Colorful Grace

1 Peter 1:6; 4:10

Peter uses the word “manifold” two times in his first letter. Actually, he uses the Greek word “poikilos”, which means, “colorful”. The word can also be translated as “divers”, as in “divers kinds of tongues”, used to describe the many different dialects of tongues that can be spoken. In either case, Peter is describing two things in this letter that come in all shapes and sizes.

The first “colorful” item is found in 1 Peter 1:6, when Peter describes that some Christians are “in heaviness through manifold temptations”. These temptations can be Satan’s attempts to get one to sin, and though verse 7 shows us that it is a trial of faith, we can’t be certain whether or not these were persecutions or sinful temptations. Either way, they were varied and in great number.

When Peter uses the term “manifold” or “colorful” again, it is in quite a different manner. This time he speaks of every Christian receiving the gift of grace, and how each one is then responsible to minister that grace to one another, “as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10). Now, it is God’s grace that is colorful, seeing as many people are taking it many places to minister to many different cultures.

It is vital to know that no matter how varied Satan makes the attacks against you, God has grace that covers that attack. Satan has no creative power, so each time that he tries something, be it a temptation to sin or an attack against you, it is a duplicate of something that he has tried many times before and in many ways. Christ died at Calvary to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), so all of God’s power is available in your situation, no matter how great or how trivial.

We so often limit God and His grace, placing Him within the box of our culture, our race, our status, our denomination, etc. His grace is so beyond our ability to fathom, and beyond our ability to use up. The finished work of the cross provides for every single need and God parcels out His grace not according to man’s worth, but according to His love. Thank God for that!

Don’t stress today over an area in your life. Rest in the knowledge that for whatever the difficulty there is in your life, there is grace to cover even that. Multi-colored problems call for a multi-colored solution. Thank God that we have a Redeemer who is touched by the feelings of our many different infirmities, and has been tempted in all points that we have, yet without sin. His victory brings us victory.

God’s rainbow represented a covenant of promise to Noah. God’s rainbow of grace still hangs in heaven (Revelation 4:3), and it now represents the covenant promise between Father and Son. You are in Christ, so His colorful grace is in you.

Grace to the Humble

James 4:6-8

The book of James is written to the Jew. We learn this from the outset, when he greets, “the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad” (James 1:1). It is important to remember this when you read James, for many things will sound strange to the ear of someone who is coming off of the Apostle Paul’s writings. Paul addresses the church and his writings are the complete message of grace that was given to him by the Lord Jesus (Galatians 1:12).

Some have pitted James’ writing in direct contrast to Paul’s, stating that Paul and James were having a verbal spat about what true faith was. This is patently incorrect as neither Romans nor Galatians (Paul’s essential documents on grace) were yet written. James’ theme is “religion”, or the service of religion on the outside. He doesn’t claim that works are greater than faith, but that faith should always be identified by the works that it produces.

For the ear tempered to the soft tones of Paul’s gospel of grace, the 4th chapter of James booms with judgment. Remember that James is preaching to the scattered Jews, and many of them have never come into the knowledge of grace. Most are still working the works of the law in order to achieve righteousness, and of course, they are falling woefully short. James accuses them of having lust in their hearts; of being adulterers and adulteresses and friends of the world. Paul would say none of these things in his letters. Again, we are dealing with two different audiences.

Suddenly, in verse 6, James uses “grace” for the first time. The English word “grace” is used in 1:11, but it is a different Greek word meaning “beauty”. The “grace” of James 4:6 is Paul’s “grace”, often translated “favor”. James is just now getting around to telling the reader of God’s grace. Without Paul’s powerful revelation of God’s grace, James can only understand this wonderful gift in small segments. Even he, without that revelation realizes that God’s gifts must transcend our ability to receive them. In spite of all of the bad that the reader is doing, James says that God has “more grace”. Paul would confirm this when he would write, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Romans 5:20).

James now adds that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. For James, this is not an original thought, but is pulled from his memory of Old Testament scripture. Proverbs 3:34 says, “Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace to the lowly”. James is making the only connection that he knows to get someone into the grace of God. It is Paul who will reveal that it is justification by faith, but James says something that is not at all contradictory to that doctrine, “Submit yourselves therefore to God” (James 4:7). The “therefore” shows us that in light of the fact that God’s grace moves on us when we are humble, James concludes that in order to walk in God’s grace you must submit yourself to God. When submitted, you can resist the devil and he will flee and then you can draw near to God and he can draw near to you.

Only those who have humbled themselves can ever walk in God’s abundant grace and favor. It is pride that thinks that sanctification can be achieved by removing things from one’s life, or by consecrating more. For every rich, young ruler that turns away saddened by the demands of the law, there is a Zacchaeus who is rejoicing in grace. Which one are you?

Work to Rest

Hebrews 4:9-11

When you enter into the rest of God, you cease from your own works (Hebrews 4:10), in the same manner that God ceased from His own works on the 7th day, and rested. Entering into that rest is one of the hardest things that the believer will ever do, for we are hard wired due to our first father Adam, to “do”, and not to rest.

