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Sustained by Grace
Pray: God help us to be sustained by grace and strengthened by joy.
Amen
I want to talk to you about how you can be sustained by the grace of God.
We’ve been talking about developing a winning rhythm in life by following Jesus and entering into the cycle of grace instead of the cycle of works.
One of the very real challenges for a lot of believers is that their experience does not live up to their expectation.
We hear the promises of God and stories of the life of faith and yet somehow our experience does not match.
Sometimes, it’s because we don’t read the fine print.
We don’t consider that the cost of sin and death is the life of Jesus and that to receive the life of Jesus means to let go completely of the life of sin and death.
Most of the time, however, I think that the reason our experience of God does not match our expectations is because we are approaching life with Him from the cycle of works instead of the cycle of grace.
Cycle of Works slide
Cycle of Grace slide
If nothing about how we are following Jesus changes, we may never experience the true joy of following Jesus.
Remember that the cycle of works approaches acceptance with God and others by beginning in achievement.
In other words, our value is determined by what we produce.
Your work is a product that God (and others) consume and once you no longer produce then you are no longer important.
And if you are no longer important than you are rejected.
So, we work and we work and we work to have something to prove our value to God (and others).
Thankfully, in the life of Jesus our Teacher, we can learn practices of faith that sustain us and strengthen us.
Instead of being filled with anxiety and the fear of not being able to meet the demand, these practices will refresh us and fill us with joy and peace as they remind us we are accepted.
A New and Living Way
When Jesus came to Earth, He came to show us a new and living way to enter into the presence of God (Hebrews 10.20).
Unfortunately, we’ve substituted one way of living for another one without changing why or truly embracing how.
We’ve given up a better life according to the flesh and the world, in order to have a better life according to Jesus.
Is it possible we’ve traded the American Dream for a Heavenly one?
If we just change what we are living for without changing how we are living then we will discover that things will get worse.
Illustration: you can’t enjoy sin once you’ve experienced God’s forgiveness.
This is why people “deconstruct” their faith and leave.
They know that as long as they are connected to Christ they cannot enjoy the works of the flesh.
When we operate out of the cycle of works, then as we are aware of our lack of things like holiness, wisdom, love, etc. we will be driven to work harder and do more to prove to God that we are worthy of His acceptance.
Instead of living sustained by grace we are driven by anxiety and fear.
Thankfully, Jesus taught us another way.
We can learn of Him and discover how we too can have a life sustained by grace and strengthened by joy (Matthew 11.29).
God is our Provider and He has made a way for you to live full of grace and truth (cf.
John 1.14-16).
Finding Sustenance in Grace
In our opening text, Jesus said that His food was to do the will of His Father (John 4.34).
Walking in the will of the Father energized Him and strengthened Him so that He was enabled to do the works that He did.
In the cycle of grace, we receive spiritual nourishment from our Father because He loves us.
Then, in the strength of this food, we are empowered to live a significant and fruitful life.
Here are three ways that we can begin to find sustenance in grace:
Receive God’s Provision
Through Christ, God supplies our needs (Philippians 4.19).
He is our provider and the giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1.17).
Notice that because God is our shepherd we have all that we need.
He gives us rest.
He renews us.
He leads us and guides us.
Just come to God and He will give sustenance.
It’s that simple.
The good news is that we simply have to ask God for His grace.
Ask, believe, and receive His grace (Mark 11.24).
More than things, we need His grace.
It is His grace that gives you a sufficiency in all things leading to an abundance for ever good work (2 Corinthians 9.8).
Illustration: When we go to Brazil they operate on a different voltage than we do in the states.
We need the power to operate our phones or beauty products.
But if we don’t receive the right type of power then they will burn out.
In the same way, we need to find our sustenance from the grace of God not the same sources that the world operates on.
Otherwise, we too will burn out in our faith.
So ask and receive the strength of grace which comes through the Spirit of God.
He is your Provider and wants to give you everything you need!
Adopt Jesus’ Patterns
Jesus is our example of what it means to truly live.
He accomplished great things.
He changed people’s lives.
His life had joy and grief and in all things He overcame.
Since He is our example, let us consider some of the patterns in His life that were sources of grace.
Prayer (Luke 5.16)
This regularly included solitude and silence
This also included corporate prayer
Scripture (Luke 4.16) - Jesus read Scripture, even memorizing and quoting it
Corporate Worship (Luke 4.16) - Jesus’ custom was to go to Church
Friendship (John 15.15) - Jesus had a friend group
Exercise (Luke 9.57) - Jesus walked everywhere, often with others.
Serving (Mark 10.45) - Jesus served others and gave His life for them (figuratively and literally)
Fellowship (Luke 7.34) - Jesus went to parties, ate meals, and spent time with others
Rest (Matthew 8.24) - Jesus slept on the boat after doing ministry.
He wasn’t worried about what was going on around Him (even if it was a storm)
What is the common thread of all of these practices?
They are relational.
They are all ways that Jesus participated with the Father to access grace.
They were ways to participate relationally with God.
When we do these things we bring ourselves before God and then the grace of God flows to us.
We need to recognize and discover the practices of Jesus that bring us closer to God.
They remind us that we are accepted.
These things are given as gifts to us.
They aren’t meant to keep us out of God’s rest but meant to bring us in.
They are ways that we delight in the LORD which return blessing to our lives (Psalm 37.4).
Illustration: When you put two magnetized things near each other, they attract each other.
There is no effort or pressure.
It is natural.
These patterns and practices of Jesus are meant to do the same thing — draw us near to God (James 4.8).
When we pray we draw close to Him.
When we read we draw close to Him.
When we worship, we come into His presence.
When we enjoy the good things and the people that God has brought into our lives it is an invitation to draw close to God in thankfulness.
Develop New Practices
Once you identify the patterns of Jesus that bring you joy and cause you to connect most with Him, then you want to develop a new rhythm of life around those practices.
We need to be engaged in the training of truth, exercising ourself to godliness (NKJV).
In other words, we need a new routine so that we can experience the benefit of God’s grace.
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