Download March 13 May the force be with you

March 13
May the force be with you - And also with you!
Ephesians 2:8-9 New Living Translation (NLT)
8
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a
reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us
anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
When we reach a point in life where we accept that God loves us, has been calling us to turn toward Him,
and we decide to allow Him to resource our lives with His Spirit, then we have reached the time when God's
powerful force of the Holy Spirit works in us and we receive the wonderful and free gift of Saving Grace or
Justifying Grace.
Now I like the word JUSTIFYING because there is a little play on words possible here. Once I accept God's
love for me, God declares me forgiven - wipes the slate clean - "Just as if" I had always been accepting of
God's love in my life - and never sinned. So I like calling this Just-as-if-I grace - Justifying.
How God does this is a mystery in our human minds. But the Ephesians 2 passage I have chosen for today
gives us some insight! Read the verse.
God saved you by giving you the gift of salvation. It is not something we can earn. It is not something we
deserve. God just loves us so much - it says we are God's masterpiece. So what happens is that S God
makes it possible for our slate to be cleaned through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We will be
celebrating all that in the coming weeks. God offers us new life through this gift of justifying grace. And
because of what God has done - then we can begin to do the good things He planned for us.
It's by the strength of the resurrection and the force of the Holy Spirit that God affects our lives so
powerfully. And we have no idea how - so we must simply accept it by faith. That is key to our
receiving what God is offering.
Now, why He does that is the question that we have the answer for - God does this because He loves us!
Each and every one of us!
In justifying grace, God's love offers…
Freedom from guilt that was caused by our sin. An opportunity to develop the relationship God, intended
when He created us.
The opportunity to live into the relationship with other people as Jesus exemplifies.
We get a new life with a clean slate - as we grow in our faith that God has done all of this for us and
because he loves us AND for the price of asking for His son to be our Savior - we receive our Just As If
grace by faith!
So God gives us a gift. What do you do when someone gives you a gift. Say oh you shouldn't have - or no
thanks or that's very nice but how much will I owe you. NO the appropriate response is thank you. Our
response to God is gratitude, praise and joy for all He has given us in the force of the Spirit and the power
of Christ's resurrection.
Speaking of opening presents, how about we open one today. I need a volunteer - but I need that
volunteer to do something for me first. Give me your best Darth Vader voice…. What do you think
everyone - was that good enough to get the gift?
Receiving God's gift of justifying grace is like opening a wrapped present. We are unable to see what is
inside yet. We have to accept the gift on faith - faith that the person giving us that gift loves us and picked
it out special for us. That There should build some excited expectation, and when we decide to open it, the
contents are amazing because they mark the moment when we chose to begin to live for God - and to
accept the gift of grace which changes our lives and allows us to live into the new life possible we should be
excited and thankful - and filled with joy and gratitude.
Okay so we have another video clip from the saga of Luke Skywalker in our Star Wars adventure. It is the
one where we find him learning from 800 year old Yoda, what the force can do.
Watch clip
Luke failed trying to use the force to raise the x-wing fighter. Then Yoda, who is very small in stature but
very accomplished in learning the ways of the force, raises the craft out of the swamp.
In the scene from the Empire Strikes Back, the frustrated Luke confesses, "I don't believe it." In his special
voice and way, Yoda states the obvious, "This is why you fail." The force is not something you learn and
master and then believe in. It is a gift - and you accept it - you take it into yourself and become connected
with this force of life. You do not have to understand the force - you must have faith in the force.
The same is true with Justifying grace. How God does it is unimportant. You must have faith - you must
believe God loves you that much and offers you that much. Then with joy - excitement - gratitude for this
gift - you can live into the new life God has planned for you. Ephesians 2:8-10 brings us to the point of
accepting justifying grace through the acceptance of Jesus as our Savior. Jesus is the sacrifice we see at
Easter that makes all grace possible. Easter and Jesus resurrection makes it possible of us to know that
God sends the Holy Spirit to be the force in our lives so we can begin, in this day to live as God intends.
Have you found God's gift of grace for your life? You need to. It comes when we say….
God, I'm done trying to live ignoring you.
Beginning today - I want to cooperate with the work of your Holy Spirit force in my life to show me how to
live according to your plan and in Your power.
AMEN