Adam’s sin in the Garden brought sweat to the brow and a curse to man that he would live by the sweat of his face all of his life. Where Adam had simply tended to the Garden prior to the fall, he now had to work the land to bring forth fruit. When Jesus travailed in His own Garden, prior to the cross, He sweat as it were great drops of blood. The mingling of the precious blood of the Savior with the sweat of the curse would forever free man from having to live by his work again. Any man who accepts Christ by faith can enter into the rest that Jesus paid such a steep price to achieve.

Now this certainly does not mean that man can quit his job and lay on the couch all day and Christ will provide. If a man does not work, he does not eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10), but it does mean that Christ has redeemed us from being a slave to our work. In fact, the work that is encouraged in Hebrews 4 is the constant labor, to stop laboring!

Hebrews 4 is the “rest” chapter, with the word being used some 9 times in that chapter alone. The framework is built around the children of Israel failing to enter into the rest of the Promised Land when 10 spies said that they couldn’t take it. Paul says that they failed to enter into rest because of “unbelief” (Hebrews 4:6), and that there is a better rest than the Promised Land anyhow, since David prophesied of a day of rest after Joshua had crossed the Jordan (4:5-8).

If they failed because of unbelief, then we fail because of the same thing. We must labor to enter into the finished work of Christ, not by our works; for that shows that we do not believe that it truly is a “finished work”. We must stop trying to achieve satisfaction in the Spirit by our own efforts. These efforts, while genuine, only show that we are trusting in our own ability to save, and not fully trusting in His ability.

God’s work of creation was a perfect work, as everything that God does is. Only when His work was completely finished, and that work was deemed “good”, could God rest on the 7th day. Christ’s work of redemption was a perfect work as well. Only when He said, “It is finished” could Jesus hang His head and “give up the ghost”. While all other priests never sat down (there were no chairs in the tabernacle), our High Priest Jesus has sit down at the right hand of the Father, and is resting in His finished work. We have been saved so that we can “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).

Believer, rest in His finished work today. May your only spiritual labor today be the labor that enters into rest. Have faith in His finished work and sit together with Him in every area of your life.

Put It on Jesus’ Account

Philemon 1:10-18

Paul wrote his shortest epistle near the end of his first imprisonment in Rome. He was probably about 63 years old when he wrote this letter to his friend Philemon, a fellow laborer for the Lord and the owner of a servant named Onesimus. Onesimus had robbed Philemon and then fled to Rome, where he met Paul and became a believer of Christ. Paul sent Onesimus back to Philemon with this epistle, which contains Paul’s request to Philemon that he accept Onesimus, not only as a servant, but as a “brother beloved” (1:16).

Paul places Philemon’s love for him front and center, asking Philemon to receive Onesimus as if he were receiving Paul himself (verse 17). In this letter, Paul is giving us a practical example of the substitutionary work of Christ, as he does no better in any other writing.

First, he lists Onesimus as one time “unprofitable”, but now “profitable to thee and to me” (verse 11). Without Christ we are entirely unprofitable to anything or anybody as it regards the eternal things, but with Christ we are profitable to everything and everybody that we encounter.

Second, he prompts Philemon to receive Onesimus as “mine own bowels” (verse 12). This phrase was used often in the Word as an analogy of love. The world in that time considered the deepest part of someone’s love or affection to come from their “bowels of compassion” (1 John 3:17). By asking Philemon to receive Onesimus by Paul’s “own bowels”, he is asking him to receive him as he would receive Paul’s love. God has shed his love abroad to us through the price that Jesus paid at Calvary (Romans 5:5). Everything that we receive from God, we receive it because of this compassion.

Finally, Paul requests that any damages done by Onesimus should be placed on Paul’s own account. Any financial set-backs that have been caused through the theft of this servant will be paid in full by the Apostle as soon as he arrives. Imagine how Philemon felt as he read these words. Here is a man writing to him from prison, promising to pay him in full for taking this man back into his service. Philemon could not help but pay heed to the request, because the effort being taken to bring Onesimus back into good graces was enormous.

In light of how great the price was that Jesus paid, how can we refuse Him? He has taken all of our wrongs, our failures, our problems and our pains and He has placed them on His account. He laid down His own life, suffering the pain of separation from His Father so that all of our debts could be paid. It is the ultimate insult for any person to believe that their works are needed in order to pay God back for all of His goodness.

Heed the Apostles words regarding working for righteousness:

“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” (Romans 4:4, 5)

Believers Worship at David’s Tabernacle

Amos 9:11, 12

In Acts 15, the Apostle James speaks to the assembled apostles and preachers at the council in Jerusalem. The council was held so that the Jewish apostles could determine what they should say and preach to the new Gentile converts regarding the observance of Jewish law. In his speech, James quotes our text from the book of Amos, placing Amos’ prophecy in New Testament times, not far off in some future millennium.

James states that the advent of Jesus and His death on the cross has brought back the tabernacle of David. Even the least experienced Bible student knows that the tabernacle was built by Moses, many years before David came along, and that David’s son, Solomon constructed the temple. So when and where was there ever a tabernacle of David?

