GRACE

Keep your Bibles open there at Matthew 18.

I'll pray.

Gracious Father, a couple of days before Christmas,

as you remember the great event of the Lord Jesus coming into this world,

to live that obedient life, to die that substitutionary death,

to be raised in a very powerful way,

Lord, we pray that we would see the implications of your grace to us

and the implications in terms of our grace to one another

as we look at this passage.

So we need your help to do the thing that we cannot do,

to not just see the facts of this story,

but to see the glory of it.

And so, Lord, we pray that we would not just understand your grace,

but that we would rejoice in it,

that we would see the beauty and the glory of it this morning from your word

so come and help us, we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

A former American footballer with the Miami Dolphins was interviewed by Newsweek

and he was asked the question,

what motivated him to go to university?

And his reply was,

my father and uncle were human cannonballs in the carnivals.

He said, one day my father came to me and said,

son, go to university or become a human cannonball.

And he said, one day while I was contemplating my future,

he said, my uncle came out of the cannon and hit the ferris wheel

and that's when I decided to go to university.

Motive is a strange thing to work out sometimes

and especially as Christians.

What motivates us to be here this morning?

What motivates us to pursue spiritual disciplines?

What motivates us to give generously?

What motivates us to serve?

What motivates us to do what we were doing

even in the last week down at the mall?

Often, it is true that our motives are mixed in the pursuit of right things,

but it's also possible to have wrong motives in pursuing right things.

This is the last sermon in our short series on the grace of God.

We started off being amazed by grace.

It was right there at the very beginning.

I said that the grace of God is God's love freely shown towards guilty sinners,

contrary to their merit and in fact in defiance of their demerit.

That is, neither all the good things we do nor the bad things we do actually count.

God isn't drawn to us because that somehow we're better than other people

and he isn't repulsed by us because our sin is so bad.

Grace is about God's free, unconditional, sovereign, electing love.

In the end, it's not about us.

It is about God and his character.

Last week, we saw how this grace can scandalise us

because our normal moral position is to think of ourselves more highly than we ought.

That is, we tend to play down our massive vices

and we assume that the small occasional virtues

will somehow cover up the massive vices.

It's like a bank robber before a judge

and he's about to get convicted for armed robbery in a bank

and he said, well, hang on a bit, judge, before you get too carried away here,

just remember in your assessment of me that I didn't rob the bank on that corner

and on that corner and that corner, I only just did this one here

and the judge goes, oh, okay then.

I never considered that.

So you're not such a bad bloke after all.

Innocent.

And now it's time for us to look at grace

as grace being the motivation for us

to live a life of grace

and this is crucial.

It's crucial because it's unfortunate

that we often only get it half right

when we look at the doctrine of grace.

When we become a Christian,

we understand that we are saved by grace

but we get confused about what sort of comes after that.

We often are not clear about what it means to live by grace

and there are two classic historical mistakes

in response to being saved by grace.

One, the first mistake is that I'm saved by grace

but I stay saved through doing good things.

It can be sort of like joining a sports team.

You get into the team because the coach was gracious to you,

he needed some spot field

or because you signed the rego forms

but you need to keep your spot in the team

by earning your place

by working hard and performing well to be part of the team.

Another name for it is legalism

and it is a great danger for us.

Even good relational things like spiritual disciplines,

things like evangelism and prayer and barberating

and church and giving

can easily become performance measures

by which we gauge how things are going

in our relationship with God.

Now don't get me wrong here,

I want to actively promote disciplines

like those things amongst Christians.

They are absolutely necessary for growth as Christians

but they are benefits.

They are not duties.

They are a privilege.

Legalism is very, very dangerous

because the legalist is often deluded

by their own self-righteousness

and pride becomes a massive problem

and remember what I said last week

and Deb's reminded us this morning,

pride is the thick hide

that grace cannot penetrate.

Legalism isn't how grace works.

Salvation is all God's work

from beginning to the end.

from the moment you begin the Christian life

until you enter heaven

and I would even say that

for all of eternity in heaven,

it is all by the grace of God.

All by the grace of God.

Take for instance Romans 8.

