College Group Questions – for 2/16/08

Galatians 3 Part 2

Galatians 3 15-29

*** First let’s read God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis, how do you interpret it? How do you think Abraham would interpret it? How do you think the Israelites/Jews would interpret it?

16 – What is Paul doing here? What do you think of Paul’s interpretation? (Tie in with earlier in Ch 3). How does this sustain and support his argument?

17 – We believe we have a new covenant through Christ… what does this say about older covenants? What does that mean for us today?

18 – What is the purpose of the Law today? (Besides giving us speeding tickets – that’s a joke)

21 – The law cannot give life. What does the law do instead? Consider what effects it would have on the Jewish culture and lifestyle. How then does Jesus figure into all this?

24-25 – How does the law lead us to Christ? And how are we no longer under its supervision? What does that mean then?

28 – How do you read this passage? What does it apply to?

29 – What does it mean for us to be heirs of Abraham? Especially as we’re mostly Gentiles?

 

Message from 2-8-08 – Reckless – Living out God’s Grace

For those of you who weren’t here last week, I wanted everyone to really think about their own testimony, their own personal story of God’s saving grace in their lives.  Knowing the intimacy of free and self-sacrificial grace, I believe is key to living the lives God wants us to live.  This is the basis for the entire Christian faith. It is a love that pulls us up from the depths, from death back to life.  And if you take anything away from being a Christian, let it be God’s grace.

 

But is that it?  Is that all there is to being a Christian? Is that all there is to grace? Well, we know that grace saves.  Paul made it abundantly clear that it is our faith in Jesus that delivers us from sin and gives us salvation.  I know that God’s grace saved me from a possible death of self-hate.  And you know some specific way that God’s saved you.  We know this much.  And I think sometimes as Christians this is all we talk about.  It’s good to talk about, it is.  Like I said, this is central, this is the key doctrine in all of Christianity.  But I think grace is actually more.  Not only is it the key doctrine, but God’s grace is the key to entire world.

 

What do I mean by that?  Last week I said that the world is dying.  And the world tries to hide it.  We try to satisfy ourselves with gadgets and shiny new products and movies and music.  But in the end, everything dies.  Its true.  Not to be a downer, but you’re dying the moment you’re born! 

 

But as we know God has offered us new life!  Now of course, we’re still going to die, sorry, it’s the truth.  But God gave us new life, but not just so we could live eternally.  That IS vitally important and don’t forget it.  But its more than that!  God gave us life so we could live the lives that He wants for us.  That grace that is given to us has made us alive so we can bring life back to this world.  To restore it.  To reconcile it.  To build it.  To love it.  To save it.  We glorify and worship God when we let the grace he’s given us overflow to the world.

 

Being people of grace.  Living in grace. See, God gave us this wonderful gift.  He forgave us for our transgressions.  And now we need to do likewise.  Our lives need to embody Christ.  In a way, we need to be Jesus to the world  When people see us, they’re supposed to see Christ.  And Christ gave grace, he lived Grace.

 

But what does that look like, living in grace.  Keep that question in mind.  I want you to keep Micah 6.8 in the back of your mind.  This is the prophet Micah’s word on what God really wanted from the Israelite people.  And I think it embodies a lot of how grace works in God’s kingdom.

 

 8 He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

 

let’s pray.

 

Alright, so keep this three things in mind.  Acting with Justice.  Loving Mercy.  Walking Humbly.

 

 

Grace as forgiveness

Now obviously, when we think about grace, we first think of forgiveness.  And so, one of the first things we can do to show grace to others is, forgive them.  Now I’m sure you’ve heard many times that we need to forgive each other.  But I think it’s contrary to what we might normally do. 

 

It’s always easy to let our anger at someone who has hurt us fester and grow.  If you’ve ever struggled with a period of anger, you know it can make you feel powerful, stronger because of your rage.  But Jesus commands us to forgive. It’s hard, no doubt, but not impossible.  God has forgiven you, and yet often times we cannot forgive others. 

 

Jesus came to forgive us.  That’s God’s grace.  He came to reconcile us to God.  We in turn, must repent and believe.  And I think most or all of us have done that.  Reconcile with God.  But we must reconcile with each other when there’s conflict.

 

It’s hard to do when we’re on the opposite side, to be the one where you know you’ve hurt someone.  We’ve all messed up.  We’ve all disappointed people, I know I have.  We hurt people.  We say things we’ve rather not have said.  You know that terrible realizing what just came out of your mouth was probably the worst thing to say at that moment.  Horrible, horrible feeling.

 

What is really reckless, I believe, is to be able to say “I’m sorry.”  To admit a mistake, confess that you messed up.  It takes courage.  It takes humility.  This is a hard thing to do often.  You are essentially placing yourself at the mercy of the other person.  Vulnerable.  Admitting you’re wrong means accepting consequences.  But it is vital for reconciliation.  Just as Christ reconciled us to God, God wants us to be reconciled to each other.

 

In fact, Jesus commands us to take the first step towards reconciliation. In Matthew 5, we have Jesus’ teachings from the Sermon on the Mount.  In verse 21, he teaches about Anger. 

 

21“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder,^[a] and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother^[b]will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,^[c]‘ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

 23“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

25“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.^[d]

Now, we often read this passage and a lot of Jesus’ teachings and think that Jesus isn’t suggesting don’t be angry, and he’s not, for Jesus himself got angry.  But then sometimes we feel like Jesus is well, Jesus.  Of course he can say that… He lead a sinless life.  So his teaching is not an expectation, its like an impossible ideal.  But what happens when we do that is we kinda forget about the teaching and honestly we give up on it.  Oh, that’s too hard, that’s just being unrealistic.  That’s just a guideline.

