Living In Grace, Living Out Grace
1. One Body, Many Parts
Please open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 12:12-31. We will not read this. With the help of our children, I hope to illustrate some of what Paul is teaching us here about the body of Christ, about us, the Church. Ask volunteers. Children standing — Indicate/lift different parts, ask, what is this? One body? Many different parts but one body.
Some of us may think because we are not such and such a part, because I am not a hand or a foot, I am not part of the body. Tie the feet together — ask to fetch the cross in other child’s hands. No matter who we are or what part of the body we are, we don’t stop being part of the body.
Some may think they are better than others. They are proud. I don’t need you. Blindfold — fetch cross in other child’s hands. Eyes need the hands. The head needs the feet to move from one place to another. Thank the children. Go back to seats.
We are one body with many different parts. One church with many different members, with different gifts, different personalities, and who are at different places in their journey with Jesus, at different stages in their spiritual growth becoming like Christ. This is how God has put and brought us together. There should be no division in the body, but its parts should have equal concern for each other. We are the body of Christ, and each one of us is a part of it.
2. Living In Grace, Living Out Grace
Let’s turn to Ephesians 4. “I am a prisoner because of the Lord. So I am asking you to live a life worthy of what God chose you for. Don’t be proud at all. Be completely gentle. Be patient. Put up with one another in love. The Holy Spirit makes you one in every way. So try your best to remain as one. Let peace keep you together. There is one body. There is one Spirit. You were appointed to one hope when you were chosen. There is one Lord. There is one faith and one baptism. There is one God and Father of all. He is over everything. He is through everything. He is in everything. But each one of us has received a gift of grace, just as Christ wanted us to have it.
We have experienced and stand in God’s grace, and so we live in grace. God calls us to live out that grace. We live out grace by being the body of Christ. We live out grace through the church.
“He is the One who gave some the gift to be apostles. He gave some the gift to be prophets. He gave some the gift of preaching the good news. And he gave some the gift to be pastors and teachers. He did it so that they might prepare God’s people to serve. If they do, the body of Christ will be built up. That will continue until we all become one in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son. Then we will be grown up in the faith. We will receive everything that Christ has for us. We will no longer be babies in the faith. We won’t be like ships tossed around by the waves. We won’t be blown here and there by every new teaching. We won’t be blown around by the cleverness and tricks of people who try to hide their evil plans. Instead, we will speak the truth in love. We will grow up into Christ in every way. He is the Head. He makes the whole body grow and build itself up in love. Under the control of Christ, each part of the body does its work. It supports the other parts. In that way, the body is joined and held together.” (vv.8-16)
Note the process words — until we all reach, become mature, attaining to, grow up to, grows, and builds itself up. This is a process, a journey. No one has arrived, no one is perfect yet. We are all on this journey together, getting to know God deeper, learning how to follow Jesus, growing to become like Christ. And as with any journey it has its roadblocks. Along the way we stray and get lost. We stumble and fall. Sometimes we ran the race with full energy, and at other times we have to use every ounce of energy to place one foot before the other.
But we are not on this journey alone. As the one body of Christ, we are all together on this journey. As the one body of Christ we are called to be a people of grace that help, support, and carry one another on this journey. We have experienced God’s love and grace. Now we are called to transfer, carry over that grace to others through acts of love, human kindness, and grace. We are a people of grace, living in grace, and living out grace.
This is the title for our new sermon series, Living In Grace, Living Out Grace. Based on the book study we did last year — Safe: Creating a Culture of Grace in a Climate of Shame. The group felt that we should have a sermon series on this. No church is perfect. Not one of us is perfect. It was an eye-opener for us. We thought we were doing well as people of grace but were convicted by the Holy Spirit that we are not, that we have much growing and learning to do on how to be people of grace.
If you are doing well in living out grace, then this sermon series serves as an encouragement to continue. But it is also a challenge to remain humble and realize that we can always learn more and do better. It is also a challenge then for you to come aside and help others on this journey. If you are struggling to live out grace, then this sermon series serves as an encouragement to keep on trying, and I believe, it will equip you and help you to learn how to live out grace.
