Living in God’s Amazing Grace
2 Cor. 6:1-2 (NCV)
"So we beg you: DO NOT let the grace that you received from God be for nothing!"
This summer, we looked at God’s grace and this Fall we’ve learned about the Means of receiving God's grace throughout our lives which Methodists have practiced for centuries. Let’s review what we’ve learned. First, grace is God’s unmerited love and forgiveness. We're saved by grace. You can't earn grace, work for it, or buy it. It's a gift of God.
Grace touches all aspects of our lives. Life is all by grace. Everything that God does in you, for you, through you, He does by His grace. Robert Louis Stephenson said, "There's nothing but God's grace. We walk upon it. We breathe it. We live it and we die by it." Here’s the Good News: God’s grace is always available to you. All of grace is wrapped up in one person, Jesus. John 1:17 says, "The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." So how do you get it? It’s very simple: By trusting in Christ as your Lord and Savior. God made it so simple that everybody could understand and receive His grace. It's not 23 steps or 4 pathways or 8 rituals to go through. You don’t earn grace through your own efforts. All you have to do is put your faith in Christ. Grace comes through a personal relationship with Jesus. "Now we rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God, all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done in dying for our sins making us friends of God." That's what you call having friends in high places! You become a friend of God.
For the last 6 weeks, we discovered five practices of Means of Grace whereby we can receive grace in our lives daily. Wesley defined the means of grace as “outward signs, words or actions ordained by God,…to be….channels whereby He (God) might convey to men preventing, justifying or sanctifying grace.” These basic and essential practices are how Christians open themselves to God’s grace and allow the Holy Spirit to work within us, transform us and empower us to do the work of Jesus. The means of grace make us available to God, give us the power of grace to conquer sin, purify us, and make us whole. They empower us to attend to all his teachings, summarized in the Great Commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all of your strength … You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31). The Means of Grace are Worship and Holy Communion, daily prayer, daily Bible study, Accountability in a weekly small group Bible study and fasting. Finally, Wesley believed these practices lead us to live a holy life characterized by Works of Mercy or compassion and justice for the least, the last and the lost. These share the presence and love of Christ in tangible ways by ministering to other’s needs.
While grace is free, it's not cheap. It cost Jesus His life. Grace is the most expensive gift there is. Jesus died on the cross to pay for it. And He never wants us to forget the sacrifice that He made so that we could receive the grace of God. That’s why we celebrate communion every week and why Wesley believed that Methodists should celebrate communion every time that they can. Because we have fickle memories and we need to be regularly reminded of Jesus’ sacrifice for us so that our lives will be lived in response to God’s grace.
When Jesus died on the cross, He did three things. First, he paid the penalty for our sin. The punishment we should have received because of our willful rebellion against God’s will Jesus took upon himself in His death on the cross. He paid the price for my sin so I can be forgiven. Near the city of San Juan Campos in Brazil, there is a remarkable prison. Thirty years ago the Brazilian government turned it over to a band of Christians. They cleaned up the prison, renamed it Humanita and ran it according to the Christian faith. With the exception of two full time staff members, all the work there is done by inmates. Families outside the prison adopt an inmate to do work with during and after his term. When Chuck Colson visited this prison, he found the inmates smiling, particularly the murderer who held the keys, opened the gate and let him in. "When I walked in, I saw men who were at peace with themselves and with God. I saw clean living areas. I saw people working industriously. The walls were decorated with Biblical sayings from Psalms and Proverbs. My guide escorted me to the notorious prison cell that was once used for torture. Today, he told me that block houses only a single inmate. As we reached the end of a long concrete corridor and he put the key in the lock he paused and said, `Are you sure you want to go in?' `Of course,' I replied impatiently. `I've been in isolation cells all over the world.' Slowly he swung the massive door open and Church Colson saw the prisoner in that punishment cell. It was a beautiful crucifix carved by the Humanita inmates. The prisoner was Jesus hanging on the cross. ‘He's doing time for the rest of us,' my guide said softly." This is what the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus is all about. Jesus has served your time. He paid your penalty. He died in your place. Jesus took the punishment that we should have taken.
Second, He broke the power of sin. Through His grace, Jesus gives us the power to change the habits, the hurts and the hang-ups in our lives that mess up our lives. That’s justifying and sanctifying grace, and it gives us the power to choose God in our daily lives and decisions rather than to choose sin. Third, he gives us the gift of eternal life for those who believe in Him. Sin separates us from God but in Jesus death, we have been washed clean and can now not only draw near to God today but we have the hope of eternal life with him forever.
In light of what Jesus Christ has done for us, what should be our response? The Apostle Paul writes, "So we beg you [hear the urgency in Paul's voice!], do not let the grace you receive from God be for nothing." What do we owe Jesus Christ? Everything! We owe Him the rest of our life! We owe Him everything we've got. We owe Him our past, our present, and our future. We owe him our life. And so with our lives, we have the opportunity to say to Jesus, “Thank You for Your amazing, outrageous, and abundant grace." We do that four ways.
