Abundant Grace: The Gift That Keeps Giving
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What’s the difference between the Christmas Alphabet and the Regular Alphabet? There are No L’s in the Christmas one.
Why is E the only letter on Santa’s Good list this year? Because all the rest are Not E
Clark Griswold worked 17 years for a food additives company and every year he would get a big ol’ Christmas bonus. He always did something fun, like taking his family on vacation. Well, this particular year he had plans to put in a swimming pool, but something happened. He didn’t get the big ol’ bonus he was expecting. What did he get instead?
A one year membership to the jelly of the month club! Well, to say he was disappointed, was an understatement, but his brother in law had a different perspective. He said, “Clark, that's the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.”
That may have been true, but it didn’t make it any less disappointing! Jelly isn’t the same as a swimming pool.
We’ve all recieved gifts that didn’t meet our expectations.
My wife asks me every Christmas what I want and I tell her the exact same thing…a fully restored 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 XL with a 390 V8, and a 4-speed manual transmission.
But, I usually end up with a new pair of shoes, which to me, is just as good.
We give gifts at Christmas because God has given us the greatest gift of all: Jesus
The centerpiece of all the Christmas prophecies, Isaiah 9:6, was written nearly six hundred years before Jesus' birth. Isaiah promised it would be a miraculous event, unlike any the world had ever known, and the details Isaiah gave were fulfilled precisely by Jesus.
Isaiah 9:6 (NKJV)
For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Jesus is the greatest gift of all. Throughout the entirety of Scripture, Christ embodies the ultimate gift of grace. His life, death, and resurrection reveal the depths of God's grace, inviting believers to not only receive it but also to extend it to a world in need.
We didn’t deserve such a gift, but because God is full of grace, He gave His only Son to a creation that was in need of a Savior. That gift of grace was not a one time gift. God's grace as an unending gift that continually impacts our lives.
Grace transforms individuals and communities, motivating them to live lives marked by kindness, mercy, and generosity toward others.
If we can understand God’s gift of grace then we will respond by extending grace to others, which can bring healing and restoration in broken relationships and communities.
Be kind and loving to each other. Forgive each other the same as God forgave you through Christ.
When we’ve been forgiven we in turn forgive others. How could we not? Forgiveness transforms the broken heart and it provides a power to extend grace as a wonderful undeserved gift.
Grace as a gift from God that is meant to be shared. It shows that when we truly grasp the depth of what we have received, we are compelled to share that same grace with others, creating a ripple effect of kindness and mercy.
Grace is truly the gift that keeps on giving.
So what is it, how do we receive it, and who do we give it too?
Grace is Simple
Grace is Simple
Ephesians 2:8–9 (HB:ERV)
I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God.
You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about.
Grace cannot be earned.
Right now, the Wizard of Oz is EVERYWHERE. Mainly because there’s a new movie out based on a book that tells the backstory of the wicked witch, who apparently wasn’t so wicked.
As a kid I remember watching the Wizard of Oz every year when it aired on TV. Remember when Dorothy finally got to Oz and walked up to the Great and Powerful Wizard? There was smoke, fire, a loud voice, and a big green head floating in air.
It was terrifying! The cowardly lion jumped out the window because he was so sacred!
Not to ruin the movie, but remember that it was all just smoke and mirrors, the Wizard was actually just a regular man who had no power at all.
Sometimes, I feel like the Wizard of Oz. I like to put on a show for the world and even for myself. I make myself up into something I’m really not. Before you judge me too harshly, we all do this same thing. We get to feeling pretty good about our lives sometimes. Maybe you got a promotion at work, or you finally paid off the car, or those ten pounds finally melted away.
Pride is the opposite of grace because it puffs us up into something that we aren’t.
Grace pulls back the curtain of our pride and reveals our great needs.
1 Corinthians 8 tells us that pride puffs us up, because we think we know things that we really don’t.
God can humble a proud heart in a second because He knows the truth of who we are and the Holy Spirit convicts a heart that is far from Him and lost in sin.
Grace is a gift from God. It’s a gift because we don’t deserve it at all. God is Holy, perfect, and pure. We are not. But yet, God wants a relationship with us. He extends a hand of Grace even though He can see past the curtain of our pride.
The people that don’t receive the gift of grace are people who don’t realize they need it. It’s so simple to understand and receive this great gift but you must humble yourself in order to receive this free gift.
We can’t earn it, it’s a gift. How do we unwrap it today?
But if we confess our sins, God will forgive us. We can trust God to do this. He always does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrong things we have done.
Salvation through grace is a foundational gift that requires no effort on our part other than to receive by acknowledging we need it. When we do, grace carries the power to transform us!
Everything else we disappoint us, but God’s gift of Grace transforms us!
Grace leads us down NEW Paths
Grace Guides Us
Grace Guides Us
So, if you say, “Ok, I’ll receive this gift of Grace, surrender my life to Jesus, and trust that even on my best days I can’t earn my salvation, NOW WHAT?
How are we supposed to live with this knowledge that Jesus has made us clean and forgiven.
Well, now we should allow grace to guide us.
