Ephesians 2:8closeEphesians 2:8
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. . . . (ESV)
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Grace. A word used in a variety of ways. It is a word that has been used as an alternative term for prayer. It has been used to describe the way a person does things/moves. It has also been used by many parents to name their daughters.
Still, none of these uses seem to catch the true nature of what Grace is. They fall short of the true meaning. They miss the purpose of it. This morning, I want to bring you closer to understanding the Grace of God, why it’s so amazing.
I’m not a real fun of computer games although I know there a game called Microsoft’s Flight Simulator. You can choose a small plane like a Cesna or all the way up to a Boeing 747. You can also choose which between 180 airports to take off from or to attempt a landing at. Only after acquiring landing skills after many hours of practice can you avoid crashing the plane and land safely. It’s all very realistic.
The greatest thing about Flight Simulator, though, is that the game always restores you. No matter what happens, you can start all over again. Whenever you crash, fall apart, or splash into the ocean, the game always puts you back together and places you back on the runway in Chicago ready to take off again.
That’s the way it is with the Lord. He’s absolutely faithful to forgive us and to restore us when we mess up and to get us back into action, hopefully a little wiser after our failures and bad decisions.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.
Peter writes – 1 Peter 5:10close1 Peter 5:10
10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (ESV)
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
So, what is Grace? It is often misunderstood and defining it at times has been difficult. Some of the most detailed theology textbooks do not offer any concise definition of the term. You may have heard of this acronym:
GRACE, God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. That’s a good way to characterize grace. One of the best-known definitions of grace is only three words: God’s unmerited favor.
So, what’s so amazing about Grace? Let me explain it through stories from the Bible.
1. Grace is contrary to human logic
How can one man, one death on one afternoon be so powerful as to change the course of history and humanity? How a great Savior can save a lousy sinner is a mystery. In order to solve it you need to putt aside human logic!
Instead of earning wages, God dispenses gifts. It’s not according to merit or fairness, because if that were the case, we would all end up in hell.
Grace is not about finishing first or last, or about our good and bad. Grace is about our unconditional acceptance in Christ.
2. Grace seeks us out
There is a great story in 2 Samuel 9close2 Samuel 9
9:1 And David said, “Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?” 2 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David. And the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?” And he said, “I am your servant.” 3 And the king said, “Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?” Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.” 4 The king said to him, “Where is he?” And Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar.” 5 Then King David sent and brought him from the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, at Lo-debar. 6 And Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David and fell on his face and paid homage. And David said, “Mephibosheth!” And he answered, “Behold, I am your servant.” 7 And David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always.” 8 And he paid homage and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?”
9 Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, “All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master's grandson. 10 And you and your sons and your servants shall till the land for him and shall bring in the produce, that your master's grandson may have bread to eat. But Mephibosheth your master's grandson shall always eat at my table.” Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. 11 Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so will your servant do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David's table, like one of the king's sons. 12 And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all who lived in Ziba's house became Mephibosheth's servants. 13 So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king's table. Now he was lame in both his feet. (ESV)
. David is king and he’s thinking about his good friend Jonathan. He wants to know if there is any of his family left that he can show kindness to.
When he finds out about Mephibosheth, he demonstrates God’s grace in how he treats this crippled young man. David’s gracious treatment of Mephibosheth, is a perfect picture of God’sgracious treatment of us.
Mephibosheth doesn’t seek out the king. The king took the initiative and sought out Mephibosheth. Does that sound familiar? This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10close1 John 4:10
10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (ESV)
God took the initiative in seeking us out.
David wants to bring Mephibosheth to the palace to live there with him. Only one problem, Mephibosheth won’t fit in, he’s crippled. When David asks where he’s living right now, he’s living in Lo Debar. Lo Debar means = no pasture, no word. That is a nice way of saying he’s living in poverty and desolation.
What a picture of the sinner outside of Christ! We are crippled by sin. We live in spiritual desolation and poverty! There is absolutely nothing in us that should make the King seek out us out, but He did!
That is what grace does! When we were crippled and scarred, Grace seeks us out and says, You are the kind of person I want to pour my love and favor on!