If you're really quick with your Bible,

flick to Romans 8,

Romans 8:28

verse 28 to verse 30.

And we know that in all things

God works for the good of those who love Him,

who have been called according to His purpose.

For those God foreknew,

He also predestined to be conformed

to the likeness of His Son

that He might be the firstborn

among many brothers.

And here it is.

And those He predestined,

He called,

and those He called,

He justified,

and those He justified,

He also glorified.

It is all of God's work

from beginning right through to the end,

from eternity past to eternity future.

It is His work in choosing,

His work in saving,

His work in changing,

it is all His gracious action.

So legalism is dangerous.

The second mistake is that we are saved by grace,

all of God's work,

His doing,

I contribute nothing,

and so I can live however I like.

Augustine of Hippo

summarized the Christian life with the saying,

love God and do as you please.

So there's legalism on one hand,

on the other hand,

there is license.

The German pastor,

Dietrich Bonhoeffer,

called it cheap grace.

The Bible says this about license,

a couple of chapters,

if you are in Romans chapter 8,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

go back to chapter 6,

verse 15,

what then?

Shall we sin

because we are not under law

but under grace?

By no means.

Don't you know

that when you offer yourselves

to someone to obey him as slaves,

you are slaves to the one whom you obey,

whether you are slaves to sin,

which leads to death,

or to obedience,

which leads to righteousness.

But thanks be to God

that though you used to be slaves to sin,

you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching

to which you were entrusted,

you have been set free from sin,

and have become slaves to righteousness.

Now what Paul's doing here in Romans chapter 6

Romans 6 · chapter mention

is he's actually quoting someone,

and he's trying to help this poor fellow

to understand the Christian life

and the essence of the Christian life.

And this fellow,

he listens to Paul's teaching

about the gospel of justification

by grace through faith apart from works,

and he says,

well if I have a right standing before God

by trusting in his gracious actions

towards me in the Lord Jesus,

and if all of my past and present

and future sins are all forgiven

and dealt with by Jesus,

well that's great,

I'll have that,

and I might as well go on living a life of sin

because I can have that too.

I can enjoy all the desires of sin as well.

And what's Paul's response to that?

Paul's response is,

that's the way a person talks about Christianity

if it is just simply a group of ideas

and not an experience of the preciousness

of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's a person whose Christianity

is all truth and no treasure,

all choices and no cherishing,

all logic about Christ

and no love for Christ,

all decision and no delight.

That is,

they know Jesus,

but they don't treasure Jesus.

We are being set free from slavery to sin.

Why would you want to go back there?

Is what Paul says.

If I cherish the love of God towards me,

the Lord Jesus,

what is it that will please me?

What pleases me is what pleases Him.

And I live accordingly.

Not because I have to,

not because of obligation or guilt,

not because I'm forced or manipulated

or I owe Him,

but because I've experienced the love

and the grace that God has shown me.

And this then brings us to this story of Matthew 18.

So hopefully most of you have got your Bibles open

at that point.

If you haven't,

flick there really quickly.

Matthew 18.

This is a story which helps us to see

how grace,

the grace of the Lord Jesus,

should motivate us

in a life of grace towards one another.

Jesus has been talking about

how to handle things

when someone sins against you.

And so in verse 15,

Jesus says this,

if your brother sins against you,

go and show him his fault

just between the two of you.

If he listens to you,

you have won your brother over.

But if he will not listen,

take one or two others along

so that every matter

may be established

by the testimony

of two or three witnesses.

If he refuses to listen to them,

tell it to the church.

And if he refuses to listen

even to the church,

treat him as you would

a pagan or a tax collector.

Those few verses there

are so essential

for good relationships

within the church.

don't talk to other people

about how you've been wronged.

Don't hold a grudge

and write a little payback list.

Go to the person directly

and speak about the issue.

Look them in the eye

and seek resolution

and reconciliation.

And then straight after

these verses,

Peter's asked the question.

He's always the first one

to come in with the question

or to make a statement.

And in verse 21,

he says,

Lord,

how many times

should I forgive my brother

when he sins against me?

Up to seven times?

You see,

the attitude of the rabbis

around that time

was that you would

forgive your brother

three times

and no more.

