Amazing Grace

Transcript

I was running my broken heart. You could when you show me all of my life in every step, every breath, like it's the first time you go to run away, leaving me there machine leaving me, finding my pain in a better way. good morning, refuge family, my name's Tina. And on behalf of our team, we are so thankful. You're joining us for refuge church online, wherever you're joining us from today, we're honored to get to spend it with you. I also want to give a special welcome to those of you joining us for the very first time before service begins. We want to give you a few helpful tips for our time together. Make sure you grab your Bible so you can follow along with the scriptures and the message. If you don't have a Bible, don't worry, the verses will be available on your screen. Also, please engage in the live comments. We would love to connect with you, to pray with you and to care for you. If you're joining us for the very first time, please fill out our digital connect card so we can get to know you better. We love you, and we hope you enjoy today's service. Good morning church. It's great to see you. I'm pastor mark. I'm going to be filling in for pastor Jason, as he takes a little time off or for the next few weeks. You know what? I'm so excited about this sermon series that we're going to talk about today. I like to call it amazing grace, you know, as something you're going to struggle with your entire life is the idea of God's grace. And, and what is it that we're not the first ones to struggle with this? You know that during the forties and fifties, there was a, a British conference of religious leaders that came together and they were trying to find out what was unique to Christianity. What were the unique things going on, uh, that made Christians different than other world religions? Uh, it couldn't be incarnation. I, because other religions, uh, had different versions of God appearing to be human. It couldn't be resurrection because other religions has, uh, accounts of people returning from the death. The debate went on for some time. And, and then the, the famous Christian CS Lewis wandered into the room and he said, what's everyone arguing about? And he asked and he, they told him that they were trying to find what makes Christianity unique. And he said, oh, that's easy. It's grace. And that's what we're going to look at over these next few weeks is we're going to look at grace and what God's grace means, you know, Buddhist and Hindu and Jewish, uh, covenants and Muslim codes of law. They all offer different ways to earn the approval of God, but only Christianity makes God's love unconditional. And that's the beauty of amazing grace. And so today in our first week of this, we're gonna look at the amazing grace of God. Then you know what? It's a scandalous grace. And I want you to understand that when I talk about it some more, because over the next few weeks, you're going to struggle with the idea of grace and the grace of God. Even as a pastor and a Christian myself, I struggle with how amazing God's grace is. It's not just a song, but the song is such a sweet him. That reminds us of God's amazing grace. You know, you're going to wrestle with the idea of what is grace for the rest of your life. Because in one corner of the ring, you have this idea of, of God's unconditional love. And then on the opposite end of this unconditional Graceville, love you have religion. And what you have to remember is that Jesus came to the world to stomp out religion. See, you got to remember, religion says, if, while grey says, no matter what religion says, if you behave better, if you stop sinning, if you give more, if, if, if, if then God will love you more. But grace says, no matter what you have ever done, or what you ever will do, God loves you. And that's why you're going to struggle with it because it doesn't make sense. And that's the beauty of God's scandalous grace, the famous writer, a w Tozer said this, what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important about us comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about that. You right now think about that. What pops into your mind? So let me ask you the question. Then. When I say the word, God, what do you think of? Is it some, uh, cosmic killjoy sitting up there on a cloud with a lightning bolt, a Zeus figure and a button, and his whole job is to zap you and you do wrong. Or do you think of God is a genie in the bottle. You rub the bottle and you get three wishes and you only go to God when you need to give a wish, or do you think of God like Santa Claus? When you need something, you make a list. And he tries to find out if you've been naughty or nice, because in many of us, that's how we think of God. He's this figure that zaps us a genie in the bottle or Santa Claus figure. But what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us, not about the world. What if I told you today that God, you know, he's not a disciplinarian in the sky. What if I told you he's not a genie in the bottle, that's going to great. Your wishes. That you're good. What if I told you, he's not like Santa Claus, he doesn't keep a list of the naughty or the nice, that's not God. What if I told you that God was, I love sick father, a father that loves you so much, that he is sick, waiting on you to come home to him today. That's what God is. And that's, God's amazing. Grace. We're going to look at a parable from Luke 15. Now, if you think of the word parable, the word parable is a story that has a meaning, uh, in the word, parable actually means to cast alongside a parable as a story, uh, that has a heavenly meaning. And Jesus taught with these