Title: Repaying God's Grace
first. We should be thankful for the grace of salvation.
Verse 13 says, “I took the cup of salvation and called on the name of the Lord.” The purpose of God's creation of life was to be glorified by men (Isaiah 43:21). But mankind lost this blessing through sin (Romans 3:23). Therefore, mankind became slaves to the devil, slaves to sin, and slaves to death (Hebrews 2:15).
That is why Paul said in Romans 7:24,25, "O wretched man I am! who can deliver me from this body of death? I will give thanks to God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
We need to know how profound our salvation is. The difference between the life of Adam before he sinned and the life that was redeemed by the blood of Christ after he sinned is the difference between heaven and earth. If we break the covenant, we die, and if we keep it, Adam's life is eternal life (Genesis 2:17, 3:22). The life we received through faith in Christ is eternal (1 John 3:36). We who have received this life should be thankful for that grace.
From a religious point of view, everything in our life belongs to God. Since our lives were also redeemed by Christ's blood, they are no longer mine, but are bought with the blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:20).
Therefore, it is natural and gracious that the saints who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ devote 1/7 of their time and 1/10 of their money to the cause of salvation for their lives and blessings.
Thanksgiving, which is celebrated without thanksgiving and emotion for salvation, will not become a "day of thanksgiving" but a "day of offering."
May this day be a “day of thanksgiving” when we say, “We cannot do this because we need material for the church to run,” but “a day to give thanks because a sinner who deserves to die has been saved.” Please by name.
Second, let us give thanks for common grace.
1) Woo Ji Taek
Even if the culture develops, it does not make a living on machines. Look at the grains, vegetables and fruits that all mankind feeds on. If you plant this, God will make it grow and ripen.
“You water the furrows abundantly, and you level their furrows, and you soften them with the rain of rain, and you bless the shoots” (Psalm 65:10).
2) Love that preserves our lives
We should thank God for the beauty of nature, which is infinitely spread around us, such as clean air, green mountains and water, birds and animals, warm sunlight and cool wind, the earth's gravity, and the mysteries of heavenly bodies.
3) Giving you a home
Today, with many diseases and accidents, we should be grateful for this great grace of living without a car accident and without incurable diseases (traffic accident on the highway, tuberculous pleurisy, kidney and liver donation). You have to be thankful that you can trust in Jesus as you like.
4) Answer to prayer
“I love the LORD because he hears my voice and supplication” (Psalm 116:1). The redeemed believers begin to pray when they believe. Just like a child who is having trouble finding a pacifier, he seeks out what he needs. God gives us the nipples of answers, providing good things from time to time. How many saints believed and received blessings? Let's not misunderstand that we have to become something supernatural to have our prayers answered. Please believe that God's answers will proceed in every event every day (the difference between asking for income of 5 million won and asking for a tithe of 1 million won).
Third, how do you respond?
“I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD; I will pay my vows to the LORD before all his people” (Psalm 116:13,14).
1) We will repay you through evangelism.
The Apostle Paul wanted to preach the gospel by saying, “I am indebted to all men” in Romans 1:14.
We should know that we owe God's grace and repay it.
We cannot forget Count Zinseldolph in the church revival of the modern church. After realizing the grace of Jesus, he was so moved that he surrendered his title to the state and devoted much of his material to evangelism, and only spent a life of evangelism.
2) We will repay you by fulfilling your vows.
“I will pay my vows to the Lord” (Psalm 116:14).
(1) If you make me believe in my husband, I will pray at dawn for the rest of my life.
(2) If you heal my illness, I will offer my body to serve the Lord, faithfully and faithfully.
(3) If you give my eldest son a job, I will tithe.
(4) If you give me the filling of the Holy Spirit, I will cut off the main affair and cut off fellowship with bad friends.
In Genesis 28:20, Jacob made this vow.
If you protect this child who is being chased
(1) The LORD will be my God.
(2) This stone will become the temple of God.
(3) I will definitely pay tithing.
However, Jacob was rejected by God's blessing, but when he returned to his hometown, he did not keep his vow (not to Bethel) and went to the land of Shechem, and we can see that he met a case of rape and murder and arson at home (Genesis 34:1-31). ). Therefore, the vows made to God must be fulfilled without changing (Psalm 15:4).
3) We will repay you with material and body.
How grateful we are to receive the love of the Lord, which cannot be repaid with anything, and to be able to humble the Lord by giving our bodies and possessions.
When material is offered with love and respect, it is always sublimated into a shining event.
The five diseases of a young boy, the gifts of the Magi, the precious perfume of a sinful woman, and the many materials devoted to the spread of the gospel among the 2,000 years of Christian church history have changed the world through the history of salvation.
In the past, there were many saints who repaid the grace of God's creation, redemption, and eternal life with their physical life. Let us remember the brave saints who were moved to death by the grace of the Lord. How happy it is to be able to repay “the grace of eternal life” with material things?
Saints! In the name of the Lord, I pray that Thanksgiving will not be a forced "day of giving" but a "day of giving thanks".