GRACE-ology
March 17, 2019
There is so much I want to talk about today. So much that’s been in the news that is so relevant to what we’re talking about. We’re talking about grace and how vital it is in our lives. It’s so important that I’m talking about it for 6 weeks, leading up to Easter. Because on our own, I don’t think we really understand GRACE that well.
In many respects - GRACE is a game changer.
Around 70 years ago a conference on comparative religions was held at Cambridge University. Theologians and scholars from around the world came together to explore various religious ideas. One topic was: Which belief (or doctrine) is unique to the Christian faith? Many of the things that Christians believe, other religions believe, too. So the question was: What is unique about the Christian faith?
C.S. Lewis was a professor at Cambridge and was part of that conference. He walked into the room and someone said to him, "What do you believe is Christianity's unique contribution among the world religions." Lewis quickly replied, "Oh, that's easy. It's grace."
After some discussion and debate, those at the conference agreed. Christianity is the only religion which believes God's love is offered to us for free, with no strings attached, and that His grace and mercy are available to everyone.
That’s so true! Grace is a game changer! When you’ve been in the church for a long time, we kind of take God’s grace as a given. It no longer grabs us and surprises us by the depth of God’s love and sacrifice.
Yet, there are so many who just aren’t real comfortable with grace. They say, "You can't make salvation too easy, or forgiveness too easy, otherwise people will run wild. If that’s the case, then we will just go on sinning, doing that which is against God’s will."
There are some in the church who give the impression that God's mercy is limited and His love is conditional, that forgiveness is something you receive only when you prove yourself worthy. They believe it has to be that way, or people will just sin all they want. And there will be no consequences to their actions.
So, we put down a bunch of rules, telling us what we can do and can’t do. If we follow the rules, then we’re in, if we don’t - - - well, then we’re out! Of course, as I said last week, we really don’t know how much good we really need to do, or how many bad things will disqualify us from eternity with God.
Well, I want to look at a story from the Bible that will show us a few things about grace. It is found in John 8. Listen to the story John tells us —
2 Early in the morning Jesus came again to the temple.
All the people came to Him, and He sat down and taught them.
3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst
4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
5 Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”
6 This they said to test Him, that they might have some charge to bring against Him.
Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground.
7 And as they continued to ask Him, He stood up and said to them,
“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8 And once more He bent down and wrote on the ground.
9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones,
and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him.
10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” – John 8:2-11
So, what can we learn from this story?
First off, let’s face the obvious. There was a great injustice in this story. The woman caught in adultery was the only one brought before Jesus. I thought it takes 2 to commit adultery, and the Old Testament law they spoke of was pretty clear that both the man and the woman are to be stoned. But the man was nowhere to be found. It appears he was let go and the accusers only brought the woman.
This tells you something about the hypocrisy of the religious leaders — how they chose to condemn one and not the other. And, of course, the one they chose to condemn was considered the weaker and more vulnerable of the two.
But there is also a terrifying truth evident in this situation, one which we can’t ignore. When it comes to sin - when it comes to your sin - you’re on your own.
That's the terrible truth of sin. When you get to the end of the line, you stand alone. We can try to make excuses. We can try to shift the blame to others. Yet, the reality is that you’re still on your own. You have to accept responsibility for your actions.
How many times have we tried to reason with someone else about why we did something? How many times have we justified the reason for doing something wrong? We can be pretty guilty on that one.
Each of us has to face the facts that we’re guilty and have to take responsibility for our actions. No blaming others. No excuses.
You see, and here’s the tough part of this. As if taking responsibility isn’t tough -
What’s really important here is this - -
In order to take grace seriously, we must learn to take sin seriously.
Sometimes we’re more upset with the fact that we got caught, not that we really did something wrong. We try to cast blame elsewhere.
Well, officer, I was running late because I couldn’t find the cat.
I couldn’t pay my bills because I really thought my team was going to win, so I bet on them.
I’m sorry I hit that other car, but they weren’t driving right to begin with.
Yes, I had all of those text messages to Greece, but I met my new friend online and we connected. I couldn’t help it.
We can come up with scads of excuses, but in the end, we need to take sin seriously, and have a repentant heart and spirit.
In the end, I really believe we struggle with grace, because we don’t take our own sinfulness seriously.
