Grace You Can Live With

Eph 2:5 (NASB). ...even when we were dead in our transgressions, [God] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)...

Last week, you remember, we talked about the life we can have because of the cross and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. "Because I live," Jesus said, "You can live also." (John 14:19)

Because he took our sin and our junk to the cross, we don't have to hold on to those things any longer. We can be free! Because he conquered death and rose to a resurrected life, we can live.

People don't have to be hollow, empty shells of humanity—dead on the inside. They can be alive in Jesus! People don't have to lug around the baggage of their broken spirits. They don't have to carry around their dead souls. They can be alive in Jesus!

So now we want to take the message of Easter to the next level: If you can be alive in Jesus, what does that look like? How does the life of Christ should show up in our everyday experiences?

Today we're going to look at GRACE you can LIVE with. Then, next week we're going to look at HOPE you can LIVE with and after that, POWER you can LIVE with.

No one wants an anemic, impotent religion! Yet so many Christians have reduced their faith to a weekly time slot scheduled on the calendar: punch the clock; say the prayers; head for home. Religion for many is relegated to irrelevance. Who cares? What difference does it make?

But if Jesus gives life to dead people—to us!—we can take that life with us wherever we go. We can live life in the trenches. Surrounded by skirmishes and stress, we still can face each day with spiritual strength and confidence. With Jesus, we can deal with anything this week, big or small—nagging nuisances or devastating, crushing blows. Jesus gives us life so we can survive in the trenches.

Grace! The grace of God is central to the life he gives. Without grace, there would be no life.

Romans 5:21 (NASB). ...as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life...

When a ruler is dethroned and another takes his place, this is called a revolution. Revolutions often occur accompanied by violence. Assassinations. Uprisings. Riots. Armies. Blood in the streets. This past week the government of Kyrgyzstan was overthrown as protestors rampaged through the capital of Bishkik; the security forces were called out; machine guns sprayed the crowd; people died, but the president was removed from power and a new government took over.

Once sin ruled over us. Sin was on the throne, but there was a revolution. Blood was spilled. Jesus died. Sin no longer is in power; grace reigns to give us life instead of death!

(NCV) Sin once used death to rule us, but God gave people more of his grace so that grace could rule by making people right with him. And this brings life forever...

(MSG) All sin can do is threaten us with death.... Grace...invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.

Without Christ, sin and death rule over us. But when Christ comes, there is a revolution—there is someone new in charge. When Christ comes, grace reigns in us. When we receive Jesus, grace rules! Grace is in control in order to give us life. The Christian life should be governed by grace.

So what does that grace look like? To get us thinking about what grace is and does—let's listen in to a conversation taking place in a hallway at the county courthouse...

Drama: Grace in the Trenches (courtroom hallway)

So how does this story end? Does the judge give him another chance to start over? Or does he throw the book at him? Does the judge extend mercy to him? Does he show him some grace? Or does the judge follow the sentencing guidelines to the letter and uphold justice?

Some say that justice is getting exactly what you deserve; mercy is getting less than you deserve (less punishment); grace is getting more than you deserve (more blessings).

Like the little boy who stole cookies from the cookie jar: the rule said if he stole cookies from the cookie jar then he had to go to bed without any supper—that's justice, following the rules for punishment; but if his mother relented, let him off the hook, and allowed him to have supper with the family—that's mercy; but if the boy felt bad for stealing, if he apologized and asked for forgiveness, and if she said, "It's okay. I forgive you. Why don't we sit down together and have some milk and cookies?"—that's grace.

Of course, stealing cookies is not a serious crime. And we don't know what this young man in the courthouse did, so we're not sure we should talk about grace until we know what he did. Our nature is to judge him more harshly the worse his crime is.

We would typically think it's easier to extend grace for some sins rather than for others.

Another factor: We don't know the circumstances of the crime. Shouldn't that make a difference? We might tend to be more lenient with certain people because they were stuck in unfavorable situations through no fault of their own? Well, he couldn't help it. Anyone raised in a home like his usually would have done worse.

Then other questions begin to surface: Who should receive grace? Is grace for anyone who asks? Is it for everyone? Or do some people—because of who they are, or the family they come from, or the unique circumstances of their life—do some people deserve grace more than others?

Grace is foundational to our faith. We know we can't live up to the Law—it is impossible for anyone to obey every rule, to always follow each restriction and every requirement of the entire legal code of the OT. And if it is humanly impossible to live a righteous life (and it is), then grace is our only hope.

It's foundational to what we believe as Christians:

Ac 15:11 ...we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus...

Eph 2:8 ...it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

Eph 1:7 (NASB) ...we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace

I have a problem with grace, however. I know I need it. I want it. But I'm not so sure about some of you. I'm not so sure some of you deserve grace the way I deserve grace.

You've felt the same way. We all struggle with those feelings. You judge yourself with a lot more leniency and grace than you judge others. Why? Because you know your circumstances; you sympathize with your weaknesses; you understand your motives; you give yourself credit for having good intentions. There are things you know about yourself that help you go easy on the judgment and generous on the grace.

Well, your honor, I would never normally speed, but I had had a really bad day at work and I was running late and it was my wife's birthday and I needed to get her gift before I picked her up for dinner. Then I got stuck behind this really slow driver, and I was just trying to get around him. So you see, I didn't really intend to be driving 50 in a 30 mph zone.