And so Peter here,

probably thinking

that he's come up short

a number of times already.

Whenever he's jumped in

with a question

or made a statement,

he always says

the wrong thing.

And so Peter's thinking,

I'm going to go down

on record here

for all of history

and I'm going to say

the right thing

for a change.

So Jesus,

knowing it's only three times,

should I forgive my brother

seven times?

Jesus comes in,

verse 22,

not seven times,

but 77 times.

And Peter goes,

oh my goodness,

not again.

Now some say here

that Jesus doesn't actually

mean 77 times.

What he means is

seven times,

70 times,

he means 490 times.

The reality is though,

either alternative

is simply to miss the point

of what Jesus is saying here.

Either it would be 77

or 490,

it is to return

to the pedantic calculation

of forgiveness

that Jesus rejects.

And how do I know

he rejects it?

Because he says it

in the parable.

Next point.

You see,

forgiveness is unlimited.

unlimited.

That's what God's grace

is towards us.

It is unlimited.

And this next story

makes this point clear.

It gives us

a brilliant insight

into the enormity

of the grace of God

towards us.

There is a man

who owes a king

10,000 talents.

It was a debt,

according to verse 25,

that he was not able

to pay.

And that is

an understatement.

The talent

was the highest

unit of currency

and 10,000

was the highest

Greek numeral.

In other words,

you put them both together

and it meant to convey

the largest sum

imaginable.

And so when

one of my children

says to me,

wow,

how much does that cost?

I say,

squillions of dollars.

Wow.

The debt

is incalculable.

In fact,

the debt

was more

than a thousand

times

the annual

revenue

of Galilee,

Judea,

Samaria

and

Edomia

combined.

It's like

taking all

foreign

debt

of every

country

and lumping

on top of

one single

human being

and say,

pay that

back.

It's

totally

incomprehensible.

And yet,

even though

this man

who has

lumbered

with such

an enormity

of debt,

he's bankrupt

so many

times

over,

he still

has a sense

of pride.

He hasn't

grasped

the enormity

of his debt.

Have a look

at there

in verse

26.

The servant

fell on his

knees before

him,

that is

before the

king,

and he

says,

be patient

with me,

he begged,

and I

will pay

you back

everything.

He's got

no capability

of paying

it back.

No amount

of time,

no amount

of patience

would do it.

He is

utterly

bankrupt.

He is

powerless

and helpless,

no ability

to trade

out of this

situation

at all.

And it

is again

the picture

of our

situation

before God

as we

saw back

in Ephesians

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2

where it

describes us

there as

being dead

in our

transgressions

and sins.

Dead people

don't cut

deals.

They don't

pay back

loans.

They are

powerless.

They cannot

even walk.

Of course,

the king

understood the

plight of his

servant.

You see,

this story

ultimately is

about God

and the way

he has

graciously

treated us.

We who

were bankrupt

before God

with a debt

of sin

that we

could never

repay

have been

forgiven

through the

Lord Jesus.

Our debt

against God

has been

piling up

minute after

minute,

hour after

hour,

day after

day,

month after

month,

year after

year.

But God

in his

gracious

action

towards

the Lord

Jesus

has wiped

it clean.

He's

forgiven us

a debt

that we

could never

repay.

You see,

the words,

he'd be

patient with

me and

I'll pay

you back

everything,

Jesus.

I'll go

to church

and I'll

pull my

socks up

and I'll

read my

Bible and

I'll pray

and I'll

give you

some money.

It is

so pitifully

untrue.

No amount

of good

Christian activity,

no amount

of pulling up

the socks

and rolling

up your

sleeves and

trying a

little harder

morally,

our debt

against God

is phenomenal.

We are

bankrupt.

We don't

have the

power or the

ability to

trade out of

it and God

comes along in

the Lord Jesus

and says,

I release you

from the debt.

Now,

of course,

the twist in the

story comes

when this

servant who

has been

forgiven an

incalculable

debt

walks out

onto the

deck

and starts

choking

someone

who owes

him

a trifling

amount

in comparison.

He makes

sure that

this other

servant who

owes him

a few

dollars

pays him

back right

down to

the last

cent.