David decided that the Ark of the Covenant had been missing from Jerusalem for too long. Moses’ tabernacle was set up in Gibeon, but David wanted to bring the presence of the Lord to the capital of Israel and Judah, so had a cart constructed so that the Ark could be rolled in. On the way, one of David’s men touch the Ark as it is shaking on the cart and he falls over dead. David is frightened of the Ark’s power so he takes it to the nearest house, the house of a Gentile named Obed-edom.

Obed-edom means, “Servant of Edom”. Edom is another name for Esau, showing us that this man was actually a descendent of Jacob’s brother Esau. For the next 3 months, blessings are poured on the house of Obed-edom, and as David hears of this, he becomes a bit envious in his spirit, desiring that God would bless him with such goodness. This prompts David to take the Ark out of Obed-edom’s house and bring it up to Jerusalem, this time with priests carrying it, as Moses had been instructed.

David places the Ark in a tabernacle that he pitches for it (2 Samuel 6:17). 1 Chronicles 15:1 tells us that this “tabernacle” is a tent. David seems unconcerned with placing the Ark in the Holy of Holies, in the tabernacle at Gibeon, for he makes no effort to do so. Instead, he leaves it in Jerusalem, basking off of the same blessings that were on it while in the house of Obed-edom. Through all of this he had learned that God’s blessings were not on the tabernacle, but on the Ark, and that God would bless all who approached it, even an unworthy Gentile.

James references this prophecy because of what Christ’s finished work accomplished. Under the Old Covenant, God was to be feared and placed at a distance. Only the high priest ever saw the ark while it was in the tabernacle, and that only once per year. David is hearkening forward to a better covenant built upon better promises, when all of God’s people can go boldly into the presence of the Lord and have their moment at the mercy seat of heaven, covered by the blood of the precious, spotless Lamb.

Believers no longer worship a distant entity, but a living God. Because Christ lives in us, we worship at David’s tabernacle, where God’s presence is always right where we are. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and God dwells in us (1 Corinthians 6:19). His blessings are not dependent on how good we are or how consecrated we may be, but rather they are dependent on how good Jesus is. As Amos said, even the remnant of Edom, and all of the heathen are called by the name of the Lord (Amos 9:12).

The Out-pouring of the Spirit

Joel 2:28, 29

The events of this passage of scripture have partially come to pass. Peter quotes it in Acts 2:17, stating the “afterward” to be “the last days”, when on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the 120 in Jerusalem who were waiting on the promise of the Father. We have had nearly 2000 years pass since Peter stated this, and we still hear talk of the “last days”. This is because the era of the “last days” began with the ascension of Christ, though the “last day” is yet to come.

Since we are in these “last days”, the out-pouring of the Spirit is still happening. The Holy Spirit has already arrived on the earth, empowering the church, but every believer can have an outward manifestation of this power in their life. Joel said that it would cause “your sons and daughters to prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions” (Joel 2:28). Even the servants and the handmaids can now receive this mighty manifestation (verse 29). It is not confined to the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, because Peter took the gospel of grace to the house of Cornelius, a Gentile, in Acts 10, and after he preached of the forgiveness of sins through Christ, “the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word” (Acts 10:44). These same new converts then begin to “speak with tongues and magnify God” (verse 46).

The Holy Spirit enters the believer at conversion, and He manifests Himself as Comforter in their life, walking with them into every area, providing the reaffirmation that they are the righteousness of God (John 16:10). He wishes to provide them with all spiritual gifts as well, and the believer is encouraged to pray for the best of those gifts (1 Corinthians 12:31). The Spirit manifests the various gifts so that the believer can profit from them (1 Corinthians 12:7), and it would do us good to look at the list of those gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10.

One gift is given to all believers to use as a prayer language, to build them up, and to glorify God, and that is the gift of tongues. Three times in the book of Acts, the out-pouring of the Holy Spirit into believers lives was accompanied by speaking with other tongues (Acts 2:4; 10:46; 19:6), and Paul told the Corinthian church that when you use this gift you speak directly to God and that it is done to build up your spirit (14:2, 4). Paul also encouraged the believers to pray in tongues whenever they wanted, or even to sing in tongues in like manner (14:15), and he was proud of using tongues (14:18). He also knew that not everyone would agree with this usage, so he instructed the Corinthians that if someone chose to be ignorant regarding these gifts, “let him be ignorant” (14:38), but to “forbid not to speak with tongues” (14:39).

The Holy Spirit is still touching lives and entering into the heart of everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. When the Law was given on the first Day of Pentecost, 3000 people were killed. When the Spirit was given on the Day of Pentecost, 3000 people were saved. The letter of the law kills, but the Spirit gives life. Praise the Lord for the Holy Spirit!

If you are not seeing the manifestation of the Spirit in your life through the gifts, there is no condemnation to you. You are not “doing something wrong”. Simply ask for the Holy Spirit to manifest in you. Your heavenly Father always gives to those who ask (Luke 11:13).