Elevate to the Next Level
“Living in God’s Grace”
Romans 12:2
Watch on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPkuUHYf1-c
Today, I’d like to share with you how we can live in God’s grace, and the only way we can is through His transforming grace. And so, the question arises, “How does God transform us by His grace?”
Before we begin, I’d like to share with you about Niccolò Paganini. Paganini was a gifted composer and violinist. One evening, he was playing before a packed house with a full orchestra behind him. During one of the songs, one of the strings snapped and dangled down the side. But instead of stopping, Paganini continued to play on. Soon, another string snapped, followed by another until there was only one string left. But Paganini continued to play without missing a beat.
When he finished, the crowd gave him a standing ovation. Paganini then held his violin up high and said, “Paganini and one string,” and played a full encore performance on one string.
Sometimes we focus too much on the dangling strings in our lives. These strings symbolize life's unavoidable events, like sickness, layoffs, economic downturns, accidents, and the death of loved ones, to name a few.
So, what is an inevitability? Inevitabilities are those things we have no control over and do not choose; they just happen, and there’s nothing we can do about them.
Instead, what we have to do is play the one string we have left. And the only way we can do this is through God’s transforming grace.
The Bible talks about transformation, like when the Apostle Paul said, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2 NKJV)
Paul is talking about a change that takes place in everyone’s life.
First, he tells us not to be conformed, which means a change that happens from the outside in, like how the landscape changes due to weather. Here, Paul is telling us not to let the outside world change us into its image.
Instead, Paul says that we are to be transformed, which is an inside-out change. To understand what this really means, we can think back to our grade school biology experiment when the teacher placed a caterpillar in a glass case with branches and leaves.
In a few days, the caterpillar spun its cocoon, and in a couple of weeks, it would come out as a beautiful butterfly. It’s the process known as metamorphosis.
That’s what transformation is, it’s a metamorphosis, a change from the inside out; it’s like stepping into God’s cocoon of grace and being changed in a new creation in Christ Jesus.
And, like a caterpillar’s metamorphosis, our transformation takes some time, but specific steps need to take place for the transformation to happen.
Readjust Our Attitudes
In our verse, it states that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. To the Philippian church, Paul explains that this transformed mind should be the same as the mind, thought process, and attitude that Jesus had.
“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5 NJKV)
And then in verses six and seven, he talked about what this overall mind set or attitude looks like saying, “Who (Jesus)being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:6-7 NKJV)
Jesus is God, but His attitude was one of humility, coming as a slave, or bondservant, and not as a king or master.
And so, Paul tells us to have the same mindset, or to be like-minded, that is, not allowing things like ambition or conceit to rob us of God’s joy. And he says that this was the mindset and attitude that Jesus possessed.
Our attitude has a lot to do with how we view and live this life of grace. To change into the image of Jesus Christ, we need to have a transformation, and this transformation begins with our attitude and what we choose to put into our minds. (Now, in our next-to-last teaching in our series, I’ll deal with this in greater detail.)
There’s a story about two construction workers who sat down to lunch. One opened his lunch box and angrily said, “I can’t believe it! Baloney again! That’s the fourth time this week, and I hate baloney sandwiches.”
His friend replied, “Take it easy, just tell your wife to fix something else.”
“Wife,” said the first, “I fix my own lunches.”
Attitudes have a lot to do with what we put into our minds and lives, and most of the baloney we allow in, we put in ourselves. Our attitudes are outward expressions of what we’re inwardly feeling. In fact, we don’t have to say a thing; our attitude says it for us.
I remember telling my daughter Danielle on many occasions, “Wipe that attitude off your face young lady.”
Many of us are in desperate need of an attitude adjustment. Therefore, what can we do to improve our attitude?
a. Be Careful of Our Thoughts
“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23 NKJV)
Jesus said, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man.” (Matthew 15:19-20a NKJV)
Let me take a moment and give you an illustration of what I’m talking about.
My first car was a 1963 Buick Rivera, and it was bad to the bone. When I revved the engine, trees and houses shook. I rarely lost a race.
Back in those days, we didn’t have unleaded gasoline; instead, it was only regular and premium. When I filled my tank with regular gas, the cheaper of the two, the car didn’t run as smoothly and would sometimes ping. But when I used premium, the car would purr.
