GRACE What is it?

GRACE

 What is it?

 

If you had all the favor of God…

What would your life look like?

God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient.”

The Apostle Paul had a thorn in the flesh.

It was something he could not do anything about.

It was something he knew God could take care of.

Paul on three occasions asked God to remove this thorn.

For you and I, we really don’t care what Paul’s thorn was,

what we care about is the thorn in our flesh.

We don’t know if Paul prayed three times

in ten minutes, ten days or ten decades.

How long has your thorn been there

and God has not taken it away?

The only answer Paul received,

and maybe the only answer you have is

God’s grace is sufficient.

What is GRACE?

It has been defined as FAVOR.

Most define it as unmerited favor,

yet we know it cost Jesus His life - a price was paid.

We can see that Jesus grew in grace with both God and man.

So grace is something you can grow in

and therefore something is paid to receive it.

But what is GRACE?

If you look at Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the fathers of Israel,

grace seems to be a large family,

lots of live stock and land, in brief “wealth.”

God looked favorably on them and gave them wealth.

Paul on the other hand spent much of his life in suffering and prison

and God says His grace was enough for him.

Two Christians both love the Lord and served Him faithfully;

one gets a bonus and the other gets laid off.

Which one has God’s grace?

Which one has God’s favor?

Some say grace is God giving us the ability

to handle the situation we are in.

Maybe so, but is that the extent of grace?

As you think this over there are two things we learn from Paul…

 

Paul counted the “grace of the cross” as being so wonderful

that he dedicated his life in appreciation… 

a life given to know Him and fellowship in those sufferings of Christ.

  

The second thing we discover is,

grace had nothing to do with how much God could give to Paul

but a demonstration of God’s power in our weakness.

Maybe God’s grace and favor is still on your life

after being denied three times.

Your weakness does not limit His power.

Scripture Reading

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV

7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

 9 But he said to me,

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,

so that Christ's power may rest on me.

10 That is why, for Christ's sake,

I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.

For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Philippians 3:7-11 NKJV

7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.

8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,

and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 

9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness,

which is from the law,

but that which is through faith in Christ,

the righteousness which is from God by faith;

10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection,

and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,

11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.