Dear Family at Christ Community,

     This Sunday we will get to come to the Lord’s Table as we conclude the first part of our Romans series. Romans 5:18-21 will help us behold the marvels of Christ’s perfect and finished work on our behalf and God’s abundant grace toward us. God’s grace—His undeserved favor to us in Christ—is at the heart of the gospel. Indeed, in Romans 5:21 Paul will say that as Christians we live under the reign of grace. In other words, in Christ we are rescued from the tyranny of sin and death and become members of God’s kingdom of abundant grace. 

     Even so, sometimes we forget why God’s grace is amazing. Perhaps we cheapen and commodify it. Perhaps we push it aside with our busyness. Perhaps we question it because of our sin. For all these reasons, it is worth taking time this week to meditate on John Stott’s reflections on grace in Romans 5:18-21: 

Nothing could sum up better the blessings of being in Christ than the expression ‘the reign of grace’. For grace forgives sins through the cross, and bestows on the sinner both righteousness and eternal life. Grace satisfies the thirsty soul and fills the hungry with good things. Grace sanctifies sinners, shaping them into the image of Christ. Grace perseveres even with the recalcitrant, determining to complete what it has begun. And one day grace will destroy death and consummate the kingdom. So when we are convinced that ‘grace reigns’, we will remember that God’s throne is a ‘throne of grace’, and will come to it boldly to receive mercy and to find grace for every need. And all this is through Jesus Christ our Lord, that is, through his death and resurrection. (The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

Stott reminds us why God’s grace is amazing: we get to come boldly to His throne of grace for every need. Likewise, we also get to come to His table to commune with Him. And at the table, we behold by faith Christ’s body and blood given for us so that we might become members of this kingdom of God’s amazing and abundant grace.

     As you prepare to come to the table, pick a sentence or two from Stott’s comments and reflect on some of the amazing things God does for us by grace. Then spend time giving thanks for God’s grace to you in specific ways. Finally, ask the Holy Spirit to help our church family taste and see God’s grace to us at His table on Sunday!

Yours in Christ,
Matt