The Lord is gracious and merciful;
Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.Psalm 145:8 KJV
grace
GRACE, n. L. gratia, which is formed on the Celtic; Eng. agree, congruous, and ready. The primary sense of gratus, is free, ready, quick, willing, prompt, from advancing.
1. Favor; good will; kindness; disposition to oblige another; as a grant made as an act of grace.
Or each, or all, may win a lady’s grace.
2. Appropriately, the free unmerited love and favor of God, the spring and source of all the benefits men receive from him.
And if by grace,then it is no more of works. Rom.11.
3. Favorable influence of God; divine influence or the influence of the spirit, in renewing the heart and restraining from sin.
My grace is sufficient for thee. 2 Cor.12.
4. The application of Christ’s righteousness to the sinner.
Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Rom.5.
5. A state of reconciliation to God. Rom.5.2.
1.) Salvation – The Act of Receiving Grace
Romans 4:15
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
2.) Stewardship – The Management of Grace
1 Peter 4:1,10 KJV
1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
What is a Steward?
stew·ard·ship
/ˈst(y)o͞oərdˌSHip/
the job of supervising or taking care of something, such as an organization or property.
“responsible stewardship of our public lands”
Definitions from Oxford Languages
The following is an except from https://tifwe.org/four-principles-of-biblical-stewardship/ Hugh Whelchel November 26, 2012
Bill Peel … suggests that there are four important principles about biblical stewardship we must understand:
1. The principle of ownership.
The psalmist begins the 24th psalm with,
The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.
In the beginning of Genesis, God creates everything and puts Adam in the Garden to work it and to take care of it. It is clear that man was created to work and that work is the stewardship of all of the creation that God has given him.
This is the fundamental principle of biblical stewardship. God owns everything, we are simply managers or administrators acting on his behalf.
Therefore, stewardship expresses our obedience regarding the administration of everything God has placed under our control, which is all encompassing. Stewardship is the commitment of one’s self and possessions to God’s service, recognizing that we do not have the right of control over our property or ourselves.
Echoing Deuteronomy 8:17, we might say: “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But Deuteronomy 8:18 counsels us to think otherwise:
Remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.
2. The principle of responsibility.
In explaining responsibility, Peel writes,
Although God gives us “all things richly to enjoy,” nothing is ours. Nothing really belongs to us. God owns everything; we’re responsible for how we treat it and what we do with it. While we complain about our rights here on earth, the Bible constantly asks, What about your responsibilities? Owners have rights; stewards have responsibilities.
We are called as God’s stewards to manage that which belongs to God. While God has graciously entrusted us with the care, development, and enjoyment of everything he owns as his stewards, we are responsible to manage his holdings well and according to his desires and purposes.
3. The principle of accountability.
A steward is one who manages the possessions of another. We are all stewards of the resources, abilities and opportunities that God has entrusted to our care, and one day each one of us will be called to give an account for how we have managed what the Master has given us.
This is the maxim taught by the Parable of the Talents. God has entrusted authority over the creation to us and we are not allowed to rule over it as we see fit. We are called to exercise our dominion under the watchful eye of the Creator managing his creation in accord with the principles he has established.
Like the servants in the Parable of the Talents, we will be called to give an account of how we have administered everything we have been given, including our time, money, abilities, information, wisdom, relationships, and authority.
We will all give account to the rightful owner as to how well we managed the things he has entrusted to us.
4. The principle of reward.
In Colossians 3:23-24 Paul writes:
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
The Bible shows us in the parables of the Kingdom that faithful stewards who do the master’s will with the master’s resources can expect to be rewarded incompletely in this life, but fully in the next.
We all should long to hear the master say what he exclaims in Matthew 25:21:
Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!
3.) The Act of Ministering Grace
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To ourselves
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To our family
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To our friends
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To our aquaniances
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To the World
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