Grace + Peace - The Path to Unity

The "grace and peace" salutations in Paul’s letters are plentiful:

• (Rom. 1:7)  To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
• (1Cor. 1:3 ) Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
• (2 Cor. 1:2)   Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
• (Gal. 1:3)  Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
• (Eph. 1:2)  Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
• (Phil. 1:2)  Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
• (Col. 1:2)  To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
• (1Thes. 1:1)  Paul, Silas and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you.
• (2 This. 1:2)   Grace and peace to you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
• (Titus 1:4 ) To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
• (Philem. 3) Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Grace" or "grace to you" sounded like the standard Greek greeting, but, for Paul, it was jam-packed with theological meaning. And, on the other hand, "peace" was a Jewish blessing filled with weighty, theological significance -- "shalom."

Paul knew that many in these early church congregations were torn by factional strife. But he didn't say, "Grace to you Gentiles, and shalom to you Jews." No, grace was not just for Greeks, and peace was not just for Jews. God's desire was for the whole community to receive his grace and experience his shalom—not merely the absence of conflict, but the fullness of well being, harmony, wholeness, and life.

So Paul said, "Grace and peace to you." Paul addressed Gentile and Jewish believers together, as members of one body. He wrote in continuity with their cultural and ethnic backgrounds, yet pointed to a new, countercultural reality. He combined a Greek greeting and a Hebrew greeting to create a distinctively Christian greeting.

And it wasn't just the Apostle Paul…

• (1Pet. 1:2) ....who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
• (2Pet. 1:2)  Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
• (Rev. 1:4)  John, to the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne...

Today our society continues to be divided by race, class, gender, sexual orientation, national orientation, and, oh yes, politics. And within the church, we sadly mimic our culture. We are split over theological matters - Dispensationalism and Covenantalism, Calvinism and Arminianism, Complementarianism and Egalitarianism, Evangelicalism and mainliners.

Yet Paul would argue that our common identity transcends our differences. He would plead with us to treat one another charitably, to extend patience and grace, and to strive to make peace with one another. Indeed, our church congregations should be some of the few places in our society where conservatives and liberals (and everything and everyone in between) can break bread together and celebrate a common Savior and a common cause.

GRACE - Receiving It + Giving It

Hello Grace Church family + friends!

Each February, we spend some time reflecting on the mission + vision of our church. It's important for us to remember why we do we do and what we hope to accomplish together as we follow God's call for Grace Church.

This Sunday will be our concluding Sunday in the series and we will be focusing on the grace of God and the grace God's people should provide to others.

Grace is tricky. 

Grace is often misunderstood. 

Grace is underestimated. 

And our prideful resistance to grace can keep us blind and deaf to God's continual invitations into the life he has called us to live. 

Flannery O' Connor once wrote, "All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful." Let's not resist God's grace. Together, let's fall in to the grace freely given to us in the wonderful Gospel of Jesus!

So what is Grace? One simple way to understand is Grace is to think of it as favor or kindness. But it goes further than that. It is favor or kindness shown without regard to the worth or merit of the one who receives it and in spite of what that person deserves. 

So grace essentially means gift. 

Due to our sinful (i.e., broken) condition, we desperately need the grace of God (Ephesians 2:1-10). Everything benevolent and lovely from God is due to this grace. It's all divine gift. 

So, in a fallen and broken world, grace essential. 

In a fallen and broken world, where we are both the victim and the perpetrator, grace is the only way we experience God; and showing grace to others in the best way to display God to the searching world around us. 

In a fallen and broken world full of fallen and broken people, grace may seem out of place, weak, and extremely difficult to give; but grace is always necessary. 

We, the body of Christ, the church, are the greatest recipients of God's grace; therefore, we should be great at giving grace to others. 

Join us this Sunday as we learn how to do this together!

Missed any Sundays in our A Church called Grace series? Here they are:

February 7th: Mission + Vision

February 14th: A Jesus Community
February 21st: A Serve + Renew Community
February 28th: A Grace Community (yet to be recorded)

Hope to see you Sunday morning at DHS. All are welcome. Invite a friend to join us!

Grace + Peace, 

P. Heath

Superabounding Grace

Hello friends, as we study through the tremendous text of Paul's letter to the Christians in Rome, we are continually reminded of the grace of God. He seems to mention it at almost every turn as he writes about God's good news for all of humanity.

In our text from this past Sunday, Romans ch. 5, Paul mentions grace 5 different times. My favorite mentioning of grace in chapter 5 is verse 20, "The law was brought in so that the trespass (offense or sin) might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased (or superabounded) all the more!"

What it would it look like if grace was superabounding in our lives?

Grace is often misunderstood, misapplied, and, therefore, MISSED! And it's so unfortunate because to miss part or all of grace is to miss part or all of God. 

Grace can often be misunderstood as something scandalous and sinfully permissive; and it can also be misapplied by thinking of grace only terms of pardoning sin and not about enabling us to live rightly.

Dallard Willard once said, "grace is God acting in our lives to bring about what we do not deserve and cannot accomplish on our own." I love that definition of grace; but I equally love what he said next: "but we are not passive in this process. We are commanded to put off the old person and put on the new. We are told to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18)." 

In essence, grace is about pardoning guilt and about inviting/empowering us into right living.

As followers of Jesus, there are many wonderful things for us to do, and, though we cannot do it ourselves, they will not be done for us. We must do them. As recipients of grace we are empowered to do whatever it is we need to do to increasingly take on Christ's character and live, in his power, as one of his followers.

May the grace of God abound in our lives. Instead of sin and death, may the grace of God reign in our lives leading to true life in the here and now (Romans 5:21). 

May trust and belief replace our cynicism and disbelief. 

May gentleness and encouragement replace our anger and hurtfulness. 

May fidelity and love replace our selfishness and greed. 

May understanding and tolerance replace our impatience. 

May hope replace our fear. 

May thoughtfulness replace our disregard. 

And may true joy replace our wallowing in shallowness.

Wow. Imagine how resting in and relying upon the superabounding grace found in Christ would reshape our everyday lives.

May we courageously go into the way of grace; may we encourage as many others to follow as we possible can.