Solo Gracia
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This morning we are continuing our series the on the Reformation - Celebrating 500 years since the birth of the protestant Church… What we are looking at the theology that came out of reformation and how it impacts our beliefs and practice of Faith today.
What Luther saw in the spring of 1513 turned the world of religion on its head. In Luther’s time, the church was basically teaching that God was passive, but humanity was to be active. God was viewed as being on His throne reigning. And human beings were busy scurrying around seeking to win God’s favor…
During the dark ages Christianity became a religion based on a Merit system of works – you could earn righteousness through works… and the Church became the vehicle that dispensed God’s grace or favor…
One of the triggers for Martin Luther- that spurred the reformation…Was the preaching of ..Johann Tetzel - who was appointed by the papacy to sell indulgences to the public —it was a way of fund raising for the the building of St.Peters Basilica
Indulgences were pieces of paper signed or stamped with the pope’s name. It declared that the person who bought that piece of paper had all his sins forgiven, even the sins he would commit in the future! He did not have to go to confession or do penance for his sins; the paper was enough.
What’s more, these notes would not only save the living, but also the dead! For example if someone didn’t quite make it into heaven and landed up in purgatory… through monetary gift to the church… a loved one or friend could be released into heaven....
A popular tag line that Tetzel used in his preaching…was
“When the coin in the coffer rings, The soul from purgatory springs.”
The merit system was a means of dispensing grace.
It basically what takes place everyday at the local coffee drive through… Have you noticed how difficult it is to drink 8 cups of water? after the 3rd glass I’m struggling…But when it comes to coffee, we can easily drink 3 or 4 cups of coffee…
Saw this on Pinterest.. “Coffee Saves lives… just Ask my Children.”
So it’s that time of the day.. when you need your coffee fix… so.. You Drive up to Dutch Bros window and you order your Americano, Latte or if you have your kids they order a Rebels.... whatever your drink of preference… you your take out roll of cash and make a payment...— there is an exchange - they get your money and your get your needed caffeine … and everyones happy...
This was how grace was dispersed in the 1500’s… Grace was given to the public by the church… through various sacraments like the Eucharist, confession, confirmation… all you had to do is show up and then do what ever pilgrimage or task they had you perform… you had to satisfy the task to be forgiven.
Here is the problem with the merit system … just like coffee, a few hours go by and you need another caffeine fix…You go back to the Drive through and repeat the process, over and over again… eventually it leads to frustration… because you can never can get enough grace...
Luther’s eyes were opened Romans 1:17 and other scriptures that taught that righteousness belongs to God and it is received through faith not upon works..
What is Grace?
• Grace is unmerited favor… It is undeserved...it is favor given to someone who doesn’t deserve kindness, mercy forgiveness, blessing.
Baker give this great Definition for GRACE.
“Grace is the dimension of divine activity that enables God to confront human indifference and rebellion with an inexhaustible capacity to forgive and to bless.” Baker Encyclopedia
Grace is active and it Confronts us – it deals with our hearts - our indifference and rebellion.. Grace embraces us with God’s love.. forgives and blesses us…
• John Wesley the founder of the Methodist church was a minister who was searching for God… He had been on a mission to Georgia in the United states and was unsuccessful… He was discouraged when he boarded the boat with a group of Christians called the Moravians… on his way back to England… During the journey they are faced with a life threatening storm… Instead of fretting these Moravian Christians joined together and sing praises to God … this deeply impacts Wesley.. these Christians had something that he longed for a genuine faith.
Back in England Wesley attends a Moravian Church at Aldersgate, England.. that evening he is asked to do the reading from the commentary of Martin Luther on Roman 1:17
• He reads about justification by faith and the righteousness that is from faith to faith – that it is God who declares one righteous..
• Wesley says something happened that his “heart was strangely warmed”… Wesley came in contact with grace… no more striving and trying to make it happen…
• Grace is knowing that in spite of everything we have done… or ever will do… despite failed hopes and dreams… God s grace is greater than our deepest regret our deepest hurt.
