Our identity as recipients of grace
Matthew 6:11-12
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors
God’s grace towards us is expressed in his provision for us.
Psalm 23:1
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want
The prayer for daily bread is for physical sustenance. It is also for that which is our true and greatest need, Jesus himself.
John 6:35
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
The grace of God’s provision is not limited by our circumstance and it is often administered through ministers, those who are willing to participate in God’s plan, as seen in John 6:4-13 when Jesus feeds the five thousand.
The broken body of Christ passed from hand to hand multiplied millions of times over the centuries is still filling and multiplying and being passed on in endless grace.
Matthew 26:26
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.
This grace is given to us for the forgiveness of sins.
Ephesians 2:5
even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)
If we think our sins are small and that maybe we can do enough good to make up for them this grace won’t mean much. But when we understand that every sin is high treason against the King of Kings and the sentence is death then we find we need grace to make us alive.
Luke 7:41-42
“There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”
A real understanding of the tragedy and terror of sin could lead towards despair but we know that,
1John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Psalm 51:1-2
Have mercy upon me, O God,
According to Your lovingkindness;
According to the multitude of Your tender mercies,
Blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
And cleanse me from my sin.
In Christ we are part of a family that is characterized by the giving and receiving of forgiveness.
Matt 6:14-15
“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Matthew 18:22-24
Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him, up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
Our identity in Christ is that we have received and continue to receive grace, favor and mercy from our Father. We have so much in fact, that the more we give away the more we have.
Ephesians 1:3-6
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
brotherpayne 