Seeing Jesus First - July 25, 2023
Part One
Grace empowers us to think God's Thoughts, speak God's Words, and do God's Works.
Where do you draw the line at being able to be like God?
God created us in His image. God sent His only begotten son to die on a cross to restore our relationship with Him. This one simple fact screams how much God loves us and how much we are worth to Him. “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” (Romans 8:29, NKJV)
God considers us equal to His son, Christ Jesus. One exception being, there is only one firstborn who receives authority over the inheritance and household.
“Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17, NKJV) Look at what perfects us and makes us life Christ Jesus in heaven - Love. Love is what makes us like Him. His love freely was given to us. Our hearts were moved by love to believe in Him. We received His love. That love which we have freely received, we freely give. This is what it means for God’s love to be perfected in us.
Are you able to be perfected in the love of God? Can grace do that? If grace can perfect, or make you complete, in the love of God, then you can be like God. God is love and everyone who loves is born of God and knows and experiences God. (See 1 John 4:7-8)
Grace is not weak and powerless. To the contrary, the grace of God gives us all things that pertain to life and godliness. This gives us access to the exceeding great and precious promises so that we are able to partake of His divine nature and to live as imitators of God as His dearly beloved offspring. (See 2 Pet. 1:3-4 and Eph. 5:1-2)
Our walk with God is not about denying sin. It is about saying yes to love. Our walk with God is about being perfected in his love.
Compare the following words:
Perfect
Complete
Whole
Sanctified
Holy
Each of these words have very similar meanings in the Bible.
Now attach an understanding to these word that has nothing to do with sin. Jesus has taken away the sin of the world.
Attach love to to your understanding of perfect, complete, whole, sanctified, and holy.
“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:14–19, NKJV)
In this passage, one can understand a very deep purpose of Christ living in our hearts by faith. Christ living in our hearts by faith makes it possible for us to know and experience and understand the tremendous dimensions of the love of Christ. Being rooted and grounded in love and diving into the love of Christ which overwhelms our natural understanding allows us to be filled with all of the fullness of God because God is love.
Grace reveals the love of God to us because grace reveals love to us. Christ Jesus is the full manifestation of The Father because Christ Jesus is love like Our Father. Many times, Jesus’ miracles are preceded by the fact that Jesus was moved with compassion. It is easy to conclude that Jesus was motivated by the love of God for others in all that He did.
Jesus told us that The Father was excited to give His Holy Spirit to all that asked Him. Jesus told His disciples that Holy Spirit was like Himself and would comfort them and empower them to do greater works than He did.
Now look what Holy Spirit does when He comes into our hearts! “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (Romans 5:5, NKJV)
Holy Spirit empowers us with the love of God. Because of Holy Spirit, God’s love floods our hearts. Holy Spirit empowers us to love, not just “like” God, but with God’s love. Holy Spirit makes the love of God part of us so we can be like God and call God, “Abba, Father”, as dear children (offspring), sons of God.
Grace empowers us to Love like God loves.
Grace empowers us to think like God thinks.
Grace empowers us to speak what God speaks.
Grace empowers us to do what God does.