Title: Living by Grace / Isaiah 64:8-12
According to one plastic surgeon. Many people come to plastic surgery in the hope that their appearance will change. After surgery, most people are satisfied at first. However, as time goes by, they say that they are more disappointed with their appearance. For true beauty does not come from changing the shape of our face, but for true beauty comes from our hearts. At the same time, what the plastic surgeon emphasizes is that the outward plastic surgery is not important, but the spiritual plastic surgery.
God created this world beautifully. He created the world and said, "It was good in God's sight" to end that day. After creating all things, God said that it was very good. In the words of the text, "You are our Father. We are the clay and you are the potter; we are the work of your hands." It is a beautiful creation made by the hands of God.
When God's Word is fulfilled in this way, the world becomes a truly beautiful world in the eyes of God. He said let there be light, and there was light, and it is the beauty of this world that God's words come true. This true beauty does not come from changing our appearance. True beauty is when we obey God's Word and that Word carries on in our lives.
But man began to ruin the beautiful world in God's sight. Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit. expelled from the Garden of Eden. There were first brothers, Cain and Abel, and Cain stoned their brother Abel to death. They try to become like God by building the Tower of Babel. Although God has created a beautiful world, we are constantly making decisions to distance ourselves from God, and living a life that distances us from God is what we are. In the end, only the wrath of God became full.
The background of this text is that the people of Israel disobeyed God's word and worshiped a foreign god. did not draw near to God. Eventually, the people of Israel were destroyed, and the temple in Jerusalem, the center of their faith, was all in ruins. In disobedience to God's word, there was no beauty left and only the wrath of God became a place.
Look at the Word in this situation. Your holy cities have become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem is a wasteland. Our holy and beautiful temple, where our ancestors praised you, was burned with fire, and all our rejoicing places were desolate. Our holy and beautiful temple, where our ancestors praised you, was burned with fire, and all our rejoicing places were desolate.
This is not the case with the people of Israel. It's just our selves. Rather than obeying God's word, we disobey it, and we have a tendency to move further and further away from God rather than closer to God. Thus, in the end, we have no choice but to live under God's wrath and God's wrath, but Jesus came to this earth and opened the way for us to live. He opened the way for us to live beautifully. He opened the way for us to live as human beings.
Therefore, we live by the grace of God, not by our own merits. There are people who live proud of their merits, and there are people who live in gratitude for grace. In the parable of the prodigal son, the younger brother is a person who lives in gratitude for his father's grace, and the older brother is a person who boasts of his own merits. I didn't waste my father's money, and I worked hard by his side. How much merit do I have? But my brother is just grateful for everything. Thank you for accepting me and thank you for restoring me as a child.
The two went up to the temple to pray. The Pharisee stands in the middle of the temple and boasts of his merits. How did I live a life of integrity, tithing, fasting and praying, and more faithful than the sinners standing next to me? However, the sinner, unable to lift his head from the corner, beats his chest and earnestly prays for forgiveness of his sins.
A person who lives proudly of his own merits in this way compares himself to others. i'm better than you I am better than you I've done more than you. I am smarter than you I am more faithful than you. Comparing yourself to others and bragging about it. look at your brother Comparing his younger brother with himself, he brags about his work
See the parable of the vineyard workers. I start work at 6, 9, 12, 3, and 5, and I get the same amount of daily wages. A person who has been working since dawn has no choice but to brag about his achievements. Those who arrive at 3 or 5 pm can only appreciate the owner's disposition.
Let us not be proud of our merits. A person who brags about his achievements compares himself to others. However, those who live by grace are those who live with gratitude for the disposition of one master. He is grateful for his father's disposition. Let's live as we are, thankful for God's grace.
No matter what we are, God accepts us. Renowned American painter Ruskin visited the slums to find a model for the prodigal son in the Bible. He met numerous drug addicts and prisoners, but could not find a model for the prodigal son. One day he met a beggar on the street. Messy clothes and messy faces... 竊랱ost importantly, there was no trace of hope on his face. "I'd like to paint with you as a model. I'll give you a generous amount, so please come to my house tomorrow." The beggar gladly agreed. But when the beggar came to the house the next day, Ruskin was greatly disappointed. The beggar had shaved cleanly and combed his hair finely. He had turned into a gentleman with a suit and tie. Ruskin burst out in anger and drove the beggar away. "All I needed was a beggar. Now go back." God likes to be seen as a sinner. He wants you to come before God with a humble heart. We have been given the gift of salvation unilaterally.
Then, what are the specific graces that God bestows on us? I live by grace that forgives my sins. Look at the text of the text. "O LORD, do not be too angry, and remember iniquity forever." We live by the forgiving grace of God.
It was December. Looking back over the past year, we will realize how great God's forgiving grace has been. I will be rebuked and punished by God more often than I have been praised by God. Jesus came to this earth to solve the problem of our sins.
Until 1847, surgery was a fear itself for patients. It was Simpson, a Scottish obstetrician and gynecologist, who freed him from this fear. He achieved a new era in surgery by developing chloroform, the first inhaled general anesthetic. Simpson, who was appointed professor of obstetrics and sciences at the University of Edinburgh in 1840 at the young age of 29, made numerous research achievements as a leading obstetrician and gynecologist, including discovering chloroform and devising obstetric forceps. For these achievements, he became the first Scottish physician to receive the title of Sir in 1866 and an honorary Juris Doctor from Oxford University, and in 1869 became an honorary citizen of Edinburgh. Towards the end of Simpson's life, his disciples asked: "What was the greatest discovery in your life, sir?" Then Simpson unexpectedly replied, "The greatest discovery of my life is that Jesus Christ died and rose again for me, a poor sinner." What made him valuable was not his research achievements, but the love of Jesus, who died and rose for him. The forgiving grace of Jesus is the greatest discovery.
We are all living in the grace of forgiveness. How, then, are the forgiven people to live? Shouldn't we live with a grateful heart in return for the grace? The root of all these devotion and service for the Lord must ultimately be in return for God's grace. It's not about getting a job. I don't do it to get people's approval. I am not doing this to show off my talents to people. The only thing is, I hope that I will be able to take on the tasks entrusted to me because I am so grateful for the grace God has given me.
Those who live by grace must have a mark of that grace. There must be a reward for the favor. Jesus came to this earth to forgive our sins. He has opened a way for us to live. Shouldn't we live in repaying for these graces? Paul tells us clearly. ?쏧t was bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body??(1 Corinthians 6:20).
So who are the church workers? You must become a person with the thrill of salvation. God saved me, so how can I do it carelessly? God has forgiven my sins, so what if I don't do my best? How should I dedicate myself to serving the church that was purchased with the blood of the Lord? Don't make fun of God. Don't make fun of the church. Do not take the work of God lightly.
There are many people who give their leftovers to God when they live their faith. But it is not a beautiful appearance in the sight of God. If God saved me and forgave a sinner like me, how can we give the dregs to God? Worship time is not a spare time. Giving an offering to God is not giving anything left over. The same goes for devoting yourself to and serving God. Always serve the Lord with the heart of giving first. Be so dedicated please God
Don't take our faith life lightly. Don't take it lightly. Our life itself is a life lived by God's grace, so how can we consider devoting ourselves to and serving God lightly?
Paul was a man who valued the grace of God. Paul confidently confesses. "Whether by life or death, I want Christ to be honored in my body, for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." He lived with the hope that Christ would be exalted through the body of Paul. It was possible because he had a heart to value God's grace.
Dear saint! We live by the grace of God. Thank you for this grace, I hope that you will do your best to become a servant of God. This is how we live our lives beautifully. We wish we had this beauty.