WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.820 Good morning, everyone. I've had a bit of a revelation, to be honest. This week I had fresh 00:00:08.820 --> 00:00:16.120 insight that a certain brand of toilet paper is a fraction of the price of the other brand 00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:23.519 that I normally throw in the trolley each week. Shop well for less. You know, I've been a loyal 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:29.859 customer of this particular brand. It's not only been close to my heart, it's been close to other 00:00:29.859 --> 00:00:36.479 parts of my body as well, but branding can make a huge impact, as these bears will tell you. 00:00:37.939 --> 00:00:44.719 I mean, why would you choose a bear? You know, a bear, and also, again, we get dogs, don't we? Cuddly 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:53.859 little puppies that are selling us this product, this brand, and they don't even use it. You know, 00:00:53.859 --> 00:01:01.060 the thing is that a leading advertising agency said, your brand is your chance to tell your 00:01:01.060 --> 00:01:08.560 customers a story. Branding is not just a logo or a design, the font you use or the products you sell. 00:01:08.980 --> 00:01:16.319 It's all these things and much, much more. It's the customer experience that you provide. It's the 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:23.859 philosophy that you embrace and the culture you adhere to. A brand is a feeling that a business 00:01:23.859 --> 00:01:32.839 invokes in customers. It's what makes your business unique. But a brand isn't built overnight. It takes 00:01:32.839 --> 00:01:40.759 time. And the more often that we may think it needs a little push in the right direction from our side, 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:49.780 give your brand the push in the right direction that it needs. I'm going to ask us this morning is, 00:01:49.939 --> 00:01:57.840 as we think about our theme of gratitude, we often forget the essential element of our brand within that 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:08.060 is grace. What about grace? Grace makes in our Christian discipleship and apprenticeship to Jesus 00:02:08.060 --> 00:02:17.259 that mark of our Christian branding. People spot grace within us. That mark that was given to us 00:02:17.259 --> 00:02:24.000 by Jesus that we spoke about in our reading this morning. So essential for those that we're seeking 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:31.980 to reach if we display grace. Paul spells it out. How blessed is God and what a blessing he is. He's the 00:02:31.979 --> 00:02:38.359 father of our master Jesus. Our gratitude to God isn't something that we should take for granted. 00:02:39.799 --> 00:02:48.019 But here's another but, and it's an important but in here. Where does that gratitude, our immense gratitude 00:02:48.019 --> 00:02:57.579 and grace flow out and exhibit itself through our lives? How does that display itself in our everyday? 00:02:57.580 --> 00:03:04.880 How do we display grace? You know, I didn't really grasp the enormity of grace until I read a book by 00:03:04.880 --> 00:03:11.840 Philip Yancey. You can see it's well read. It's what's so amazing about grace. And his strapline is the book, 00:03:12.180 --> 00:03:19.439 there is nothing you can do to make God love us more. There is nothing you can do to make God love us less. 00:03:19.439 --> 00:03:28.039 Unless we understand that element of grace that we have received from God, how are we able to share 00:03:28.039 --> 00:03:34.740 that grace with other people and that love that he has shown to us? We speak of grace often, but do we 00:03:34.740 --> 00:03:42.719 truly understand that enormity of grace that's been given to us? Do our lives proclaim grace in our 00:03:42.719 --> 00:03:47.919 actions? You see, grace is lived out. It's not something that we can manufacture. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:58.099 It actually comes in us and through us into people's lives. People try to fake it, but like most fakes, 00:03:58.279 --> 00:04:05.939 we know that we can't keep it up for long. People spot it a mile off. Grace has to be lived, 00:04:06.539 --> 00:04:13.500 and that's through the generosity of God. Paul in Ephesus was in two years preaching in the synagogue, 00:04:13.500 --> 00:04:19.579 and people got this idea of grace. People came to faith. People came to understanding. 