1-29-12 Sermon

To listen to today's sermon, click here. The manuscript along with the outline provided appears below.

YOU’VE GOT TO GET CONNECTED

Essentials for 21^st Century Living

01-29-12 Sermon

“It is not good for man to be alone.”  Genesis. 2:18

God’s word for “connecting with others”:

I.  WHY IS IT ESSENTIAL TO CONNECT WITH OTHERS?

           

                        E__________________ Reasons

                        P__________________ Reasons

                        S__________________ Reasons

II. WHAT IS IT LIKE TO BE SPIRITUALLY CONNECTED?

4 metaphors for being part of a church

            1.  IT’S LIKE BEING A ________________________________________

              “You believers are like a building that God owns… Jesus is the most important stone in the building and the whole building is joined together in Christ… You are being built into a place where God lives through the Spirit.”  Eph 2:20+22 (ICB)

              “We who believe are carefully joined together, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.”  Eph. 2:21 (NLT)

·      In a BUILDING, the connected parts ____________________________________

            2.  IT’S LIKE BEING A ________________________________________

              “Just as there are many parts to our bodies, so it is with Christ’s Body.  We are all parts of it, and it takes every one of us to make it complete, for we each have different work to do.  So we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others.” 

Rom. 12:4-5 (LB)

a.     We’re all D_____________________

b.     We all have D________________ R____________________ to play

c.     We are all N_______________________

d.     We all belong  to E____________ O__________________

e.     We all need to be C__________________________ to each other

              “In Christ’s Body we’re all connected to each other…”  Eph. 4:25b (Mes)

              “We are joined together in His Body by His strong sinews, and we grow as we get our nourishment and strength from God.”  Col. 2:19 (NLT)

·      In a BODY, the connected parts ______________________________________

3.  IT’S LIKE BEING A ________________________________________

“God made us, and we are His.  We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.” 

Ps. 100:3 (NLT)

“Take care of God’s flock, His people, that you are responsible for.  Watch over them because you want to, not because you are forced to do it.”  1 Peter 5:2 (ICB)

·      In a FLOCK, the sheep are ________________________________________

4.  IT’S LIKE BEING A ________________________________________

“I want you to know how people who are members of God’s family must live.  God’s family is the church…”  1 Tim. 3:15 (GWT)

“Love each other like brothers and sisters.”  Rom. 12:10 (NCV)

·      In a FAMILY, the members ________________________________________

How can I get connected to this church family?

“First they gave themselves to the Lord; and then, by God’s will, they gave themselves to us as well.”  2 Cor. 8:5 (GN)

             

YOU’VE GOT TO GET CONNECTED

Essentials for 21^st Century Living

01-29-12 Sermon

There are hundreds of millions of people already connected to the Internet. As Peg and I have traveled to different impoverished places in the world, we have been amazed at how many people in those settings have cell phones and internet cafes.  There is hardly a week that goes by that I don’t receive a request at my ARM office from some impoverished part of the world asking us to send a team to minster to them. Companies are spending hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars to lay cable and to put satellites in space in order to connect everybody in the world. 

There are over millions of miles of fiber optics laid around the world.  Under the ocean, they have laid enough cable to circle the entire globe more several times.  In space there are now over fifteen hundred satellites dedicated to communications.  All this to get us connected. 

Today, I want to talk to you about another kind of connection.  A relational connection.  For many years there's been a strong emphasis in our society on personal individuality, self-expression, self-esteem, self-fulfillment.  Focus on me, the individual.  I've got to do what's best for me.  As a result of that we've produced a very disconnected society.  People don't know each other.  You don't know all your neighbors.  You don't know all the people you work with.  You don't even know all the people in this church.  You’re disconnected. 

We weren't made to live disconnected lives.  The Bible says in Genesis 2:18, God said, "It is not good for man to be alone."  You were made for relationships.  You were created for connections.  Psychologists call this a universal need to belong.  Even Jesus needed friends.  The Bible has a very important word about connecting people at the deepest level.  That spiritual connection is called fellowship.

We use the word "fellowship" to refer to just hanging out with people (which it is not), having a party (which it is not), being with friends (which it is not).  Fellowship is more than socializing.  Fellowship is more than networking.  Fellowship is more than making contacts with contacts.  It is even more than just spending fun time with people you love.  Fellowship in its truest sense is soul to soul connection.  That is what Scott was asking for.  Sadly most people on this earth have never enjoyed the true meaning of genuine fellowship.  They have never had a spiritual connection with anybody.  You may have had an emotional connection, a sexual connection, an intellectual connection.  But almost nobody has ever had a heart-to-heart, soul to soul, fellowship connection unless you know the Lord and have learned to fellowship with other believers.

Why is it essential to connect with others?  There are emotional reasons.  There are physical reasons.  You will live longer, lots of studies have proven that.  There are spiritual reasons.  Dr. Edward Hallowell has written a new book simply called Connect.  He says, "We are a nation of doers.  We hurry from place to place, filling our lives with all kinds of activities, sometimes over scheduling our kids and ourselves.  But what really sustains us emotionally, psychologically and physically is connectedness, the feeling that we are part of something that matters, something larger than ourselves that gives life meaning.  Just as there is a vitamin deficiency, there is a human contact deficiency and it weakens the body, the mind and the spirit.  Its ravages can be severe – depression, physical illness, early death.  Or they can be mild – under achievement, fatigue, and loneliness.  Just as we need Vitamin C each day, we also need a dose of human contact everyday with other people. 

