Great than #8
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Northside Church
God's Grace is better
July 14
Jamey Mills
Good morning!! My name is Jamey Mills and I’m the lead pastor here at Northside…. It’s so good to be with you.
We Are in our 8th and final week of our series “Greater Than” … where we are sort of challenging ourselves to consider if we really believe that God… His way, His will, His values, His priorities are really greater than… anything that we might seek to replace them with… better than our own desires… our own efforts… or anything this world desires…
And that’s not to say… that it’s easy… or easier…
But do I believe that it leads to an abundant… life… a life full of things like Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…
Do I believe that it really leads to freedom… from those things that would rob me of that fullness that is found in Him? Freedom from addiction, dishonesty, lust, hate, greed, pride….
Do you believe that?
Do you live like you believe that?
Do we have any cat people here today?
Today might be hard for you…
I remember I think it was our first trunk or treat that someone dressed up as a “cat lady”... it was terrifying… a super bold choice.
Before you get really upset and think… I can’t believe Jamey doesn’t like cats… keep in mind it could just be that I haven’t found the right recipe.
One of my biggest issues with cats… is that they use the bathroom in your house… and yes… I can hear some of you saying… and you don’t… but I hope we can all agree it’s different.
Cats go in… use the bathroom… cover it up and try to convince you its not there…
You can’t clearly see it
It does mask the smell sometimes… for a while…
But the truth is… there is stuff in there… just under the service…
And you can spend all kinds of money on deluxe cat litter… or fancy litter boxes… that might help you ignore it for a while…
And unless you stop feeding your cat or consistently deal with it… the issue only gets worse… and worse… and eventually… it begins to impact everyone in the house or apartment complex… maybe the neighborhood.
And it reminds me of the world we live in…
Not necessarily just that some people actually use downtown Portland as a litter box…
But it seems like in growing ways… we can look around literally see the brokenness, hurt, loneliness, addiction, pride, greed, hate, lostness… issues we often burry… and that accumulate under the surface until they are no longer deniable and begin to impact our lives and those around us in ways we never thought…
I don’t feel like you need to be an Anthropologist… to realize things are getting worse… and where do you think that comes from?
I think it's easy… to point to areas in our society that are obviously broken… but I think it's a lot harder when we stand in front of the mirror.
Sometimes I think it’s harder to see… and harder to acknowledge… what's happening under the surface…
Our issues… our struggles… our hurt… our chaos… our sin…
Sometimes it feels like we go to great lengths… to bury it deep… to hide it… to dress it up… to justify it… or simply just ignore it.
And it reminds me of this picture… (hands)
Have you ever worked so hard for so long that you literally couldn’t let go… where your hands were stuck in that position…
Sometimes I think our lives get like that… we end up carrying hurt, sin, disappointment, shame, guilt, regret, resentment… so long that we begin to wrap our lives and even our identity around it. It becomes harder and harder to know what it means to let it go…or who we are apart from it.
It reminds me of this guy…
Brooks from Shawshank Redemption…
Brooks was this old man who’d spend the vast majority of his life in prison… and when he was finally released… freedom… was foreign… it was too much…
And this stuff that is just under the surface… even if we are unaware of it… impacts that way we live, the way we see ourselves, relationships, trust others… it even impacts the way we relate to God…
If I asked you to summarize the gospel in a single word, what would you say?
Some might say… love… and that's a good one, but it makes me nervous because our culture has mutilated what it means to truly love.
Some might say the truth…
Some might say Jesus… and that's for sure true
The truth is, it’s probably not possible to summarize the entire gospel in a word, but one of the words people might use is the word grace…
And that is a major theme in the gospel… it takes up a lot of real estate in God’s revelation to humanity… WHY?
Grace is a universal need.
Whether you know it or have ever admitted it… the absolute truth about you and I is this…
I am a sinner in need of God’s grace. The gospel isn’t going to be incredibly effective or even meaningful in your life if you are unwilling to go there.
It’s easy to wrestle with that… and when we do, I hope we understand… this is where the analogy of the cat came from… we put it just under the surface… we don’t deal with it… and because of that the priceless mercy and grace of God in our lives… comes off as cheap… unneeded… unnecessary…
It’s going to be really hard to have the right relationship with God, to approach Him the right way… without coming face to face with your need for His grace.
