I get wrecked all over again.
In fact, grace is so amazing that there is more than one thing to say about it. By grace we do wonders (Acts 6:8), by grace we are justified (Rom. 3:24), by grace we exhort (Rom. 12:3), by grace we build (1 Cor. 3:10), by grace we work hard (1 Cor. 15:10), by grace we give generously (2 Cor. 8:7), by grace we use our gifts (Eph. 4:7); by grace we are strengthened (Heb. 13:9), and by grace we are saved (Eph. 2:8).
Every good thing we do, every true thing we believe, every bit of
resting, every bit of striving, every mercy and every effort is by grace
(James 1:17).
God has this way of forcing me to rediscover and wrestle with the concept of Grace over and over and over and over again...
And then again and again.
Have you had this kind of experience?
---
If there is "nothing new under the sun," perhaps the main task now facing the Western church is not to reinvent or be relevant, but to remember. The truth of the gospel is still contained within a good picture of Grace.
I heard a communion thought once about a woman on her way to church got pulled over by the police. She was guilty of speeding, clearly deserved a ticket, but the cop let her go on a warning. It was this that made her think of Jesus.
That is grace right?
It was explained to me after that perhaps the best word for that would be mercy.
So often we confuse the two... but mercy is a caveat of grace. Mercy and grace go hand in hand.
Perhaps a better picture of grace would be the cop giving the ticket, and when she went to court to deal with the consequences of the ticket the judge pulled out $200 from his wallet and paid the fine for her, in her name.
The consequence was paid, but not by her... rather by the very person who ordered the debt to be paid.
That's grace right?
I thought it was an awesome metaphor... until I got wrecked all over again.
Is that all this is? This Christian thing?
Do I live the way I do and try to follow Christ just because of a God who ordered the penalty but then just paid it himself? What kind of God is that? Why would I want to spend eternity with a gracious, yes, but also slightly sadistic deity as that?
I can't get past this passage from 1 Corinthians:
"Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." (1 Corinthians 3:18-23, emphasis mine)
The context is Paul talking about unity, and the need for it... but then he says, DON'T be concerned with the things of this world, because it is all yours! All of it! And you are Christ's!
Now, in addition to the world...and we could say more about that but I'm trying to keep this short...he says life is yours. You have life! What kind of life is he talking about?...eternal life, spiritual life, the knowledge of God, God's life in me, Christ in me. This is that eternal life...Jesus Christ, I John 5:20 says. And John 17:3 says to know God is eternal life...God in me, it's God's life pulsating in my being and my heart. I'm alive. I have life. The attributes of God manifest in me. Jesus gave me His joy, His peace, His love. Read it in John 14, 15, 16. I have life. I have eternal life. I have the life now, beloved, that I will possess forever. Is that right? Life is mine. I see people around me dead and dying. I'm alive. The world is mine; life is mine.
Look at the next one. Death is mine!
Umm... Why would I want that!?
Because I still look at death as a master rather than a slave.
You know what death can do to a Christian?...one thing...take him to Jesus.
Death is a terrible and tragic thing for us when we are witnessing a loved one leaving.
We are saddened, because part of our life, part of our world, part of our community has left us.We are saddened when we've just heard so-and-so has been diagnosed as terminal.
But in the early church they had a celebration.
They wanted to go and be with Jesus. Death can't do anything to a Christian but usher him or her into the presence of Jesus Christ. That's all it can do. Is that anything to be afraid of? That's something to look forward to, wouldn't you say? That's why Paul said, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)
That's why Paul said in I Corinthians 15, "Oh, death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory?" There's none left. No victory for death.
ALL THINGS ARE SUBJECTED TO US.
Death is no longer a master but a slave to us.
Well, okay, the world is ours, life is ours, death is ours. We own death! Isn't that terrific?
Another thing this passage says to me...things present are ours. That's everything! All the objects, all the people, all the situations, all the events and all the experiences of life...are for your blessing.
You say, even the bad ones? Yeah, that's part of the all things that work together for good.
Do you know that pain and grief and sorrow and all that stuff serves you...serves you. It's yours. "All things work together for good." All things present...all things present. And if you would compare that with Romans 8:38 and 39, you will see that there is nothing in the present that can separate you from the love of Christ, right?...not things present, not things to come. So if they can't separate you from Him, if they can't violate that relationship, if they can't change that relationship, they can only enhance it. All things are yours. Pain is yours; happiness is yours. Sorrow is yours; gladness is yours. It's all yours. And God, by it all, is conforming us to Jesus.
