Unlimited Grace
Today we continue our series of messages on the topic of "grace". At root, the question we’re examining is "how can we know God?" How do we bridge the chasm between ourselves and our Creator? Given the fact of our sin and our guilt; and the fact of God’s perfect justice and holiness; how can we be reconciled to God? How can we be forgiven? In other words, how do we enter into a right relationship with God, and then how do we continue in a right relationship with God?
Throughout human history, people have been trying to answer these questions. And in doing so, they’ve developed an endless variety of religious systems through which they’ve attempted to close the gap between sinful men and a holy God. But in then end, all of these systems boil down to one of two basic approaches. The first approach depends on our works, or on some combination of God’s work and our work. It requires that we do something to pay for our sin. It demands that we fulfill some condition to atone for our misdeeds, to show how very sorry we are for violating God’s laws. Now, the specific act that’s required of the person seeking forgiveness varies tremendously. It could be something as simple as repeating a prayer a certain number of times. It could be some act of personal sacrifice, such as making a large financial gift. It could be an act of self-denial, such as fasting, or refraining from certain types of food for a period of time. It could even be an act of intentional self-abuse, such as cutting yourself with knives, or beating yourself with a whip, or making a long journey walking on your knees. Typically, the more serious the sin, the more difficult and painful the works required to pay for the sin.
That’s the first approach. And under this approach we can classify every religious system ever devised, with the sole exception of Biblical Christianity. Because at the core of every religion other than Christianity we find man trying to approach God through his own works, we find man trying to earn, or merit, God’s favor and acceptance.
The problem with all of these systems is that they don’t work. They can’t work. Why? Well, first of all, the "good works" that they depend on are not viewed by God as having any value whatsoever. So those who rely on their works to gain God’s acceptance, are trying to buy something precious, something of immense value, with something that is literally valueless. In fact, it’s worse than that. When we come to God bearing our own so-called "good works," when we offer him our own supposedly righteous deeds, as an exchange for his love and forgiveness, so proud of what we’ve done, so confident of his approval, we are offering Him something that He finds repugnant. They are less than worthless; they are repulsive. [Example of a cat bringing you the dead mouse it has killed].
"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags." - Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)
Now, in order to adequately convey the force of this verse, I have to get a little earthy. The Hebrew word translated here as "filthy rags" is one that is used to describe soiled underwear, or menstrual rags. So what this verse says is that when we try to offer God our good deeds in exchange for his approval, it’s as if we are offering him a pair of dirty, smelly old jockey shorts. Why? Because all of our works are tainted by sin. They may seem fine to us, but to God, who is completely holy, they’re polluted; like a cup of pure, clear water, with just a single drop of urine added to it. They’re disgusting to him. He wants nothing to do with them. Anything we do in order to establish our own righteousness, God rejects as worthless.
Another reason that these systems of works-righteousness can’t work is that we don’t have any excess merit that we can use to pay the debt incurred by our sin. Everything we possess; everything we could give to God; and everything we can possibly do for God, we owe Him already. In other words, it’s not possible to do anything for God, or give anything to God, that he doesn’t already deserve to receive from us. So where are we going to get any extra good deeds to pay for our sin?
"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, `Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, `Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, `We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’" -- Luke 17:7-10 (NIV)
We tend to view our obligations toward God very narrowly. If we give God ten percent of our income, and a few hours on Sunday, and perhaps we attend a meeting sometime during the week, we feel that we’ve done our duty. The rest of our time, and the rest of our money and our possessions, belong to us, to do with as we wish. So if we need to make things right with God, we can just take a little extra out of what’s "ours" and give it to Him. An extra Saturday morning devoted to church activities, an extra half hour in prayer, an extra twenty dollars in the offering. But the problem is that none of those things are "extra". They all belong to God in the first place. All of our time, all of our possessions, everything that we can possibly do, it all belongs to Him. Even if we did everything we could possibly do, it would still only meet the minimum requirement. So there is no "extra" that we can use to pay the debt of our sin.
Why is this? Because God is unreasonable, and demanding, and ungrateful? No. Because God is supremely worthy. God is worthy of everything we could possibly offer him; He is worthy of all our service, all our worship, all our love, all our devotion, all our obedience, all our labor, all our sacrifice, all our suffering, all our time, and all our treasure. He is worthy of all we can do or give.
And so this first approach, of man trying to bridge the gap between himself and God by his own works, doesn’t work. We’re doomed to failure before we even begin. If there’s going to be a reconciliation, it has to come from God to us. And that’s the second approach, which is grace. Grace is "God’s free and unmerited favor, shown to guilty sinners who deserve only judgement." As we saw last week, grace isn’t given as a reward for any imagined merit, or worth, or accomplishment; we can’t do anything to earn it or deserve it. It’s simply a gift that God offers us because of what Christ has done for us. We can’t earn God’s forgiveness or his approval, but the good news is that Christ has already done it for us. When he gave his life on the cross, he paid the penalty for our sin. He suffered in our place; and by his obedience he merited God’s favor on our behalf. God’s favor and forgiveness did have to be earned; but since we couldn’t do it for ourselves; Christ did it for us.
"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast." - Ephesians 2:6-9 (NIV)
Let me give you a story from the Old Testament that illustrates this beautifully. [Background - David’s friendship with Jonathan while his father, Saul the king, was persecuting David. After Saul and Jonathan were killed in battle with the Philistines, David became king.]
