Dinner Church: Grace, 26 May 2019
27 05 19 Filed in: Dinner Church
Dinner Church: Grace
Big Idea: Grace is truly amazing, a gift from God which needs to be received.
What is grace?
It’s a name.
It’s what some people say before a meal.
In two words, grace is unmerited favor. It’s getting a good thing you did nothing to earn or deserve.
People often confuse grace with mercy or justice. I like to think of it this way:
Justice is when you smash my car and I make you pay for the damages.
Mercy is when you smash my car and I say, “Don’t worry about it.” You’re off the hook.
Grace is when you smash my car and I say, “Don’t worry about it. Let me buy you some ice cream.”
What? That’s crazy, right? Who does that?
God.
We live in a world that seeks justice. We don’t always get justice, but we want it. We like things to be fair. If you break something, you should fix it. If I wrong you, you want me to fix it, to make amends, to make it right. We like to see criminals punished. Justice.
However, when we are the guilty party, we seek mercy.
When have you experienced grace?
Last Sunday, billionaire tech investor Robert F. Smith announced at Morehead College’s graduation ceremony he’s paying off the student loans of the entire 2019 graduating class. $40 million. That’s grace!
Tonight I’ve got some bad news and some good news for all of us.
Here’s the bad news: the Creator God is perfect. Holy. Set apart. Intolerant of evil, sin, imperfection, mistakes, …us!
Contrary to popular belief, God does not judge on a curve. Our good deeds don’t cancel our flaws. We all mess up…every day. God calls that sin. It might be something awful like murder or something seemingly innocent like a little white lie. It doesn’t matter. We all do it. We have lustful thoughts, greedy intentions, cheat on our taxes, break the speed limit on I-75, gossip, …the list goes on and on!
For some reason, our culture believes if you do more good things than bad things, everything’s ok. That’s like saying if you put enough sugar in your coffee, it will cancel out the drops of poisonous cyanide someone put in it!
How many of you would drink that?
God’s standard is perfection, and since none of us is perfect, we’re all hopeless on our own. There’s a really good chance someday you will die! Me, too! Jesus talked several times about Judgment Day, the moment when we will stand before God and have to give an account for how we lived our lives…and what happens next.
Judgment Day is coming. Are you ready?
Oh, Kirk, forget about the future. Live for the moment!
I can tell you plenty of stories of friends who are living today the consequences of their actions from years ago.
Judgment Day is coming. Are you ready?
The truth is, none of us can be ready…on our own. All of our good works—while important—can’t begin to overcome the death of sin, of our bad deeds. Paul, who wrote much of the Christian Bible, said to some of the first Christians in what is now Turkey,
Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. (Ephesians 2:1-3, NLT)
This is not a pretty picture. Every day we make choices, choices to follow God or follow satan, the devil, the world, the culture. Every day we’re bombarded with messages that say ignore God and do what feels good, what makes you happy.
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) (Ephesians 2:4-5, NLT)
Usually I don’t like the word “but.” It’s a setup, like, “I’d love to come to your party, but I might have to binge-watch something on Netflix” or “I’d really like to help, but I’m broke.” This is a good “but.” Here’s the good news! Paul is saying Paul’s speaking to Jesus-followers. He’s saying on our own, we’re hopeless, but God. God is merciful. He loved us. He saw us dead in our sins and hopeless, which is why He sent Jesus to die and be raised from the dead. This is what the Christian faith is all about: the death and resurrection of Jesus.
If our good can outweigh the bad, there never would’ve been a need for Jesus to leave heaven, come to earth, be born as a baby, live and teach, die for your sins and mine, and then come back to life, proving his power to conquer sin and death (the victory we spoke of at our last Dinner Church). In other words, if we can know God and go to heaven by being good, we don’t need Jesus. But we do! Because we can’t!
