Ij

What's so amazing about grace?

Ephesians 2:4-10

Sunday March 26, 2006

What's so amazing about grace? Most of us have heard the word before. We talk

about it in church. We sing about it. I'm sure many of us feel we know what it is

"God's gift to me...I don't have to work my way to heaven..."

But there's this huge disconnect between what we think we know about grace,

and the way we really act and live. When push comes to shove, our default is to

believe that God has a constant scowl on his face because he's mad at us. If we're

honest, we wake up thinking that God is mad at us because of WHO we are, or

WHAT we did yesterday--like some unpleasable parent with a checklist of what

we need to do better and a memory that won't quit. Whatever we do--it's not good

enough. No wonder we are so hesitant to commit ourselves to the kind of real.

Living relationship with God that we talk about here at SRC.

But there's no condemnation, no anger, no criticizing lecture, no scowling face

behind the words we just heard this morning! Listen to them again...(Ephesians

2:8-10)... Love, wholeness, PURPOSE--with a past, a present and a future... So

this morning I want us all to ask the question that Paul begs...

WHAT IS GRACE?

G-- God's gift to me

"For it is by grace you have been saved... it is the gift of God..." Ephesians 2:8

NIV

It is a total gift of God. ButIf you were to go out and ask ten people, "How do you

get to heaven?", that's not the answer you'd get! You know what people say all

the time to that question-- "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.'"

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. 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. We can never accumulate enough brownie points or credits that will

wipe out the debits we've incurred because of just ONE sin, one hurtful word, one

act of cosmic rebellion--and if there's anybody here who's had just one in their

lifetime, you should be up here instead of me! You and I just can't be that

good--and we're deceiving ourselves if we think we can.

There's only ONE way you and I will ever enjoy a relationship with God, and a

life in him that will never end. It's a gift from God. By God's grace--that's our

ticket to heaven. The Bible says this in Romans 11:6 "If it is by grace, it is no

longer on the basis of works. Otherwise grace is no longer grace." And that

means it's a free gift to you and 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. 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.

On the other hand, if you were to summarize Christianity in one word, it's the

word "done". It's already been done for you. It was done on the cross by Jesus

Christ. He paid for your salvation. He paid for your sins. It's already been 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.

Let's read Romans 3:24 together: "All of us need to be made right with God.

How? By His grace which is a free gift through Jesus Christ." You and I are

being offered a life in and through Jesus Christ that will never end--it's a priceless

gift that never stops giving, and it's the best deal we'll ever get because it's a gift,

by GRACE!

R Receive by faith

The Bible says you and I receive grace BY FAITH... let's read this together:

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is

not from yourselves..." 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 being baptized, or taking

Communion, or memorizing the Lord's prayer. NO! Grace is received by faith.

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."

It's just a gift but you have to receive it by faith. If I have a gift for you and say,

"Here's this gift for you. It's $100. Come and get it." It will just sit there unless

you come and receive it by faith. The tragedy is that most people hear that offer,

and then try to go out and work for a gift that God simply wants to GIVE us, if

only we will open our hands and receive it by faith.

If you could work your way to heaven, do you realize how miserable it would be in

heaven? Everybody would be bragging by how they got there. We'd all be trying

to "one up" each other with great stories of what great people we were on earth.

God says, "It's a grace gift, your salvation. I just give you forgiveness free. I give

you heaven free." So what do you do with a gift. You can't brag about it. Like the

woman caught in adultery and saved from the crowd by Jesus--You can only

accept it and be grateful for it.

And here is the point: Romans 4:16 "People receive God's promise by having

faith. This happens so that the promise can be a free gift." Salvation isn't based on

my performance. It's based on God's promise. It's not based on my goodness. It's

based on God's grace. I'm getting to heaven not based on my merit but God's

mercy. That's why He gets all the credit, all the glory. There's nothing I can do.

It's a free gift that'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 background, regardless of your status, regardless of your sin. It

doesn't matter whether you've been a religious person or a non religious person or

you have any religious background at all. Notice what Paul says in Romans 14:16

"God's promise arrives as pure gift. That's the only way everyone can be sure to

get in on it, those who keep the religious traditions and those who have never

heard of them. For Abraham is father of us all...He is our faith father."

Romans 4:16 The Message

Do you know what God says about the availability of this grace? He says

"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:13 NIV

Does that mean ugly people? Yes. Does it mean fat people and skinny people?

Yes. Does that include rich and poor? Yes. Every ethnic background? Yes. It

means EVERYBODY. EVERYBODY. There are no quotas in heaven! Grace is

available to you and me freely!

Some of you are here for the very first time today. Congratulations. This grace is

as available to you, a first-timer, as it is to somebody who's gone to church every

single day of their life. It makes no difference. It's just as available to you.