"David asked, ’Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?’ . . . Ziba answered the king, ’There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in both feet.’ . . . When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor. David said, ’Mephibosheth!’ ’Your servant,’ he replied. ’Don’t be afraid,’ David said to him, ’for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.’ . . . So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons. . . . And Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table, and he was crippled in both feet." - 2 Samuel 9:1-13 (NIV)
When David ascended to the throne, no one would have been surprised if he had ordered Mephibosheth executed. That was the common practice in the ancient world; a new king who came to power would have his predecessor’s sons and grandsons all killed, in order to cut off his bloodline and eliminate the possibility of any rivals to the throne arising from the previous dynasty. And this is evidently what Mephibosheth was expecting when David, his father’s enemy, who had now become king, summoned him to the palace. I’m sure that before he left home, he had his affairs put in order, certain this would be his last day on earth.
But instead of sending Mephibosheth to the gallows, David does an amazing thing. Not only does he spare his life, but he restores to him all of Saul’s property, making him immensely wealthy, and he gives him the right to eat at the king’s table, sitting next to David’s own sons. It would hardly be possible to find a clearer picture of the gospel in the Old Testament. Just like Mephibosheth, we had nothing to expect from our king, God the Father, except judgment and death. And yet, not only has God forgiven us, but he has granted us all the riches of his kingdom and the promise of eternal life, and he has made us members of his own household. And remember, why was it that David was gracious to Mephibosheth? Was he a warrior who had distinguished himself in battle defending David against Saul’s armies? No. Was he a wealthy landowner who had supported David and supplied his troops? No. Had he done anything whatsoever for David? No, nothing. David blessed Mephibosheth "for Jonathan’s sake," because of the love that he had for Jonathan. And God extends grace to us, not because of anything we have done, but because of the love that He has for his Son. He accepts us for Christ’s sake.
One more detail. In this passage, we are told twice that Mephibosheth was "crippled in both feet". It’s even emphasized by being repeated as the last statement in the story. Why is this important? Because it tells us how completely helpless Mephibosheth was. In that culture, a cripple had only one option in life - to be an impoverished beggar. And so, not only had he done nothing for David in the past, he could do nothing for him in the future. Mephibosheth had no ability whatsoever to earn or deserve David’s grace. It was entirely a gift. And in the same way, we have no ability to earn or deserve God’s blessings. We also are lame, and spiritually crippled by our sin. The only way we can know God’s love and forgiveness is by receiving them purely as a gift.
Let me give you one more verse on this topic before we move on:
"Then they asked him, ’What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered, ’The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’ - John 6:28-29 (NIV)
That’s the only "work" that God requires of us in coming to him. Just to believe, just to place our faith in Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
Now, even though we accept that we are forgiven and accepted by God solely on the basis of grace, there are times when we wonder if we may have exceeded our credit limit. Yes, grace is a gift that we don’t earn or deserve, and yes, we agree that we can add nothing to it by our own works. But sometimes we wonder if grace may be limited. If perhaps we can sin so deeply, or so repeatedly, that God will finally throw up his hands and say, "Enough is enough!" I’m tired of forgiving you for the very same sin over, and over, and over." Or, that perhaps God might be so shocked and appalled by something that we have done that he would say, "I’m sorry, but this is beyond even my ability to forgive. From now on, you are on your own." Have you ever felt that God’s patience with you might be wearing thin? Or that you may have done something so bad that grace just won’t cover it? That’s natural. Because that’s the way other people respond to us; and the way we sometimes respond to other people, even those we love. We have a limit. But the good news is that God doesn’t. God’s grace is not only unconditional, it is also unlimited. It is inexhaustible. It is infinite. It is boundless. And it is sufficient for every need. Listen to Jesus:
"Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ’Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ’I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.’ - Matthew 18:21-22 (NIV)
This is a situation that is repeated many times in the gospels. The disciples think they understand what Jesus is talking about, but in reality they’ve completely missed the point. Here we see Peter, asking Jesus about the limits of forgiveness. The prevailing opinion among the theologians of the day was that you should forgive three, or at most four times. Peter has absorbed enough of Jesus’ teachings to understand that this was too low. But he’s not quite sure what the new, higher limit ought to be. And so he picks a number which he’s pretty sure will be on the high side, or at least in the ballpark. "Up to seven times?" Jesus’ answer reveals that Peter hadn’t really understood at all. The point wasn’t that the limit should be higher (not even literally, "77"). The point was that there is no limit. We should be willing to forgive one another over and over and over, just like God forgives us.
And that’s my point this morning. There are no limits to God’s forgiveness, there are no limits to God’s grace. God knows our past, present, and future; and therefore, he can’t be surprised by anything we do. When he chose to call us to Himself, he knew what was coming. And so his attitude toward us can’t be altered by anything we do. His love for us is perfect and unchanging, growing neither stronger nor weaker when we sin. God’s grace is not just barely sufficient to cover our sin, it is abundantly sufficient. Listen to these promises:
"The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. . . he does
not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." -- Psalm 103:8-12 (NIV)
"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more." -- Isaiah 43:25 (NIV)
"You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea." -- Micah 7:19 (NIV)
All of these figures of speech - "as far as the east is from the west"; "remembering them no more", "casting them into the depths of the sea" - are meant to convey the same thing: that God’s grace and forgiveness are unlimited; that once God forgives, the it’s as if the sin had never happened. We cannot sin so often, or so seriously, that we exhaust the grace of God. And he never tires of extending grace to us.
"The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
- Romans 5:20-21 (NIV)
Now, I realize that this raises a question. If grace is really as unconditional and unlimited as these Scriptures teach, then what’s to keep me on the straight and narrow? What’s to prevent me from just going out and sinning up a storm? Or, as Paul puts it in the very next verse, "Shall we go on sinning that grace may increase?" We’ll look at that question next week. But for now, let’s just rest and rejoice in the limitless riches of God’s grace.
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
