06.02.2013 Grace p1 - Extravagant Love for the Undeserving

06.02.2013 Grace p.1 - Extravagant Love for the Undeserving - by Mike Marette from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

20130602Worship from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

20130602Worship from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

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Annette: The yard sale was amazing yesterday – we were able to minister to so many people and serve them in providing tables and everything. We sold almost all the stuff we had! Last year, when we had our table, a lady told me – “You must believe in Jesus, you have everything priced dirt cheap!” It was very encouraging to see so many people blessed by our church.
Mike Marette: Let’s pray – Lord, thank You for yesterday – all the work, effort, and ministry that went into yesterday – a way to take our lamp – we are the light of the world – and to set it on a stand that all could see. As we look at this concept of GRACE over the next few weeks, help us to have a deeper understanding of what it means to and for us. Open our eyes – it has such deep meaning – we will only scratch the surface in these 5 weeks.
It kind of works for a double meaning for us – it is our church name – experience it!
To some, Grace is what you say before meals, or a woman’s name – or to describe a ballerina or skater. To a church person, it may mean, unmerited favor – but that is not enough.
About 15 years ago, we read a book by Philip Yancey – What’s so amazing about Grace? He took the song Amazing Grace and a play on words to talk about grace and what it means in our lives. One of his definitions for grace is this: “God’s extravagant love for the undeserving “
Grace describes how God’s love works – we know God is love – but what is that? Love can be a nebulous word – and grace describes how that love works – it is extravagant – it is overwhelming – and it is for the undeserving. It is not ever based on the worthiness of the individual who is receiving it.
We can never, what we’ll look at today – get to a point where you deserve God’s love or have done something to earn it. It comes by grace. God’s love is unearnable – if that is even a word – but not something we can attain by how we act – but something God gives – ESPECIALLY when we don’t act the way we ought to act.
We will look at God’s grace to us, and how we need to give God’s grace to others. A number of surveys have been done – along these lines – if you were to go out and ask people outside the church culture – what do you think about when you think about church? If you were to ask the person next to you on an airplane that question – usually what you hear, if the person is not a churchgoer – the person will answer with something negative. The church is against: (years ago, it would have been dancing, or rock music, or women wearing pants) – today it is more – against political issues or candidates. Yes, the church needs to stand and speak about moral issues that we must address, but we shouldn’t be KNOWN for that. We don’t want people to look at us and say that is what we are all about. Words like judgmental, racist, angry. Rarely will you hear that the church is about God’s extravagant love for undeserving people. That is what you should hear! I would want that to be an outsider’s view of Christians. Those Christians love me at my worst – when I don’t believe what they believe – that is what they do! That is a high standard.
What is ironic about this – our name is Grace Summit – this concept of GRACE really affected us – we have discussed and talked about it – it is part of our DNA.
What is ironic – Grace – and it is sad – is one thing the church has to offer that no one else can. The government and charitable organizations can help the needy and the poor – but none of those organizations can offer God’s extravagant love for undeserving people.
So, we will look at some passages that describe this:
John 1: 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Full of grace and truth – full of extravagant love for the undeserving.
15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and[b] is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
For the first time, humans were able to really see God.
This is in reference to Moses - In Exodus 33, Moses asks to see God’s glory – so God places Moses in the cleft of a rock and Moses is only able to see Him passing by.
There are two ways to live in relationship to grace – we can live under grace or under the law – we can live demanding what we deserve in life – and many live that way – demanding what they deserve – I’m entitled to this, they say. Or we can live receiving what we don’t deserve – and those are opposing concepts! Receiving what we don’t deserve.
16Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
Hebrews 2: 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
We need to learn to receive it. This is the starting point.
Eph. 2: 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
You cannot earn your way into a good relationship with God. There is nothing that can get you there. You have nothing to boast in. Your moral goodness has not done it for you – it is solely by God’s grace, his unmerited favor – He accepts you as you are – not because of anything you have done – but because of Who He is and what He has done. Our job is to receive it.
Titus 3: 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
