Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
August 28, 2005 - W0535

In Christian circles, there are many words that are misinterpreted or misdefined. The word grace often times connotes a downgrading of life with an “anything goes” kind of attitude. However, this is far from the truth; instead of downgrading our lives, the Bible teaches us how we can UPGRADE our lives to grace.

“For by grace you have been saved by faith; and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

“God has not dealt with us according to our sins nor has He dealt with us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103).  In other words, God did not give us what we deserved. Instead of condemning us, He offered us life. Therefore, we must not dilute theology or take God for granted. For when we truly understand His grace, it changes our life. Consider this illustration that may help us better understand the meaning of grace:

Suppose you worked for a company and were two years away from being fully vested. However, lately your performance, punctuality, and attitude have been poor. One day the boss confronts you with the offenses and fires you. In a moment, your world has fallen apart and you’ve lost everything. However, before you leave, your boss reflects on how devastating this will be for your family and decides to extend grace to you. He will allow you to continue working, but you must resolve relationship problems, be on time, be trustworthy, and respectful. Do you think this person will ever slide back into their old ways just because he’s been extended grace? Of course not! The truth is he will be transformed because he understands every future moment of his life is possible because of the grace he just received.

When we can understand grace, we will live differently. And here are three characteristics of a person living under grace. The first is… 

1.     LIVING EACH DAY WITH A SENSE OF PRIVILEGE AND GRATITUDE.

“You were dead because of your sins and because or your sinful nature… Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins. He cancelled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ’s cross”.  (Col. 2:13-14, NLT)

“For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins”.  (Rom. 3:23-24, NLT)

In other words, God does not deal with us according to our sins, otherwise we would be doomed. That’s why it’s important that we understand and realize that grace is God’s gift to us and not dependent on anything we do. In fact, devil knows the Bible well enough to know that it says “.the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). And he will twist scriptures and use it as a weapon against us, but God rebukes the devil and reminds him that we are under His grace.

God’s grace is amazing; we are forgiven and given life! This morning, God allowed you another day of life. He didn’t have to, but He did. Every single day is a gift and because of that, God is well-pleased when we live with a sense of gratitude and privilege. We recognize Him moving in our life. On the other hand, living without a grateful spirit, though we may exist and traverse life, we are not filled with life. We tend to miss enjoyable, satisfying experiences because there is no heart of gratefulness. We just want to get through life and we never slow down. However, gratefulness causes us to pause to savor relationships and make sure life fills our existence.

Upon arriving in San Francisco on a recent trip, my wife and I rode a rapid transit to get to the rental car area. The transit stopped and about 3 people got on (including my wife), but for some reason, the doors began to close too soon.  I jumped in between the closing doors and pushed it open. Over the loud speakers came a voice, “Please stand back you are impeding the progress of this train.” It didn’t matter if no one was on the train it was programmed to arrive at the destination.

Aren’t we like that sometimes? We arrive at our destination, but we’re empty. On the other hand when we are filled with gratitude life enters into our activities. Otherwise, we’ll be doing a bunch of activities, but it will be void of life. When we’re grateful, life begins to flood every activity because we’ll begin to appreciate and savor every blessing. Sometimes these blessings come quietly as a sunset or starlit sky. God didn’t just make the world, He painted a portrait of His grace. And if we don’t stop to appreciate these beautiful artworks, we’ll go through life, but life will not enter our soul. There’s a rabbinical saying, “One day we will be held accountable for everything that God created for us to enjoy but we refused to do so.” How many things has God created for us and we refused to enjoy?

Beauty comes packaged in momentary gifts and only the grateful will be able to drink it in. Take a look at a sunset, the ocean, the falling leaves, your child’s face… these are momentary gifts, packaged in spontaneous opportunities to experience His grace. Gratefulness develops eyes to see the beautiful gifts He places before us. The man described in the analogy above, not only left the office with a sense of privilege and gratefulness, but he left to live…

2.     A LIFE OF EXCELLENCE.

We have the greatest example in Jesus who lived excellently, “And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52). Here we see four areas in which He developed and grew.

