Just Grace…

What I’m going to share with you tonight will lead you to a lifetime of freedom, if you want it. Just grace. As simple as that. For a word we use so often in our lives, you would think we would understand it more. We say grace before a meal. We offer grace in our dealings with people. We live in the time period called. “the Grace Administration.” We use grace in connection with style and fluidity of movements. People can fall in and out of our good graces. Grace is literally standing all around us, but do we really know what it is? Freedom can only be found in one amazing thing. Just grace.

If grace truly was just a saying or a way to describe a thing, we would miss the point. Grace is much bigger than anything we have imagined as human beings. The short definition is a reference to God’s favor in our lives. A better definition for grace is unmerited and unearned favor. Imagine being an American and getting something for nothing. God forbid in the land of performance! Not to stray too far from the point, but our culture is consumed with the need to work harder, strive more, supply more effort, work more hours. If you want to be successful, you have to pay for it (sometimes with a cost that is too high!) Grace, just grace is unearned, unmerited favor from God. You don’t have to work for it and you cannot earn it. Yet, how many well meaning Christians are still trying to earn it. How many things do people do that they really don’t want to do for fear of losing God’s favor in their lives? It’s like, “I get it. Jesus died for all of my sins. However, some of that stuff might not be covered so perhaps I should add a little work(s).” You really can’t have it both ways. It is grace plus nothing. You cannot earn it. None of us could ever earn it. Even the folks who think they are earning it are being misled. What they are really earning is a lifetime of bondage to sin; that same sin Jesus took away. When our Lord said, “It is finished” while hanging on the cross, he meant it. He paid the full price for every little and big thing that was ever wrong with us. What was finished was his complete redemption for us. What was finished was the need for us to continue spend our lives focusing on sin, trying to avoid sin, and generally feeling guilty and condemned for sin. That ultimate sacrifice was an act of God’s grace towards us. Just grace. Deserved for the undeserving. Righteousness for the unrighteous people. God’s plan for us was freedom. He knew none of us could live up to the standard so He made a way for us to win anyway. That way is grace. It is the only way. Just grace.

I know it might be a hard concept for you to wrap your mind around, especially living here in the good ole’ USA. It just cannot be that easy. How much do I owe you? Can I set up a payment plan? The first thing people respond with is, “So you are saying we can sin now and God will still bless us?” Well, the short answer is yes! God does not bless you according to the work you do. He blesses you because of His grace. Now think that through a little. If He only blessed you or protected you when you were doing “right,” what happened when you were doing wrong? Boy, that is a slippery slope to try and climb. Yet, that is how many, many people are living. When we willfully do the things that God says are wrong, we suffer as a result. We don’t suffer because it is God’s will. We suffer because error always hurts us. If you have lived long enough, you don’t need someone to tell you that sin and error is bad. You already know it. But no matter how much sin prevails, grace prevails more. You just can’t beat it. God loves us unconditionally. God wants to help us and bless us, but we will never come to Him as long as our hearts are condemning us. So we work harder, suffer more, repeat, repeat, repeat. What if God wanted to truly set us free? If we are compelled to do something or be something, we are not free. True freedom means you can choose on your own without endless fear of consequences or retribution. Undeserved, unmerited, unearned favor! Just grace.

We’ve been so conditioned by the world that we simply cannot believe it. Surely there is a price I have to pay. It cannot be that simple. And still, how many friends do you have that cannot touch this or handle that? How many folks do you know that live in constant fear of sinning, i.e. losing God’s favor and protection. God’s grace is calling out, “it’s not true.” You cannot earn it. You can never be good enough to be deserving of it. It is impossible. You were born with sin in your blood. It took an act of God’s grace to really set us free. Don’t you want freewill love from your children? Imagine them considering that you may no longer love them if they made a mistake, or many mistakes? Now don’t misunderstand me. There is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to do good things. Those good things have their own reward. But, the real good things are the things we do with God. The things I do outside of God are works; vain futile attempts at making myself acceptable to Him. I’m already acceptable to Him and so are you (by the work of His dear son). He solved the sin problem for us. Now you can finally stand up straight and start to enjoy your life. You can finally get the focus off of yourself and onto God where it always belonged. That other type of life is exhausting. The more you work to do right, the more wrong you discover. This whole, corrupted world works very hard to turn your focus inward. And God is ever working to help you turn your focus outward. That is how you can spot what is truly Godly and what is religion. Religion will always be hell-bent on making our flesh into something spiritually good. Yet it will always be a lie. It is a wrong starting premise. When our Lord died on that tree, our old corrupted, flesh nature died with him. And dead men no longer sin. The new nature inside of you, His spirit inside, is the real you. It is incorruptible and perfect. It cannot sin, though your flesh may choose otherwise. When you have God’s spirit inside of you, you are going to live forever. You already made heaven. You are in the book. And, praise the Lord, there is nothing you can do to mess it up. All of this because of grace. Just grace.

I don’t think anyone wants to live that sad, restricted, limited life. Where is the joy in that? Is that motivated by love or is the motivation fear? What if you didn’t do your “works” for the day? Would the sky fall in? Would you be subject to instant calamity? I think not. You, my friends, don’t need to do anything to earn God’s love and care. It was there for you before the world began. Why not take a much needed rest from all of your hard work and striving and let God do what He already promised He would do. All He requires from you is to believe what He says is true. And, you will never get around to believing Him while you’re running on that endless hamster wheel of trying to earn His favor. “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” Do you want the freedom God is offering you? Then it has to be by grace. Just grace.

Just some good thoughts…