Dear Friends,
What have you learned from grace?
Yesterday morning at the Great Commission Collective annual conference in Toronto, our team from Redeemer heard a great message from Dave Harvey, the President of GCC that got me thinking about how, by God’s design, grace is meant to instruct us.
I typically think about grace as a source of comfort and peace. When someone I know is grieving, I pray for grace for them. When they are facing a challenge or a trial, I pray for God’s grace to give them strength.
But John Newton understood that grace also serves us by teaching us things we would not comprehend otherwise. “T’was grace that taught my heart to fear,” he wrote in his hymn Amazing Grace.
And in this letter to Titus, the Apostle Paul says that grace is not only the means by which God brings salvation to us, but it is also one of the ways God teaches us and trains us.
“The grace of God has appeared,” Paul writes, “bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:11–13)
As I reflected on this passage, thinking about how God’s grace trains and teaches us, I had to stop and remind myself of what exactly grace is.
The simplest definition of grace is this: grace is God’s favor toward us.
It is unmerited. We haven’t earned it and don’t deserve it. And yet God, who is rich in mercy, has chosen to pour out His favor, His blessing and His lovingkindness on guilty, vile and helpless creatures like us. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies (Ephesians 1:3).
That’s grace.
And it’s not just an abstract theological concept. It’s something real. Tangible. Active. His favor is not theoretical. Right now, at this very minute, God is actively pouring out blessing and favor and kindness on each one of us. We are experiencing in this moment evidences of His grace.
So what does our understanding of God’s active favor toward us teach us? Here’s what came to mind as I pondered that question yesterday morning.
When I am able to comprehend and really believe that God’s favor toward me can’t be earned and can’t be forfeited, in spite of everything I’ve done, said and thought in my life, that understanding gives me courage to be honest with God and with myself about the darkest parts of my heart.
God’s Spirit comes to me and says “Child, you are accepted in the beloved. God delights in His children. He has loved you with an everlasting love. He has made a covenant with you and promised you that nothing can separated you from His love.”
In other words, God’s Spirit says “God has poured out His grace on you, and He will never stop pouring it out, no matter what.”
Now, when we start to understand that, and believe it, all of a sudden, we can begin to open the darkest chambers of our hearts, where our secrets have been hidden away. We can bring light to the darkest places in our lives. And we can do it with the confidence that no matter how black or ugly, God has already said “there is no condemnation for you because you are in Christ Jesus. He paid for every bitter thought and every evil deed. Jesus paid it all.”
Grace teaches us that it’s safe to be honest. It’s safe to own up to our sin. No part of our darkened heart needs to be kept closeted away. We are invited to both humbly and gratefully come before a holy God in spite of our sin, because the slate is clean. Our filthy rags have been covered with a robe of righteousness that His Son has wrapped around us.
And when we are able to see just how ugly our sin is, grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness and unrighteousness. Knowing that we are beloved and accepted by God motivates us to live upright and blameless lives as a way of expressing our gratitude for all He’s done for us. And grace points us ahead to the hope we have that we will one day be with Him, face to face, experiencing His love for us in all its fullness forever.
The Puritans understood that grace offers us both pardon and power. Richard Sibbes said that “grace alters the spiritual taste.” It changes the palate. Grace is not only God's hand reaching down to rescue us from the consequences of our sin. It is God's hand upon us, teaching us to walk in a new way. The grace that forgives our sin also trains us to hate it. The grace that welcomes us into God's family also teaches us to live as his children. And the grace that gives us hope for the future teaches us how to live faithfully in the present.
Amazing grace indeed.
TRUNK OR TREAT
Friday night is our Trunk or Treat Night!
Please be praying for this outreach as we seek to share the gospel and the love of Jesus with kids from across our city. Be sure to bring your kids and some of their friends with you!
If you have any questions about the Trunk or Treat, contact Jen Gurney
NXT GEN EVENTS
NxtGeners will be meeting up again next weekend.
Also – between Christmas and New Year’s, we are planning to take a group of 18-25 year olds to St. Louis for Crosscon 27, where John Piper, Kevin DeYoung, Ryan Fullerton, David Platt and others will be speaking. Details are here (https://us.list-manage.com/q0NIOOIqTbY?e=da31571acc&c2id=9646fad7312ad0e2da39a919ec1318cf). If you’re interested in going, contact Pastor Matt and he can answer any questions you have and get you signed up.
FALL WOMEN'S RETREAT
The fall Women’s Retreat happens next month. More than half the available beds are spoken for already. Dana James will join us again as the featured speaker. And there is no better way to make new friends and enjoy a relaxing weekend away than to be part of this special annual event. Registration is now open, and the event will almost certainly be completely filled. Find out more or register here (https://us.list-manage.com/gQeSziDMsuv?e=da31571acc&c2id=9646fad7312ad0e2da39a919ec1318cf).
BRINKLEY HEIGHTS CHRISTMAS GIFTS
Each year right before Christmas, our students take a carload of gifts to the kids at the Brinkley Heights Academy in Memphis. Some of the kids there are the same kids we minister to when our students go to Memphis for Street Reach in the summer.
Beginning this Sunday, you’ll see a Christmas tree in the church lobby. The tree will be filled with ornaments that represent each of the 160 students we’re hoping to provide a Christmas gift for this year.
We try to give each child something fun, something practical and an age appropriate book or Bible study.
So a younger child will get a box that might have squishes or fidgets, slime, a coloring book or an activity books, crayons, pencils, erasers, and pencil pouch and an age appropriate devotional or Bible story book.
Middle school kids might get pencils, pens, and notebooks, costume jewelry, games, keychains, sports socks, and a book like Lies Young Women Believe, What Are You Made For or Big Questions.
Older kids will get hair clips or body spray, perfume, sports socks, an inexpensive bluetooth speaker and a copy of Kevin DeYoung’s book Just Do Something
Each box will include about $40 worth of gifts.
Our students will travel to Memphis in mid-December to deliver the gifts, along with a Christmas card for each of the children.
This is where you come in.
We’d like to invite you to select one or more names from the Christmas tree in our lobby and sponsor the gift for each child whose name you select.
We’re going to ask you to do the following:
- Pray for the child or children whose names you select both during and after the Christmas season
- When you select a child’s name, take one of the Christmas cards we’ll have for you and write a short note to the child wishing him or her a Merry Christmas and letting them know you are praying for them
- Write a check for $40 to cover the cost of the gifts we’ll be giving each child
Your completed Christmas cards will need to be turned in no later than Sunday, December 6.
And the following Sunday, December 13, you’re invited to stay after church for a Christmas wrapping party for all the gifts!
This is a great project for you and your kids to do together.
I hope you’ll take part in this special outreach during the Christmas season this year.
READY FOR SUNDAY
It’s fall back Sunday this week! Don’t forget to cash in on your extra hour of sleep.
Here is the preview (https://us.list-manage.com/10FXjeUengI?e=da31571acc&c2id=9646fad7312ad0e2da39a919ec1318cf) of the songs we’ll be singing together this weekend.
And here is this week’s catechism question and answer:
Question 42 What Is Prayer?
Answer: Prayer is communion with God in the name of the Son with the help of the Spirit. Prayer is a pursuit not of “mindfulness” but the mind of Jesus, through praise, confession, and petition. Its aim is not self-expression, but spiritual formation.
As we saw last week, the Bible tells us our lives should look different from the lives of others around us. Because we have a new identity in Christ, we should be putting off what no longer fits who we are and putting on the godly character that aligns with our new identity. And as we’ll see on Sunday, that means we are to be people who tell the truth and whose word can be trusted.
See you in church!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Pastor Bob
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