At Edge, Jos talked about grace. In a nutshell grace is freedom; freedom from a live tied to the Law which cannot be fulfilled by us, freedom from the burden of sin, and freedom to explore life and explore faith without having to worry about the unknown because the Grace of God goes before us and allows us to find Jesus through our own stumbling. Grace is second chances, and third, and fourth, etc. Grace is freedom.
Think of a time when grace was given to you in the form of another chance.
Recall the story of Paul – Particularly his conversion (Acts 9:1-31)
Paul was once called Saul. He was a Zealot who actively persecuted and killed the earliest of Christians. But then the grace of God intervened and Saul was given a do-over. He experienced God’s grace so profoundly that it changed him completely and it changed history and the face of the church completely!
Saul was so tightly bound to the Law that he saw no feasible way that Jesus could be who he said he was, so he made it his mission to extinguish the followers of The Way.
Later, he disappeared for a number of years to get his head around his new found faith. He was bound by Jewish Law but he had also experience the grace of Jesus Christ which freed him from that. He then had to get his head around how Jesus fulfills all of the Law, WHICH IS A GREAT THING BECAUSE, WHEN BOUND TO IT, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO LIVE UP TO!
Now, changed forever, Paul lives in the grace of God, the freedom of God, and looks to set free those others who are still tied to the Law, AND also offer and assure freedom to those who are not Jews.
We are all freed from sin. That’s God’s grace! We’re given multiple do-overs. Grace extends so deep that, like Jos said, we can’t possibly sin enough to outweigh grace. But that doesn’t give us an excuse to keep sinning. Grace sets us free from being bound to the Law, but also bound to SIN, and that is the freedom us Gentiles have in Jesus!
Sin is no longer something that consumes us. It’s not something we answer to. It’s something we answer for, but not something we answer to! It doesn’t have authority over us. Jesus does, though! We answer to God and God gives us grace – many chances – to live free.
Jesus said he came to offer life; a life of abundance (John 10:10)! Grace is abundant! We experience it every day. Even the simple fact that we live is God’s grace at work. God desires to see us live and live for him. We could die at any time. We should be dead for all the sin we’re responsible for! But God wants us to live a life of abundance, therefore he offers abundant grace!
Think of all the ways you experience the Grace of God; all the small and big things. Discuss in a group if possible.