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:25.319 But again, there was a whole load of people who just wanted to drive Paul out of that place 00:04:25.319 --> 00:04:31.819 because actually all the icons that they were making to other faiths and other gods, 00:04:32.920 --> 00:04:39.879 they were losing trade. So they just drove him out. And as we negotiate our way through our teaching 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:45.899 series on gratitude, where does grace sit within our lives, where does it get polluted by the outside 00:04:45.899 --> 00:04:55.259 world? Where does it get diminished, that grace in our lives? C.S. Lewis entered a conversation on 00:04:55.259 --> 00:05:04.560 comparative religions and defined grace, which is almost never used as a word. Instead, he communicated 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:11.720 grace through parables in the Bible. So people asked him the question, what is Christianity's 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:19.720 uniqueness amongst all these other world religions? And C.S. Lewis replied, that's easy. He said, it's grace. 00:05:20.579 --> 00:05:29.100 It's grace that marks us out. The Gospels and parables often display grace, and we can see it in many 00:05:29.100 --> 00:05:34.640 that we remember the lost sheep, the lost coin. We can remember them all, the grace of God that goes 00:05:34.640 --> 00:05:41.700 out and saves. And Henry Neuwin points out, God rejoices not because the problems of the world have 00:05:41.700 --> 00:05:48.020 been solved, not because all human pain and suffering have come to an end, not because thousands of people 00:05:48.020 --> 00:05:54.879 have been converted and are praising him for his goodness. No, God rejoices because one of his children 00:05:54.879 --> 00:06:04.879 who was lost has been found, and that is grace. Maybe you're here this morning, or maybe listening to 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:11.920 this for the first time, to say, actually, I acknowledge everything that's been said today, 00:06:12.500 --> 00:06:19.300 because it's the grace of God that found me and saved me. And it wasn't by works. 00:06:19.300 --> 00:06:29.300 It was for God. And I acknowledge that relationship afresh today. It's always been for the one. It 00:06:29.300 --> 00:06:34.560 always has been. The graciousness that Jesus died on the cross, it will always be for the one. It will 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:39.519 be for you and for me. He would have done it if there was nobody else at all. It would have always been 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:47.600 for us. And until we actually grasp that idea of the grace of God, I'm not really sure we move very 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:54.320 far in that discipleship that we call discipleship and apprenticeship. You know, it's in Christ that 00:06:54.320 --> 00:07:00.620 we find out who we are and where we are and who we're living for. And long before we heard of Christ, 00:07:00.740 --> 00:07:08.980 we got our hopes up. He had his eye on us. I often use that translation and said he often had his eye on me, 00:07:09.540 --> 00:07:15.280 because I think that makes it a little bit more personal. For this glorious living and part of the 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:22.099 overall purpose, he is working out. But sadly, we all know that there's a rival brand, isn't there? 00:07:22.279 --> 00:07:31.000 There's a rival brand that culture says to us, even from nursery school onwards, teaches us how to 00:07:31.000 --> 00:07:38.799 succeed in the world of ungrace. You know, the early bird gets the worm. There is no such thing as a free 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:45.560 lunge. Demand your rights. Get what you pay for. Work for what you earn. You know, we've often been 00:07:45.560 --> 00:07:55.540 absorbed by this ungrateful and ungraced habits into our lives. They can become like a brand upon us. 00:07:56.680 --> 00:08:05.699 A brand that is very unhelpful and doesn't represent the true brand that Jesus has marked on our lives. 00:08:05.699 --> 00:08:13.939 Jesus spoke about a new life, about new beginnings. Repent, to turn around, to accept this grace which 00:08:13.939 --> 00:08:19.599 is freely given. And maybe there are those here this morning, maybe listening on the podcast as 00:08:19.599 --> 00:08:24.719 you're driving along, to say, I haven't really fully embraced that. There's still stuff I'm holding on to. 00:08:24.759 --> 00:08:30.800 I haven't really bought into this grace of God's love and God's purpose for me that is for me no matter 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:42.240 what I have done. You see, we didn't get what we deserved. That's the beauty of grace. 00:08:43.500 --> 00:08:50.180 I deserve punishment, yet I received forgiveness. I deserved God's wrath, yet I received love. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:56.960 I deserved the debtor's prison, yet received a clean credit history. I deserve stern lectures. 