parables. And he taught about amazing grace. And he told us in a parable, what type of God? God really was see the Pharisees. The religious leaders thought Jesus's behavior was scandalous. And they spent their lives trying to corner Jesus. Jesus was welcoming outcast. He was welcoming sinners. He was openly talking to people that, you know, didn't live very clean lives. People that had disease, people that had, uh, Santa gets the law people that lived a scandalous lives, but yet Jesus, God on earth was welcoming these people because he's a scandalous God. And he has a scandalous grace. He was even taking time out of his life to eat with these people. It's not like he was only looking for those with the best suit on to come in or, or those that had money. He wasn't searching those out. He was searching out the least of these. He was searching out the men and the women that were outcast that nobody loved because they weren't enough, but that's who Jesus was there for. And when he found them, it was through his scandalous grace that these people were saved. And today I think there's a lot of you that are struggling with the idea of grace, because you're like, how can God love me? Because you know the things I've done the way I live, the lifestyle I choose to live. And here's the thing. God's not that Santa Claus. He is that love sick father wanting you to come home because it's that kind of scandalous grace, that he loves you so much, that you need to understand what it is in Luke 15. Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son. Now the prodigal son, the word prodigal means wasteful, or it means lack of restraint. Listen, I have teenagers. I get the idea of the prodigal son. I understand wasteful. I understand lack of restraint, but it's just teenagers as adults. Many of us live lives that are wasteful. You know, the lack of a strength, the lack of self-control and it can be little things. Trust me if there's a pack of peanut butter, M and M's. If the aisle, when I'm checking out, I'm getting the shareable size and eating the whole thing on the way home, because I don't have self-control sometimes, but it's not just that because there are some people out there right now that have bigger problems. They have bigger scandals going on in their life and they think God can't love them. But what we really find out is that in this story is more about a loving father than a wasteful son. If you have your Bibles, open them with me to Luke 15 or the verses will be on the screen. Luke 15, starting in verse 11, Jesus said to illustrate the point further told them this story. A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, I want my share of your estate. Now, before you die. So his father agreed to defied his wealth between his sons. A few days later, this younger son packed up all his belongings and moved to a distant land. And there he wasted all his money in wild living about the time his money ran out a great famine, swept over the land. And he began to star. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him. And the man sent him into the fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods, he was feeding, the pigs looked good to him, but no one gave him anything. Say, according to Jewish law, what was going on here? The elder son received twice as much of an inheritance as the rest of the sons would under Jewish law. And it would be, it could be distributed while the father was still alive. And that's what happened here. The younger son said, whoa, buddy, I want my share. Now pops. There's some things I want to do. There's traveling. I want to be done. There's wild things. There's parties, there's women. There's things that I need that money for. And his father went ahead and gave him his share of the money. It was perfectly legal for the young or son to ask for his share under Jewish law, right? Asking for his inheritance early was it was equivalent. I want though to asking the father a statement like, I don't know need you anymore. Now. That's not illegal, but it is hurtful. It's very hurtful. It's like saying that I wish you were dead. Just give me my money. And under Jewish law, he had to give him his money. Now, as a, as a parent, your children are probably said, things that hurt you. Maybe I haven't heard from your child before. I wish you weren't my mom or dad. I wish you weren't child. You may have said those things because sometimes we just say those things to hurt because hurt people, hurt people. And we understand that we don't have to physically go to a distant land or a far country, a longing to go own. Our own is normal to make our own decisions, to be control of our own life. See this younger son valued possessions more than he valued people. He valued pleasure more than loyalty and distant lands. More than the blessings of home. He thought the grass was going to be greener on the other side. And he thought he knew he could do it. Trust me. I live with a teenager that knows how everything she knows so much more than me in that amazing, right? Every parent is laughing now at that idea because you did it to see sin promises, freedom, but only brings slavery. You ever thought about that? Sin feels good because right. If they didn't feel good, we wouldn't do it. But yet the devil knows how to tempt you. Like the prodigal son was in Jesus' story. He was tempted. He was tempted, but then he became a slave to his sin. And then he squandered his well, everything was gone. It was all gone on what the Bible said was wild. Living. Its resources ran out. He didn't have any money, no money, no food, no friends, no family. I mean, that's so true. When people have money, they have friends. But when the