We all know that we need food.  We all know that we need vitamins and minerals.  We know that we need air.  Most of us know that we need sunshine.  But most of us don't know that one of the other major factors in your health in life is you need deep human contact.  Just as essential as Vitamin C is, the other vitamin C –  connectedness is essential to your life.  There are many scientific studies that have proved that you have to have this in your life in order to really live and not just exist. 

What does it mean to be spiritually connected?  What's it like?  The Bible gives us four word pictures or metaphors that says, "Being spiritually connected is like this..."  We're going to look at these this morning because a lot of you have a misunderstanding of what church is all about.  Church is not just a place to attend.  In fact, in the New Testament the word “church” never refers to a building or place because the believers at that time did not have buildings yet.  Church is a group to be connected to.  This weekend about millions of people will be at some church service, but few of them will be really connected spiritually to that church.  So I want to explain to you the benefits of why you've got to get connected.  It's one of the essentials for living in the 21^st century.  You need people to live with. 

Why?  What is it like to be spiritually connected?  1.  It's like being a brick in a building. 

This is a picture we find in the Bible.  The Bible compares the church to a spiritual building.  Notice Ephesians 2:20 & 22 "New believers are like a building that God owns.  Jesus is the most important stone in the building and the whole building is joined together in Christ.  You are being built into a place where God lives through the Spirit." 

At my church in Philadelphia they had a very complicated building.  On my first Sunday there I was down in my office and it was time for the 10:15 service and I didn’t remember how to get to the sanctuary from there.  Because I am a man, and because I was the pastor, I was too embarrassed to ask anyone how to get there, so I walked outside and walked around the building because I knew I could eventually find it that way.  Fortunately it was a nice morning for a walk outside!  I figured that sometime during the next week I could figure out if there was an interior route I could use on a rainy day. 

It takes many different parts to make a building.  The key to making a building is all of the parts have to fit together.  If they don't fit together, you don't have a building.  If a beam is a half-inch short the roof is going to collapse.  If it's a half-inch too long, it's not going to fit.  If a door has hinges that aren't in the right place or it’s too thick or too narrow, it won't fit and it can't be connected to the building.  If you run a pipe through a hole and you want to connect it and it's an inch too short, it's not going to fit.  It has to be connected to be a part of the building.  In fact, if it's not connected, it's not a part of the building. 

There may be lots of different pieces of potential building on the floor--bricks, pieces of wood, pieces of metal, switches, boxes, wires, but as long as they're disconnected they're not really a part of the building.  They're in the building but they're not really a part of the building until they're connected. 

That may be a parable of some of you.  You come to Forest Grove Church, you attend here, you're in the Forest Grove family.  But you're not really a part of the Forest Grove family.  It's like you're in the building but you're not a part of the building because you're not connected.  You come and you sit and you hear God's word and you sing the songs, you go out and talk to people in the parking lot or the narthex and you go home.  But you're a spectator, you're not actually a participator.  You need to get connected. 

Ephesians 2:21 "We who believe are carefully joined together becoming a holy temple for the Lord."  God is building a spiritual temple, a living one.  And it's going to last forever.  To be a part of it, you've got to get connected to it.

Why did God choose a building as an illustration of what it means to be spiritually connected?  Why did He choose a building to demonstrate what the church is like?

Because in a building, all the connected parts support each other.  Beams support other beams.  Walls support other walls and the roof holds the walls together, the walls hold the roof up.  They're all connected and they're all supporting. 

That is one of your deepest needs in life.  You need support.  You need emotional support.  You need physical support sometimes.  You certainly need spiritual support.  Where are you going to get it if you're not connected?  Who's going to hold you up in the tough times?  You need the support, like being a brick in a building.  You weren't meant to go through life disconnected and unsupported. 

That’s why it is important for people to pick up cards for our shut-ins at our communion services and to send them notes.  That’s why it is important to visit the shut-ins. That’s why our prayer chain is important.  That’s why a small group Bible study in Henry’s home is important.  That’s why being a part of work teams and ministry teams together is important.  We need to stay connected. 

2.  IT’S LIKE BEING A PART OF A BODY.

The Bible not only compares being a part of the church with being a brick in a building, but it also compares it to being a part of a body.  That's an image of being spiritually connected because the Bible calls the church the body of Christ over and over again.  It compares the church to a physical body.

Romans 12 says this "Just as there are many parts to our bodies, so it is with Christ's body.  We are all parts of it and it takes every one of us to make it complete for we all have a different work to do.  So we belong to each other  and each needs all the others."

This verse is literally packed with spiritual truths.  I want to point out five things just from this one verse.

         1.  First, notice that in a church we're all different.  We're all unique.  God doesn't want you to be like anybody else.  He made you uniquely you.  He wants you to be you.  He doesn't want you copying anybody else.  You don't have to be like them.  You are unique.

