Grace | BCL Monthly
April 2024 Edition
Happy April to our BCL readers!
Grace is something we all like to receive. It’s also something that we often have a difficult time giving. We want God and people to go easy on us when we mess up; yet, we struggle to show grace to others when they have fallen short in some way. What does the Bible have to say about grace and how can we better give and receive grace in light of God’s mercies to us in Christ Jesus? In this month’s issue, Dan reflects upon the beautiful truth of God’s gracious nature, Ayrian shares why it is impossible for us to be saved apart from God’s grace, and Le Ann explores three kinds of grace we all need. To God be the glory!
In Christ,
Le Ann Trees, Managing Editor
Dan Rowlands, Content Editor
Ayrian Yasar, Associate Editor
“What have I ever done to deserve even one of the pleasures I’ve known?” So goes the Gold hit song “Why Me” (1972) by singer/songwriter Kris Kristofferson. The lyrics continue,
Tell me, Lord
What did I ever do
That was worth lovin’ you
Or the kindness you've shown?”
Grace is what captures and inspires Kristofferson. There is nothing any of us have done that justifies the joy, the love, the kindness that God shows us. This is grace—the unmerited and undeserved favor and love that God bestows on us in spite of the fact that all we truly deserve is justice—judgment for the offense of our sins against God.
By our own behavior we have earned death, not life.
In other words, what we deserve for our sinful nature and works are death and punishment. This is what we have merited, or earned. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). Scripture describes these earnings as wages because the metaphor fits—by our own behavior we have earned (i.e., merited) death. God is just and his justice requires our receiving what we are due—our wages—which is ultimately death.
Paul continues in Romans 6:23: “But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Here is the stark contrast between what is earned and what is a gift. God is gracious—he graciously gives eternal life—it is not earned. You cannot merit it. Nothing you do can earn it. Eternal life is God’s unmerited gift, and it is God’s nature to give it.
God graciously gives to us what we haven’t earned—his favor and love.
In the Old Testament, God reveals his graciousness right from the beginning. Adam and Eve should have died immediately, but God graciously promised the seed of the woman (Christ Jesus) who would destroy Satan (Gen. 3:15). Adam and Eve, though banished from the Garden, lived by God’s gracious provision of care for them. They didn’t deserve God’s grace, and we, descendants of Adam and Eve, don’t deserve it either. Yet, from the goodness of God he graciously gives to us what we haven’t earned—his favor and love.
Another example is from the time of Moses and Israel. When Moses asked God to show his glory to him (Gen. 32:18), the Lord hid him in a cleft of a rock on Mount Sinai and passed before him declaring,
"The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin…” (Exod. 34:6-7)
God revealed his graciousness, his favor toward those who would fail at nearly every step of the way, just like we fail in so many ways. Yet God, by his grace, is merciful, loving, faithful, and forgiving. This is his nature to give gifts to us, even though they are undeserved, never earned or merited, and always beyond what we could ever imagine.
God provides so much we do not deserve—this is grace.
For example, my wife is currently undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. Though the prognosis is good, it is no easy path to walk as millions who have gone before her surely know. Yet, even in this difficult trial God has graciously answered prayers for steadfast faith, for healing, for encouragement, and for the strength to persevere. God has given her the gifts of friends and family who pray with her, who love and encourage her, and send cards and notes to remind her she is never alone. God has given medicines and health care professionals to provide good treatments and lessen the difficult effects of the treatments. I could go on and on.
We have not earned, nor do we deserve, any of the good pleasures we enjoy even in this challenging time, and yet God is gracious and loving. He provides so much we do not deserve—this is grace. This is who God is, the one who provides all we need beyond measure, especially life itself and eternal life though faith in Christ Jesus.
Salvation in Christ is the greatest gracious gift of God to us.
God giving his only begotten Son to bear the punishment we deserve, the wages of sin and death that we justly have earned, is the greatest gift of God. What greater love is there and what greater gracious gift is there but that another lays down his life for us? God is love and he graciously gives it to those who trust in Christ Jesus for salvation. Believe in him—that he lived, died, was resurrected from the dead, and has ascended into heaven—so that you might enjoy pleasures beyond number together with him with eternal life.
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Ps. 16:11)
What is grace? My husband is fond of defining it for children as “getting the opposite of what you deserve.” This is a helpful definition not only for children but also for adults as well. We are wired as humans to earn what is good and expect punishment for what is evil, and these are good and normal expectations in many circumstances.
Without God changing our hearts we would continue in the kingdom of darkness.
Yet, the huge problem we face is that we can never do anything to earn God’s blessings and any of the good that comes from him, especially the good that comes through Christ Jesus:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph. 2:8-9)
We are doomed to suffer the just wrath of God for our rebellion against him unless God himself saves us. We have turned away from God and do not want his interference in our lives. Every bit of salvation is a gift, even our faith then is a gift, for without God changing our hearts we would continue in the kingdom of darkness. Yet,
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. (Col. 1:13)
God saved us according to his gracious mercy.
Let this truth sink in. We bring nothing to the table to make God love us, like us, or feel obligated to save us from his just wrath. Paul puts it simply:
But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. (Titus 3:4-6)
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all involved in our salvation, and we are the recipients of the gift of salvation.
As believers we are called to joyously extend grace to others as God has extended to us.
How then does this change how we treat God and others? Does our heart overflow with gratitude and awe that we have been favored by such a merciful God? Do we recognize the smile of God upon us, his cherished children? Are we patient and merciful to others, extending grace to them, giving them kindness and patience when they deserve the opposite?