That is the way we should live, because God’s Grace has come. That grace can save everyone.
It teaches us not to live against God and not to do the bad things the world wants to do. It teaches us to live on earth now in a wise and right way—a way that shows true devotion to God.
We should live like that while we are waiting for the coming of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. He is our great hope, and he will come with Glory.
He gave himself for us. He died to free us from all evil. He died to make us pure—people who belong only to him and who always want to do good.
I would guess that most of us have a Christmas Tree in our homes. Under that tree, I bet there are gifts all wrapped up in paper and ribbon and depending on how crafty you are, maybe even bows! Those gifts are for specific people. In affect, they’ve already been given, but they haven’t been fully unwrapped.
Sometimes, this is how I view our relationship with God. Grace means that even though we don’t deserve it, God has placed us in His family, and now we have these unwrapped gifts under the tree.
They are for US and won’t be taken away. But it’s not time to unwrap them.
My kids come in every day to check on their unwrapped presents. They pick them up, and they are looking forward to Christmas morning to finally receive everything that’s coming to them! It’s theirs, they are excited, but it’s not time.
Grace is a gift that leads us to salvation, with Salvation are other wonderful blessings. We aren’t just saved from Hell. No, now we have a shared inheritance with Jesus himself! I don’t fully understand what that means because it’s wrapped up and under the tree. Even to Titus, Pauls reminds him that Jesus is going to return to this earth and that He is our great hope.
We have a hope for the future. Things in your life may not be perfect. In fact, you might even question God’s plan when things don’t seem to be going the right way, but I’m telling you that the Scripture is clear, there is a day coming when everything will make sense. Everything will be unwrapped.
We must do that the Bible tells us to do: Be led by grace.
It teaches us not to live against God and not to do the bad things the world wants to do. It teaches us to live on earth now in a wise and right way—a way that shows true devotion to God.
Grace is not just a gift for salvation but continues to instruct and shape our daily lives. Because we now have this undeserved favor from God through Jesus, we surrender to His plans. We say, Lord, no longer do I need to control my life, we know how that ends up, I now TRUST in your grace to lead me.
My chief goal now is to live for you! My goal is to live righteously and godly amid a challenging world, encouraging believers to continually seek transformation through God's grace.
But that isn’t what you were taught about Jesus Christ. He is the truth, and you heard about him and learned about him. You were told that your foolish desires will destroy you and that you must give up your old way of life with all its bad habits. Let the Spirit change your way of thinking and make you into a new person. You were created to be like God, and so you must please him and be truly holy.
Grace leads us down NEW paths. It lead us to right living and leads us to extend the grace we’ve received to other people.
So let’s recap before we get to the end here. Grace is a gift we must receive, Grace guides us to living a new life, and finally:
Grace Empowers Us
Grace Empowers Us
This is such good news. If we can’t save ourselves, we can’t guide ourselves, why on earth would we think we could do anything in our own strength.
I see people trying so hard to make things happen in their own strength. It’s such a bummer because we can do pretty good for a while, but true transformation must come from God’s favor.
There’s a difference from fasting and true change.
I want to share about my relationship to donuts. Oh, how I LOVE donuts. I love them so much that one day, I was driving through town and saw a LARGE Donut sign in a yard sale. Of course I had to stop and pay whatever the cost to buy that sign. I cleaned it up and not it’s at the back of the church.
There’s a problem with donuts and me…I’m allergic. If I eat them I blow up! Yep, I get REAL BIG.
So, I can’t eat them very often.
In my own strength, I can fast from donuts for a long time, but eventually without help from the Lord, they will draw me back in! I can’t do it on my own. I need help.
A.W. Tozer puts it this way:
Self determination cannot save a man. Too many are willing to be saved by grace, but to preserve their self-esteem they must hold that the desire to be save originated with them!
Self-determination isn’t enough. If you couldn’t save yourself, then you can’t KEEP yourself saved. You need grace to empower you.
Now, here’s a GREAT truth from scripture:
God can bless you with everything you need, and you will always have more than enough to do all kinds of good things for others.
God's grace equips us to do His work. HIS favor, NOT our WILLPOWER, allows us to live differently and to do good things.
In other words, our motivation has changed. Living is no longer about US - it’s recognizing that because He loved us we can now share that love with others.
Motivation is powerful. When you’re motivated by grace then it empowers generosity and acts of kindness that reflect God's love. Being empowered by grace leads to blessings affecting change far beyond our individual efforts. It’s God working THROUGH us.
By faith we have been made acceptable to God. And now, because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we live at peace with God. Christ has also introduced us to God’s undeserved kindness on which we take our stand. So we are happy, as we look forward to sharing in the glory of God. But that’s not all! We gladly suffer, because we know that suffering helps us to endure. And endurance builds character, which gives us a hope that will never disappoint us. All of this happens because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love.
Here’s the point today.
We’ve been made right with God through Grace - that’s a gift.
We’ve been promised a future with Christ - that’s a gift.
We’ve been promised endurance through the power of the Holy Spirit - that’s a gift.
Grace is the gift that keeps on giving.
