Today I want to talk about grace. Gods grace. It could be an entire book, so a short blog post feels inadequate to attempt. But try I will.
In my experience, our culture tends to overuse the word and water down the meaning, so unless you take a good hard look at what Gods grace really is, and how it has been offered to us, it is easy to miss the drastic, boundless depth of it.
The Greek word, “charis” is usually rendered in English as “grace.” (Imagine a k sound with a little spit) But it can also mean, “gift”, or undeserved favor. In the context of our faith, grace is Gods free, comprehensive gift to everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Ephesians 2:8-9 tell us “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of any works, so that no one may boast”.
Our very salvation is a gift from God, His amazing grace.
If visit the old testament, grace is the thread that binds it all together. It’s a vast adventure of Gods inexhaustible love toward unlovable people. It was offered to the Israelites, and many others, over and over again; so much so that it actually pursued them even when they kept running from it. Gods grace was offered to those who did not seek it, deserve it, or value it. The Father chased His unlovable, disobedient children to the ends of the earth time and time again. Even the most immoral of them. So, we learn that if you remove grace from the Old Testament, the whole thing comes undone.
And this pursuit began in the very first book of the Bible. Genesis 1 and 2 are all about Gods grace, or His gifts to humanity. He gave us creation as a gift. He gave us His character, His power, His majesty…all grace. All charis. Once He set in place the stars, the rocks, the waters and the animals, He then brought us alive in the garden. Genesis 1:27-28 says And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. So God goes on to give us a divinely decorated garden to play in and enjoy, while also giving us each other for companionship. Genesis 1:27 tells us that God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Here He gave us infinite worth, not based on who we are, but a freely bestowed gift based on whom we reflect. He is a gift giving God by all means.
One of the most difficult parts of grace for me to grasp is that it cannot be earned. I spent a good number of years trying. Truth is, if it could be earned, it wouldn’t be a gift, it would be wages. When we study the Old Testament, and all its unrighteous characters, it’s clear that extraordinary grace is more boldly revealed through the most undeserving people.
Take Abraham for starters. He seemed nearly perfect in his faith walk even to the point of taking his own son to the mountain, prepared to sacrifice him in obedience. But when we look closer at Abraham, we find he had flaws. He came from a background of pagan idolatry. He lied to a man about who his wife was. He went on to determine the son God promised him will have to come from another woman and took matters into his own hands with a concubine, committing adultery.
Abraham lied a second time, still lacking true faith in Gods plans. He was no saint, yet God used him immensely and still made a promise to give Abraham the land of Caanan, make him a mighty nation, and bless other nations through him. Gods promises were far more important than Abrahams faith. Yes, Gods radical grace found Abraham even in his lying and doubting and used him to set the redemption of the world into motion. If our salvation rested on Abrahams, or our own behavior, we’d surely be doomed to Hell.
The rest of Genesis is littered with offensive behaviors. Moses, a great leader for sure, had an anger problem and committed murder. Judah lusted after women, and had three sons, one of which he killed. He slept with his widowed daughter in law, Tamar, thinking she was a prostitute. Tamar gives Judah twin sons. The story of Judah is saturated with impurity that penetrated blood lines. Yet because God promised to redeem his wayward children, He extended his charis, his grace, through Judah, as the genealogical line from which He would bring forth our Savior.
Later in the book of Judges, we follow Israels moral decline in Canaan. We often tend to see kings as heroes, but many had no moral compass at all. A closer look at their behaviors illustrate God using these moral messes to get the job done…whether good or bad, they were all conduits of grace.
Then there is King Manasseh of Judah. In 2nd Chronicles 33 we learn that He burned his sons alive, and hung out with sorcerers and witches. One of the first things he did after he became king was to “rebuild the high places” that his dad, King Hezekiah tore down, and reestablish the altars for the Baals. He didn’t listen to God until later on, when he was in distress, captured and bound and taken to Babylon. Then he sought the favor of God, earnestly humbling himself before The Lord. His repentance was met with the swift gift of grace and King Manasseh knew at once that The Lord was God. He lived out his faith by removing pagan altars and instead building an altar to worship the Lord. He remained faithful to God until his death. So if God would extend grace to Manasseh, will he not certainly extend it to you and me? There is such great hope for us!