         2.  We all have different roles to play, different work to do, different niches to fill.  In a body not everything does the same thing.  Can you imagine if all the parts of your body did the same thing?  Like, every part of your body did the digestion.  That would be redundant and uncomfortable because you have a lot of other things to do besides just digest food.  It would be unnecessary too.  We have different roles to play in the body of Christ.

3. We are all needed to make the body complete.  The hand can't say to the foot, "I don't need you," and the ear can't say to the nose, "I don't need you."  We're all needed in the body of Christ.  Some parts of your body are very small but they're still needed.  You may think that “In this body of Christ called Forest Grove Church, I'm just a toenail on the body."  Let me ask you, Have you ever lost a toenail?  Do you notice it when it's gone?  It's pretty uncomfortable.  Even when the littlest part of your body gets hurt, you notice it.  If your little finger gets smashed, the rest of your body hurts.  There are no little people in the body of Christ. 

The most important light in your home is not the big chandelier in the dining room.  It’s that little tiny light you turn on at night that keeps you from stubbing your toe when you get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  That's the most important light in your house.  Some of you may say that the most important light is the one that comes on when you open the refrigerator door.  That may be true, but the point is, size and significance have nothing in common.  And if you're at Forest Grove Church, you are needed here in the body of Christ.  You're not here by accident.  God brought you here because you have a role to play in this body of the body of Christ called Forest Grove Church. 

         4.  We all belong to each other.  The Christian life is not just a matter of believing.  It's a matter of belonging.  You say, "I believe in Jesus."  Great!  You're halfway there.  But you need to belong to His body.  You need to be a brick in the building and a part of the body.  What good is a body part that's detached from the body?  We all belong to each other.  You make a commitment to Jesus Christ and you make a commitment to other Christians and say, "That's going to be the body I'll be a part of."

         5.  We all need to be connected to each other.  When you're disconnected you're not very effective.  What good is an eyeball detached from the body?  None.  An eyeball cannot see at all unless it is attached to a body.  What good is a hand if it's detached from a body?  None.  A hand cannot do anything unless it's connected to a body.  Here's the parallel: God wants you to be connected to His body because you can't be effective as a Christian, as a believer, to grow spiritually without being connected.  Why did God choose the body as an illustration of what the church is to be?  Because in a body, all the parts grow together.  They grow in harmony.  If your leg gets detached from your body, can it grow?  No.  If your arm gets detached from your body can it grow?  No.  I don't know how to say it any clearer than this: You cannot be all God wants you to be and you cannot grow to be what God wants you to be without being attached to a body, a church, a church home.  This is the second most important connection in life.  The most important connection is your connection to God, Jesus Christ.  Once you've got that one down the second most important connection in your life is get connected to God's body, the body of Christ, so that you can grow.

Colossians 2:19 "We are joined together in His body by His strong sinews, and we grow as we get our nourishment and strength from God."  What is a sinew?  The sinew is the part that holds everything together.  Notice it says we grow as we get our nourishment and strength from God.  If you are serious about spiritual growth, you have to get connected to a body.  You have to get connected to a church body and say, "That's where I'm going to grow."  You cannot grow all the way you're supposed to grow on your own.

The Bible also called the church a flock.  This is Jesus' favorite term.  He calls the church, "My little flock."  So the third image of what it means to be spiritually connected is:

3.  IT'S LIKE BEING A SHEEP IN A FLOCK

Psalm 100:3 says "God made us and we are His.  We are His people, the sheep of His pasture."  That probably doesn't sound too appealing to you.  A sheep in a flock!  Wow!  That sounds really kind of smelly!  I haven’t seen many sheep around Joelton and most of us have no idea how well sheep are cared for.  But if you remember in Psalm 23 it says "Because the Lord is my shepherd, I have everything that I need."  When you get in God's flock, the great shepherd, Jesus Christ, takes care of the needs in your life. 

Jesus said this in John 10 "I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep."  That's how much you matter to God.  Jesus Christ laid down His life for you.  "A hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep, so when the wolf comes he abandons the sheep and runs away and then the wolves attack the flock and scatter it.  A hired hand runs away because he cares nothing for the sheep.  But I am the good shepherd.  I know My sheep and My sheep know Me and I lay down My life for My sheep.  My sheep listen to My voice and I know them and they follow Me and I give them eternal life and they shall never perish and no one can ever snatch them out of My hand."

Why did God choose the flock as an image of what it means to be spiritually connected?  Because in a flock the sheep are protected and cared for.  That's one of the functions of a church.  You need that in your life.  When you're getting beat up in the business world, when your marriage and family are being strained to the limit, when you're facing a personal overwhelming crisis, you need people who will step up to bat for you.  You need people that when everybody else walks out of your life, they walk into it.  They go to bat.  They assume responsibility and they protect you and they care for you.  Like a shepherd does sheep.

The Bible tells us that in every church God gives certain people, a number of these people who are good at what we're talking about here.  They're good at caring for other people.  They're good at loving.  They're people-people.  They're good at leading or encouraging discussion or teaching or supporting and helping the people in the church who are in need. 

