The Way of Grace

Grace is one of the key words in the Bible

In Hebrew its “Hen” and it means “an extension of favor and kindness”.

In the greek grace is the root of forgivness.

Grace is the foundational pillar of our whole salvation.

Ephesians 2:8–9 (NASB 2020)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;

9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Somrthing very intresting about grace in Hebrew it its relation to both its Subject and its Object.

The Subject is the source and the Object is the destination.

The subject is the giver and the object is the reciever.

And “Hen” only flows in one direction, that it Grace always and only flows from the greater to the Lesser.

The Greater is always the giver or subject of Grace and the Lesser is always the reciever or Object of Grace.

This is why God can be gracious towards me, but I cannot be gracious towards God.

God can give me grace, but i cannot give God grace.

God does not need my favor or my approval or my kindness or my forgivness.

Grace only exists because of failure.

Failure requires grace.

I am a failure, I am a sinner, therefore i require grace.

God is sinless perfection, completly without failure, therefore God does not ever need grace.

This makes grace incredibly intresting, especially when it comes to us being gracious, not with God, but with eachother.

But first let us look at God’s Grace towards us.

The Grace of God.

To say it again: Failure requires grace.

Romans 3:23–24 NASB 2020

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,

Because all have failed, God has given us grace. In fact a title of God in the NT:

1 Peter 5:10 NASB 2020

10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.

Grace is uinmerrited favor and kindness.

Which means that Grace has got nothing to do with Object or reciever and has EVERYTHING to do with the subject or giver.

God’s grace towards us, saything NOTHING about us, but says EVERYTHING about God.

God showed His Favor and His Kindness:

Romans 5:8 NASB 2020

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God is gracious towards us in that He loves us and did all the work of saving us from our sin and failure.

Everything we have from God is by His Grace.

As the latin says: Solo Gracia - By grace alone.

When we pray, He hears us by grace. ‘

When He speaks by His word, He speaks by grace.

Our Grace to Each Other

Grace that we need to extend to eachother is exacally the same as the grace God extends to us.

Failure makes grace neccesery.

A local church is a collection of divinly confirmed failures.

So grace is an absolute necessity!

God commands:

Colossians 4:6 NASB 2020

6 Your speech must always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.

Again God says:

Luke 6:36 NASB 2020

36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

That word mercy in Greek is Ok-Ter-Mos and its a compound word that means:

Ok-Ter literally means to “Shed a tear” - To have pity.

And “Mos” means “To think of yourself”.

Sp merciful means to To put yourself in their position and show them the grace that you would expect from others.

Ephesians 4:32 NASB 2020

32 Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

“Kind” is the same word as “Grace”.

Again: You give grace to others because you yourself know your own great need for Grace.

Allow me to explain grace:

Grace sees the intention NOT the execution.

There is always a difference between the intention and the execution of a task That we do for God or each other.

Have you ever sat down and tried to draw a picture?

If i were to give you a blank canvas and all the paints and brushes you need, took you to the sea at sunset and asked you to paint me a landscape of the setting sun.

You have have, in your mind and heart, an intention to paint a picture that reflects the beauty of God’s creation.

Yet, if we are honest, the execution of that intention would fall terribly short for most of us.

Think of a child’s drawings to their parents:

Their intention was to draw a beautiful picture of them and their family, yet in all honesty - the execution of their intention is awful.

Daddy look like a giraffe, the dog looks like a rawsdhake inkblot and heaven alone knows why mommies eyes are bigger than the house she is standing next too.

BUT when little Timmy brings home his picture and with joy shows it to mommy and daddy - How does mommy and daddy react?

Well if Mom and Dad where to be objectivly honest - they would say that it is terrible.

But if mom and dad were gracious, they would look past the poor execution, see the child’s intention, and praise the child’s intention while encouraging the child to peruse a more perfect execution

Grace fills the gap between intention and execution.

PIC

CuLets look at our worship team.

Our team, from song selection to practice has one simple intention: To bless God and bless us as we sing together.

A wonderful intention.

However, as they will be the first to admit: At times on a Sunday, the execution of that intention is flawed.

They miss a beat, they loose track, they sing the wrong words, they come in to fast...

Now what are we as a church to do?

Must i stand here and be objectivly honest and tell them all their mistakes? As if they dont already kniow them?????

Or am i to be gracious, see the beautiful intention, and encourage them?

All Ministries!

And before you think im picking on them, this applies to all ministries!

The kitchen intends to bless us with cake, sometimes the cake is not good.

Do i tell them that their baking skills are not good or be thankful and gracious for their kind intentions to bless?

Church I make mistakes constantly!

When I sit down in prayer and begin a sermon and bible study I have a simply and i believe a noble intention:

To glorify God and edify His people.

On that basis i do my best.

But I know me, as i said on FB i choked on pringle crumbs. Last week i preached in takkies, not to be hip, but because on sunday morning when i let the dogs out i fell in a storm water drain.

Oh yes i know me, i know me better than any of you know me.

And so i know, that even although my sermon and bible study intentions are good - the execution WILL FALL SHORT.

And i am ok with that because:

Romans 3:23 NASB 2020

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

I aim for the glory, but often fall short.

You, I hope, also aim for the glory of God- but you fall short.

What is my hope?

My hope is the same as your hope: That in my efforts the grace of my brothers and sisters will fill the gap between my intention and its execution.

Conclusion:

What about the fact that grace is always given by the greater to the lesser?

Does that mean that if I am greacious to you i am greater than you?

No, the grace that we show to others is not a grace that origenated from us.

The grace we shoiw others is the overflow of the grace God showed us.

So the giving of grace from one christian to the other is not a greater/lesser situation - rather the giver of grace is simply manifesting their Christlikess to God’s glory.