Pastor Nicholas Tsakis shared at Empower Christian Church on Sunday 5 December 2010, with credit to Andy Stanley for his inspiring thoughts behind this topic.
We can have misunderstandings about law and grace. It's easy, in fact, to focus on what we should not do, rather than the positives. Take the Ten Commandments, for example. How many of us think of the 'nots' first when recounting those commands?
Of course, rules tell you a lot about a person, a culture, a country. They reveal something about the person who sets them. God's nature, for example, is exemplified by His rules that He set us. The Children of Israel saw the ability of God by the tablets of stone that detailed commandments. What they didn't see in those rules alone was the nature of God. Grace, on the other hand, revealed the nature of God. And it is by grace that we are saved!
What, then, do we do? Focus more on law? Focus more on grace? Neither - let's have a healthy balance of the two.
Beyond law and grace, there's actually a third word that we must be mindful of: PROMISE. We discover His promises through the Word of God. Think of Abraham, as in Exodus 20:2, where he was clearly granted access and presence with God. He was IN God's Kingdom.
Those rules that God set up are nothing without relationship. Rules alone breed rebellion. Abraham heard God say He was Abraham's God.
In fact, rules FOLLOWED relationship in the chronology of life. God spent time in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve, well before rules came about. The God of relationship is the God of promise. And every promise comes out of relationship with God.
In Numbers 23:19, we read the integrity of God's Word and how trustworthy He is. Don't evaluate God's reliability like a human's because your viewpoint will be unreliable. He, however, is reliable.
2 Corinthians 1:20 tells us His promises are 'yes' and 'amen'. He will save us, rescue us, heal and provide. The faithfulness of God is not based on anything about us, but rather on Him.
We can have misunderstandings about law and grace. It's easy, in fact, to focus on what we should not do, rather than the positives. Take the Ten Commandments, for example. How many of us think of the 'nots' first when recounting those commands?
Of course, rules tell you a lot about a person, a culture, a country. They reveal something about the person who sets them. God's nature, for example, is exemplified by His rules that He set us. The Children of Israel saw the ability of God by the tablets of stone that detailed commandments. What they didn't see in those rules alone was the nature of God. Grace, on the other hand, revealed the nature of God. And it is by grace that we are saved!
What, then, do we do? Focus more on law? Focus more on grace? Neither - let's have a healthy balance of the two.
Beyond law and grace, there's actually a third word that we must be mindful of: PROMISE. We discover His promises through the Word of God. Think of Abraham, as in Exodus 20:2, where he was clearly granted access and presence with God. He was IN God's Kingdom.
Those rules that God set up are nothing without relationship. Rules alone breed rebellion. Abraham heard God say He was Abraham's God.
In fact, rules FOLLOWED relationship in the chronology of life. God spent time in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve, well before rules came about. The God of relationship is the God of promise. And every promise comes out of relationship with God.
In Numbers 23:19, we read the integrity of God's Word and how trustworthy He is. Don't evaluate God's reliability like a human's because your viewpoint will be unreliable. He, however, is reliable.
2 Corinthians 1:20 tells us His promises are 'yes' and 'amen'. He will save us, rescue us, heal and provide. The faithfulness of God is not based on anything about us, but rather on Him.
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