GRACE: GOD THE FATHER’S OFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE (OR AT LEAST SHOULDN’T)
Revelation 5:9 & Ephesians 2:4-10
Big Idea: God’s saving grace is so sufficient and inviting that we are compelled to experience it and be transformed by it.
Supporting Scripture: Ephesians 2:4-10; John 1:17; Romans 8:1-2; Galatians 1:6; 2 Timothy 9:10; Acts 20:24; 1 Corinthians 4:7
INTRO
Two cows were grazing alongside a highway when a tank-truck of milk on its way to the distributor happened to pass. On one side of the truck in big red letters was a sign that read,: "Pasteurized, homogenized, standardized, Vitamin A added."
One cow turned to the other and remarked, "Makes you feel sort of inadequate, doesn’t it?"
This sermon is for anyone here who has ever felt inadequate!
• Inadequate to please God.
• Inadequate to please others
• Inadequate to face your problems
• Inadequate to change your life.*
Let’s read from scripture:
Revelation 5:9
9And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
Ephesians 2:4-10
4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Grace cannot be earned
The Movie “The God Father” is an American Icon. It, along with many John Wayne movies, defined the American male for more than a generation. One of the lines that has lasted long after the movie has been set aside is The God Father, Marlon Brando’s line “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.”
As I think of grace I often re-frame that line. To me, grace is God the Father making me an offer I can’t refuse … or at least shouldn’t.
Here’s my definition of Grace (charis): Grace is God’s undeserved and unearned kindness towards me. It guarantees his love and pardon while evoking thanksgiving and equipping me to follow Him.
Grace requires nothing from me – in fact that is the core element of grace; I cannot in any way add anything to God’s grace. To add anything to grace (i.e. human effort or even human responsibility) redefines and corrupts the word. It becomes “another Gospel” to use Paul’s phrase in Galatians (which is speaking directly about the corruption of grace (Galatians 1:6, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel”).
Many of you have heard me say over and over again, “Grace plus anything is not grace.” Unger’s Bible dictionary says, “Grace rules out all human merit. Any mixture of human effort violates grace.”
God taught me this lesson decades ago and it is as liberating and empowering now as it was when I first discovered it. I can do nothing to earn God’s grace and I cannot do anything to keep God’s grace. In fact, anything good I do is a gift of God’s empowerment – is a gift of grace. Grace is what saves me, keeps me saved, and sanctifies me. It is all the gift and work of God within me. I am saved by grace and I grow in grace.
That is hard for many (ironically even some Christians) to accept. But it is true and it is an inherent part of the word’s definition. The Gospel is “Good News” to people who do not, cannot, and never will “measure up” to God’s standard. It is a word of relief for those in need. It is favor and pardon given “on the house” … “with no strings attached.” It is too good to be true … but it is true!
Someone has said, “Grace is everything for nothing to those who don’t deserve anything.”
Chuck Swindoll would echo this when he says, “Grace is to extend favor or kindness to one who doesn’t deserve it and can never earn it.”
Marin Luther described it as: “Grace is the favor or good will of God that accepts the sinner. The gift is the healing that comes from faith.”
Speaking of Martin Luther** may I chase a related rabbit for a moment? Luther’s passion from conversion onward was to live by grace and offer grace to others. He would agree with Paul’s testimony in Acts 20:24 where he says “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” His 95 thesis attached to Wittenerg’s door is nothing less than a straight line between grace and works. His writing was often in refutation of Thomas Aquinas who wrote the sanctioned systematic theology of the day. He was particularly at odds with Aquinas on this subject; grace. He saw a relationship between Aquinas’ understanding of grace and the pelagian heresy of salvation by works that Augustine wrote against in the 4th century. Luther’s discovery of grace radically changed his life, theology, and understanding of the Bible (a proper understanding of Grace will change you too).
Aquinas (and Pelagius) understood grace to be God’s “encouragement of effort” They understood grace to be God’s empowerment to do good works … to do one’s best. The obvious conclusion of this understanding of grace is man-centered. Grace gives man the ability “to do.” Luther, rightly understood Ephesians 2 and the book of Romans to teach that man cannot do good because man is not good. Luther understood that grace is for those “[W]ho can stoop no further. They have hit the bottom of frustration and despair and can expect only condemnation.”
Luther understood any good thing that comes from man to be the outpouring of God’s grace through the human. It is God working; not man being empowered. Aquinas’ understanding of grace seeks to rally the resources within us rather than pointing us to the resources outside of us. Luther rightly saw that the logical outcome of such an understanding of grace as empowerment simply sent us back to self-dependence and even to the point to that we become a responsible player in our salvation (and/or sanctification). Luther would reject the adage “God helps those who help themselves” (which 82% of Americans say they believe and 56% of Americans think is in the Bible). Luther would say God helps the helpless and until you realize you are without help and without hope you cannot understand or appreciate God’s grace. Luther would say that to urge us sinners to do good was ludicrous. Even the modest expectation of someone “doing their best” only fuels the self and does not recognize how utterly dependent we are on God.
Luther would quote 2 Timothy 2:9-10;”who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”
Luther would quote John 1:17; “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
Luther would quote 1 Corinthians 4:7 “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast … ?”
Luther would quote Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
And the protestant reformation, en mass, agreed with him. It was a foundational pillar upon which the reformation was built.