Because it's not based on church attendance. It's based on God's grace. Grace is

the hand of God, extended to you and me, that begins the relationship with him.

And all we have to do is take his hand.

You can't understand what it means to have a relationship with God without

understanding grace. Without grace 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 Grace comes through Christ

"For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus

Christ." John 1:17 NIV Why through Jesus Christ? Why is Jesus Christ the

only way to heaven? Why not Buddha, or Mohammed, or Lao-Tzu? Why not

somebody else? Why Jesus Christ?

Well the answer is simple: Because He paid the price of admission. He's already

paid for your salvation--for your sins, and for mine, on the cross. Nobody else has

done that one. You see Grace is free, no doubt about that. But it is not cheap. It

cost Jesus Christ His life.

In the Bible, the favorite description for someone who has accepted God's grace, is

the term "in Christ." That phrase, "in Christ", is used over 120 times in the New

Testament. It describes people who have put their whole trust in Christ's love by

being and living in Him .

What does that mean? Let me give you an example. Let's say this paper

represents your life and this Bible represents Jesus Christ. As I go through life I

make a lot of mistakes and my life gets torn up. I blow it. People hurt me, rip me

up. I have some relationships that rip me up, some habits that mess up my life and

rip me up. I do all kinds of dumb stupid thing and make bad decisions and soon

my life is pretty tattered. It's in shambles. It's a mess. There are areas of my life

that there's no way I could put back together again. Things happen to me and

things I do to others and pretty soon my life is all crumpled up. It's not a very

pretty sight. The Bible says when I come to God and say, "God, I want to accept

Your grace in Your Son, Jesus Christ," that God takes my messed up life that's

been ripped up and He puts me in Christ. And the Bible says that I am hidden in

Christ. When I am in Christ can you see the scars in my life? Can you see the

problems that I have? Can you see my imperfections? No. All you can see when

I'm in Christ is Christ.

And when you accept the grace of God, that's the way God looks at you 24-hours a

day. You see the mess, the scars, the things that have ripped you up. You may 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. Instead, he simply wants you and me to draw

even closer to Christ, no matter what we've done or how we've stumbled--that's

why Paul says

Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above where

Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not

on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in

God." Colossians 3:1-3 NIV

E Extends throughout eternity!

"The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ

Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23 (NLT)

The results of God's grace are going to go on and on forever. Eternal life is one of

the benefits of grace. Eternal life. The Bible says the free gift of God is eternal

life in heaven.

Have you ever thought of what is heaven really going to be like? The Bible tells us

that heaven is going to be like four things.

· It's a place of reunion where we are reunited with other loved ones who

have accepted the grace of God.

· It's going to be a place of reward. We are rewarded for the character that

we developed and the way we served other people here on earth.

· It's going to be a place where we will be given new assignments that we

love to do;

· and It's going to be a place of release where we're free from all pain, all

suffering, all sadness, all sorrow, all grief, all depression, all loneliness, etc.

It's going to be a wonderful place-- customized specifically for your life, because

God knows exactly what you need And it is the gift of God.

I know you may be thinking, "If I come to God with all the ways I've messed up

my life, God's not going to give me a wonderful place--He's going to give me the

lecture hall... He's going to take an eternity to criticize and lectu me for all the

times I've blown it. I'm going to feel condemned. I'm going to feel judged. In

fact, I'm not going to feel good at all...

If you think that, you're sadly mistaken. Do you remember the story we read this

morning about the woman who stood condemned? She had numerous moral

failures. Numerous. She'd slept around with anybody and everybody. She had

what you'd call a reputation. In fact, one day some religious leaders actually

caught her in the act, in bed with somebody, and brought her to Jesus and threw

her on the ground in front of Christ expecting Him to condemn her. "What are you

going to do about this woman who's violated all kinds of principles of God?"

Jesus defended her dignity. He protected her. In front of the whole crowd He

said, "All right. Anybody who's here without sin, you can cast the first stone." Of

course since there was no one in the crowd who was perfect they all began to

slowly walk away. Then in the privacy of that one on one encounter, Jesus looked

at this woman who was filled with guilt and said, "Where are your condemners."

She said, "They've all gone, Lord." Jesus said to her two very profound things,

"Neither do I condemn you. Now go and sin no more." That's all He said. No

long lecture. No big lesson. He just said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go now

and leave your life of sin." Jesus said, "I didn't come to condemn the world. I

came to save it." If you are expecting to come to Christ and be filled with a whole

bunch of condemnation, you missed the boat. You haven't heard the story of his

amazing grace that will love you, accept you, and change you from the inside

out...

Do you believe he has the power, the grace to help you and me change? Take a

ARE YOU AMAZED?

look at this...(DVD clip)

"The Lord longs to be gracious to you."

Isaiah 30:18 NIV

The Rev. J. Philip Ashey

13314 Pennypacker Lane Fairfax, VA 22033