• MENTAL: He was a good thinker, full of wisdom
• PHYSICAL: Excellence actually extends to our bodies and how we treat it (how we eat, exercise, etc.). Remember our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit; we must steward and take care of it.
• SPIRITUAL: Favor with God.
• SOCIAL: Favor with man.

These four areas of our life are like the four legs of a table. If we’re strong and increasing in excellence in these areas, we will have a balanced life. In my life, I use these like guide posts to check how I’m doing in these areas. “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name is all the earth!”. (Ps. 8:1, KJV) Remember, God created us in His image, and we are reminded that God is an excellent God; therefore, we are to be an excellent people. As a result, our image must reflect Him in all His excellence, especially in the four areas above.

Also, if we really understand grace, we will be able to provide direction and help to those around us. “The righteous is a guide to his neighbor…” (Pro. 12:26) A person who lives with a sense of privilege increasing in excellence becomes a guide for those needing direction. Ambivalence, on the other hand, pushes people away. Thus, those who live with purpose and gracious leadership draw a following.

People who understand grace live with a sense of appreciation and excellence and become guides for those around them. When we realize just how undeserving we are of His grace yet God grants it anyway, we also understand that there is…

3.      AN URGENCY IN MAKING WRONG THINGS RIGHT.

We cannot tolerate broken relationships when we have been given grace. 

“Don’t let sleep come to your eyelids, nor slumber to your soul. Get up like a gazelle, and go make things right” (Prov. 6:4-5, paraphrased). “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.” (Eph. 4:26). So we are reminded with a sense of urgency to restore relationships.

One day a pastor came to me asking for advice because it seemed to be going downhill fast. Apparently, that church tolerated broken relationships for some time and it surfaced one Sunday morning with the former pastor announcing he was leaving and took his Bible and left. You see sin doesn’t destroy God’s people, but unresolved sin will. And when we don’t do anything to correct broken relationships, it becomes an infection and causes trouble in our lives. The trouble in this church did not happen suddenly one Sunday morning. It started some years earlier, but surfaced that day.

That’s why we must do our best to resolve broken relationships. And even if another person doesn’t want to reconcile, the Bible says “…So far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men” (Rom. 12:18b, NASB). In other words, people may shut the door on us, but we must make sure our door is open to them. Remember it’s not so much that sin destroys God’s people, but rather unresolved sin.

“So, if you are about to offer your gift to God at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of  the altar, go at once and make peace with your brother, and then come back and offer your gift to God”. (Matt. 5:23-24) Jesus is really saying that having right relationships is a whole lot more important than Christians attending church every week. When we understand the grace that has been given to us, we can and must offer it to others. “…those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!” (2 Cor. 5:17, NLT).

As you experience God’s amazing grace, you live each day differently. You feel privileged and grateful live life excellently with an urgency in your soul to make wrong things right. You realize you should be dead, but instead the Lord has given you life. And, because of all He has given you, you begin to exude this wonderful grace in all that you do.

Discussion Questions:

1. How do you define grace?
2. The Bible says we are condemned because of the sin in our lives. How does the devil distort scripture to use against you? When you feel you’ve blown it, how can you respond?
3. Does your life ever mimic the empty, but timely, transit train at the San Francisco airport? If so, what can you do to avoid living a void, but busy life? In our day and age of instant communication and instant information, how do you live with a sense of privilege and gratefulness?
4. Evaluate your life according to the four areas in which Jesus grew and excelled in: mental, physical, spiritual, and social.  In your life, is a “leg” missing or weak? If so, which one? What can you do to balance out your “table?”
5. Is there someone with whom you need to make amends with? Consider what Jesus said in Matthew 5:23-24. 
6. What has God done in your life to extend grace to you? How have others extended grace to you? How have you extended grace to others?

Much thanks to volunteer writer, Kristi Murai for this week’s summary, a woman grateful for the opportunity to serve Him with excellence. Well done, Kristi!