Strengthened by Grace

These words are found at the end of a powerhouse book of doctrine, Hebrews. It is common for the epistles to end with instructions and this verse is found smack dab in the parting, last words, live-this-way closing. Because of the many admonitions before and after this verse, you could miss it….

Let’s take a minute and consider this verse.

• "Do not be carried away..."

This first phrase is a straightforward and often repeated, staple kind of teaching. We are not to be “carried away” by varied and strange teachings. The verb translated “do not” of this verse is Present, Passive, and Imperative. The present tense indicating “as a way of life;" the passive voice indicating this is an action we receive, and the imperative mood indicating this is a command. Also, the fact that this verb has a mood indicates this is a main point in the instructions… 

What does that mean? It means this is a very important fact - not a suggestion, not just a good idea of how to live, but a command. This is an action we receive - so how do we receive the ability to not be carried away?? Christ, of course. God, the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth (John 14:26). It is interesting to look at the actual Greek in this verse because it reads: “Teachings, varied and strange BE NOT.” The word “varied” is exactly what it says, but the word can also be used for sickness. The word for strange means “not of the family.” So, we are to-as a way of life-not have anything to do with teachings that are not of the family, meaning not of the Word. These teachings that can be considered "sick." There are many varieties of these "sick" teachings.

• "...for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace..."

Now, to my favorite part of this verse! So, we know what we are not to be part of, now we find what teachings we should be about…and that is simply...grace. We are strengthened, which means: sure, fixed, to make firm or reliable so as to warrant security and inspire confidence, to strengthen, make true, fulfill. Teaching and learning grace makes us strong, firm, and secure. How can we be taught grace? Grace is God’s unmerited favor and is proclaimed in every book in the Bible. It is by grace we are saved. It is the truth found everywhere in the New Covenant that we cannot earn salvation or work to keep ourselves in favor with God. God is not interested in my “obeying” to make Him happy. He is Love and is already happy with me, in spite of me. I am sealed by the Spirit and cannot lose salvation or favor with God. Too often, we come to Christ in faith for salvation, but try walking with Christ through works instead. We feel that God is not going to bless us if we don’t have our quiet time, or if we do have our quiet time we feel that God owes us something. This is sin. To try to live out our Christian lives through works is sin; and honestly the reason for one of the harshest rebukes in the Bible, “You foolish Galatians.” We are made firm, by remembering and studying the truth, the truth that God’s love for me is because He is God and awesome. How does this give me strength? If I remember this, if I live with this in the forefront of my mind, I live a life of a bondservant. I don’t have to serve but I choose to serve because my Lord is so good.

I used to be afraid to blatantly focus my teaching ministry this way- I felt that if I taught primarily grace then Satan would deceive others into licentiousness, which is heresy as well. God through Paul addressed this in Romans 6:1, “What shall we say then, shall we continue in sin that grace might increase (Romans 6:1)?” He goes on to say “...how shall we who have died in sin continue in it” (Rom. 6:2)? This is the same truth as “...if you love me, you will obey My commandments...” (John 14:15) and “...a child of God cannot continually sin...” (1 John 3:9). God loves us not based on what we do, but because He is love. This amazing love inspires devotion. We “obey” out of love for our master who loves us no matter what. We do not obey our master in order to get Him to love us in return. This love, this grace, if we can grasp it, makes us firm and causes us to live a life of a bondservant.

This is what we should teach, believe, and live in light of…..


Sarah Beasley

(from The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament © 1992 by AMG International, Inc. Revised Edition, 1993)

The Death Wish

I know I'm not the only one to notice this phenomenon, but I'll mention it again:  So often the same scripture passages or ideas show up in multiple sermons, devotionals, or songs.  It happened again this week.  Larry and I are visiting our daughter Sarah and her husband in Greenville. The pastor at the church we visited yesterday preached from - - - are you ready?  Acts chapter 4!

It's amazing, really, how rich the Bible is and how many different lessons can be learned from the same passage. This pastor, Jonathan Tomkins, took us to verses 23-33. He had a lot to say about unity, but the big idea that stuck with me was the idea of a "death wish."

Pastor Tompkins noted that the prayer for "confidence"-- or "boldness" in some versions--was really asking for trouble because of the political and religious climate of the day. Many believers went out to proclaim God's word and truly suffered for it, a truth we see in I Peter.

However, another kind of "death wish" is at work here as well: death to self and selfish desires. If we truly focus on God's aims and the gospel message, many people will not like us. They will think we're strange, intolerant, or even hostile. In order to boldly speak truth, I must die to my own desire to be liked and accepted. God's opinion and approval must be more important to me than man's approval.

I note in verse 31 that God granted the prayer of his people. They did speak with boldness, and many of them suffered for it. Some died physically, but all died to self. May it be so for me this week.

--Sherry Poff

A Simple Equation

"Any number X 0 always = 0, huh!"

As a third grade teacher, I often found myself making up silly chants like the one above. While chants are great for instilling one message in a child’s mind, they are also really great for getting kids to line up quickly and in a somewhat fashionable order. Admittedly, the latter was my cherished result, but I’m glad that my third-graders-turned-college-students-overnight still know the truth about multiplying numbers by 0.

Unfortunately, in our spiritual lives, we forget this very basic equation:

ANY SIN (even your 1,893,423^rd one) X CHRIST (zero sins) always = RIGHTEOUSNESS (zero sin), HUH!

1 John 1: 9—“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Psalm 103:12—“…as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”

Hebrews 10:17—“…I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

It doesn’t matter how large the first factor gets, the answer is always ZERO sin! Christ knew before He died 2,000 years ago how many sins we would commit, and He forgave all of them on the cross. When we add variables to Christ’s work on the cross, we change the equation!

There is NOTHING else needed, NO additional confession, NO additional penance, NO additional good works to cancel out the bad.

Nothing.

Zero.

That makes me wanna say, “Huh!”

~Rebecca Phillips