Every Tuesday this past month, my team and I would join our ministry hosts for prayer and fasting at church. We would read scripture, pray, sing, and share what the Lord was laying on our hearts.
One Tuesday, I began to flip through the old hymnals they had laying around and came across amazing grace. I really paid attention to the lyrics, and God began reminding me of how truly beautiful his grace is, the song says:
Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now I’m found.
Was blind but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Then when we first begun.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now I’m found.
Was blind, but now I see
I was struck by the last verse, when we’ve been there (heaven) ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise then when we first begun. There will never come a day when we should ever stop thanking God for his grace, there will never be a day that we aren’t called his children and we aren’t thankful for his love. There will never be a day we should stop showing and sharing his grace with others. It’s grace that saves, unites, forgives, loves, and never ends.
God spoke to me, it doesn’t matter how much good or bad I’ve done in life, he still extends his grace to me, to others, no matter what, when we ask, he responds.
Here in Jamaica, I’v learned grace is something that people don’t fully understand. As we’ve gone out evangelizing it’s reminded me of Jesus and the Pharisees. Jesus came to abolish the law, he came to bring grace and freedom because he loved us that much. Last week we celebrated that sacrifice, while we were already his children, created in his image, he still came to earth to save us from ourselves, from sin. Jesus didn’t come to make new laws, but fulfill sacrifices, to make us his adopted children, to show us love and teach us grace.
The pharisees were focused on the law, they were worried about what man would think, and cared more about what works you did then what your heart looked like. But, that’s not what Jesus preached. He preached love, grace, and through that repentance.
When we would talk to people about their faith here in Jamaica we would hear things like, “I go to church, I read my bible, I pray, I know who God is and his son Jesus, but I’m not a christian because I haven’t been baptized and I don’t do enough.” Or we would hear things like, “I know God’s real and good, but there’s too much to do if I want to be a christian, so when I’m ready then I’ll surrender all.”
ATTENTION: We will never do enough to save ourselves, NEVER. It’s by grace alone we are saved.
When Christ came, he came to break chains, set people free, and heal the broken. He didn’t come and tell people they didn’t do enough, or weren’t good enough. He says in his word, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) That’s what saves you.
Christ came to bring us grace, so that we could come to him broken, messed up, and HE will sustain us, HE will provide for us, HE will heal us, HE will carry us, and HE will make us whole. We can’t do that on our own.
Christ came with grace that bought us with a price, grace that never changes, and never ends. Grace that is available to for all who call on the name of the Lord. It’s not about your works, it’s about your faith, it’s about your heart, and it’s about your confession. Yes, God wants us to do good works for him, but that comes out of overflow of first loving him, and committing, repenting, and encountering his grace, it’s not of our own doing.
Christ with his grace saves you, and by that grace alone.
As we preached this message this month, it had me asking myself questions. In what areas of my life do I give grace, and in what areas of my lives do I need to give more? How do I live my life so that others see Christ’s grace in me?
So in turn, I ask you the same questions, in what ways has God shown you his grace and how can we show that to this lost, hurting, broken, and confused generation so that they too, may see the beautiful grace that saves?
“And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.“
Acts 20:22-24