They're called many different things.  In the Bible, they're called pastors, they're called shepherds.  Today, it is not just the official pastor of the church, it includes other in the church who take on a shepherding role. It really doesn't matter what you call these caring individuals of the church that help care for the flock.  But you need them.  Every sheep needs a shepherd.  Every person deserves individualized, personalized care.  Regardless of what you call them, the job description for these people in the church is in 1 Peter 5:2 "Take care of God's flock, His people that you are responsible for.  Watch over them because you want to not because you're forced to do it."  This is a voluntary position.  You want to do it not because somebody's forcing you to do it. 

The truth is, some of you could do that.  You are wired for it.  You have a heart for people.  You are a people person.  You like helping others.  You don't want to go hide off by yourself with a computer in a little room.  You want to get out with people and help them and share with them and talk with them.  You say, "Don't you have to be have seminary training?"  No, you don't.  You don't have to have been a Christian for fifty years.  You don't have to know all the answers to everything.  Just a couple things, one, love God and, two, love people.  If you love God and you love people you probably qualify. 

The last image of being spiritually connected is one you're all familiar with. 

4.  It's like being a member of a family.

The Bible calls the church "the family of God."  We're a spiritual family.  We're God's family.  1 Timothy 3:15 says, "I want you to know how people who are members of God's family must live.  God's family is the church."  You may live a long distance from family members and extended relatives.  And some of you are single adults.  And some of you have a marriage or family that is not supportive of your spiritual development or growth.  We are your family.  We will help you.  We love you.  We want to care for you.  We want to help you be all that God wants you to be. 

How are we to act as members of the family of God?  Romans 12:10 "Love each other like brothers and sisters."  Why?  Because we’re a family.  Here in the south, some people in the church continue to refer to each other as “brother’ or “sister.”  Calling each other brother and sister is not a bad idea, if you really mean it.  We really are related to each other in the family of God.  The phrase "one another" is used many times in the New Testament.  The Bible says we are to love one another, care for one another, encourage one another, support one another, give to one another, help one another, on and on.  It is the mutual ministry that we have in the family of God.  That's what it means to be a member of a family.  You're not just a spectator in a church.  You're a participator in a church.  You're not on the outside looking at the family.  You're on the inside as a family member. 

Some of you may remember the words of the theme song for the TV show "Cheers".  "Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.  Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot.  Wouldn't you like to get away?  Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name and they're always glad you came.  You want to be where you can see our troubles are all the same.  You want to be where everybody knows your name."

That is a description of the family of God, not a bar.  When you go to a bar everybody doesn't want to know your name.  But you get involved in a church small group and in that small group everybody wants to know your name.  You figure out pretty soon that all our troubles are the same.

If you are a perfect person, you've got it all together, there's no sin in your life, you're perfect, go find another church.  We don't need you here.  No perfect people need apply at this church.  On the other hand, if you are a big, bad sinner, come on down!  This is the place.  Be seated among the rest of our big, bad sinners.  If you've got some hang-ups, you've got a few screws loose, a few eggs short of a full omelet, your elevator doesn't go all the way to the top, maybe you've got some bad habits, a somewhat shady thing you wish nobody would know about and you're trying to get rid of it, you've got some areas in your life that just aren't all together, this is the place for you.  This is the place for people who have blown it and want to change, who want to grow, who want to make a difference, who admit that they don't have it all together.  If you're that way, you’re welcome here.  By the way, if you ever find a perfect church, please don't join it.  The moment you join it, it won't be perfect anymore. 

Why did God choose the family as an illustration of what it's like to be spiritually connected at a church?  Because in a family, the members love each other.  You don't have to like them all but you've got to love them. 

How do you get connected?  The scripture says "First they gave themselves to the Lord and then by God's will they gave themselves to us as well."  First you commit your life to Christ, you become a part of God's family.  And then you commit yourself to this local family and say, this is going to be my church home, my family.

From time to time you will hear a person say, I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian!  How many of you have heard someone say that?  People who say that have listened to a lie coming from the pit of hell!  The bible tells us that Satan, the devil, is like a roaring lion prowling around looking for someone to devour.  Do you know that when a lion is on the hunt it looks for the weak one lagging behind the herd, the young one not paying attention to the fact that it has left the herd, or the sick one walking off by itself?  Isolation can be fatal.  You may find a weak, barely alive, Christian whose life doesn’t look much different from the secular lifestyles around them saying I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian!  But you won’t find a Christian who is totally in love with Jesus and dedicated to fulfilling Jesus’ plan and purpose for their life off by themselves saying I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian!

The bible says, you need to be connected to be a Christian—you need to be a brick in a building, a part of a body, a sheep in a flock and a member of a family.  Not just for your own sake, but for the sake of others.  Other people need what you have to give.  You need what they have to give.  Get connected!

Prayer:  Father, next to salvation and forgiveness the greatest gift You've ever given us is the opportunity to be connected to Your building, Your body, Your flock, Your family.  Thank You that we don't have to go through life disconnected, isolated.  Thank You for creating this Forest Grove Church family for all of us.  May we never take it for granted.  In Your name I pray, Jesus.  Amen.

1-22-12 Sermon

I'm sorry but this week's sermon did not get recorded. The tech (ME!) forgot to hit record before the service! Below is the manuscript that you can read, though.

