Define Tactical Grace
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Read Ephesians 2:1-10
Today we are starting a new sermon series called Tactical Grace
Say Tactical Grace
Explain the graphic
Why Pastor Nick… I’m glad you asked
I shared about 6 weeks back about how the Lord has given me insight into the nature of who we are supposed to be as a church
We need to walk in the pastures that our Good Shepherd has prepared for us
That started with the pasture of prayer
How many of you got something good from that?
How many of you felt God leading you deeper in your personal walk?
The end goal wasn’t to just be a people who pray more, but that prayer is a part of this life that we live as Christians that invites people into the With-Jesus life
Say Invites
And if we are to do life With-Jesus then that means we are going to be about our Father’s business, right?
Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
And if we are going to be on mission walking with Jesus we have to be doing the same thing amen?
And I know for Christians today it seems like the world is hostile to the Gospel… but the truth is the world is hungry for the Gospel but they are hostile to the way the church has been absent of grace
So in order to live out the mission of Christ we need to engage some Tactical Grace
Say Tactical Grace
Through this sermon series I’m going to be able to walk us through some practical application of the faith that we profess
It’s my goal that we will be able to engage with the world in ways that utilizes the Grace of God to plant seeds and to seek and save the lost
There is an old image of being in the Lord’s Army
How many of you remember that phrasology
I may never march with the infantry, ride with the cavalry, shoot the artilliary, I may never fly over the enemy, but I’m in the Lord’s Army
It doesn’t matter how old you are, you are a part of what we call the Church Militant… until God comes or calls then you’ll be a part of the church triumphant
The idea of Tactical Grace has its roots in being a soldier in the Army of the Lord, being in the church militant.
WE need to lay a little ground work
Before we get too deep we need to define some things
First Tactical
relating to or constituting actions carefully planned to gain a specific military end.
aiming at an end beyond the immediate action.
If that don’t speak to the life of the Christian, I don’t know what does
We are supposed to live tactically if this is the definition we go with
We are supposed to live in ways that aim at an end beyond the immediate.
Everything we do is to seek after a crown, a future glory, the presence of Christ
and our goal should be to take as many people as we can with us
That is the specific military end… to increase our forces.
later in the series we’ll discuss how Paul says we have weapons not of the flesh and what that really means
But for our specific end… it is to grow the kingdom of God
And make no mistake… we are in a battle
But not against flesh and blood. We are battling for the souls of this world with the tools and the weapons that Jesus has blessed us with
This means that the tactics… the things we do aren’t against other people. We are not using tactics to defeat people but to tear down strongholds, to fight in the spirit, to save and to win people amen?
The main thing we are going to focus on… what’s going to be our central point in all this is Grace
We proclaim a gospel of grace, we talk about grace… heck its in our vision statement right? Extending grace and engaging others in their faith
So getting past the christianese… what is grace
Now I’m asking you guys.... what is a working definition of Grace?
Lets dive into our text
Ephesians 2:1-10
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
We see Pul here talking to the church in Ephasus and he is giving them insight into the grace of God
The unmerited favor of God
We need to hover on this for the rest of our time because I really want you all to get it into your spirit
Paul says you were dead
You wanna know something interesting here
Do you know what the greek word for dead translates to?
Dead. Lifeless.
He’s telling us that though you were and some still are going through this life, they are without eternal life. You were living according to the flesh which is an existence where you are your own GOd.
And existence that leads to not only physical death, but that exists in spiritual death
I think a lot of people would be a lot more humble if they truly got this
What can a dead person do?
In and of themselves… what can a dead person do?
NOTHING
So when Pul tells us that we were dead he’s showing us that there was nothing we could do to save ourselves.
Then we get to v4.... But God being rich in mercy
You were dead. On your way to eternal death. But God stepped in rich in mercy
Mercy is withholding some punishment that you deserve
Because of his great love he made us alive with Christ
While you were dead in your trespasses God made you alive
It was his Grace that saved you
Unmerited favor
You did nothing right, you deserve nothing but hell, you couldn’t earn it.... It was Jesus’s sacrificial death and that alone that gives you the right to be called children of God
This means that there is no room for arrogance in the heart and life of a christian
What are you so good at that wasn’t a gift?
What did you do that ‘s so great to be full of yourself and believe that you’re better than anyone?
You were DEAD!!!!
It is Christ that brought you out of the darkness and into his marvelous light
It is the life of Christ in you that has awakened you to life and that in abundance!
V 8 It is by grace through faith and not your own doing. It is a gift not a result of works so that no one may boast
You wouldn’t know it by looking on social media, but Christians should be the most grace filled people because we are the ones who have experienced the most grace
God saved us
God claimed us
God cleaned us
And now… we have the nerve to be arrogant or proud.
How absurd is that?
I love v10
For we are his workmanship
That word in greek is poema… we are his poem his masterpiece
That’s a whole other sermon… but let that sink in a bit
created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared before hand that we should walk in them
God saved us by grace because he loves us. But he didn’t just save us so that we could sit pretty on a shelf somewhere
God saved us so that we can participate in his plan bringing redemption to the world, seeking to save the lost… and using the Grace of God to do so
I don’t know one believer who came to Jesus by being talked down to
I don’t know one person who came to jesus because some super holy person snubbed them or was rude or caty to them
Not one
I do know a lot of people who have experienced a life giving relationship with Jesus because of some grace filled person who extended grace to them
Someone who knew Jesus and his power to save used thier position as beloved of God to reach out and help others enter into that Grace
This is what we’re called to chruch
WE are called to use the Grace God has given us to reach beyond what we see, beyond our current condition, and to seek and save that which is lost… those who as paul said are now like you once were
So your job as a christian is to engage in tactical grace
Online… are you showing people unmerited favor.
It’s an election year yall… And I want to tell you this from the bottom of my heart
Your grace isn’t measured by the way you interact with those you agree with
Your grace is measured by the way you show favor and kindness and think the best about those who you have no reason to agree with
You show your grace to others by reaching out and seeking to build bridges instead of walls
By loving the unlovable… because you were at one point unlovable.
God loves you. He wants you to live IN his grace and to extend that same grace to others
Time for reflection
If you haven’t been extending grace maybe its because you don’t actually know the grace of God. If that’s the case, now is the time to ask Jesus into your life. To experience the life giving grace of God
Maybe you’ve been war-torn and battered and you feel like everything is an attack
Now is the time to lean on the rock of your salvation. To fight the battle using his tactics not your own
Maybe you’re heart broken and you
