Amazing Grace: God Makes Us Right
Romans 3:21-26
John Newton’s classic hymn Amazing Grace speaks of the power of God’s grace working in our lives to bring us to the moment we believe in God. Listen to verse two:
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed.
Grace working in the moment of belief—we Methodists in the Wesleyan tradition call God’s amazing work justifying grace. The justifying grace Newton wrote about in his classic hymn came on a slave ship bound for England on March 10, 1748, as he endured a raging storm on the high seas. That evening, Newton cried out to God, and his life was forever changed. He wrote of that evening, “I cried to the Lord with a cry like that of the ravens which yet the Lord does not disdain to hear. And I remembered Jesus whom I had so often derided.”
God’s justifying grace tells the story of how we, as individuals, accept the relationship that God offers. Justifying grace is that moment in time when we realize that God accepts us just as we are, and we say “yes” to his offer of salvation, and our eyes are opened to the love and companionship of God. Justifying grace is about saying “yes” to God.
We discovered when we talked about prevenient grace that God is constantly pursuing a relationship with us, even long before we realize it. God pursues us because we have sinned by making wrong choices that separate us from God. Sin leaves us empty and searching for something, anything that will give meaning and purpose to life—things like money, sex, power or possessions.
The Old Testament is full of examples of God calling out to us, inviting us into a relationship. Countless times, the nation of Israel would wander away from their covenant relationship. Even more numerous than their wandering was God’s calling them to return to a genuine relationship. God’s call often came through prophets like Ezekiel and Jonah. God even went so far as to command Hosea to marry a prostitute named Gomer as a demonstration of the lengths He was willing to go to offer this relationship to His people. Reaching, seeking. Those are the words that describe God in relation to us.
But God’s offer did not end with the Old Testament prophets, nor with the nation of Israel. God was working in His Son, Jesus Christ, to offer all creation this relationship. Jesus Christ began his earthly ministry by reminding everyone who would listen to him that God was still at work seeking to redeem His own. One day very early in Jesus’ ministry he was in the synagogue on the Sabbath. It came time to read the Scripture. He unrolled the scroll of Isaiah and this is what he read:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the downtrodden will be freed from their oppressors, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come. (Luke 4:18-19).
Perhaps you’ve seen the commercial on television advertising one of those lending companies. This nice man with a painted on smile stands surrounded by this nice all-American family, and he says, “I’ve got a beautiful family.” The next scene shows a picture of a big house and the same man says, “I have a four bedroom house in the suburbs.” The next scene the man drives by in a car. “Like my car,” he asks? “It’s new!” Yet another scene on the golf course with friends and he announces, “And I even have a membership to the golf club.” Then, over the bar-b-q, he says, “How do I have all this? I’m in debt up to my eyeballs.” The commercial goes on to talk about how this lending company can help this man, and subsequently anyone who might be in his position and the final scene really tells it all. The scene shows the man riding his lawnmower, and with the same painted on smile that began the commercial says, “Somebody help me!”
My friends, we need help when it comes to a restored and right relationship with God. Well, God wants to help. God didn’t come to offer us things (like money or power or success or possessions) that we think will make life full, or us happy. God sent His Son Jesus Christ to offer us a relationship that is a relationship of love that flows out of His self-giving nature.
Justifying grace is that grace that becomes real in our lives in that moment that we accept the relationship God offers in his Son, Jesus Christ. We are justified in that very moment. This moment of acceptance is commonly referred to as conversion. It is what happens inwardly at that moment when most people would say, “I’ve been saved!” But the phrase “I’ve been saved” does not mean that conversion is ended. Rather it means we have begun a more adventurous portion of the journey that is God’s salvation. We can just as easily say, “I am saved,” or “I am being saved,” for conversion continues when we find new ways of accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Like when we come to a better understanding of ourselves, and when we come to a better understanding of the claim God is placing on our lives, but we will hear more about that next week.