Right? We know how to excuse ourselves because we know what we're going through, but we're not so quick to excuse others. We just can't relate to them in the same way that we understand ourselves. We don't empathize so readily with their situation; we don't know what they're thinking; we don't understand their motives. So we're less likely to cut them some slack. You were speeding! You put me and my kids at risk. So pay the fine and stop complaining. You should spend 30 days in jail.

Why is there such a difference in our response? Why do we take grace easily but find it so hard to give grace? The problem is that we misinterpret what grace is. So we must get rid of several misconceptions—that grace costs nothing, that grace cancels the penalty, that we are better than most sinners so God loves us more, that the worst sinners need more grace.

1. Grace may be a free gift, but it is not cheap. It is a priceless treasure—one that we must cherish and value so much that we are willing to surrender our own ways and our own life.

1 Cor 15:10.  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, pastor in Germany in WWII during Hitler's era wrote in his book The Cost of Discipleship, about what he called, "cheap grace." He was concerned that believers would slide into a complacent apathy about the cost of grace—and the implications for those who follow Christ:

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church [he wrote]. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means... Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing....  45

In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God.... 45-46

Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. ‘All for sin could not atone.'' Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world's standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin....

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. 47

You see, grace provides the power and the means enabling us to live a different life! You can live a new life, a victorious life, by the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

1 Cor 15:10.  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

2. Grace does not cancel the penalty.

We think grace means canceling the penalty and letting somebody off. But it's not! Grace doesn't cancel the penalty—it transfers it.

Grace means that we receive the gift of life because somebody else took the penalty of death. The penalty wasn't canceled at all! The penalty for our sin was paid in full by Jesus Christ on the cross!

Romans 6:23. ...the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

3. Grace is equally available for all.

No one deserves grace more than anyone else. Many of us believe in the generic concept of grace—that God saves sinners who do not deserve salvation and could never earn it.

When we apply it to specific situations, however, we sometimes have more difficulty with that idea of grace. Two examples of when we have difficulty:

(a) Instances of great evil—when a crime is so heinous—so evil, so over the top—that it repulses us. The more evil someone is, the more we want them to pay for what they did: Adolph Hitler, Josef Stalin, Osama bin Ladin, Tiger Woods... and the Apostle Paul puts himself in that list:

1 Tim 1:16. I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

(b) Instances when we are victims—when we've been hurt.

Grace is not just for a privileged few. It's for everyone—even those who hurt us.

We have difficulty with the idea of giving grace to people who hurt us, or abuse us, or offend us, or merely irritate us. We would just as soon see them pay. We don't like the idea that they should get off scott-free. Because we suffered, they should pay something.

We have this idea that grace is measured out in different quantities to different people in different circumstances. We have this idea that some (especially us) deserve grace more than others.

Of course, all this undermines the very nature of what grace really is. If it's something we can earn or deserve or work for, then it's no longer grace—it's no longer a gift of God.

Romans 11:5-6. ...there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

So how do you define grace? And how does it help us live?

Look it up in the dictionary, and you'll find that grace is:

1. elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action. 2. a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment. 3. favor or good will. 4. a manifestation of favor... 5. mercy; clemency; pardon... 6. favor shown in granting a delay or temporary immunity. 7. an allowance of time after a debt or bill has become payable granted to the debtor...

These meanings don't even come close to what God means when he says, "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more" (Rom 5:20) or "by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor 15:10) or "the riches of His grace" (Eph 1:7) or "being justified by His grace" (Tit 3:7) or "fallen from grace" (Gal 5:4).

These seven dictionary meanings are listed before you come to definition #8, the theological definition:

8. ...a. the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God. b. the influence or spirit of God operating in humans to regenerate or strengthen them. c. a virtue or excellence of divine origin: the Christian graces. d. Also called state of grace. the condition of being in God's favor or one of the elect...

But definitions of grace, unfortunately, fall short of capturing the experience of grace!

John Newton, who had been the captain of a slave-trading ship in the 1700s, called God's grace, "amazing." He wrote the words to the song we still sing, "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 deeply regretted the sins of his past.

A few years ago, a movie came out called Amazing Grace. It tells the story of William Wilberforce in the 1800s, working to end Britain's role in the African slave trade. One day Wilberforce visits his old pastor, John Newton. He was hopeful Newton would tell about his slave-ship days to help sway people to the cause of abolishing slavery. But he declined, saying the experience and "20,000 ghosts" haunted him too greatly. He could not talk about it.

Later, however, nearing success in ending the slave trade, Wilberforce again visits Newton, who tells him that he has recorded the story of his slaving days. Old and blind, Newton says to Wilberforce, "You must use it. Names, records, ship records, ports, people—everything I remember is in here."

And then he said something quite profound: "Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly: I'm a great sinner, and Christ is a great Savior." [Amazing Grace (Samuel Goldwyn Pictures, 2006); directed by Michael Apted]

An old sea captain weighed down and haunted by his part in the deaths and chains of 20,000 slaves, experienced freedom in Jesus Christ. The weight of sin was lifted. God's grace brought life even to someone like him—a wretched sinner! Verse 2: T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear. And Grace, my fears relieved. How precious did that Grace appear The hour I first believed... Verse 5: Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail, And mortal life shall cease, I shall possess within the veil, A life of joy and peace.

God's grace brings life to dead people (Eph 2:5). And then everyday grace continues to give us the life and strength to cope with ungraceful people, ungraceful situations, ungraceful problems. Grace helps us live when trouble and sickness and pain try to suck the life out of us.

We need only to stay in that place of grace to live victoriously in the trenches!

2Cor 9:8. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;