Really, we can study nearly every character in the Bible including Rahab, Gideon, Samson, Saul, Gomer, Ruth, and find things they did that range from sketchy to outright disgusting. One of the most profound illustrations of grace I can touch on is King David. He was blessed beyond belief, only to lust, commit adultery, enact a coverup, and murder a loyal man. And he knew better. Yet all of them, David and the rest, played a necessary part in Gods sovereign plan of redemption. Wether deceit, adultery, violence, promiscuity, bribery, pride, treason, paganism, or murder…Gods grace has never been, nor will it ever be thwarted by human wickedness. Nor will it be withheld from the least of these who were outcasts, homeless, filled with demons, or stained in other ways.
And while the Old Testament is threaded together by grace, the grace of the cross seals the deal in the New Testament. There we will discover wretchedness in many, including the disciples. Peter betrayed Jesus, not once, but three times. Paul tortured Christians. Matthew was a tax collector. None were above reproach.
A personal favorite moment of mine is a particular day in the temple courts where Jesus is teaching. A bunch of Pharisees and teachers of laws interrupt Jesus by dragging in a woman caught in adultery. I imagine her stripped down to her undergarments, ashamed, powerless, and humiliated. I see her standing before Jesus, completely crushed. Jesus has an opportunity to follow Moses (death by stoning) or the Romans (no execution). A crowd was building as she awaited his decision. Jesus stooped down instead, silently writing something in the dirt with his finger. What he wrote is the one question I would like answered in Heaven. We do not know what he wrote but the main take away is that he asks the men cheering on her death sentence if any of them were without sin…and if so gave them permission to throw the first stone. Every one of them walked away. None were left standing. Jesus then, lovingly offers the woman grace and says “…neither do I condemn you…go now and leave your life of sin”. This story is in the book of John, chapter 8.
And it means everything.
Grace has been set in motion, bent on pursuing the unlikely people who are sinning in the most shocking ways. Divine grace is Gods stubborn delight in pursuing His enemies, to the point of sending His own son to the cross for their debts. Pursuing even you and me. Flowing from the hands and feet of Jesus, like water heading downstream, to the lowest points, affecting anything it comes in contact with. We only need to willingly receive it.
Take as my last example an infamous person like Jeffrey Dahmer, who, after committing many horrific crimes, was still sought out by an unrelenting God. Jeffrey Dahmer was thought by many to be one of the most despicable humans that ever lived. Regardless, Dahmer received Christ while serving out the earthly consequences of his crimes in prison, and was publicly baptized in May of 1994 while incarcerated. He would soon afterward be murdered in that same prison. Once an atheist, at last a believer in the same Jesus who died for us all. As uncomfortable as it might be to some, the truth is, the blood running through Dahmers veins was no more vile than yours or mine in the eyes of God. And we ought to rejoice in every soul saved. “I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.” Luke 15:7.
The God of the universe sent Jesus to die for any and all who would believe. Grace covered Abraham, King David, the woman caught in adultery, the thief on the cross, and Jeffrey Dahmer all the same. A shocking reminder that grace does not depend on what we have done for God but only on what God has done for us.
So what are we to take away from this ceaseless offering of grace? First, we must simply believe it and receive it as Gods gift toward our salvation, recognizing it is not weighted upon anything we do or don’t do. We are not graded on curves nor will it ever run out…Gods grace is abundantly available to each of us already. There is enough to go around. Once we profess that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, we are filled with this amazing, free flowing gift. The supply is sufficient. Romans 10:9-13 tells us that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved… and ends with all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. That is Gods sufficient grace.
We can also rest assured knowing that no matter how much we’ve messed up, no matter how dirty our behaviors have been, God is not only able, but desires to cover us with His grace and restore us to himself. We are not defined by our sin, but rather defined by the supernatural grace that said it is finished. Yes, God is still pursuing us today like he did the people back in the Edenic beginning. Gods grace makes available to every person, dead in sin, a life giving power - because of who He is. We can let that be the fuel that drives us in a joyful, faithful obedience toward our creator. We can also be conduits of grace.
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