money goes away, you find yourself on an island all alone. See, he was forced to be a stranger in his own land. He was forced to go to people he didn't know and asked for work. He was forced to beg get this. A Jewish man was forced to take care of pigs. An animal that a Jew would have deemed as unclean or filthy nasty. But yet he was that low in his life. He had squandered everything that he had, that he was having to eat. What the pigs left behind and deal with these unclean animals. Can you imagine that Jewish boy being forced to feed pigs? He was feeding animals that he couldn't even eat because they were so unclean. Did he even became jealous of the pigs food? He squandered everything on wild living going on in verse 17. When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself at home, even the hired servants have food enough to spare. And here I am dying of hunger. I will go home to my father and say, father, I have sinned against both heaven. And you and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant. I love that line right there. The Bible says when he finally came to his census, I've been there church. I understand what it's like to live in the world. And I also understand what it's like to wake up and come to my senses. You know, even yeah. As a pastor, you think, oh pastors, you know, they, they don't have those kinds of problems. I understand what it means to be hurt by church. I want you to know that there is a time I didn't walk into a church for three, three years. Why? Because I was hurt. And right now are there some of you sitting right there that are hurt and you're angry and you don't know why, and you don't know where to turn to. And there's all these things going on. But when he finally come to your senses, just like the prodigal son, he knew, he knew that he had to repent. Repent means to change when it's mine or to turn around or to do a 180. He had to repent of his wild ways. He knew those ways. He wasn't raised that way. He confessed. He was a center. And did you notice that he had confessed? He had sinned against both his father and heaven. He didn't honor think about those 10 commandments honor. The mother and father. How simple of one, that is a Jewish boy would have known that. And yet he had not kept that one. He had taken his wealth early and basically told his father, I don't need you. Jesus tells the story. He says, the boy came to his senses and he was going to go home back to his home from the freedom of a distant land, because it was better to be a servant under his father than to live in the squander of a life that he was living in. He was going to go home and beg his dad. Dad, listen, I know, I know you don't want to take me back as a son, but, but dad did just make me a servant. Just let me work for you. Luke 15, 20 says this Jesus said, so he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming field with love and compassion. He ran to his son, embracing him and kissed him. His son said to him, father, I have sinned against both heaven and you and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. But his father said to the servants quickly bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. Kill the calf. We have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast for this son of mine was dead and has now returned alive. He was lost, but he's now found, so the party began. I love that image. The sun's coming back and he expects dad to be mad, but the dad's been looking out the window. Can you imagine that they probably didn't have blinds back then, but that's the way I see it. I see this, this dad looking out the blinds every day, just to see if he sees his son. Cause he loves him that much, that same son that said, I wish you were dead. Dad. I wish you didn't exist anymore. But yet when he saw wind coming down, he ran to him and said, it's not customary for a Jewish man to run that's disgraceful. But he needed his son so bad that he took off running for his son and he grabbed him and he hugged him and he loved him. And his son started to talk and he went sh son, I love you. None of that matters. You're home, less party. Give him a ring, give him a robe, get the calf ready. We're going to eat. Now. Here's where Jesus really answered the accusations of the Pharisees. That those accusations that they had because the father not only ran to the sign, but he honored the sign. See that. It's what we have to think about. The father didn't even let the son finish his request to be the servant. The father cut him off. See the older man shouldn't have ran, but the father ran to his son. And you know, I think about that idea of that much love that he had. He had been disgraced. His son had been wasteful in everything because Deuteronomy 21 says that he should have been stoned to death for how he treated his father in the neighbors had started to stone. His son, I think the father should have hit him. First would have been what the Pharisee said. The Pharisee said they should stone that son, but somebody shout. You know why? Because the dad said you not going to lay a finger on my son because I love him. That's amazing grace. And that's what Jesus was teaching the Pharisee. Yeah, the Pharisee, the religious leader said, oh, that boy should have been stoned for the way he abused his father. But yet our gut, our God has a scandalous. Grace. Our God has a way of loving us so much and giving us something we don't even deserve. Look, the ring and the sandals were a sign of son, ship sons. Didn't uh, servants, excuse me. Didn't wear that servants. Didn't get sandals. Servants. Didn't get ring sons got those. He wasn't going to be a servant. He was going to be a son. The