First, I can show my gratitude for God’s grace by making my life count. 1 Cor. 6:20 says, "Don't you see that you can't keep on living however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? So let people see God in and through your body." You can't understand the grace of God and keep on living the same way you've always lived. You can't understand the grace of God and keep ignoring His commands, or keep wasting your time on the trivial. You can't understand the grace of God and keep spending your money any way you please. You’ve been bought with a price. After the failed assassination attempt on President Reagan, he said, "I have a new sense that I was spared for a purpose and that all my time belonged to God after that." Through the cross, you were spared for a purpose. Jesus did not die on the cross for you just to go on living any old way you want to. He made you for a purpose. He created you for a purpose. He redeemed you for a purpose. He died for you for a purpose and He wants you to fulfill it. Make your life count and the only way to do that is to work for the eternal purposes of and will of God.
Second, I can show my gratitude for God’s grace by seeking holiness. To be a Methodist, you must flee sin, as Wesley said, and pursue holiness. That can only come by the grace of God and the practice of the Means of Grace. (Put the 5 Means of Grace on a slide under this point) Methodists need to be in worship and take communion every week. Methodists are to fast one day a week. Methodists read the Bible every day. Methodists attend a weekly small group Bible study where people support, encourage and hold each other accountable for living the faith. Lastly, Methodist prayer every day with a significant time listening for God’s voice and will.
Third, become a generous person. "You are familiar with the generosity of Jesus Christ, rich as He was, He gave it all away in one stroke. He became poor and we became rich." 2 Cor. 8:9 (Mes) More than anything, Jesus was generous. He gave everything, including his life, that we might know grace. If you want to measure how much you understand grace, how you're living by grace, and how much you are grateful for grace, look at your giving. "Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in ever good work." Until you learn to be generous with your time, your money, your life, your resources, and your opportunities, you're not going to be like Christ. Nothing is greater proof that you understand grace than that you are lovingly gracious and generous to other people and to God.
Here's the question: Are you going to trust the God who gave His life for you? If you can trust Him enough for salvation, can't you trust Him enough in your finances? The truth is you really don't own anything. God loans to you what you have for 70 or 80 years. It's all His in the first place. God gives to us liberally, generously, and abundantly. Then He says, "Now show a little gratitude. Be generous in giving yourself. Tithe back to Me." Why? Because He needs the money? No. He wants you to become like Him and His son, Jesus, who was willing to give everything of himself for the sake of the Father and others.
Fourth is by serving God. In Matthew 20:28, Jesus told us that he came "not be served, but to serve." Serving is an expectation and invitation to live beyond yourself. Every day, Jesus calls all of us to serve. To follow Jesus, you must not only serve but serve with a servant’s heart. You are not meant to just come and sit and soak up in the pew. You are called to serve. But Jesus doesn’t just call us to serve, He has also equipped us to serve. You have been given spiritual gifts and are meant to use them to minister to others in Jesus’ name. 1 Peter tells us this: "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." The abilities, the talents, the opportunities, the education, the freedom, the relationships and all the things that bless your life were not given just to be squandered. They were given for a purpose and that is to God’s will in a ll times and all places.
Fifth, share the Good News of Grace. Acts 20:24 "The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus gave me -- to tell people the Good News about God's grace." Notice it doesn't say the most important thing in life is to get married, to fund your retirement, to travel a lot and have a lot of fun or even to be happy. It says the most important thing in life is to fulfill your mission. Jesus died on the cross for you and showed His grace to you so that you can fulfill your mission. If you don't, then he died for nothing. At the heart of our mission is to tell other people the good news of grace. Each of you has a story of God’s grace in your life to share with others. God put you on this earth not only to experience His grace but the tell others of His grace as well. Once you step across the line of faith, you are meant to become a witness and an evangelist telling other people the Good News of Jesus Christ. You know Christ because somebody told you. Who are you going to tell?
If somebody died for you, wouldn’t you want to know about it? Yes. And that it the motivation behind everything we do here at Gretna UMC. Jesus died for every single person on the WestBank, New Orleans and the world. If a person lives and dies without ever knowing that their sins are forgiven, that there's a purpose for living, then for that person, Jesus Christ's death is a waste. The Bible tells us in 2 Peter that the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God wants everybody in His family. Everybody needs Jesus. Because God cares, we must care. One of the ways we show gratitude for our own salvation is to share that good news with other people and to tell them. Because people are dying without the grace of God. Is anybody going to be in heaven because of you? If you died right now, is anybody going tin heaven because? Who are you going to tell? We have the greatest news in the world. We show our gratitude for the grace of God by telling as many people as we can about the good news.