Now … back to your regularly scheduled programming …
God’s grace is a foreign idea for humanity. We live in a society that is based on earnings and rewards. In 2001, the great boxer, Muhammed Ali, gave Howard Bingham and interview and it was recorded in Reader’s Digest. In the interview Ali was asked, what his faith meant to him. Ali replied: "[It] means [a] ticket to heaven. One day we’re all going to die, and God’s going to judge us, [our] good and bad deeds. [If the] bad outweighs the good, you go to hell; if the good outweighs the bad, you go to heaven. (Source: “Face to Face with Muhammad Ali.” Interview by Howard Bingham, Reader’s Digest, December 2001.)
That’s how many people think life works … by works. But the Bible does not teach that. The Bible teaches that the only way we can get to heaven is through God’s grace.
Grace is as foreign an idea to humanity. This should not surprise us, grace has always been a stumbling block … God’s ways and character are always foreign to humanity.
That is the character of the loving God you find in Scripture. That is the character of the God whose Holy Spirit is chasing after you … whose Son died for you.
I can’t help asking myself … why would I refuse such an offer as God’s grace? My only conclusion is that it is not understood because it is so inviting and so amazing that I cannot help but run to it.
Grace is a gift.
Ephesians 2 rightly tells us grace is a “gift” (doron). That means it is an offering God makes towards us … a free gesture He offers us.
Paul calling it a “gift” is almost a play on words. It is like he is intentionally being repetitive. You see “charis” also means “gift.” It is an offer made and fully supplied/supported/underwritten by another.
Grace is a free gift but it aint cheap.
Please, understand that God’s grace is free but it aint cheap. God’s grace is not the milk-soppy niceness of a grandfather. Someone had to pay for our salvation. The law had to be satisfied. God’s wrath had to be appeased. Grace is about Jesus Christ being our substitute and bearing our sins in his own body on the cross. Therefore, we are legally and fully justified before a holy God.
That’s what Rev. 5:9ff. reminds us. Your salvation cost something – the death of Jesus Christ.
9And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
Grace must be received.
Which brings me to the last thing I want to say today … God’s grace must be received. That’s what faith is. Remember what I told you last week is another word for faith? Trust. Trusting in Christ is the channel through which God’s gift of grace is received.
St. Augustine once said “God gives where He finds empty hands. A man whose hands are full of parcels can’t receive a gift.” Grace, in other words, must be received.
Philip Yancey once said, “[F]orgiveness needs to be accepted as well as offered if it is to be complete: a man who admits no guilt can accept no forgiveness.” {What’s So Amazing About Grace?”}
In 1830, a man named George Wilson was convicted of killing a government employee while robbing the U.S. Mail. He was tried and sentenced to be hanged. Andrew Jackson, then the President, issued a pardon for Wilson, but Wilson did a strange thing: he refused to accept the pardon and no one seemed to know what to do. The matter went to Chief Justice Thurgood Marshall, perhaps one of the greatest Chief Justices we ever had, and he concluded that Wilson must be executed. “A pardon is a slip of paper,” wrote Marshall, “the value of which is determined by the acceptance of the person to be pardoned. If it is refused, it is no pardon. George Wilson must be hanged.” And he was. (SOURCE: George Maronge, Jr., Birmingham, Alabama. Leadership, Vol. 12, no. 3.)
Grace is only received when we recognize our need. As that cow recognized … when we realize how “inadequate” we are and how sin laden we are. Grace can only be received by the humble and repentant. True repentance means a serious reaction to our sin and a fervent desire to be forgiven and changed.
WRAP-UP
Can I close by telling you about “Gerard’s Calf”? Gerard has a calf that he has penned up and is fattening for the freezer. The calf eats, sleeps, and has very little room to do more. Gerard changed his agenda for the calf and significantly extended its cage. Then he opened the gate for the calf to leave the pen and graze. The calf never left. It stayed in the pen even though the door was open. Gerard eventually coaxed the calf out of the pen. Once the calf was out and into the pasture area – once it realized the open space it had … the calf began to jump and run and play.
The calf was free!!!!
Friends … that is what God’s grace does. It sets you free.
Sadly, I fear many do not recognize they are still in a pen that’s door is open wide with green pastures awaiting. I cannot help but be overwhelmed, filled with gratitude, driven to love God more and me more devoted to him because of the freedom he has given me. It far surpasses the pen of legalism or the pen of sin that shackles us.
When Martin Luther holed up in Wittenberg’s tower to study the book of Romans he states it was because he was determined “to get the gracious God.”
That, my friends is what I want you to get too. I want you to get the gracious God.
Sometimes I over explain and over think subjects. I could certainly be guilty of that with something as wonderful as grace. But the powerful thing about grace is that, as multi-faceted as it is, it is profoundly simple.
Jesus beast described how someone receives God grace in a parable. There we read this “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’” (Luke 18:13).
God the Father has made you an offer you can’t refuse. Or at least shouldn’t. Seriously, why would you!?
I want you to meet the God of grace.
Today.
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* Special thanks to Pastor Darrell Stetler II of Wesleyan Covenant Bible Methodist Church for the sermon idea (particularly the sermon’s opening).
** The content from Martin Luther is from “Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology” January 2003, “Grace”)
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