God created us to be high performers. But we often want to shortcut God’s way and put into our minds the cheap gas, that is, the junk of the world, and then we wonder why we’re pinging instead of purring.
Let’s say I filled a glass to the very top with Root Beer and then bumped it. Would orange juice or milk spill out? No, only Root Beer! So, what happens when we get bumped with the inevitables of life? What spills out of our lives? It’s whatever we’ve been filling our minds and hearts with.
So, are we putting in the baloney of the world, or the filet mignon of God’s word? Remember, what goes in is what comes out.
b. Be Careful of Our Friends
“Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.’” (1 Corinthians 15:33 NKJV)
Here in Mesquite, we often see flocks of geese fly by, and they do so in a “V” formation. The reason is that when they flap their wings, they create up to a 72 percent greater lift for the bird directly behind. So, the flock can fly 72 percent further when they stick together than when they fly solo.
So, it is with the company we keep. Are we getting a 72 percent lift from the people we associate with, or are we being dragged down by a bunch of turkeys?
c. Look at Problems a New Way
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.” (James 1:2 NKJV)
Problems are everywhere. They are the inevitables of life. Problems, however, are God’s way of promoting spiritual maturity within us. It’s how we respond to the inevitables —the problems —that determine our successes or failures.
Instead of seeing our problems as negatives, let’s see them as opportunities to grow. Our problem is that we don’t want to transform God’s way, so He allows problems in our lives so we can rethink what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. And in the face of the problems, God gives us the grace to go through them and change.
b. Be Filled with the Holy Spirit
Jesus said to His disciples, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49 NKJV)
Whenever we read God’s word, we need to pay attention to the words, because they can add meaning to the passage, and such is the case with the word “endued.”
The word “endued” in the Greek language literally means to be clothed in, which is also the same idea we get from the word baptized, that is, to be completely immersed in. And so, Jesus is saying that there is something more, something that will empower us to live our lives effectively for God’s kingdom.
In fact, the Greek word is where we get our English word “enveloped.” And so, there’s a special anointing, a special empowerment of the Holy Spirit that awaits all those who come to faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, God wants to immerse or envelop us with Holy Spirit power.
After Jesus’s death and resurrection, we have men and women who believed but were afraid and uncertain of their futures. Yes, Jesus did rise from the dead, and they saw and experienced His resurrection, leaving them with this promise. But He’s gone, and they are all alone.
But by keeping His word, on the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit descended and changed them. Once they were frightened, but now they were boldly being witnesses of the truth. Now they were walking with a new attitude.
And so, the first step in living in God’s grace is to readjust our attitudes by being careful of our thought life, by taking every thought captive to the obedience to Jesus Christ. Also, we need to be careful about the company we keep, how we view our problems, and to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
The second step we need to take for God’s transforming grace to enter is to change the scope of our focus.
Change Our Focus
We need to get our focus off ourselves and get it onto God. This is going to take getting refocused.
Jesus said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33 NKJV)
The things that will be added are the things we need to live, that is, the basics of life. But still we cry, “What about me? When is it my turn?” What I’ve learned over the years is that when our focus is first and foremost on the Lord, then God will meet these needs. In other words, God doesn’t need us wrangling to get our own way.
When asked by the religious authority what the greatest commandment was, Jesus gave the standard Jewish proclamation of faith, Deuteronomy 6:4-5, also known as the “Shema.”
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:29b-30 NKJV)
But Jesus then added a second, connected to the first.
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31 NKJV)
Why was the second needed? Why did Jesus expand the greatest commandment to love God with the whole of our being, with loving our neighbor as ourselves? It’s because loving God is abstract and hard to know when we’ve fulfilled it, seeing that we cannot use our normal senses to confirm it.
Instead, there has to be a demonstration, an act in which such love can be seen and understood. To profess love without a demonstration to back it up is an empty love.
The story of Miss Thompson best fits this scenario.
Miss Thompson was a 5th-grade schoolteacher. She told the students that she treated everyone the same. But this year it would all change.
This year, a boy named Teddy was in her class. His hair was unkempt. His clothes had a musty smell, and he wasn’t attractive, nor did his fellow students like him. Soon, Miss Thompson fell into the same trap. She took great delight in putting big red “X’s” by wrong answers and marking his paper with a large “F.”
