God is Gracious - Oct 25

God is Gracious…So I don’t have to prove myself.

Sometimes we project how we react onto God. If somebody really upsets you, then you have a cold attitude towards them. We sometimes project that onto God, and we think that when we really mess up, that he has a cold attitude towards us.

If one of your friends hurts you, how do they get back into your good books?

SURVEY:

I forgive them immediatly

I wait for them to ask for forgiveness

I will forgive them as soon as they make it right

It depends what they did...

Do you take how you respond to people, and think that God is the same?

In Luke 15:11-32 Jesus shows how God responds to us when we sin.

Story of the Prodigal Son - highlites

Luke 15:11–12 CSB

11 He also said: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets to them.

Wasted everything (Prodigal means wasteful).

Was left without anything, in poverty, as a result of his own poor decisions.

The prodigal son, is a picture of how we look in our sin.

We are in a mess of our own making. We’ve ignored God’s ways, chosen our ways, and are in a filthy place.

Luke 15:17–19 HCSB

17 When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. 19 I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired hands.’

The son thought that he was going to have to earn back his father’s love, if that was even possible.

But the father wasn’t looking for his son to earn his way back into the family....

Luke 15:20 HCSB

20 So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him.

The Father in Jesus parable is a picture of God the Father. He is not making people prove themselves in order to love them and accept them. He just wants for you to come to him.

Who pays the price for sin?

It doesn’t make sense that God will just overlook all of your sin. God is just, and so it would be out of his character to embrace sin.

How is God able to embrace us when we come to him out of our sin?

get student answers

Romans 5:8–10 HCSB

8 But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! 9 Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life!

Did the prodigal son have to prove himself to his Father?

No, he didn’t. Do you sometimes feel like you have to prove yourself to God?

_Pray enough. Obey enough. Do enough. Etc.

God is Gracious, and so I don’t have to prove myself.

There is more to story of the Prodigal Son. There is also another brother.

You Can Change: God's Transforming Power for Our Sinful Behavior and Negative Emotions 5 What Truths Do You Need to Turn To?

If the story of the younger brother reveals God’s grace, in the older son we see many characteristics of not truly believing God is gracious.

Luke 15:28 HCSB

28 “Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him.

Why did the older brother become angry? (Luke 15:25-27)

Get student answers

He is angry becuase the younger brother is being honored. The older brother does not seem to believe that the younger brother deserved the celebration.

Maybe he is angry because his hard work seems to count for nothing.

Grace gives love. Becuase God is gracious, we don’t have to earn his love.

You Can Change: God's Transforming Power for Our Sinful Behavior and Negative Emotions 5 What Truths Do You Need to Turn To?

Without grace, we view life as a contract between us and God: we do good works, and in return he blesses us.

Is there a contract between God and his Children?

Yes. It is a contract that is signed in blood. Jesus died for our sins. God sees us with Jesus rightousness. That contract is made possible by Jesus, and not because of any work that you or I have done.

When we grasp how amazing God’s grace is, we can serve him out of our love for god, and not to try to earn rewards from God.

Luke 15:29 HCSB

29 But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.

Question, is he a son or a slave?

A - Son. So why is he saying that he is slaving?

He’s got a nasty attitude towards his father. He is not serving out of love, he is serving out of a duty.

One day you might get married. If you do, you will have to fulfill all sorts of responsibilities. You might need to make the meal sometimes, or clean, or shop, or run errands.

What kind of an attitude will you have.

1. My spouse makes me do all of this junk. I thought that being married would be fun, but its just a pile of work. Ball and Chain.

2. What an amazing gift to be married to this person. I want to do everything that I can to make this relationship great, and to show value to my spouse.

Obviously, you are going to be a lot happier if you have the second view.

The older brother had the first view. He saw everything as slavery.

Question, are you a child or a slave?

If you think of God as an uncaring boss, you aren’t going to like obedience. But if you see him as your gracious father, you will give him your service joyfully.

Luke 15:30 CSB

30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’

This is the first time in the parable that prostitues are mentioned.

We don’t even know that the prodigal son was with prostitutes. Its a conclusion that the older son arrives at on his own. He clearly has a pretty bad opinion of his brother.

Because God is gracious, we can be gracious.

We don’t have to make others prove their worth to us. Often times, it is a comparison game. We want to prove ourselves by showing how we are better than others.

You Can Change: God's Transforming Power for Our Sinful Behavior and Negative Emotions 5 What Truths Do You Need to Turn To?

• Do you ever get angry or brood because you want to prove you’re in the right?

• Does your Christian service feel like joyless duty?

• Do you ever feel the pressure to perform?

• Do you serve others so you can feel good about yourself or impress people?

• Do you look down on others or exaggerate their failings?

• Do you worry that you won’t make the grade in life?

• Do you enjoy conversations about the shortcomings of others?

We probably found that one or more of these questions really resonated in our hearts. And so I want to say again,

God is gracious, and so you don’t have to prove yourself.

Each one of you tonight has value, each one of you has worth. You don’t need to prove that you are cool, or funny, or rich, or whatever. You have value because God has made you valuable.

He has made you so valuable, that Jesus was sent to earth to redeem your life.

If God can can redeem you, and forgive you for every sin that you ever did or will do, then you can be gracious to others.

And you can relax, because you don’t need to prove yourself to God, to me, or to anyone here. Jesus has made you acceptable in God’s sight. You just need to make him the King of your life.

VIDEO - “Prodigal” by Milestone Church

If you can relate to the prodigal in this film please bring it up with your small group leader tonight. The son comes back and finds that his father loves him. God wants for you to know tonight that he loves you. You don’t need to prove yourself to God, he loves you because he made you. Talk to your small group leader about what it means to be a child of God.

SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS

What does it mean that, “God is Gracious, and so I don’t have to prove myself.

What human emtions/reactions are we most likely to project onto God?

Look over this list of questions and pick the top 3 that most relate to you:

You Can Change: God's Transforming Power for Our Sinful Behavior and Negative Emotions 5 What Truths Do You Need to Turn To?

• Do you ever get angry or brood because you want to prove you’re in the right?

• Does your Christian service feel like joyless duty?

• Do you ever feel the pressure to perform?

• Do you serve others so you can feel good about yourself or impress people?

• Do you look down on others or exaggerate their failings?

• Do you worry that you won’t make the grade in life?

• Do you enjoy conversations about the shortcomings of others?

4. Talk about the results from question 3.

5. What is the coveant that God has with his children?