November 04, 2003
Where has all the grace gone?
I was thinking about grace today, especially after reading this and that. Specifically about examples of grace in New Testament epistles' greetings and closings.
I wasn't feeling well, so I didn't go through all the epistles today, but I mean to. But for example Romans 1:7 begins with the declaration: "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." It ends similarly with grace (Romans 16:20).
Moving on, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" 1 Corinthians 1:3. Oh, and the next verse has a gripping thought too, "I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus" (1 Corinthians 1:4). Do I thank God for the grace given to my fellow believers in Christ? For the grace given to my Pastor? For the grace given to my family? For the grace given to my friends? And once again, grace is in the closing (1 Corinthians 16:23).
You don't have far to turn to find the next reference, it's 2 Corinthians 1:2. It seems rather familiar. It's the same as 1 Corinthians 1:3.
Why don't we give greetings of grace and peace? Have we forgotten? Is it too fanatical for us to go there? Does it sound too weird for us to go around saying stuff like that? Are we too proud?
I hope that we aren't. I want God's grace. I need God's grace. And I want and I pray for you to have God's grace on and in your life.
grace and peace be yours in abundance! (1 Peter 1:2)
Posted by micah on November 4, 2003 10:33 PMBattling the Unbelief of a Haughty Spirit
(from Piper)
"One very practical way to cultivate the atmosphere of humility and faith in the family and the church is to express personal need for God when you pray.
"You may say that you pray that way in secret. I thank God if you do. But I appeal to you for the sake of love and for the sake of truth that in your prayers with others you not conceal the very heart of faith. If we don't hear each other pray brokenhearted prayers of personal need and desperation, our fellowship will be superficial, the humility of faith will stifled, pride will lurk at the door, and we will become a self-deceived, sick church.
"O what a ministry to my spirit when I pray with saints who express with words their earnest need for God, and their longing for his help in their own lives.
"How many there are who have convinced themselves that to pray out loud for others is loving and to pray out loud for themselves is selfish. I believe the truth is just the opposite: it's pride not self-lessness that takes the beautiful aroma of brokenhearted faith out of our prayer meetings. So I plead with you, if for no other reason than the ministry to my heart, let your desires for God's help and God's fulness be heard when we pray together!"
http://www.desiringgod.org/library/sermons/88/121888.html
(i put this on steph's too.)
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