Do you see the note at the end of the verse? It is only by God’s grace—unmerited favor—that you have been saved. Paul is saying it’s a gift you must receive. You can’t earn it. You can’t buy it. The only way you can know God and spend eternity with him is to let the sacrifice of Jesus deal with it. Jesus died so you can live. Forever. With Him.
Do you want that? It’s a choice. We can choose to follow God now and forever or reject God now and forever. He has given us the freedom to choose. But choose carefully. Your life depends upon it. Your future depends upon it. Your destiny depends upon it.
For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6-7, NLT)
This is a beautiful picture of what it means to follow Jesus. I’m not talking about religion or tradition or even church. This is about reconciling with your Creator, confessing your sins and mistakes, asking Jesus to forgive you, and make him the leader of your life. If we surrender and die to ourselves, our will, and our agenda, he will take over, do life with us, and lead us now and forever.
This morning across the street we did a baptism where a woman was dunked in water to symbolize dying to her old life and then when she came up out of the water, it symbolized she is born again, she is resurrected like Jesus, she has new life. She is not instantly perfect, but her faith in Jesus means her sins are completely removed and forgiven. She has freedom. She has peace. She has experienced amazing grace, the gift of God of Jesus the Messiah.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. (Ephesians 2:8-9, NLT)
I love these two verses. They remind me I can’t experience salvation or peace or a relationship with God by being a good person or becoming a pastor or going to church or praying or reading the Bible or doing anything religious. It’s as simple as letting go and letting God. It’s about experiencing amazing grace.
Challenge
No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, I’ve been praying that tonight you might take a next step. It might be to ask more questions and discover Jesus further. It might be tonight’s your night to say for the first time, “Jesus, I give you my life.” Maybe you have been calling yourself a Christian but you’re not really following Jesus. You’ve been living for yourself, filled with pride and selfishness and maybe even hate. Jesus said the true sign of his followers is simply love. Followers of Jesus are to be filled with love—and grace—and extend it to others. Think about your next step with God. He’s here and He’s calling you closer, inviting you into a deep relationship with Him, possible only because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, His gift of grace.
You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.
Big Idea: Grace is truly amazing, a gift from God which needs to be received.
What is grace?
It’s a name.
It’s what some people say before a meal.
In two words, grace is unmerited favor. It’s getting a good thing you did nothing to earn or deserve.
People often confuse grace with mercy or justice. I like to think of it this way:
Justice is when you smash my car and I make you pay for the damages.
Mercy is when you smash my car and I say, “Don’t worry about it.” You’re off the hook.
Grace is when you smash my car and I say, “Don’t worry about it. Let me buy you some ice cream.”
What? That’s crazy, right? Who does that?
God.
We live in a world that seeks justice. We don’t always get justice, but we want it. We like things to be fair. If you break something, you should fix it. If I wrong you, you want me to fix it, to make amends, to make it right. We like to see criminals punished. Justice.
However, when we are the guilty party, we seek mercy.
When have you experienced grace?
Last Sunday, billionaire tech investor Robert F. Smith announced at Morehead College’s graduation ceremony he’s paying off the student loans of the entire 2019 graduating class. $40 million. That’s grace!
Tonight I’ve got some bad news and some good news for all of us.
Here’s the bad news: the Creator God is perfect. Holy. Set apart. Intolerant of evil, sin, imperfection, mistakes, …us!
Contrary to popular belief, God does not judge on a curve. Our good deeds don’t cancel our flaws. We all mess up…every day. God calls that sin. It might be something awful like murder or something seemingly innocent like a little white lie. It doesn’t matter. We all do it. We have lustful thoughts, greedy intentions, cheat on our taxes, break the speed limit on I-75, gossip, …the list goes on and on!
For some reason, our culture believes if you do more good things than bad things, everything’s ok. That’s like saying if you put enough sugar in your coffee, it will cancel out the drops of poisonous cyanide someone put in it!
How many of you would drink that?