3. How Are We Doing as a People of Grace?
How are we doing as a people of grace? To know how we are doing, consider how do we respond to the following situations?
When someone confesses sin or gets caught in sin, how do we react? Are we in shock, surprised that they, or anyone in our church, would be doing such a thing? Do we have an attitude of self-righteousness? We think that we would never do such a thing and that we are experts at fixing them. Do we rank sins or habits, and treat some more severely than others, while we seemingly ignore others again? Or might we say something like, “We don’t talk about that here,” and refer them to a professional counselor? Do we hush them up, and say, “Well, never do that again!” Such reactions will never help us to become a people of grace.
Another problem is to believe and act as if change is simple. We give the person struggling with sin a few verses to read, pray for them, and tell them to pray more. Of course, prayer is powerful and we have seen God changing lives suddenly, radically. But if change was as simple as making a choice to never to it again, no one would struggle with sin. Change isn’t simple, and when we act like it is, we become a performance-based culture, not a grace-based culture.
What is the focus of our church discipline? Punishment or restoration? The purpose of church discipline is always restoring the believer to full fellowship. When we do it as a form of punishment we are saying, “Shame on you. Now you have to pay and really be sorry before you can be one of us.” We communicate how bad they are, and how good the rest of us are in comparison.
Then there are the taboo topics and questions you don’t dare ask. What we don’t talk about as a church says more about us than what we do talk about. There may be an elephant in the room, but everyone walks around it, avert their eyes, and pretend that they are not seeing it. When we avoid certain topics in order to maintain a false harmony and unity, to keep everyone happy, we are not living out grace.
How free are we as individuals to ask questions, share our doubts and struggles, confess our sins? Are we afraid of what others will think when we do so? Do we put on our masks, and pretend to be okay when we are not okay? What are we communicating through our attitudes, words, and actions—a performance-based culture or a culture of grace where we welcome everyone, no matter where they are at on this journey?
4. We Are a People of Grace
We will talk more about grace later in this series but for now just a brief explanation. Grace is undeserved, unending, unexplainable, unfeasible, unearned, unwavering, inexhaustible love to the unlovely. Grace is unmerited concern and unmerited favor to each other. We meet a need expecting nothing in return. We treat each other better than we expect to be treated. We forgive. We are completely humble and gentle. We are patient, bearing with one another in love. We love the other.
We are a people of grace. Living out grace we create a safe place where it is okay to be not okay; a place where we are known and loved just the way we are. It is a place where we feel safe, encouraged, and empowered to be ourselves, to discover our true self in Christ, and to grow into our new self in Christ. It is a place where we can take off our masks and live authentically.
Living out grace we create a culture, environments of grace, where all of us feel safe to be open and honest, to share and say, “I have sinned. Forgive me, help me.” Or, “I am struggling with sin, depression, anxiety, addictions, unbelief, love. Help. Pray for me. Counsel me, hold me accountable. Hold me. Love me still. Please, don’t stop loving me.”
Living out grace we create a safe place where people are eager to arrive and reluctant to leave; a place where we absolutely have to be, and don’t want to miss. Outsiders feel safe to come because they can come as they are. They don’t have to meet a whole bunch of entrance requirements. As a people of grace, our arms are opened wide to welcome and embrace all the not-yet-children of God and all the wayward children of God.
We live out grace when we say through our attitudes, words, and actions to everyone, “Come as you are.” Come with your unbelief, your questions, doubts, and your sins. Come, and together we will go on this journey to discover Jesus. And when you encounter Jesus and accept him as Lord and Savior, then together we will continue on our journey — a journey to learn together how to follow Jesus, how to be a disciple, a student of Jesus. We will learn and practice together on how to live the new, kingdom life we have in Him. Together we will grow and become like Christ. When you stumble and fall on this journey, we will reach out, take your hands, pick you up and help you to continue. When you become tired and want to give up, we will be next to you to encourage you. When you suffer and are in pain, we will mourn with you and comfort you. When you stray and lose your way, we will go out, look for you, and help you to find your way back to the kingdom path. Come as you are. It’s okay to be not okay. Not one of us is perfect. We are on this journey together to become perfect in Christ.