Verse 28,

But when

that servant

went out,

he found

one of his

fellow servants

who owed him

a hundred

denarii.

He grabbed

him and began

to choke him.

Pay back what

you owe me,

he demanded.

And his

fellow servant

fell on his

knees and

begged him,

be patient

with me and

I will pay

you back.

But he

refused.

Instead,

he went off

and had the

man thrown

into prison

until he

could pay

back the

debt.

You see,

the fact

that the

second servant's

debt is

one six

hundred

thousandth of

the first

debt,

emphasizes the

ludicrous

nature of

this servant's

behavior.

Any limitation

of grace and

forgiveness that

he shows to

his fellow

servant is

just

inconceivable.

the second

servant pleaded

for mercy,

be patient

and I will

pay you

back.

And he

could have

paid it

back with

time.

It's a few

bucks.

He could have

paid it

back.

But what does

the first

servant do?

He grabs

him,

hands him

over to

the jailers,

he has him

thrown into

prison until

he can pay

the debt

back.

And what

happens when

he's in

prison?

He can't

earn the

money to

pay the debt

back.

And so the

first servant

will hold

that debt

against him

forever.

We know

right at the

very end of

this parable

and also at

the very

beginning of

this parable

because it's

just flown out

of Peter's

question to

Jesus, how

many times

should I

forgive my

brother,

that ultimately

this parable

is about

forgiveness.

And it's a

shocking picture,

isn't it?

the first

servant throws

the second

servant into

prison and

holds the

debt against

him.

My friends,

resentment,

the unwillingness

to forgive,

is a deadly

disease and it

is very common.

It can have

quite negative

physical

consequences,

but it

certainly has

very negative

spiritual

consequences.

Verse 32,

then the

master called

the servant

in, you

wicked

servant.

He said,

I cancelled

all the

debt that

was yours

because you

begged me

to.

Shouldn't

you have

had mercy

on your

fellow servant

just as I

had on you?

And in

anger, his

master turned

him over to

the jailers to

be tortured

until he

should pay

back all

that he

owed.

This is how

my heavenly

father will

treat each

of you unless

you forgive

your brother

from your

heart.

You see,

the spiritual

consequences

here are

severe.

Our

relationship

with God

is strangled

by resentment.

Resentment

is most

often the

reason behind

spiritual

dryness and

decline.

A good

question to

ask of one

another in

that state

is, who

do you need

to forgive?

Who do you

need to

forgive?

When someone

says, I

cannot forgive

so and so

for what

they've done

to me,

the answer

is, according

to verse

35, is

you must

forgive or

you will

never be

forgiven by

God.

The grace

of God

is dynamic

and it is

life-changing.

We simply

cannot go

through heaven's

narrow door

if our

lives are

bulging

with

resentment.

Heaven is

for penitent

sinners

only.

God's

grace,

compassion,

love,

mercy,

forgiveness

is meant

to motivate

grace,

compassion,

love,

mercy,

forgiveness

in us.

Whenever we

are confronted

with someone

who has

wronged us,

the place

to dwell

in our

thoughts and

our emotions

is not

the gravity

of their

sin against

me,

but the

gravity of

my sin

against God.

On the

25th of

July 1993,

three men

rushed into

St. James

Anglican Church

Kenilworth in

South Africa

and armed

with machine

guns and

grenades.

After the

slaughter,

11 parishioners

lay dead in

the pews,

60 of

them were

wounded,

some of

them were

permanently

maimed.

One of

those who

was killed

was the

wife of

Dowie

Ackerman.

She was

sitting in

the back

pew,

I think

while Dowie

was in

the foyer

handing,

I know he

might have

been at the

front of

the church

involved in

some sort

of ministry.

She was

one of the

first to

die.

Dowie

attended the

truth and

reconciliation

for the

men who

gunned down

his wife.

during the

course of

the hearing,

the men

turned to

Dowie and

said,

will you

forgive us

for what we

have done

to you?

This is what

he said.

I forgave

them

unconditionally

because they

asked for

it.

God has

forgiven us

and all

we have

to do

is ask

for it.

They've

asked for

my

forgiveness

so I

must give

it to

them.

