What's The Big Deal About Grace? Series

Happy Easter to all of you! Welcome to Easter Sunday, including those of you online.

Easter is a time when God's people celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As much as you may admire Abraham Lincoln, your parents, or MLK, JR., there are not even two people who gather every Sunday to celebrate him. But over a hundred million people will gather together to celebrate Jesus today.

Why does Easter matter?

I want everyone to have the "Communication Card" near you. You'll find one in the pew in front of you. Please keep that handy. I'll share with you some instructions about this a little later in the service.

Keep your Bibles open to Ephesians 2 (page 1160 in your pew Bibles).

If there was ever a day that gives us hope, it is resurrection Sunday! The empty tomb of Jesus gives us hope. But how does it give us hope? How does His empty tomb give me hope for my life? In a word, it's grace. The big deal about Easter is grace.

1. What's the Big Deal about Easter?

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8).

Ephesians 2:8 is so simple and straightforward. For many here this morning, this is one of your most favorite passages in all the Bible. You could even put Ephesians 2:8 right above Jesus on the cross. Ephesians 2:8 does such a fantastic job explaining the "why" behind the whole event of Easter.

Programming Note: All throughout this morning's message, the passage will appear here next to me so you can see exactly what the Bible says. If you're having trouble seeing this screen, then you'll see the same thing on the screens above as well.

1.1 What is Grace?

If you are really going to understand what's the big deal about Easter, then you're going to need to understand the word grace. Grace isn't just the name of a woman in your family, and grace isn't just a way of describing how someone dances – "she dances with such grace." No, it's so much more than this. Grace is when God favors you even when He shouldn't. It's what many receive even when you (and me) deserve the exact opposite of grace. And Easter is all about grace.

And grace is all over your Bibles. David says in Psalm 103:8, "The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." The two blind men who wish Jesus to see their plight and heal them cry, "Have mercy on us, Son of David" (Matthew 9:27). The author of Hebrews tells us that we should "draw near to the throne of grace" so that "we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). Grace is all over the Bible.

1.2 Contrary to Human Nature

Grace is absolutely contrary to human nature. We think that, somehow, it's up to us.

The military says that we're to fight our way out.

Politicians say that we're going to legislate our way out.

Industry says we're going to work our way out.

Philosophy says we're going to think our way out.

And the "Working Man" thinking says there's no way out.

There's only one way out, and His name is Jesus.

1.2 What Are the Odds?

But again, grace is absolutely contrary to human nature – it goes completely against the odds.

A teacher was teaching her students how to spell. She told the class that she wanted each of them to describe what their parents did for a living and then spell their occupation. A girl named Mary went first and said, "My mother is a baker. B – A – K – E – R." If she were here, she would give everyone a cookie. Next came Tommy, who said, "My father is a banker. B – A – N - K – E – R." If she were here, he would give everyone a dollar. The third child was Jimmy, who said, "My mother is an ophthalmologist." Jimmy tried spelling the word, but he just couldn't do it. Finally, the teacher said, "Sit down, Jimmy, and you can try again after you have thought about it awhile." She turned to Johnny, who said, "My dad is a bookie. B – O – O – K – I. – E." And if he were here, he would lay down 8 - 5 odds that Jimmy ain't never going to spell ophthalmologist." And no human mind would have laid down odds that God would have engineered everything by the grace of God.

1.2.2 Contrary to Human Nature Cont.

Again, grace is absolutely contrary to human nature. And we all know this intuitively. As a matter of fact, you finish these sentences for me: "There's no such thing as a ????" "Free lunch." That's right. Somebody says, "I want to buy your lunch" — lookout.