The bible is clear in Romans and in other places… that we’ve all sinned… we all fall short… it’s part of what happened when sin hit the world… its part of the human condition…
Romans says that we’ve all sinned. We’ve all fallen short.
And the Bible teaches us that sin leads to death… and I hope you see it.
Physical, mental, emotional, relational… death.
I hope that we can back up enough to see the impact that sin has… in our lives… or maybe in the lives of some that we love and care about… it's a real thing.
And we can be slow to go there… but I’m always reminded of this…
Paul… the apostle… who rightfully said if anyone had reason to brag, culturally, he was the one. Brought up the right way, taught by the best scholars, made the right decisions… but in his best effort to live in his own goodness… His conclusion was this…
1 Timothy 1:15–16 (NLT)
This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.
15 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. 16 But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.
The Apostle Paul… Whose life was radically changed by Christ… who probably did more good for the world and for the Church than anyone outside of Christ Himself… saw himself as the worst of all sinners… That God’s mercy on him… should shout to the world… that God’s patience, mercy, and grace extends to even you…
“If the biggest sinner you know isn’t you, then you don’t know yourself very well.” - Jean Larroux
Whatever this guy is saying… Paul seems to understand.
And to be clear… it's not a contest as to who needs God’s grace the most… Paul also talks about that… Don’t abuse or make a mockery of God’s grace…
But I think his point is this…
When we finally stand at the crossroads where the unthinkable… invaluable grace of God collides with the reality of who we are… the contrast is so overwhelming… that it's hard to imagine anyone needing His grace more.
And for some of us, that trips us up.
If God only knew the truth about me… what I’ve said… done… thought… what others have done to me… there’s no way…
But he does know…
Heb. 4:13 among other places talks about how nothing escapes God’s attention… He knows.
He knows
about deleted pictures… deleted browser histories… snapchat videos, gossip, hurtful words, gossip, every careless thought…
God knows… or hurt and doubt…
And part of the great mystery of the gospel is this…
Romans 5:8–10 (NLT)
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.
8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.
Not once we got our stuff together… but while we were still sinners… sinning… Christ died for us.
God’s knowledge of our sin… all of those things that we tend to bury and ignore… is why Jesus came…
The contrast between God’s amazing grace and my sin… is so profound and massive… so important… that it’s beyond the scope of anything I could ever…
Be good enough for…
Kind enough for…
Give enough for…
Or anything I could ever earn…
That's why God’s grace is a free gift… its value… is immeasurable.
And we need to know this…
Grace available does not equal grace accepted and applied.
Grace… and the impact of grace only happens when we face to face with our need… realizing the depths of that truth… I am a sinner… in need of God’s grace… what God offers in Jesus… I cannot live with out.
Laying that out before the Lord… asking for His help… and for Him to work in our hearts… thanking Him for the forgiveness that's already been paid for in Christ… and then learning to apply that grace… to live in it… to walk in it…
For me there is a sense of somberness… I hate my sin and what it’s cost…
But there also is this sense of deep gratitude… undeserved freedom… and hope…
Jesus Himself told a story… that helps us frame in mercy… grace… and the impact it should have…
Matthew 18:21 (NLT)
Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”
21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”
7 times… that Peter mentions here… is not a random number…
It literally is one more than double what he was taught to be right…
And so Peter was trying to push the limits here… in his mind… this was ridiculous grace…
But even then, Jesus said, Peter, you don’t get it.
“No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!
22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!
In that culture, numbers often carried meaning… they represented things… Jesus’ response is an attempt to help Peter frame it in… T
The depth of God’s forgiveness and grace is unending.
is unending… total… complete… not lacking.
Jesus tells this story…
“Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.
23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.
I tried to get close to what today’s actual values might be…
I’d guess the example Jesus gives was close to about $200 million. His point was… this is a debt that no matter how hard he tried, how hard he worked… he could never pay it.
In those days, it wasn’t uncommon for someone who had large debt to be treated poorly… in fact, wasn’t uncommon for it to get so bad that eventually… the debtor would cut his loses…
Everything they owned would be confiscated… and sold.
He and even all of his family would be sold into slavery…
He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.
“But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’
25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.
26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’
This man came face to face with a debt he couldn’t pay… no matter what he did… he was dead to rights… without hope on his own… he needed a miracle.