Not only things present, things to come.
I don't know what they are; they're are still coming, and I can't tell you what they might be... But whatever they are; they're ours.
Then Paul sums it up. "All things are yours." Things to come, of course, refers to the future, which includes the promise of eternity, the promise of heaven on earth. It's all yours. So, here we've got a bunch of Christians talking about Grace... but I am wrecked by it.
God's grace is so good, so powerful that it has grafted me into the promise of all things being mine.
But I have to have a proper view of our possessor. "And you are Christ's and Christ is God's. We all belong to the same Christ who belongs to the one God. This is where the theme of unity comes in again... We're one. He's simply saying there is no basis for division. The reason we possess everything is because we're all Christ's and Christ is God's and there's no discord there. The greatest blessedness of all blessedness is to know that I belong to Jesus and He belongs to God. But I am still stuck on this idea of grace. And when I realize that He is ours and we are His...
That changes everything.
So that brings me back to the story of the speeding ticket. I think the true story of Grace in this would be God using this ticket to teach us more about himself... but the picture that is ingrained in my mind would be this:
The judge gavels the court into order. The case is presented and it is clear that we are guilty. Guilty of speeding. Guilty of breaking the law. Guilty. The judge gavels again pulls out of his pocket the money due for our crime as he puts the money aside he also pulls out a stamp that says "PAID IN
FULL" and then... gives us $200 on top of everything. We are paraded out of the court room and given a limo ride to wherever we want to go. Grace is more than mercy, it is everything. It is giving us all things.
It is Jesus, counting our sins not against us, but against himself. It is Jesus paying the full price for our guilt and then giving us all of the riches due to Him. It is He sharing his royal riches with us, giving us everything and more that we could ask or imagine. It is SO upside down, backwards, ridiculous to everything we could dream of this going.
Every time I think I have this figured out... I am wrecked all over again by this picture of grace. Real grace.
Every time grace is rediscovered, let us hold onto it with everything and not send in an army of moralizers, backwaterers, and scholasticizers to make us forget it.
God has this way of forcing me to rediscover and wrestle with the concept of Grace over and over and over and over again...
And then again and again.
Have you had this kind of experience?
---
If there is "nothing new under the sun," perhaps the main task now facing the Western church is not to reinvent or be relevant, but to remember. The truth of the gospel is still contained within a good picture of Grace.
I heard a communion thought once about a woman on her way to church got pulled over by the police. She was guilty of speeding, clearly deserved a ticket, but the cop let her go on a warning. It was this that made her think of Jesus.
That is grace right?
It was explained to me after that perhaps the best word for that would be mercy.So often we confuse the two... but mercy is a caveat of grace. Mercy and grace go hand in hand.
Perhaps a better picture of grace would be the cop giving the ticket, and when she went to court to deal with the consequences of the ticket the judge pulled out $200 from his wallet and paid the fine for her, in her name.
The consequence was paid, but not by her... rather by the very person who ordered the debt to be paid.
That's grace right?
I thought it was an awesome metaphor... until I got wrecked all over again.
Is that all this is? This Christian thing?
Do I live the way I do and try to follow Christ just because of a God who ordered the penalty but then just paid it himself? What kind of God is that? Why would I want to spend eternity with a gracious, yes, but also slightly sadistic deity as that?
I can't get past this passage from 1 Corinthians:
"Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." (1 Corinthians 3:18-23, emphasis mine)
The context is Paul talking about unity, and the need for it... but then he says, DON'T be concerned with the things of this world, because it is all yours! All of it! And you are Christ's!
Now, in addition to the world...and we could say more about that but I'm trying to keep this short...he says life is yours. You have life! What kind of life is he talking about?...eternal life, spiritual life, the knowledge of God, God's life in me, Christ in me. This is that eternal life...Jesus Christ, I John 5:20 says. And John 17:3 says to know God is eternal life...God in me, it's God's life pulsating in my being and my heart. I'm alive. I have life. The attributes of God manifest in me. Jesus gave me His joy, His peace, His love. Read it in John 14, 15, 16. I have life. I have eternal life. I have the life now, beloved, that I will possess forever. Is that right? Life is mine. I see people around me dead and dying. I'm alive. The world is mine; life is mine.
