What's So Amazing about Grace?
That is the title of a Philip Yancey book, but the question is still important. Grace is not about what we can do or have done or will do, yet many people look at it that way. Like the Col. from the movie the Patriot who thought his advancements came because of his victories. How many of us think about salvation as our victories, I have earned it!!! The scary thing is that people who claim to be Christians do not even look towards Jesus or to the Grace that God the Father has poured out through Jesus. They look to their own merits, their own victories, "I did my good deed for the day". Yet the Grace that God is giving us is not measured in how many deeds we do, it isn't even measured by us at all, it is measured against Jesus and from Jesus. Jesus came while there was still sin in the world. We humans hadn't gotten it right by the time that Jesus came. Yet Jesus came because of His love for us. Not to condemn us but to call us away from sin to God the Father. The grace that God gave us was from Himself and not from us, it was for us.
But again, grace is not about what we do, yet God's grace is seen in how our lives have been changed by Jesus. When we receive God's grace, are we happy? Do we realize the cost of God's Grace? Do we see the love of God from our place on Calvary? God's grace, as Dietrich Bonnhoeffer puts it is "Costly grace", we can too easily accept God's grace with out realizing how much it cost and how important it is and treat it like a piece of bread and it becomes "cheap grace" it is there when we need it but it doesn't change our lives. "Cheap Grace" is false grace. As the apostle Paul writes in Romans 6 "Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
Do we hold fast to the forgiveness of sins, the grace of God that changes lives, or do we think happy thoughts a pray that our actions do not have any consequences. We all know that they do. We need help to heal, and to grow, to change our lives and the world around us. We need God's help, we need God's grace. As the General said to the Colonel in the Patriot, "It is by my good graces that you advance." It is by God's good grace that we are saved.
But again, grace is not about what we do, yet God's grace is seen in how our lives have been changed by Jesus. When we receive God's grace, are we happy? Do we realize the cost of God's Grace? Do we see the love of God from our place on Calvary? God's grace, as Dietrich Bonnhoeffer puts it is "Costly grace", we can too easily accept God's grace with out realizing how much it cost and how important it is and treat it like a piece of bread and it becomes "cheap grace" it is there when we need it but it doesn't change our lives. "Cheap Grace" is false grace. As the apostle Paul writes in Romans 6 "Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
Do we hold fast to the forgiveness of sins, the grace of God that changes lives, or do we think happy thoughts a pray that our actions do not have any consequences. We all know that they do. We need help to heal, and to grow, to change our lives and the world around us. We need God's help, we need God's grace. As the General said to the Colonel in the Patriot, "It is by my good graces that you advance." It is by God's good grace that we are saved.
posted by ed at
7:33 AM
4 Comments:
A number of years ago light bulbs lit up in my head as I listened to a sermon on the subject of grace. I grew up in the church, knew my Bible stories, and was an adult with kids. I knew about God’s love and His forgiveness, and I felt the cost of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. As a teenager I had even framed a magazine photo of a spike being driven into a man’s hand – that photo had the same sort of impact on me then as the movie “The Passion of the Christ” had on me years later. Yet I didn’t, until hearing that sermon, really “get” the depth and importance of the concept of grace. How life-changing that was. God cares about me so very deeply when I surely don’t deserve love, when I don’t love myself, and when I’m feeling horribly broken. It is only because of God’s grace that I can try to show the face of Jesus to others. It humbles me like nothing else can. Thank you, Ed, for preaching on grace.
Hi Rhonda.
Grace is a very powerful part of the Gospel message. I find I can easily overlook how important it is. I hear people say why doesn't God do something to stop all the evil in the world, and yet God has acted but He is also calling us to act with Him. God made it possible for us to resist evil. We just have to not want to do the evil that we do. God is continually pouring out HIs love for us unfortunately at times we put our hand over the cup.
After reading your blog it made me do more research on Grace.
It is amazing all the different sermons and lessons that were on the net about it.
But they all said the same thing that Grace is a gift.
My favourite reading was from John Wesley that said GRACE- something we did not earn-something we do not deserve and something we cannot repay.
But when you have accepted the gift of Grace you will find that good works will follow
The bible teaches that a Christian must have good works.These works do not give him salvation but he cannot stay in the grace of god without them.
How true this is.
from Lydia
Lydia. John Wesley is an excellent example of receiving the grace of God and running with it. He dedicated his life, even through all the rejection, to making the grace of God known. I remember hearing about how he got kicked out of one town and then another and then another and then 10000 people came out to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. It is by God's grace that we have the strength to face rejection, and still not get discouraged. Grace is a gift I hope that we can all receive and live it out.
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