Unshakable Life: “Living by Grace”

Mark 10:18 (NIV) 18 "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. Jawab Yesus: "Mengapa kaukatakan Aku baik? Tak seorangpun yang baik selain dari pada Allah saja.

We are not only saved by grace, but we also live by grace every day Romans 5:2 (NIV) 2 through whom (Christ) we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. Oleh Dia kita juga beroleh jalan masuk oleh iman kepada kasih karunia ini.

What about blessings and cursings? Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (NIV) 1 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God: Deuteronomy 28:15 (NIV) 15 However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

Bagaimana dengan berkat dan kutuk? Ula 28:1"Jika engkau baik-baik mendengarkan suara TUHAN, Allahmu, dan melakukan dengan setia segala perintah-Nya yang kusampaikan kepadamu pada hari ini, maka TUHAN, Allahmu, akan mengangkat engkau di atas segala bangsa di bumi. 2Segala berkat ini akan datang kepadamu dan menjadi bagianmu, jika engkau mendengarkan suara TUHAN, Allahmu:

Bagaimana dengan berkat dan kutuk? Ula 28:15 "Tetapi jika engkau tidak mendengarkan suara TUHAN, Allahmu, dan tidak melakukan dengan setia segala perintah dan ketetapan-Nya, yang kusampaikan kepadamu pada hari ini, maka segala kutuk ini akan datang kepadamu dan mencapai engkau:

Are the principle of blessings and cursings still valid today? Galatians 3:24 (NIV) 24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Jadi hukum Taurat adalah penuntun bagi kita sampai Kristus datang, supaya kita dibenarkan karena iman. Christ has already born the curses from our disobedience and earned for us the blessing of obedience!

We look to Christ alone – not Christ plus performance- for God’s blessings When we pray to God for His blessings in our lives, He does not examine our performance to see if we are worthy. Rather, He looks to see if we are trusting in the merit of His Son as our only hope for securing His blessings.

2 Corinthians 5:15 (NIV) 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. Dan Kristus telah mati untuk semua orang, supaya mereka yang hidup, tidak lagi hidup untuk dirinya sendiri, tetapi untuk Dia, yang telah mati dan telah dibangkitkan untuk mereka. But what motivates us to do that?

2 Corinthians 5:14 (NIV) 14 For Christ's love compels us,… Sebab kasih Kristus yang menguasai kami,… Thus, the focus should not be on our own strength, resolve, discipline, commitment etc. It should be an acute awareness of Christ’s abundant love towards us How? How can we continually focus on and be aware of His love for us?

The answer: through the Gospel! We believers need to be challenged to a life of committed discipleship, but that challenge should be based on the Gospel, not on duty or guilt. Duty or guilt may motivate us for a while, but only a sense of Christ’s love for us will motivate us for a lifetime.

The problem: we think the Gospel is mainly for unbelievers, and strict discipleship is for believers. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus paid for all our sins on the cross and that we are thereby forgiven. As we continually reflect upon that Gospel, the Holy Spirit floods our hearts with an acute sense of God’s love to us in Christ.

Romans 5:5 (NIV) 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Dan pengharapan tidak mengecewakan, karena kasih Allah telah dicurahkan di dalam hati kita oleh Roh Kudus yang telah dikaruniakan kepada kita.

The key to the manifest presence of God starts with welcoming the Gospel in our lives daily. If we don’t, soon we will be a self righteous, legalistic, judgmental, pharisaical believers. Or we become totally immobilized as a guilt laden, fearful, afraid of commitments, no victory sinner.

How grace affect our discipleship Philippians 3:10 (NIV) 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, Yang kukehendaki ialah mengenal Dia dan kuasa kebangkitanNya dan persekutuan dalam penderitaanNya, di mana aku menjadi serupa dengan Dia dalam kematianNya,

Philippians 3:1-9 (NIV) 1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh-- 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. 7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.

I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. It is in this recounting of the Gospel that he received, (renouncing his self-righteousness in order to gain God’s righteousness), that Paul felt the surge of desire to know Christ more at any cost.

How grace affect our service 1 Corinthians 9:16 (MSG) 16 If I proclaim the Message, it's not to get something out of it for myself. I'm compelled to do it, and doomed if I don't! ….18 So am I getting anything out of it? Yes, as a matter of fact: the pleasure of proclaiming the Message at no cost to you. You don't even have to pay my expenses!

How grace affect our service 1 Kor 9:16 Karena jika aku memberitakan Injil, aku tidak mempunyai alasan untuk memegahkan diri. Sebab itu adalah keharusan bagiku. Celakalah aku, jika aku tidak memberitakan Injil….18Kalau demikian apakah upahku? Upahku ialah ini: bahwa aku boleh memberitakan Injil tanpa upah, dan bahwa aku tidak mempergunakan hakku sebagai pemberita Injil.