LIVING BY GRACE

Essentials for 21^st Century Living

01-22-12 Sermon

Complete these common American phrases:

          If it sounds too good to be true…. It is.

          We make money the old fashioned way, we … earn it.

          There’s no such thing as a free… lunch.

          There is no gain without … pain.

          God helps those who … help themselves.

Everything about the American way of life teaches you get what you earn in life.  You get what you pay for.  We value work, sweat, effort, performance.  It is called the American Work Ethic.  And it’s good.  The only problem is it causes a difficulty in us relating to God because God does not relate to us on performance.  God does not relate to us based on our effort, our work, our ethic of how much we try.  The Bible says that God relates to us and everything God does in our lives, every blessing we have in our lives, comes by grace as a free gift.  You don’t earn it, you don’t deserve it, you don’t work for it.  It’s just a free gift of God.  And the Bible says that everything in your life is a gift of grace.

The Bible is very clear about this, that God saves us by grace, God blesses us by grace, God teaches us by grace, God uses us by grace, God keeps us saved by grace, God takes us to heaven by grace.  Everything in my life that’s good is a gift of God’s grace.

Notice these verses:  1 Corinthians 15:10 says “Whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out such kindness and grace on me.”  It’s all because of His grace.  John 1:16 says, “From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.”

Last week we started this series Essentials for 21^st Century Living. Remember I talked about how there are five essentials you have to have in life in order to really live.  You could exist without them but you can’t really live without these things.  You need power to live on.  You need people to live with because you’re made for relationships, not to be lonely.  You need principles to live by.  You need a plan to live out.  And you need a purpose to live for.  These are life’s essentials.  If any of these are missing in your life, you’re not living.  You’re just existing. 

But I need to say before we even get into those details that all of these things are gifts of grace.  You don’t earn power to live on.  God just gives it to you.  You don’t earn the right people to live with.  God just gives them to you.  You don’t deserve a purpose or a plan to live for and to live out.  It is a gracious gift of God’s grace. 

There are many, many definitions of grace.  Grace is like a multi-faceted diamond.  It has many different sides and shapes.  No one definition could adequately describe it.  Let me read a couple of definitions, though.

          Grace is God’s love in action.

          Grace is when God gives me what I need, not what I deserve.

Grace is anything that I desperately need that I don’t deserve, that I could never repay but God gives it to me anyway. 

Grace is the face of love and forgiveness that God puts on when He looks at my failures, my faults, and my mistakes.

Many people confuse grace with mercy and they’re two different things.  Mercy is when God doesn’t give you what you deserve.  That’s mercy!  Have you ever done anything wrong and gotten away with it?  Yes.  You’ve gotten off scot-free on a lot of things that you deserve justice for, that you deserve punishment for.  When God doesn’t give you what you deserve that’s called mercy. 

On the other hand when God gives what you don’t deserve that’s grace.  All the good things in your life you didn’t earn, you didn’t work for, you weren’t given.  They were just gifts of God’s grace to you. 

I want you to not just understand grace today.  I want you to feel it.  I want you to really feel it, maybe for the first time in your life.  To feel loved by God, to feel the unconditional grace of God. In order to help you remember this, there’s an acrostic G-R-A-C-E. 

There was a professor at Yale who was invited to speak to the Yale student body so he decided to do a little acrostic on YALE about what is a Yale student.  He talked about Youth and Attitude and Loyalty and Enthusiasm.  The only problem was he spent thirty minutes on each letter of the acrostic.  When he was through, he walked down to a student on the front row and said, “What did you think of my lecture and my acrostic?” The student answered, “I was just glad I didn’t go to Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” 

I promise you that it’s not going to take that long to go through these five letters.  What is grace?

G – GOD’S GIFT TO ME

It is a total gift of God.  If you were to go out and ask ten people, “How do you get to heaven?”, you’d get the same answers most of the time.  “Just work real hard and try to do your best… Be sincere and be nice to people… just try to do good and make sure that you do more good in your life than you do bad because maybe God grades on a curve and if your good works are better than your bad works maybe He’ll go, ‘You’re a good guy, sincere.  Just come on in.’” 

That’s the way most of the world thinks.  Most of the world thinks they’re going to get into heaven by being a pretty good person.  Most of us think we’re pretty good or good enough to get into heaven but bad enough to be fun.  We want to carry those balances. 

Here’s the problem.  There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell you’re going to make it into heaven on your own effort.  No way.  You can’t be good enough to go to a perfect place.  There’s no way you’re going to ever work, earn or buy your way into heaven.  You can’t be that good.  It’s not going to happen.

The Bible says the exact opposite.  The Bible says there’s only one way you’re going to get into heaven.  It’s a gift from God.  By God’s grace.  You could never earn it, you could never buy it, you could never work your way into it or deserve it or get enough brownie points or credits to get into heaven.  There’s no chance you’re going to make it into heaven except by accepting God’s free gift of grace.  You can’t be good enough.  You stopped batting 1000 a long time ago.

The Bible says this in Romans 11 “If it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works.  Otherwise grace is no longer grace.”  This just means it’s God’s gift.  It’s a free gift to me.