It is hard to do, but it is the thing we are called to as we are transformed more and more into the image of Jesus Christ and made to look more like the children of God. Rejoice in the grace that has been given to you, and show others God’s love as you extend grace to them.
Grace is such a pleasant word. After all, who doesn’t want grace? Who wants to be held accountable for every mistake made, every deed that should have been done but wasn’t? The truth is we all fall short of perfection, and we all know we’re in need of grace. If we were left to have to answer for all our faults, sins, and shortcomings, we know we couldn’t stay standing under such scrutiny.
Grace is unmerited favor. Grace is receiving good things we didn’t earn and not receiving punishment we did earn. Here are three kinds of grace we all need:
God’s Grace to Us
First and foremost, we are in desperate need of God’s grace. Because of the guilt we have all inherited from Adam in the Fall in the garden of Eden and the additional guilt we heap upon ourselves from our own sin, we are under God’s wrath outside of Christ.
To appreciate God’s grace, we need to recognize how holy God is and how sinful we are. Isaiah understood this when he saw a vision of the Lord in his glory (Isa. 6:1-7). He saw his own sinfulness and his need to be cleansed so he would not be destroyed by God’s utter goodness and purity. We find another such example in the Gospel of Luke when Peter witnessed the miracle of the great catch of fish and fell down before the Lord, being overwhelmed by his unworthiness to be in the presence of God (Luke 5:8).
And when we realize that there is nothing about us that is untouched by our depraved nature and how impossible it is for us to stand before God on our own merits—this is when we realize how much we need God’s grace. God must uphold his righteousness; he cannot allow sin to go unpunished. Yet, he loved the world so much that gave his only Son to die an unfathomably horrible death on a cross to be the propitiation for our sins (John 3:16; 1 John 2:2). Praise God that he is both “just and the justifier” of all who have faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:26).
Grace for Others
As God has forgiven us in Christ, he commands us to forgive others who have sinned against us:
“And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt. 6:12).
It is part of our fallen nature to have an inward bent, to see ourselves as more righteous than we actually are and to hold others to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. As we grow in understanding of what God’s grace to us in Christ actually involves, our hearts become less hardened and more willing to give grace to others who have wronged us.
Jesus spoke of the importance of our relatively small acts of grace in his Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in Matthew 18:21-35. In this parable the servant is forgiven of paying back a vast sum of money he owes to his master only to have no mercy on a fellow servant who owes him a vastly smaller debt. The servant has no appreciation for the tremendous amount of grace shown to him by his master and selfishly holds his fellow servant fully accountable, giving him no grace whatsoever and putting him in a debtor’s prison until he can repay what is owed. The master finds out about the servant’s unforgiving heart and throws him into prison until his massive debt is fully paid. This parable teaches us that it is wrong not to show grace to others when God has forgiven us of all our guilt and trepasses in Christ.
While it can take time to process the wrongs done to us, as believers our hearts should be compelled to desire to forgive, and, as Jesus said, to forgive the person “seven times, but seventy-seven times” (Matt. 18:22). When we stubbornly refuse to forgive, when we choose to hold a grudge, we are failing to fully value how much God has forgiven us in Christ. Indeed, Jesus said the following regarding the importance of forgiving others:
“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matt. 6:14-15)
Even when we forgive others, showing them grace, past hurts can come back into our thoughts and necessitate forgiving the person again and again. This act of repeated forgiving also helps us remember God’s unmeasurable grace to us. And when we receive grace from others, the overwhelming feelings of relief, joy, and freedom from any guilt and shame we have been carrying is difficult to describe in words.
Showing grace to people, however, doesn’t mean that they deserve our immediate trust. When trust is breached in a relationship, it takes time and work to build it up again, and hopefully the trust will be even stronger. Sometimes, however, trust can never be rebuilt. Whether to continue a relationship requires discernment, prayer, and wisdom.
Grace for Ourselves
It is often the case that we have the hardest time showing grace for ourselves. We know all too well our own mistakes and shortcomings. And when it comes to finding someone to blame, the easiest person with whom to find fault is usually oneself. In such times we need to remind ourselves that God sent his Son to free us from condemnation. For us to condemn ourselves is to say that we are beyond God’s forgiveness, which is never the case for all who have new life in Christ! God’s forgiveness covers every one of a believer’s sins, and as the apostle John writes:
For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God. (1 John 3:20-21)
Beloved child of God, have confidence in your good and loving God and all he has done for you in Christ. Know that your sins are forgiven by God’s grace through faith in Christ alone. Have abundant grace for others and seek to honor your heavenly Father in all things, resting in his perfect love for you until the day you are perfected in glory to be with your Savior forevermore.
Featured Article:
Where is grace? Real grace. True grace.
Giving to one another generously and abundantly, without thought of any payback? Giving not just from a bucket of excess, but from one’s needs? Giving that causes the giver to suffer? Giving to those who can never repay? Giving to those who hate you? Who have harmed you?
Where is this grace? It is a foreign object. We don’t see it. We don’t understand it. We don’t do it. We don’t know how to do it. And we don’t like it.
I am likely typical. I give of my surplus: my surplus money, time, and energy. And I hope to be noticed, to get appropriate gratitude and applause. When do I give without wanting anything back? When do I give to those who hurt me or insult me?
Grace is pouring out one’s life, without any hope of something being poured back. Grace is pouring out our time, talents, resources, physical and mental energy, without looking to see what is left. Grace is emptying self, until suffering, even upon those who hate.
Who does this? We hear rumors of it, but we don’t see it. Read more...
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