Jubilee of Grace: Jesus for the Bankrupt and Broken

We carry this bridle of human performance. And we get exhausted of trying to be good enough, polite enough, right enough. We start gripping these stone tablets of the law, the law we often have written ourselves, and we use them to measure our own worth. This is what makes me a worthwhile human being. And then we start using it to judge others' worth. And Jesus is standing in front of both you and me this morning and he's asking us to unhitch our lives from these systems and he's saying, would you just trust me to save you from your sin? [00:41:19] (38 seconds)  #UnhitchFromPerformance

Because grace, my friends, is offensive. It's offensive to our own heart. It's offensive that we have that need. So what do we do with Jesus? Do we let him offend us or do we let him save us? Sometimes we walk into a church and and we have a sense of this heavy burden of this is the person I have to be and this is the thing I gotta do and and we have all these laws that we have written in our hearts This is how we are acceptable. [00:40:31] (48 seconds)  #GraceIsOffensive

Jesus is telling them that God's grace isn't a reward for the righteous. Naaman wasn't righteous. It's a rescue for the bankrupt. It's for anyone who comes and calls on the name of the Lord. He says, I will save you. If you come in your poverty, in your brokenness, if you confess your leprosy, which is a metaphor for sin, that he, not because of what you've done, but because of the simple ask, will save you. [00:38:41] (45 seconds)  #GraceRescuesTheBankrupt

Remember the day when you sat down at the table of grace, where you confessed your bankruptcy, your need, where you prayed with a humble heart for his help. He responded as he always does, with love, with mercy, with kindness. He wants you to know that in him is jubilee, that there's good news for the poor. There's sight for the blind. There's liberty for the captive. There's good news. [00:43:52] (49 seconds)  #TableOfGrace

When we look in the mirror, we could hold on to all the criticism that have been downloaded into us, how we're not good enough, how we're not worthy, how we're not really loved. Break off those lies, Lord. Allow us to hear the truth that in you we are loved, we are made worthy, we're forever yours, never to be lost, never to be forsaken. Allow for your truth to set us free so that the year of jubilee wouldn't just be a text on a page that you preached two thousand years ago, but a lived reality in our souls. [00:53:17] (51 seconds)  #TruthSetsUsFree

Would you let me be your good news? And the moment we let him into our life, the moment we call on his name and admit our bankruptcy, we cannot change ourselves. The moment we do that, we're saved. When he enters our life, he continues to save us from sin until we're home with him. It's a once and forever encounter with Christ that changes us. [00:41:57] (37 seconds)  #OnceAndForeverEncounter

And if I'm perfectly honest, this is the way I want Jesus to be. I want Jesus to be like that. I want Jesus to be like a hometown Jesus, you know, polite Canadian Jesus, a savior who's a good neighbor, somebody who can help me out in a jam, maybe offer me some comforting words when I'm sad, but who would fundamentally leave me and my house, my life, my habits, my pride exactly the way he found it. [00:24:17] (37 seconds)  #NotJustHometownJesus

Now imagine what it would look like if we held onto the gospel of His grace. What if it was known that Grace United Church wasn't just a nice church or polite church or where people were kind? What if it was known as the church as a hospital for the broken? A place where the doors are wide open because everyone in the church knows that they're spiritually bankrupt without Jesus. [00:42:44] (35 seconds)  #ChurchAsHospital