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“When is the last time you saw grace?”
I want you to think, when did you last see grace?
Not Grace Kelly or Nancy Grace.
When is the last time you saw God’s grace?
People talk about grace.
People talk about being thankful for grace.
You hear me talking about saved by grace.
But, when do you hear about someone seeing grace?
Can you recall the last time someone told you they saw grace?
Yet, as we read our Bible’s we note that indeed people see grace!
Seeing grace is the big thing in our passage.
It’s important to Paul as he meets with Jerusalem church leaders.
We’ll note in our first six verses how intense and important is the issue of Gentile circumcision.
Paul even goes so far as to call people “false brothers” (v.4).
They were attempting to force the issue of circumcision on Titus thus making him a Jew.
Intense and important, Paul stood his ground because as our text notes:
We will see Paul standing his ground, but there is more than simply the matter of circumcision.
As we’ll see, the Jerusalems leaders saw grace.
For Paul, it is seeing grace that wins the day.
He put’s it this way:
and
The only thing was giving Paul “the right hand of fellowship.”
Clearly seeing grace is important.
Seeing grace helps us live a gospel-centered life.
In order for you and I to navigate this difficult world, we need to see grace.
Seeing grace impacts how we spend our time, where we invest our money, how we pray, what church we join, and so much more.
Seeing grace is all so important a skill for all Jesus followers.
How might you rate your ability to spot grace?
Would you know grace upon seeing it?
Can you pick it out in a crowd?
Would you know it if you saw it in small group, in your living room, or when out shopping?
What is it we need in order to have an eye out for grace?
TRANS - Let’s read our passage and then explore it to see what God is bringing to us today.
TRANS - As we study this passage, let’s consider two areas where keeping an eye out for grace is all so important.
First let’s look at how important seeing grace is to getting the gospel to others.
Grace in Spreading the Gospel
Our first area were we can see grace is in the area of gospel advance.
You know that you are seeing grace when the gospel moves in on lives of other people.
We can be sure it is grace when we see people sharing the gospel and people coming to follow Jesus.
We know that it is grace when a convicted sinner trusts Jesus to wipe away their sin.
Gospel advance was what the Jerusalem leaders saw in Paul; they noted the fruit of Paul’s labor.
They noted Paul’s work was productive in the same way as Peter’s:
But, this is not about Paul or Peter, but God.
God is the one responsible for the advancing gospel.
Paul put’s it this way:
When it comes to sharing faith, we plant and water, but God brings the growth:
We share our story, talk about Jesus, and invite others to know the Lord.
But, God causes the gospel to advance in the hearts of people.
Paul went to Jerusalem to “submitted to them” one Greek word anethemen, that is to say to declare, communicate, advocate, propound.
As we noted last week, our testimony is as good as it gets.
Paul shares about his life and brings along Titus.
Paul and Titus are “living proof” of the power of God; they prove what Paul is setting before them.
Titus’s name might be omitted from Acts, but here Paul has good reason to discuss Titus.
He was not a Jew, but was a follower of Jesus.
Titus’s testimony proves God is not interested in turning people back to the Law, but is interested in people seeing grace.
ILL - I really liked old Barney.
I don’t know his exact age, but he was in his 80’s.
His sons were Christians, in fact one was a preacher.
But Barney, he was still a Jew.
People began to show Barney grace; even his own offspring were living proof of God’s grace.
I don’t know Barney’s conversion story, but I do recall when, in his 80’s, he was baptized.
See, Barney had the Law, but he saw in others the powerful example of grace and was able to leave a lifetime of cultic practices to follow Jesus.
Maybe you know a Barney story.
Perhaps you know of somebody who came to believe because they saw in others something that caused them to wonder, to wonder is what they believe really true?
TRANS - So, when we think about it, where God is present, we will see grace as people seek to share Jesus and as people trust in Jesus.
Now let’s think about this from a slightly different perspective.
Behind the advancing gospel are people like you and I doing a great work to bring Jesus to others.
Grace in Serving Our God
We see grace when we advance the gospel.
In addition, we see grace when we sacrificially obey God for the good of other people.
ILL - I posted online this past Wednesday.
I don’t know if you are aware, but there are lots of people giving over and above a 10%.
People giving money and time to the ministry of this church.
I have to tell that we have one man, not a church member, give us money every month to reach people for Jesus.
What a blessing Aviva Life Church; they’ve painted, installed blinds, and provided generous donations to help us minister.
There are, among our members, some giving generously even frequent special gifts.
“People are giving sacrificially to see people come to Jesus and learn about being His followers.”
I want you to see, people are giving sacrificially to see people come to Jesus and learn about being His followers.
A graceless life is when a person does not pick up their cross and follow Jesus.
Bit a grace-filled followers let go of all things in order to glorify God by loving others.
“The clearest expression of grace in the world is sacrificial obedience in serving God.”
It is my belief that the clearest expression of grace in the world is sacrificial obedience in serving God.
Sacrificial obedience is a solid tangible form of grace.
It is visible, often touchable, and sometimes we can even pick it up and handle it.
Are you aware that is is visible grace that the leaders saw when Paul arrived in Jerusalem; he brought concrete grace with him.
As a matter of fact, it was a bag of money.
Do you know why Paul went to Jerusalem in the first place?
Look at v.2:
What was that “revelation?”
The book of Acts tells us that it was a prophecy that a famine would hit all of Judea.
That includes Jerusalem.
This explains why Paul is in Jerusalem.
He is there to minister to those suffering from the results of the famine.
He is meeting needs of the poor saints in Jerusalem.
“Paul went to the Jerusalem church to present the leadership with a bag of money; a bag of grace.
Paul went to the Jerusalem church to present the leadership with a bag of money, a bag of grace, given sacrificially by the followers of Jesus in Antioch.
Just as Titus, a concrete proof Jesus saves Gentiles, the bag of money is proof of God’s grace in Paul’s ministry.
It helped the leadership, the pillar apostles see grace:
I see grace in FBC Minneola on a regular basis.
Paul noted something similar in Macedonia:
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