Tough

call,

isn't it?

Forgiveness

like that.

But my

friends,

that is

the way

of Christian

living.

That is

the impact,

the dynamic

transforming

impact of

the grace

of God.

It is

only possible

when we

see the

enormity of

our sin

against God

and his

forgiveness

and his

grace to

us in

the Lord

Jesus

Christ.

The grace

of God

towards us

in the

Lord

Jesus

is the

motivation

for us

to put

on the

garments

of

grace.

And I

use the

term

garments

of

grace

from

Colossians

Colossians 3:12–14

chapter

3

verses

12 to

14.

Therefore,

as God's

chosen people,

holy and

dearly loved,

clothe yourselves

with compassion,

kindness,

humility,

gentleness,

and patience.

Bear with

each other

and forgive

whatever grievances

you may have

against one

another.

Forgive

as the

Lord forgave

you.

And over

all of these

virtues,

put on love,

which binds

them all

together in

perfect unity.

You see,

the main

thrust of

Paul's

teaching here

in this

passage is

that we

are to be

clothed

ourselves

with

Christ-like

virtues.

But he

grounds his

exaltation

on being

clothed with

these virtues

in the

grace of

God.

The fact

that he

has chosen

us to be

in him,

that we

are holy

in his

sight,

that we

are dearly

loved by

him.

It is

difficult.

Perhaps

impossible

for us

to show

compassion

or patience

to someone

else if we

are unsure

if God

is patient

with us.

Or even

worse,

if we

don't sense

the need

for God

to be

patient

with us.

These

garments of

gracious

Christian

character

can only

be put

on by

those who

are continually

experiencing

the grace

of God

in their

own lives.

And it's

passages like

this,

Colossians 3

and Matthew

18,

that undergird

our core

value here

at St.

Paul's of

humble

authenticity.

Let me

remind you

of bits

of it.

As a

church,

we are

committed

to serving

others and

considering

them more

important than

ourselves,

speaking to

one another

honestly and

in private

when problems

arise,

honoring each

other by

not engaging

in gossip

or malicious

or slanderous

talk,

being careful

how we

interpret one

another,

asking clarifying

questions before

making judgments

in disagreements,

being slow to

take offense,

being quick to

confess error

and sin,

to pursue

reconciliation and

work towards

change when we

have offended,

being rigorously

honest,

being vulnerable

with our

imperfections that

encourages openness

and honesty

rather than

cover up.

our core

value of

humble

authenticity

is so

essential

for our

spiritual

health,

but not

just for

ours,

but for

other

people's.

Their lives

are at stake.

Why would

they want to

know or

experience the

grace of

God if

they don't

see it as

life-changing

and dynamic

for the

people of

God?

why

would we

not put

humble

authenticity

into practice

amongst us?

Why would

we want to

hold on to

resentment?

Why would

we not

forgive?

The only

reason is

that we

have not

admitted our

own total

and permanent

spiritual

bankruptcy.

Only as

we see

ourselves as

basically good

do we

expect everyone

else around

us to be

basically good

and especially

basically good

to me.

Living by

grace means

recognising our

spiritual bankruptcy.

It means

seeing the

vast contrast

between the

enormity of

my debt

against God

and another

person's

trifling debt

against me.

it means

throwing

yourself

on God's

mercy

daily.

It means

responding to

the Bible's

instruction to

forgive as

the Lord has

forgiven me.

And so

friends after

three weeks

we've come

back full

circle.

We are

back where

we began

with our

spiritual

bankruptcy.

This is

where we

must begin

and it's

where we

must end

if we are

to experience

the daily

joy of

living by

God's

transforming

grace.

And so

I invite you

again

to lay

aside any

remnant of

self-goodness

that you may

think you

still have.

Admit your

total

spiritual

bankruptcy

bankruptcy

and drink

deeply

from the

infinite

grace of

the Lord

Jesus

Christ.

And then

in deep

awareness

of what

you have

received

extend

that same

spirit of

grace to

one another.

Amazing

grace

how sweet

the sound

that saved

a wretch

like me.

But

it is

his grace

that has

brought me

safe thus

far

and grace

will lead

me home.

Let's stand

and sing.