God's Grace Series

God’s Grace

#15 in the Book of James Series

By Pastor Jim May

James 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Last week we learned that whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. We also learned that friendship with the world is a product of our own pride envy, because we want what the world has to offer more than Jesus.

The natural, inborn spirit of man is full of lust and envy, and it ever drives him into deeper depths of sin if it is allowed to go unchecked. We need the grace of God to overcome that sin nature, and that’s what James says that God is good at – giving grace.

God’s grace is freely given to his children. You don’t find much grace in the world. It’s a dog eat dog world out there with every man for himself most of the time, but in God’s kingdom, his grace is sufficient for all of us.

Every day people in the world are begging for grace, but all they get is more condemnation and judgmental attitudes. You can really see that in a court room. Every defendant is seeking for the judge’s grace, but most find his wrath instead.

One such man was in court one day, answering charges of insurance fraud. His case was bizarre. There seemed to be many discrepancies. After swearing in the witness, this is supposed to be truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth:

Judge, my accident was just a case of poor planning on the job. Let me explain to you just what happened so there is no question to the validity of my claim..

I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a new six story building. When I completed my work, I found that I had some bricks left over which, when weighed later were found to be slightly in excess of 500 lbs. Rather than carry the bricks down a few at a time, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley, which was attached to the side of the building on the sixth floor.

I anchored the rope at ground level and then went up to the roof, swung the barrel out and loaded the bricks into it. Then I went down and untied the rope, holding it tightly to let the load of bricks down slowly.

You will remember that the bricks weighed over 500 pounds, but I weigh only 135 pounds. Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so quickly, I lost my presence of mind and forgot to let go of the rope and proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of the building.

Near the third floor, I met the barrel which was now proceeding downward very quickly. That explains my claim for a fractured skull, minor abrasions and a broken collar bone, as listed in my claim.

I couldn’t let go of the rope without a disastrous fall to held on for dear life and continued my rapid ascent. I finally came to a stop when the fingers of my right hand became jammed deep into the rope pulley at the top. I was able to hold tightly to the rope, in spite of the great pain.

At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of bricks hit the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Without the bricks the barrel now weighed only 50 pounds. Again, I weigh 135. Suddenly I began a rapid fall down the side of the building. In the vicinity of the third floor, I once again met the barrel coming up. This accounts for the two broken legs, broken jaw and missing teeth, along with some pretty bad cuts and bruises in my claim.

The barrel slowed my fall so that when I finally hit the ground on the pile of bricks I didn’t break my back, but I did crack three vertebrae. But as I lay there bleeding, cut , broken and in severe pain, I just couldn’t hold on any more and let go of the rope. I just didn’t think of the barrel that was still tied to it and down it came, breaking my nose and my arms.

I beg of you, judge, to consider my claim and give me grace. I need all I can get. I don’t know if he found grace, but I do know he needs to change occupations.

God gives us His marvelous grace, unmerited favor, undeserved love and compassion. That’s just something that you don’t find in the world.

God scorns the scorners and rejects those that trust in themselves and their own righteousness. He rewards the humble, those that will bow before him and serve him willfully, but he can only judge and condemn those whose pride won’t let them serve the Lord.