 

But let’s look at it a different way.  Now I can’t take credit for this, what I’m going to teach you was from my ethics teacher.  Now the first part of this quotes an old saying, either from the old testament or a common Jewish teaching, starting with “you’ve heard it said”.  In this case its one of the 10 commandments, Do not Murder. 

 

The second part, Jesus gives a new teaching.  Now, he’s not saying that anyone who says the words “you fool” will go to hell.  Jesus himself says “you blind fools” later in Chapter 23.  So what does this mean?  Jesus here is pointing out the vicious cycle that people get themselves into.  This in turn could cause violence and possibly murder.  The reason why murder happens, it seems Jesus might be trying to say, is that we let our small pieces of anger, Raca (an Aramaic term of contempt), You fool, a misunderstanding, arguing over little things, getting frustrated with your family, blow up.  By letting things fester, or by feeding your own anger, this cycle spins out of control, and can eventually lead to something drastic.

 

So now Jesus brings out the third part.   Go and be reconciled.  Go and fix it.  This means if you are the hurt or if you are the hurter, go and be reconciled.  It’s what my ethics teacher calls a Transforming Initiative, getting out of the vicious cycle of anger.  Transform the anger into reconciliation.  In fact, when you make this part of your lifestyle, you’ll start to see yourself struggle less and less against anger.  This week, if you’ve listened to the news there’s been a lot of death.  5 killed in a city hall meeting near St Louis.  3 killed at Louisiana Tech.  5 killed right here in Los Angeles including a SWAT officer.  I don’t know necessarily if forgiveness would have worked here, but I’m sure it would have helped.

 

 Humility, Grace, Forgiveness.  They go hand in hand.  You’re going to find yourself on both sides all throughout life.  Face it, someone will get you angry and another time you’ll end up pissing someone off.  Its true!  But what Jesus wants is forgiveness and reconciliation.  Show grace to one another.  God did it for us, we need to do it for each other.  Go and make peace where there is conflict  Jesus commands this.  Later on in Matthew, Peter asks Jesus “How many times must I forgive my brother”  Jesus’ response is Seventy times 7.  Now that doesn’t mean 490.  Cause once you hit 480 you’d better be careful!  7 in the bible is a number of good, a number representing God in a way.  Not a lucky number as some might think, but using this number, especially 7 times 7 and also including it to a multiple of 10 essentially means to just keep forgiving.  Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  Over and over.

 

Is there someone you need to forgive?  Is there someone who you need to apologize to?  God wants you to show grace to one another.

 

 

Grace as deeds

 

Another form of grace, is deeds.  Now we always get a little suspicious when we talk about deeds and works.  But I think it’s important to understand that deeds and works are a vitally important part of a Christian life.  For out of the grace of God, comes the need to give back.  And part of God’s commands, a way to worship God, is to serve.  Jesus himself said numerous times that you must be a servant to your fellow man.  In fact, there are many instances where someone approached Jesus with a disability or with a loved one with an unclean spirit.  They say to him, Jesus have mercy on me.  Now we think of mercy as taking pity or not hurting someone.  Now obviously, Jesus wasn’t going to hurt anyone.  He instead heals them.  Mercy requires action.  This was God’s grace in action.

Grace can be as easy as buying someone lunch, giving someone a ride, helping someone with homework.  Now don’t stop there of course.  God wants us to give generously of ourselves, not just with our money, though that is important.  But when we give of ourselves, our time, our effort, our lives, when offer ourselves, when we serve each other, when we put someone else’s needs before our own, I believe we show God’s grace.  Because that’s what God did for us.  And to the world?  Crazy.  The world says look out number one.  Take care of yourself, because you can’t rely on anyone but yourself.  Take care of your own needs.  But Jesus, no Jesus teaches something opposite.  Matthew 25 34-40:  34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’  37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’  40“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’  Caring for the poor, the sick, the hungry, the needs around us is caring for Christ himself.

The world is dying, it is.  There are injustices happening all around.  Poverty should not be here.  Aids.  Cancer.  Slavery.  Oppression.  Human Sex Trafficking.  We don’t see it too much because we live here in America.  But God’s world is hurting.  One of the things the Old Testament prophets warned Israel about was their lack of justice.  Israel gave sacrifices to atone for sin, but their hearts were hard towards their fellow man.  They thought if they just fulfilled the sacrifices, they’re sins would be fine and they could go on living.  But that living meant oppressing the poor in their community, living comfortably without caring for others.  But the prophets knew that the sacrifices meant nothing if the Israelites didn’t look out for their own.  There are numerous examples of this, one being in Isaiah.  Chapter 1.13 -  Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
I cannot bear your evil assemblies.

 

 17 learn to do right!
Seek justice,
encourage the oppressed. ^[a]
Defend the cause of the fatherless,
plead the case of the widow.

 

In other translations, instead of encourage the oppressed it says rebuke the oppressor.  Either way, God grew tired of Israel paying Him lip service with their sacrifices and festivals.  God wants us to do the same.  Jesus said that God required mercy not sacrifice.  And I think sometimes we do that… if I just get my life right with God, that’s enough.  But God asks us to do more.  Our own lives and personal holiness is important, but we also need to DO good. 

