Life Fully Encompassed by Grace, Part 2 (Colossians 1:1-2).

Class Outline:

Wednesday July 1, 2026

 

Intro: 

 

COL 1:2

Grace to you and peace from God our Father. 

 

Grace accomplishes something for us that makes peace with God a reality.

 

Grace: charis - Beneficent disposition toward someone, favor, grace, gracious care / help, goodwill. 

 

Salvation welcomed us into a vast collection of undeserved priceless gifts! 

 

Last time we read about various uses of the word grace that were all in the context of God giving to us.

 

Summarized: Justification, salvation, election, predestination, adoption, sanctification, love, comfort, hope, the cross, and prayer.

 

People get all mixed up about what things are real blessings.

 

The problem is being self-centered. Anthropocentrism. Not Christocentrism.

 

Grace can only come to us through Jesus Christ.

 

Grace is entangled in God’s love (JOH 3:16). Love seeks a relationship, which is why reconciliation, or peace, is next.

 

Love wants to do everything and anything to save us. Grace comes through Christ alone.

 

JOH 1:17

grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

 

COL 1:5-6

because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel 6 which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth

 

Truth and grace are the gospel, the heart of which is the person, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 

This means that God gave you grace through Christ for no other reason than He loved you.

 

1CO 1:3-4

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus [we know who they were]

 

1CO 1:26-31

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no man may boast before God. 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, "LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD."

 

A life of grace - a life without want, full, satisfied, thankful.

 

So then we give ourselves no merit for any power or wisdom or goodness - our blessings are all from our Father.

mentioned? 

 

A life of grace - a life blessed with heaven’s joys; unmerited.

 

Can a sinner justify himself before holy God?

 

The Corinthians were given a special abundance of spiritual gifts and some began to feel superior to others because of the gifts they had.

 

1CO 4:7

For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 

 

Knowing the truth of grace is to know the ownership of all gifts and the authority over their use.

 

Knowing, however, will not guarantee success. The knowledge of grace will not make living by grace easy. Application of grace demands love which demands the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Application of Grace to life:

 

“Grace to you from God our Father” is a life lived with clear awareness that everything good and bad is a gift from God, even the suffering and loss is, by faith, known to have a purpose. 

 

It is the awareness that whatever your mental ability, financial ability, physical ability are sufficient. You do not want more and you could not have less. Grace is contentment. 

 

Grace is the understanding that the works God has given each of us to do are important and should therefore be performed unto Him. Grace is fulfillment of life in the very life you have (COL 3:17). 

 

Grace is a lack of fear, for God loves you by grace and He would not ever leave you alone. God your Father will always provide, and even in death, will take you home in a celebration of angelic joy that it would be like the most important person ever was arriving - and he is (you are) because you are in Christ. 

 

Grace is sufficient as God told Paul (2CO 12:9).

 

Grace is the start and finish

 

It turns out that Paul not only pens his desire for grace understanding and grace living at the front of his letters, but also at the end (ROM 16:23; 1CO 16:23; 2CO 13:13; GAL 6:18; EPH 6:24; PHI 4:23; COL 4:18; 1TH 5:28; 2TH 3:18; 1TI 6:21; 2TI 4:22; TIT 3:15; Phm 25). 

 

This shows us that grace is not only a beginning, but a middle and an end. It is grace all the way through and on into eternity. In fact, grace is the last line of all Scripture. 

 

REV 22:21

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

 

Conclusion: 

 

Never, ever leave the sphere of grace. 

 

You leave the sphere of grace when you say, “This is mine … hands off.”

 

You travel outside the sphere of grace when you lose your peace because of what someone else did or said.

 

You travel outside the sphere of grace when you get bitter or angry about being interrupted when you are on a task or you fail to finish it.

 

Because of grace there is no jealousy, no competition, no wanting to have above others or wanting to have what no one else has. 

 

What God has done through grace is created pure and true thanksgiving, the natural result of grace receiving.