A Journey of Grace: Sneaky Grace
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“I do not write this for attention, so that I may become your ‘project’.”
“I do not write this for attention, so that I may become your ‘project’.”
On pastor tells about a message he received from a young man in his congregation whom he had only met a couple of times…
He was writing to share a part of his story…
He had grown up in and out of the church… He told the pastor about his profession… the cancer he had fought… and both love lost and love found…
Right in the middle of his message, hw wrote: “You seem like a pretty approachable guy, so I’m going to be brutally honest. Throughout most of my life, I have been a self-proclaimed atheist. I’ve not been shy about this, much to the dismay of my mom, my family, and my friends. This does not necessarily mean I am a devil worshiper. I do not write this for attention, so that I may become your ‘project’.”
That question caused him to pause…
“What on earth would possess a professed atheist to keep coming to a worship experience?”
Now — his girlfriend had gotten him there… BUT… “What kept him coming back?”
Simple… GRACE!
This young man had fallen prey to “Sneaky Grace.”
By his own confession, this was a man who — for the better part of his life — had been a self-professed atheist, yet he was now sitting in a worship service listening to the story of God…
He related in much of the message… stories about the Christians in his life… the epic moments that had gotten his attention… and even the miracle healing he had experienced....
“What he called the invitation of his girlfriend was really nothing more than a link in a long chain of grace moments throughout his life.” says the pastor. “What he didn’t yet realize was that all along his journey, grace was at work.”
Can I tell you — That’s my story!
I wasn’t an atheist, but my story was the same....
I didn’t realize until much later all the areas that God had been working… wooing me towards His Love and His Kingdom!
Grace is sneaky that way!
Grace provides twists and turns in our story that we never would imagine…
When we aren’t looking… or are unaware that we’re looking… or are not even sure what we should be looking for… Grace sneaks up on us!
Grace had been sneaking up on this young man… and on me… throughout our lives…
Grace had been drawing us… wooing us… inviting us… and showing up in some really awesome ways!
Grace has a purpose.
Grace sets the stage for the invitation to church… to the kingdom… to “come and see”…
Grace made it possible to say “Yes!”
Grace kept his attention… Grace had him coming back for more…
Grace filled him with compelling questions…
You see… Grace was working on, in, and through the message… especially at the point that he said, “I don’t want to be your project.”
That’s what Grace does!
Grace sneaks up on us, right where we are!
And before we know it, we are caught up in the Kingdom!
“I don’t want to be your project.”
When the pastor first read that, he confesses that he thought: “That’s all right, I don’t need another project.”
Then he realized… This young man was already under Grace’s allure… All he had to do was be there… all he had to do was show up as grace began pulling him closer and closer to Jesus!
That’s what Grace does!
Grace draws us closer to Jesus… even when we don’t know it!
That kind of grace — that sneaky grace — is life-changing!
We call it Prevenient Grace.
Prevenient Grace is that sneaky grace that keeps showing up in our lives when we least expect it… It “woos” us… It opens us up, and makes us receptive to God…
Prevenient Grace — “Sneaky” Grace — comes to us, before we even consider coming to God.
Look at Acts 10.
Acts 10 holds the story of Cornelius - the Roman Centurion - and Peter’s interaction with him.
Cornelius’s story happens in Caesarea…
Caesarea was the center of the Roman political world at the time…
Caesarea was the place where Roman authority “collided” with Jewish religious influence…
It was a crossroads… especially in Cornelius’s life.
Scripture tells us… Cornelius was both a Roman Centurion AND “a God-fearing man.”
But what does that mean to us? Why is his story important?
Grace often sneaks up in the “crossroads” of life!
Acts 10:1–6 (NIV)
1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment.
2 He and all his family … were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.
3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, “Cornelius!”
4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.
5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter.
6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea.”
Cornelius was at a crossroads… somewhere in his past, God had begun to work… wooing him, drawing him, seeking him, even when he didn’t know it…
And now.. he was prepared to hear the message.
