The Gift of Grace
Sunday Nov 7, 2021
Message: The Gift of Grace
Reverend Glynis Fait________________________________________
Announcements
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* The Monday and Thursday evening study groups wrap up in two weeks. What a joy it has been to travel through the Bible with you these past 31 weeks. I pray this study has inspired you to continue studying God’s Word and that His grace will abound in each of you.
* A Jolt of Hope for your Spirit!
Are you worn down, wondering what’s next, wanting more vitality? Then this event is for you! Vaughan Community Church and the Renewal Fellowship are presenting Living Hope, an online conference on November 13. There is no charge, but pre-registration is required. For further details see https://adayofencouragement.ca/
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Prayer of Adoration & Confession
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Gracious and loving God, Your ways are not our ways. We do not always understand Your plans, as we do not see the big picture, yet we can praise You because we trust You are working for the good of those who love you.
We worship You today, acknowledging You as God, our Creator, Christ, our Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, our strength and comfort through this life.
Lord, you are sovereign over all things. In Your sovereignty you do not give us what our sins deserve, but in Your mercy You offer us grace through faith in Christ.
Yet we confess we can take Your grace for granted, expecting grace without confession of our sins. There are times we assume ourselves deserving of Your gracious gift, and in failing to recognize Your grace we fail to share the Good News of Christ with others. Forgive us we pray. Forgive us and bless us with hearts that understand the vastness of Your great love. In Christ we pray. AMEN
AMEN

