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| Section: Basic Christian Living:
courses for new Christians |
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Beginning with God |
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7. The Right
Motive: |
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Living by
Grace |
Romans
6:14
'You are not under law, but under grace.'
Acts
20:24
'…the gospel of God's grace.'
Grace: God's 'givingness'
When we talk about 'grace'
in a Christian context, we don't mean moving around elegantly,
like a ballerina. We're talking about the whole basis upon which
God deals with us. So what exactly is grace?
Grace is the love of God
in action towards the totally undeserving. It is his help, his
provision, his generosity, his 'givingness' to us who, if we
deserved anything, deserved only his judgment because of our
sin and self-centredness.
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Grace is central to God's nature; he is 'the
God of all grace' (1 Peter 5:10). That's what we mean when we say God is
'gracious'. He's not the grim god of Judaism or the unsmiling and tyrannical
god of Islam. He's a warm-hearted Father, an open-handed and smiling God of
grace, who loves to give!Saved by
grace
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Suppose an intruder broke into
your house and you arrived home to find him sprawled on your settee scoffing
the contents of your food-cupboard. You could call the police and have him
prosecuted. If you decided instead to let him off with a few strong words,
that would be mercy—not giving him what he deserved. If you made him dinner,
gave him £100 and some clothes and invited him to call again whenever he was
in need, that would be grace—giving him what he did not deserve.
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In Christ, we have received both God's mercy
and God's grace. He spared us what we deserved: his wrath. And he generously
gave us what we didn't deserve: his love and forgiveness.
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Salvation simply can't be earned or worked
for. It's a free gift of God's grace. It costs us nothing—because it
cost Jesus everything:
Ephesians 2:8-9
'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.'
Romans
3:24 'We
are justified freely by his grace.'
John Newton was an 18th century
slave trader, making money out of human degradation. When he
became a Christian he was so overcome by God's love and forgiveness
towards him that he wrote the famous hymn, Amazing Grace.
Sustained
by grace
But God's grace doesn't end
once we are saved; it continues to flow towards us throughout
our lives. In other words, God continues to give to us, the undeserving,
what we don't deserve. He remains full of love and forgiveness,
provision and generosity.
Even though you're now a Christian,
you still can't buy anything from God. He doesn't sell-he only
gives. No matter how much you pray, read your Bible, help others,
give sacrificially or serve in the church, you won't draw out
of God's heart any more of his love and acceptance towards you.
Why? Because you have it all already! It's his free, ongoing
gift to you for Jesus' sake. It's a limitless reservoir, and
he wants us to tap into it daily so that we are sustained by
it in our Christian lives:
Acts
13:43 [Paul
and Barnabas] 'urged them to continue in the grace of God.'
Drawing on God's grace is so
vital that the apostle Paul both begins and ends every one of
his letters with a phrase like, 'Grace and peace to you…'
(Romans 1:7) or 'The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you' (Romans
16:20).
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John Newton understood that grace had
saved him—and that it would continue to sustain him, as the third
verse of his famous hymn clearly shows.
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Grace
and law
The opposite of 'grace' is
'law'.
There's a place for law, of
course. Without the laws of the land society would lapse into
anarchy and chaos. Without the laws of football the game would
end up as a brutal free-for-all. But in the Christian faith grace
rules supreme. In this it's different from every other religion
in the world. All the rest are based on law, with a heavy list
of do's and don'ts and penalties for every infringement.
Sadly, even some Christians
can slip back into a law-based approach to life. The Galatian
believers did this and Paul had to write them a strong letter
to put them straight:
Galatians
3:10 'All
who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written:
"Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything
written in the Book of the Law."'
Galatians
5:4 'You
who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from
Christ; you have fallen away from grace.'
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God's grace is to be our motivation in all
that we do for him. Take reading your Bible, for example. It's a good thing
to do it, but why do you do it? If it's so that you can notch up another
Bible-reading session and feel virtuous about it, or if you do your reading
at 6 o'clock in the morning because that seems more spiritual than doing it
at 7 o'clock, you're back under law. You've lost sight of grace and are tied
up with self-imposed rules and regulations.
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Grace gives you a completely different approach. You say
to yourself, 'God has been amazingly kind to me. Thank you, Lord, for your
love. I want to learn more about you, and I want to hear you speak to me, so
I'm going to read the Bible for a while.'
Whether you do it at 6.00 in the morning or some other time is neither here
nor there.
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Living by law is…
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Doing everything by human effort
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Living by rigid rules and regulations
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Trying to earn God's approval |
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Living by grace is…
| Relying on the power of the Holy Spirit
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| Trusting the Lord to direct your life
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| Rejoicing that you already have God's approval |
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Approaching
the throne
Sometimes you feel utterly
weak and useless. You'd like to serve God better but your human
weakness gets in the way.
This is where grace comes into
its own. You reach the end of your own resources and, in desperation,
cry to God to meet your need. He replies, 'My grace is sufficient
for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness' (2 Corinthians
12:8)—and he comes up with the goods. That way, of course,
God gets all the credit because everyone knows you couldn't have
achieved what you did by your own efforts.
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At such times
of need you may feel reluctant to come to the Lord for his help.
You'd prefer to do the job yourself. But isn't that foolish when
there's an endless supply of grace at your disposal? The Bible
says:
Hebrews
4:16 'Let
us…approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that
we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of
need.'
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Because of what Jesus has done,
God no longer sits on a throne of judgment as far as you're
concerned; he sits on a 'throne of grace'. He's never
too busy to receive you, never stingy with his love and provision.
He loves to welcome you. So approach his throne 'with confidence'!
Learn to appreciate his grace, and let it be your only motivation
for living as a Christian.Gracious
like God
Ephesians
5:1 'Be
imitators of God…as dearly loved children.'
You will inevitably become
like what you worship (Jeremiah 2:5; Psalm 115:4-8). So as you
worship the God of grace you'll become gracious yourself. How
can you co-operate with God in this happy process?
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Spend time with God. Let his character rub off onto you
through regular fellowship.
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Be generous, like God. Give your time, your money, your effort
unstintingly to bless others: |
Romans
5:17 'God's
abundant provision of grace…'
Ephesians
1:7-8 '…the
riches of God's grace that he lavished on us…'
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Humble yourself, because: |
Proverbs
3:34 'God
resists the proud but gives his grace to the humble.'
You humble yourself by saying
'Thank you', by worshipping the Lord, by developing a submissive
spirit, by serving and by giving.
Set your stall out to live
the whole of your life in the lovely atmosphere of grace!
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