Grace abuse...Is that Possible??
Illus. From K. Edward Skidmore
In a book called The Grace Awakening, Chuck Swindoll tells about a Missionary family who left their Work because of Condemnation from other Missionaries. What was the theological disagreement over? Peanut butter.
You see, the Mission field where they went did not have access to Peanut Butter. So, that particular family arranged for a friend to send them Peanut Butter from the States every now and then. The problem was that the other Missionaries considered it a mark of their true spirituality that they did without Peanut Butter. They explained, “We believe that since peanut butter is not available here, we should give it up for the cause of Christ.”
Well, the new family disagreed. And the end result was that they were pushed out of that mission.
Of course a part of me thinks that if there’s anything worth fighting over, it’s probably Peanut Butter! But a more mature part of me agrees with Swindoll who concluded, “What we have here is a modern-day example of a group of squint-eyed legalists spying out and attacking another’s liberty. Not even missionaries are exempt.”
Americans probably more than anybody else in the entire world celebrate liberty
Each and every day… Without question as to why we have it and where it came
from Without question…
Our liberty stems from the fact that God was involved in the creation of this country, our Constitution
and everything else for that matter in our lives and we received all those things because of Grace...
People are quick to tell you what to do, how to do it and when to do it in society and more and more...were told what to think and what's correct to say..
And when political correctness is challenged with commonsense...intolerance raises its ugly head and the digging into one's past begins and the assault of ones character, until there seems to be a scandal and then a fall from grace...
We see it with CEOs, political candidates and a myriad of men and women once held in high esteem...who made a mistake and somehow where labeled as fallen from grace.
It happens on the worldwide stage… It happens on the local front as well
And usually almost always the same response comes from the ridiculing
and the digging..."and they call themselves a Christian"
The accuser persuades society to forget all the good things someone has done
and convinces them to believe one mistake is their ruination...once they've fallen from grace that's it..it's over
Romans 5:20 NKJ
20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more
The Msg. Says it this way...
20-21 All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn’t, and doesn’t, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.
When sin creeps in and rears its ugly head as it always does...
Grace is always there to confront it head on!
When it’s sin versus grace, grace wins hands down. All sin can do is threaten us with death, and that’s the end of it. Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.
God in his infinite wisdom… Knows the human nature better
Than we know it ourselves and created a safety net called...
Grace...and its for whosoever, it's for all
You can't fall from grace… You fall into Grace and you run in to Grace
Grace is everywhere you are..before you even get there..
TBS. where sin abounded, grace abounded much more
The accuser knows that he has a death sentence and his objective
is to somehow take everyone else right along with him...
John 10:9-10 NKJ
9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Steal, kill and destroy and to that I would add...condemn, condemn, condemn...
Romans 8:1-2 NKJ
8 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,[a] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
The accuser doesn't want to let go of the condemnation factor…
But the truth is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free
from the law of sin and death and from the condemnation of it...
Even though Grace has been with us from the moment that
Jesus arrived on the scene...there are still those who are oblivious
to the liberation for the soul..it brought with it..
Most of the world… Even Christians included, are living
Spiritually below their means
Spiritually their at the poverty level… what's worse is they aren't even aware they are...And that's exactly where the accuser wants them to be... Spiritually bankrupt!
People are down and out, depressed and are looking for anything that represents a small glimmer of hope...even if it's only for a fleeting moment.
For whatever reason society just can't seem to let go of the old life of the
Law that they're living...they hang onto it with their hands clenched tightly
around it, as if it were in a choke hold...not realizing that it's the reason for all their problems
And when you see the condition of the world, happening all around you on the news and in the circles of your neighborhoods… It almost seems as though
It's at an epidemic level.
If we don't start following the mandate that we been given
called the great commission...Will society ever hear and understand
and accept the gift of grace that Jesus gave and continues to give to all
that will come and believe?
They don't need Religion, they have seen Religion. They NEED JESUS!
If you ask a person when the last time they told someone about Jesus was…
The response is usually followed by… a long pause, then followed by more Silence
That Silence is deafening...we need to realize that,
Our hands are His hands..
Our legs are His legs..
Our Voice is His Voice...
If we're going to do our part and as Christians I think we would want
to do our part in presenting a glorious church for Jesus Triumphant Return,
Then Church, we can remain silent no more...
We must tell others about the life-giving, life-changing gospel
that Grace offers to all...and the benefits that go with it
I'm talking about John 10:10 this morning...
I'm talking about the abundant life that Jesus came
And died on the cross to deliver to all who would receive it...
The accuser has the younger generation convinced that it's better
To join some foreign fight and die as what they think is a martyr...
then to become a Christian and live an abundant life now
and forever more in eternity...
