Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Unmerited Favor: The Essence of Grace
Grace is the undeserved favour of God that transforms how we live, moving us beyond mere forgiveness to a life of gratitude and obedience. Understanding the true essence of grace helps us appreciate what Christ did for us and compels us to extend that same grace to others around us.
• Grace is unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification
• Being under grace isn't a get-out-of-jail-free card but should humble us into grateful obedience
• Accepting God's grace involves confessing sins, repenting, and turning away from them
• Everyone is equally in need of God's grace and equally undeserving
• No one has the right to decide whether someone is unreachable by God's grace
• Living under grace requires spending time in prayer, studying scripture, and growing spiritually
• Grace has five key aspects: power, gift, forgiveness, healing, and unconditional love
• God's grace is the strength we need to walk through a difficult world with hope
• Jesus demonstrated the ultimate grace by willingly dying for our sins
• Grace costs us nothing but cost God everything
Get involved with a local church community, spend time daily in prayer, and study God's word to grow in your understanding of grace.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
Now, last week I was talking about grace and I think I might have got a little ahead of myself. Let me clarify this. This is the assumption from my perspective was everybody knew what grace was and how it works in their life. But depending on your faith, walk and where you actually are, there is a lot more to it. So what I've decided to do today is I'm actually going to go back to basics about grace and what does grace mean in Christianity. So for those that are taking notes, okay, it's what does grace mean to Christians all around the world?
Speaker 1:Now, the dictionary gives us several definitions of the word. The following three relate primarily to the meaning of grace from a Christian perspective. Number one it's unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification. Number two a virtue coming from God. And finally, a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine assistance. Now, that's straight out of the dictionary, so if you've got any complaints, go back to the dictionary to look it up yourself Now.
Speaker 1:So let's start with unmerited. The definition is referred to how grace is something we don't deserve but God gives us anyway. When Jesus died on the cross, he took the unforgivable and made it forgivable, even though the world didn't deserve to be forgiven. God created a way for us to be redeemed through Jesus. This doesn't mean grace is a get-out-of-jail-free card. We should be humbled by the gratefulness that grace gives us rather than just taking it for granted. So just remember that. Okay, it's not a get out of jail free. It's not a matter of being a born-again Christian and all of a sudden, well, we're under grace, so I can do things and then ask for forgiveness later. That isn't the way it really works later. That isn't the way it really works. Grace, by definition, is undeserved.
Speaker 1:Favour Now it's approval, kindness, forgiveness, which is exactly what God has done for us in sending Jesus to die on the cross as payment for our sins. We don't deserve not being punished for our sins, but God knew the price was just too steep for us to pay, so he and Jesus paid it for us. Now, that's the big difference with a lot of other things. He says we are born into sin, so, whether we like it or not, it's part of our nature, so to speak. But Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice so that we could actually live the life that we live today. So knowing grace is undeserved and that without it we would forever be lost should make us humble Unfortunately, not the actual essence of things and hopefully you'll have a better understanding of it. So, when people are talking about unmerited favour and grace, then you'll have a better understanding of how it should be working in your life.
Speaker 1:We need to be very, very humble, and out of that humility should come unrelenting gratitude expressed by faithful, obedient life. So let's just let that sink in for a moment. That's what we need to be doing. We need to realize that what we have been given is so precious that we want to use it to the best of our ability. Now, a life of gratitude is a life that seeks to do God's will.
Speaker 1:Galatians 2.20 says this I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. That's the NIV version. It is recognizing that our bodies are now inhabited by the Holy Spirit. We are no longer flying solo, but rather we are the co-pilot, as in the second in command instead of the first in command. We need to be always trying to extend our grace.
Speaker 1:When it comes to extending grace, the first thing you need to remember is that everyone is equally in need of God's grace and equally undeserving. Romans 3.23 says this For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. This also means that no matter what a person has done in their past or where they are in their present, god's grace is there for them. God's grace is for every single one of us. No matter who comes through those doors of a church, god's grace is there for them. God has no problem extending his grace, so we shouldn't either. None of us has the right to decide whether someone isn't welcome or that they are unreachable. None of us has that right to decide. God's grace isn't powerful enough to change lives. You hear testimony after testimony about so many people that when they were in a diabolical place and a lot of them were in prison, and in prison for all sorts of crimes God showed favor with them, and this is the big thing that we've got to look at right now. It is there not just for you. It's for you and for every single living breathing person out there. So, regardless of that, what we need to do now is we need to actually look at what it's like to be living under the umbrella of God's grace. This means, once a person has accepted the grace of God, it doesn't just stop there. That person has a responsibility to treat that grace with TLC those that don't know it TLC tender, loving care. That's what it deserves.
