701. Born Identity: You Have Been Perfected

It’s been said that “nobody is perfect.” While that may be true from a behavioral perspective, it shouldn’t be confused with who God has already made us to be as believers in Jesus Christ. You have been perfected, not by how well you perform or by the things you do, but by what Jesus did on our behalf. Perfection was a necessary requirement, but we will never achieve this status based upon our works and behavior. While behavior improvement can gradually take place in our lives and result in good and positive results - it has nothing to do with having already been perfected in Him. Growing in our understanding that Jesus has already made us inwardly complete will likely result in beneficial, outward changes with what we do. But we should avoid getting this backwards or it will lead to frustration, guilt and fear. God demanded perfection, not progress. Therefore, He provided a Substitute, not a goal.

We borrowed the last part above from our friends at The Grace Cafe Podcast, and we mentioned them on this podcast. We recommend that you give them a listen!



   
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689. Guaranteed to Fail: Working at Becoming More Like Jesus

Anyone who has spent much time in the church world has probably heard that the primary goal for the Christian is to work at becoming more like Jesus. It sounds logical, doesn’t it? Sermons tend to shine from such a message with a typical backdrop of people shouting “Amen!” But seldom will you find a consistent model on exactly what it means to become more like Jesus through what we do, although most will have their preconceived ideas or assumptions. The general idea religion presents is that we gradually and progressively improve by our works and lifestyle choices. We’re told that improved morality will make us more like Christ. This approach has believers turning the gospel inside out as we work to achieve the impossible. It will benefit us to realize we’ve been born of God and have received an inheritance that has already made us like Jesus - completely righteous and holy just as He is - even while we’re in this world. These qualities we have inherited as children are gifts provided by grace, not our attempts to improve the flesh through human effort.



   
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439. New & Improved Vs. Recreated

New life in Christ. We've become a brand new creation. What exactly does this mean for us? It's the reality in which we now live. Jesus actually became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. You weren't just changed but rather you were recreated from nothing. The old life has passed away (died). Having passed from death to life, we can now experience freedom the way God meant for it to be.

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Download New and Improved Vs. Recreated
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"Watch" this episode on YouTube.

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This week's GIG Bite - A bite-sized chunk of this week's program.

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385. The Riches of Our Inheritance

We take a look at some of the qualities that we've already inherited. Having been born of the Father and brought into union with Jesus Christ has given us all things that pertain to life and Godliness. It's not something we strive to attain but through our inheritance we benefit from the work that God did through Christ. This inheritance means so much more than simply having our sins forgiven!

The Riches of Our Inheritance (14 Min, 9.6 MB)
(Click to Play or Right-Click to Download.)

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"Watch" this episode on YouTube.

This week's GIG Bite (A quick audio sample of this week's program.)

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202. Identity - How Did I Become Who I Am?

Download/Play MP3 (6.4MB)
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The Bible has a lot to say about the new life that Christians have. Various passages talk about our new identity in Christ. How did we gain this new identity? How did we become who we are? Was it by works? Or was it simply by birth? Are we trying to become something through our behavior, or are we already who we are on the basis of having inherited a new nature and identity, apart from anything we've ever done or will ever do? We'll discuss these questions and more this week on Growing in Grace.