God's Amazing Grace, part 2

Today I will continue the study of God's amazing grace. 

In my last post, we substituted "God" for "love" in 1Co13.  In John 1:14 Scripture tells us that "Jesus came full of grace and truth.  We I'm a mathematician. So, I hope I don't lose you in the mathematical approach. If the math scares you, just jump down to the Scripture below.

God = love

Jesus = grace and truth.  

Jesus = God

Mathematically, these  are all equal.  We substituted "God" for "love" in my last post.  Today I am going to substitute "God's grace" into 1Co 13.

God's grace is patient, God's grace is kind. God's grace does not envy, God's grace does not boast, God's grace is not proud. God's grace is not rude, God's grace is not self-seeking, God's grace is not easily angered, God's grace keeps no record of wrongs. God's grace does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God's grace always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. God's grace never fails. (adapted from 1Co 13:4-8a )

I'm going to look at each phrase individually.

• Grace is patient:

patient: bearing pain or trials without complaint: showing self-control: calm: steadfast, persevering.

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promises, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2Pe 3:9)

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. the grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners -- of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason 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. Now to the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only god, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. (1Ti 1:12-17)

God bears with our foolishness, our stupid decisions and our sin because he wants us to come to repentance and join him in heaven! Although he hates our sin, he does not have a temper tantrum over it. He is calm and self-controlled in his response to our stupidity. Long after I have given up on myself, God is still working with me and those around me to bring me to repentance, and ultimately to heaven.

• Grace is kind.

kind: of a sympathetic, forbearing or pleasing nature: arising from sympathy or forbearance: benevolent, benign, gracious.

Kindness is to genuinely want what is best for someone else.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are -- yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Heb 4:14-16)

 

Our Great High Priest is kind to us. He knows we are weak. He knows we fail. He knows we sin. He knows that sometimes we commit the same sin over and over and over again. He sympathizes with that weakness. God doesn’t want to zap us into oblivion every time we make a mistake. Rather, as our Father, he wants what is best for us. Sometimes that requires discipline, but not abuse. God has never been guilty of child abuse.

Oh Great and Gracious Father, Thank you for Your Amazing Grace. Thank you that you are patient with us! Thank you for not giving up on us, even when others have given up on us or when we have given up on ourselves.  You are patient, working in our lives and our circumstances to bring us into a more and more intimate relationship with You! You are kind. Some of us have had harsh parents or other harsh discipline in our lives. You are never harsh. You understand our sinful nature, and You give us grace in our time of need. Thank you for always wanting what is best for us, and for working toward that end. Thank you that we can rely on your loving kindness, and patience when we face trials or failure. May you be praised forever and ever, Amen.

God's Amazing Grace

The next few posts come from a chapter in my unpublished book on dealing with depression with wisdom from deep study into God's Word.  This comes from Chapter 16: A Study of God's Amazing Grace. 

Many years ago a good friend preached a  sermon on God’s grace that I found very enlightening. We often have no idea how to define grace. When I don’t know the meaning of a word, I turn to the dictionary. The 1989 edition of  the New Merriam- Webster Dictionary provides the following definition.

grace: help given man by God (as in overcoming temptation): freedom from sin through divine grace: a virtue coming from God^.

Do you now have a better grasp of grace? Me neither. The dictionary has left us even more baffled than before we opened its pages.

Let’s go to the Bible. Grace is one expression of God’s love for us. I want to start by looking at God’s love, but I will bring it back to grace. “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God.” (1 Pe 4:16b). The best description of love anywhere is in 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Co 13:4-8a)

We can replace the word love with God, because God is love. By doing such we have a great description of God’s character.

God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, God does not boast, God is not proud. God is not rude, God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. God never fails. (adapted from 1Co 13:4-8a )

We will continue to go deeper with this passage in the next post.

Dear Gracious Father,

We praise You and thank You for Your incredible love and grace. We are so unworthy of Your affection, yet You shower us with Your blessings. Thank You for Your Word which gives us the very words of life! In the pages of the Bible we find hope and direction for every aspect of our lives. We praise You for Your character. We praise You for Your beauty which we see all around us in Your creation. As I write this prayer I hear the birds (the dawn chorus) singing Your praises as they welcome in the new day. May we learn from them to start our days in praise to You, our Creator, our Father, our Friend. Amen.

Condemnation Disappears at the Foot of the Cross

I have been meditating and praying a lot lately about how to reach out to those who are gay. Over the past couple of months I have visited the church that my son and his dad attend in order to see (hear) my son sing. That church promotes itself as an inclusive church where everyone is welcomed. This past Sunday the announcements included a petition to join in the upcoming Pride parade – a parade that celebrates those in the GLBT community. I agree with welcoming them, but I still see that the Scriptures teach that homosexuality (and many other things that we tolerate) are wrong.

So, how can we reach them? I still don't have that answer, but God has directed my thoughts on a tangent. Many churches and individuals calling themselves Christians are very vocal in their opposition to gays. I have to ask why? Statistics show that people calling themselves Christians are just as guilty in almost every area as those who do not identify at all with Christ. (see this blog post by Bill Peddie Does Christianity Make a Difference?) In the Old Testament, those who committed any sex outside of marriage, whether homosexual or heterosexual, were condemned. The penalty was either stoning, or forced marriage with no opportunity for divorce. (Deu1813-30, Lev 20:11,13) And then Jesus taught that lust is equivalent to adultery (Mt 5:27-28) I am quite certain that some, if not many – considering today's culture of sexual “freedom” – of those bashing gays are guilty of sex outside of marriage and lust (pornography is a perfect example).

