of all his troubles and gave him favor [grace] and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

We Need a Divine Intervention

In all of these instances in which grace is operating, God stepped into the situation and brought about a change in the people and their environments.

I [God] will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

—Exodus 33:19

In all cases in the Old Testament, grace necessitated a divine intervention. On further study, one can clearly see the helplessness of