Being Thankful for God’s Grace
Ephesians 5:19, John 4
Prayer-
Introduction-
This morning we are a few days from Thanksgiving. A time many will gather with family and hopefully give thanks for the things God has done for us. If we just gather and we do not give thanks, it would not be thanksgiving celebration, it would be a family gathering.
Illustration-
The story is told of two old friends bumping into each other on the street, and one said to the other that he looked like trouble was upon him, almost on the verge of tears. His friend said, “What has this world done to you, my old friend?” The sad fellow said, let me tell you. Three weeks ago, an uncle died and left me 40,000 dollars. That’s a lot of money. But, two weeks ago, a cousin I never knew died, and left me 85,000 dollars. Sounds, like you have been blessed. You don’t understand, last week, my great aunt died and I inherited almost a quarter million dollars. Now, I am really confused, why do you look so glum? This week… nothing! Can you believe it?
We live in a land of plenty, and we live in a country where many are not thankful for what God has given them.
Plenty is the norm and if our expectation is anything less than abundance, we feel cheated and unfulfilled.
We need to take an attitude check and really see the good things that God has done and is doing in our lives.
I thank God for some of the positive reports I have been given this week. People getting out of the hospital, people scared of diagnoses and hearing great reports, things going back to normal in their lives. I say Amen! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!
“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
The pilgrims set aside time to give thanks for God’s hand in their lives and the things that He gave them.
It is daily, continual, and in all things, not just the blessings.
The Lord is telling us that we cannot wait to be happy.
Don’t postpone happiness until the time is right and all situations are going your way.
If you cannot learn to be content with less, you will not be content with more.
You must learn by God’s grace to be happy in all circumstances.
Nobody should run around with a fake smile on their face when things are going bad and smile and says “Thank you …may I have another.”
Many of us live in the If of life…
If only I had this…
If only it were different…
If only I could do that…
If only this had not happened in my life…
Contentment begins when you realize that this world cannot satisfy. That satisfaction only comes from a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Thankfulness and having the right attitude allows us to see the grace of God in our lives.
Each one of us sitting here has more than most of the whole world.
It is just that in this country, we feel God owes us more… and when we have troubles, we blame God for not meeting our wants instead of our needs.
The text this morning points us back to Christ, His work on the cross and His Amazing Grace that He has shed on us.
It is why we as Christians should be thankful and why we should be looking at what He has already done and not only looking at what He should still do for us.
Text
Ephesians 2:8-9
“For it is by Grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Romans 5:8-
“But God demonstrated his own love for us in this; while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
To be truly thankful, we must understand the grace of God. We will come back to the text in a moment, but let’s define Grace.
Grace in Theological terms-
Grace is-God’s love toward people who do not deserve God’s love
Grace is-God moving heaven and earth to save sinners because they could not save themselves.
Grace is-unmerited or undeserving favor of God to those that would be condemned by God’s holiness.
“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
It is why other countries are seeing God do so many amazing things in the midst of persecution, in the midst of famine, sickness, poverty, dictatorship, against family members of other religions honor killing, because the focus of their salvation, their grace is in Christ and Him alone.
Back to Ephesians 2:8-9
Paul records the works of Christ- We (mankind) are dead in our sins and trespasses- fact! But because of God’s love and mercy has made us alive in Christ.
What does that mean for us? It means that because of God’s great love for us He did what we could not do for ourselves.
(1)Sin killed innocence- Jesus cannot turn back the hand of time, but he can bridge the gap that sin created between God and man. Sin creates separation between us and God, weighing us down and having us feel like we cannot approach a Holy God.
When Isaiah received the vision from God, his reaction- “woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live amongst a people of unclean lips.”
Peter, when he realized who Jesus really was- “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
Jesus keeps the door open- not because we deserve it but because of his great love and mercy for us.
(2) Sin kills ideals- Jesus awakens our hearts to the things of God.
Illustration-
The story is told of an engineer in a river ferryboat in America. His boat was old and he did not worry about it much. The engines were grimy and ill-cared for. This engineer was completely converted to Christianity. The first thing he did was go back to his ferry boat and polish his engines until every part of the machinery shone like a mirror. One of the regular passengers commented on the change. What have you been up to? He asked the engineer. “What set you cleaning and polishing these old engines of yours? Sir, answered the engineer, I‘ve got glory. This is what Christ does for people. He gives them glory.
We see things different in our lives- things look better, they smell better.
It makes us realize how much we have taken for granted, it is shown to us in a new light.
(3) Sin destroys- Christ revives and restores what has been destroyed by sin. The reason the love of God never fails is because it gives back what has been stolen.
When people truly fall in love with God, love compels them to goodness.
They love the one that loved them and sin is broken.
The song O for a thousand tongues
“He breaks the power of cancelled sin, he sets the prisoner free.”
Apostle Paul closes this passage with works of Grace-
We are saved by grace, not works so that no one may boast. We cannot earn salvation, it is all about Christ. From the apostles, pastors, long time Christians down to the most vial sinner you know. We are all saved by grace.
GRACE- GOD’S RICHES AT CHRIST EXPENSE. No shortcut and no other way. It is a gift from God to each of us who accepts it. Our part if we could brag would be only that we are smart enough to accept the great gift of God that keeps giving.
God is perfection, therefore only perfection is good enough for him. We are only righteous through Christ, so the way to God’s heart is through His perfect sacrifice for us.
One commentary put it this way- God is love; sin is therefore a crime, not against the law, but against love. The only thing which can restore that relationship with God is God’s act of forgiveness by the grace of God that puts us back on track.
Romans 5:8-
“But God demonstrates his love for us in this; that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
The proof of God’s love is that while we were yet sinners, He chose to die for us.
He did not die for good people, he did not die for only his friends, He died for those that were hostile to him, and those that needed and wanted a savior.
Apostle Paul goes a step further when he says that a relationship with God must be built. Yes, we are sinners, but we are to be put into a right relationship with God that changes how we feel and how we act towards God and to others.
The saved sinner cannot go on sinning. Christ death should change us- He is not dead and we are alive in Christ.
He wants to guide us and strengthen us and fill us with His strength to overcome temptation and sin.
Jesus begins by putting sinners in a right relationship while we are sinners, and by his grace, enables us to quit our sins and walk closer to Him. Do we sin, yes, but it should be our desire to allow God to change us to be more like Christ and less the old sin nature that he gave us victory over.
Justification- “Just as if I didn’t sin” because Christ forgives sin for those that have asked him too.
Sanctification is the act or process of acquiring sanctity, of being made or becoming holy. ... To sanctify is to literally "set apart for particular use in a special purpose or work and to make holy or sacred."
All the good works in the world cannot earn us salvation- all the good works cannot make God love us more than dying for us.
But here is something drastically wrong with Christianity when it does not result in good deeds!
Let me say that again in a different way- there is something wrong with us as saved believers, justified, sanctified, born-again believers that does not result in us wanting to do good deeds.
Close,
It should change us!
It should make us want to do kingdom work, see people experience the love of God like we did.
It should make us grateful for what we have been given and give to people that we come into contact with-
With God’s grace comes responsibility.
We cannot earn it, but we will be held responsible with what we do with it.
All of us today can be grateful and thankful for a God that loves us and by the grace of God desires to be in a relationship with us and we will answer to God with what we do with that grace he has given us.
