Graceful Living
Graceful Living
Topic: Experience a life of freedom and joy!
John 1:16–17
For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Think about this:
Grace is God’s love for us in action
Christ is a gift of Grace from God to us!
Grace saves us from a Shallow Religion
Grace means actively pursuing a deeper understanding of God's love and favor, and allowing it to transform one's life.
It's not just about receiving grace, but also about responding to it with effort and intention, allowing God's power to work in and through you.
This involves a conscious effort to grow in knowledge of God and His will, while also striving to reflect His character in daily life.
I. The ESSENCE OF GRACE:
GRACE IS EVERYTHING FOR NOTHING TO THOSE WHO DON’T DESERVE ANYTHING
Ephesians 2:8–9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Grace should transform us;
from lions into lambs,
wolves into sheep,
monsters into men and men into the image of Jesus
Grace saves us from ourselves.
II. Grace is entrusted to equip us in life.
We are responsible for using for His glory and the benefit of others.
This involves using our talents, time, and possessions to serve God and others, reflecting God's love and grace in all aspects of life
III. There are many Christians who are content to receive God's grace on their lives, without growing and developing and maturing into the image of Christ.
CHRISTIANS CAN BE COMPLACENT IN THEIR SPIRITUAL LIVES, WHO ONLY SEEK AFTER GRACE TO COVER THEIR SIN.
IV. Grace is so much more than God's unmerited favor.
In fact, everything in the Bible...receiving salvation, being filled with the Holy Spirit, fellowshipping with God, and having victory in our daily lives...is based upon it.
V. "By The Grace of God I Am!"
SAVED, STRENGTHENED, SUPPLIED
VI. Grace Creates A New Heart Within Us.
Ezekiel 36:26-27 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you will keep my judgments and do them.
a. Grace Is Freedom & Liberty In Christ
Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
VII. Our Human Nature Welcomes cheap Grace, and rejects transforming Grace.
Also in 2 Peter 3:18 NIV He closes his epistle with this admonition:
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
VIII. We have a responsibility to be Stewards of God’s Grace
GOD HASN’T GIVEN US HIS GRACE SIMPLY TO BATHE IN IT FOR OUR OWN BENEFIT.
IX. Salvation is free and we can’t purchase it - yet we are expected to give up all we have and entrust our lives to the Giver of salvation.
Dietrich Bonheoffer said it this way:
Cheap grace is bargain-basement goods, cut-rate forgiveness, cut-rate comfort…it is grace without a price, without costs…the world finds in a church that espouses the doctrine of cheap grace a cheap cover-up for sins where there is no remorse, no repentance and there is no desire to be set free from sin - no discipleship….a Christian lives in the same way a person in the world does. Cheap grace is a denial of God’s living Word - the denial of the incarnation - a denial of the cross of Christ.
Those are hard words, but so relevant to our culture today. Bonheoffer died in 1945.
Consider next what he said about costly grace, as opposed to the cheap kind:
Costly grace is the hidden treasure in the field, for the sake of which people go and sell with joy all that they have; it is the call of Jesus Christ which causes a disciple to leave his nets and follow him….this grace is costly, because it calls to discipleship; it is grace, because of Jesus Christ who graciously calls the disciple to follow him. It is costly because it will cost people their lives.
It is grace, because it thereby makes them live. It is costly, because it condemns sin; it is grace, because it justifies the sinner.
In Nazi Germany, there was the German Reich Church, which offered a “Nazified” version of Christianity. Can you imagine that? It was complicit in what the Nazis did, yet those people thought of themselves as a legitimate church.
Today, we too are pressured to go along with the prevailing culture, whether or not it is good. We’re even expected to adopt their terminology. And a lot of churches are doing that. But even though we are supposed to be a part of our culture - salt and light - we cannot align ourselves with that culture. We’re marching to the beat of a different drum, because we’re following someone else.
X. Will you let God’s Love be displayed through your life?
XI. What are the evidences of God’s Grace in your life?
X Grace cost Jesus all that he had. It’s costly!
X What will it cost you?
X Are you tuned into God voice?
X A transformation into the image of Christ?
X Is God’s beauty radiant in your life.
X A graceful life?