As Christians we shouldn’t separate grace and works, though it is grace that saves and not our deeds.  But as James says, we do need both.  Works should be with Grace.  Grace should be the basis of our works.

 

Grace as community

Something that goes hand in hand with this is showing grace as community.  And we’ve got great community here, I think, really is pretty good.

 

I think we are pretty good at maintaining friendships, including those in Straightforward.  But go deep in your relationships.  Tell each other your stories, let your ugly sides show.  Its one thing  know the happy side, but its another to still love someone despite their dark side.  Acceptance, full acceptance, just as God accepts us, is ultimately quite freeing.

 

 But what I would also challenge you with is to include those in your surroundings that aren’t normally included.  Those that sit alone at lunch.  Maybe they dress weird or don’t have any friends.  Include them.  It might not be the most popular move, but I think it’ll make a huge difference in that person’s life.  This shows grace.  Jesus did same with the outcasts of his time.

 

Now, something I wanna quickly throw out there.  A lot of you are in Christian clubs at your school.  That’s good.  Now, I want you to know, I don’t NOT like the idea.  But what I do feel our clubs and even our youth groups and church itself have fallen into is basically creating a fortress of faith.  What I mean is that we create a little safe haven, where we don’t have to be heckled or bothered or criticized for our faith.  And then to evangelize we invite people in.  But, honestly, that’s pretty uncomfortable for people.  I think someone once said, inviting a non-believer to church is like inviting James Bond to a gay bar.  That’s probably not right, but you get the picture.  Its not comfortable… its weird, its another culture almost. 

 

But I think if you step out, rather than always invite in, if you start including those people in your conversation and show grace and mercy and love and giving in your life, you’ll start creating and modeling what it means to be a Christian.  And that will probably speak volumes more than trying to invite someone to church or youth group.   Clubs aren’t bad, but you do need more.  We can’t just stay in our shell.  Your club itself could go out and get involved with the community.

 

Or even harder still perhaps, is Jesus’ command to love your enemy.  Hmmm…. Now isn’t that a tough one.  That guy who just irks you, maybe picks on you.  You’re supposed to love him?  Yes.  You are.  And, honestly, I can’t really tell you how to do that.  It’ll be different for every case.  Proverbs 25:21-22- If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thiersty, give him water to drink.  In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you. – Its like, a bully comes up to you and is like, Give me your lunch money.  And You say, well, how bout I take you to McDonalds?  Maybe by feeding him unhealthy food, it could work to your advantage…Now I’ve always thought, how is this nice, if its heaping burning coals on him.  Some have interpreted this, and I think it makes sense.  The burning coals are the sharp pains of regret and shame (like a red face?) that someone might feel after being shown kindness when normally should have come anger or retaliation.  Hence, perhaps changing an enemy to a friend.  Another transforming initiative you could try. 

 

Matthew 5 – Turn the other cheek?      

 

Whose in our community?  Well, our friends, our family, our fellow Christians.  And ultimately, I think our community stretches to the entire world.  Now obviously you can’t take some in China to lunch or something… though I’m Chinese, you can take me to lunch.  But imagine what God could do through you if you stretched yourself that far.  The church has a job, and part of that job is to bring healing, justice, and God’s love to the world. 

 

Now there are a lot of issues in the world right now.  Kenya, Darfur.  There are a lot issues in this country.  The abortion, healthcare.  There are a lot of issues in this state. Helping the poor and the sick.  And there are a lot of issues right near you.  Broken people, littering, waste, hunger. 

 

We as the church do have the power to do something.  As Christians, we need to live upright lives, holy lives.  And we also need to care for our world.  Maybe there’s another issue on your heart.  Kathy has a huge heart for those dying of AIDS and other medical issues… especially those who don’t have access to healthcare.  Christine wants to raise awareness of human sex trafficking. 

 

But maybe you might feel you’re too young and can’t do anything… Well, An 11 year old boy, named Johnny Crater actually helped raise over $6000 to help orphans in Africa. And over 15000 for various causes.  He wrote this

“God has planted a seed of hope in my heart that He wants me to share with you. God has given me a mission to save the orphans of Africa – one country at a time. The initial goal is to raise at least $12-million dollars. I know you are wondering how an eleven-year old is going to raise $12 million dollars? My answer is, there’s just one-way…God…. He’s my partner in everything I do. He has shown me how one person can make a difference.   Even if you are only an 11 years old kid. You can make a difference for one person or for many people…. and making the difference in just one person’s life can be just as important.”

It starts small.  Making a difference in one life, but imagine we’re God could take you.  You could change the world.

• What is a way God may be asking you to show grace?  To yourself? To a friend? To someone else?
• Does God care about these issues around the world?  Why or why not?  Should the church care about these issues?
• Are there any issues you care about?  How can we transform our community, local, state, country, global?

 

Obedience and listening: commissioned by God

All of this probably wouldn’t be the way the world would want you to be.  And the world, in case you hadn’t realized doesn’t really like the church too much.  We’re viewed as hypocrites, and we are, judgmental, and we are, bigots or a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own. And, often times, we are.  Maybe you’ve been called some of these things.  I have.  And yet we keep doing the same things we do.  Maybe they’re right.  Maybe Something needs to change. 

 

You want to prove that you have faith? Or that Christianity is a good life.  Jesus said we will know, by our fruits.  What fruit are you bearing?  Are you acting justly, loving mercy, walking humbly?  We know the fruits of the spirit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control.  But our fruits also spread out, overflowing from us to the world around us.  What fruit are you going to bear? Reconcile, forgive, heal, love, give, act!

