Key Word: Grace (6) The Empowerment

The message of the incarnation of God, when God was born in human form, when the Word (Logos) became flesh (John 1:14), was ‘God with us’ (Hebrew, Immanu’El): God would save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21–23). God the Creator would not leave His creation, His children, in the mess and slavery of sin. He is not only Creator but also Saviour! God was in Christ to reconcile the world He loves with Himself (John 3:16–17; 2 Corinthians 5:18–21). Although sin separates us from God, His love for us is stronger. Christ is the Eternal Son of God and Saviour of the world who died to give us an ‘eternal redemption’ as the ‘mediator of a new covenant’ (Hebrews 9:11–15). In the New Covenant we are empowered to live the life God destined us to live! He who promised us salvation and new life is faithful (Hebrews 10:23).

Grace as Empowerment

The message of ‘God with us’ is one of hope—we are not alone in this world and the struggles against the forces of evil. It is also a message of God empowering us for this life with its many challenges, hardships and, at times, suffering. Beyond that, grace empowers us to serve others.

‘And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed’ (2 Corinthians 9:8).

God’s grace is all-sufficient and empowering. It is divine. Grace is God’s divine source of empowerment. God didn’t drop a truckload of commandments on us and left us alone to try to keep them. His word of grace gets internalised and empowers us to live a godly life. After preaching ‘the gospel of the grace of God’ and parting with some of the believers, Paul would commend them to God and ‘the word of His grace, which is able to build you up’ (Acts 20:24, 32). God’s grace is forgiveness and empowerment. We are to work out our salvation, but we know that it is God who empowers us to do so (Philippians 2:12–13). It is the power that works within us through God’s Spirit that makes these things possible (Ephesians 3:20–21). It is the power that God provides by His Spirit that matters—and all glory be His (1 Peter 4:10–11).

Paul ascribed his effective and tireless labour to God and His empowering grace.

‘But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me’ (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Paul was what he was by God’s grace and it was God’s grace empowering him to do what he did. God accepts us the way we are, but He doesn’t leave us that way: He changes us from ‘glory to glory’ by His Spirit within us (2 Corinthians 3:17–18). It is an internal transformation. God writes His laws by His Spirit on our hearts and we obey Him from our hearts. It’s not the external laws on stone tablets (or electronic tablets!), but the divine laws written on our hearts (2 Corinthians 3:2–3). We start living to please God and ‘doing the will of God from the heart’ (Ephesians 6:6) with sincerity of heart (Colossians 3:22). We draw near to God with ‘a sincere heart in full assurance of faith’ as we trust a loving, forgiving and faithful God (Hebrews 10:23).

Grace, Suffering and Humility

Even in suffering, God’s grace was sufficient to empower Paul to endure all the hardships he had to face. Although he had asked God for relief from certain sufferings, God’s grace was sufficient for him. God’s power was made perfect in weakness and Paul not only accepted God’s verdict, he saw great advantage in it (2 Corinthians 12:7–10). This is an incredible attitude: he’d rather suffer and have God’s grace and remain humble, than get rid of trouble and risk becoming proud. As Denzel Washington stated, ‘Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship.’

God’s grace is sufficient, even in suffering. When we go through suffering and endure with dignity, the Spirit of God and glory rests with us (1 Peter 4:12–16). The God of grace is with us to make us stronger in trials and hardships (1 Peter 5:10–11). Paul, like Peter, knew very well that God gives grace to the humble but resists the proud (1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6). Once humility is lost, grace is lost, and once grace is lost, all is lost. But humility keeps us within His grace. Paul himself was once a proud man who found God’s grace through humility. He choose humility and grace to serve God.

It’s true, as someone said: ‘a failure that makes you humble is better than an achievement that makes you proud.’ Seemingly bad things can have a good effect on us if we have the right attitude and rely on God’s grace to get us through. Paul refused to be brought down by the slander and persecution he suffered. He relied on God’s grace to get him through and strengthen him on the way. He was convinced that God would finish the work He started (Philippians 1:6) and get him safely into His heavenly Kingdom (2 Timothy 4:6–8). He was also convinced that nothing could separate him from God’s love, that he was more than an overcomer through Christ who loved him and strengthened him, and that all things would work together for his good (see Romans 8:28–39). Enduring suffering requires a strong attitude based on biblical convictions and God’s empowering and comforting grace.

Access to God’s Grace

Not only humility, but faith, too, gives us access to God’s grace. Faith in Christ justifies us before God and gives us access to His grace (Romans 5:1–2). Jesus died for our sins as the ‘Lamb of God,’ a symbolic reference to His atoning role as sacrifice for sin (John 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Under the Old Covenant the High Priest who would sacrifice an unblemished lamb in order to establish the atonement for the forgiveness of sins. In the New Covenant, Christ is not only sacrifice, He is also High Priest. But He was more than the human priests who were sinful themselves. Christ was sinless and blameless!

Christ is our ‘great high priest’ as the very ‘Son of God,’ the One who also symphasises with our weaknesses, having been in a human body Himself. He sits on the ‘throne of grace,’ to which we can draw near, ‘so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need’ (Hebrews 4:14–16). God’s grace is accessible to help and empower us, especially when life is tough. God is able to make all grace available (2 Corinthians 8:9) and He is able and faithful to give us a way out when we find ourselves in trials and temptations (1 Corinthians 10:13). God is for us; God is with us. The Saviour, High Priest and sacrifice who promised us salvation and purification from sin is faithful (Hebrews 10:23). We access God’s grace by humility, faith and in worship as we draw near to His throne of grace.

God’s Word of Grace

The Gospel is the Good News of salvation and of God’s grace. The apostles proclaimed the word of grace that is able to build up (edify) the believers (Acts 20:32). Paul wanted the believers to be careful with their speech and not to have a culture of loose language (Colossians 3:8; Ephesians 4:29), because life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). James warned about this power and used the little rudder of a big ship to illustrate the tongue as a small member of the physical body with great influence over it (James 3). We will all be held accountable for what we say, we therefore must have pure hearts to have pure speech (Matthew 12:34). Those who desire life and wish to see good days ahead should be careful with their choice of words (1 Peter 3:8–12; Psalm 34:12–13).

‘Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear’ (Ephesians 4:29, emphases added).

Wholesome words for edification are crucial; such give grace that empower others. These words must be carefully chosen to be fitting for the respective moments and circumstances. The right word at the right time is powerful and can bring great clarity in confusion, healing in suffering and direction in uncertainty. God’s word is a lamp and a light on the path of life (Psalm 119:105). In His light we see light (Psalm 36:9). Like the sunlight, C.S. Lewis said, Christianity lets him see everything around him in its proper light. God’s word explains reality (reason) and why everything exists (origin). God shows us why we are here (meaning) and how we are to live (purpose). As wholesome words of edification proceed from our mouths, we can bring light and truth to those around us so that they can gain clarity and freedom. Christ’s words are spirit and life (John 6:63). We are to speak truth and life to bring freedom and hope to others.

God empowers us through His word of grace and by His Spirit of grace. Let His word of grace richly dwell in you and His Spirit fill and empower you. Hold on to His word of grace, it edifies and strengthens us. Hold fast the word of life so you can shine as a light in the midst of a corrupt world (Philippians 2:15–16). As you live out His word by His Spirit you will be empowered to live a good life and serve others in love for God’s glory.

God is faithful. His word gives grace and grace empowers.