Here is where it gets sticky and we have difficulty accepting God’s offer of salvation. Let me try to explain why. We have been taught all our lives that America is the place where hard work and determination meet opportunity to produce wealth and success. While there are exceptions we all could point to, we realize the American dream is fueled by hard work and determination. Remember John Houseman in the old Smith-Barney commercials? “We make money the old-fashioned way. We earn it.” Gary Player, the legendary golfer and a South African, understood this attitude. He said, "The harder you work the luckier you get." The American attitude is an up-by-the-boot-strap mentality, and that attitude is what has made America great. Isn’t it ironic, then, the American attitude, that up-from-the-boot-strap mentality, is the major stumbling block in our acceptance of God’s offer of salvation. We know that hard work and determination are what make the measure of success, so we find it totally unreasonable that God would offer us salvation at no cost. Surely we have to do something to earn this salvation. We can’t do anything. But God does not give us something for nothing, and our salvation has come at great cost. It cost Jesus Christ his life.
Let me use a courtroom analogy. Say I get a speeding ticket. I go to court knowing that I am guilty but I dread paying the fine because well, school just started back, and I have to pay for all the kids school clothes, and I’m still paying for the summer vacation, and on and on I could go, but suffice it to say I am really dreading paying this fine. And what’s more, the ticket will go on my record and insurance will go up or they will cancel me. This is just not a good situation. The judge enters the courtroom and sees the facts of the case and is ready to hand down the sentence when amazingly, he rises from his bench, steps down beside me and says, “I’ll pay your fine.” Naturally, my jaw drops at this development, but at the same time there is a joyous expectation that I will not have to pay the fine after all. Amazingly, the judge agrees to the man’s offer. The judge turns to me and says, “Not only am I going to your penalty, but because I have, I’m going to acquit you of all charges. You are free to go.” I stand there unable to believe or even comprehend what just happened. But it did happen. Whether I can believe or comprehend it or not. All I can do is accept the offer or reject it. It is totally a free gift to me, and my acceptance of that offer is totally an act of faith. It is not my work, nor is there any work I can do to deserve it. Only my crime is much worse than a speeding ticket. It was a crime worthy of the death penalty.
This work is what Jesus Christ has done for us in the grand plan of God’s salvation. Listen to how the Apostle Paul describes it:
But now God has shown us a different way of being made right in his sight--not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago. We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done. For all have sinned: all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God’s anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times. And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26).
The faith that responds to this offer is an act of trust and self-abandonment by which we no longer rely on our own strength but commit ourselves to the power and guiding word of him in whom we believe. Let me say it another way. I really would like to get to know the guy who stepped in for me in that courtroom. There is deep appreciation and admiration that wells up within us for the person who would do such a thing on our behalf, unless, of course, we are the most self-centered person on the planet. Gratitude becomes the motivation for the life that follows the acceptance of this great gift.
This faith that responds to God’s offer is the foundation from which all good works will flow. Jesus said it was like a branch staying connected to the vine. As long as the two are connected the branch will bear the fruit. As long as we are connected to Christ our lives bear the fruit of our justification.
God has given us the freedom to accept or reject his offer. He doesn’t interfere with that decision. But he does appeal to our intellect. Faith is not an unreasonable endeavor. When we engage our minds in the pursuit of God it is God engaging us, for how can we even begin to comprehend what does not exist. When we recall the testimony of countless saints who have gone before, it is God engaging our minds. God has given us the capacity for reasonable reflection. He engages our intellect as we make our decision.
God also touches our emotions. Gratitude and appreciation, love and compassion, joy and relief are all ways we respond with great enthusiasm, but we do not depend on those feelings for the foundation of our faith, for feelings wane. With each passing event of life we ride a roller coaster of emotions, but our faith in Christ is sure in the midst of life, and God touches our emotions to aid in accepting God’s great offer of salvation.
And God makes this offer because He loves us. He loves us unconditionally. He doesn’t love us because we’re perfect. He loves us in spite of the fact we’re not perfect. If I might quote another old hymn of the church:
Just as I am, without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me.
And that Thou biddst me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
“But I can’t change,” you say. That’s what John Newton thought, too, until he experienced the grace that caused him to write:
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed.
Accept God’s offer of grace, justifying grace, and His grace will continue to work through you and in you, taking you to the next step on the journey to full salvation.