T/s Grace is connected to three specific areas..
1. Grace and it’s relationship to Saving Faith
1. Grace and it’s relationship to Saving Faith
Grace isn’t just a NT concept - it wasn’t an addition plan to Gods plan --- it is not a situation where the Old is about Law and the NT is about Grace.. it isn’t that cut and dry… Grace was part of God’s plan from the beginning.. Grace was present in the book of Genesis from the beginning of creation…
God dealt with Adam and Eve in grace; He dealt with the patriarchs in grace; and He dealt with the nation of Israel in grace. He gave the Law through Moses, not to replace His grace, but to reveal man’s need for grace. Law was temporary, but grace is eternal.
When Adam and Eve fell in the garden of Eden through the original sin…sin came to the whole of humanity... When God placed Adam and Eve in Paradise… he also gave them Free Will… and in order for that to be a genuine gift Free will …they had to have the power of choice…
• God set up boarders or boundaries and told Adam how far he could go…true freedom is always within a set of boundaries…they had access to every fruit in the garden except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…
• One day Adam decided to go beyond the parameters that God had setup… Adam failed the test…and sin entered into the created world…
› Romans tells...that sin enter the world thru one mans disobedience… (diagram) but through one mans obedience many would come to salvation—-what a promise… grace always out performs our failures.
19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
The Law was initially was a means of grace for God’s people.. It made people aware of their trespasses or sin… it gave mankind a moral compass of what right and wrong… Paul says that when the law came it increase the trespass.
You see the …The law was never intended to provide salvation but to convince people of their need for it.
The law became a kind of school master….but the problem with the law is that it didn’t solve the problem of sin.. The law… simply pointed out the trespass…pointed out the boundary line that had been crossed… made it increase..
GRACE IS GOD RESPONSE… to our sin problem.. Romans tells us on one hand the Law made man’s sins increase.... but on the other hand God’s grace abounded even more.
The Greek word abound..means to “superabounded” - surpassed by far…to abound beyond — to be or become abundant in a degree greater than something else. The picture here is that of the flood of sin that entered the world in the original sin… it covered all of humanity… But at the exact same time an even greater storm - a tsunami of Grace -
Grace that surpassed or superceeded the effects and consequences that sin brought…
John Calvin,
“It is granted that Christ is much more powerful to save than Adam was to destroy.”
100 years ago Julia Johnson wrote the Hymn — “Marvelous grace of our loving Lord, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt! Grace grace God’s grace ---greater than all our sin..
• Grace is greater than sin.
What came out of reformation was the restoration Apostolic teaching of the doctrine of Salvation being by saved by grace alone....
The 95 statements that Luther posted on the doors of the Wittenberg Chapel…were these short paragraphs.. they they were concerns that Martin Luther had with the Papacy and the Roman Church in general… dealt with the authority of the Pope to forgive sins… and the selling of indulgences For example Thesis 76… Luther confronts Papal authority
Thesis 76. We say, on the contrary, that the papal pardons are not able to remove the very least of venial sins (smallest sin), so far as its guilt is concerned.
Luther and the reformers began to understand and interpret the scripture through the lenses of Grace — The grace of God coming down from to us from heaven… The issue is not us achieving righteousness but rather receiving the gift of righteousness by faith… So being justified standing before God in His righteousness - is not based on our own merit or works of the Law… God gives us grace… directly…
Paul tells in Ephesians 2… that Grace is the bedrock of our Salvation.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Paul tells us Grace and faith go hand in hand - they are two inseparable companions…Grace comes to us from God and faith is the mode that one receive the gift…
•• Grace and faith are the antithesis to any kind of human works or merit. Grace is the Gift of God - meaning that it something that transferred to a person without compensation…
• Paul tells us that because it is all God… No one can boast or claim merit for earning grace…
• Any effort on own is becomes as futile as a man attempting to sail across the Atlantic Ocean — When he finds himself in calm waters — For days and weeks there is not even a breeze around. Finally frustrated by his lack of progress, he tried to make his stalled boat move by pushing against the mast.