 

At retreat, Jon talked about how we are commissioned by God.  You are.  You are God’s agents, his hands in the world.  That’s the role of the church!  And I think if God’s hands were functioning right, we wouldn’t be facing some of those criticisms.  Maybe the church would be viewed as a good thing.  The gospel I believe is more than the resurrection.  It’s the news of the kingdom.  God’s kingdom come to reign.  And its calling for us to participate.  Start with grace. 

 

Forgiveness, generosity, giving, sacrifice, love.  It all boils down to this.  Start here with grace. 

If you want to see the church really do some good in this broken world, I think it starts with grace.  God gave it first.  Given to you.  Let grace overflow to… the person next to you and out, into your family, to your friends, to your school, to well, everyone and into the world.  It was grace that saved you.  And it can save the world.  Live out grace.  I think you’ll be amazed at what God can do.

 

 

a Christian’s response to “the issues” and why I can’t be a full Republican

I for, can never fully support any candidate, and I personally don’t agree with a lot of the Republican platform.  I know Huckabee is a Christian and I like him, but I’m just not sure he’s electable…. the stance against Christians in general is just too high… not very popular to be a Christian, and especially a former minister… that raises a lot of flags, even for some republicans.  I personally agree with a lot of democratic philosophy of big government as well.

As for abortion, while I am pro-life, I’m always a toss-up in terms of what a law should be.  I personally think that if we legally allow it, it is the church’s job to work from the ground up to show it is not what God would want (which I agree with!).  Throwing a blanket law over everything will not stop a great deal of abortions, as it’ll just go underground as it was before.  Its like prohibition… that didn’t work… (not that I have a huge problem with a little drinking either… Mike haha).  If there is a law (and if there is, I think it needs to be introduced slowly) and even when their isn’t, the church can and must be COMPLETELY pro-life.  What I mean by that is we need to support women as well.  I’m sure few to none of us have been in the situation, but I’m sure its a harrowing situation.  yes, they may have made a mistake by getting pregnant.  But does the church have enough grace to still accept them?  The church needs to be able to support them in a situation that 1) probably alienates them from possibly their family, friends, and most definitely the current church 2) creates in them often a sense of shame and guilt – which Christ, in my experience, has been able to transform to redemption 3) creates, if no abortion is done, a financial/social nightmare that often destroys the rest of their life – a new baby takes time, resources, and family, of which the woman sometimes does not have.  Can the church respond to this with love, support, finances, etc?  Or do we just throw a law out there because “that’s what God would want” and then leave it for the men and women who made a mistake to wither and die?

As for immigration… I’m not sure as I haven’t done enough research on it.  I probably fall on both sides for different aspects… what do you think is a Christian response to this?

Stem Cell Research:  Embryonic – no.  Stem cell research in general, yes.  Cloning?  well, I wouldn’t be for it, BUT!!!! if it was ever done, would the church love that clone?  (no, I don’t add this because I’m a star wars fan….)

I personally believe that the Evangelical Church’s tie to the Republican party needs to be rethought.  I have other friends whose church basically labels a heretic if you are not Republican.  I do not believe all of the Republican ideals are right for the church, regardless of their stance on the abortion, stem cell research, gay marriage, etc.  Republicanism is often equated with anti-social justice, no/little care for the environment (yes, its an issue, not necessarily the greatest, but it is an issue we all must face), and war-hawks/pro-war.  And because Christians are lumped in with the Republicans, we get branded with this too.  How is not caring for the poor, letting God’s creation die (especially because of gas-guzzling Christian soccer moms in their SUVs), and killing people part of evangelical Christian heritage???

Questions for College Group – from 2-2-08

All :  How would you characterize Paul’s attitude?  Does this strike you in a particular way?

 

3.2 How does Paul view the HS?  How do you view the HS?  If the HS is received through faith, what does that mean for works?  How often do we view our works and deeds as a way to offer to the HS?

 

6-9 – what do you think of Paul’s argument using Abraham?  How does his interpretation differ from the traditional Jewish belief?

 

8 – What does traditional Jewish belief say about the Gentiles?  Why might this be if its so obvious to Paul now?  How would this be a problem for the Jews?  Why would Paul use this in his argument (audience?)

 

10 – Is the law a curse?  What should we do about the Mosaic law?

 

13 – How is Christ become cursed?  Why does the law not rest by Faith?  What then is the use of the law? (what about weird laws? – discuss preview?)

 

 

Feel free to post thoughts in the comments

Message from 2-1-08 – Reckless: Your Story for His Kingdom

Reckless:  Living in Grace

 

What does Grace mean to you?

 

Alright, right off the bat, I have a confession to make.  I really don’t know much about the topic I’m speaking on today.  It’s a concept that seems to go hand in hand with Christianity, yet I think its one of the most difficult ideas for us to grasp.  The topic is grace. 

 

What!? Grace?  Who doesn’t know about grace? Grace it what God gives us.  Grace is forgiveness, its love, its what we say before we eat and maybe after the first few bites…  right?  We know what grace is.  And maybe we do.  But tonight I want to ask you two questions.  First, how has God’s grace Really saved you?  Second, how can you use that story for the Kingdom of God?

 

Alright, so keep those questions in mind tonight.  Open your bibles to the book of Colossians.  Chapter 2, verse 13.  13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,^[b] God made you^[c] alive with Christ. 

