The Christian and Grace

Good morning children of God. I thought we could jump into something that needs to be explored a little deeper. Today's church has developed a concept of grace that is a bit different than what Jesus was talking about. I have heard it said that Grave is God’s unmerited favor. That is true! I have also heard Grace being used as a way to justify behaviors that do not align with the Word of God or Christ like values and beliefs. One brother posed a question “Does grace mean we look past a persons faults and that we do not address problems?” Absolutely not. As we have discussed before, we are to use scripture as a way of building each other up, not tearing one another down. In one of his pastoral letters, Paul wrote to his son in the faith, Timothy, and said this:

2 Timothy 3:16 NLT

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

God loves us and has given us His promises, how we should live, and how we are to treat one another. His mercy has allowed for every person, past, present, and future, to come to Him through Christ Jesus. Does it mean that you do not love me or that I do not love you if we are sharing the truth of scripture with one another, when we fall short? Absolutely not! We are called to help one another in this walk. I can not stand that saying “Do not point out my sin when you have your own sin.” That is NOT biblical. If you see me faltering, please tell me, I want to live the best life for Christ that I can live. Grace does not give us carte blanche to continue sinning nor is grace to be used as some kind of covering to absolve us of our behaviors when we know better. Hod do we explain Grace? We have all heard “God’s Riches as Christ’s Expense.” I would like us to dig a little deeper this morning.

G - Goodness of God

R - Redemption by God

A - Assistance From God

C - Created For God

E - Eternity With God

Ephesians 2:4–5 NLT

4 But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)