Grace:
This seems to be a buzzword in our time. Everywhere you go you hear it. Like so many other things this truth has been compromised and bend to fit people lifestyles. I would like to bring some understanding to this word and what God has shown me.
I asked a lot of people just to test and see if what I heard was correct. What does the word “Grace” mean to you when you hear it? “Grace is not getting what you deserve,” is the major way they explain it. They make it sound like you got away with something. Now it is true that we didn’t get the punishment we deserved, but Jesus did. So grace does not mean getting away with something. If nobody got the punishment for sin then this statement would be true. You see grace does not ignore sin. It actually pays for sin. This understanding of getting away with something has permeated the church and has created a people that live to get away with something. They walk around with a misconception and an understanding of what Jesus did and makes his offer for our sins cheap. Does it really strike them how severely the punishment was that Jesus took for our sins?
Not getting what you deserve is called mercy. The prophet cries out: “In wrath remember mercy.” Mercy is more a description of us being set free and not getting the punishment we deserve. Mercy is God’s favor towards us to release us from the responsibility of our choices and actions. I would like to add a piece that a friend of mine wrote about grace.
“Beware the concept of “grace” that appears to say, “I’m a big mess but God loves me anyway. He sees me with rose colored glasses.” No. He sees perfectly who and what you are and the passion He has for you is based upon who you were in His purpose before you were created. That passion is why He gave His Son, and the work of the cross isn’t about a Band-Aid or cover up. Redemption is about transformation.” – Dr Don Lynch
So what is grace about? Grace is about transformation. Grace cannot be separated from the message of redemption. Did God give grace so that we can stay the way we are? Was grace a tool to save but not to transform?
Grace is the power that God gives us to be changed after we are saved. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord – Gen 6:8. Why did he find grace? He needed the empowerment to build the ark. Grace empowers us. Grace empowered us to believe to be saved. We could not do it by ourselves. Grace is God’s power released to us to become what he created us to be from the beginning. He has predestined us to be conformed to the likeness of his son. You can never achieve that by what you have. It will take divine grace and empowerment to step into your destiny.
In the book of Luke we read the story of the prodigal son. In this story we see grace and how it works. Here are five things I see in this story that Jesus told to demonstrate the heart of God and grace.
1. Grace is activated by a heart for change.
Luke 15:11-12 And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living
Luke 15:18-19 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants
When the son left the house he wanted something. When he came back he wanted to be someone. What releases grace over our lives? There is a big difference between “Give me” and “Make me.” We are called to become someone. All who have excepted Him he gave the power to become the children of God. We don’t serve God for what we can get, that is a prodigal mindset, we serve because of what we can become. When we shift our need from wanting to becoming grace is released for the transformation that needs to take place. This son knew that he had to become someone, “You can make me like one of your hired servants?” instead of just wanting something. A slave was better than a prodigal. The father had better things in mind but he had to wait until the son was ready for transformation. What you desire won’t change you as much as what your emptiness will change you. When he had all he needed he did not think about being transformed. With all of his stuff he didn’t need grace. He could take care of himself. When he had nothing he qualified for the fathers grace. Are you feeling empty? Have you tried it all and have come up short? Don’t ask for more, ask for transformation.
2. Grace will see you before you see the father.
Luke 15:20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
His father saw him first. I can just imagine what he looked like walking back home. Looking down and full of shame. He must have been thinking about what his father would do. Maybe send him back. What would he do then? This was his only hope. As he is walking he hears someone running. Still he doesn’t look up. Maybe it is one of his father’s servants going to get something. The next minute someone grabs him. He is startled back to reality as he looks up and his father kisses him. The wall breaks and he lets it all out. “I am sorry, I am sorry, I am sorry. I have sinned against you. Make me like one of your hired servants.”
Grace has the ability to see you before it sees your sin. What a truth. Grace is ready to surprise you. Grace is ready to kiss you. Have you been kissed by grace? Do you know what it is to be accepted instead of being rejected? That father was waiting all along for his return. Giving up was not an option. That father already knew that he wanted to see his son again. Nothing would be able to derail the love he had for his son. Grace sees you before you see it.
3. Grace will release mercy before it will release judgment.
Luke 15:21-24 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
The most amazing thing is happening in this story. The son apologizes and the father looks like he is ignoring the son’s apology. We already saw that grace does not excuse sin but deals with it. This father shows us how God deals with our mistakes. God has a heart for restoration. The father in this story does not ignore the apology, he responds to the apology. When we repent God does not ignore our repentance but he responds to it. How does he do that?
Bring a robe, bring a ring and bring some shoes. When a son encounters a father he looks different than when he first got there. When you encounter grace you will look different than you did before because grace empowers and restores. What proof do I have for this? I am not what I use to be. Mercy met me and grace empowered me. When mercy is released it deals with the judgment that was upon me. Now grace enables me to live in a way that with authenticate the mercy I received. If grace didn’t change me you would question why I received mercy.
4. Grace does not demand admittance to the wrong choices you made.
I heard so many sermons about making restitution. I heard sermons on generational sins and having to go back and confess the wrongs from the past. Let me just say that I am unable to remember all the things I have done wrong, much less what my father did wrong and even much less what his father did wrong. When this son confessed I don’t see the father demand a confession of all the things he did wrong. “Now tell me son what did you do with the money I gave you and how did you waste it and on who did you waste it?” This father does not try to identify the wrong that was committed. If you remember then ask forgiveness but please don’t waste your time trying to find the sin. God knows what we are capable of and he is ready to forgive even before we ask. What about un-confessed sin? There you have it. Just ask God to forgive all un-confessed sins. This son was sin conscious while the father was righteousness conscious. We need to see ourselves like God sees us. Sin consciousness will not empower you to change. Grace empowers you to change.
5. Grace restores without charging.
The father kills the fatted calf. I love it because grace gives without charging. The father didn’t ask his CPA to take note and send him a bill. Grace does not charge even if you have spend all you had before. The brother was not too happy with the father’s decision. He didn’t like to share what was left. Again we see grace in action. “All I have is yours.” Grace is our source into the father’s blessings. Have we charged people for what we thought were a waste of God’s provision? What about the beggar on the street that wants some money? “ I don’t want to give because I know he is going to buy liqueur with it.” That is an older brother complex that has it all but does not want to use it. This older brother had it all but never used I to find his younger brother. All those resources available but hording it all up. All that grace available but refusing to spend it on the lost and broken.
I don’t know what is worse. Having it and spending it or having it and not spending it. Both of them were prodigal. Both needed an intervention of grace.
6. Grace empowers.
Grace empowers us to become something. Grace is more than we can understand; it must be experienced to gain true value for it. Beware of grace that does not expect change. Here is another snippet from Dr Don Lynch.
“Beware the limited definition of redemption and atonement that covers what should be cleansed, ignores what should be revealed, and excuses what should be removed. Atonement is reconciliation, but the basis of this reconciliation isn’t Divine blindness but redemptive light. If we walk in that noonday Sun of revealing, we have true koinonia with Father and the Blood of His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Beware the idea that the sin remains fully functional but Father is an Expert at ignoring what is destroying us and our destinies.
Jesus has no sympathy for anything that is standing between us and the fullness of our created destiny and fulfillment of our kingdom calling. He did what was necessary in Atonement so we could be everything we were created to be and do everything we are called to do.
