“Stop chasing the goose!” – Pastor Jason
I watched a sermon recently with the title above that made me think twice about the concept of GRACE. The context is the Book of Acts where a small rural town was hearing the Gospel for the first time. During the presentation of the message, the people thought they were being visited by the gods in human form (Zeus and Hermes) as Paul and Barnabas did a miracle healing of a man who couldn’t walk from birth.
The people of this small town called Lystra are recalling a famous story about two men coming to test a small town by asking the townspeople for food and no one would give them food except an elderly couple who could only give them what little they had, i.e. bread and wine. They thought it wasn’t enough, so they tried to chase and grab their pet goose to kill and prepare for these gods in human form. Finally, the goose escapes and lands in one of the god’s laps. The gods tell the couple to stop, you don’t have to serve us anything else, we were just testing you to see if you would serve us.
If you are a person of faith you know the Gospel message is that Jesus came as our sacrifice and there was NOTHING we had to do to earn His free gift of salvation. We did not have to sacrifice anything like a goose etc. to receive this gift.
Yet, how many of us who have accepted this free gift are still chasing the goose? Do we still try to earn our Creator’s favor by doing things for Him attempting to earn His grace? By trying to earn His favor through works, i.e. be good, kind, honest, generous, give to charity, etc., we may believe that His generosity will be multiplied, and we’ll receive more than we deserve.
This is not how GRACE works. Good works come from accepting the free gift and our appreciation for this free gift generates the inspiration to do good works. We can never do enough to earn our Creator’s favor, because we don’t have to.
Chasing the goose can rob us of the freedom of accepting the free gift.
Enjoy your freedom my friends!
Ephesians 2:8–9
Hope you enjoy your Sunday!
TSK
I watched a sermon recently with the title above that made me think twice about the concept of GRACE. The context is the Book of Acts where a small rural town was hearing the Gospel for the first time. During the presentation of the message, the people thought they were being visited by the gods in human form (Zeus and Hermes) as Paul and Barnabas did a miracle healing of a man who couldn’t walk from birth.
The people of this small town called Lystra are recalling a famous story about two men coming to test a small town by asking the townspeople for food and no one would give them food except an elderly couple who could only give them what little they had, i.e. bread and wine. They thought it wasn’t enough, so they tried to chase and grab their pet goose to kill and prepare for these gods in human form. Finally, the goose escapes and lands in one of the god’s laps. The gods tell the couple to stop, you don’t have to serve us anything else, we were just testing you to see if you would serve us.
If you are a person of faith you know the Gospel message is that Jesus came as our sacrifice and there was NOTHING we had to do to earn His free gift of salvation. We did not have to sacrifice anything like a goose etc. to receive this gift.
Yet, how many of us who have accepted this free gift are still chasing the goose? Do we still try to earn our Creator’s favor by doing things for Him attempting to earn His grace? By trying to earn His favor through works, i.e. be good, kind, honest, generous, give to charity, etc., we may believe that His generosity will be multiplied, and we’ll receive more than we deserve.
This is not how GRACE works. Good works come from accepting the free gift and our appreciation for this free gift generates the inspiration to do good works. We can never do enough to earn our Creator’s favor, because we don’t have to.
Chasing the goose can rob us of the freedom of accepting the free gift.
Enjoy your freedom my friends!
Ephesians 2:8–9
Hope you enjoy your Sunday!
TSK
