Grace Works!

Taken from a post at www.mattgrube.com.

The paradox that exists between grace and works is one that confuses most people. We try so hard to "please" God, yet often forget that He is pleased with us because of his Son Jesus' work on the Cross. However, if we look at how grace actually works in our lives, it seems to be easier to grasp. So, here are four ways that grace works:

1. Grace humbly recognizes the need for Jesus - At the foundation of grace is the need to recognize faith in another (Jesus) and not yourself. This takes humility! The person that continues to think they can please God will most often be self-righteous (literally), arrogant and prideful. Don't be that person! Grace puts faith in Jesus, Works places faith in self.

2. Grace Inspires Effort - To paraphase Dallas Willard, "Grace is opposed to earning, not effort." When we truly encounter God's grace as His free gift, we cannot help but be changed (See an awesome demonstration of this power of grace HERE). Granted, we will not be perfect in ourselves, but with His power we will continue to be transformed through His grace.

3. Grace Brings Freedom - Many of our relationships in life are contractual. If I sign a new cell phone contract, I agree to pay "$X" amount per month in exchange for cell phone coverage. Although that works great with cell phones, employment and credit cards, it works horribly with deep relationships, most importantly God. We don't obey God so that He will love us, He loves us therefore we obey. Living life earning God's love through obedience is a great example of bondage, but obeying God in response to His love is freedom!

4. Grace Heals the Wounded - Brennan Manning goes into detail about this in his book The Ragamuffin Gospel (It comes highly recommended!). Too often when we throw others or ourselves into a works mentality, we wound those that are meant to be the healers. We wound the church! However, when we live, preach and teach that our works are the result of a grace experience even the most downtrodden person can be completely transformed. It is possible through the grace of Jesus that our lives and churches can be known for healing the wounded and not wounding the healers.

Where would you rather live, under "works" or under "grace?" Grace recognizes faith in Jesus, inspires effort, brings freedom and heals the wounded. Works instills faith in self, requires earning, brings bondage and wounds the healers. You decide?

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Ephesians 2: 8-10, "⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Gratefully Sorrowful

About four years ago a great friend of mine passed away of cancer in his late 20's. I went to visit his Myspace page to see what people had written about him and found something I wrote for a blog years ago. It was his last re-post before he died. Given the ways I know many people are struggling right now, I thought this we be relevant for many people. Enjoy!

-Matt

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Gratefully Sorrowful

"To be grateful for an unanswered prayer, to give thanks in a state of interior desolation, to trust in the love of God in the face of marvels, cruel circumstances, obscenities, and commonplaces of life is to whisper a doxology in the darkness." -Brennan Manning, Gratefully Sorrowful A couple of weeks ago at church we had just finished praying and then we began going through the order for our worship time. This particular Sunday was New Years Day 2006, and I proclaimed to a whole group of my Discovery Church brothers and sisters, "I am so glad that 2005 has gone, it was the year from hell." Feeling a slight tingle in my spirit, I smiled and ignored the sinking feeling that accompanied the comment I had just made.

This week as I have been reading this book Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning, the Holy Spirit brought that scene to the forefront of my mind and helped me realize how ungrateful I am. Was 2003 a good year? Yes, it was. I got married to a wonderful woman who loves me and supports me. Was 2004 a good year? Yeah, sure. My sister got married to a great guy and I became the uncle to an adorable child named Axel. 2002? Amazing...I did Youth-With-A- Mission for 6 months, which became arguably the most God-filled, anointed, and life changing experience of my whole life.

Then came 2005...My mentor and pastor of three and a half years leaves, which leads to seven months of pastoral search teams, discord, grumbling, and arguing. This is followed by the stillborn birth of our son, Enoch, and as we buried him on August 19th 2005, my wife's grandfather passes away in Ottawa, ON. Shortly thereafter, my grandmother has a massive heart attack 2 1/2 weeks before Christmas and undergoes open-heart surgery within the week. Then Christmas ends with a house full of guests all becoming grossly sick with the stomach flu (including myself, which if you ask anyone close to me you will learn I would rather undergo brain surgery, a Richard Simmons workout, or a Kenny G concert than vomit for eight hours). To top the whole thing off, sales dried up in the month of November, leaving me to pay December's mortgage through the sale of our car, and then January's mortgage by borrowing from every young person's favorite bank (mom and dad-thanks!).

