Sermon Tone Analysis
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“I shall be telling this with a sigh; Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”
— Robert Frost
In John 14:6, Jesus said:
John 14:6 (NRSV)
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
That is an invitation FILLED with Grace!
Jesus promises that… not only does He know the Way, but He IS the Way… His way IS the Truth… and His Truth IS Life!
It is within that context that Jesus invited Andrew and John’s other disciple to “Come and see.”
It is within that context that Jesus invited those first disciples beside the Sea of Galilee to “Follow me.”
And… He invites us to do the same thing.
He says to us: “Follow me.
And I will lead you along the Way… I will guide you into the Truth… and I will give you Life!”
Jesus’s words are filled with Grace… His invitation is full of Grace… His life is the embodiment of Grace…
WHY?!?!?
Because He didn’t have to....
— Jesus didn’t HAVE TO step out of Heaven…
— Jesus did not HAVE TO become flesh and blood…
— Nothing in this world FORCED His hand!
But He did… He did it all… He became flesh…
He became the Way, the Truth, and the Life…
Because He loves YOU!!!!
“God bankrupted Heaven for YOU!” — Corey Asbury
That’s Grace!
That is the Grace Paul understood when he said:
God gave EVERYTHING… He gave it all… when He stepped out of Heaven and into the World…
He poured out Grace upon Grace in Jesus…
All so that He could INVITE us to a Journey of Grace!
(Notice: God invites us, He does not FORCE us… )
It is our choice… God will not make you love Him… God will not make you follow Him… But He will invite you to.
I want to caution you… As with any journey, we must be prepared… as we enter into this Journey of Grace, we must prepare ourselves for it.
You see… Grace is both Personal and Costly.
Jesus said:
Luke 9:23–24 (NRSV)
23 Then he said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
24 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.
Grace has a cost.
We cannot deny that… because when we do, we lose!
You see — If it didn’t cost anything it would be “cheap”…
There is no such thing as “Cheap Grace”.
In his book The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer states: “Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”
He goes on to say that “cheap grace” is the “deadly enemy of the church,” “the bitterest foe of discipleship,” and “has been the ruin of more Christians than any [doctrine] of works.”
Cheap grace says, “I get grace because God is...”
(“I don’t have to do anything for it or with it”)
And that’s partially true…
We can do nothing to “earn” grace!
But… We do have to do something with it!
“One can say they are justified by Grace alone as a gift from God, but the fruit of the justified life is the one who has left all and followed Christ.”
— Busic
The life of one who has accepted the invitation… who has entered into this Journey of Grace… is a life completely surrendered to discipleship… to Him.
Bonhoeffer goes on: “Grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Christ.
It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.
It is costly because it condemns sin and grace because it justifies the sinner.
Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of His Son: ‘ye were bought at a price,’ and what cost God much cannot be cheap for us.”
You see… Grace meets each one of us where we are… in our own peculiarities… and calls each of us to our own unique sacrifices… as we seek to follow Jesus on the journey through this world and into the next!
Jesus’s story is filled with Grace… here’s why…
We are invited to Journey with Him… to “Follow Him”… as He walks us through life.
The Christian Life is a Journey of Grace!
Remember Busic’s words: “The Journey of Grace is not about following a system, a book, a Manual, a denomination, or a tradition.
[ It’s not about Doctrine man creates] We follow, worship, and serve Jesus the Christ.”
— David Busic, Gen. Super Intendant COtN
We have been invited to a Journey…
Here’s why I love the idea of a Journey:
It means that Jesus meets us along the way… along life’s many paths, refusing to prescribe “conditions” for the encounter.
The Grace of Christ meets us right where we are… right where we start… and precisely how we are… BUT… He doesn’t leave us there!
He calls us to walk with Him into something better… something greater… something holier… and here’s the awesome thing — He doesn’t leave us to do it on our own!
Let me tell you… My path to faith… to holiness… and to wholeness in Christ isn’t your path!
For some of us, grace meets us on a very broken road.
— It’s a road dotted with disappointment, heartache, letdowns, and challenges that seem to have no end…
For some, life has left us skeptical and cynical that there is even anything more than our eyes can see…
Others have had a pretty solid life… good homes, families, pseudo-success… which leave us questioning whether we even need the journey…
Some of us have been deeply commited followers our entire lives… we’re no strangers to pain — to difficulties and triumphs, but we’re still left wondering, Is there more to all of this?
The awesome thing about Grace is that it meets us wherever we are!
John 1:35–39 (NRSV)
35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples,
36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”
37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.
38 When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?”
They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?”
39 He said to them, “Come and see.”
They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day.
It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.
Jesus met them where they were…
Do you see that?!
He made His way into THIER path, He didn’t expect them to come find Him…
Grace meets us where we are on the road of life… and invites us to “come and see.”
This is an awesome part of the story…
Having heard about Jesus from John the Baptist… two of John’s disciples run off to inquire of Jesus.
They want to spend time with Him… to “see” where He stays… to learn about the destination…
“Jesus, where are you staying” they ask, “Where will this take us?”
Jesus says, “Come and see.”
There is something exciting about that statement.
“Come and see”
It’s an invitation to step into a journey… not knowing where it will lead!
“Come and see.”
It’s reminiscent of Abraham… He did nothing to deserve God’s invitation… By Grace he was invited to the journey… and, by Grace, we are invited to the journey.
“Come and see”
Notice that Jesus doesn’t obsess about destinations… He is much more interested in the Journey, “Come and see.”
Jesus doesn’t “front-load” the Journey of Grace with a bunch of demands either…
He simply invites us, “Come and see.”
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