Romans 8:12 MSG
12-14 So don’t you see that we don’t owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There’s nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!
(Society doesn't feel this way, because they have blinders on… They haven't heard the good news and if they have they haven't come to understand exactly what the good news is…
But I also wonder if Christians actually feel this way, concerning their old life?
There's no room for woe is me... In the abundant life that Jesus offers
And I sometimes think that we think life is better on the inside of the box where it is safe, instead of on the outside of the box where Jesus intended for us to live the abundant life and to tell others about the opportunity that awaits them...
Then and only then will we feel like...there are things to do and places to go)
Romans 8:15-17 This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!
Time is short and we must be about our fathers business of telling others about the amazing story in the life of Jesus in the gospel message and not be concerned with what others may think or say....we should have the expectancy of "what's next Papa" because there is such a beautiful innocence when we come with childlike faith.
Will there be mistakes? Yes…there will be mistakes!
Will there be temptations along the way? Yes…there will be many temptations!
Will the accuser keep trying to condemn us? Yes...he will be relentless!
But there will also be Grace there every step of the way as a safety net to catch, help and propel us to Victory continually for the Kingdoms objective...
Peter denied Jesus three times the night before Jesus was crucified and experienced Grace and became known as the rock Jesus built His church on...His shadow was even known to have healed people as he walked by.
Saul lead vigilante Groups and hunted and killed Christians, before he was blinded by the light and gave his life to Jesus and became the Apostle Paul...he to experienced Grace and went on to write about it in great detail in nearly 2/3 of the New Testament and changed untold numbers of n
The bible is full of examples of men and women with less than perfect pasts...in fact that describes us all doesn't it?
The difference is they decided to "Dare to Believe" and they experienced the life changing message of Grace and forever helped change the world for the better...
If you were to insert your name… And were to tell your story about what you had done up to the point that you experienced Grace...how would your story end as to what Grace had done for you and the others you had influence over?
Illus. By Jeff Skinner
One of America’s greatest poets is Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The year 1860 found Longfellow happy in his life, enjoying a widening recognition, and elated over the election of Abraham Lincoln which he believed signaled the triumph of freedom and redemption for the nation.
The following year the Civil War began. On July 9, 1861 Longfellow’s wife, Fanny, was near an open window sealing locks of her daughter’s hair, using hot sealing wax.
Suddenly her dress caught fire and engulfed her with flames. Her husband, sleeping in the next room, was awaked by her screams. As he desperately tried to put out the fire and save his wife, he was severely burned on his face and hands.
Fanny died the next day. Longfellow’s severe burns would not even allow him to attend Fanny’s funeral. His white beard, which so identified with him, was one of the results of the tragedy – the burn scars on his face made shaving almost impossible.
In his diary for Christmas day 1861 he wrote, “How inexpressibly sad are the holidays.”
In 1862 the toll of war dead began to mount and in his diary for that year Longfellow wrote of Christmas, “A merry Christmas say the children, but that is no more for me.”
In 1863 his son who had run away to join the Union army was severely wounded and returned home in December. There is no entry in Longfellow’s diary for that Christmas.
But on Christmas Day 1864 – at age 57 – Longfellow sat down to try to capture, if possible, the joy of the season. He began:
I heard the bells on Christmas day.
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
As he came to the third stanza, he was stopped by the thought of the condition of his beloved country. The Battle of Gettysburg was not long past. Days looked dark, and he probably asked himself the question, “How can I write about peace on earth, good will to men in this war-torn country, where brother fights against brother and father against son?” But he kept writing – and what did he write?
And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth”, I said,
For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
It seems as if he could have been writing for our kind of day. Then, as all of us should do, he turned his thoughts to the One who gives true and perfect peace, and continued writing:
Then peeled the bells more loud and deep;
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.”
And so there came into being that marvelous Christmas carol, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.”
Sometimes we think we only need grace every now and then…
Later we realize we need it on a more frequent basis...
when the truth is, we all need it on a moment by moment basis...
It's more than a safety net...it's our umbilical cord, that connects, preserves and maintains our relationship with God, through His Son Jesus....
It's been kicked and pushed around, abused and misused...and yet it stands with open arms ready to meet you at the point of your need.
Text Illustration: by Martin Kim
“If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent an economist. But, our greatest need was for Grace, forgiveness, Love and redemption, and, therefore, God sent a Savior!
We are mandated to Tell everyone we know about Jesus...
The Gospel changed our lives...It will change everyone's life it comes
in contact with and it will change the world, if we only will do our part
to let everyone know about...
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!
Let's pray