ASSURANCE OF PARDON
Friends, hear the Good News: God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Thanks be to God. AMEN
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Prayer of Thanksgiving and The Lord’s Prayer
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Lord, teach us to be thankful in all circumstances. Teach us true gratitude. We wish to understand the depth of Your grace, like the Apostle Paul, who was thankful even in a cold dark prison. We want to choose praise even in the difficulties of life. We wish to honour You with sincere thanksgiving and praise. We seek to remain in Your joy in the weeks and months to come. We give thanks for those who worship and serve You in truth and in spirit, for those who display true faith and Christian service. Help us see that a thankful heart paves the way for blessing, and the enemy is defeated when we praise You with all our heart. Lord, we want to glorify You and advance Your Kingdom through our praise. Enable us to live Your Word as we worship You.
God of grace, let Your Spirit rest with us now as we join our voices together to repeat the Lord’s Prayer, saying: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. AMEN
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“ The Gift of Grace ”
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2 Timothy 1:1-14
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in keeping with the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,
To Timothy, my dear son:
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And of this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher. That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.
What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
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In this short passage from the Apostle Paul, we find the word grace used 3 times.
Now, the word grace is found in Scripture over 300 times, and that is if using 10 different translations.
Now, we can remove nearly 150 from the Old Testament, where many translations use the English word ‘favour’ instead of ‘grace.’ Your NIV pew bibles use the word favour.
So, for example, looking at the Old Testament translations we see:
* Noah found grace/or favour with God
* Jacob asked “if I have found grace/ or favour with you”
* Esau asked “let me find grace/or favour”
* and one more, because we don’t have time to go through all 150 examples: The Lord said to Moses, “you have found grace/ or favour in my sight.”
The use of the English word grace is acceptable, depending on how you are defining grace, but I think we can see that the word favour is a much better translation in these contexts.
So, where am I going with this? Well, please bear with me a little longer.
So if we remove the 150 Old Testament instances of the use of the word grace, in lieu of favour, we are left with approx. another 150 time grace is used in the Bible.
Of the 150 we have left, approx. 130 are in the New Testament. Again, depending on the translations you use. But we don’t need exact numbers here to get to a point. (I know, so when will she get to the point?)
Of the 130 New Testament uses of the word grace, approx. 100 come from Paul’s letters to the churches. And, of course, there is much scholarly debate over which letters were actually written by Paul, so we can estimate that 100 of the 130 uses of the word grace in the New Testament came from the Apostle Paul.
Taking scholarly debate over which letters belong to Paul into account, we can safely say that Paul wrote half, or just under half of the books in the New Testament. To keep it simple, let’s say he wrote half of the New Testament books.
That means that the various authors who wrote one half of the New Testament used the word grace approx. 30 times in total. In the half that Paul wrote, he used the word grace 100 times.
This tells us that grace is an important part of Paul’s message.
Paul begins his epistles, or letters extending grace to his intended audience.
To all of Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: grace and peace from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ – their Lord and ours: grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
To the churches in Galatia: grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever, amen.
To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers (or bishops) and deacons: grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
And slight variations of the same greeting in the rest of his letters. Paul also concludes his letters with a final extension of God’s grace.
Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with and undying love.
Grace be with you all.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Grace is an important message to Paul – a key message in his proclamation of the Gospel. It is a gift he himself received, and by his own admission, a gift he did not deserve.
So, friends, what is grace exactly.
Let’s look at another of Paul’s writings:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph. 2:8-9
By grace you are saved, through faith. Paul says
Paul often pairs faith and grace together, even contrasting them with works.
But today we are focused on grace. By grace you have been saved.
Grace by definition can be approval or favour (such as we saw with the Old Testament usage of grace). It can be an act of kindness or courtesy. Grace can refer to an exemption, such as a grace period on an overdue bill. One might refer to a duke or duchess as ‘your grace,’ and if you walk, sit or stand with a confident yet gentle movement, it could be said that your movements are graceful. But does any of this resemble what Paul is talking about?
We can be certain that Paul is not concerned about whether Christians follow Jesus with graceful steps or big clunky ones, as long as they follow. And the grace he is referencing must have a greater meaning than simply a kindness or courtesy.
Remember, Paul uses the word grace 100 times or more in his letters. He opens and closes his letters extending grace to the readers, and between the salutation and conclusion Paul exhorts his readers to understand, accept and live in God’s grace.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Oh, wait – it is the gift of God.
So, this is definitely Good News. Who doesn’t like a gift? Right? So, if grace is a gift, what kind of gift is it?
Well, Paul knows this gift all to well. Paul, formerly known by his Hebrew name, Saul was a persecutor of those who followed Jesus and His teaching. Paul had great zeal for the traditions of the Pharisees – laying heavy burdens on God’s people. Instead of loving neighbour as himself, He elevated himself over his neighbours. Instead of seeing God through Jesus, He approved and oversaw a man executed for not conforming to Religious authorities.
That is, of course, until he came face to face with the resurrected Jesus. Oh, Paul knows the grace he speaks of, because when he met Jesus face to face, he received, not what he deserved for the execution of Stephen and the stoning and imprisonment of Christians – No, Paul met Jesus and received the gift of grace.
Grace, for Paul, can be defined as an undeserved gift from God. Paul’s sins deserved judgment and punishment. Jesus instead called him to serve – go and share my grace throughout the land. At the very least Paul deserved to spend some time in the prisons where he had sent men and women who called Jesus Lord, but instead, Jesus restored his sight and showed him mercy.
God offers us, not what we deserve, but grace instead!
Paul, by his own admission is the worst of sinners, undeserving of Grace, but isn’t that what makes his message so powerful and real?
Truth is, we are all sinners, undeserving of grace. We are all sinners, BUT, Paul says, God’s grace transforms us. Look what grace has done for me, Paul says, I am the very worst of sinners, but by the grace of God I am forgiven - transformed and sanctified - now proclaiming the message of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord.
By sharing his personal experiences, Paul enables us to see this amazing gift of grace. Grace lifts the weight of guilt from the repentant heart, transforming sinners into saints. Grace brings peace to the troubled soul. Grace heals and renews. Grace is God’s initiative – it is our Creator reaching out to a fallen people.
Grace is offered to all. Through the death of Jesus salvation comes to all who will receive. Through the resurrection of Christ all who accept God’s grace will have new life – the hope of life eternal.
Over and over again Paul reminds his readers that he is a sinner – a wretched man. He is underserving of grace, BUT that is what makes grace so amazing, God offers His grace to ALL, even a wretch like me. My life, says Paul, is evidence of the transformative power of God’s grace living in me.
Paul writes grace into all of his letters – how could he not. He uses the word grace generously in his writings, because grace is indeed the generosity of God offered to an undeserving people and Paul wants it to be very very clear to the early church – no, you do not deserve this gift from God, but take it from me, Paul advices – open your heart and let God’s grace fill and transform you.
Grace belongs to God – it comes from God – it is a gift from God.
We can’t earn it, we certainly do not deserve it, yet God holds this gift out to you. The key is to accepting God’s gift of grace is admitting we don’t deserve it – humble repentance – oh, what a wretched soul am I.
Brothers and sisters-in-Christ, my prayer for you is that you will know the depth of God’s great love for you, that you will accept Christ’s gift of grace and that through the power of the Holy Spirit you, like Paul, will be transformed in the likeness of Christ, sharing the grace you yourself have received with others.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Please pray with me:
Father God, we are able to truly love you because You first loved us. You are the source and role-model of sincere love. Thank you Father.
Jesus, Lord and Saviour through Your death we receive the gift of salvation. Through Your resurrection You show us the path to eternal life – You give us hope. Thank you Jesus.
Holy Spirit, by Your power and guidance we are transformed – made anew in Christ’s image. Thank you Spirit of the Living God.
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, grant us hearts, like Paul, that acknowledge grace as a gift to be lived out and shared with the world. In Christ we pray. AMEN
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“ Amazing Grace ”
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Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am 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.

Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come;
'tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

When we've been there a thousand years, bright shining as the sun,
we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we'd first begun.