That's you in this story…
Sin creates a debt we couldn’t pay. Grace provides privilege we could never afford
…we are… on our own without hope… needing a miracle.
Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.
27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.
The actual word there means… he completely… totally… forgave.
This man walked away completely absolved…
The king gave him mercy…
Mercy is not getting what you deserve.
The king gave him grace…
Grace is getting what you don’t deserve.
They are connected… and God gives you both.
“But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.
“His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.
28 “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. 29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.
I know I’m not smart enough to challenge the folks who worked on the NLT translation… but I will say… based on what I know, where it says a few thousands dollars… thats not what I see. I think the idea is closer to lunch money… or at most… a days pay.
So… was this man forgiven? Well… yes.
Did he live like or act like the forgiven?
What went wrong?
Even though he was forgiven more than he could have paid in 100 lifetimes… somehow… the value and meaning and blessing of that type of forgiveness and grace never penetrated his heart… it never got below the surface… he never really felt the depth of it.
He saw it and treated it… as common or cheap… He wasn’t living as a man that had truly been set free.
Forgiveness and grace available but unapplied changes little.
Are you doing that before the Lord?
“When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.
31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.
The king threw him in prison where he’d be tortured until the debt could be paid… what’s the problem with this? It is a debt he could never pay… I think Jesus is referring to… Hell.
Forgiveness and grace… available but unapplied doesn’t end well. It sets no one free… it changes little.
Two weeks ago… I mentioned that part of what it means to come know the Lord is… becoming a part of His family.
You need to knwo this…
That part of what it means to come to truly know the Lord the right way is… coming to grips with both…
Your desperate need for
And God’s free gift of.. Unthinkable… mind blowing… life changing forgiveness and grace.
So deep… so powerful… so complete…
That when we really get it… there is no way it leaves us unchanged.
In luke 7…
Jesus was invited to dinner with the Pharisees… they were the religious leaders of that day… and they didn’t get along well with Jesus…
It says while there, this immoral woman came and dumped expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet and then wiped them her hair… she was weeping… broken… worshiping… thankful…
The Pharisees got all hot and bothered… if Jesus was really who he claimed to be… he wouldn’t let this sinful woman close to him…
And right there is the disconnect between the Pharisees and the risen savior…
Jesus told this story about servants who owed their master different amounts… one 500 pieces of silver and the other 50… neither could pay… but the master forgave them both… completely…
Jesus asked… who felt it more…
The Pharisee answered… the one who was forgiven more…
Even though she was sinful… somehow… She saw Jesus for who He was. Something at the core of who she was… knew she desperately needed the grace that Jesus brought… and that it was priceless… you could see it.
Being in touch with your deep need… and don’t fool yourself… it is massive… and allowing that to collide with the immeasurable grace of God… is explosively… life changingly powerful.
When was the last time… or have you ever… sat down and really thought about your need for God’s grace… and what God’s grace really means and what it really accomplished…
Here are a few signs that you're learning to walk in God’s amazing grace.
God’s grace is relational. It impacts every relationship you have; with yourself, with others, with God!
Signs I am learning to walk in God’s amazing grace
A growing sense of gratitude
Drawing closer to God
Impacting my relationship with others
A growing sense of freedom
A life changing… attitude changing… freedom providing sense of gratitude. The more you understand it… the more grateful you become. It’s the sort of gratitude… they’ve actually found it brings healing and health to your heart… your head… and your relationships…
When we notice it drawing us closer to God…
One author said… grace applied impacts every area of our lives… including our worship.
When we notice that we’ve begun to apply it to our relationships with others… One of the surest signs that you have come face to face with your need and with the unthinkable grace of God is… the way you offer it to those around us… even those who hurt you.
We know that God’s grace is hitting home… when it’s hitting home. We cannot offer grace that we do not have.
When it begins to set us free.
What are you carrying… just under the surface… what sort of shame or guilt… what sort of brokenness and hurt… what sort of pain and resentment… Have you built your life and identity around it…
What holds you back… I’m not saying ignore it and move on… but… what keeps you from throwing it all at the foot of the cross… what keeps you from applying the grace and forgiveness that's already been made available… Why do you carry it?
Jesus Himself said… my grace is sufficient… it is enough… it’s all you need. You are saved by having faith in Him and in the grace He provides…
I am… a sinner in need of the grace of God.
So are you.
What are you going to do with that?