After a while, she received Teddy’s records, which quickly changed her attitude.
His first-grade teacher said Teddy was slow but showed great promise and had a great attitude, but had a poor home life
His second-grade teacher said Teddy could do better and that his mother was seriously ill, and he received little help from home.
His third-grade teacher said that while Teddy was good, he was too serious and a slow learner. Also, Teddy’s mother died that year.
His fourth-grade teacher said that while Teddy was slow, he behaved well, but his father showed no interest.
When Christmas came, all the children brought their presents for Miss Thompson. They piled them high on her desk, and among them was Teddy’s gift, and you could tell which one was his. It was in an old paper bag. In it was an old, gaudy rhinestone bracelet with half the stones missing and a half bottle of cheap perfume.
The other children began to snicker, but Miss Thompson immediately put on the bracelet, dabbed some of the perfume on her wrist, and held it up for all the class to see and smell, saying how lovely it looked and how beautiful it smelled.
At the end of the day, Teddy came up to her and said, “Miss Thompson, you smell just like my mother, and her bracelet looks real pretty on you. I’m glad you like my present.”
When he left, Miss Thompson got down on her knees and asked God to forgive her. The next day, the children came and met a new Miss Thompson. She was no longer just a schoolteacher; now, she was transformed into an agent of God’s grace. She was now committed to loving the children and doing those things for them that would live on in their lives.
All the students improved that year, but none more than Teddy. He caught up with most and was ahead of a few.
After that year, Miss Thompson hadn’t heard from Teddy until she received a note that read, “Dear Miss Thompson, I wanted you to be the first to know that I am graduating High School second in my class, Love Teddy.”
Four years later, she received another note that said, “Dear Miss Thompson, they just told me that I’ll be graduating first in my class. The university has not been easy, but I wanted you to be the first to know, Love Teddy.”
Four years after that, she received another note saying, “Dear Miss Thompson, as of today, I am Theodore Stollard, M.D. I wanted you to be the first to know. I’m getting married next month, and I want you to come and sit where my mother would have sat if she were alive. Dad died last year. You’re the only family I have now, Love Teddy.”
She attended the wedding and sat where Teddy’s mother would have sat. You might say that because of God’s transforming grace, it was Miss Thompson and one string.
And if I could, I’d like to repeat what I said at the beginning: our problem is that we tend to focus on all the strings we have dangling instead of the string God has given us. We need to focus on God and to love Him by truly loving others.
The third step in this transformation process is our need to persevere through the trials and tribulations that accompany us through this life.
Persevere Though the Inevitables
It’s far easier to quit something than to continue. It’s easier to walk out of a room than to stay and resolve a conflict. It’s easier to do what we want than what God wants.
“One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV)
The Apostle James tells us that we are to rejoice over the inevitables because they are producing within us patience, and that patience is developing within us a strength of character (James 1:3-4). The inevitables of life promote endurance and help in the transformational process of living in God’s grace.
If anyone knows what it feels like for the inevitables to happen, it would be John Scott. He found himself in a 480-foot mine elevator in England. Right before it reached the top, it stopped, then plummeted to the bottom, only for the brakes to kick in just before it hit the bottom.
Now, if this wasn’t bad enough, the same thing happened over and over again for two straight hours. It’s hard to imagine what was going through John’s mind for those two hours. What he didn’t know, however, was that the engineers were testing the emergency braking system. They didn’t know he was inside.
So when the inevitable happens and it feels like the bottom has dropped out, remember that God has His hand on the brake and will never let you fall 481 feet.
So, don’t give up; press through instead. At the end, we’re promised a crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8).
Conclusion
To survive the inevitables and come out on the other side without the smell of smoke, we need to get into God’s Word and let God’s Word get into us.
“Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” (Psalm 119:11 NKJV)
When we read God’s word and spend time meditating on it, it will become firmly planted within us, and when the inevitables happen, the Holy Spirit will bring God’s Word back to our memory so we can act on it, making godly, life-changing decisions.
And when we get bumped by the inevitables, then what will spill over from our lives, and into the lives of others, is godly wisdom along with God’s transforming grace.