finest robe was the proof of acceptance. And the feast, uh, from the father was the way of sharing the joy. We are not saved by. God's love. We are saved by God's grace. God loves us. You have done things wrong in your life. You've been wasteful. You've squandered things, but God's grace is enough. And it's a scandalous grace because the Pharisees were like, no, Jesus, that's not the way it should be. And that's why he told that story to the Pharisee. He said, that's the grace of God. That's the best explanation of the scandalous. Grace of God, you sing that song. Amazing grace. And I know it's in your head right now and I'm not going to hurt you by me trying to sing it. But think about that. I once was lost, but now I'm found God's amazing grace, because that's what it is. God loved the whole world and everyone in it. But the whole world isn't saved. We are saved by God. God's grace. Grace is love that pays a price. Grace is generous. Your grace is forgiving. Grace is scandalous, but that's God's grace. Consider what that father said to the son. The father said this son of mine was dead and has now returned alive. He was lost. But now he is found when you accept Jesus, this is our spiritual experience of the prodigal son and the father coming to you and putting your arms rounded. Do you deserve God's grace? No. What do you deserve in this world? Nothing but yet God pours his grace out upon you because he loved you. First. God's grace is scandalous while the world rots right shoe off, and the world defines you by the worst thing that you've ever done, the world defines you by your sins. The world defines you by your addictions. The world defines you by your problems, the world, the funds you by what? By everything that you're not, God defines you by his grace. Grace is, God's saying you're a mess, but your mind that's why God's grace is scandalous. The only thing that disqualifies you from ever receiving grace is thinking you can't have it. That's the only thing that'll disqualify you is yourself. If you say there is no way I can be good enough. You're right. There is no way you can be good enough, but there's no way mark can be good enough. I want to tell you that God's grace is enough. The only requirement is that you're willing to receive it. You say, but mark, you don't understand what I've done. God's God's not a police officer. God's not the sin police. He's a love sick father that wants you to come home. He's staring out the window. He's looking for you. The things people are saying about you and the things you're saying about yourself, they may be true. They absolutely may, but God doesn't care. Amen. God doesn't care about what people say about you or about what you say about you. I promise you that God's grace is amazing because when we least deserve it, God pours it out upon us. When I'm at my worst, God pours his grace out upon me. And he loves me. You may be asking yourself, how do I receive God's scandalous, grace, how do I come home? How am I the prodigal son? When my life is so messed up, let's go back to verse 17. Luke 15, 17 through 19 says when he finally came to his senses, he said to himself at home, even the hired servants have food enough to spare. And I am dying of hunger. I will go home to my father and say, father, I have sinned against both heaven in you and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant, three ways that you have to do so you have to receive God's grace. Number one, you have to be honest with yourself. You have to come to your senses. Just like Jesus told him that parable come to your senses. Number two, you have to be honest with others and yourself about coming to your senses. Just luck in the story. When Jesus said, father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, the words of the prodigal son tell people you're wrong sometimes. And then the most important thing is to be honest with God, he said in Luke 19, please take me on as a hired servant. Just be honest with God and say, God, I'm a mess can need you now more than ever. I can't fix this. The more I tried gets worse. That's God's scandalous amazing. Grace, will you pray with me? Dear Lord, heavenly father. You're here with us today. As we worship you guide and God there's people out here watching and listening God that are thinking, man, I'm not good enough. I know I'm not good enough, but God just opened their eyes and their hearts so that they know God that they'll never be good enough, but it's your scandalous. Grace of us coming home that have lived squandering lives and I've messed up again. And again and again, but you're waiting on us, just like the father was looking out the window. God, God, there's people right now that are crying out to you. That that need you. God listened to their prayers. Listen to people. As they cry out friends. I want you to keep praying. And if that's you today and you need Jesus, I want you to close your eyes right now. And I want you to pray a prayer. Something like this to God, God heavenly father save me. God. I admit that I'm wrong. I Mitt that I I'm. I'm lost. God, God, I confess you as Lord of my life. And I believe you are Lord. And I believe your son died for me. Save me. God, cover me with your amazing grace. It's in your name. I pray. Amen church. I've enjoyed spending the morning with you. I'm excited to talk about amazing grace and how there's so many things that it does for us over the next few weeks. If you gave your life to Christ today, reach out to and message us to the numbers and the connections on screen. Let us know that you got saved. We want to give you some resources so you can get closer to God. I love your church. Now go and be the church.