SERMON
NOTES

Focus: What is the response of the person captivated by God’s grace? They realize they did not deserve Jesus dying for them so that they have Life. They realize that nothing that God has ever done for them was what they worked for, or truly deserved. They realize that now they are daughters and sons, not slaves. The natural response is overwhelming gratitude. For everything. How do we identify what to be grateful for? How do we show that gratitude? How persevering is that gratitude if “God’s mercies are new every morning”?

1 Chronicles 17:16-26
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Notes on the passage:
1 Chronicles 17 begins with David’s desire to build a permanent “house” for the Ark of the Covenant; didn’t the Ark signify the very Presence of God? Dare I say he felt a little guilty whenever he compared his own more than adequate made-of-wood lodgings to the – what he felt – (in)adequate lodgings of God’s Presence-signifying-Ark, which was a “tent” (the God-instructed Tabernacle). Nathan the prophet, acknowledging God’s presence with David, encourages him to do his heart’s desire for God. After all, when your heart is filled with wanting to do good things for God, it’s good, isn’t it? Wrong, apparently.

God responds to David’s emotional and sincere desire by telling Nathan to give this message to him:

• The reality of God’s Presence (17:4-6). The Ark of the Covenant was only a symbol of God’s Presence. God didn’t need a “house” to contain himself. The temporariness of the movable Tabernacle was precisely to show that God cannot be contained in one place.
• The grace of God’s Working (17:7-10). Note the use of “I” in what God says. The fact was that what the Lord would do for David was infinitely more important than anything David could do for him; their whole relationship, from start to finish, is based on God’s grace. He had done this, and this, and this for David. And if there was to be any house-building at all, it would be first and foremost that God would build David a “house” (meaning a line of descendants).
• The plan of God’s Provision (17:11-14). That “house,” meaning the Temple, would certainly be built. But it would be David’s son (the not-yet-born Solomon) who would do it. But even that would be minuscule compared to all that God promises David that he would do for that son and the kingdom.

The passage that is part of today’s reading (1 Chronicles 17:16-26) is David’s response, his prayer of thanksgiving to God for ALL that God had said he’d done for him, and all the promises of what he would do for him, his son, and his descendants. His being overwhelmed with awe and thanksgiving can be seen in the phrases:
“Who am I, Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? “
“You, Lord God, have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men.”
“Lord, for the sake of your servant and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made known all these great promises.”
“There is no one like you, Lord, and there is no God but you”
“…God went out to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for yourself… driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt”
“And now, Lord, let the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house be established forever…You, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him…”
John Newton used this passage for his New Year sermon of January 1, 1773 (a Friday). He wrote a poem called “Faith's Review and Expectation” that was to be sung as part of that service. No record of the tune survives, but it later became the hymn “Amazing Grace.” Newton pondered on his own past life as a slave ship Captain and understood the extent of God’s “amazing grace,” as did David in his response to God. Newton’s response was awe and gratitude, too.

1 Timothy 1:12-17
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy%201%3A12-17&version=NIV
Notes on the passage:
Paul could never get over the fact that God could have

• Redeemed him. Jesus had loved him even through his violent past. In fact, he would die for him, to “buy” him out of his sin, brokenness, and misplaced zeal.
• Chosen him. Jesus had personally appeared to him, and despite Paul thinking he (Paul) was far from worthy to be his servant, he actually chose him to be a vessel and channel of his precious Grace to all!

Paul’s own continuous response to God’s grace on his life was awe and gratitude!
Questions to be considered:

• How can grace overwhelm a person so that they cannot stop being grateful? In other words, what about Jesus and what he has done for us grows in us an ever-increasing gratitude for him?
• What ways can gratitude to Jesus be manifested? How can our very lives reflect gratitude, beginning with words/speech and different aspects of our lives?
• David was deeply grateful to God that, even though he was not given the privilege of building God’s Temple, God chose his son to do so. How can our lives of gratitude reflect a privilege to be a part of God’s building of his Kingdom through DUMC?
• How can our gratitude reveal that “the grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus”?