 

Let’s Pray.  Father, your grace is a gift beyond all words.  The gift you’ve given thorugh Jesus is greater than anything we have God.   And I confess, I am not an adequate person to even begin to talk on this subject, but  I pray you would speak through me, let my words be yours.  In Jesus name, Amen.

 

Ok, now God’s grace is of course the forgiveness of sins from the death and resurrection of Jesus.  And, of course you know that everyone has committed sin.  And by now you should probably know that (Romans 6:23) the wages of sin is death.  We’re all sinners and death (not physical, but spiritual death) is the consequence.  God, because he is just, cannot allow unholiness to exist.  But through his grace, he gave us a way out of that judgment and punishment.  Sin is death, but Grace is life.  Back to Colossians: God made you ALIVE with Christ.  We were dead in sin before… I think we’re good at remembering that.  But how often do we realize that we’re alive? 

 

Now sometimes, we don’t always know what our sin is.  Sure, we know the obvious ones, stealing, murder, the disobeying of the Ten Commandments.  We know that.  But without being specific about them, the Bible talks about a lot of things.  For example, in having no Gods but God, how often do we put other things before him, like popularity, money, our pride or our smugness?  Those are sins.  Now its one thing to call sin for sin.  But its another to realize that we don’t have to live in those anymore.  Dwelling in the sin is easy, especially for me, seeing our sin and realizing how much crap we have in our life, not so hard if you really take a good look.  As Christians I kinda think we’re good at looking for sins, policing for them if you will.  And if you haven’t taken a good look, I’m going to give you an opportunity to do that.  But what’s challenging for us I think, is realizing that we are alive now!  We are redeemed.  We are reborn.  Do we live like that?  Do we just know our sin and confess it, and then just wallow or continue sinning or do we let the resurrection of Christ really affect our lives? 

 

A funny story that actually reminded me of grace.   In Romans 5:20 – it says But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.  The more sins that one commits, the more grace one receives.  Kinda obvious right?  The more sin you’ve committed, the more grace God has to give.  But if you think about it, the more you understand how much sin is in your life, the more you can be thankful for the grace God’s given… The more sin we see, the great God’s love might seem.

[name changed to avoid embarrassment]

 

Reckless:  Living in Grace

 

What does Grace mean to you?

 

Alright, right off the bat, I have a confession to make.  I really don’t know much about the topic I’m speaking on today.  It’s a concept that seems to go hand in hand with Christianity, yet I think its one of the most difficult ideas for us to grasp.  The topic is grace. 

 

What!? Grace?  Who doesn’t know about grace? Grace it what God gives us.  Grace is forgiveness, its love, its what we say before we eat and maybe after the first few bites…  right?  We know what grace is.  And maybe we do.  But tonight I want to ask you two questions.  First, how has God’s grace Really saved you?  Second, how can you use that story for the Kingdom of God?

 

Alright, so keep those questions in mind tonight.  Open your bibles to the book of Colossians.  Chapter 2, verse 13.  13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature,^[b] God made you^[c] alive with Christ. 

 

Let’s Pray.  Father, your grace is a gift beyond all words.  The gift you’ve given thorugh Jesus is greater than anything we have God.   And I confess, I am not an adequate person to even begin to talk on this subject, but  I pray you would speak through me, let my words be yours.  In Jesus name, Amen.

 

Ok, now God’s grace is of course the forgiveness of sins from the death and resurrection of Jesus.  And, of course you know that everyone has committed sin.  And by now you should probably know that (Romans 6:23) the wages of sin is death.  We’re all sinners and death (not physical, but spiritual death) is the consequence.  God, because he is just, cannot allow unholiness to exist.  But through his grace, he gave us a way out of that judgment and punishment.  Sin is death, but Grace is life.  Back to Colossians: God made you ALIVE with Christ.  We were dead in sin before… I think we’re good at remembering that.  But how often do we realize that we’re alive? 

 

Now sometimes, we don’t always know what our sin is.  Sure, we know the obvious ones, stealing, murder, the disobeying of the Ten Commandments.  We know that.  But without being specific about them, the Bible talks about a lot of things.  For example, in having no Gods but God, how often do we put other things before him, like popularity, money, our pride or our smugness?  Those are sins.  Now its one thing to call sin for sin.  But its another to realize that we don’t have to live in those anymore.  Dwelling in the sin is easy, especially for me, seeing our sin and realizing how much crap we have in our life, not so hard if you really take a good look.  As Christians I kinda think we’re good at looking for sins, policing for them if you will.  And if you haven’t taken a good look, I’m going to give you an opportunity to do that.  But what’s challenging for us I think, is realizing that we are alive now!  We are redeemed.  We are reborn.  Do we live like that?  Do we just know our sin and confess it, and then just wallow or continue sinning or do we let the resurrection of Christ really affect our lives? 

 

A funny story that actually reminded me of grace.   In Romans 5:20 – it says But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.  The more sins that one commits, the more grace one receives.  Kinda obvious right?  The more sin you’ve committed, the more grace God has to give.  But if you think about it, the more you understand how much sin is in your life, the more you can be thankful for the grace God’s given… The more sin we see, the great God’s love might seem. JT story 

 

Now you’ll probably think this isn’t what I should be comparing the gospel to, but it illustrates something about grace, the more we sin, its like another bump.  More dead. We’ve got this sin, this emptiness, this longing for God in us.  Each bump is another sin and it grows worse and worse.  Now sin is sin, even one is enough unholiness to deserve death.  But if you’ve ever just realized how much sin you have, it can make you feel really down.  Depressing even.

