Receiving Grace
Pastor Tan Thai · Dec 17, 2017
This sermon presents God's grace through the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Mediator full of grace and truth. Through the genealogy in Matthew 1, the preacher demonstrates that no one deserves to enter God's family, yet all are welcomed by grace alone. The greatest obstacle to receiving grace is pride, and only the humble can receive God's priceless gift of salvation.
The sermon opens by revisiting why human beings cannot approach the holy, perfect, and glorious God on their own. Like the soldier in the story who hid for 32 years to escape justice, sinful humanity tries to flee from God but cannot ultimately escape. Therefore, God sent His only Son Jesus Christ as the Mediator, the Word who became flesh, full of grace and truth (John 1:14; 1 Timothy 2:5-6).
The central section focuses on Jesus' genealogy in Matthew 1:1-17. The pastor highlights three remarkable features: the inclusion of women in a society that considered them inferior to men, the inclusion of Gentiles who were despised such as Moabites and Canaanites, and the inclusion of morally compromised individuals such as Rahab the prostitute, Tamar who slept with her father-in-law, and Bathsheba who committed adultery with David. Under Mosaic law, these individuals were barred from God's presence, yet they appear in the Messiah's genealogy—declaring the profound truth that only by grace, grace alone, were they welcomed into God's family.
The preacher goes on to examine the inseparable pairing of grace and truth. Truth without grace can become cruel, while grace without truth can lead people astray. Only in Jesus Christ are both perfectly united. A mature believer learns to balance both, following Christ's example of knowing the right person, context, and moment to express grace and truth appropriately.
The sermon emphasizes that the greatest obstacle to receiving grace is pride. The pastor distinguishes between healthy pride and destructive arrogance, and identifies four signs of pride: fault-finding in others, a harsh and critical attitude, quick self-justification without acknowledging one's own failures, and a craving for attention and praise. Philippians 2:5-8, describing Christ's humble mindset, is presented as the model for the believer's life.
The sermon concludes with two practical lessons drawn from grace: first, no one deserves to enter God's family, but God through Jesus Christ loves us more than we dare hope—just as He received Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, David, and Bathsheba despite their unworthiness; second, followers of Christ must learn to practice both truth and grace in their relationships with others. This is the Good News of Christmas: Jesus Christ has broken down every barrier of race, gender, status, and past so that all people may be welcomed to the Lamb's table and receive forgiveness and grace from God.