Title: Receiver of Grace!
Contents
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Numbers 6
22. The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
23. Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, This is how you bless the children of Israel, saying,
24. The LORD bless you and keep you,
25. May the LORD shine upon you with his face, and be gracious to you.
26. The LORD will turn his face upon you and say, ‘Peace be upon you.
27. They shall thus bless the children of Israel in my name, and I will bless them.
Luke 1
26. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to go to a town called Nazareth in Galilee.
27. To a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, son of David, whose name was Mary
28. And he went into him and said, "Peace be with you, you who have found favor, the Lord is with you."
29. When the maiden heard this, she was astonished and wondered what this greeting was.
30. And the angel spoke to him, saying, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31. Behold, you will conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
33. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.
34. And Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I do not know a man?
35. The angel answered and said, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God
36. Behold, your relative Elizabeth is also old and has conceived a son, and the one who originally said she could not conceive is already six months old.
37. For no word of God is impossible.
38. And Mary said, "I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed.
Content
Subject: You who have been blessed!
Text: Numbers 6:22-27, Luke 1:26-38,
“The end of all things is near; therefore, be sober and sober and pray! Above all, love one another earnestly, for love covers a multitude of sins. Treat one another without grumbling, and as each has received a gift, serve one another as good stewards of the various graces of God” (1 Peter 4:7-10). These are the words given through the Apostle Peter to the saints who are living in difficult times. God exhorted ‘prayer’, and to man ‘love one another, hospitality to one another, service to one another’. He said, “As each has received a gift, practice it as a good steward of the various graces of God.” First, it makes you think of the word of the Lord. These are the words He said when He sent the twelve disciples: “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8b). It is reminiscent of the words of Paul Trenier: ‘In order to give something, you must first receive it.’
There are truths that we can confirm through our prayer life. The truth is that we are all sinners worthy of death. This is the realization that there is only one way to live, and that there is only the grace of God. It is a realization that there is no way to live except for the grace that is freely given (Isaiah 55:1). But the way of grace was opened through Jesus (John 14:6). “The wages of sin is death. The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). It is because of the death of the cross that the Lord carried on our behalf. “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not only for us. for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). It is the grace of being the propitiation of the Lord (Romans 3:23-25; 1 John 4:10). These are the contents of the expressions ‘by grace’ (Deuteronomy 33:16; 1 Kings 8:66; 2 Chronicles 7:10; Romans 15:15; 1 Corinthians 1:4; 2 Corinthians 9:14; Ephesians 2:8).
Only through this heavenly grace, there are tasks that those who are in the class of salvation must practice. Our mission is to become a channel of grace to our neighbors who cannot live without grace. It is the content of love, hospitality, and service. He spoke of the attitude of a ‘good steward’ in the specific practice. There are also more specific instructions on this. “If anyone speaks, let it be as if he were speaking the word of God, and if anyone would serve, let him do it with the power that God supplies. This is so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ, to whom is glory and power forever and ever. Amen” (1 Peter 4:11). We are saved by the infinite grace of God. As the channel of that grace, the attitude we should take for life is ‘like a good steward’.
The life of “a life of grace and grace” is the Christian life. It is also the task of salvation and sanctification. In the blessings of the Old Testament priests, there is ‘blessing’ (Numbers 6:24) and ‘grace’ (Numbers 6:25). The New Testament text (Luke 1:26-38) is the Annunciation of Jesus. This is the news that the angel Gabriel visited Mary and delivered with greetings. “Peace be with you, you who have found favor...you have found favor with God” (Luke 1:28-30). It is an expression of the best and best for the one who will become the mother of Jesus. But from a human point of view, what is the grace he has received? As the old Simeon in Jerusalem said (Luke 2:34,35), that grace was wrapped in a cloth of suffering that mothers usually did not want. Mary's answer was, "According to Your word it may be done to me" (Luke 1:39). It is an attitude of obedience to the holy will.