Grace For Today (RCC Version)

Introduction

Happy New Year!

Story of Sick Man

There is a story of husband and wife that went to the doctor to get their annual physical

After the physical, the doctor said “everything looks good” and looked at the wife and said, “can I speak with you privately for a moment.

He took her off to the side and explained that in actuality her husband was not doing well at all because his stress levels were so high, but he didn’t want to tell him that because he didn’t want to stress him out further, so we was telling her.

Three things he needs to recover

Stress free home (no arguing, sarcasm, or accusations....say yes dear)

Relief from physical stress (back rubs, no chores)

Diet (2 healthy home cooked meals a day)

If you do these three things, I’m sure he will make a full recovery

“Honey, you ain’t going to make it.”

Now that story was silly and funny but we do this all the time

We tend to project our current comfort levels, current capacities, current abilities our current graces onto future responsibilities or trials, and it feels overwhleming or impossible

Title of my message is Grace For Today

How many of the women in the room would say that would require some large amounts of grace?

Truth

Here is the truth I want us all to walk away with this morning, and not just this morning, but to walk with in our daily lives.

This is something we need to remind ourselves of on a daily basis

God’s grace is sufficent for me one day at a time.

When I say grace, I’m not talking about grace for your salvation, but for your situation.

The challenge is not whether the grace of God will be available, but whether we will live in His grace for today.

We know that God is present in all our life, and that his grace is enough.

But the challenge is going to be abiding in that grace

And it’s going to be a challenge because as humans, we have certain tendencies that will cause us to live outside of the grace of God

That’s not to say that the grace of God is not there, but rather that we aren’t abiding in it.

Both tendencies have to do with how we engage in our thinking about the future.

Looking to and thinking about the future is not a bad thing, but we can do it in a way that will rob us of the peace of God.

I’ve seen these tendencies in my own life, and also in the lives of other peopel through conversations and comments

I want to put words to why they rob us of the peace of God.

Tendency #1 - Filter tomorrows trials through the lens of today’s grace.

We are living in somewhat uncertain times right now.

War in Ukraine (will it lead to WW3)

Will it lead to WW3?

How could I handle war if it came to our shore?

What if, as the economy dies, I can’t provide for myself or my family

Times are uncertain

Cultural war on sexuality and gender

What kind of world are my kids going to grow up in?

What is going to happen to churches who openly speak out against sin that is praised in society?

Shut down?

Persecution?

The Worries of every day life in general

What if a loved one dies?

What if my prodigal kids never return home?

What if I get really sick?

I can’t keep up with my school…I have to much on my plate!

It’s not that hard to envision circumstances or times where our lives become increasingly harder.

It doesn’t take a very creative mind to do that.

And so we can so easily live in fear and anxiety and worry for what could be in the future.

Listen to what the Aposlte Paul said

2 Corinthians 12:8-10 “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Nobody knows for certain what the thorn in the flesh was for Paul, what we do know, is that God, rather than taking away the problem promised that His grace was going to be sufficient.

Enough in weaknesses, in insults, in harships, in persecutions, in calamities.

When I am weak, Iam strong, because the power of Christ is made perfect in my weakness.

God’s grace is sufficient for the trial at hand.

The mistake we often make when we live in worry about the future is we Filter tomorrows trials through the lens of today’s grace.

The grace I have today is sufficient to get me through for today.

I don’t have a context for the grace that would be needed for tomorrow…I just have a context for today.

When I was around 10-11 years old. Story of when I fell into depression worrying about my Dad

But the fear I had wasn’t just about the sorrow I would face if my Dad died, it was also the fear of not knowing how I could possibly go on if it happend

I didn’t have a context for grace in that kind of struggle.

My context of grace at that time was God helped me in my schoolwork, he gave me strength not to beat up my brothers when I got mad at them....I didn’t even have a perception of the grace of God for living after the death of a parent.

I would filter tomorrows trials through the lens of today’s grace.

I’ve had to be careful because I’ve always had that tendency

I’ve always been very aware that my life can change dramatically in a moment.

A car accident, a miscarriage, a spinal chord injury, etc..

When my wife told me she was pregnant, I thanked God for his blessing, and then prayed this prayer....God give us Grace for whatever lies ahead.

Because I know God doesn’t owe me anything.

That things can turn quickly....life doesn’t always play out they way we hope or dream of

I can have tendencies for fear of the future....WHAT IF?

Here is what I’ve been comforted by

But God’s grace is like on ocean buoy

That anchored device that serves as a navigation marker in the water…it floats

The thing about a buoy, is it doesn’t matter how high the water gets, or how violent the waves get, it will always rise above the waters.

When God says his grace is sufficient, that means it doesn’t matter how deep the waters of sorrow are....how tempestuous the trials and waves of life get.

The grace of God is always one step ahead

You will rise above the waters.

Because at your moment of weakness, the power of Christ rests upon you, and you are strong

You don’t need to know how the grace of God will carry you in future events.....you just need to believe that it will.

Don’t filter tomorrows trials through the lens of today’s grace.

Know that whatever comes, his grace will be enough

Tendency #2 - Encapsulating Our Pain

To encapsulate your pain is to live, not just with the pain of today, but to imagine and fear for the impact of that pain on your future as well.

So intead of dealing with the pain for today, we try to encapsulate the entirety of our situation or pain, and try to swallow it all at once.