In Job 1: 10 it says, "If we take happiness from God's hand, must we not take sorrow too?" Notice the words "take" in the previous sentence, a verb of action indicating a reaching out and receiving. All of us desire to receive a blessing from God, something delightful or pleasurable. One would not hesitate to take a gift from the Lord's lap no more than one would hesitate to pick up a $100 bill blowing in the breeze across the sidewalk. But what about sorrow??? The littlest inconvenience occurs and we are asking God, why me? In the midst of such asking, we conveniently forget our heart is beating, our lungs are breathing, and the food we are eating. We ignore the taste of coffee, the smell of pie, or the beauty of nature. Americans, I believe, are the only people alive that expect no suffering. When tragedy hits close, we fall to our knees, cry in disbelief, and easily forget that no one in the history of the world has ever been so full and well provided for as we! If we are going to be true disciples of Jesus, we Americans need to learn to take suffering from our Lord's hand as gratefully as we take happiness. As Paul says, "Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope..."

As I made that comment on New Years Day, I was convicted because I was trying to forget the suffering God had given to me in 2005, and was attempting to gaze toward a happier 2006. God's desire was to stretch my perseverance, my character, and my hope; but happiness was all I would remain thankful for. Why? Because being thankful in happy times is easy. Both Saints and Sinners alike can join in that. But being thankful in times of sorrow is reserved for Saints, because being grateful in sorrow is the ultimate trust in God that He is producing a good work in the life of His beloved. To close with a quote by Henri Nouwen, "As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be grateful for."

Choice or Chosen???

Walk This Way: Six Life-Transforming Encounters With Jesus

Starting Easter Sunday (April 4th, 2010) for six weeks we are going to study six life-transforming encounters people had with Jesus. It is possible for all of us to "Walk This Way" and be completely transformed by Jesus. Join us at Discovery Church over the next six weeks and encounter Jesus.

Pastor Mark on Surrendering to Jesus Christ

From: Sunday March 21st, 2010. Taken from our series at Discovery Church called "Jesus' Commencement Address" going through John 14-17. Pastor Mark takes time to discuss how we must surrender our lives to Jesus Christ. (John 17:9-19).

Pastor Matt on living a life solely for God's glory

From: Sunday March 14th, 2010. Taken from our series at Discovery Church called "Jesus' Commencement Address" going through John 14-17. Pastor Matt closes his sermon talking about how it looks to live a life completely for the glory of God (John 17:1-9).

Pastor Matt and the Futility of the Temporal

From: Sunday January 24th, 2010. Taken from our series at Discovery Church called "Jesus' Commencement Address" going through John 14-17. Pastor Matt spends time on the futility of earthly successes. However, to a Christian true success is knowing God and the way to that success is Jesus Christ (John 4:14-4-14).

Pastor Matt talks about Jesus' Commencement Address

On Sunday January 17th, 2010 we started a new message series at Discovery Church called "Jesus' Commencement Address" going through John 14-17. Pastor Matt takes some time to explain that this section of scripture is similar to a commencement address. Just as graduates are often uncertain about their life ahead, so the disciples and all future Christians face uncertainty. In John 14-17, Jesus is giving wisdom, inspiration and encouragement for the Church then and through eternity.

Pastor Matt Plugs DC Mission and the Alpha Course

We are really excited about 2010 at Discovery Church. Over this year we have several goals and one of them is to create vibrant, small group communities (called ENGAGE groups) that help transform our lives by CONNECTING to Jesus and IMPACTING the world. Many of us have been hearing about the Alpha Course (www.alphausa.org) we are beginning this Winter on January 25th. We see this as being the catalyst for more ENGAGE groups throughout this year and next. Take a few minutes to watch Pastor Matt explain how the Alpha Course fits into the mission of Discovery Church.