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I'm brought back to the familiar account of the woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8:4-11). Jesus told her accusers that he who had committed no sin was to cast the first stone. When we attack one group of “sinners” we are casting stones at them. If we really follow Jesus, as the name “Christian” indicates, we should not be casting any stones unless we are free from sin.

There lies the problem. Too many Christians think they are free from sin. Jesus has purified His disciples by His blood shed on the cross, so we are free from sin's eternal punishment. He sets us free from slavery to sin. Many people change radically, overcoming deeply rooted sin in their lives, when they decide to make Jesus Lord. However, we still have sin in our lives. 

In my times of prayer and meditation God has revealed something to me.When we add more religion to our lives, we think we have little or no sin. When we can follow the rules of dos and don'ts, we begin to think we are good people – righteous people. We compare ourselves to those people who do not keep the same list of dos and don'ts and we think they are NOT good people – not righteous people. This is where self-righteousness comes from.

When we add more of Jesus to our lives, there is a different response. The closer we come to our Creator, our loving and compassionate Father, our Counselor, our Prince of Peace, our intimate Friend, our Beloved Saviour the more we see how much we don't measure up to His perfection. But in that intimate relationship we are able to receive His truly amazing grace and we are motivated to do whatever we can to please the Lover of our souls. There is no longer any list of dos and don'ts. Do newlyweds follow a list of dos and don'ts to please their lover? NO! Nor should we need any sort of list of dos and don'ts to please our God who desperately wants to be our Lover. When we love Him with all our hearts and all our minds and all our strength then the need for lists disappear. Yes, we need to obey His Word – that is part of loving Him with all of our mind. We need to know His Word to know what pleases Him.

When I draw close to the righteousness and holiness of God Almighty, to Jesus the sinless One, to the Spirit of Truth, I see who I really am. I see my pride. I see my selfishness. I see my weakness. I see my failures. I see my faithlessness. I see how I hurt others with words and actions. I see how my thought life can be soooo far from what pleases God. When He who defines righteousness is my standard, I have no hope whatsoever of measuring up on my own. My only hope comes from Jesus' death on the cross. From this standpoint at the foot of the cross every sinner has the same desperate need for a Saviour. If we go to bed at night and can't name any specific sin (sin is missing the mark of God's perfection) in our lives for that day – and thus praise God for His saving grace – then we have more religion in our lives than relationship with Jesus.

When our relationship with God is truly one of love, deep love, intimate love, passionate love (try reading the Psalms or Eze 16:7-14, Is 62:4-5) then we see our own sin. We no longer think we have the right to condemn others, for in doing so, we condemn ourselves. If I want to reach out to someone who is gay, or anyone – because we are all sinners worthy of the death penalty – then I can't think I am better than that person. If I come at the person with condemnation, then I have become religious and self-righteous. If I come at them as a representative of my Lover, my Saviour, and my Friend, then I will come with a message of love and grace and forgiveness – a message from one sinner to another. I AM NOT any better than that person. 

If we think we have the right to condemn others, we have left the foot of the cross. When we leave that place of desperate humility, we start to think we have the right to sit with Christ on His throne. (That is a promise for heaven – not for earth) We make a list of dos and dont's and count ourselves worthy when we do well with that list. Then we compare ourselves to others who don't know or care about that list and we feel even better about ourselves and our righteousness. Sometimes our lists of dos and don'ts even contradict the Word of God – in those situations we have booted Christ off His throne in order to sit there ourselves!

So how do I reach out to those who are gay? One sinner to another. I share the message of hope and redemption and grace of a loving God that has something much better in mind for our lives. I must be humble enough to confess my own sins. I stand condemned of death for the sin in my life – not just the sin before I became a Christian, but the sin I have committed as a Christian – the sin I still commit. Why am I worthy of death? In order for me to have redemption from my sins – past, present and future – Jesus had to die. I am guilty of crucifying the Son of God! I do not have to stay in that place of condemnation, because God loves me and offers me His grace and forgiveness. However, as many of my other blog posts have mentioned, Jesus wants repentance and commitment in our loving and intimate relationship with Him.

Today's Christian culture has made homosexuality the worst of sins. To Jesus, religious hypocrisy and self righteousness were the worst of sins (Mt 23). It is no wonder the world condemns Christianity today – Jesus would condemn much of it Himself!

Oh Jesus, Lover of my soul, I come to you this morning with great awe for your love. Your love is so intense, so passionate, so sacrificial that you died on the cross to pay for my sins – my specific sins. You died for each and every one of us. Please forgive us when we think we are righteous because we can follow a list of dos and don'ts. Please forgive us when we judge others. Help us to see and deal with the planks in our own eyes before we address the speck in another's eye. Please give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation that we may know You better – that we may know Your perfection, Your holiness Your love, Your grace, Your compassion. May we then share You, our Saviour and Friend, with others. Let us rid ourselves of the condemnation we place on others, as we realize that we, too, deserve condemnation. You have given us salvation through Your grace, not by our obedience to a list. Help us to extend that grace and love to others. I praise You Jesus for Your amazing grace – Your indescribable love! All glory and honour and praise be to Your Name. Amen.