Speaker 1:Remember, accepting God's grace requires you to live a life of gratitude. Now, that's probably the hardest thing for a lot of us to do. Let's illustrate it this way. Think about it like this. It this way okay, think about it like this you wouldn't accept a dinner invitation to a friend's house, then refuse to come to the table or complain about the meal set before you, would you? Well, of course not, but there's always an exception to the rule, but that's for another time.
Speaker 1:What I'm trying to say is no, you express your gratitude by eating, enjoying the meal and the fellowship that goes along with it. I mean obviously, yes, I know everybody's going to say well, what if there's stuff on the plate that you don't like and all this sort of stuff? Okay, you gracefully accept the dinner and eat what you can and then leave the rest. I mean, it doesn't matter what example I use, it's not going to make any difference, because someone will always find fault with the so-called illustration, and that's why it's always better to use props and things like that when you guys can see me. Unfortunately, this is only audio, so show me some grace by just accepting what I'm saying and look at it for its face value.
Speaker 1:Now, when we accept God's grace, you let it change your life. Accepting God's grace is the same as accepting the gift of salvation, and that involves confessing our sins and repenting and then turning away from them. That's the sin you turn away from. As a body of Christ, we have a responsibility to extend and to minister grace, as well as uphold the truth of what grace really is. In other words, we aren't to continue living in sin and claim to be under God's grace. Neither are we to condone those who do, but it's still not about you being judgmental.
Speaker 1:As Christians and evangelists seeking and saving the lost, we need to remember that grace isn't an excuse to sin. Grace is undeserved forgiveness of sin, sin as defined by God in the word, not by society. So, as we serve together as brothers and sisters in Christ now this is in your local congregation community remember that all are welcome to come as they are, just as you did, but we cannot stay where we are at in our sin. We must be in a constant state of spiritual growth and maturity, moving ever forward, living with Jesus. This means, obviously, attending a local church, listening to sermons, listening to podcasts, spending time in prayer and his word. It's very important that you look at that. See, once you become born again and we're living under grace, you need to know that faith without works is dead. We have to constantly be working on our faith and our journey and our walk with God.
Speaker 1:So get involved in a local church. I mean, obviously, there are those that will not be able to do that. So you listen to sermons online or you listen to podcasts. You need to spend time in prayer. Prayer is very, very fundamental, I would say even foundational for our faith and his word. You need to spend time in the word of God. That's a give me. I do it every single day and it doesn't need to take long five, 10 minutes or whatever. And, as I've said in a lot of my other sermons, as far as prayer is concerned, okay, the first thing you do in the morning and the last thing you do at night is spend some time in prayer, and sometimes it's just about thanking him for the day that you've had. Irrespective of what went wrong, he got you through it. If you had a good day, then that's great. Also, you know at the beginning of the day you want God to go before you and so that you can have the best day of your life, instead of just going through life senselessly. If that makes sense, all right, let's move on.
Speaker 1:Now I'm going to go through five keys of understanding grace that will help both someone who's new to their faith or even mature Christians. Everybody needs to grow in an understanding of their grace and their faith. All right, so it's not the be all and the end all. I mean you could come up with 10 different ways, but these are the main keys that I think that are fairly important.
Speaker 1:First and foremost, grace is power. In 2 Corinthians 12.9, the Bible tells us that my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Grace is God's power given to us especially when we are weak. In fact, his power works best when we are weak, because then we have to rely on him and not on our own strength, because then we have to rely on him and not on our own strength. This aspect of grace may be overlooked by many Christians, but it's an important one. We know we can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us, because the Bible tells us this in Philippians 4.13. Because the Bible tells us this in Philippians 4.13. So when we are confronted with what seems impossible, god can help us through it. His grace is power for us to do his will. Okay, let's move on.
Speaker 1:Point number two grace is a gift. The greek word, often translated as grace, is the word chorus. According to strong's accordance, it means a gift, benefit or favor and generosity. This is the grace that seasoned believers are often referring to when they talk about the grace of God. So what is this gift? It is the gift of salvation freely given by Jesus dying on the cross. As a gift, grace is free. There is no price we need to pay for it is free. There is no price we need to pay for it. God is a loving Father who waits to give us this gift of salvation. We need only ask. Ask and you shall receive. Doesn't get any simpler than that. Okay, point number three Grace is all about forgiveness.
Speaker 1:We have all sinned and fallen short of uh of god. Good behavior is not what god's looking at, no matter how we try to walk in, perfection will always fall short Once we have sinned. How do we get rid of it? Only God can cleanse us of our sins and only God can make a way for us to be forgiven and to be made pure again. This is the gift of God being forgiven and made clean so that one day we can be with him in heaven. His gift of grace is forgiveness for our sins and cleansing so that we can walk in this world free from the weight of guilt and from bad things we have done.
