Celebrate Grace-Look for It
But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deuteronomy 4:29
Before we can celebrate grace, we have to see it. Often it is right in our face, but sometimes we have to look for it. As I have been thinking on this topic of celebrating grace I have been greatly challenged due to my lack of vision to see grace. Jesus is working all around me and I do see Him, I just don't look for Him and the work of the Spirit enough. I don't want to just seek out the Lord my God and find Him for salvation, I want to find Him for my all. I want to look for Him daily with all my heart and all my soul. This is hard to do when I am looking for myself.
There are of certainly many more ways to celebrate grace, these are just some of the ones that came to my mind.
Over the next 12 days I will be reading The Great Word of the Gospel: How We Experience God's Grace by John Ensor and comment about it. This will be a good read for me after thinking on celebrating grace the past 11 days. I am exited that God is helping me to understand, see, and celebrate His grace more.
Celebrate Grace-Forgive and be Forgiven
In Matthew 18:21-22 we see clearly that Jesus wants us to forgive each other. About 7 years ago I listened to a sermon by Tim Keller that helped me to understand this passage even better. I do not remember the sermon title but it had something to do with being gospel-centered. The term and concept that hit me the hardest was "exacting punishment". When someone does us wrong we think that we own them some wrong. We may not go about it in a obvious way, but our flesh and hearts wants to get back at that person or people. Well, for the christian, Jesus has received all the payment, that includes our paybacks. Jesus has carried the weight of the offence and has taken the ultimate payment for it. So why do I need to get back or be bitter with anyone? Why do I bow up with pride when I feel someone is attacking me or someone I love? Now, am not saying that we need to carelessly let people walk on us, but we need to reconsider how we respond when someone wrongs us, our friends, or our families.
In light of what Jesus did, I should seek to follow His example...forgive. God had every right to leave us in our sins and just punishment. We wronged Him. This is a holy offence, not just a "hey, she hit me offence". God made a way for us to be forgiven in Jesus. He took our sins and died in our place. I need to be cross centered in my relationships when someone wrongs me.
I think that this is a hard thing to do, but it is freeing. I can go on with my day and life thanking God for his provision for my sin and the sins of my friends. I don't need to even exact punishment for those who will never trust in Jesus because they will, sadly, receive the wrath of God. I do not wish or hope this on anyone. I have no place to exact punish on anyone.
Now wars are a thing of protection, but that is a thought for another day.
So what grace is there to be celebrated here? It is the grace of Jesus forgiving us and making us able to forgive others based on His payment. If believers would live in this covenant community lifestyle we would see the Spirit show us so much peace that is found in trusting God in this area.
Do I desire peace? Am I a peacemaker? A good book on this is Peacemaker by Ken Sande.
I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.
Jeremiah 33:8
Celebrate Grace-Prioritize
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Mathew 6:33
This past week I have been considering different ways I can see the grace of God, the free wonderful workings of God.
I started this after listening to a talk by a pastor and I was challenged by his practice. I want to spend more time looking to see God moving than I do focusing on how to make things better. I know that we need to evaluate our lives and ministries, but sometimes we spend all of our time here. In doing so, I think we miss real ministry and make a mess of things by trusting in our methods and leadership skills.
Today I want to simply consider celebrating grace by prioritizing. I hesitate using this word because it implies a first, second, third type of thinking. I want Christ to not only be first but to be supreme in all areas of my life all the time. I know that this is a lofty desire, knowing that I will choose me over Jesus much of the time, but I want Him to change me and show me how to live. I don't want my life to just have an appearance of Christ prioritizing, I want a heart that authentically does this.
His righteousness is my righteousness. This is grace. I am to seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness. His righteousness is at the core, the gospel. I am to seek Jesus' forgiveness, life, substitution, propitiation power, sufferings, and his resurrection. Do I think on the gospel often? I know that this will change me and my attitude with life and people. I want the gospel to be first in my life.
I want to seek out friendships with others who want to see Jesus reign in their lives so that I will have accountability and more opportunity to celebrate grace. To even be able to seek first the kingdom or His righteousness alone or with friends is grace...freely made possible by the works of Jesus.
Jesus, permeate all of my life.
Celebrate Grace-Be Full of Faith
Luke 17:5
We are to celebrate grace by being full of faith. I want to have full faith in the promises of God, and all of His promises to me are due to grace. I don't deserve grace, much less the gift of faith. I want to have faith in future grace.
The first book that I ever read by John Piper was Future Grace. This book gave me a better understanding of initial faith in Jesus for salvation and for future faith in all the promises that God makes...they are Yes in Jesus. I really began seeking out to see God's promises to me as His child and desired to trust Him.
The Christian life is not just living knowing you are saved banking on an event to count on, it is living as a saved person. It is obeying God to the point of death, it is desiring God every day over desiring anything or anyone else. The Christian life is even more than that. However, it is not about being a consumer driven people that want to have church "done" in the way that makes them feel happy and cool. The faith filled christian life is not about how many books we read or how faithful we are in attending christian conferences, church, and coffee shops. The christian life is all about having faith in God and living in light of who He is, knowing that this will glorify Him and even satisfy us.
Piper says that some of God's greatest gifts can be His biggest enemies. Our faith in His gifts and His working in our lives, good things, can take the throne, replacing God Himself. Do I strive to know God and make Him known? Do I take care of my soul? Do I attend it and protect it? What things are in my life that are wanting my faith?
We can celebrate grace in the body of Christ by being a body that desires to place our faith in God for who He is and what He says He will do. We should champion those who are striving to trust in God's promises. We should lovingly redirect those who are trusting in methods, trends, stats, and men. God wants us to trust Him. The Holy Spirit desires to remind us of all truth and fill us with more and more faith. God give us faith!
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Matthew 6:30And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
Matthew 8:26Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Matthew 14:21He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”
Mark 4:40