 

But then how much more does the grace of God feel good?  How much more powerful is God’s love for us when we know we’ve sinned so much?  How much more alive are we now that all of it is forgiven?  Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a lot of sin.  I’ve struggled and do struggle with unhealthy anger, selfishness, lust, disobedience to God, 22 years of living leaves a lot of room for sin.  And when I recall it, it… well, it sucks… bad.    When I recall all my sin, big, small, hurtful to others, hurtful to myself, whatever, it looks really bad.  But, but! Then I remember God’s grace and realize just how much grace God has given.  I should be dead and yet, God has given me life.  I should be… well, very dead. But God has made me alive and moreso because of how much I know I’m a sinner.  Now I often times find it hard to accept grace for myself, but God slowly helps me realize, that His grace comes not because of anything of me, but all from Him.  It doesn’t matter, how much sin I have, what matters is God loves and forgives.  I am alive in Christ!

 

 I want to challenge you, do you recognize the wonder that has been done.  Do you see the miracle, the gift, overflowing of God’s love that has come into your life?  Is God’s grace real to you?  Or is it just a Sunday school lesson?  What does salvation mean to you? 

 

Now last week if you were here, I asked you guys to start thinking about your own testimonies.  This is your own personal story of salvation and how God’s grace affected your life.  It may not be flashy like say Paul.  Paul was going down a road near Damascus and wham!  Blinding light and Jesus talking out of the sky.  I don’t think too many of us have a story like that.  It may be a simple, I grew up in the church and I accepted him when I was young and He’s still my savior today.  And that’s good!  Praise God that you’ve been raised in a Christian home.  To know the love of Christ for a long time.  Or maybe you’re a newer Christian and you have a conversion tale to tell.  Or maybe you’ve fallen away and come back.  I’m not sure what your story is, but its something that you truly treasure, you can hold on to it. 

 

Now, I’ll tell you my story.  And I’ve told this a lot and it seems to come out different every time.  But I don’t tell the story to get attention.  The point I want to illustrate is what makes God real to me.  My story is my personal recount of the amazing work God did in my life.  It includes probably the darkest time in my life followed by a realization of the light.  Author Brennan Manning says: “To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark”.  Now he’s not talking about the Force.  But something we all need to acknowledge is that there is a darkness.  Life isn’t all happy and nice… like the Disney channel.  But neither does it have to be all darkness and gloom.  Because we have Christ.  I thought my life was like that for awhile, darkness all around, but God rescued me… He turned death into life TESTIMONY – e-mail for copy – had this memorized…

 

And often times, I feel myself start to doubt God’s love.  Or even if He’s real.  But that’s when God reminds me of my story.  No, its our story.  Remember how I saved you from all that?  That’s my love for you.  That’s how you know its real.  And often times it moves me to tears to think about it again.  To remember how real it was.

 

Now my story hits home with a lot of people I’ve talked to.  They’ve had similar experiences.  And I’ll bet some of your friends and family and other people you know may share something with you too. 

 

Now if you listen to my story, you’ll notice I didn’t include too much about really obvious sins like stealing or murder or anything else directly in the ten commandments.  But sin isn’t limited to that.  For me, my sin was believing that my grades defined who I was.  My sin was not trusting God with my future.  My sin was turning to myself, even though I basically hated myself, when I should have turned to the Lord.  That’s what makes my story.  That’s the sin that not only was forgiven, but transformed.  And it isn’t done yet.  No I still struggle with this from time to time in different ways.  But I’m certain that God is working in me still, burning away those impurities from me day by day. 

 

But what’s your story?  God’s given you life.  True life.  What does that mean to you?   How has God shown you grace?  Maybe you think what you do in your future or what job you get will determine your worth.  Maybe you’ve felt the sting of parental expectations?  Or perhaps you’ve been rejected by a friend or loved one?  Maybe you don’t see yourself as God’s child, but rather as a filthy nobody, unloved, and unwanted.  Maybe you’re hurting deep inside and you cover it up with pride and self confidence.  Or Maybe you struggle with sins of impurity, hate, prejudice. I’m not sure what your story is.  It could be very personal, but I want you to really think about it.  We often let our love for people go stale.  It becomes regular, normal.  Let the fire come back. Let God convict you all over again.  Let His love for you become obvious again.  Sometimes it may seem hard to believe, but you can believe in your story.  Its your story of death to life. 

 

I’ve asked the worship team to play a little for a few minutes.  I want you to take this time to reflect on your own story.  Mull it around in your mind.  We’re going to hand out paper and pencil.  If you have thoughts or questions that come up, write them down.  But write out some key points about your story.  Don’t worry about what anyone else is writing or if someone is trying to see your story right now.  This time is for you and God to sit down and reminisce.  If you have questions, you can come up and ask me or one of the staff. But focus on these questions, do you understand the miracle of God’s grace?  What does that mean to you personally?  God saved ME eternally and from a life and possibly death of self-hate.  But what did Jesus do for you?  And if you find you’re having trouble, or maybe you haven’t quite figured out the sin in your life, I want you to know, that’s OK.  We can talk about that, sort through it.  Feel free to bring this up to any staff.  Remember the Dark, Look for the Dark.  And then Remember the Light.  And Thank God for it. 

