Portraits of Grace pt3

The problem with grace is that it is so unbelievable. It makes no sense. Why would anyone give someone a gift they do not deserve?

Our world is full of people who celebrate when people get “what they deserve.” And, sadly, I am usually among those people. And generally they are people who get caught sinning differently than I do.

I am not talking about justice, but I am talking about the constant focus on others paying for what they have done- either consciously or intentionally.

We just got done with an entire season focused on retribution. Depending on what side of the aisle you were on you wanted someone to pay for some grievance.

We are a graceless people.

And when you have not received grace that is a perfectly understandable posture. Because the opposite of grace is Karma.

In his book In Conversation, the journalist Michka Assayas has this fascinating exchange with Bono the lead singer of U2:

Q: As I told you, I think I am beginning to understand religion because I have started acting and thinking like a father. What do you make of that?

Bono: Yes, I think that’s normal. It’s a mind-blowing concept that the God who created the Universe might be looking for company, a real relationship with people, but the thing that keeps me on my knees is the difference between Grace and Karma.

Q: I haven’t heard you talk about that.

Bono: I really believe we’ve moved out of the realm of Karma and into one of Grace.

Q: Well, that doesn’t make it any clearer for me.

Bono: You see, at the center of all religions is the idea of Karma. You know, what you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics – in physical laws – every action is met by an equal and opposite one. It’s clear to me that Karma is at the very heart of the Universe. I’m absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called Grace to upend all that “as you reap, so will you sow” stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff.

Q: I’d be interested to hear that.

Bono: That’s between me and God. But I’d be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge. I’d be in deep [crap]. It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for Grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity.

Q: The son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that.

Bono: But I love the idea of the Sacrificial Lamb. I love the idea that God says: “Look, you cretins, there are certain results to the way we are, to selfishness, and there’s mortality as part of your very sinful nature and, let’s face it, you’re not living a very good life, are you? There are consequences to actions.” The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death. That’s the point. It should keep us humble… It’s not our own good works that get us through the gates of Heaven.

I remember reading that when the book came out and being blown away, because I had never considered the 2 opposites, and that I was rooting for Karma for others, while holding on to grace for myself.

So this morning, I want to look at a passage in Ephesians 2:1-10 where Paul contrasts what could have been and what is now.

Verse 1-3 paint the picture for us of where we were when we were operating in “karma”

dead- in the present passage the death from which God has “quickened us together with Christ” (verse 5) is not our death-with-Christ but our moral and spiritual death brought about through our trespasses and sins.

F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Ephesians: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition, An Open Your Bible Project (Bath, UK: Creative Communications, 2012), 44.

prisoners/enslaved- unbelievers are still held in subjection to him and forced to live in accordance with his God-opposing will.

F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Ephesians: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition, An Open Your Bible Project (Bath, UK: Creative Communications, 2012), 45.

destined for destruction- “children of wrath”- basically awaiting the arrival of God’s just judgment on what we had done- no amount of work on our part could undo this judgment or deliver us from it- we were destined for destruction

Without grace, we would have stayed there.

So what that tells us is that everyone who we meet is fighting a battle they cannot win, just like we were. And that losing battle leads to some heinous outcomes.

People hurting themselves and others with no hope of being able to stop, because our very nature is flawed. And, worst of all, the outcome of that situation is facing an eternity that is even worse that the present, because there has to be some accounting for what we have done once our lives are over.

Without grace, we are also without hope.

Which is why we are so conditioned to root for people getting “what they deserve” because it seems like a vindication of us here on earth, and a fleeting opportunity to feel better about our present circumstances.

But grace opens up a different path, a different hope. the problem with grace is it requires an intervention outside of us- because we have no power to rectify wrongs or to make things right.

Enter the Gospel.

Verses 4-7 shows us this intervention. God brings grace to bear on the karma we desire for others but not for ourselves.

rooted in mercy and love- given to us even when we were not worthy of it- The wealth of his mercy and the greatness of his love are emphasized, because it is entirely thanks to that mercy and love that believers are no longer exposed to his holy wrath against sin.

