Lesson for May 6, 2020

Christian Integrity

The Grace Pipeline

Since divine justice is impartial, any believer can succeed in the Christian life. Greater grace blessings are provided for those whochoose to acquire them. 

After salvation, the righteousness of God becomes the home for divine blessing. God’s righteousness within us creates a potential that does not exist in the unbeliever. Creating capacity in your soul by means of advancing to spiritual maturity is the key to receiving greater blessings. Only with increased capacity to receive greater blessings can God confidently prosper you without distracting you and potentially stopping your spiritual progress. 

The key to increased capacity is accurate Bible doctrine circulating in your soul. Maximum blessing given to believers glorifies Jesus Christ and fulfills the principle that God always blesses His righteousness wherever it is found. By imputing His righteousness to believers, God has set up a grace pipeline for blessing. All blessing from God comes through this pipeline. 

The source of these divine blessings is God’s grace, and His integrity insulates the pipeline against any human merit because man’s righteousness falls well short of God’s absolute righteousness. God does not bless a believer because of sincerity, personality, talent, intelligence, personal sacrifice, diligence, social action, tithing or emotionalism. Even legitimate Christian service, such as praying, witnessing or giving, does not merit blessing from God. These activities are themselves blessings and are the result of spiritual growth. Legitimate divine production expresses our love for God.

Even when God is disciplining us, He continues to support us with all the necessities of life. All believers receive logistical blessings from God to sustain them, but advancing believers receive greater blessings from God because of their increased capacity. Logistical grace blessings include life support (keeping you alive until God calls you home to Heaven), temporal supply (food, clothing and shelter), security provision (protection from the hazards of the devil’s world system) and spiritual provision (enabling every believer to learn Bible doctrine and grow spiritually regardless of I.Q, environment or any other factor). (Matthew 6:26; II Peter 3:18; Psalms 23:1; Lamentations 3:21-25)

Since God holds us securely in His omnipotent hands for all eternity and since nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, we can be confident that everything we need to fulfill God’s personal plan for us will be provided as we move forward in the Christian Way of Life. One of the keys to success as a Christian is to take one step at a time and apply what you learn as you grow. No one but God has all the answers to life’s questions, so it is imperative to learn as much as you can about God from His Word. (John 10:28; Romans 8:38-39)

Greater Grace Blessings

Since divine justice is impartial, any believer can succeed in the Christian life. Greater grace blessings are provided for those whochoose to acquire them. The acquisition of these greater grace blessings is accomplished by a positive believer who advances to spiritual maturity through consistent intake and proper application of Bible doctrine. Only the humanity of Jesus Christ faithfully remained inside God’s power system 100 % of the time. No one can live a life of sinless perfection like Christ, but Christians can spend a maximum amount of time in the same divine power system, the Divine Dynasphere, by making good decisions from a position of strength. Perception of Bible doctrine gives the advancing believer this decision-making strength.

Greater grace blessings exist in at least six categories:

1. Spiritual blessings are the reward of developing virtue in the soul which produces confidence in God, love for God, sharing the happiness of God and impersonal love directed toward others.
2. Temporal blessings are given to the maturing believer for his/her enjoyment here on earth. These blessings may include wealth, success in business, promotion, health, social life and love.

(I Peter 5:6-7)

3. Blessing by association overflows to family, friends, companies or associates as God prospers the spiritually mature believer. (Romans 12:14-21)
4. Historical blessing is blessing by association extended to a spiritually mature believer’s community, state or nation. (Leviticus 26:3-13)
5. Undeserved suffering is a blessing when a spiritually mature believer has the opportunity to make maximum use of the Bible doctrine in his/her soul and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 8:17-18)
6. Dying grace is a blessing for the spiritually mature believer who has utilized living grace in the execution of God’s plan, purpose and will. With grace and tranquility, the spiritually mature believer passes from this life with eager anticipation as a testimony to those around him/her of God’s unfailing love. (Psalms 116:15)

The greater grace spiritual blessings produce capacity for life and love, a total appreciation and understanding of God’s grace, the ability to handle disaster, the ability to interpret history in light of the Word of God, freedom from slavery to the details of life, adaptability to change, security from knowing God has a plan for your life and a personal sense of destiny from knowing God’s plan for the future.