But God doesn’t give 20 years of grace in the span of a day, He gives it day by day.

Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Our time of need is not future....it is present.

But we will encapsulate our pain or the struggle.

Examples

What would happen if I ate in a way today to satisfy the hunger of the next 20 years? (I would get sick to my stomach)

What would happen if I slept in a way today to prepare me for the 100,000 hours I’m going to be awake over the next 20 years? (I would become incapacitated)

What would happen if I took tylenol in a way today to cover the pain of a thousand headaches over the next 20 years (I would overdose)

What happens when I try to function today with the inevitabal pain and fear of the next 20 years?(It crushes me)

These health problems I’m dealing with…how can i deal with this for the next 20 years. I can’t imagine living the rest of my life with this disease or health problem.

And we pull the struggles of tomorrow into today

This depression I’m dealing with…I can barely make a day at a time, how can I do this for the next 10 years?

And we pull the struggles of tomorrow into today

This pain and sorrow from the death of a loved one, how do I go on? How can I survive Christmas year after year to serve as a reminder of my loss?

And we pull the struggles of tomorrow into today

My kids are far from God, and my heart breaks daily for them…what if they never surrender themselves to God?

And we pull the struggles of tomorrow into today

And so we live with the fear, the anxiety, the overwhelming feelings of our pain not just for today, but of the next 20 years as well…and it crushes us

Corrie Ten Boom said, “Worrying is carrying tomorrow's load with today's strength- carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying doesn't empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”

You don’t have to deal with what you are dealing with for the next 20 years, you only have to live in the grace and strength of God for it today.

Paul, in 2 Corinthians 11:24-27, summed up to the Corinthian church some of the things that he had gone through in his life since becoming a Christian.

Listen to what he said.

2 Corinthians 11:24–27 (ESV)

Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

Imagine before dealing with these things Paul knew everything he would go through in life.

Picture him reading this list of woes and trials before he actually went through them.

It’s so overwhelming… “God I won’t be able to bear that!”

You don’t have to bear all that at once…I’ll be with there with you

When you are stoned

On that night you can’t sleep

On the day you are shipwrecked

In that moment you are in extreme danger

In the time you are hungry and thirsty

God’s grace is sufficient for each day

But once on the other side of those struggles

As Paul walked in the grace of God one day at a time, he was able to look back at all the things he went through, years worth of struggles and trials that we read of in the span of a few sentences, and say the grace of God is sufficient.

Conclusion

Say this with me: God’s grace...is sufficent for me...one day at a time.

I’ll close with this

Philippians 4:6-7 “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Two things to help us live in God’s grace for today

Pray About Everything

As Pastor Carter so often says, “It’s Time to Pray

Paul tells us to pray about everything.

God should be the first place we go when worry and anxiety try to take over

Medication can be good, but that’s not the first place we should go

Therapy is good, but that’s not the first place we should go

Google has a lot of advice, but that’s not the first place we should go

Your friends and family can be a support, but that’s not the first place you should go

You can pray about anything and everything in your life, and it is not too big or too small for God!

Pray with Thanksgiving

Many of our worries and anxieties are rooted in a lack of trust in God!

Can God’s grace really keep me in this?

Is God really in control in the chaos

Thanksgiving is an exercise of trust, and trust is the breeding ground for the peace of God in our hearts and minds.

To Be Thankful is “to be conscious of a benefit received”

It means you are conciously aware of the faithfulness and promises of God in the midst of your trials

Don’t get caught up looking for all the answers, thank Him for His promises.

Don’t get caught up on the amount of grace you’ll need tomorrow, thank Him for his grace today.

Don’t get caught up in the pain of the next 20 years, thank Him for being your ever present help in time of need.

Pray about everything, pray with thanksgiving.

God’s grace...is sufficent for me...one day at a time.

In a moment, Pastor Nik is going to come up and pray for us, but before we do that, I have to say something about an even greater grace!

Salvation

Today, we talked about the grace of God for your situation, but we can’t leave here before talking about an even greater grace. The grace of God for your salvation.

Bigger than any of the trials and pains we will experience in this life, is the pain and suffering, and regret we will experience in our eternal life apart from Christ.

Not only does God provide grace for this life, He has also provided a grace for your eternal life.

We are all going to die someday, whether you are living in this grace for salvation will determine where you end up.

We can enter into this grace by, as Jesus calls it, being born again.

What does it mean to be born again? Three things....it’s ABC

A - Admit you are a sinner, there is an issue in me that I can’t fix on my own. I’m completely dependent on the grace of God.

Admitting does’t require you to be perfect, it requires you be honest.

B - Believe that God provided that Grace when Jesus died on the cross he paid my sin debt.

C - Confess him as Lord that is in charge of your life from this point on. You let him lead your life

It would be a tragedy if we got the grace for this temporary life right, but missed out on the grace for our eternal life.

Salvation Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus I believe you're the son of God. I believe that on the cross you took my sin, my shame, and my guilt, and you died for it. You faced hell for me so I wouldn't have to go. You rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven, a purpose on earth, and a relationship with your father. Today Lord Jesus I turn from my sin to be born again. God is my father, Jesus is my savior, the Holy Spirit is my helper, and heaven is my home. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Pator Nik, will you come lead us into a time of responding and prayer

Sources:

https://www.austingentry.com/grace-for-today/