Grace United Methodist Church - Franklin, IN
  • About Us
    • Staff
    • What to Expect
    • What We Believe
    • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
    • Institutional Partners
  • Classes & Small Groups
    • Adult >
      • Classes and Spiritual Formation Opportunities
      • Small Group Locations & Times
    • Youth
    • Children
  • Missions
    • Service Opportunities
    • Ministry Partners
  • Give
    • Giving
    • Ways of Giving
    • What is tithing?
  • Preschool
    • Home
    • Classes
    • Calendar
    • Amazon Smile
  • Resources
    • Sermons
    • Blog
    • The Kids These Days podcast
  • About Us
    • Staff
    • What to Expect
    • What We Believe
    • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
    • Institutional Partners
  • Classes & Small Groups
    • Adult >
      • Classes and Spiritual Formation Opportunities
      • Small Group Locations & Times
    • Youth
    • Children
  • Missions
    • Service Opportunities
    • Ministry Partners
  • Give
    • Giving
    • Ways of Giving
    • What is tithing?
  • Preschool
    • Home
    • Classes
    • Calendar
    • Amazon Smile
  • Resources
    • Sermons
    • Blog
    • The Kids These Days podcast

Rebranded in the Spirit - Romans 8:12-17

4/28/2020

0 Comments

 
​Let me ask you a question: have you ever inherited anything? It doesn’t have to be money. Land? Personal keepsakes? Family customs, traditions? Bad temper?

Rich Gotshall, our historian at Grace Church, is working on a history of the church, as we move toward celebrating 200 years in Franklin. It is a history that contains a rich inheritance! 

And yet, an inheritance is a complex matter. I know some of the worst conflicts I have witnessed as a pastor are arguments about “who gets to inherit what” in a family. Jesus speaks of this dynamic in his parable on the prodigal son in Luke’s Gospel: how do we receive an inheritance (Luke 15)? Because receiving an inheritance says something about who we are and how we are to act. For example, if we receive an inheritance, how will we exercise responsibility toward what we have been given? Will we bless others with it, or will we squander it? Will we utilize our inheritance to benefit others through a matching grant, or a loan, or a charitable foundation, let’s say, or, will we simply keep it to ourselves?[1]

In Romans, the apostle Paul writes that, as children adopted into the family of God, we have also received an inheritance, although it’s an inheritance we have not earned, but have been given in Christ. In fact, it’s an inheritance that calls forth further sharing, for we don’t receive this inheritance alone, only for ourselves, but with Christ, who is our co-heir (Rom. 8:17); and because Christ is our co-heir, in both suffering and glory, we find ourselves in debt to the One who loved us and saved us.

That’s what we have inherited – the very grace that leads us from bondage to life, giving us the Spirit, who brings us into a relationship with God as children of God.  

It’s a picture of intimacy, with all the markings of love, of being adopted by the Father in the Spirit and then inheriting the gift of Christ’s sacrifice. It’s an amazing gift, leaving us in debt, yes, but in debt to God, and not to our own selfish devices. That’s what life in the Spirit looks like: the Spirit testifying to our spirits that we are children of God!

How may we live with the assurance of God’s grace as children? How does the inheritance we receive in Christ mark us? How may we now share it with others?

Pastor Andy Kinsey

[1]Fleming Rutledge, Not Ashamed of the Gospel (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2007), 246.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018

    RSS Feed

Grace United Methodist Church
1300 E Adams Dr,
Franklin, IN 46131

Phone: 317-736-7962
grace@franklingrace.org

Weekend  Worship Services
Saturday: 5:30pm 
Sunday: 9:00am & 11:00am

Picture