Sneaky Grace come to us before we come to God.
Have you ever noticed that Christians often begin their conversion story with a pronouncement that they “came to Christ” at a certain time and place… or at a certain age?
— We’re all guilty of it… They even ask about it when you interview for ordination…
Let me tell you — No one ever “comes” to Christ!
Now hear me out… don’t crucify me yet!
No one ever comes to Jesus… no one ever comes to Christ… because…
Christ comes to us!
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.
3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.
In the Bible, there are three kinds of death: Physical, Spiritual, and Eternal (boy that one can open a can of worms!)…
Paul is talking about “spiritual death”…
We were living and breathing… going through the motions of life… BUT… we were spiritually dead because of sin.
You see… A person can be physically alive and walking around, but, on the inside, they cannot respond to spiritual things, because they have no spiritual sensation.
To a spiritually dead person spirituality is no more real than the sense of smell is to a dead person!
Dead people are non-responsive… disconnected… and unaware of the world around them.
No spiritually dead person can “come to Christ” by his or her own strength!
But they don’t have to! That’s the beauty of the gospel!
God intervenes!
God intervenes in our desperate situation and does something for us that we cannot do for ourselves!
God comes to where we are!
… And He awakens our spiritual sensitivities!
Think about Sleeping Beauty…
In Sleeping Beauty, the princess is put under a sleeping spell by the evil queen… The spell is: She will remain in a state of perpetual sleep (a coma) until she is awakened by “true loves kiss”…
When the prince comes, and kisses her… that kiss awakens her from her “comatose state” and rescue her from her hopeless condition…
That’s how “Sneaky” grace works!
“God seeks us before we ever seek God. The initiative of salvation is with God from the beginning. Before we ever take a step, God is there.” — Lovett Weems
Wesley states that “actual discipleship doesn’t begin until after conversion… but … God’s Grace works in advance… stirring in people the desire to begin seeking God…
We seek God only because God is first seeking us!
That’s what God does!
— God called Abraham in a place called Ur… Who went first? God.
Who began the good work in Abraham? God. But Abraham had to respond…
— God came to Jacob in a dream… and later wrestled with him at Jabbok…
Who went first? God. Who began the work in Jacob? God.
But Jacob had to work out what God was working in him.
— Moses was a hundred miles from nowhere when God came to him in a burning bush…
Who went first? God. Who began the good work? God. But Moses had to work out what God was working in him.
— The living Christ appeared to Saul on the road to Damascus… He wasn’t looking for God… He was persecuting the Church…
Who went first? God. Who began the good work? God. But… as Paul confesses… he had to work out what God was working in him.
— The eunuch from Africa on the desert road… Cornelius in his vision… Lydia by the riverside… What do they ALL have in common?
God first came to them!
All of them were working out what God was working in him.
God acts… we respond!
How awesome is that?!
We serve a God who doesn’t expect us to come to Him… He comes to us!
Let me tell you… Anyone who begins to turn toward God is already under the allure of Grace.
Grace builds curiosity.
Grace causes people to ask questions…
Grace causes people to show up in places they wouldn’t usually go…
Grace causes them to “hang out” longer than they used to…
We see it over and over again in scripture… Sneaky Grace captivates people…
The problem is that we — good Christians — seem to keep sabotaging those moments.
We feel the pressure to “get them saved”… to “close the deal”… and we mess it all up!
The beauty of Prevenient Grace is that God is already doing the work!
We don’t have to…
It is not our “place” to “get them saved”… That’s not our job… Our job is to “reveal” God to them… to point them toward the Grace that He is already pouring out!
Cornelius already demonstrated curiosity… He was already aligning himself with Jewish traditions… Even though he was — and might always be — an outcast, he was already drawing as close as possible…
He was even curious about and attempting to follow their practices of generosity and compassion…
That “Sneaky Grace” had already gotten ahold of him!
And it was drawing him closer to God.
Grace can show up anywhere!