 

 

Now I hope you’ve had some time to think about your story.  I challenge you that in your times of struggle or hopelessness, you’d pull out this story to remind yourself.  And I’d also challenge you to be ready to tell your story.  You never know when God might want you to bring it out to plant a seed in someone’s life.  Often times God will use the specificities of your story to touch others.  Part of my goals of ministry is to convey the idea that life isn’t about money and success and that there are bigger things to live for.  You know I had to tie this into recklessness.  Part of being reckless is going out as a Christian.  Often I feel like the church likes to keep in its walls.  Inside the church, inside our clubs, inside our fellowships.  Its safe.  Meanwhile the world looks on.  We’re saved. We’re alive.  But we’re enclosed and uninvolved.  Did you know some of my friends in college didn’t even know who Jesus was?  They had no idea what Chrsitianity is about. 

 

I think too often the church believes, at least in America, that we live in a Christian nation.  But not so much anymore.  The world has changed around us, and we’ve been stuck inside, happy with our songs, our Bibles, our Quite Times, We’re happy and safe with our dramas, our prayer.  Now, those are good things.  They are.  But do we realize the hurt around us.  Do we see the decay and death? 

 

This world is dying.  The world tries to keep itself alive with gadgets and technology, our science, our money.  But its dying, dying for the love of a savior.  A love that hopefully, you know.  Christ’s love has made you alive and it’s the one hope the world has for true life.  How is supposed to hear it unless we step out.  Your story can be the first step.  Its been said that your own testimony is one of the most powerful tools you have in evangelizing.  But I think often we’re too afraid to tell it.  Or maybe we’ll only tell it to our closest friends or in church where we’re comfortable.  Don’t keep it to yourself or even within the walls of the church.  Let it out.  Be reckless with your testimony.  You have a story, and the world wants to hear it.  Its literally dying to hear it.

 

As I said before, some people really connected with my testimony.  Maybe someone you know might connect with yours.  That’s the perfect opportunity to share God’s love.  Now don’t just go up to one of your friends and be like “HEY! Wanna hear my testimony!!!” and shove it in their face.  That’s not very tactful.  Listen to God, He’ll direct you.  He’ll give you opportunities.   A theme we’ll be talking about in the near future is prayer.  We’ve been talking with Ray and the prayer team especially about listening prayer.  Too often we think about prayer being talking to God, but we forget about listening.  Listening for His voice.  Images and ideas that he gives us.  We’ll be exploring this, but I wanna get the idea into your head a little.  Be listening for God, especially when you pray.  And while we’re worshipping today, listen for His voice.  Maybe he already has a mission for you with your testimony.  Or he has another word for you.  Be open to Him, be available. 

 

But, more than anything, what I want to challenge you with knowing your story and be open with your story.  Don’t hold it back.  Don’t let fear of rejection or judgment stop you… let your light shine for God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now you’ll probably think this isn’t what I should be comparing the gospel to, but it illustrates something about grace, the more we sin, its like another bump.  More dead. We’ve got this sin, this emptiness, this longing for God in us.  Each bump is another sin and it grows worse and worse.  Now sin is sin, even one is enough unholiness to deserve death.  But if you’ve ever just realized how much sin you have, it can make you feel really down.  Depressing even.

 

But then how much more does the grace of God feel good?  How much more powerful is God’s love for us when we know we’ve sinned so much?  How much more alive are we now that all of it is forgiven?  Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a lot of sin.  I’ve struggled and do struggle with unhealthy anger, selfishness, lust, disobedience to God, 22 years of living leaves a lot of room for sin.  And when I recall it, it… well, it sucks… bad.    When I recall all my sin, big, small, hurtful to others, hurtful to myself, whatever, it looks really bad.  But, but! Then I remember God’s grace and realize just how much grace God has given.  I should be dead and yet, God has given me life.  I should be… well, very dead. But God has made me alive and moreso because of how much I know I’m a sinner.  Now I often times find it hard to accept grace for myself, but God slowly helps me realize, that His grace comes not because of anything of me, but all from Him.  It doesn’t matter, how much sin I have, what matters is God loves and forgives.  I am alive in Christ!

 

 I want to challenge you, do you recognize the wonder that has been done.  Do you see the miracle, the gift, overflowing of God’s love that has come into your life?  Is God’s grace real to you?  Or is it just a Sunday school lesson?  What does salvation mean to you? 

 

Now last week if you were here, I asked you guys to start thinking about your own testimonies.  This is your own personal story of salvation and how God’s grace affected your life.  It may not be flashy like say Paul.  Paul was going down a road near Damascus and wham!  Blinding light and Jesus talking out of the sky.  I don’t think too many of us have a story like that.  It may be a simple, I grew up in the church and I accepted him when I was young and He’s still my savior today.  And that’s good!  Praise God that you’ve been raised in a Christian home.  To know the love of Christ for a long time.  Or maybe you’re a newer Christian and you have a conversion tale to tell.  Or maybe you’ve fallen away and come back.  I’m not sure what your story is, but its something that you truly treasure, you can hold on to it. 

 

Now, I’ll tell you my story.  And I’ve told this a lot and it seems to come out different every time.  But I don’t tell the story to get attention.  The point I want to illustrate is what makes God real to me.  My story is my personal recount of the amazing work God did in my life.  It includes probably the darkest time in my life followed by a realization of the light.  Author Brennan Manning says: “To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark”.  Now he’s not talking about the Force.  But something we all need to acknowledge is that there is a darkness.  Life isn’t all happy and nice… like the Disney channel.  But neither does it have to be all darkness and gloom.  Because we have Christ.  I thought my life was like that for awhile, darkness all around, but God rescued me… He turned death into life TESTIMONY

 

And often times, I feel myself start to doubt God’s love.  Or even if He’s real.  But that’s when God reminds me of my story.  No, its our story.  Remember how I saved you from all that?  That’s my love for you.  That’s how you know its real.  And often times it moves me to tears to think about it again.  To remember how real it was.