We can even say that there will be those who falsely condemn us. Some people will make things up just to get us to look bad before others. That happens, and many of us have experienced that. Yet, this woman was not falsely accused. She was guilty.
Another thing we can take from the story is that our sin, ultimately is between you and God.
After King David committed murder and adultery, he wrote in his psalm of repentance...
3 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. – Psalm 51:4
it’s interesting that David used the phrase “against you only, have I sinned.”
What about his adultery with Bathsheba? What about her husband, Uriah, whom he had murdered? He sinned against them as well.
David isn’t saying, "I didn't do wrong against Uriah when I had him killed, and I didn't do wrong against Bathsheba when I seduced her." He knows he was wrong, but ultimately, he knew his sin was against God.
Whenever we sin, that sin is a sin against God. That’s who we’re to seek to please first. We’re called to love God first. So, whenever we sin, that sin might be against someone else, but it’s always directed toward God.
What was most important for this woman was not her accusers, but her relationship with God.
Of most importance for us, is how we deal with God after we’ve sinned. If we want to experience the power of His grace, then we need to take our sin seriously. I’m not talking about beating ourselves up over our sin, that’s really another sermon.
We need to come before God.
In this story, we ultimately read that all of the men laid down their stones and walked away. Every believer needs to understand that, ultimately, the matter of your forgiveness is a matter between you and God. The opinions, accusations, judgments and condemnations of others are only secondary. All that we say and do, or don’t say and don’t do is between you and God.
At the same time, please understand that when we do hurt someone, we are called to make restitution and to seek their forgiveness. We don’t ignore our actions and hurts towards others. We take full responsibility and seek forgiveness, without making excuses. We speak from our heart and spirit.
Others may seek to condemn and refuse to forgive you, but God is gracious. The good news is that when you come before God, confessing your sinfulness, God, pours out His grace and mercy and washes away your sins.
Again, listen to David’s prayer to God –
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. – Psalm 51:2, 7
You see what David was asking for? He wanted to be clean again. He wanted his heart and spirit to finally be calmed, to experience the peace and power and presence of God. God’s peace and God’s presence only come upon us when we humble ourselves before God. We can’t live in sin and assume we will still experience God’s presence. We need to surrender ourselves to God. That’s what David was doing . . . and it’s what we need to do as well.
As we come to the end of this story. There are some people who think Jesus was being too soft on the woman’s sin. He doesn’t punish her. He doesn’t even really condemn her. Some think Jesus is letting her off the hook, looking the other way.
If Jesus said, "I don’t condemn you, have a great day!” Then, maybe, but that's not what He said. Instead, Jesus said something very different. Very simply –
11 “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” – John 8:2-11
Jesus isn’t letting her off the hook. He’s telling her, you have sinned, but now as you go back into the world, leave your life of sin. Jesus is telling her to be a new person, be a new creation, because you have met the Savior of the world. And if he does not condemn, then who does.
Grace almost seems to easy. Yet, we live in a world which doesn’t recognize sin as an issue. And if we don’t believe we have sinned . . . if we don’t believe we need God’s grace, then we will not come to God. We will assume we’re in because of our good works, or we have no fear, because we don’t believe in God, and believe we don’t need God, since there are not consequences.
That phrase from Jesus to the woman is exactly what God expects from you and I. God tells us the same thing . . . “Go and leave your life of sin. I offer you grace, mercy, forgiveness, my presence and peace and power. Go and sin no more.”
Grace means we don’t get what we deserve . . . and that is God’s punishment.
As we prepare to end this morning - -
Remember, while we sin against others and hurt others, and need to seek their forgiveness, our ultimate sin is against God.
Whatever your sin issues are . . . God is willing to forgive, He’s willing to extend grace, but we need to come to Him admitting we’ve fallen short of the glory of God. And He extends grace.
We're all guilty, surrounded by accusations, yet we all stand before the righteous judge . . . waiting for judgment. And that sounds really, super scary, but do you know what that judge tells us?
Just as satan is laying his case before God, highlighting all of our sins. And it looks bad, it looks like we’re going to be banished from heaven. Our defense attorney gets up and with His scarred body, He takes the punishment for you, and proclaims - - - you’re clean, cleansed, purified. All through the death and shedding of the blood of Jesus.
You received what you didn’t deserve.
