6.17.2001 | CHRISTIAN TERMINOLOGY- "Grace"

Intro...Story of a Jacob and Esau...how God grace Jacob anyways.. Gen. 28:10-22
God could’ve struck him down for his sins, instead he blesses him.

Totally undeserved, total Grace, totally God.

As earthly fathers, we naturally want to help our kids earn what they get. “Work hard for it and you can get it.” Pride often keeps people from God. Why? It doesn’t make sense to get something so huge as salvation for free. Seems logical to do something to earn it. Sometimes when we see “free” events, we are skeptical. Xianity isn’t always logical. It’s supernatural, beyond our understanding.

“The grace of God is outrageous. By normal human reason, it doesn’t make any sense.” Leith Anderson. Yet grace and faith are rock solid foundations to our faith. As Xians, we need to learn to accept God’s grace. It allows us to come into God’s presence, to worship him. Why else do we need to learn to accept God’s grace? (Otherwise we are going to try and earn it.)

Wed. morning with the boys..I’m exasperated…”I wish you guys would stop acting like little kids…” As Fathers, we need to learn to give grace…I know it’s a tough job...

Why is grace so important to us as Christians?

A little church history….Protestant reformation 1517….one of the major declarations of the reformation was sola gratia salvation by the grace of God alone.

How would you define the word merit? What is earned or deserved, think boy scouts…merit badges, they deserve the badges, earned them. Their motto…? Be prepared

One of the major differences in Catholic and Protestant theology is the idea of merit or working your way to salvation. Catholics speak of three types of merit: condign “so meritorious that it imposes and obligation for reward. Congruous “not quite as high, yet is fitting or congruous for God to reward it. (good works plus penance) Supererogatory “above and beyond the call of duty.” Saints or those given sainthood by the church.

This last one Supererogatory gets crazy...it is “deposited into the treasury of merit from which the church can draw to apply to the account of those lacking sufficient merit to progress from purgatory to heaven.” See what happens when you start trying to earn your way to heaven? It gets harder and more complicated.

There is nothing we can do to earn our way to heaven. Otherwise, what would it be, what could possibly be good enough? If we think that anything we do adds anything to the cross, that insults God.

The merit of Christ come to us by grace through faith. Grace is the unmerited favor of God. As a dad and a Xian, I hope to grow in grace by the merciful assistance of the HS.

Under the microscope…as Xians we are under the microscope.

"When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realized that the Lord doesn't work that way so I stole one and asked Him to forgive me."

Some specific scripture on grace: Romans 5:1-5

More thoughts on grace…

So, we’ve got this sin problem...If we got what we deserved for sin…Romans 3:23
Grace is what we don’t deserve.

Ever feel like you are outside of God’s grace? Can we be?
God’s love for us flows from his character, not ours. It is not dependent on what we have done or will do. We can’t do anything to make God love us any more or love us any less. God doesn’t keep score. We can’t pay him back for his grace.

How do we sometimes abuse grace? Romans 6:1…
Hebrews 4…”come boldly to the throne of grace”

Imagine a great a powerful ruler/king who was very important. He always required high security. He also loved his kids. They could sneak past security anytime they wanted to and sit in his lap. That’s God grace.

Read Charles Stanley’s quotes on grace….

Thoughts, questions?

A word to us dads regarding grace:

God has given us a huge responsibility to model grace.
We need to balance grace, love and the guidelines our kids need.
What are some of the biggest areas we need to apply grace as dads?
Let’s not forget to honor our fathers today also….

Conclusion:

Like I mentioned earlier, last Wed. was a tough day for me….It was a Murphy's Law day..….I’m beat.. Zach says to me, “It’s hard being a dad..” .

I need God’s grace to cover me. I pray my boys will learn about God’s grace despite me.

A simple definition of grace: God’s kindness towards humanity, even though we don’t deserve it.

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