• Through much strenuous efforts, he succeeds in making the boat rock back and forward and creates a few small waves..
• Seeing the waves and feeling the rocking of the boat- he makes the assumption that he is making progress and so continues his efforts. Of course, although he exerted himself a great deal, he actually got nowhere.
• The source of the Christian’s strength lies in God’s grace, not in exertions of will-power, or in efforts of discipline, or any other self-effort… Grace says its all God..
1. Grace and it’s relationship to Saving Faith
2. Grace and relationship to our Purpose
2. Grace and relationship to our Purpose
Have you spent time thinking about your purpose IN life.…... … you are Born - you grow up, you work, you have a family , you have struggles and then eventually you die… Is there is point to the exercise?
I think that most people would agree that life is a gift… that we should enjoy the ride… but not everyone agrees that there is some grand plan…there .Tom Whittaker in the time magazine spoke of his passion for the out doors..
“One of the things that really attracts me about mountaineering is its total pointlessness. So I’ve dedicated my life to it.” Time Magazine
What an incredible statement.. Grace tells us the exactly the opposite that life has a point and purpose…
there are going to be peaks and valleys… but all of these experiences are leading somewhere.
Martin Luther said....
“There are two days in my calendar Today and That day”
… John Piper has written a book called “Future Grace” - He has a unique perspective on grace.. Grace is seen not only seen as something in the past… or in the present… but grace is in the future. He explains..
… every second and every moment that we have been given is from God… the last breath you took.... the reason you took it --- was because of Grace… now that moment is in the past … so we are moving forward through time... as we look behind us there is a reservoir grace that is getting larger and large … Each nano second… is by grace and it continues until — we one day will be with Christ… we need grace every moment..
Grace is always ahead of us we are always moving toward it.. Paul teaches that we have been created for a purpose.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
We are his workmanship...The Greek word used here carries the connotation of a “work of art.” (It is the source of our word “poem.”) Perhaps we could translate it as “God’s masterpiece.”
My Dad is an artist and I remember going into his art room and being fascinated watching him paint… He starting with a blank canvas – he started with the background and moving towards the foreground… It takes him about two weeks of a couple hours of work each day complete a painting…There is a lot of time, and thought that goes into a painting.... Every painting is unique and there is always intention on behalf of the artist… In other words…in other words when you looking at the finished product… every brush stroke - every shadow and reflection is there for a purpose… Every Painting is unique in itself… you and I are created with intention..
God had a unique plan for each of us… By God’s grace - He has included us in this plan… this is wha John Calvin saw in Ephesians is that God in his foreknowledge knew about you and chose you to be part of his plan… That is part of the mystery of God.... Here is the thing life itself is God’s grace… we had no contribution… in our own creation...
Paul says --- we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for Good deeds.. He first created us into his image...and then he recreated/ regenerated us in salvation to be bear his image by doing what god has been doing through the ages and that is good works..
Out of Grace comes Purpose — and that is to do good deeds.
Although such good works are not the means of our salvation, Paul makes it clear that they are God’s desired end for us to walk in Christ Jesus for Good deeds..
Salvation is not “by works” but “for works.”
I was thinking about Church on the Street… COTS… Salvation Army is doing renovations and we had about 200 people or more lining up for food.. and I am grateful for all the meals that were prepared… And the coats and clothes that were provided… what an example of the extension of God grace… Good works Is all about walking towards the need… Its the book is James… show me your faith by your deeds. It’s God’s heart beat..
Luther said, It is not from works that we are set free by the faith of Christ, but from the belief in works, that is from foolishly presuming to seek justification through works.