God’s standard is perfection, and since none of us is perfect, we’re all hopeless on our own. There’s a really good chance someday you will die! Me, too! Jesus talked several times about Judgment Day, the moment when we will stand before God and have to give an account for how we lived our lives…and what happens next.
Judgment Day is coming. Are you ready?
Oh, Kirk, forget about the future. Live for the moment!
I can tell you plenty of stories of friends who are living today the consequences of their actions from years ago.
Judgment Day is coming. Are you ready?
The truth is, none of us can be ready…on our own. All of our good works—while important—can’t begin to overcome the death of sin, of our bad deeds. Paul, who wrote much of the Christian Bible, said to some of the first Christians in what is now Turkey,
Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. (Ephesians 2:1-3, NLT)
This is not a pretty picture. Every day we make choices, choices to follow God or follow satan, the devil, the world, the culture. Every day we’re bombarded with messages that say ignore God and do what feels good, what makes you happy.
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) (Ephesians 2:4-5, NLT)
Usually I don’t like the word “but.” It’s a setup, like, “I’d love to come to your party, but I might have to binge-watch something on Netflix” or “I’d really like to help, but I’m broke.” This is a good “but.” Here’s the good news! Paul is saying Paul’s speaking to Jesus-followers. He’s saying on our own, we’re hopeless, but God. God is merciful. He loved us. He saw us dead in our sins and hopeless, which is why He sent Jesus to die and be raised from the dead. This is what the Christian faith is all about: the death and resurrection of Jesus.
If our good can outweigh the bad, there never would’ve been a need for Jesus to leave heaven, come to earth, be born as a baby, live and teach, die for your sins and mine, and then come back to life, proving his power to conquer sin and death (the victory we spoke of at our last Dinner Church). In other words, if we can know God and go to heaven by being good, we don’t need Jesus. But we do! Because we can’t!
Do you see the note at the end of the verse? It is only by God’s grace—unmerited favor—that you have been saved. Paul is saying it’s a gift you must receive. You can’t earn it. You can’t buy it. The only way you can know God and spend eternity with him is to let the sacrifice of Jesus deal with it. Jesus died so you can live. Forever. With Him.
Do you want that? It’s a choice. We can choose to follow God now and forever or reject God now and forever. He has given us the freedom to choose. But choose carefully. Your life depends upon it. Your future depends upon it. Your destiny depends upon it.
For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6-7, NLT)
This is a beautiful picture of what it means to follow Jesus. I’m not talking about religion or tradition or even church. This is about reconciling with your Creator, confessing your sins and mistakes, asking Jesus to forgive you, and make him the leader of your life. If we surrender and die to ourselves, our will, and our agenda, he will take over, do life with us, and lead us now and forever.
This morning across the street we did a baptism where a woman was dunked in water to symbolize dying to her old life and then when she came up out of the water, it symbolized she is born again, she is resurrected like Jesus, she has new life. She is not instantly perfect, but her faith in Jesus means her sins are completely removed and forgiven. She has freedom. She has peace. She has experienced amazing grace, the gift of God of Jesus the Messiah.
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. (Ephesians 2:8-9, NLT)
I love these two verses. They remind me I can’t experience salvation or peace or a relationship with God by being a good person or becoming a pastor or going to church or praying or reading the Bible or doing anything religious. It’s as simple as letting go and letting God. It’s about experiencing amazing grace.
Challenge
No matter where you are in your spiritual journey, I’ve been praying that tonight you might take a next step. It might be to ask more questions and discover Jesus further. It might be tonight’s your night to say for the first time, “Jesus, I give you my life.” Maybe you have been calling yourself a Christian but you’re not really following Jesus. You’ve been living for yourself, filled with pride and selfishness and maybe even hate. Jesus said the true sign of his followers is simply love. Followers of Jesus are to be filled with love—and grace—and extend it to others. Think about your next step with God. He’s here and He’s calling you closer, inviting you into a deep relationship with Him, possible only because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, His gift of grace.
You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.