This is the fundamental difference between Christianity and every other faith or religion.  If you were to study all the other religions of the world you could summarize every other religion in one word – “do”.  Because you have to earn your way to God, if they even have a personal god.  Depending on the religion, there’s a different list of do’s.  The lists differ but every one of them have one thing in common.  You have to earn God’s approval, you have to earn God’s credit, you have to earn your way into heaven by doing certain things.  And if you do these certain things then God says, “OK!  You’re all right!”

That is in stark contrast to what the Bible says.  The Bible says the exact opposite.  The Bible says that the way you get to know God, have a relationship with Him, have your sins forgiven and get into heaven is by accepting what’s already been done for you.  Who did it?  Jesus Christ.  You accept what Jesus Christ did 2000 years ago on the cross.  And if you were to summarize Christianity in one word it would be the word  “done”.  It’s already been done for you.  “Do” versus “done”.  Jesus did it all.  That’s the difference.  And it is a free gift to you.  You just accept it.

After a service a seeker came up to the pastor and said, “What do I have to do to be saved?”  The pastor said, “You’re too late.”  The pastor was just having fun with him.  But he was a little shocked.  He didn’t expect that answer from a pastor.  He said, “What do you mean it’s too late?”  The pastor said, “What needed to be done was done 2000 years ago.  And it was done by Jesus Christ.  Now all you need to do is just accept it.  There’s nothing else you can do to add on to what was done in order for you to get into heaven.”  Grace is God’s gift to you. 

Romans 3:24 “All of us need to be made right with God.  How?  By His grace which is a free gift through Jesus Christ.”  That is the best gift you’re ever going to be offered.  There is no better gift than that.  You may get a Rolls Royce and win a lottery but this free gift goes on for eternity and it is through Jesus Christ.  It is a priceless gift and you will never be offered a better deal than that.

 

R – RECEIVED BY FAITH

Grace is received by faith.  You don’t earn it, you don’t work for it, you don’t deserve it, you don’t do a bunch of things to get God’s grace like “If I take communion I get God’s grace… If I'm baptized I get God’s grace…”  No, no.  Grace is received by faith.  Ephesians 2:8-9 “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves…”  That means even the faith you have is a gift from God.  God gives you the faith to believe in Him.  Even faith comes from God.  “… it is the gift of God not by works so that no one can boast.” 

Can you imagine how miserable we would be in heaven if everybody could get there by working for it and earning it?  Everybody up there would be bragging.  We’d have all these levels of how people got into heaven.  There would be the cool people part and then there would be the spiritual peon part and the guys who got in by the skin of their teeth part.  But that’s not the way it is; it’s all by God’s grace.  

Here’s the point:  Ephesians says: “For by grace you’ve been saved through faith.”  It’s just a free gift.  Romans 4:16 “People receive God’s promise by having faith.  This happens so that the promise can be a free gift.”  Salvation is not based on my performance.  It’s based on God’s promise.  It’s not based on my merit.  It’s based on God’s mercy.  It’s not based on my goodness.  It’s based on God’s grace.

The Bible is full of stories illustrating God’s grace.  There’s the story of the Good Samaritan who helps the guy who’s stranded on the side of the road who’s helpless and there’s no way he could repay him.  There’s no way you could possibly repay God for what He has done for you, what Christ has done for you.

There’s the story of the prostitute whom Jesus forgave and then defended publicly.  Did she deserve it?  Absolutely not.  What was He doing?  Showing grace.  There are examples in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. 

One of the most famous ones is the story of the Lost Son or the Prodigal Son.  This father has two boys.  One day the younger one says, “Dad, I'm splitting.  I want my half of the family inheritance right now and I'm leaving.”  So he takes half of the family inheritance and leaves and he moves to a foreign country and he wastes his life on wine, women and song (emphasis on the women).  And after a series of months he’s blown it all, out of luck, out of money, and he ends up feeding pigs at a farm in a pig trough.  There’s no ATM around.  He’s hit the skids and he’s down, destitute, broke and busted.  Flat on his back he’s thinking, “What am I doing here?  I know I blew it and it’s all my own fault but the people who work for my dad as servants, they live better than this.”  So he says to himself, “I'm going to go back home and say, ‘Dad, I know it.  I blew it.  I admit it.  I wasted half the family inheritance.  I do not deserve to be called your son.  But just hire me as a slave, a servant, and I’ll work for you the rest of my life because even your servants live better than I'm living now.’”  Yet the Bible says the father was loving and gracious, when he saw the son coming home from a long distance, he ran out to meet him.  He gives him a giant bear hug and he kisses him and he smiles and he’s celebrating.  “Go get the best robe in the house and bring it and we’re going to put it on this guy.”  He doesn’t say, “Go clean up your act.  Go get a bath.  Repay me first.  He doesn’t scold him.  He doesn’t lecture him.  He doesn’t give him a sermon.  “Get everything in shape and then I’ll talk to you.”  He just hugs him unconditionally and says, “Bring out the best robe.  Put it on his back.  Bring the family ring [which you would use like a credit card, kind of a symbol of the wealth of the family.  Unlimited credit.]  Bring the ring we’re going to put on his finger.  Kill the calf we’re going to bar-b-que.  We are going to party!  My lost son has been found.”

