I am always amazed at how we humans can be so fickle about what we will accept as a gift. At one moment any gift is seen as unacceptable charity, usually due to senseless pride. Another moment, we will do anything to get some pointless thing free, but it turns out not to be so “free” after all. I’ve learned, too often the hard way, that neither position is healthy. Although most situations I experience have been trivial, I have caught myself acting both ways in my spiritual life. Most often, it has been refusing the free gifts—like salvation—that God offers me.
People refuse free gifts in one of two ways: we either outright refuse to accept the free gift, or we offer to pay for the free thing. So, maybe I don’t want to refuse salvation, but I don’t want to accept it as a free gift either. This poses a huge problem.
It’s a problem because the gospel message is simple: If we hold onto Christ, we have life. Sin (as I shared with you in the last blog) is breaking off this saving relationship with God; it is rebellion against His love. This meant that salvation and condemnation are relational, not behavioral. For many this isn’t good news. Most often, it’s because there is a deep desire within us to have something to do with our own salvation. We want it to be behavioral—we want to work it out ourselves and be self-made. It often seems that we want salvation to be something earned.
I had been taught (not always directly, but frequently implied) that we must do some great pious thing as payment for eternal life. Yet the Bible is very clear that this isn’t the case: “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4, 5). God made us alive when we were dead in sin; we are saved by God’s grace. Just as Peter said in Acts 15:11, “We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved.”
God’s grace is an amazing thing. Most define the Biblical concept of grace as “unmerited favor” or, as some might suggest, getting what we don’t deserve. Interestingly, in the Old Testament, the word for grace is frequently translated only as “favor” and is found in the commonly used phrase, “so-and-so found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” Noah found favor. Abraham found favor. Moses found favor. The list goes on. I find it fascinating that this favor they each found in God’s eyes was unmerited. They didn’t do anything to deserve it. In fact, each example has a long enough list of bad behavior on their résumé. Yet, each one was in a relationship with God. Study about their lives and you will see that this favor (grace) came as a result of that relationship.
Although grace was present in the Old Testament, it wasn’t fully realized by mankind until Jesus came. John 1:17 says, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” The law was well defined through the writings of Moses. But as Jesus ministered to the people, they were shown a more complete demonstration of grace. Think of the woman caught in adultery—grace. Think of Zacchaeus—grace. Think of the thief on the cross—grace. Undeserved favor had never been seen like this!
Until Jesus, they may have, like us, looked back at those who had received God’s favor as being worthy of it—as if they had earned it. We often think that those stories served as examples of what would happen if we did the right things. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Paul tells us that these stories of mankind overcoming were to reveal to those who come afterwards the “incomparable riches of [God’s] grace” (Ephesians 2:6, 7). It was not the achievements of men that were on display, but it was the greatness of God’s grace. Those stories revealed the grace of a God who is able to save the most imperfect, forgetful backsliders among us.
It is necessary for us to see the greatness of His grace too. Romans 3:23, 24 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” We are all sinners, yes. We all fall short of God’s glory no matter how hard we try to live “right.” And we are all justified the same way—by His grace! Paul describes it this way: “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4–7).
Our salvation was never based on what we have done, but has always been based on God’s mercy—His grace. Simple repetition of good actions will not create righteousness in our lives. “Conquering” our sinful desires does not earn us a mansion in God’s kingdom. Salvation is not earned—it is given. If we are to receive eternal life, it can only be through God’s unmerited favor towards us.
Then a thought creeps back into our minds: surely there is something we must do in addition to accepting this grace, right? Nope. Our works do nothing toward our salvation. The Bible is very clear: we are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8, 9). Period. “And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace” (Romans 11:6). You can’t call it unmerited favor if you earn it, can you? It cannot be undeserved if you are able to pay it off in a righteousness installment plan, can it?
Sadly, this is what many seem to want: an installment plan on salvation—heaven on layaway. They want eternal life, but do not want it through charity. Yes, it may begin as a gift, but many want to pay God back. Is this what God offers? Salvation: 90-years-same-as-cash? Paul says in Galatians 2:21, “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.” If we pass up God’s grace and try to work our way to heaven—salvation through a payment plan—we are claiming that Jesus’ death was worthless. Because, if we can earn salvation by ourselves why did Jesus die?
Now some have strongly disagreed with me on this idea. They have told me that they have accepted Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf, but there’s still a lot of work to do to keep saved. I cannot help but disagree with their disagreement. Did Jesus go through all of that humiliation and pain, and not change a thing? Did He suffer through everything He did so our salvation would be just as difficult (if not more)? Can we truly accept Jesus as our savior and still need to justify ourselves before God with our own actions? This is Paul answer: “You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:4). Whenever we try to justify ourselves with our own “righteousness” we are, in reality, distancing ourselves from Christ and abandoning the grace that come through a saving relationship with Him. What a horrible thought!
Again, please don’t misunderstand me. Living under grace does not mean it doesn’t matter what we do. We cannot, as Jude 4 says, “change the grace of our God into a license for immorality.” This is not how grace works. Think about it: if you were pulled over by a police officer, clocked going more than 20 mph over the speed limit, and the officer only gives you a warning—he extends to you unmerited favor—does this offering of grace allow you to travel the rest of your trip at 20 mph over? If a different officer pulls you over a second time, would you be able to say, “Oh, it’s okay officer. I’m driving under grace”? Of course not! Grace does not give us permission to continue to live in rebellion.
What should be our reaction to grace then? The story of Moses provides our answer: Moses was a man who found favor in God’s eye. God said so Himself—to Moses! This is what Moses said in reply: “You [God] have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you” (Exodus 33:12, 13). Upon hearing that God’s grace was upon him, he desired to know God more so he could continue in that grace. It made him want a deeper relationship with God. Did he ever make a mistake after this? Plenty. Did God’s grace still cover him? We know it did: he was on the Mount of Transfiguration with Elijah and Jesus!
So what happened to Moses’ imperfections? Did he clear them all up in the last minute? Did he get “control” over his life and that’s why he was on that mount with Jesus? Was Moses standing with Elijah because he had proved to God that he was finally worthy? Actually, he disobeyed God right before he died, which resulted in him not entering into the land of Canaan (see Deuteronomy 32:49–52). Even at the end he still had faults. Misbehavior was still part of this great patriarch’s life. Yet, he was there, on the Mount with Elijah, to encourage Jesus. How could this be? As God said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
God’s grace is sufficient to save sinners, no matter how deep they are in sin. In fact, the greater the sin, the greater the offering of grace (Romans 5:20). We should never underestimate the power of God’s grace. His grace was sufficient enough to cover the sins of Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Rahab, David, Mary Magdalene, Peter, Paul and many, many more. His grace was enough for the thief next to Him on the cross—the same one who had no opportunity to clean up his life. This means that His grace is sufficient to cover me—and you!
You see, I have realized that no matter how good I think I am, I will never be good enough. No matter how clean I am, I will never be clean enough. But God already knows that. We always fall short of God’s glory. Actually, He has never expected us to try to rise to His glory—rising to God’s glory is Satan’s desire (Isaiah 14:12–14; see also the lie Satan continues to tell humanity first said in Genesis 3:5)! Instead, God wants us to admit our imperfect humanity—our un-godlike nature—for it is in our weakness that His strength is revealed.
What if we still have some bumps and bruises? What if we don’t have it all together? We have to lay those imperfections at the feet of Jesus. Trust Him—He can take care of those issues—because His grace is sufficient to save you!