00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:04.019 I deserved a crawl on your knees, subservient grovelling to God's gratitude, yet I received a 00:09:04.019 --> 00:09:11.120 royal banquet, a robe around my shoulders and a ring that was placed on my finger to say that you 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:22.780 are my son and you are my daughter. And that is grace. As C.S. Lewis puts it, to be a Christian means to 00:09:22.779 --> 00:09:29.480 forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you. That's grace. 00:09:33.339 --> 00:09:43.519 Written almost 250 years ago, John Newton wrote the song Amazing Grace. He knew what that meant. He had 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:51.399 been a slave ship owner. He had done the inexcusable in his life. And if you read about it, you know that 00:09:51.399 --> 00:09:59.399 that was inexcusable. Yet he came to a point where he suddenly realized that God's grace was in his life 00:09:59.399 --> 00:10:09.120 and repented and turned around and wrote this amazing song. He came alongside William Wilberforce, 00:10:09.699 --> 00:10:16.059 leader of the parliamentary campaign to abolish the African slave trade. No wonder he wrote, 00:10:16.059 --> 00:10:20.879 the chains are gone and I am free, but the chains are gone and I am free in order to experience God's grace. 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:27.479 And the world changed. The world changed through grace. 00:10:29.399 --> 00:10:37.399 The thing is, what brand do we carry? Do we carry the brand that the world has placed upon us? 00:10:37.399 --> 00:10:43.679 Or do we carry the brand of grace that Jesus has freely given us? 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:50.419 As we've talked about our series today, I just want to ask you, 00:10:51.079 --> 00:10:54.199 what brand do we carry when we leave here today? 00:10:55.379 --> 00:10:59.939 Because people will spot it a mile off, but we will spot it in ourselves. 00:10:59.940 --> 00:11:06.100 I don't need to show grace. I need to live it. 00:11:07.880 --> 00:11:11.040 What brand does our church in everyday living display? 00:11:12.100 --> 00:11:18.340 What is God's brand upon us? And maybe you'd like to recognize this morning afresh 00:11:18.340 --> 00:11:26.960 that amazing brand that God places with us that we can give, that we share, that was given to us. 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:33.400 God's brand that's not branded into our chest in hot irons, 00:11:34.060 --> 00:11:41.440 but a brand that's placed into our life in love, forgiveness, renewal, 00:11:41.980 --> 00:11:47.680 and a recognition that God's love is for us and in us and through us 00:11:47.680 --> 00:11:52.000 to carry out all those covenant promises that we've promised this morning. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:59.919 I'm just going to ask you to stand if you're able to this morning. 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:06.460 As we reaffirm and ask for that recognition of God's grace in our life. 00:12:07.539 --> 00:12:11.240 That whatever chains you have carried in your life, 00:12:12.039 --> 00:12:14.360 that as we accept Jesus, we are free. 00:12:14.360 --> 00:12:19.980 Free to go and share that grace and that love with every other, 00:12:19.980 --> 00:12:22.860 as unencumbered by the world and the culture, 00:12:23.700 --> 00:12:25.700 but to show grace. 00:12:28.500 --> 00:12:30.139 Would you like to stand with me? 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:32.580 Holy Spirit, would you come? 00:12:35.419 --> 00:12:39.539 You may feel that you wish to go and just maybe kneel somewhere 00:12:39.539 --> 00:12:44.860 because of that recognition of God's grace in our life for what we have done, 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:47.939 that we are forgiven, that we are renewed, 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:49.519 and God's grace on us. 00:12:49.799 --> 00:12:51.659 You may wish to come and pray with somebody. 00:12:52.019 --> 00:12:54.639 There'll be people to pray with you just down here at the front. 00:12:54.879 --> 00:12:56.039 You may wish to come forward. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:57.019 You may wish to kneel. 00:12:57.399 --> 00:12:59.419 I'd be loved to kneel with you and pray with you. 00:13:02.099 --> 00:13:03.579 Holy Spirit, would you come? 00:13:03.580 --> 00:13:08.580 And would you recognize in us and through us your amazing grace? 00:13:10.139 --> 00:13:12.120 And as we sing these words together, 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:17.240 Lord, would you fill us afresh with a sense of your Holy Spirit 00:13:17.240 --> 00:13:22.879 to go and make disciples and to show that love 00:13:22.879 --> 00:13:26.020 to a world that so desperately needs it at the moment. 00:13:26.560 --> 00:13:27.660 In Jesus' name. 00:13:28.300 --> 00:13:28.620 Amen. 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:29.800 Amen.