Notes Notes+KEY Full Service

TEACHING SUMMARY:

Grace is God’s undeserved goodness given to us in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2 shows that we were spiritually dead, but God made us alive with Christ. Salvation is His gift, received through faith, not earned through good works. Yet grace produces a changed life: grace is the root; good works are the fruit. Jesus is full of grace and truth. His grace does not excuse sin, and His truth does not authorize cruelty. Grace is free to us but costly to Christ, calling us to repentance and new life.

Grace received becomes grace given. In Matthew 18, a servant receives forgiveness for an impossible debt but refuses mercy toward another. Jesus challenges us to remember what we have received and forgive from the heart. Forgiveness does not eliminate truth, boundaries, or accountability. It calls us to surrender revenge and seek another person’s good. As we extend grace, our lives reveal God’s goodness. Don’t get over being saved: choose one person and one act of grace this week.

TALK-IT-OVER:

What is the difference between mercy and grace? Where have you experienced God’s undeserved goodness?

Jesus is full of grace and truth. How can you extend grace without excusing wrongdoing or using truth as a weapon?

In Matthew 18, the forgiven servant becomes a debt collector. Whose debt are you still collecting, and what would forgiveness require of you?

How can remembering Christ’s costly gift change your response to someone who has hurt you while preserving appropriate boundaries and accountability?

Who is your one person, and what concrete act of grace will you take this coming week?

Further Reading:

Ephesians 4:25–32
Romans 12:9-21
Colossians 3:12–14
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 6:27–36              
1 John 4:7-21