God’s love for the believer continues into eternity. Every believer, regardless of spiritual status, will be happy for all eternity. However, special blessings await those who reach spiritual maturity and execute the Christian Way of Life while on earth. At the Judgment Seat of Christ, Jesus Christ will recognize those who reached spiritual maturity. Their positive volition will have permitted God to glorify His Son through them by giving them greater grace blessings. (I Corinthians 15:43, 53; II Thessalonians 2:14; I John 3:2; John 5:22; I Corinthians 3:11-14; Romans 5:17)

There is coming a time when every believer will stand before Jesus Christ to be evaluated. This evaluation is not based on our sins or human works. It is based, instead, on our response to God’s plan for us to learn and apply His Word and to mature spiritually. (Romans 14:12)

The Judgment Seat of Christ is for believers only and takes place sometime shortly after the Rapture of the Church. At the Rapture, all living and dead believers from the Church Age will meet Jesus Christ in the air and will be led in a processional to Heaven. Having received a glorified body like Christ’s, fully conscious, fully recognizable and with increased knowledge. God’s Word indicates that there will then be a time of celebration, when we worship and praise our Savior. (I Corinthians 4:5; 15:51-54;

I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Philippians 3:21; Revelation 19)

Scripture tells us that our Savior is preparing a dwelling place for us, the Bride of Christ (as we will be called in Heaven). But before the Lord can reveal all that will be ours for the eternal state, we must all be evaluated at the Judgment Seat of Christ. It is during our evaluation that we will suffer shame for a brief moment for those failed opportunities to fulfill our spiritual lives. (John 14:1-3; II Corinthians 5:8-10; Romans 14:11-12)

Most believers will never receive recognition in this life for their accomplishments, but that will not be the case in eternity. There is going to be great inequality in the eternal state for believers. It is our fulfillment of God’s plan under the power of the Holy Spirit that will be rewarded in eternity, not our human good works. Only divine production is rewarded. All divine production is a matter of God’s grace and is never based on human works. (I Corinthians 9:24-27)

God’s plan for your life is simple; fulfilling it is also simple. It becomes difficult only when we fail to utilize all that God has given us and begin to manufacture our own problems by rejecting truth. The days in which we live are uncertain and the national scene is unstable at best. Yet for those believers who choose to execute the Christian Way of Life, they can remain stabilized, confident and faithful in time of pressure or even national disaster. Only with Bible doctrine in our souls that has been converted into wisdom through application, will we be able to put everything in life into its proper perspective. (Matthew 11:28-30; James 1:1-12; II Timothy 1:12)

For every believer there are only two choices after salvation: 1) execute God’s plan, purpose and will 2) execute your own plan and play into Satan’s hand. The first will result in what the Bible calls gold, silver and precious stones, analogous to divine production on earth. The second will result in what the Bible calls wood, hay and straw, analogous to human production on earth. Both will be judged (represented by fire) at the Judgment Seat. When gold, silver and precious stones are subjected to fire it only purifies them more and enhances their value. When wood, hay and straw are subjected to fire they are burned up. It is, therefore, only divine production that survives the Judgment Seat of Christ and is rewarded. 

(I Corinthians 3:13-15)

Divine production is good of intrinsic (lasting) value done by a believer when he is filled with God the Holy Spirit. Divine production is a result of spiritual growth and a grace function of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. Therefore, all the honor and glory belong to God, not to the believer. As a matter of fact, God’s Word seems to indicate that these rewards will be placed at the feet of Christ, as a testimony to the fact that He deserves the honor. (Revelation 4:10-11)

All other production is human good and contributes nothing to your spiritual life. Human good can be a distraction, if not understood and if it is allowed to be a substitute for your spiritual life. Going to church, giving money, praying, witnessing, loving other Christians can be either divine production or human good depending upon the motivation: filled with the Spirit or not filled with the Spirit. Divine production adds nothing to your spiritual life because it is the result of your spiritual life (your private relationship with God). You do not have a spiritual life apart from the knowledge and application of God’s Word. (John 4:24; Romans 12:1-2; II Timothy 2:15; 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12; II Peter 3:18)

The Judgment Seat of Christ is a serious matter and not to be taken lightly. As a believer, you cannot lose your salvation and you will be happy for all eternity whether you live your spiritual life or not, but what a tragic waste of a life and what a tremendous loss of rewards. (II Timothy 2:11-13)