The grace of Father God
The life of Jesus was all about revealing the Father and teaching the people how they can have a relationship with Him. The part that Adam and Eve lost, when they committed the first sin, was the intimate relationship they had with the Father. They had no earthly father or mother, they came forth from the Father Himself. He was the beginning of their and our bloodline. Sin had created a huge blockade between men and God. The most important thing that they lost was the intimate relation with the Father. Sure, God was watching over them, but in a whole different way then He used to do.
Sin always brings separation between God and men. It also gives satan the legal right to influence your life. When we give in to this influence, then automatically we come under the curse of God. So God had to come up with something, so that men would be able to come out under that curse and under His blessing again. In the time of the old testament, that was what we now know as the laws of Moses. Those laws showed men the difference between good and evil, between God’s ways and satan’s ways. In no way did the law restore the intimate relationship between God and men, it just showed men what sin is. For many years people had to live under the law in order to be justified. But God wanted to do so much more then that. His love for the world, His love for you, was and is so much, that He wanted to restore the relationship with men that Adam and Eve lost. Therefore Jesus didn’t only came to give us a ‘ticket to heaven’, He also came to fulfill the law. He introduced a whole new way of living. When read about the actions of Jesus in the gospels, you see His attitude against the Pharisees. They were the epitome of the law, their life’s were the fruit that comes out of the law. Now you see why we need more then the law itself. We needed grace and we still need grace.
When you would be able to live completely according the law, God would have to reward you. Then it would be something you deserve. The Pharisees were pretending that they were able to live according the law. Therefore they truly believed that they deserved Gods blessings because of all the ‘good’ things they did. The people of that time only saw all the ‘good’ things they did and they only heard the loud and religious prayers. But Jesus saw their hearts, their motivation. Here is something to think about:
“Our motivation is the most important thing to God”
Here is something controversial. God does not look at our sins in the first place. The first thing He looks at is the motivation that brought forth the sin. The sins we commit are just fruits of what’s living inside of us. What lives inside of us is something that matters a lot to God. That is the difference between being a child of God or just being a religious person. A child of God lives in the Spirit, a religious person lives under the law. The best way to describe a religious person is as a person with a lack of a relationship with God. From the outside a child of God and a religious person might look exactly the same. But it’s the fruit that can tell you who someone really is.
You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Mathew 7:16-20
Jesus made it very clear how you can recognize what you’re dealing with. Just look at the fruits. Outside the Church, speaking about the non Christians, it’s easy. You don’t need to test very long there. The danger mainly lies within the Church. I’m not talking about different denominations, I’m talking about the difference between grace and the law, between relation and religion. Let’s take a closer look to the fruits.
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Galatians 5:16-18
The fruits of grace
Those who live out of grace have received the gift of love that God gave us. When we start to realize what His grace actually means, it bring forth love for the Giver of that gift. Out of this love comes acceptance. Out of the acceptance comes motivation. Because you are loved and accepted, you want a relationship with the Giver of all these things: Father God. Out of that relation grows faith. That faith becomes stronger as your relation with God becomes closer. Out of that faith comes perseverance and it is that perseverance that eventually will bring forth the fruit of the Spirit of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Galatians 5:22-26
The fruits of the law
Those who live out of the law have received the gift of ruthlessness that satan gave them. Because he will always make us feel guilty, because no one can live according the law, it will make that they become ruthless and judgmental against others and their selves. Out of that ruthlessness comes a deep feeling of being rejected by God. Of course that is a lie, because God wants to accept us, but those who live under the law feel the rejection because they can’t meet Gods law. Out of that rejection comes their motivation. From that motivation comes religion. From the religion comes knowledge. Now let me say that knowledge is not always a bad thing, but it becomes an obstacle when it takes the place of the Holy Spirit. From that knowledge comes stubbornness. That stubbornness will produce the fruits of the flesh in our lives.
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21
According to Galatians 5:16-18 it is impossible to do both. You can do only one of both. Look at the fruits in your own life, compare those with these fruits and you will know what drives you. Once again, there are only two options. You live out of grace or you live under the law. There is nothing in between. Sad enough, and without judging anyone, I have to conclude that a huge part of the Church of today is living under the law. They say they have a relationship, but their fruits tell otherwise. They talk about grace like they invented it, but their life’s show the opposite. You don’t have to search long to find evidence for that. Just turn on the news and see how the Church of God reaches the news. For many people it is enough reason to never go to Church and to reject God. Not because they don’t like God, but because most of His Church is representing Him in a way that not even comes close to the fruit of the Spirit.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Ephesians 2:8,9
What about you? What about the fruits of your life? Can you honestly say that you live out of grace? If so, then that’s awesome! If not, well, then you need to do something about that. Then you need to turn from your way to Gods way. At this moment, at this point, you have a choice. It isn’t too late to repent from your owns ways. Wherever there’s true repentance, you’ll always find a forgiving God. When you feel offended by what you just read, then please close this website and forget all about it. But if you recognize things in your life that shouldn’t be there, and if the Holy Spirit just convinced you that you need to change your ways, then there is hope! The Holy Spirit will never convince you to humiliate you. He wants to restore you and your relation with the Father. Even better, He wants you to experience the great love God has for you! Maybe you went to Church your whole life. Maybe you grew up in the Church. It is even possible that you lived, sang and prayed with Christians, without really knowing Him. Maybe this is the first time of your life where you find out that you did live under the law. Don’t feel ashamed if that is your case and don’t feel proud. Just humble yourself before the King of kings and confess your sins to Him. You’re not telling Him something He doesn’t know already.
The big question that remains is how you can go from living under the law to living out of grace. That is what we really want to know. The answer to that lies within knowing who you are and living out of that identity. When you became a Christian, you were adapted in the family of Father God. That means that you ARE a son or daughter of the Father. That is who you are. Maybe this is not easy to understand for you, but it really is simpler as it sounds. In the next study, “Living as a child of the Father”, we will go further on this subject.
