John 1:1-5, 10-18 – Saying Grace
I read a story this week by a fellow named Ray Raycroft, who I think is a pastor in Michigan. He says the story is true. Apparently, two pastors were on their way to Atlanta, Ga. for a large Christian men’s gathering. One of them had never been in the south before. After staying in a motel overnight, they stopped at a nearby restaurant for breakfast. When their meal was delivered, the pastor who had never been south before saw this white, mushy looking stuff on his plate. When the waitress came by again he asked her what it was.
"Grits", she replied.
"Ma'am I didn't order it and I'm not paying for it".
"Sir, down here you don't order it and you don't pay for it, you just get it."
This is what grace is. Today, we’re taking a short break from going verse by verse through Colossians. I want to spend just a few minutes talking about something we’ve all heard about and experienced. That’s grace. Let’s read from the book of John, chapter 1, verses 1-5, 10-18.
The gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – tell the story of Jesus but rarely mention the word “grace”. I guess they figured grace is better demonstrated than explained. But this passage in John connects Jesus and grace. V14 says that Jesus was, and still is, full of grace. V16 says that the blessings we have in this life come from Jesus’ never-ending grace. And v17 says that grace and truth came from Jesus, running as a comparison to the OT way of doing things.
So what is grace? People have tried over the years to define it. One person said it’s the undeserved favour of God. Another person said that grace is the unconditional love of God for us, exactly as we are, apart from our own efforts. Still another person defined it by spelling it out: God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. An internet author said this: “Grace is the power of God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves and the fact is that we cannot do anything for ourselves.”
You could look at it this way. Justice is getting what we deserve. Mercy is not getting the bad that we deserve. And grace is getting the good that we do not deserve.
G.W. Knight put it this way: “When a person works an eight-hour day and receives a fair day’s pay for his time, that is a wage. When a person competes with an opponent and receives a trophy for his performance, that is a prize. When a person receives appropriate recognition for his long service or high achievements, that is an award. But when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize, and deserves no award—yet receives such a gift anyway—that is a good picture of God’s unmerited favor. This is what we mean when we talk about the grace of God.”
Perhaps grace is God’s best gift to the world, a gift that says, “You don’t have to earn this, just accept it!” Jesus’ life was filled with grace, and it made many of those around Him angry about it.
Jesus told stories about grace. One story was about a blue-collar worker in the field who came to the job at 4:30, worked for half an hour, and got paid the same as the workers who’d been there since 9AM.
Jesus told another story about a landlord who cancelled a debt too large for his servant to reimburse. He told a story about a banquet-giver who went out everywhere to find undeserving people to taste his rich food.
One time, Peter came to Jesus, the same Peter who bothered to count how many fish he caught one day – 153. Peter asked how many times he should forgive someone. And depending on the original manuscript, Jesus either answered 77 times, or 70 x 7, which is 490. Either way, that’s a lot. Jesus said that grace doesn’t keep count. Grace doesn’t care about scores. Grace isn’t about record-keeping. Grace is about giving people what they don’t deserve – forgiveness, over and over and over again.
Another story was about a lovesick father who didn’t scold his chid when he finally came home, but gave him the best things in the house. There were no “I told you so” spiels, just affection.
Grace seems so lacking in churches today. If you were to ask Joe Schmo off the street what the church is about, and he’d probably list things the church is against: anti-smoking, anti-abortion, anti-homosexual, anti-drinking, anti-sex… I wonder if anybody would list things that the church is for: for love, for hope, for happiness, for forgiveness, for fixing…
Our verse today says that Jesus came in grace and truth. Churches today love to let everybody know how they hold the truth, or at least their version of it. Churches love to out-truth others, but do churches ever try to out-grace another, to show more love and compassion than someone else?
Now, I know the problem. Showing grace feels like giving permission, somehow saying that whatever the person did wasn’t so bad. Robert Farrar Capon, in his book Between Noon and Three, said this: “You’re worried about permissiveness—about the way the preaching of grace seems to say it’s okay to do all kinds of terrible things as long as you just walk in afterward and take the free gift of God’s forgiveness. . .While you and I may be worried about seeming to give permission, Jesus apparently wasn’t. He wasn’t afraid of giving the prodigal son a kiss instead of a lecture, a party instead of probation; and he proved that by bringing in the elder brother at the end of the story and having him raise pretty much the same objections you do. He’s angry about the party. He complains that his father is lowering standards and ignoring virtue—that music, dancing, and a fatted calf are, in effect, just so many permissions to break the law. And to that, Jesus has the father say only one thing: “Cut that out! We’re not playing good boys and bad boys any more. Your brother was dead and he’s alive again. The name of the game from now on is resurrection, not bookkeeping.”
Grace is about kindness to people, whether you think they deserve it or not. Grace is about extending the same forgiveness to others that you yourself have received. No matter what it is that you have done, God loves you. There’s nothing you can do to make Him love you less, and there’s nothing you can do to make Him love you more.
And God expects His followers to display that same attitude of grace to those around us. Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you. Love your enemies and pray for them. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Freely, you have received; freely give.
This morning, I invite you to consider 2 actions: 1) Receive God’s grace. It’s not a once-for-all-time thing, folks. It’s so easy to think that we were saved by God’s grace but we maintain our salvation through good deeds. It doesn’t work that way. You can never be good enough or smart enough or talented enough to earn God’s love. You need to take a moment and reflect on how God’s been good to you. Savour that. Be thankful for it. Lord, thank you for Your love and Your kindness to me, undeserving though I am. Help me to stop trying to earn what You’ve done, and just hold my hands open to receive it.
And 2) Extend God’s grace. That may mean forgiving someone. It may mean dealing with issues of resentment and bitterness. It may mean doing good to someone who you think doesn’t deserve it. It may mean treating your spouse not as he or she deserves, but better than that. It may mean doing a random act of kindness, an undeserved good deed for someone. It may mean not arguing with someone, even if they’re wrong.
Let’s pause a minute and ask God if He has something in mind for you: to receive His grace, or extend His grace…
Message Part 2
So, when we extend grace, we follow in the footsteps of the Master. Where is the Master leading us? What is the Lord calling us to do? What kind of people does He want us to be? What is He asking of us at Centreville Baptist? I also believe that the word GRACE will help us as a church, to give us direction, to guide as His people.
Over the next 5 weeks, we will weave in and out of Colossians 3 as we study the 5 purposes of the church, 5 God-given reasons that the church exists as directed from the Bible. The word GRACE outlines these purposes for us in a way that will make them easier to remember.
The letter G means that we are meant to glorify God. We are supposed to live lives that point to Him. Through prayer and praise, we connect with Him, and give Him the attention in our hearts. This is about worshipping God with our whole lives.
The letter R means that we are meant to reach out to others, to help others find what their hearts are looking for. This is about evangelism and helping others find Jesus. That needs to be a priority for us.
The letter A means that we aspire to live like Jesus. Becoming more and more like Him. Loving as Jesus loved. Walking and talking as Jesus did.
The letter C means that we are committed to serve. I think this is a real need here at Centreville. Standing up and following Him and doing what He has asked us to do. Using our abilities and talents and gifts to help others get closer to God.
And the letter E means that we encourage one another. Call it fellowship, call it relationship building, whatever. We need to help each other along on our journeys. We need to support one another and lift each other up, and work towards building strong relationships.
We will spend a lot more time on each of these purposes. For now, let’s sing Lord Be Glorified. Verse 1 says In my life, Lord, be glorified. And then verse 2 says In our church, Lord, be glorified. Lord, get the focus, get the attention, here at Centreville Baptist.
