Grace Brings Change

Galatians 2

‘“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly’” (Gal. 2:20-21, NASB).

One of the women in our church and I are talking about the preaching of our new pastor. I comment that we do not often hear preaching like his. Our pastor, Reverend Marble, preaches on sin and its consequences. He calls a spade a spade. The woman replies, “You don’t hear them talking about sin. You know we talk about grace so much that it seems like people think that they can do what they want to do.” I agree with this assessment. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to show from the scriptures that grace is not permission to live as we see fit. Rather, grace brings change in our lives.

Grace is not permission to sin and act like what I do does not matter. Grace is not a matter of God overlooking my faults. Grace is God seeing my faults and instead of giving me the just consequences of my sins, He gives me unmerited favor so that I can change my life. God does not give us His grace so that we can stay the same. God gives us grace so that we can make a change in our life. As we look toward the day when Jesus returns, we are to follow the words of the apostle Peter. He writes: “You therefore beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall away from your own steadfastness, but grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Pet. 3:17-18, NASB). God gives us grace so that we can become more like Him. This article cannot cover all the ways that grace brings change. I want to address three ways that grace brings change in our life. Grace brings change in our relationship to God. Grace brings about a change in our nature, our attitudes and desires. Grace brings change in our way of life.

First, grace brings a change in our relationship to God. We are all creatures of God, but we are not all children of God. The word “creature” means that we are a member of the created species called human beings. The word “children” implies a relationship between God and us. The apostle John calls believers in Jesus children (1 Jn. 2:1, 18, 28; 3:7, 18; 4:4; 5:2, 21). Human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. Originally, the man and the woman enjoy a unique fellowship with God. They have God’s nature (Gen. 2:7). God comes to them in the garden and God communes with them (Gen. 3:8). However, the man and the woman sin and lose their relationship to God. God removes His Spirit from them and their nature is changed. Their lifestyle is changed. They no longer live in the garden. Instead God drives them from the garden into the field to live a life in which they eat by laboring to grow food in ground that is covered with thorns and thistles (Gen. 3: 17-18). They are sinners separated from God, and they live according to their carnal or fleshly nature.

The gospel is the good news that Jesus died to restore us to a right relationship with God. In the Old Testament the Israelites are given the Law through Moses. The problem is that the people are unable to keep the Law (Acts 15:10-11). The Law cannot save them from their sins. Sin is the great wall that separates us from God. Thus we need our sins removed so that we can be in right relationship with God. Since we cannot save ourselves from our sins, God who loves the world (Jn.3:16) gives His Son to die so that our sins are forgiven. We do not deserve to be forgiven of our sins. God gives us grace so that we can be changed. Thus, our relationship with God is made right by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 4:13-16).

Grace brings change in our nature. Before we come to know Christ we have a carnal nature. Human beings have a sinful nature. Now, we need to understand that a thing can be accepted as normal according to the ways of the world, but, at the same time be sin in the eyes of God; according to His standards. As sinners, we live according to the carnal nature because the carnal nature is unable to accept the things of God. (Rom. 8:5-8). When God forgives a person of their sins, He gives them the Holy Spirit so that they can live a life of righteousness. Paul writes, “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness” (Rm. 8:10, NASB).

When the Spirit changes our nature, He also changes our desires. This is the message that Paul writes about in Galatians 5. He writes, “But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please” (Gal. 5:16-17, NASB). In verses nineteen through twenty-three Paul distinguishes between the deeds of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit.

Grace brings change in our lifestyles. Grace gives us a heart to love as Jesus loves. The Greek word “agape” describes a way of life in which each member in the community looks out for the welfare of the other person. This way of life is made possible because our relationship to God is changed. Our nature is changed. Our desires are changed. Our attitude is changed. Paul compares this new way of life as reflecting the attitude of Christ who gave of His own self for the salvation of all who believe in Him (2:1-18).

In preaching and teaching the word of God we need to call sin what it is. Sin is falling short in our obedience to the law of God. It is not a simple mistake that we should overlook. There are so many things that the Bible calls sins that we tend to ignore. One of the reasons that we overlook sin is that we take the attitude that we do not need to be worried about our sins because God gives all of us grace. Thus, we tend to not talk about sins and it is rare that we hear preaching that calls people to a life of holiness. As a result people feel free to live as they see fit. God saves us by His grace and we have no need to try to be anyone other than who we are.

As we have seen God gives us grace so that we are changed. Paul refutes the notion that we can ignore our sins because God gives us His grace. Paul challenges us when he writes: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it” (Rm. 6:1-2)? Further, Paul writes, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (6:12-14, NASB). God gives us grace, and grace brings change.