GRACE ISN’T FAIR!

Thursday 6 February

For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favour) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God; Not because of works [not the fulfillment of the Law’s demands], lest any man should boast. [It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.] Ephesians 2:8-9 (AMPC)

A definition for mercy is ‘I didn’t get what I deserved’. A definition for grace is ‘I got what I didn’t deserve. Hold that in the back of your mind. Most people think they like the concept of grace when it applies to them personally but revert into ‘lawyers’ when it comes to grace for others. Some often assume the role of judge, jury and executioner in certain situations. When this occurs, you are no longer operating by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ which is grace, but rather holding to the demands of the law of sin and death. Is there a biblical premise for this? Yes.

Jesus made an amazing statement in John 5:45 ‘Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have put your hope’

Moses here is not talking about the man but what he represents: the law. The law was based on works of self effort and self righteousness. Israel was always striving to try to keep it but never being able to successfully do it. The worst part was if you broke one law, you broke them all. It was a system designed by Moses to fail. The law was a schoolmaster designed to lead them to Christ.

In the New Testament the law has been fulfilled and abolished in Christ and we are told in John 1:17 that ‘the law came by Moses but grace that is reality came by Jesus Christ.’ Grace ultimately is seen in salvation. How do we know that we are functioning by grace and not law? Here are a few key indicators.

Firstly, we are not trying to mix law and grace together. I say ‘trying’ because a fitting analogy would be trying to mix oil and water together. They simply don’t mix. Secondly, we are not looking to please God through self effort when there is nothing we could ever do to purchase our own salvation except receive the gift that was freely offered to us. Our works should come from faith and nothing else.

Lastly we are not to have an attitude of self righteousness. This one is more subtle than most people realise. For example; you are happy to accept unfair grace when it comes to all the sins you have committed but get angry when others are not held accountable for their actions. When it comes to the law, I understand there can be legal consequences for breaking them.

But how do you feel about the fairness of grace when serial killers, child molesters, drug dealers, thieves, domestic violence abusers etc. reach out to God for salvation. There is a saying ‘hate the sin but love the sinner’. The test of grace is that we don’t rise up with a self righteous attitude against them when in God’s eyes there are no degrees of sin. Grace says ‘I’m glad that this person is receiving the same gift that I received’.

I’m reminded of the story of the woman who was caught in the act of adultery and although she committed the crime and broke the law, Jesus showed grace to her. As the crowd were picking up stones to stone her to death, Jesus said whoever is without sin, throw the first stone. One by one they all dropped their stones and only Jesus and the woman were left. He said to her ‘woman where are your accusers, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.’

What an example of grace for us all to follow. Thank the Lord Jesus for His grace. It isn’t fair. It’s amazing!

APPLICATION

Have a time of reflection to see if you are operating by the law of sin and death or the law of the Spirit of life. Reject self effort and self righteousness, and embrace grace.