The Grace of Jesus

Photo by Dale Chumbley

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 13:14a

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,

Insights: Last year our five major sermon series centered around the subject of being “Joyfully United.”  This year our focus is going to be on being “Christ Centered.”  These two themes obviously come out of our mission statement, “FBC Bowling Green is Christ centered, gospel driven, joyfully united, and prayerfully obedient.”  In order to know Christ Jesus even more we are going to go through a series which is inspired by Randy Frazee’s curriculum Believe.  As a result of this information we started off our “I BELIEVE” campaign with a sermon on the oneness of God.  Deuteronomy 6:4 states, “Hear, O Israel!  The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!”  God is only One, but He manifests Himself in three essences, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  2 Corinthians 13:14 identify all three aspects of God’s One nature.  The first part is that of Jesus.  In this portion of the verse we are told Jesus is full of grace.  Grace is unmerited favor.  In other words, we receive what we do not rightly deserve.  We deserve punishment and eternal separation from the Lord, but instead He extends grace.  Anyone who receives Jesus as Lord and Savior will not experience this punishment, but rather a restored relationship with the Lord Almighty who is One God.  John 1:1 and 14 help us to understand this deity aspect of Jesus a little bit more.  John 1:1 states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  When we jump to verse 14 we are told, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”  So, Jesus is the Word and we know this because He became flesh and dwelt among us.  We got to see the glory which came from the Father and this glory was full of grace and truth.  We know what Jesus says is truth because He Himself declared, “I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father but through me (John 14:6).”  Jesus is declaring to us He is God and He is One.  He is clarifying His message by telling us the grace we receive from God comes from Him, the One true God.  Let us rejoice that we know the Lord God and have experienced His grace.

Questions:

 1. Have you experienced the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ?

 2. Have you extended the grace which has been offered to you to other people who have wronged you?

Prayer: Father, thank You for Your grace which you extended to me through Your Son, Jesus.  May I be willing and compelled, also by Your grace, to extend grace to those around me.  Let the love of Jesus permeate my life. Amen.

If you have found this blog to be helpful, please forward it in Facebook or retweet it in Twitter.  I would also appreciate if you would tell your friends to read this blog.  As always, if you have a comment you would like to make regarding this Thoughts by Scott, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section.  Thank you.