April 19, 2018
Grace Is Not Just a Girl's Name.
Romans 5:20–21
Jody Curran
Central Truth
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5, NLT)
Romans 5:20–21
20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Dive Deeper | Romans 5:20–21
I was such a renegade earlier in my life. Rules were made for breaking. I used to say, “Sure, I’m a sinner, and I’m going to hell to be with all my friends.” And that, sadly, was true until I learned of "grace." My brother, the recently converted Jesus-follower, was sharing his faith with the family. During a crisis that he was helping me through, I took time to hear him.
He asked me if I knew anything about grace, and I replied, “Grace who?”
“No, it’s a Bible word about God. Let me show you a passage in the Bible that will help: ‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.’" (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV)
He went on to explain that "grace" means "God’s unmerited favor"—a gift received by "faith," which is putting your trust in Jesus. Jesus wasn’t just a man. He is God, and His express purpose in coming to earth was to provide the ultimate sacrifice for our sins by giving His life on the cross. So, by trusting Him we could be made right with God.
“That’s awful easy, isn’t it?” I said.
“It wasn’t easy for Him. But all you have to do is believe that Jesus was God, came to earth to live a perfect, sinless life, and was crucified for all our sins to make a path to heaven for us if you would believe and trust Him. And then to validate His claims Jesus rose from the dead to show He had power over death.”
Intrigued, we started visiting the church, and everything was vindicated in the sermons and the Bible. It wasn’t long before I gave up going to hell with my friends and trusted Jesus. What a life change at 33 years old! Our rocky marriage started getting better; we had a new set of friends and a new purpose in life: loving and being loved by God, and sharing Jesus. All because of Amazing Grace!
This month's memory verse
3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
– Romans 5:3–5
Discussion Questions
1. What does "grace" mean to you? Take a minute to write out your "grace" story in a five-minute testimony and share it with someone.
2. How do you extend grace to others?
To your spouse? _____________________________
To your family? ______________________________
To your neighbors? ___________________________
And to co-workers? ___________________________
3. Do you have a profound sense of gratitude for the grace you've been given? Share with someone a time when someone extended grace to you.