Worship
Make this your song of prayer and dedication to God.

Only by grace can we enter,
Only by grace can we stand;
Not by our human endeavour,
But by the blood of the Lamb.
Into Your presence You call us,
You call us to come;
Into Your presence You draw us,
And now by Your grace we come.

Lord, if You mark our transgressions
Who would stand?
Thanks to Your grace we are cleansed
By the blood of the Lamb.
Lord if You mark …….

Only by grace ……..

Sermon on the Mat: It’s all about grace

Read Matthew 1:1-17

‘Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon & fourteen from the exile to Christ.’ v17.

Today marks the first Sunday in advent, the start of the four week countdown to the birth of Jesus. A birth, the lineage of which, take note, comprises as many names of men & women who have failed to live up to God’s expectations, as it does those who appear to have not. An encouraging reminder to us all that acceptance into His eternal Kingdom is & will always be a matter of grace & never one of individual or collective merit or ability. Here’s how Paul puts it in Ephesians 2:8-9 –‘ For by grace you have been saved, through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.’ ESV.

If that were not the case why else would someone like Jacob be included in the family line up of the Messiah?! Jacob, whose name means supplanter because he twice deprived his brother Esau of his rights as the firstborn son. As one commentator helpfully notes – ‘Jacob is an outstanding illustration of the presence & conflict of the two natures within a believer. Similar to Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde of Robert Louis Stevenson’s story, Jacob is good & bad; he rises & falls, yet in spite of his failures was a chosen instrument. ‘

And whilst we are on the subject of unlikely people to qualify for a place in the genealogy of Jesus, what about Rahab? Her name appears in verse five of Matthew’s index of some of the less savoury members of the Saviour’s ancestry. According to the book of Joshua, she lived in the Promised Land of Jericho, where she bravely assisted the Israelites in capturing the city, by hiding two men who had been sent to reconnoiter the area, prior to their attacking it. A courageous act of selfless disregard for which she will always be remembered, despite the fact that she was, a notorious prostitute!

The last person ever likely to top the chart of your all time favourite Christmas celebrity list, I suspect!? Unless of course you’re God, whose vote of approval not only carries far more weight than anybody else’s but who has also long since made it His business – ‘Not to call the qualified but to qualify the called!’

Something not altogether dissimilar to what Jesus said when, in the context of the call of Levi, the tax collector, He stated – ‘I didn’t invite good people to turn to God. I came to invite sinners!’ Luke 5:32. CEV.

A truth King David, perhaps the most notable of Christ’s ancestors, understood better than most. Since his sinful actions towards Uriah the Hittite, detailed in 2 Samuel 11, were wholly undeserving of the grace of God that followed. A grace so lavish & so full that David’s abiding legacy was, in the end, not that of an adulterer, murderer & out & out liar but of – ‘A man after God’s own heart’ (1 Samuel 13:14).

Something akin to our legacy too, as humbly & thankfully we avail ourselves of that very same grace. A grace by which particular means we too become members of the household of faith – ‘A vital part of the ongoing lineage of Jesus!’

Prayer for Advent

For the desert places in which we walk
The streets we roam, the paths we cross:
Guide our feet.
Take us to places where You would go,
Give us words that You would use,
That in this Advent season of promise
And preparation we might point the way
With John the Baptist
To the Lamb of God,
Who takes away the sin of the world.
Amen.

Please pray that –

• Those who have experienced sorrow, sickness, pain or loss will find their HOPE in knowing that God loves them & gives them strength.
• Friends & neighbours in our community who do not know the love of Christ will hear the message of HOPE this season.
• As followers of Christ, our words & actions will demonstrate our LOVE for one another & that those who observe us will be signposted to Jesus.