Look at the next one. Death is mine!
Umm... Why would I want that!?
Because I still look at death as a master rather than a slave.
You know what death can do to a Christian?...one thing...take him to Jesus.
Death is a terrible and tragic thing for us when we are witnessing a loved one leaving.
We are saddened, because part of our life, part of our world, part of our community has left us.We are saddened when we've just heard so-and-so has been diagnosed as terminal.
But in the early church they had a celebration.
They wanted to go and be with Jesus. Death can't do anything to a Christian but usher him or her into the presence of Jesus Christ. That's all it can do. Is that anything to be afraid of? That's something to look forward to, wouldn't you say? That's why Paul said, "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." (Philippians 1:21)
That's why Paul said in I Corinthians 15, "Oh, death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory?" There's none left. No victory for death.
ALL THINGS ARE SUBJECTED TO US.
Death is no longer a master but a slave to us.
Well, okay, the world is ours, life is ours, death is ours. We own death! Isn't that terrific?
Another thing this passage says to me...things present are ours. That's everything! All the objects, all the people, all the situations, all the events and all the experiences of life...are for your blessing.
You say, even the bad ones? Yeah, that's part of the all things that work together for good.
"It is as if all things in life are a multitude of servants surrounding us on bended knees. They hold out their precious offerings to us. Some of these servants, like pain and injury and sickness and grief, may at first have a strange look to us who do not know our royalty sufficiently. It is God who commissions them all and makes each one bring us some blessing so that as kings unto God, we shall lack nothing." -Mensky
Do you know that pain and grief and sorrow and all that stuff serves you...serves you. It's yours. "All things work together for good." All things present...all things present. And if you would compare that with Romans 8:38 and 39, you will see that there is nothing in the present that can separate you from the love of Christ, right?...not things present, not things to come. So if they can't separate you from Him, if they can't violate that relationship, if they can't change that relationship, they can only enhance it. All things are yours. Pain is yours; happiness is yours. Sorrow is yours; gladness is yours. It's all yours. And God, by it all, is conforming us to Jesus.
Not only things present, things to come.
I don't know what they are; they're are still coming, and I can't tell you what they might be... But whatever they are; they're ours.
Then Paul sums it up. "All things are yours." Things to come, of course, refers to the future, which includes the promise of eternity, the promise of heaven on earth. It's all yours. So, here we've got a bunch of Christians talking about Grace... but I am wrecked by it.
God's grace is so good, so powerful that it has grafted me into the promise of all things being mine.
But I have to have a proper view of our possessor. "And you are Christ's and Christ is God's. We all belong to the same Christ who belongs to the one God. This is where the theme of unity comes in again... We're one. He's simply saying there is no basis for division. The reason we possess everything is because we're all Christ's and Christ is God's and there's no discord there. The greatest blessedness of all blessedness is to know that I belong to Jesus and He belongs to God. But I am still stuck on this idea of grace. And when I realize that He is ours and we are His...
That changes everything.
So that brings me back to the story of the speeding ticket. I think the true story of Grace in this would be God using this ticket to teach us more about himself... but the picture that is ingrained in my mind would be this:
FULL" and then... gives us $200 on top of everything. We are paraded out of the court room and given a limo ride to wherever we want to go. Grace is more than mercy, it is everything. It is giving us all things.
It is Jesus, counting our sins not against us, but against himself. It is Jesus paying the full price for our guilt and then giving us all of the riches due to Him. It is He sharing his royal riches with us, giving us everything and more that we could ask or imagine. It is SO upside down, backwards, ridiculous to everything we could dream of this going.
Every time I think I have this figured out... I am wrecked all over again by this picture of grace. Real grace.
Every time grace is rediscovered, let us hold onto it with everything and not send in an army of moralizers, backwaterers, and scholasticizers to make us forget it.
---
Nathan Bryant
Is a student of Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri. Majoring in Biblical Leadership and New Testament Studies, he has a combined passion for unity and discipleship in the global church. He loves traveling and experiencing new cultures as well as teaching and preaching. Nate is a crazed sports fan, he enjoys college football and playing fantasy football. He also enjoys watching baseball with friends. Nate is unashamedly a Starbucks addict, (Yay Coffee!) and when not working or preparing a sermon for Sunday, can usually be found in a coffee shop curled up in a corner with a good book.
Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our causes.
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