Walking with Grace
Walking with Grace
Past several weeks: aspects of relationship with God. Leading toward a better understanding of God’s grace.
We use “grace” all the time.
What is grace? Ever stopped to ask yourself what is means? Use the word all the time.
Grace:
1. Seemingly effortless beauty or charm of movement, form, or proportion.
2. A characteristic or quality pleasing for its charm or refinement.
3. Mercy; clemency.
Which is it?
To really get at what is meant when the Bible says, “grace”, need to ask what was originally written there. Remember, when we read “grace” we are reading an English translation of something originally written in Greek.
Every time we read “grace” in the New Testament, the orginal word is the Greek word, “charis”.
è good will, loving-kindness, favour.
è of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.[1]
è favor or kindness shown without regard to the worth or merit of the one who receives it and in spite of what that person deserves
So when the New Testament talks about God’s grace, it is talking about God showing us his favor regardless of whether we’ve earned it. It’s an attitude of love He has for us.
“By God’s favour you have been saved”, “God’s undeserved kindness is sufficient for you”
John 3:16
Not forgiveness…offer of forgiveness is the result of God’s grace. Forgiveness is out there available to use when we recognize our need
- Get hungry, go to a restaurant.
- Romans 5:8-while yet sinners, Christ died for us
Grace goes beyond mere forgiveness….adopted into His family. Bestows great gifts and blessings upon us. Empowers and encourages. Attitude of love.
This is what we celebrate as Christians...
How do people around us experience God’s grace…typically through people like you and I showing God’s grace to others.
More than just doing nice things for people…remember it’s an attitude of love. It’s believing in and wanting what’s best for people…it’s a desire to show them great love and kindness regardless of whether they’ve done anything to deserve it.
Walking in God’s grace is unexpected..goes against our natural ways of thinking..it makes you stand out, and causes people to take notice that there’s something different about you. You don’t act the way people expect.
I’d like to take some time to consider what that would look like in our daily lives.
May be as simple as going out of your way to express kindness to someone.
-say something about them
- help them. Stop to give a hand Surprise someone with a gift of something they need but would never ask for.
People don’t expect it. Elevators!
Easy? Why don’t we see it more often? Inhibitions.
Grace not always so simple. People don’t always deserve kindness, do they?
-grace says, I bet there’s a reason why…Teen Challenge.
- humanitarian-provides money, programs
-grace expresses love.
"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic.
(Luk 6:27-29 NIV)
Sometimes this is extremely difficult to do. Backstroms…
Not saying put self in danger…or let yourself be used by someone…we need to be smart. Our goal is not to simply say, “I love you” and have the person continue as they are…goal is that the grace we show would cause them to seek God and change their lives…just as MNTC guys have done.
But need to be willing to step out of normal lives…step out past what might even be our normal reaction…and show kindness
Honestly, I think the most difficult situations to exhibit grace are in our closest relationships…spouses…parents…friends.
We love these people, but because we are so close to them, we also end up rubbing one another the wrong way. They do things that annoy….they have habits that affect us in a negative way. We get angry and upset. We don’t always agree on how to think and act, and it drives us apart. Sometimes our closest friends and family members do things we know are wrong, but they won’t stop.
Our natural reaction is to get mad. Take offense. Get back at them. Get away from them…leads to divorce, broken friendships, broken homes, businesses failing, churches splitting…
-We need grace.
It’s difficult. We want to people closest to us to love us, so why do they do these things? Our natural response is to get angry. Lash out…say,”I can’t stand it when you do this.” “I’m not going to put up with it anymore!”
But grace..says to react in an unexpected way. To have love and kindness regardless of what that person is doing.
Try to see their perspective and be able to say, “I understand…”.
Grace says, this needs to change, but I’m going to continue walking with them and providing them support as they struggle through something they are trying to work out…to readily forgive when they’ve said or done something that hurt you…
Closest relationships give us ample opportunity to exercise grace. As we we continue to develop an attitude of grace—an attitude of love and kindness regardless of whether a person has done anything to earn it—we will find other opportunites.
You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
(2Ti 2:1 NIV)
Challenge you to walk in God’s grace. Do the unexpected. Step out of the ordinary and let people know they are loved no matter what they do.
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[1]Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible : Showing Every Word of the Text of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order. electronic ed. Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. G5485