Speaker 1:Number four grace is healing. Now, I love this one. I really do, and I hang on this every day, at the moment, as I go through the challenges that I have. But God always remember but God, you know, it's in his timing, it's in, you know, maybe there's things that we need to do, maybe there's things that we need to walk through, but we know that this is here. Grace gives us the strengths we need to walk through a difficult world with hope, love and peace. See, he, he will give us the strength to endure as we go through things. But because we all go through trials and tribulations and we need to know that God is there for us. See, one of the manifestations of grace is our lives.
Speaker 1:In healing. God heals our body, mind and spirit as we grow in faith. His divine favour over our lives can be shown by the healing of many sicknesses and injuries. He also helps to heal the emotional wounds from our past and helps us grow and heal us spiritually. Grace helps us to leave behind the old sinful nature and behaviours and instead take the nature of Jesus. It says in 1 John 4.17,. You know, it says in 1 John 4, 17,.
Speaker 1:Now, okay, you say, what does this mean? Well, grace allows us to have Jesus' nature living in us and we are made able to walk in his power and his ability. It is the strength we need to walk through a difficult world with hope, love and peace. Difficult world with hope, love and peace. And finally, number five long before we loved God, he loved us. He loves us, whether or not we love him back. He loves us. When we are stained by sin and far from perfect and holy, he still loves us.
Speaker 1:We don't deserve that type of love, but he gives it anyway. It's called agape love. It's unconditional. You know, there's so many people that we run into in our lives and that could be a loved one, a spouse, a child, could be a work colleague or whatever. Um, we need to be able to love the unlovable. Uh, it is. It is how do I put this that unconditional love that God gives us. I mean, how many people do you know that if the opportunity come there, if someone gave you a choice, I'm going to shoot. You know, shoot this person or you. Only one of you get to live. Which one is it going to be your decision? 90% of the time, irrespective of who that other person is and I'm saying this because it doesn't matter what you say now.
Speaker 1:Unless you're put into that position and actually really have to make that ultimate decision, you know you'll never know Will you be the one that is saying, okay, let me die and let that person live? You know, you see all these movies about things like you know a woman's given birth to a baby and they're saying, okay, um, you need to make a decision. Only only one can survive. Do you want to live, have the opportunity to have another child later on, or do you want the child to live? And because it's movies and everything, they always say, oh, save, save the child. You know, you'll never, ever know. It's a bit like a secret service man in america. You know like they guard donald trump at the moment he's the current president, but they are trained to take a bullet for that man because he is the most powerful man in the world and his life's got to be protected. But until you are put in that position where you have to make that decision between life and death and that's your life or your death to save another you will not know what you do.
Speaker 1:So I'm just saying that the grace of unconditional love can only come from God. Right, because that's the fifth point, right? Right, because that's the fifth point, right. God is love, and God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, and that's why it says long before we loved God, he loved us, he loves us, whether or not we love him back. He loves us when we are unlovable.
Speaker 1:Unlike the world, we have notions of karma and you get what you deserve. God wants to give us his blessings even though we haven't earned them. We don't deserve it, and that is because he loves us. God loved us so much that he sent his son, jesus, to the earth to show us how to be saved. Jesus took the punishment for all of our sins, though that we didn't have to.
Speaker 1:Jesus didn't have to die on the cross, but out of the love he chose in the Garden of Gethsemane he said if it be possible, let this cut pass me by. But no, he said. But not my will, but your will be done. Can you even try and imagine that sort of love? See, grace is the pillar that the whole Bible stands on. It's a gift of unearned favour. It is power and strength to face all things, the power to walk the world in pure white, washed, whiter than snow. It gives us a way to escape sin and be cleansed and forgiven. We can't do it ourselves. Our own efforts are not good enough, but God made a way for us to be free. It costs us nothing, but it costs God everything. Think, but it costs God everything. His unconditional love for all of us is shown by his astonishing sacrifice. So the next time you hear the song Amazing Grace, think about how amazing it really is. The God of the universe loves you enough to die for you. That truly indeed is love.
Speaker 1:And another anecdote which will give you a better way of looking at it. I don't know whether you have or haven't seen the movie the Passion done by Mel Gibson, but I read an article once about the guy that was playing Jesus. They put all his body, armour and everything on him and they put this big slab of leather and wood across his back when they're doing the whipping. Okay, now we know for a fact that Jesus took 39 strikes. Okay, now this guy reports that at one stage the body arm on his back slipped and he just caught the tip of the whip on his back and he said the pain was so unbearable he could not understand how it would be possible for someone to endure that, you know, for such a long period of time. If that's not love, I don't know what is so in saying that. Let's end this here, and I hope this has given you a better understanding of what grace really is all about and how you can get it to work in your life. God bless you for now.
