SET FREE BY GOD’S GRACE
(5-minute read)
WHAT DOES FREEDOM look like to you? We can all recognize the freedom that comes with financial independence, the religious freedom to practice our faith openly, the freedom to travel and live wherever we choose, the freedom found in an egalitarian society, and by retirement, the freedom from financial commitments. But one can enjoy all these freedoms and still not be free inside. There is a freedom that is not outwardly perceivable but those who experience them live and love very differently.
All followers of Jesus Christ experience the freedom from eternal death and the consequences of sin through the grace of God. Ephesians 2:8-9 reminds us that “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” From the time we acknowledge Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, our entire life becomes one continual story of God’s grace! (John 8:31-32).
Pause for a moment and consider: are there people in your life who know that you are still on fire for Jesus? Has anyone even noticed something redeeming about your life? Other than changes in your job, life stage and where you live, does your life inspire others to be curious about the grace of God? Does talking to you stir a new appetite for Jesus in others? Or do people see more of the same old same old that they have always known about you?
What do we need to understand and fully grasp about this freedom?
1.JESUS HAS SET US FREE!
Today’s believers often need to be reminded that there is no merit in just going through the motions of Christian life without fully understanding that Jesus died on the Cross to set us free from all sins, guilt and shame that chained and crippled us. It is for freedom - not duties, not perfection – that Christ has set us free. Yet secretly, many of us still live in fear of being vulnerable, and being known. We are the dutiful spouse or child, the doting parent or grandparent, and the devoted church member who are chronically detached from our own emotional, relational and spiritual needs. Our lives are entirely driven by the desire to fulfill the expectations of our roles. We have no problem talking about others’ needs, but we don't feel free or deserving to ask others for what we need.
Jesus is the Truth and He is the One who sets us free. Our freedom is a gift from God, not His reward. Minimising the truth of who Jesus is to us, we cheapen the freedom we have received from His salvation.
John 8:36 tells us, “He whom the Son sets free – is free indeed.”
Let God set you free in every aspect of your life. Let Him set you free from being stuck in ruminating about past events. Let Him set you free from hurts that others downplay because they are so keen to talk about grace and gloss over difficult truths.
Freedom from God gives us the ability to say…
‘I am free to ask for help and support instead of only depending on myself.’
‘I am free to live with some broken relationships in my life.’
‘I am free to tell a trusted person in my life that I am working on myself to change.’
‘I am free from staying stuck in non-productive patterns of relating with others’.
Freed people don’t hide and live in secrecy. It does not matter what mistakes we have made in the past and if we are still experiencing the consequences of those mistakes, we are now free to live and relate differently. Freed people do not crawl back into rigid roles to hide their identities as children of God or retreat into self-limiting behaviour.
2. JESUS SET US FREE BY GRACE
Paul was appalled when he saw new believers in Galatia so readily drawn into cultural adaptations of the Gospel. He categorically denounced any re-interpretation of the Gospel as an aberration and a perversion of the Gospel.
Galatians 1:6-7 recorded his response, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the One who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”
Like many of us today, the early believers in Galatia struggled to understand the concept of grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 makes it clear that grace never originated from human. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Our salvation is a gift that comes with God’s grace: an unmerited favour from God, our Heavenly Father. Grace is always embedded in relationships. We cannot talk about grace like we are talking about grapes that we pluck from low-hanging plants on our own. Jesus went all the way in obedience to God to give us grace. There is no way we can experience the grace of God and take God out of the experience. When you trace God’s grace in your life, you trace the path to His heart.
3. JESUS SET US FREE BY GRACE ALONE!
Whatever our culture and upbringing, “we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 15:11). The apostle Peter asserted this when he was addressing some people in Antioch who told the early believers there that they had to be circumcised to be saved. (Acts 15:1). Similarly, the apostle Paul also encouraged new believers particularly Gentile believers in Galatia who were pressured to assimilate the Gospel into the Jewish culture to ‘Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.’ (Galatians 5:1).
True realization of God’s grace produces an enduring gratitude to the One who dispenses grace into our lives. Gratitude towards God is the evidence of His grace in our lives. It is not the Christian events and programmes we attend, the Christian literature we imbibe, the gifted preachers and widely-subscribed Christian Youtube channels we tune into who set us free. We are set free by God's grace alone.
Grateful people are distinctively useful people. Grace says, I don’t have the natural ability to do what is needed but I will still do what is right.
Let gratitude continually fill our hearts in response to God’s grace!
This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 19 October 2024..
