GRACE FOR TRANSFORMATION
GRACE FOR TRANSFORMATION
Col 4:1-10 KJV 1 Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven. 2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; 3 Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: 4 That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. 5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. 6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. 7 All my state shall Tychicus declare unto you, who is a beloved brother, and a faithful minister and fellowservant in the Lord: 8 Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he might know your estate, and comfort your hearts; 9 With Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known unto you all things which are done here. 10 Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister’s son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;)
Paul was sending this letter or epistle through a man called Tychichus alongside a man called Onesimus. The epistles to Ephesus and Colossae were sent at the same time through these people.
In those days they didn’t have means of movement like ours, letters are converted by riding mules, horses, travelling in the desert and on waters, so it takes a long time before a message is received.
But the name of Onesimus caught my attention and the way Paul described him. Paul said Onesimus was a faithful and beloved brother. I wanted to know more about Onesimus and I traced him down to the letter or epistle Paul wrote to Philemon.
Phm 1:10 KJV I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:
Onesimus was a runaway slave of Philemon. He ran away to Rome. However when he was in Rome he had an encounter with Paul, he received Jesus as His Lord and Saviour and he became a believer and a christian.
Now Paul was sending him back to his Master Philemon in that epistle.
Paul here described him to be profitable now, he was unprofitable and useless
Phm 1:11 KJV Which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me:
Phm 1:15-16 KJV 15 For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever; 16 Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?
His identity has changed
Probably he stole some things before running away because in verse 18, paul said:
Phm 1:18 KJV If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;
This is the same Onesimus Paul was sending along with Tychichus with the epistle to Colossae and Ephesus and he said he was a faithful brother.
The word “faithful” there is “pistos” and it means trusty, trustworthy, faithful
of persons who show themselves faithful in the transaction of business, the execution of commands, or the discharge of official duties.
What happened and what brought the change? He had an encounter with the grace of God The grace of salvation.
Grace of God brings salvation.
Tit 2:11 KJV For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
We are saved by the grace of God.
Eph 2:5 KJV Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Eph 2:8 KJV For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
So when a man has an encounter with the grace of God, he is changed spiritually on the inside and leads to change in his attitude, personality and behaviour as he renews his mind with the word of God Rom 12:2-3. Your status changes. This is Paul’s testimony by himself:
1Co 15:10 KJV But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Paul was saying I have become who I am now and what I am now as an apostle by the grace and mercy of God. But who was Paul and what were his activities:
Act 8:3 KJV As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.
Act 9:1 KJV And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
Act 22:4 KJV And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
Gal 1:13 KJV For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
1Ti 1:13 KJV Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.
The B part says but I obtained mercy. May you obtain mercy in Jesus’ name.
Paul’s life changed when he had an encounter with the Lord Jesus on his way to continue his attack.
Act 9:3-4 KJV 3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
The same way Onesimus’ life was changed when he had an encounter with Paul is also the way or life of any person can be changed when they have encounters with men that carry grace. May you meet them. May you encounter them.
Case study
Saul:
1Sa 10:2-5 KJV 2 When thou art departed from me to day, then thou shalt find two men by Rachel’s sepulchre in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will say unto thee, The asses which thou wentest to seek are found: and, lo, thy father hath left the care of the asses, and sorroweth for you, saying, What shall I do for my son? 3 Then shalt thou go on forward from thence, and thou shalt come to the plain of Tabor, and there shall meet thee three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine: 4 And they will salute thee, and give thee two loaves of bread; which thou shalt receive of their hands. 5 After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy:
When he left Samuel that day he was anointed something happened to him. People that he met were saluting him, they gave him what he did not beg for and above all anointing to prophecy came on him until people that knew him before began to say is Saul also among the prophets? After this encounter what you did not labour for will be delivered unto you in Jesus name.
Case study 2
Mighty men of David
2Sa 23:8 KJV These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.
The bible listed them and the feats they performed in order to be reckoned as mighty men. But they were not born as mighty men, they were not even born in the house of mighty men. Who were they and how did they become what the Bible referred to as “mighty men”? Let’s trace their roots.
1Sa 22:1-2 KJV 1 David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father’s house heard it, they went down thither to him. 2 And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.
Distress: straightness, straitness, straits, distress, stress, anguish
Debt: people that had creditor, and not able to pay their debts, and whose creditors were pressing upon them:
Discontented: bitter, bitterness, sorrowful. distressed and uneasy in their minds, being pinched with want, or pressed with sore afflictions, which made them very disconsolate:
These were the same men that later helped him to ascend the throne
1Ch 11:10 KJV These also are the chief of the mighty men whom David had, who strengthened themselves with him in his kingdom, and with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of the LORD concerning Israel.
Case study 3
It’s the same story with Jephthah
Jdg 11:2-3 KJV 2 And Gilead’s wife bare him sons; and his wife’s sons grew up, and they thrust out Jephthah, and said unto him, Thou shalt not inherit in our father’s house; for thou art the son of a strange woman. 3 Then Jephthah fled from his brethren, and dwelt in the land of Tob: and there were gathered vain men to Jephthah, and went out with him.
When he was rejected and fled from the house the Bible says vain men gathered unto him and he became their captain.. The word “vain” in Hebrew is “rake” and it means: empty, vain, empty (of vessels), empty, idle, worthless.
But you see these same empty, senseless, worthless people were the same people that they later sent to come and rescue them when they were in trouble.
Jdg 11:5 KJV And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob:
These so called vain men encountered grace with Jephtha and their lives changed. They might have rejected you from home but
How do you receive the grace that brings transformation
(1) Receive the Grace Himself which is Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.
Rom 10:9-10 KJV 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Have a personal intimate relationship with God. This is what transformed the life of Paul
(2) Submit yourself to a man with grace, a man that carries grace.
Eph 5:21 KJV Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
We may be age-mate, classmates, roommates, course mates but we are never grace mates. It has nothing to do with tribe, ethnicity, or place of birth. It is simply by the grace of God. If you recognize greater grace in the life of people, celebrate it and key I to it. your life will be transformed.
Pro 13:20 KJV He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
(3) Renew your mind.
Rom 12:2 KJV And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The grace is available and it’s unconditional, key I to it.
(4) Be a partaker of the grace.
Phi 1:7 KJV Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.
Whatsoever you desire like a gift, connect to it through sowing seeds into it. Read their books and materials, listen to their messages, and come under their mentorship. You are not buying because you cannot buy the grace of God. It is not transactional. But you connect to it. It will be attracted and drawn unto you.