Grace to the undeserving

The comforts of Christmas

Jesus, the King for all times

… and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. Ephesians 1:19–21(NIV)

Comfort in difficulty

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Isaiah 40:1 (NIV)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 (NIV)

His Patience, your salvation

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 (NIV)

Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 2 Peter 3:15 (NIV)

Peace in turmoil

For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace… Ephesians 2:14–15 (NIV)

Faithful beyond the farce

I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you have established your faithfulness in heaven itself. Psalm 89:2(NIV)

Tonight/Today we are considering Grace as a comfort of Christmas.

Grace to the undeserving

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. Titus 2:11 (NIV)

Grace

Grace means…

<In the seat pockets are yellow pieces of paper… could I please have some child volunteers to bring them down to the front.>

Name for a girl

Elegance

Courtesy

Prayer of thanks before eating

Favour or generosity

If we think about God’s grace, it is his favour or generosity shown to us. It is a gift, undeserved.

We all like gifts a Christmas, don’t we? Do you like them this much…

Diary of a whimpy kid intro scene…

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Greg Heffley loves Christmas, particularly, he loves Christmas gifts… he is willing to try and go 25 days being good (i think it is supposed to be all year though) to make sure he gets the best Christmas gift.

He wants to make sure he is deserving of his Christmas gift.

Do you deserve a Christmas gift?

Jelly bean illustration…

Two volunteers.

To the first volunteer… If you can give me 5 push ups, I will give you these Jelly Beans, deal? Ok go for it.

Well done, here are your Jelly Beans, you deserve it!

To the second volunteer… I want to show you grace (what does it mean everybody - favoour or generosity), so I would like to gift to you these Jelly Beans, you haven’t done anything to deserve it, but I will give it to you anyway.

This illustration shows us the difference between Santa and Jesus. Santa says, be good and I will give you gifts. Jesus says, even though you don’t deserve it, I will be God’s gift to you.

Even though you don’t deserve it, I will be God’s gift to you.

This is why our reading says,

Titus 2:11 NIV

11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.

The grace of God has appeared… this is God’s grace in the flesh, who knows who that is? That’s right, Jesus.

Jesus is God’s grace in the flesh, offering salvation to all people.

Hang on. What do we mean by salvation?

That’s right salvation is have we have been saved. Another word we could use is ‘redeemed.’

But what are we saved or redeemed from?

Titus 2:13–14 (NIV)

13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

All wickedness… evil, sin, wrongdoing, self-centredness, pride, viciousness, lying, stealing, hatred, lust, greed, rage, anger, slander, filthy language…

In the pockets of the seats out there are three red pieces of paper…

<wrap paper around wrists and staple like a chain>

Romans 3:10–12 NIV

10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

The good news is that Jesus, and we are celebrating his birth tonight/today, didn’t just save us by being born, no he redeemed us from all wickedness…

That means he paid the price so that we aren’t trapped by sin, and wickedness and evil.

He paid the price to buy us back for himself… no longer slaves to sin…

The price was his life. He died in our place, so that we could be saved and live with him… He breaks the chains.

<smash the chains that bind the hands>

He frees us.

Jesus is the generous gift to us, the undeserving. Grace to the undeserving.

All you need to do is accept it. To trust that this is what Jesus has done for you.

Will you accept this gift by trusing in Jesus? Trusting that he is the King and the Saviour? Trusting that he is God’s gift to us.

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My hope is that you do. But we all need to be careful… there are many things that distract us from Jesus God’s gracious gift to us…

The gifts we give

The gifts we receive

The bitterness we feel when we don’t receive what we want or a good enough gift.

The bitterness we feel when the gift that we give is under appreciated.

The business of visiting family and friends, making sure we don’t miss people.

The family meals.

The family drama… we all want a smooth Christmas.

The hollowness we feel when we have put so much effort into making Christmas joyful, and yet it doesn’t satisfy, it wasn’t what we hoped.

The holidays we are preparing for

The bells and whistles of Christmas decorations, dress ups, christmas movies…

These can all distract us from Jesus, who is God’s grace for us.

Titus 2:11 NIV

11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people.

Don’t be like the people in this video, who miss the gift!