Grace seeks us out when we are broken and impoverished!
3. Grace gives us the blessings of another.
None of this happened to Mephibosheth because he was handsome, or smart, or athletic. He was none of those. It happened because David loved his father, Jonathan, and he was willing to give to Mephibosheth the blessings that he would have given to Jonathan.
God’s grace means that we are blessed and honored for the sake of another! His name is Jesus!
Paul writes in Romans 8:16-17closeRomans 8:16-17
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (ESV)
– The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.
Everything that Jesus earned by his death, burial and resurrection, I get to share, as if I had earned it! Grace doesn’t give me the blessings I deserve. Grace gives me the blessings Jesus deserves!
4. Grace makes family out of enemies.
When a new king ascended to the throne, it was customary to kill all of the old king’s descendants. It was commonly understood that the descendants of the old king would be your enemy, and if possible, they would make their own claim to the throne.
When the king sent for Mephibosheth, he thought that he was going to his execution. Instead, David said, I’m going to treat you like one of my family. You are going to eat at my table and enjoy my blessing, just like you would if you were my own son.
That’s what Grace does for us. The Bible says we were the enemies of God. Romans 5:8-10closeRomans 5:8-10
8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (ESV)
. Yet because of grace, God has forgiven us and adopted us into his family.
5. Grace gives us the courage to face our past and be free from it!
Romans 6:11closeRomans 6:11
11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (ESV)
…count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
It was around 1760 when John Newton wrote Amazing Grace . He said when he wrote those words, he was perpetually haunted by the 20,000 African ghosts of his past. At the age of 11 he set sail for the first time and for over 30 years he sold and traded slaves from Africa to the West Indies.
When his ship would set sail from Africa it would start out with over 600 slaves. By the time it reached it’s destination, there were normally 200 slaves survived the trip. The smell of death was so powerful that this ship was docked far from the rest of the ships.
In March of 1748, John Newton found himself in the most desperate situation of his life. During the voyage the crew had repeatedly heard him saying that he did not believe in God. He had even lashed himself to a mast during a storm and dared God to strike him dead, in order to prove himself real.
On this particular trip, the ship was leaking badly, in danger of being overwhelmed beneath one of the waves of a powerful storm. In a moment of weakness and terror, he pronounced the words: Lord, have mercy on us. This was the first time he had prayed since childhood when he attended Sunday School in an Anglican Church, and it shook him to think that he had ask God for help.
By the time the storm ended, most of the masts and sails had been blown away, making navigation almost impossible. After 7 days of drifting with no land in sight, the crew was practically without hope. One man had already died when the captain came to challenge John Newton. The captain had decided that Newton was like Jonah, A curse to the ship. The crew had even discussed throwing him overboard, but in the end, didn’t. As Newton returned to work, he recalled a Bible verse that he had learned as a child at Sunday School.
If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.
Luke 11:13closeLuke 11:13
13 “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (ESV)
Finally brought to the end of himself, Newton prayed, God, if you’re true, you’ll make good your Word. Cleanse my vile heart.
Four weeks later, the ship made port in Ireland, and there he went to a church and made public his faith. He became a powerful preacher, and song writer: Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see.
He died in London December 21, 1807 – he wrote his own epitaph. It reads on his tombstone, John Newton, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy.
Grace gives us the courage to face our past so we can be free! Are you free?
6. Grace gives us cause for celebration.
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.
Ephesians 1:7closeEphesians 1:7
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. . . . (ESV)
…having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:7closeTitus 3:7
7 So that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (ESV)
Why is this such a cause for celebration? Forgiveness of sin, abundant life now, and eternal life. All this because of grace! What a day that will be, when I see Jesus face to face!
John Newton was so excited and confident about living life with Christ forever that he wrote a song called Faith’s Review And Expectation (Amazing Grace). I love one of the less known verses that we sing,
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God, who called me here below
Will be forever mine
One day soon we’ll get to be with our heavenly Father forever. It is not far off. Before that happens, though, he has given us grace. Grace that is greater than all our sins.
Have you received his Grace?