We receive grace – we are justified by His grace – made right – we are made right with God by His grace – and we put faith in what Christ did for us on the cross. You may have heard the phrase - Justified – “Just (as) if I’d” never sinned
Tim Keller talks about this word, Justified – a validating performance record. Next week is graduation Sunday – where we recognize the seniors – they will walk up on stage and be presented with a diploma – why? Because they have done the work. They have a transcript that says they have performed – they have won the right by their effort – by accomplishing certain things – to graduate. You probably have an evaluation at work –you have won the right to work for us for hardly any pay for the next year.
What happens – to be justified – we want to present our validating performance record to God – God, I passed the OGT, I got good enough grades, now I am to be accepted. But what this verse says – Justification is not some resume or transcript we have built – we don’t have a record in and of ourselves that says we can go to heaven.
But Jesus took the exam – He passed the review – for us – and that is what GRACE is – it is Jesus Christ doing the work for us so that all we have to do is receive it.
That sounds wonderful, but it is hard to live that way – because we want to boast – to say, I did something that deserves better from God. I am that way – if I am honest, there are times I say, I deserve better because I did something. Of course that is not true for any of us.
Chariots of Fire – Eric Liddell – was the example of grace – He felt God’s pleasure – When he ran – the wind blew and the music played. Harold Abrahams was a picture of the law, he said, “When the gun goes off, I have ten seconds to justify my existence. It is all about what I accomplish”
And many times, we live life that way. It may be our work and achievements. It may be our children – our family – our moral standing – justifies our existence. We need to understand that we are justified only by this extravagant love for the undeserving. Your performance record is accomplished by another.
Benefits from Grace:
1) Forgiveness – it is because of grace that we can experience forgiveness and acceptance into God’s community
2) Power – grace is a release
Transformation
Gratitude
Worth – Grace gives us value.
Final story –John 8 – the woman caught in adultery – if you are reading your Bible – you will see it might be bracketed – “This was not in the oldest manuscripts” – in light of that – this is consistent with the rest of the Bible, with Jesus’ ministry and character.
John 8:2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.
…in the very act.
Place yourself in the scene there – We acted it out a few years ago and the kids dad jumped up and tried to put a stop to it – but imagine the disruption to Jesus teaching!
Don’t these people have better things to do? Not only did they catch her, but in the very act! There were like the moral police – there was something seriously wrong with these guys – something is ‘off’ in their thinking. It was a little odd. Also – it takes two – where was the other partner?
The LAW commanded.. what do you say?
. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
The Jewish Law commanded stoning – which they never practiced. And there was the Roman Law – which said that the Jews couldn’t stone anyone legally. They are setting a trap – if he agrees with the Jewish Law, he’ll be in violation of Roman Law – and vice-verse – but Jesus doesn’t answer within their frame of reference. He answers at the heart level – because that is where the problem lies.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
He stooped down and wrote on the ground – I think he is giving them grace – but they persist.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
It is possible –
These folks viewed themselves as righteous – but Jesus was going beyond this – pointing into each of those men’s hearts about their own sexual sin – it doesn’t even say this, but you can gather this from this – because of the deep shame in how they left – He flips the tables on them – Who are YOU? You know how it is with God. God comes in and says, Who are you? And He points out who we really are.
John 8: 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin
Where are they? He must have said it with flare! I do not condemn you either.
There is, in this, forgiveness and acceptance – you see – I have shared this in the past –
Nancy Ortberg: We see others' brokenness so well, because we see our own so poorly" – those are the Pharisees – and God had to point it out to them.
"Grace overcomes shame – not by uncovering and overlooked cache of excellence in ourselves – but simply by accepting us, the whole of us with no regard to our beauty or ugliness, our virture or vices – accepted with no possibility of being rejected – accepted at the ultimate depth of our being. We are giving what we have longed for in every nook and nuance of relationship. We are ready for grace when we are bone-tired of our struggle to be worthy and acceptable. After we have tried too long to earn the approval of everyone important to us, we are ready for grace. When we are tired of trying to be the person somebody sometime had convinced us to be, we are ready for grace"
The very end of John 8:9 – from now on – sin no more.
Grace is a free acceptance of us, but it is also a power that transforms us – that has the ability to change us – that we have the ability to move forward and be radically different because of what Christ has done.

Let's pray...