5:30 Traditional

5:30 Traditional

The Jesus Way is the way of “unmerited favor” called grace. It is tempting and all too common for us to look at other people and see folks who really need God’s grace, not realizing that we are all sinners and in dire need of God’s unmerited favor.

Basic principle: Everyone can be changed by God. You do not know a single person that is beyond God’s reach. Even the worst of us humans and the worst part of our lives can be changed by grace.

The darkness in the human heart afflicts us all. Yes, something is wrong with us that we cannot repair. But grace is also real. And in the end, grace wins. Love wins. God wins. The incarnation is the supreme act of God’s grace, enabling all who trust in Jesus before all else to be restored to a right and good relationship with the Creator and Sustainer of all things.

God is love and God wins; our question is, are we going to be on the side of love?

No amount of training, education, effort, or good intentions can overcome the fact that there is something wrong with us. Yet countless people persist in the belief that deep down they are really ok, a good person, certainly good enough for God to embrace just as they are. But that’s a lie, grounded in self-delusion. This loss of the knowledge of sin is undercutting all our efforts to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. It is time for our society to regain our knowledge of sin and the need for salvation.

Have you paid attention to the news? Our world is broken and fewer people a turning to the right answer to fix our world. Everyone is invited to follow the right answer: Jesus.

We have heard over and over again in worship that we are called to be good witnesses of Christ. Perhaps “witness” means to you sitting down with someone to tell them about Jesus. Perhaps it is knocking on a few doors. Or being a bit kinder to the slow grocery clerk. Or even serving meals down at the Salvation Army or helping out in our food pantry. In truth, all this and more is encompassed by the simple word “witnessing.” It is everything that we say and do in relationship with others, even if our “relationship” is nothing more than a fleeting encounter. There is no moment when we are not a disciple of Christ.

Jesus asks us to follow him and to be a witness to his resurrection. Being a witness means that you must live a faithful life and tell others about it. It isn’t enough just to live life well you must tell others about it. It isn’t enough to just tell others about it, you must live it.