An Aspect of Grace

I thought I'd speak on a topic that you're very familiar with. We even put a booklet out about it recently. The topic, or the title of this that I chose was, An Aspect of Grace, or One Aspect of Grace. Grace is, of course, a huge subject. It's so foundational. The throne of grace is the place we come to pray. The mercy seat in the Old Testament, same meaning, same idea. It's just the starting point, or the overall summary of our relationship with God. It's not just pretty big. It's just as big as you can get, I believe. It's another word for, or one view of, God's love, His grace toward us.

And showing love for others involves giving grace, showing grace to them. So it's really big. Really, really big. It's an overarching term, or overarching term, for all the gifts that God gives to us. The blessings, the spiritual riches that God provides continually. It includes unmerited pardon, which we've focused on. It most certainly includes that. But then it goes on, that's at the throne of grace, but it goes on to His countenance toward us, His love toward us. And it's like bias, except bias implies wrongdoing. But there's this automatic giving of the benefit of the doubt to others. And that's God's automatic default mode. It takes an awful long time. He's slow to anger. It takes a long time for Him to drop that. And He says, you know, punishment's for a minute or for a day, but love and blessings—I think this is in Jeremiah—goes on forever. So it's really hard to... He has to take a decision to go against His nature as it were, in this comparison, of giving us the benefit of the doubt. Say, okay, enough is enough. I've forgiven you 4,000 times, you know, 70 times 7 plus 3,000 more, you know. And, no, I love you so much, you're going to have to stop and learn a hard lesson. And this is your warning, this is what you have to do. But God gets out of His normal mode when He goes into that thought. I think that's important to know, because we tend to, because of the devil putting into our, say, the cultures of mankind, this thing of dreading the authority. You have to appease them and give them gifts so these gods won't harass you. And that's a satanic concept. God is the opposite. And He does. He will, because of His concern and love for us and others, step out of that mode of giving us the benefit of the doubt for a short time and give us a trial or punishment. But, you know, step right back in and help us through it, too. So it's just a good thing to know about God.

We know that, of course. By the way, I don't have a single new thing to tell you today, I don't think. I hope I can maybe put it in just a little bit different way. It's good to hear three sermons on the same thing from different people, usually scattered out over time. Because you look at different angles and understand the depth of that topic. And the other two speakers, also, if you happen to be one of them.

That's what I'm going to try to do a little bit here. Now, one of the aspects of grace, of God's attitude toward us, His generosity and so on, is the part that is brought up. I'm going to use the scripture that was put in the pastor's journals report. What do we call it nowadays?

I need a break. But for some rest, that's what I need. The e-news.

The newsletter from the home office.

Mr. Cubick used Acts 4.33, so I'd like to start there. Very interesting kind of a statement here. And I'm going to try to fly through some of these scriptures, since you're familiar with them.

And pull out the points. It says, We're still doing that today, even on this very day, a while ago.

The resurrection is real. Appreciated that.

The witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Acts 4.33. What would great grace be? Grace is great by itself.

And this is an interesting study. Some of the commentaries have comments about just exactly what is that great grace. And I think most of them come to the point, they say, Well, it could be this and that and the other thing. I won't... Like, the large gifts of the Spirit of God. Or, His gracious protection. Or, this and that and the other thing.

Which I will go into.

Or then, I'll quote John Gill, his commentary. Or, it may be all of these things. That's kind of the obvious thing, I believe. Great grace was upon them all. But what would that mean? So, I'd like to speak on this one aspect of grace.

And first of all, we have to describe, to get to God's grace, everything He gives toward us. But it just doesn't land on us and stay there or fill us up and just we get bigger and bigger flow of grace. The whole idea is, there's a flow involved. The Holy Spirit comes in and it's God's grace. And then, we move those blessings out. That attitude, mainly. And everything that goes with it to others in service. And that's the second half of the definition of grace.

God's attitude towards us. But it turns into, because He wants us to be His children and like Him, the grace that we give to others, and we call that, we have a word for it. We say, gracious. God has grace, He gives grace. It says, the Lord is gracious. And we should be gracious. And that's the aspect. It's a huge topic. Let's talk about that. In order to do that, you have to read several scriptures on grace.

And because graciousness, that word isn't used that much. So, I'll go into high gear, I hope, and read fast.

The question we would be interested in is, am I being gracious? Am I gracious like God is? That would be the question in the background of mine, as we're going through this study.

Definitions always help. We start with that.

Politeness in good manners. This is out of the dictionary, the English word. And two examples. His humility and graciousness have won the hearts. Won the hearts of all. She impressed others as a person with extraordinary graciousness and kindness. So, I thought this was a good definition to quote, because it points out, grace is always associated with humility and kindness. This is also very important. When you get out to the end of it, grace is an expression of God's love. So, there would be humility like he is. And then kindness. We did a study a few years ago on kindness, and then that produced a sermon, a Bible study. But the places where it talks about God's kindness, when you go over and above, you don't have to, but you're just extra kind. And that goes right to the same attitude of grace, and just a natural tendency, penchant for wanting to give and help and build others. And that includes sacrificing yourself. God has this thing about him, about his nature. He automatically wants to sacrifice, take something he has and give it to us. And he wants us to be his children, think that way. And so, hence, this huge topic in the Bible, how to be like God. Other words that will come up that grace is associated with are giving, blessing, serving, gratitude, forgiveness, just a whole long list of them. And you would be able to write them out, just think about it, and write, what goes out that's good to others? What can I do? Or that comes from others to me? And you'll come up with quite a list.

Okay, so Philippians 2.13 is such an interesting scripture. I puzzled over this for years and years and years. And it said that we should esteem others better than ourselves. Several translations are worthwhile, but that's basically the statement, King James. We should esteem others better than ourselves. That's Philippians 2 and verse 3, a useful and worthy memory scripture. And I said, okay, I can understand, love others as yourself. That's in the Old Testament. Oh, we should love your brother as yourself. We understand that, or at least we're all in the process of understanding deeper, I guess. And that's the idea. But as, but others, how can you go around and esteem others better? We're not supposed to esteem ourselves better than others, so there should be an equality. Now, that's an interesting one, so I'll tell you what I came to. Maybe you're ahead of me on this, but if so, tell me. Seriously. But I finally, when I, you know, puzzled over for years, came to this. God wants us to be like Him. And God the Father and Jesus Christ the Savior did this. They esteemed us better than themselves. They gave what they shouldn't have had to give, didn't have to give, didn't want to give. It was painful for the Father and for the Son to do that sacrifice. Christ said, you know, why are you telling me not to go to Jerusalem? I came into this world. This is what it came for. I wanted to die. But it wasn't that He wanted to die. He hated that. But that had to be to get to all the good things that He so badly wanted to give to us. And so how did they treat us? Like they were servants instead of creators. They treated us better than themselves. So I began to understand this Scripture when I came to that, you know, that insight. So pass it along to you. If you have an even deeper one, I want you to tell me. We often say, grow in grace and knowledge. 2 Peter 3, 18. How can you grow in grace? So I gave a sermon a year ago or two years ago about the site of it where you're understanding more and more of what God gives to you. By your prayers, through your praises, through your thanksgiving. By doing those things and then putting that into action, treating others well and serving them and so on. You're understanding God's thinking and how much He has given to us. So you're growing in grace. You're able to receive God's gift and understand it more than before. Have you ever had this situation? You come up and you say, you know, old so-and-so did such-and-such. I didn't realize it at the time. Now I know why I did it. He was trying to help me.

Dennis Luecker is an example that comes to my mind because he went out of his way to cover any sermon, something that benefited me greatly, and he happened to know what was going on. And he thought that I and actually my wife and my mother, who was attending the feast, could use some encouragement.

And I thought, well, I'm glad he said that. I didn't realize it for over a year. So I went up to him later when I saw him and said, you know, I've got to thank you. I didn't even know you were trying to help me. So he smiled. That was his treatment. He smiled. I don't know if he said you're welcome or not. But have you ever had that happen? You realize somebody really was helping you, and you didn't. And you feel like an oaf, which just might be true, you know? And that circumstance, anyway, was for me. And go back and thank them after that.

So that's growing in grace. When you understand the depth of what God is doing for you, you're able to accept that by simply understanding how great His grace and goodness is. But there's the second half, and that's as important in this sense that it's why God gives us that grace. That's because He wants us to become like Him at Matthew 5.45.

God gives rain to the just and the unjust, and He just gives constantly. And so, forgive, just be nice to your enemies. Be good to people who persecute you. Because, I want you to come to be like me. Matthew 5.45. Great Scripture. So we quote, grow in grace, and there are two parts of it. One is God's incoming grace to us, which we've been talking about. And the second one is the use of God's grace toward others. That is, outgoing in our attitudes and our service.

Same thing with foot washing. We talk about humility usually, but there is the other part of it, or an aspect of humility. What are you doing? Well, you're cleaning off probably already washed feet nowadays, but, you know, in the olden times, when they wore sandals, then you would, you're washing actual dirt, street dirt, with water with your hands and cleaning up their feet. So you're washing dirt off of them.

Okay, so what do you do when you go out of Passover? What are you supposed to do? You're headed to Old So-and-So's name comes up, or better yet, somebody says something about Old So-and-So in a conversation. Negative, bad, a little innuendo, just a little dig or something. Have you ever had that happen when that person was a really good friend? You loved him. And some dumbbell comes up and says, makes a comment. It doesn't matter if it's true, you don't like him saying it.

What do you do? Well, you start defending him. Well, there's probably good reasons, you know, and they had a tough time, and make five excuses for him real quick. Or, if you don't like him anyway, what do you naturally do? Yeah, you're right.

You know, he is sort of a so-and-so. Do you see that perversity in your own mind? You already know everybody else is that way, but we have to say, well, do I see it myself? So, we walk out of Passover and should, when something comes up, whether it's true or not, whether we like him or not, in our own minds, this doesn't necessarily translate into conversation. It depends on the conversation. In our own minds, we quickly dash over and watch all of his feet and his shoulders, you know, and spray him down, or whatever you can... An analogy you think of, clean him up. Yeah, but God's not done with him yet.

He's going to get over that. These are things you don't necessarily say to others, of course, but you say it to yourself. Pray a prayer of blessing for him or her. That's part of the meeting. That's one of the big meetings, because it's an act of humility to watch somebody's feet. But that's something that can be seen. You can say, I watched his feet really well and everybody saw me.

I did right, and you're right. You probably encourage others because you're part of it. But what nobody else sees is when you clean him up in your own mind, wash away the grudge or just the negative feeling, sometimes you walk around with just a little negative something. Long ago, you forgot what it was, but there's this negative thing. Wash it away. Replace it with positive prayer. A praise to God, a praise to that person. This is a concept.

I read a book on this years and years ago, and didn't put it together for several years either. But it's important to put the knowledge in. That way, God has it to work with and he makes the connections for you. It was an internal praise. It was written by a Baptist minister's wife, two wives.

And the book is called, you probably still get it, it's called, Me Obey Him. It's a small book, and it goes through the rigors of having to be respectful when you just don't feel like it. It applies to men just as much as women. But that was really poignant and right to the point, because she was writing it to help ministers' wives who have to go through a lot.

Fair warning. You already know. But, I mean, as humans, we all go through that. Okay, I think I doddled on this, so I'm going to try to read faster. By the way, this is a very small part of a huge topic, but this small part is way too huge. So I have a long study on this. If I leave something out, well, I did.

A lot. But I'd like to stimulate your thought as you read and study, this idea of graciousness and being gracious, being like God, comes up. Okay, but still, quickly. So graciousness has to do...it comes from an attitude of grace. But what we do...gracious is actually the action phase when we have God's attitude of grace.

And so it's what we do for or refrain from doing against other people. It has to do with action. Doing. How we treat people. That's graciousness. In the churches down there, I've given this sermon, and I have planned an interactive Bible study or discussion. So many times it's important to have a good example of what you mean.

And I'm sure, in the minds of a whole group, you'll come up with just some excellent quotes. I have a few. I'm not even sure I'll get to those because I want to get the main general idea first. In Hebrew, there are three words that don't mean grace.

They mean aspects of it, or they're not exactly the same. There are three words in Greek as well. So it's useful to look those up. I'm not going to go through that just now. But notice that Christ had grace. It just states it. You have to read and see for yourself the examples, because it doesn't say, this was gracious and that was gracious.

It just says what he did. Luke 4, 22, And all, bear him witness, and wondered at his gracious words which proceed out of his mouth, And they say, This is this, Joseph's son, the guy we know. How do you get to be so gracious, or whatever they said? So that's Luke 4, 22, and then James 4, verse 6.

But he gives more grace, or more and more grace. Wherefore he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. And so God is gracious. He has grace, and he acts on it. That's natural. That would be taken for granted. But mention those scriptures. There is one main word in the main one, but there are two others. But the main one is charis, or charis, or however these...

I don't know if Greeks trilled their arms or not. There's something in there. But it's charis, if you're interested in that. Easy to look up. And it's graciousness, not grace, but graciousness. And actually, sometimes it is probably translated as grace. But without going over this long definition, I'll just point it. It says it has to do with, especially, the divine influence upon the heart.

In other words, it's recognized even in the meaning of the term, that it comes from God. And it's thinking like God, in other words. And it includes gratitude as a part of what you're giving to others. So, interesting, in both the Hebrew and the Greek, one of the three words has a connotation of being nice, and forgiving, and having this attitude of grace to you. In addition to that, it has the connotation of bending over at the middle, that is, bending down.

We have examples of Christ, I think he took somebody by the hand, and that would have been bending down. He knelt or stooped down a couple of places to talk to children, that type of thing. So, even in the Word, there's this concept of picturing God and then picturing us acting like God, bending down to give help to somebody, to give them a hand to stand up, or to anoint them, or touch them, or whatever.

A couple of healings come to mind, I think, when the 12-year-old girl was healed, and she was laying there, so he would have had to bend over. Just an interesting part. The idea is you don't maintain your stature and your greatness all the time. You bend over.

You don't care if you are lower or lower than other people around, because you're like God. When Christ didn't care, he was abused to the greatest extent we know of. So, the idea is this grace, this whole attitude, actions, if the Holy Spirit there, when this situation comes up, a certain attitude will bring out a certain kind of activity or a certain kind of action, behavior, through us. So, all these qualities of graciousness, it's easy to show, but they flow from God to us.

They go out through us in service to others. And there's a third aspect. As this happens, our character changes. I just refer back to Matthew 5.45, which I already mentioned. Matthew 5.45. But as this process happens, he gives grace, we understand it, we grow in understanding, and as we take action and give it to others, then we grow ourselves. Our own minds change. Our character changes. We can't do that. God is involved in that.

That's called the spiritual creation. It's the physical and the spiritual. So, it's really fascinating. God has this perfectly detailed plan in everything that covers every possibility. He just knows how to produce children like he is. You say, reproduce. Okay. I keep trying to say, okay, I'm going to talk faster now. I try to even talk faster, which probably means skip more. But do the best you can.

God is gracious. Three Psalms. Eighty-six, one twelve, one forty-five, plus some others I didn't think of. Just look up, you know, gracious. There are several places in the Psalms. Eighty-six fifteen, for example. You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion. And so many times Christ was moved with compassion, and he stopped what he was doing and went to heal somebody. Easily moved by compassion that's associated with being gracious. One kind of graciousness. Full of compassion and gracious, long suffering, and plenteous, and mercy and truth.

You know, slow to anger, Psalm 145, and many other scriptures. So we'll move on then to Proverbs. There is much said in the Bible about our conversation or what we say all through the Bible. All through the Bible, as you know. Old and new. Proverbs and James kind of stand out. James is sometimes compared to Proverbs in general. But about what you should say.

Let's notice Proverbs 25.9. Read four verses here. There are different angles you can come at it by. Proverbs really helps in that too. If you want to tell your friends about your own problems, this is chapter 25.9. If you read this in the King James, New King James, it'll be different. They take liberties, but sometimes they make at least one of the points clear. When you have these individual translations and loosey-goosey translations.

If you want to tell your friends about your own problems, tell them. But don't discuss what somebody else told you in private. That wouldn't be gracious. What are you giving? When you give a secret away. What are you giving? And it says, verse 10, Otherwise, and I'm reading from the Good News Bible, Otherwise, everyone will learn that you're a blabbermouth. And you can't keep a secret, and you'll never live it down.

People will know that they can't trust you with a secret. And actually, I've combined two other translations there. Always present with graciousness. Always! The motive behind it is outgoing concern. Definition of godly love, spiritual love. Concern for the other guy. And sometimes you think you start to say something if you've got grace on your mind. Just a minute. Would I say that in the presence of old so-and-so if he was standing right here? Well, maybe I would. Okay. Maybe I wouldn't.

Not okay. So that's a good rule. And I have learned to use that a lot. I'm sure I have improvement. Stuff slips out of your mouth. I ask God, I figure David the King asked to have a guard standing there with a spear. That's the picture. Beside my mouth. So stupid stuff doesn't come out. So I figured if he needs one, I need two. I do pray that God will just not let stupid stuff come out that hurts somebody.

Or isn't gracious. And he answers it a lot. Still got a ways to go. Okay. Let's go right on with 25 verse 11. Because that's one point about what we say to each other. 25-11. Saying the right thing at the right time is like a golden apple in a silver setting. Or apples of gold and pictures of silver. It's just beautiful. A good saying. A fitting word, I think, is how it says it in King James. We've memorized that one. Saying the right thing at the right time. And then it's followed up by verse 12.

Another translation still. Proverbs 20 by 12. Wise advice to a listening ear. Somebody respects you enough to listen and say, Well, if she says it, I better listen. Not just think about what I'm going to say next. So, saying the right thing at the right time is like a golden apple in a silver setting. We have a silver tree. And I'm not sure if I got it from my wife or how we obtained it, but at any rate, we have several apples.

I like apples, so I give her apples. Crystal apples during color shapes. Beautiful. A beautiful fruit. And we have a few silver pieces. We have two of the most beautiful, natural things God has given to us. Just beautiful. Look at them. They're gorgeous. And so, an apple, a golden apple. I haven't gotten her a solid gold apple yet, working on that one. They're usually crystal. Some beautiful ones. But it's just beautiful. There's something beautiful when somebody comes along and says the perfect thing.

It might be out of the blue. Hi, how are you today? And then something that just lifts your spirit. Or, think of this, there's never been a conversation when things aren't going all that well. It's not, you know, and there's a little edginess. And somebody says something that's just not even quite a dig, but the thought is there, the possibility. You know what I mean? A slight nuance. And it's negative. And somebody else steps in and says the perfect thing to pour oil on disturbed waters and just smooth it out.

That is a gift from God, and it's called graciousness. So, I pray, encourage everybody else to pray, say gracious things. Well, I'm sure you've had this experience. You say something and you say, Oh! Why did I say that? Because it was bad. It was just subpar. It was ingressious. So, I guess maybe I said an ingressious thing by reminding you of bad things.

The point is that we have a nature, Carl McNair used to say this, you know, the devil can get your tongue for about ten seconds, and I found he way overshot. He can be two seconds, one little thing. And you have shown a whole side of yourself you didn't want to show, where you should have shown it to God and asked him to remove it. But anyway, this has to do with graciousness. It's something that we're very well aware of in social graces and discussing back and forth. And it's very, very common.

And we do need to pray that God will help us be gracious like he is. So this is followed up then by 2512. Wise advice to a listening ear. And that thought was already mentioned. To a listening ear is like gold earrings and fine jewelry. There is a beauty, there is a value, there's character, there's virtue. Makes you feel good. In a circumstance where there are people, you know you don't agree with half of them or nine tenths of them, just a general crowd.

And if we really got to talking, we don't have the same values or beliefs or you think to yourself, I don't. But with God's inspiration, and you're... This comes automatically when you're thinking positive about the importance and value of these people.

You know, they may have not heard of the truth yet at all. But if you say it right, God's beauty and His value and character and virtue will come through. Sometimes that hits people like a ton of bricks. Because they're not used to hearing that, maybe. Actually, a lot of people aren't. You know, that's not the usual, that's not the norm. So we need to work hard toward the end of this being, but what comes flying out of my mouth.

And I recommend that you read all the Proverbs, study and pray, and meditate on all of them tonight so you get this well in mind. Because we need it all the time. We need it from here on out. So we'll just cover those Proverbs. I am going to recommend chapter 15 just to make the point, first five verses. It just tells you a lot about this principle of how to talk. Not necessarily specific what to, but how to talk.

Chapter 15. But it's all through the Proverbs. And I shall move along, hopefully quickly here. Always, always, there is the principle of outgoing concern. Actually, this, as I say, you need to think about it, but it will happen more and more automatically if you think on what produces it, and that's a right attitude towards others. A genuine respect, even if they're being disrespectful at the moment, where Christ said, don't lay this sin against them.

Well, that's exactly what he's going to say when they're resurrected, and he advocates for those people like he's advocating for us now. I am so thankful. I know you are, too. Our sins aren't held against us. Paul says, I just appreciate Romans 7 so much, the things that I decided I'm not going to ever do, I do them! And the things I'm supposed to do, they don't get done. And you grasp for a hair that you want to pull out, but it's not there anymore, so.

You just have the right attitude. I know you know what I'm talking about. The principle of concern for the other person is always there. That's what is present. And that causes graciousness because of the expression of what's in your heart. Go for a heart of compassion and love and true genuine respect, which is at the foundation of it. And this stuff will come.

This good stuff will come out of your mouth. Okay, I'm just going to refer to Matthew 25 quickly. The three parables there, the sheep and the goats, the goats got booted out and weren't accepted. The sheep were accepted. And the sheep said, when did we ever visit you when you were in jail? And the goats said, well, we did all these great works and so on. And both groups were surprised. I've sort of been surprised about that, too.

Because the sheep will be familiar with this. They will have read this. And they're surprised. I think part of the reason is that it just becomes the way you are. You don't even notice it, but you have changed without realizing it. And you're thinking more like God thinks, towards the other people. You're really respectful of them and so on. It comes out. So, oh, I have a quote for you. In this example, Christ said, if you've done it unto me, you've done it unto others.

And the quote is, Christ takes this kind of service personally. Service to others, Christ takes it personally. And that famous American poet was a guy named Galen Morrison, who gave it in a sermon about 40 years ago. And I always think about that when I go to that parable. And I've never been gracious and said, thank you. Thank you. It affected my thinking about that parable all this time. Christ took it personally. He takes what we do to others. And that's what it says in the Old Testament.

It wasn't even a new idea when he came. That if you, for example, if you serve a widow, it's like going on God's payroll. But if you serve anybody, Christ takes it personally. Great, great comment. I did appreciate it. I appreciated two-thirds of your sermon today, too. The other third, I was hunting for the bathroom. Like I hunted on the outside for the door, the secret door that one must find in this building to get in.

Same thing happened last time. It took us ten minutes to find the door. The right door. Anyway. Oh, ungracious! Anyway. But actually, that was a true statement. I appreciate your sermon today. Okay. Sometimes, can't unbreak gracious be forgiven because of humor? I have to check on that.

Maybe not, huh? Got a couple of looks. Okay. Matthew 25 expresses this very well. For Jesus Christ's attitude towards us. Only fifteen more pages of notes. Just kidding. Okay, a couple of things in the New Testament. Actually, let's just look at James 3. I mentioned James 3, verse 5. Oh, just chapter 3. I think I'll refer to it. I know you're familiar with it. The tongue is such a small little thing, but it's a world of fire, of destruction. And if you can control your tongue, said elsewhere, then you can control yourself. The fruit of the Spirit and the point of wisdom.

Controlling oneself. And then James 4, verse 11. So that's the whole chapter devoted to that. I think chapter 2 has some in it as well. Chapter 4. Here's a good one. Speak not evil, one of another, brethren. He that speaks evil, daram, daram, daram, daram.

There's another part very important. But let's just look at that. And just think, speak not evil, one of another, brethren. Don't say bad stuff about other people. That's pretty simple. By the way, there were only over 50 different commands or directives in James. He was not a fancy writer.

Right to the point. Do this. Don't do that. 50 times. Speak not evil of one another. That is hard to do. I suppose you've noticed that. Okay, I have 7 or 9 definitions of graciousness. And I'll let you hunt for those. I'll give them to you afterwards. But I don't want to take time for them now because let's get through with the sermon.

More page turning. Except for the fact that the last page isn't here. Here it is. So next to last. Okay, let's just notice a few more. You've got the point, probably. I'd like to go over a few more sermons. A few more scriptures. 1 Peter 3.7. Dwell with them according to knowledge, telling the men to be careful that they understand their wives. A lot of times men will just not know it and their wives are more easily hurt. It can work both ways and does, but in different ways. This just simply says, learn about your wife. If you want to study into that more deeply, this scripture tells us all, learn about family members, brothers and sisters, spiritually.

You have to, specifically in other places, but we're supposed to get to know each other, fellowship, exhort each other. You can't exhort unless you know what they're going through. And so all these many different commands require that we just really get to know each other and become a family. Then, that's 1 Peter 3.7. What he's talking about, you can put it this way, having that divine attitude.

Your heart touched by divinity, that was the definition of one of the words. That where the human heart is touched by the divine spirit. It's having a divine attitude towards your wife or your husband or a fellow church member, eventually the whole world. It's because it's God's attitude, adopting God's attitude. Deep respect. Very great concern. 1 Peter 4 verse 10. I'm just going to reference it again. It talks about the manifold grace. There are so many aspects of this. And so there's a lot of learning along this line. If you study this out completely, this subject, you will come to basically every other subject there is.

God's attitude towards everything. 5 verse 5. Same book, 1 Peter. It talks about submitting to one another. I think I'll go over here real quick and take time to read that. 1 Peter 5 and verse 5. In like manner you younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, now that I'm old, I read this with more passion. But in fact, it applies to everybody equally. But submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you.

So I take it back. It's to everybody. Be subject one to another and be clothed with humility. Clothed with humility. Remember, that's the first thing in this list I mentioned that graciousness is associated with.

For God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. We should be gracious, then. And part of graciousness is stepping back. That's the fourth point on the wisdom from above. It says, easily entreated, easy to be entreated. And the Greek actually implies being willing to step back. And not have to have your way. You just step back. Let the other guy. Maybe he is too aggressive or maybe he's being obnoxious or whatever.

So step back. He'll figure it out. And you'll do more good by doing that than slapping him around verbally or literally. You know, you do better by letting him get away with it. He'll learn. There will come a time when you or somebody else will mention it. I mean, there's a time to speak up as well. I understand that.

Okay, Colossians 4-6. Reference to the old sacrifices. Let your words be seasoned. No, I should have written down or gone to it. But he's talking about your words. Let your words be of grace. Have words of grace seasoned with salt, referring to the sacrifices. Something that not only is beautiful to look at and hear, but it's like the taste of it. He talks about the tasting of the grace and the goodness of God. Psalm 34 and 56 and other places. It's like you get a taste in your mouth. Sometimes it's not so good. That conversation, we didn't taste a thing. You're talking about your feelings and nuances. But sometimes the taste is beautiful. It's like a sacrifice seasoned with salt. You think you're walking in the door, you're tired and hungry, and your wife has cooked a big roast. The smell is coming out of the oven. Oh, man, does that smell good! A little compliment in order here. Let your words be like that with a good taste to them. Here's what we have to skip over. Matthew 7, the golden rule. Matthew 5, another one. Yea, yea, and nay, nay. Say any more than that. Add words to it. There's probably a sin involved. You're trying to put yourself in a good light or something. Probably not gracious if you go on and on and on. Which is back to my ecclesiastes. Luke 7, the two debtors. The one who was owed a lot by this guy. Just a huge sum. He frankly forgave it. Okay, I'll forgive it, but I'm going to remember it. No, God just frankly forgives it. And then Luke 15, speeding on. The prodigal son, you know, there was the unprodigal, ungracious son. And his dad said, Come on, son. Come on in. You're my son who will obey me. You own everything when I die. Let's welcome your younger brother. At least he's not lost. You know, he can be part of the family. You can just hear the father's compassion talking to his son, who's in a bad attitude. Okay, John 21, finest example of graciousness I can think of. Christ has breakfast ready. They've been fishing. He tells them what to do. They catch a lot. They come in, they eat breakfast. They're all embarrassed. And he says, Peter, do you love me? They all forsake him. But Peter was the one out in front. He says, Yes, I love you. Well, then feed my sheep. Peter, do you love me? Yes, very irritating. He was embarrassed and feeling rotten anyway. Okay, feed my lambs. The third time, you love me, Peter. You know what my...you know, and he's about to break down. And Christ simply said, feed my sheep. It was said to all 12, and it said to everyone, when we screw up and we deserve a good tongue-lashing from God, and we don't deserve being forgiven, Christ said, okay, get back to work. He frankly forgives us because he is gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. Greatest example, I can tell you. Okay, let's finish up here. I mentioned verse 15, verse 5. Just try it. Just very interesting. Grace is the great foundational doctrine of the New Covenant, of the New Testament, of the whole Bible, of our relationship with God. Part 2 of grace, that's His action, our receiving. Part 2 is our action, giving it to others. That's called graciousness. Compared to Him, it's small, but it's got to grow to be great in us too. So there is incoming grace and outgoing grace, and we're responsible to receive the first and give the second.

So let's say, let great grace, referring to Acts 4.33, where you started, let great grace go out of us to others. Let that happen. Let us be gracious as God the Father, and Jesus Christ our gracious. Let us be also.