Practicing Grace With Others
Message by Josh Mutter – November 21, 2021
Big Idea: Our experience with grace ought to result in sharing grace with others.
Practicing grace for others comes from having an accurate view of ourselves.
At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
“No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
In this story…
- We are reminded that we are not sinless.
- We are reminded that we are recipients of God’s grace.
Practicing grace for others means that we follow Jesus’ example.
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. – John 15:12 NIV
Three things that Jesus’ life teaches us about love:
- Love is Relational
- Love is Practical
- Love is Sacrificial
Why Practice Grace to One Another?
- We practice grace towards one another to participate in God’s mission
- We practice grace towards one another so we can get better at loving people who do not yet follow Jesus.
- We practice grace towards one another to announce the Good News.
References:
- Sermon: Practicing Grace for Ourselves
- CBC Article: “Under Attack: Canadian Health Care workers call for more protection…”
- Globe and Mail Article: “Their own private Idaho…”
You can watch the sermon on Youtube here.
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