Mount Isa Baptist Church

God’s Grace

Philippians 4:20-23

My thanks to another Preacher for some of these thoughts. Our God is a God of grace. “Grace is the love of God, spontaneous, beautiful, unearned, at work in Christ for the salvation of sinners.” The Lord Jesus died to save sinners and bore the punishment we deserve (Isaiah 53:4–6; 1 Peter 2:24; 3:18). There is no place for pride or boasting in the Christian life - we owe everything to God. Have you considered what would happen to your life and the lives of those around you if you were gracious like the Lord Jesus?

Here are some practical ways in which we can lead our culture in extending grace:

Forgive Quickly: Think about forgiveness and grace from God’s perspective. God grants anyone grace who has faith because of what Jesus did for humanity. That forgiveness is so powerful! But we as humans and church leaders we are not so quick to forgive. We want to make sure certain conditions are met, that the person is never going to do it again, that the person is “growing” or whatever it is we want before we forgive.

Remember that You need grace as much as anyone. When we remember that we also need grace extended to us-from Jesus and from those around us, it makes it so much easier to extend grace to someone who has hurt us or let us down. Help in Restoration: If there is someone who has very badly messed up, maybe even very publicly messed up, we must aid in their restoration. We must do anything we can to help restore people from their moral shortcomings. We all have them; some are just made a lot more public than most.

Intentionally Show Grace in Your Conversations. Go out of your way in your conversations to extend grace to those around you. Actively look for stories of grace to share in your conversations and actively go out of your way to show others the grace you have been given and the grace you will likewise extend to them.

Give out So Much Grace You Might Look Foolish. Look, the world says if someone has let you down, do not allow them to let you down again. How many times should you forgive someone? Well, Jesus answered this question: “Seven times seventy times,” or practise forgiveness endlessly. You know what happens when you endlessly forgive and extend grace as a Christian? You look foolish sometimes. Someone lets you down over and over again. Someone takes advantage of you more than once. Someone fails more than once. But that is okay; you honour Christ! Will you extend grace today?

I want us to end with some key things for us to take away today:

Live for God’s Glory – Let every season of life point back to God.

Value Every Believer – Encourage and greet one another as fellow saints.

Rely on Grace – It is grace that saves, grace that sustains, and grace that sends us forward.

So, as a closing challenge

In every conversation, every decision, every challenge, seek God’s glory.

Look for someone you can greet, encourage, or bless this week.

And finally, rest in the grace of Jesus, knowing it is enough for today, tomorrow, and forever.