That story is to say that’s how God responds to you when you come home.  Did you know the Bible says that they have a party in heaven every time one person accepts the grace of God?  The angels in heaven, they have a party, every time one person steps across the line. 

If you haven’t accepted the grace of God you do not have a reason to party because you have some serious issues to deal with.  They’re called the past, the present, and the future.  You feel guilty about the past.  You feel pressured about the present.  And you’re worried about the future.  And you wonder why you’re not happy.  But when these issues have been settled by the grace of God, Christians of all people ought to know how to party.  So we did.  Because it’s God’s gift to us and it’s received by faith. 

A – AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE. 

It is available to everyone.  What does that mean?  God doesn’t play favorites.  Regardless of your status, regardless of your background, regardless of the sins you have committed God loves you.  Unconditionally.  And God has His grace that’s available for you. 

No matter who you are and no matter what you’ve done God loves you, He wants you to come home to Him.  He wants to shower His grace on you.  He wants to throw a party for you when you return.  It is available to everyone.

Notice  what the bible says:“The promise is not only for those people who live under the law of Moses.  It is available to anyone who lives with faith, like Abraham.”  Who are the people who live under the law of Moses?  The Jews.  The Jewish people, the nation of Israel, live under the law of Moses – the Old Testament.  This verse is saying that God’s grace is available not just to Jews who live under the law of Moses but is available to everybody with faith. 

That’s good news.  It’s not just for Jewish people.  It’s for all of us.  All of us can come to God in the same way – through faith in the grace of God through His Son Christ.  It’s available to everybody.

“Everyone…”  who is good looking and calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Everybody who shops at Dillard’s or Macy’s.   No, it doesn’t say that.  It says “Everybody who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.”  Does that mean ugly people?  Yes.  Does it mean fat people and skinny people?  Yes.  Does that include tall and short?  Yes.  Does that include dumb people as well as smart people?  Yes.  Does that include rich and poor?  Yes.  Every ethnic background?  Yes.   It means everybody.  Everybody.  Grace is available to you

You can’t understand what it means to have a relationship with God without understanding grace because it’s the only way you can have one.  Without it you don’t have any relationship with God.  It is the heart of Christianity.  It is the heart of following Christ and being a believer.  No matter what you’ve done and no matter who you are God’s grace is available to you. 

C – IT  COMES THROUGH CHRIST.

That’s the only place it’s available.  It comes through Jesus Christ, God’s Son.  In Acts 15:12 “We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved.”  Why through Christ?  Why does grace only come through Christ.  Because He’s the one who paid for it.  Nobody else has volunteered to pay for your sins.  Nobody else has volunteered to pay the price for all the good things you get to have.  Grace is free but it is not cheap because somebody has to pay for it.  And it cost Christ His life.  That’s how expensive your ticket to heaven was.  That’s how expensive paying the penalty for all the sins you’ve done and won’t have to pay for.  It cost God His own Son.  That’s how much He loves you.  Grace is free but it is not cheap because somebody has to pay for it. 

If you went home today and found a gift setting on your steps, it’s free to you, but somewhere, somehow, somebody paid for it.  And your gift of salvation, your gift of forgiveness, your gift of heaven and eternal life, your gift of a purpose in life, your gift of all the good things, somebody had to pay for it.  And Jesus Christ did that for you.  Why?  Because He loves you.  Grace comes through Christ.

Romans 5:15 “Many people have received God’s gift of life by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ.”  There’s a phrase used of people in the Bible who have accepted God’s grace.  It’s called being “in Christ”.  Anybody who has accepted the forgiveness of God, who has accepted the grace of God, who has accepted the salvation of God is called, in the Bible, in Christ.  That phrase is used over 120 times in the Bible.

You see the mess, the scars, the things that have ripped you up.  You see all those things that you’re ashamed of.  But when you’re in Christ and God looks at you with the eyes of His grace, all He sees is the perfection of Christ, not your imperfections.  That’s why if you’re a believer and accepted the grace of God, God is never, never mad at you.  Never.  God is never mad at you if you’ve accepted the grace of Christ.  When you are in Christ all He sees is how Jesus Christ has already paid for all these things.

2 Peter 1:3 “Jesus has the power of God.  His power has given us everything we need to live and to serve God and we have these things not because we deserve it, not because we earn it, not because we’re good enough, not because we’re worth it, but because we know Him.”  There’s only one way to get the grace of God – get to know Jesus Christ.  Invite Him into your life.  Grace is all that God is able to do on the basis of what Jesus did on the basis of the cross.  One way you could spell grace is GRACE – God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.  Like Tony has on the church sign this week.  Jesus paid the ticket.  He’s paid it all.

I don’t know how to say it any clearer than this.  There is nothing that you will ever do, that will make God love you more than He does right now.  You can’t make God love you more.  He already does.  And there is nothing you could ever do that will ever make God love you any less than He does right now.  Why?  Because His love is not based on your performance.  It’s based on His promise of grace.  Not on your merit but on His mercy.  Not on your goodness but on His grace. 

