THE LIFE OF G.R.A.C.E.
“Embrace God Intimately”
September 25, 2005
Intro: We have been looking at the Shepherd’s Covenant over the last few weeks and the different aspects that it entails in helping us to live a life of grace. The Shepherd’s Covenant was developed by Focus on the Family to encourage pastors to be diligent to the call of God on their lives. It reads:
“We are joined together by a common call of God to feed His sheep, but we are also tied by a common commitment to purity, holiness, righteousness and faithfulness. Our agreement to submit to the Shepherd’s Covenant transcends theological differences, denominational connection and local congregational restraints. We are bound to one another by our calls and by the knowledge that one day the Great Shepherd will be the final judge.”
The specific aspects of the covenant we have looked at are:
G- Genuine Accountability
R- Right Relationships
A- A Servant’s Heart
C- Constant Safeguards
E- Embrace God Intimately
Today we are going to look at what it means to embrace God intimately. We are going to focus very specifically on a passage that I feel God has placed on my heart this week for this time in the life of our church.
“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open. When down-and-outers get a break, cheer! And when the arrogant rich are brought down to size, cheer! Prosperity is as short-lived as a wildflower, so don’t ever count on it. You know that as soon as the sun rises, pouring down its scorching heat, the flower withers. Its petals wilt and, before you know it, that beautiful face is a barren stem. Well, that’s a picture of the "prosperous life." At the very moment everyone is looking on in admiration, it fades away to nothing. Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer. So, my very dear friends, don’t get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.” James 1:2-18 (The Message)
Some opening observations:
1) Trials will come into the life of a follower of God.
“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.” James 1:2
2) It is during the tough times that your true faith is revealed.
“You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.” James1:3
3) God is not the one presenting the trial.
“Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust.” James 1:13-15
4) God is the giver of every good thing.
“Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.” James 1:16-18
So, you may be asking yourself, “How does this help me to embrace God intimately?”
I want to address to you several things that I have been feeling and thinking through over the past week. These are matters of the heart that have deeply touched me and have been areas that I believe God is leading me to address in our body.
1) God has a plan and a purpose for Countryside.
“‘For I know the plans I have for you’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
God has called us to be a light in the darkness and a voice of hope to a hurting world.
2) The enemy of God has a plan.
“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”
1 Peter 5:8-9 (NIV)
Satan knows all the buttons to push to cause pain, hurt, and defeat in the life of a Christian. He knows that if he can focus our attention on other things, and other pursuits, we will not be able to be the church God intended us to be.
3) As individuals in the body of Christ, we must take a stand for righteousness.
“You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” Romans 6:18 (NIV)
We as individuals in the body of Christ cannot live a life of sin. We must begin to pursue the righteousness of God so that we can life according to the Spirit of God and according to His Word and not the flesh.
Steps to Righteous Living:
1) Repentance
“Yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” 2 Corinthians 7:9-10 (NIV)
We must life in repentance of our sin before God. We take sin too lightly. We believe that because God forgives us we have the freedom to sin and to do as we wish without any regard for the truth of Christ. That is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “Cheap grace.”
“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves…the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism, without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
I stand before you as the shepherd of this body and apologize to you if I have spoken cheap grace into your life. Yes, God’s grace is free and available to all, but it requires us to accept it on God’s terms and not our own. When we foolishly believe we can live any way we desire and Christ will be honored and glorified, we miss the process of maturity that God has called us to.
“Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
2 Timothy 2:22 (NIV)
2) Study of Scripture.
God’s word is designed to be the guide for how we are to live our life.
“Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another—showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God’s way.” 2 Timothy 3:16 (The Message)
God’s Word is the final authority for the actions and attitudes of our life.
3) Prayer
Prayer is the avenue by which we call upon the power of God and by which we overcome the attack of the enemy.
“If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who "worry their prayers" are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.” James 1:6-8 (The Message)
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:18 (NIV)
The enemy of God is attacking the body of Countryside. We are told in scripture that as we declare truth our enemy will attack. It is time of the individuals that make up this body take a stand.
Today I am calling you to decide.
1) Are you willing to repent of the sin in your life so that you can see your faith blossom into what God designed you to be?
What areas in your life are you not pursuing righteousness? Where are you living on “cheap grace?” Today is the day of decision.
2) Are you willing to obey the command of scripture and live a life of holiness? Are you going to put God’s Word in its rightful place and the standard of your life?
3) Will you pray? Will you pray for the purity and the righteousness of the body of Countryside? Will you pray that God opens our hearts to Him so that we can fulfill his word and lift him up in holiness and purity of hearts? Will you pray for me and the leaders of Countryside that God will keep us focused, even as we go through the trials and struggles of life in this body?