 

Now my story hits home with a lot of people I’ve talked to.  They’ve had similar experiences.  And I’ll bet some of your friends and family and other people you know may share something with you too. 

 

Now if you listen to my story, you’ll notice I didn’t include too much about really obvious sins like stealing or murder or anything else directly in the ten commandments.  But sin isn’t limited to that.  For me, my sin was believing that my grades defined who I was.  My sin was not trusting God with my future.  My sin was turning to myself, even though I basically hated myself, when I should have turned to the Lord.  That’s what makes my story.  That’s the sin that not only was forgiven, but transformed.  And it isn’t done yet.  No I still struggle with this from time to time in different ways.  But I’m certain that God is working in me still, burning away those impurities from me day by day. 

 

But what’s your story?  God’s given you life.  True life.  What does that mean to you?   How has God shown you grace?  Maybe you think what you do in your future or what job you get will determine your worth.  Maybe you’ve felt the sting of parental expectations?  Or perhaps you’ve been rejected by a friend or loved one?  Maybe you don’t see yourself as God’s child, but rather as a filthy nobody, unloved, and unwanted.  Maybe you’re hurting deep inside and you cover it up with pride and self confidence.  Or Maybe you struggle with sins of impurity, hate, prejudice. I’m not sure what your story is.  It could be very personal, but I want you to really think about it.  We often let our love for people go stale.  It becomes regular, normal.  Let the fire come back. Let God convict you all over again.  Let His love for you become obvious again.  Sometimes it may seem hard to believe, but you can believe in your story.  Its your story of death to life. 

 

I’ve asked the worship team to play a little for a few minutes.  I want you to take this time to reflect on your own story.  Mull it around in your mind.  We’re going to hand out paper and pencil.  If you have thoughts or questions that come up, write them down.  But write out some key points about your story.  Don’t worry about what anyone else is writing or if someone is trying to see your story right now.  This time is for you and God to sit down and reminisce.  If you have questions, you can come up and ask me or one of the staff. But focus on these questions, do you understand the miracle of God’s grace?  What does that mean to you personally?  God saved ME eternally and from a life and possibly death of self-hate.  But what did Jesus do for you?  And if you find you’re having trouble, or maybe you haven’t quite figured out the sin in your life, I want you to know, that’s OK.  We can talk about that, sort through it.  Feel free to bring this up to any staff.  Remember the Dark, Look for the Dark.  And then Remember the Light.  And Thank God for it. 

 

 

Now I hope you’ve had some time to think about your story.  I challenge you that in your times of struggle or hopelessness, you’d pull out this story to remind yourself.  And I’d also challenge you to be ready to tell your story.  You never know when God might want you to bring it out to plant a seed in someone’s life.  Often times God will use the specificities of your story to touch others.  Part of my goals of ministry is to convey the idea that life isn’t about money and success and that there are bigger things to live for.  You know I had to tie this into recklessness.  Part of being reckless is going out as a Christian.  Often I feel like the church likes to keep in its walls.  Inside the church, inside our clubs, inside our fellowships.  Its safe.  Meanwhile the world looks on.  We’re saved. We’re alive.  But we’re enclosed and uninvolved.  Did you know some of my friends in college didn’t even know who Jesus was?  They had no idea what Chrsitianity is about. 

 

I think too often the church believes, at least in America, that we live in a Christian nation.  But not so much anymore.  The world has changed around us, and we’ve been stuck inside, happy with our songs, our Bibles, our Quite Times, We’re happy and safe with our dramas, our prayer.  Now, those are good things.  They are.  But do we realize the hurt around us.  Do we see the decay and death? 

 

This world is dying.  The world tries to keep itself alive with gadgets and technology, our science, our money.  But its dying, dying for the love of a savior.  A love that hopefully, you know.  Christ’s love has made you alive and it’s the one hope the world has for true life.  How is supposed to hear it unless we step out.  Your story can be the first step.  Its been said that your own testimony is one of the most powerful tools you have in evangelizing.  But I think often we’re too afraid to tell it.  Or maybe we’ll only tell it to our closest friends or in church where we’re comfortable.  Don’t keep it to yourself or even within the walls of the church.  Let it out.  Be reckless with your testimony.  You have a story, and the world wants to hear it.  Its literally dying to hear it.

 

As I said before, some people really connected with my testimony.  Maybe someone you know might connect with yours.  That’s the perfect opportunity to share God’s love.  Now don’t just go up to one of your friends and be like “HEY! Wanna hear my testimony!!!” and shove it in their face.  That’s not very tactful.  Listen to God, He’ll direct you.  He’ll give you opportunities.   A theme we’ll be talking about in the near future is prayer.  We’ve been talking with Ray and the prayer team especially about listening prayer.  Too often we think about prayer being talking to God, but we forget about listening.  Listening for His voice.  Images and ideas that he gives us.  We’ll be exploring this, but I wanna get the idea into your head a little.  Be listening for God, especially when you pray.  And while we’re worshipping today, listen for His voice.  Maybe he already has a mission for you with your testimony.  Or he has another word for you.  Be open to Him, be available. 

 

But, more than anything, what I want to challenge you with knowing your story and be open with your story.  Don’t hold it back.  Don’t let fear of rejection or judgment stop you… let your light shine for God.