If you ever grasp this, it will change your life.  You will not be running from God all the time worrying about what He thinks.  Instead you’ll run to Him every time you fall.  You don’t run to somebody who wants to scold you.  You run to somebody who wants to hug you and help you and change you.  If you ever get it, it will change your life.

What are you most ashamed of?  What is that secret sin, that skeleton in the closet, those choices you made that you wish you’d never made and you hope nobody ever finds out about?  That is what the grace of God is for.  There is no therapy in the world, no pill, no book, no seminar that can make the kinds of changes that are needed.  Only the grace of God can do that.  And you need it.  And God wants to take the things that you are most ashamed of in your life and He wants to forgive them and wipe them out and wash them away and give you a fresh start because your past is not your present.  You don’t have to be the same anymore.  You can start over.  A new life, a new look, a new love with the Lord.  It’s all available not by earning it or working for it.  It’s just a gift if you will accept it. 

There was a woman who was very ashamed of some things in her life.  She was down by the beach thinking about them and a wave washed up and slapped her hand and she got some droplets on her hand.  Then as she was walking on she said she sensed that the Lord was having this conversation with her.  God said, “See those drops of water on your hand?  That represents your shame and your sins.  You see this vast ocean out here in front of you?  That represents My grace and My mercy.  If you were to shake your hand and fling the drops off your hand into that ocean, would you ever be able to find them again?  No.  Would you ever be able to pull them back?  No.  That’s your choice.  You can either hold onto your shame, the things that you’re thinking about right now that you wish had never happened and your sin and you can be miserable or you can fling them into the grace and mercy, the ocean of my love.  It’s your choice.  Why would anybody hold onto it when somebody loves you that much?”  So she took her hand and flung the droplets into the ocean, symbolically it was saying, “I am set free.”  Not just now but forever. 

Then there’s the fifth element of God’s grace.

E – EXTENDED THROUGHOUT ETERNITY.

The Bible says this in Romans, “The wages of sin is death…[That’s the bad news.  The good news is the rest of the verse] the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”  That is the result that will last forever.  You might say that grace is the gift that keeps on giving.  God saves the best for last.  When you get to know Jesus Christ and His grace and love, it gets better and better and better.  It is available and extended throughout eternity and the best is yet to come.     

What’s heaven going to be like?  You’re going to be reunited with loved ones who know the Lord.  You’re going to be rewarded for your faith.  You’re going to be reassigned a position of work that you love to do.  You’re going to be released from pain, depression, despair, shame, guilt and you’re going to rejoice and party for eternity.  What a deal!

But there’s a catch.  The catch is you have to accept it.  If you were to find a gift on your table when you got home today and you left it there for the next year wrapped and unopened, that’s pretty dumb.  A gift is worthless unless you actually accept it.  You must accept God’s grace through His Son Christ. 

You don’t have to be brilliant to figure that this is a good deal.  This is a good deal!  If you don’t accept it, you’re dumb and dumber!  I can’t fathom why everything you need for life is offered to you for free and you say, “Oh, no.  I think I’ll just hold on to my guilt, sin and shame and go to hell.”  If it were something hard like you had to walk across Alaska on glass with bare feet, maybe yeah, but a gift?  

The Bible says in Isaiah 30:18 “The Lord longs to be gracious to you.”  He’s waiting for you to accept His gift.  He enjoys being gracious.  He is not mad at you.  He’s not sitting there ready to scold you.  He’s saying, “Come home!”  Some of you may have held off because you’re afraid of being rejected.  Maybe you were rejected by your parents.  Maybe you were rejected by a boyfriend or a girlfriend and that hurt really bad.  Or by a brother or sister or by kids on the playground.  Some of you have been rejected by a former husband or wife who walked out on you and said very hurtful things that you can still think of today.           

But there is one person who will never reject you and His name is Jesus Christ.  He’s saying, “Come home.”  You’ve been secretly overwhelmed by that shame in your life.  You can get rid of it today.  You can walk out of here with a clear conscience.  The more you understand the grace of God, the more you fall in love with God, the more you want to draw closer to Jesus.  Because it’s almost impossible to not love somebody who loves you that much. 

Prayer:

      Can you feel the grace of God in your life?  Can you feel how much He loves you?  He says, “I see every stupid thing you’ve ever done and I still love you.”  He wraps His arms around you and says, “You matter to Me.”  God’s grace is available to you right now and right here.  There’s no reason to delay.  This is the reason He brought you here.  What are you waiting on?  Pray this prayer in your mind,  “Dear God, I am so grateful that You love me.  I realize that I could never be perfect enough to earn a place in Your perfect heaven.  I realize that the only way I’ll get in is by Your grace.  Forgive me for thinking that I could be good enough.  Thank You that You give me what I need, not what I deserve.  Jesus Christ, thank You for paying for my forgiveness and for my salvation on the cross.  I don’t understand it all and I don’t know all about how You did it but I accept Your free gift and Your grace today.  I want You to guide my life from this day forward.  I want to spend the rest of my life telling as many people as possible about the good news of Your grace, that we can be forgiven for our past and we can have a purpose in the present and a home in heaven in the future.  Thank You, thank You.  In Your name I pray.  Amen.”