Passage: Luke 22:20

The Big Idea

What’s the whole point of the Christian life, and what is its power? The answer is the New Covenant, which Jesus established in His blood. The New Covenant is grace: forgiveness, a personal relationship with God and God’s own work inside us. It’s given, not earned. We don’t partake of it by working, but by drinking it in through faith. We’re not sufficient for anything on our own, but God makes us sufficient by His grace. And we receive that grace through two simple heart attitudes: humility and faith.

Questions to Start With

What is the whole point of this Christian life? How do we live it?
What is the real power and source of the Christian life?
Why do we so often miss the victorious version of it?
What is the New Covenant, and how is it different from the Old Covenant?

The Cup of the New Covenant (Luke 22:20)

After supper Jesus took the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.”

A covenant is an agreement, a contract.
The New Covenant is the whole point of Jesus’ life and death. Why did Jesus die? What does it mean that He died for me?
The New Covenant is given to you. It’s offered.
The way we take part in this covenant is to drink it in!
It’s not a work. It’s faith.
He did all the work. There’s no more work for us to do!

Not Sufficient, but Made Sufficient (2 Corinthians 3:5-6)

Paul says we aren’t sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our sufficiency is from God, who made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Why do we need to learn about the New Covenant? Because we’re not sufficient.
Not in anything, no matter how hard we try or how much we want it.
But God gives sufficiency. He makes us sufficient through the New Covenant.
It isn’t a list of rules like the Old Covenant. It’s a new Spirit, a new life inside.
Internal, not external.
Life-giving, not life-draining.

New Covenant = Grace.

Three Promises (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

God promised a new covenant, not like the one He made with Israel when He led them out of Egypt, which they broke. Instead, “I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” No one will need to teach his neighbor to know the Lord, “for they all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest… For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

Forgiveness (v. 34)
A personal relationship (v. 34)
God’s internal work (v. 33)

For further study: Hebrews 8:8-13; Hebrews 10:15-20.

Full of Grace (John 1:14, 16)

The Word became flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth. And of His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

Jesus was full of grace and truth. He lived the true standard, and He can give us the same life.
Moses (the law) couldn’t offer grace or truth. He brought only a standard to live up to.
Of His fullness we have all received! He’s the source of every resource we need. He’s the engine of the car, and the gas for the engine.
Grace upon grace upon grace! Justification and sanctification, and every other need we have.

The Word of His Grace (Acts 20:32)

Paul commended the church to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Grace has the ability to build you up! Human effort and trying aren’t part of the equation.
And it gives an inheritance: unearned blessings and resources.

Free from Sin’s Dominion (Romans 6:14)

Sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Grace is the only answer for life-dominating sin, any and all sin.
Freedom is found in the grace of Jesus alone.
Not law. Not effort. Not desire. Not formulas, systems or accountability.

Power at Work in Us (Ephesians 3:20-21)

God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, and to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus forever.

Grace is that power!
Living by grace alone gives Jesus the glory.

A Definition of Grace

Grace is God’s free provision for us through His Son. It shows itself as we humbly trust in the Person and work of Jesus, giving us all we would need, all we would long for, and all we are commanded to walk in and become. And all of it is given despite our inadequacy, and despite the fact that we could never deserve it, never earn it and never produce these gifts on our own.

Surrender

We’ll learn in this course that to receive this grace, we only need humility and faith. When those two relational realities are present, I call it “surrender.”

Think about the humility and faith it takes to surrender to an opposing army in war.
Now imagine Jesus asking us to surrender to Him and His ways, not out of fear, but out of love.

Grace Takeaway

The Christian life isn’t a self-improvement project. It’s a covenant Jesus sealed with His own blood and gives to you freely. You aren’t sufficient, and you were never meant to be. Drink in the cup He offers. Humble yourself, trust Him, and let His grace do what your effort never could.

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Grace Discipleship 1: Introduction to Grace