It would be easy right here to jump to the end of Acts 10… to leap ahead to the moment when the Spirit of God is poured out on all those Gentiles living in Cornelius’s home… to the moment when Peter tells them to be baptized… But… that would be a tragic failure!
You see… the stage was set for the celebration long before Peter ever shows up!
Prevenient Grace was at work as far back as we can point in Cornelius’s life.
By the time Peter arrives on the scene, Grace had already snuck up and caught ahold of Cornelius… All he needed was for someone to explain it to him…
God is ALWAYS the first one on the scene when awakening, conversion, and life transformation happens!
You are able to respond to God, only because God sought you out first!
God came to you, RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!
But…
Grace doesn’t end with you!
“The [exact] same Grace at work in the person on their way to Jesus is also at work in the life of the person being sent by Jesus to meet them along the way.” — unknown
The exact same time that Grace was sneaking up on Cornelius… Grace was also sneaking up on Peter on a roof top… challenging his perceptions… dismantling traditionalism… erasing boundaries… softening his heart… preparing him to join God where He was already at work!
9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.
10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.
11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners.
12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds.
13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you.
20 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”
21 Peter went down and said to the men, “I’m the one you’re looking for. Why have you come?”
22 The men replied, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.”
23 Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the believers from Joppa went along.
Grace meets us at the Crossroads of our lives… Grace met Cornelius… Grace met Peter…
That’s the thing about Grace!
It is sneaky… It is unexpected… AND… it ALWAYS comes to us first!
God acts, We respond!
Let’s look back at that pastor’s atheist friend....
What he didn’t realize… what Peter didn’t realize… what Cornelius didn’t realize… was that long before he showed up… long before he decided to go to church… Grace had set the stage for God’s people to nurture his curiosity… to stand in fellowship… and to disciple him through conviction…
Towards the end of his email, he wrote this:
“I expected to go and hear ‘I’ll Flu Away’ or “How Great Thou Art.’ I expected some old-timer to drone on and on about the Ten Commandments and the Bible. What I found was different. I would not go so far as to say that I had a come-to-Jesus moment, but I will say I felt good when I left there. My girlfriend was surprised when I asked her when we were going back…”
That is exactly what I found!
In that moment… when I stepped into that church… Grace snuck up on me…
God meets us where we are… He pours out Grace on us… preparing us… wooing us… inviting us to draw closer to Him… To celebrate His Love and His Grace… and to share it with others.
What are we doing with the Grace God has given us?
48 But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.
This reminds me of that quote from Spiderman: “With great power comes great responsibility.”
God pours out His Grace on us before we even know Him… He also expects us to act on it!
“He that made us without ourselves, will not save us without ourselves.” — St. Augustine
Sneaky Grace calls us to “come and see” who God is.
Sneaky Grace also calls us “Follow Him” into the life He created for us.
We are called to experience God’s “sneaky” grace… to live within it… and to point others towards it.
We have the greatest gift this world can receive…
Literally EVERY other world religion teaches that God will only respond to human movement towards Him…
Christianity understands that “God always acts first… thereby enabling people to respond.”
What is Grace telling you to do?
— Is it to give up something… to let go… to trust God?
— Is it to go to someone… to do something?
“Faith is the hand that grasps the finished work of Christ and makes it my own.” — Lesslie Newbiggin, British missiologist
Let me tell you the rest of that atheist’s story:
He was a country music artist, and he invited this pastor to one of his concerts…
Halfway through the concert, he stopped … listen to what he said:
“You all out there know me. You know that I’m not the straightest arrow. I mess up. You all know that I’ve not been particularly fond of religion. But tonight, I want to tell you that my pastor is here. He’s standing in the front row. I’m not one to shove religion down anyone’s throat. But, if you find yourself looking at some point, you can come to my church with me.”
That young man was caught by sneaky grace…
It changed him, and it changed that pastor…
What are we doing with the Grace God pours out on us?
14 This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”