The Grace Driven Life

Review:

Why is grace so important to us?

How is our approach to “Bible Study” different than the Purpose Driven?   

How is our approach to Christian growth with the Lord different than the purpose driven approach?

4. Sharing God’s grace - with unbelievers

A brief look at the purpose driven motivation to evangelism -

Warren: Your ministry is your service to believers, and your mission is your service to unbelievers. . . Jesus clearly understood his life mission on earth. At age twelve he said, “I must be about my Father’s business,” and twenty-one years later, dying on the cross, he said, “It is finished.” . . . The mission Jesus had while on earth is now our mission because we are the Body of Christ. What is that mission? Introducing people to God. . . . this is your commission from Jesus, and it is not optional. These words of Jesus are not the Great Suggestion. If you are a part of God’s family, your mission is mandatory. (281-283)

Notice his way of using the life of Jesus.  (Example - Jesus did this - now you do it. Primary use for “evangelicals”. Old evangelicals look at Jesus as Savior / then example.)

What is the primary motivator in these words?

A brief look at the way to evangelize -

Warren: The best way is to write out your testimony and memorize the main points -

             1. What my life was like before I met Jesus

             2. How I realized I needed Jesus

             3. How I committed my life to Jesus

             4. The difference Jesus has made in my life.

. . . You should make a list of all the problems, circumstances, and crises that God has brought you through. Then be sensitive and use the story that your unbelieving friend will relate to best.

What is the focus on in his view of “evangelism”?   

Sharing God’s grace with unbelievers starts with an understanding of sin -

Romans 3:12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

Genesis 8:21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.

Psalm 51:5 Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

What do these verses do with all people? 

What does it tell us about trying to find “good prospects”?  

Sharing God’s grace continues with a confidence in the Gospel -

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

2 Corinthians 5:14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

Who do we believe that Jesus died for?   

Therefore, how do we look at the world?   

God’s Word doesn’t only say that Jesus died for all.

1 Timothy 2:4 (God) wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

Again, how does this affect the way we look at unbelievers?   

How does this differ from someone who believes that people are predestined to hell?   

When homosexuals are told “God hates fags,” is this law effective?   

2 Corinthians 5:16-20 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. (Onus on man to stop hating God - not vice versa.)

When we don’t think in these terms of grace, how will it affect our evangelism?   

We need to remember Paul -

1 Timothy 1:15-16 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. (Don’t evangelize based on whether you think they’ll make good members or not. Corinthians full of troubled people also. God works miracles. Some end up resisting - doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.)

Sharing God’s Grace continues with trusting the message of Grace -

When you read through the brief comments by Warren, what do a majority of “evangelists” tend to focus on?   

In what ways is this justifiable?   

An example in Scriptures is Acts 17:22-24 -

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you. “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.

Paul also said: 1 Corinthians 9:20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.

How is this carried too far?  

As we share God’s grace - we recognize where God’s grace is given -

Romans 1:16-17 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

1 Corinthians 1:20-25 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Where is the only place that God’s grace is found?   

How does that sound to the “wise” world?

Even though it sounds like foolishness, what do we still say?  

What is the problem with these methods?

How does this differ from the Warren and purpose driven focus? 

Knowing the cross is foolishness - we then have to rely on the grace of God for conversion -

Acts 14:27 On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles.

Acts 15:4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.

Acts 21:19 Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

Ephesians 2 really gets to the core of our trust - Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Again, what is it that saves someone?

Who brings that faith?

In order for grace to mean something to someone, the Holy Spirit still uses a somewhat specific “methodism” - if you will - as He prepares the heart first - as seen throughout the Scriptures -

Acts 2:36-38 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 3:1-6 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

Matthew 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”

Isaiah 20:2-4 At that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, “Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.” And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot. Then the LORD said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared—to Egypt’s shame.

Whether in camel skin or not - what was the consistent message throughout the Scriptures?   

Romans 5:20-21 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Through this message, who is at work?   

How does this keep us who share the message under grace as we share God’s grace?   

How does this keep us from despair?   

2 Timothy 2:25 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth.

How might we abuse this? 

2 Corinthians 5:20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. (YOU ARE Christ’s ambassadors.)

Romans 10:14-15 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

Matthew 28:19-20 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Isn’t a great suggestion.)

How does sharing God’s grace then lead us to grace again?   

How does this then motivate us?   

How does the grace driven motivation differ from - say - Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons?