Part 4 Grace and Truth
“We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in His love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.” —1 John 4:16
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” —John 1:14
Love =
At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say? ”They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.” —John 8:2-11
How did Jesus respond to this woman’s sin?
———- “Neither do I condemn you.”
———————— Grace
———- “GO and sin no more.”
———————— Truth
You can be religious and be
“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” —John 8:7
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” —John 3:16-17 NIV
“The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.” —Exodus 34:6
GRACE
“Go now and leave your life of sin.” —John 8:11
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. —Romans 8:1-4
Grace without Truth is Meaningless
Truth without Grace is Mean
Grace and Truth is
Questions for Discussion:
What part of Sunday’s message about Grace and Truth stood out to you or impacted you the most? Why?
When it comes to your view of God, have you viewed God more through the lens of grace or truth?
When it comes to responding to sin – your own or someone else’s - Which side of truth and grace do you tend to lean? What has that looked like in your life?
In the message, we talked about the fact that “truth without grace is mean.” Have you ever been on the receiving end of legalism or being harshly judged by religious people? What did that look like?
You can be religious and be hateful. Can you think of some examples we see of this in our culture right now?
We also talked about the fact that “grace without truth is meaningless.” Have you ever seen an example of this resulting in self-deception or error?
What part of the reading this last week spoke to you? What did you circle or underline in your Bible?
What does grace and truth look like as a parent? In a marriage? At work?