September 6, 2015
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Summer Sermon Series:
“Revive Us Again O Lord!”
Adapted from
“Revival” by Adam Hamilton
Theme: The Necessity of Grace…
Ephesians 2:8-10
“God’s Glorious
Grace…”
Ephesians
2:8-10Amplified Bible (AMP)
8
For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered
from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith.
And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not
through your own striving], but it is the gift of God;
9
Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands], lest any man
should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one
can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.]
10
For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus,
[born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned
beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we
should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready
for us to live].
Prayer for God’s Word to be heard through me…
I
love the fact that we are given grace periods when we are making payments for
something. There have been times when I have forgotten about a bill that I have
had and paid the bill a little late. If it wasn’t for the grace period I am
given I would have had to pay a late fee and we all know how large of an amount
that may be. It is nice that I am given that grace by the company. I think we
have a lot to learn from that practice of giving grace. We are given an amount
of time that we have and the company will not penalize us for it.
Or
how about when people show us grace when we have done something wrong? They
forgive us even though we have wronged them. Grace is a wonderful thing that
others give us even though we may not deserve it…I am glad that God shows me
grace each day. He understands that I am a flawed human but forgives me anyway…
This amazing grace that is showered down upon humanity is something I can’t do
without…
This
summer we have decided that we are going to be intentional with our faith and
our God…that we want God to revive us again with that passion for Him and His
word. As we do this, we are going to take a walk with John Wesley and see how
he lived out his faith at times. I pray
that we will be challenged and changed…that our Spirit’s will be filled and
energized so that when we leave our church each Sunday, we will go out into the
world as light bearers of the King. As we become those light bearers I pray
that we bring revival to our community and beyond…to the ends of the earth. But
it all begins here…within ourselves…being intentional with our faith…with our
Spirit…with our God. We want a revival within our souls…
Revival
is a reawakening of faith or renewal of
commitment to religion… we have talked about being intentional…wanting to
awaken what may have fallen asleep within us… As we long for Holiness. WE talked about having a Crisis of Faith and we
may be thinking that if we just do a little more God will do more in our lives.
But the problem may be that we have forgotten one important factor in this
thing we call faith, we are justified by faith-only through having faith in
Jesus Christ we are made righteous. This is God’s grace that we are accepted by
grace alone. There is a necessity of and
for grace.
From
the Ephesians scripture I just read we can understand one thing. We are saved
by grace. No matter how much faith we have, without God’s grace we cannot call
ourselves saved. We are made for the good works in Christ Jesus…the good works
is not what gets us there. It is only by grace we do the good works God has
planned for each of us to do for His glory. Grace is offered to “ALL” of God’s
children, even though they “don’t deserve it”. This is an act of kindness, an
expression of selfless love, undeserved and given without expectation
(something in return). God’s Glorious
Grace! Many Christians grow up not knowing about this grace from God. They
are taught that God is an angry being just waiting for humanity to mess up so
that He can punish them. But our Risen Lord, Jesus exampled something
completely different. He exampled a God of love and grace.
So
this grace…two things I want to share…
1.
It is a quality of God’s character whereby
God loves, blesses and forgives humanity despite our sin.
·
He is a shepherd who searches for lost sheep
·
Runs to me the prodigal son…or daughter
·
Friend of drunkards, prostitutes and sinners
·
Gracious and merciful
·
Compassionate and full of great love
It
is…
·
Grace that led God to create all things
·
Grace that leads God to show mercy to
humanity
·
An act of God’s generosity and love…the gift
of life…
·
Grace is every good thing in our lives
·
And out of this grace we respond with :
1.
Worship
2.
Praise
3.
A Heart and life full of gratitude…
2.
It is God’s active work by the Spirit to draw
us near and to restore us to what He created us to be.
Through
this grace God draws us nearer to Him when we accept it, God forgives
and justifies our faith. It is by this grace that we are sanctified by God, to
form and shape us, and restore us to be the people of God.
Let’s talk for a minute
about sin. Sin is the act of walking away from God’s way and it is the force
within us that leads us to walk away from God’s way. John Wesley called it “missing
the mark”…not quite hitting the target of who God would have us be…
John
Wesley states there are 3 types of grace:
1.
Previenient Grace → God is at work even
before we know to reach out to God. It is God’s way of “wooing” us back to Him.
It is not irresistible so we have a choice. It may even be only in hindsight
that we recognize it. (example)
2.
Justifying Grace → when we finally say yes to
God’s invitation, we learn to trust Christ who died for us, saved us, delivered
us from sin, and redeemed us. God declares we are delivered from sin and death
at the same time He is working in our hearts to free us from guilt and death in
order to make us new.
3.
Sanctifying Grace → gives us the ability to
hear, understand and respond to God’s gift of salvation (when we experience the
justifying grace…when we accept God’s offer…this is when this grace sort of
“kicks in” so to speak). This is the grace that is an ongoing thing until we
reach holiness. This is God’s work that helps us mature and grow and become
what and who we are meant to be and is achieved through the Holy Spirit.
Now
we can resist this sanctifying grace as we can the other two forms. The
ultimate goal us that we become fully and completely sanctified…and are made
holy. We will finally fully love God with all our heart, mind and strength and
love others as ourselves.
So…how
do we come by this glorious grace from God? How do these forms of grace come to
us? Wesley talks about several practices through which God’s grace is
communicated and conveyed. Through prayer, Scripture reading, and the Lord’s
Supper (today we are experiencing all 3).
He later added public worship, preaching, fasting and abstinence. There are
also several other ways that God pours out His grace upon humanity:
·
Serving in mission and ministry with others
·
Reading books on Christian values and
Christian lives
·
Walking in silence through the woods…being in
God’s creation.
·
Within small groups of Christians talking
about faith
Whatever
or where ever we pay attention, listening for God’s Spirit with our ears and
hearts.
Sharing
this wondrous grace with others is vital. As we strive to make disciples of all
humanity, we hear of some churches are no longer growing because they have lost
their passion for those who don’t know Christ yet. How can we not want to share
this good news of the free gift that God gives all who would accept Christ as
their Savior? How can they come to this saving grace if we are unwilling to be
gracious with them and show them…share with them…teach them about…God’s
glorious gift of grace? In the song “Amazing Grace” there is a verse that says
“I once was lost, but now am found”. How can the lost be found if we are not
looking for them?
Without
grace we are nowhere. But we need to accept it. Example…see this gift box…it represents the gift of God through Christ.
This is God’s grace waiting for us (previenient grace). As we open…accept this
gift we are given God’s grace and are saved (justifying grace). As we grateful
for this gift we draw closer to God and begin to want others to know this
grace…we love others into this grace (sanctifying grace). But as I have
always said…it begins with you and with me. It is a heart thing. It is from within
that we begin this wondrous journey of grace. As we begin that journey back we
too shall cry out…”Revive us again O Lord”. This we pray in the strong and
precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ…
Amen…
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