F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Ephesians: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition, An Open Your Bible Project (Bath, UK: Creative Communications, 2012), 47.

reversal of our condition- This fundamental truth is inserted parenthetically here as Paul presses on with his account of all that God has made his people share with Christ

F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Ephesians: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition, An Open Your Bible Project (Bath, UK: Creative Communications, 2012), 47.

sets us on a new path- we are made alive (no longer dead), invited to God’s table as His children, and made co-heirs with Jesus- that is way different than being “children of wrath”- If the raising of Christ from death to sit at his own right hand is the supreme demonstration of God’s power, the raising of the people of Christ from spiritual death to share Christ’s place of exaltation is the supreme demonstration of his grace.

F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Ephesians: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition, An Open Your Bible Project (Bath, UK: Creative Communications, 2012), 49.

When Jesus arrives and fully reveals Himself and His plan on the cross, an alternative path is opened up. One where vengeance and “getting what we deserve” is set against a God who knows that no measure of karma can ever set us free.

You will not be free by balancing the scales of good in your life vs bad. You will not be free by seeing your enemies punished. The world will not be made right if “an eye for an eye” is the way to salvation- because everyone will eventually be blind.

So God does what He does- He turns the worldly system upside down and invites us onto a new path- a revolution of grace.

That’s what grace is. Countercultural. Revolutionary. Transformational. Norm busting.

Funnily enough, the one thing so many American Christians struggle with practicing is the very thing that saves them.

Why is this so hard? Because it makes no sense. In our humanness, and in a culture steeped in platitudes and focused on enemies and vengeance, grace is a mystery that has to be solved- not by understanding it but by experiencing it. And only after experiencing it, extending it to others.

Think about it. We marvel when we see it on display.

Shelby Houston story:

“What happened next, and what Shelby shared with friends, family, neighbors and members of her church congregation, was a remarkable testimony to her faith, which she'd learned from her father. Like her father's example, her words were a reflection of God's grace and mercy here on earth.

I remember having conversations with my dad about him losing friends and officers in the line of duty. I've heard all the stories you can think of, but I always had such a hard time with how the suspect was dealt with. Not that I didn't think there should be justice served, but my heart always ached for those who don't know Jesus, their actions being a reflection of that. I was always told I would feel differently if it happened to me, but as it happened to my own father, I think I still feel the same. There has been anger, grief, sadness and confusion, and a part of me just wishes I could despise the man who did this to my father. But I can't give any part of my heart to hate him.

Shelby, at life's darkest hour, was thinking not about the soul of her father but of the soul of the man who took his life. She wasn't finished.

My prayer is that someday down the road, I get time to spend with the man who shot my father. Not to scream at him, not to yell at him, not to scold him, but simply to tell him about Jesus.”

Many people would call this foolish, even a betrayal of her dad. Jesus calls it grace.

Verses 8-10

This is truly experienced when we come to the stark realization that Jesus saved us despite our sins. We did not earn His forgiveness or this hope we have. We were given it- in spite of the system of the world we live in. Karma loses. Grace wins.

The Epistle to the Ephesians: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition 3b. God’s Power in the Raising of Those Who Were Dead in Sins (2:1–10)

This is one of the great evangelical summaries of the New Testament. Our salvation springs solely from God’s grace and is appropriated by us through faith alone. Not that our faith merits the salvation in any way; it is simply the faculty by which we accept the salvation that God’s free grace has procured for us

The Epistle to the Ephesians: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition 3b. God’s Power in the Raising of Those Who Were Dead in Sins (2:1–10)

Salvation is not of works, firstly because it is bestowed by grace, and secondly because it is received by faith

And the result of embracing grace is revealed in verse 10. We are made to do something different.

The Epistle to the Ephesians: A Verse-by-Verse Exposition 3b. God’s Power in the Raising of Those Who Were Dead in Sins (2:1–10)

But if we are not saved by good works, we are assuredly saved for good works. For this purpose (among others which this epistle mentions) God fashioned us as his new creation “in Christ Jesus.” We are his “workmanship” (Gk. poiēma), his work of art, his masterpiece. And we shall show that we are his workmanship by the works which we perform

What would our lives look like if we reached for grace?