LIVING IN THE GRACE OF GOD
LIVING IN THE GRACE OF GOD
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness…”[1](NIV).
DURING
a District Officership vetting, I asked a deacon-aspirant this question, “What
is the GRACE?” To the surprise of the Committee members, he answered in Twi, “Me Presiding Elder yere”, meaning, ‘the
name of my Presiding Elder’s wife’. That is all he could say about ‘the grace’!
So what then is the GRACE? Before we deal with the message of the text, I would
like to highlight the background of the text.
In
the context of this passage, that is, chapter 2:1-10, Paul had systematically
dealt with the 5 main groups of people in the church – the old men, old women,
young women, young men and slaves.
You could agree with me that in dealing with the theme for this message, that is, ‘Living In The Grace Of God”, no proper exegesis and hermeneutical principles could be established here without dealing with the word ‘grace’. The concept, ‘ grace’ as it appears in the Bible, is derived from the Hebrew word HEN, which appears 117 times in the Bible, and the Greek word, CHARIS which also amazingly appears180 times, together making 297. According to the NIV Exhaustive Concordance, it implies the state of kindness, favour toward someone often with a focus on a benefit, credit, thanks, charm and favourable disposition.
Thus,
theologically, grace is the unmerited favour of God toward fallen man whereby
for the sake of Christ, He has provided for man’s redemption. Again, it also
refers to the sustaining influence enabling the believer to persevere in the
Christian life, (Act 11:23.20:32, 2Cor. 9:14)
In
the text chosen, two basic doctrinal principles could be safely established:
firstly, that the grace of God is a universal human right, (v.11); and that the
grace of God is sufficient for the sustenance of every believer on earth,
(vv.12-14).
1. The
grace of God as a universal human right (v.11)
This
implies that;
·
Every human being has the right to hear
of it. It is the duty of Christian leaders to proclaim it to all people at all
cost. Nobody should be denied the opportunity of hearing the Good News about
salvation in Christ Jesus.
·
Every human being has the right to be
saved. The salvation in Christ is not designed for a few privileged people. God
wants all men everywhere to come to the point of salvation.
·
Every person everywhere has the right to
accept or reject it and be ready to defend his or her action before Jesus
Christ on the Judgement Day
2. The
grace of God is sufficient for the sustenance of every believer (vv.12-14)
Christians
should therefore:
·
Reject the present world system (v.12a)· Live as godly people (12b)
· Wait expectantly for the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ (v.13)
The
message and the principles in the text are as relevant to us as Christians
today as it was to Pastor Titus and his Cretan congregation at that time. We
shall deal with that next week. Stay blessed.
PASTOR
WILLIAM BOACHIE-ANSAH,
boachieansah@gmail.com
[1]
Scripture
taken from the HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (r). NIV (r). Copyright
(c) 1973, 1978, 1984, by International Bible Society. Used by permission of
Zondervan Publishing House.
LIVING IN THE GRACE OF GOD
Reviewed by Pastor Boachie-Ansah
on
11:18 PM
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Reviewed by Pastor Boachie-Ansah
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11:18 PM
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