To say that God has prepared the good works in advance in his sovereign purpose is also to stress in the strongest possible way that believers’ good deeds cannot be chalked up to their own resolve, but are due solely to divine grace…
It is grace all the way. Even the living out of salvation in good works is completely by grace. But this is not a total determinism. God has prepared the good works in advance “in order that we might live in them.” Walk in the good works.
So the picture is that we dead in sins.... we have been made alive through Christ and we have now been elevated with him to seated with him in heavenly places .. Grace made this possible.... alive now regenerates from the grace yard of sin… now we are living out His purposes in the world...
1. Grace and it’s relationship to Saving Faith
2. Grace and relationship to our Purpose
3. Grace and it’s relationship to Generosity
3. Grace and it’s relationship to Generosity
The generosity of God is evidence in the way that he has dealt with his creation.. God freely bestowed his grace upon us who were undeserving.. instead of getting the judgement of God… we have experience abounding grace.. Generosity is part of the nature of God… Grace is connected to Generosity..
In the book of Corinthians...
A situation comes up in Jerusalem, a famine hits and the people are great need. Paul feels compassion and is compelled to raise support for the Church..
Paul makes his appeal for an offering to the churches he has planted ... He uses the churches in Macedonia as an example of what generosity looks like.. Macedonia was the Roman province in Northern Greece…
Geographically they were at a distant from the Church and far away from the famine… to be honest they could probably get on well with out the church in Jerusalem… it didn’t impact them… but these Christians were more than fans of the gospel… the were invested fully…
They had given themselves both to the Lord and the apostolic mission… They were able to do so because Grace had been at work in their lives..grace had changed them…
Paul uses the Church in Macedonia as example of generosity … What made them unusual is that they were giving out of their poverty...many Christians in Macedonia had lost their jobs, been excluded from trade guilds because they refused to have anything to do with idolatry.. When it came to giving it was voluntary and spontaneous.
We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
It is interesting that Paul understands that God’s grace does not lighten the Macedonians’ afflictions nor remove their deep poverty.
What grace gave these Christians a generous outlook… instead of looking inward at their own need they looked outward and they became compassionate to others..
Paul says that “the welling up of their joy and their deep-down poverty have flowed out in the wealth of their generosity.”
They gave not from their surplus but out of their limited resources
It was of grace, not pressure. They gave because they wanted to give and because they had experienced the grace of God.
Grace not only frees us from our sins, but it frees us from ourselves. The grace of God will open your heart and your hand. Your giving is not the result of cold calculation, but of warmhearted jubilation!
Paul turns to the other churches and says let this be an example…
7 But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also.
Paul says you can excel… in faith, in speech, in knowledge.... in love.... and in the grace of giving… Poverty is never an excuse to not be generous in our giving…
Grace flows into our lives but it also has outflows..… Giving should flow from us.... like good works… Paul wants them to understand this principle… That Grace can Be found in the middle of our Generosity.
6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Paul says here is my point in using the Macedonians as an example..
if we are going to expect a harvest… it starts in the spring time… the amount of seed is going to determine your total yield… you may hold back one year.. the Macedonian churches gave out of poverty… but they gave generously.. what we are saying when we give financially is God is supplier.. of seed… we just dispensing what we have been given.
Conclusion...
There is a promise when we give..
8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
Now this is not some slick investment plan.. this is not a scheme… of how to be blessed.. the benefactors of the blessing is the Church in Jerusalem… when you give .... God will give you grace… sufficient need… so that you can superabound in goods works..
When ever you get a group of people together our needs are so different… grace comes to us in many forms..
This morning if you are need of God’s favor… his Grace… God is able .... to make all grace abound to you… God is all sufficient in meeting our needs… in all times in the most difficult day of your life.. in the days of celebration…
There maybe those who say, I need to abound in Good works… I need to get involved in His mission and his purpose.. Grace is all him… all we have to do is look to him this morning..
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.