The Grace of God

Preacher:
Date: September 16, 2024

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…”  (Ephesians 2:8).

 

Some people think that Grace is merely the name of the girl who lives next door, but grace is a theological concept.  Some have attempted to define it, saying that it is God’s unmerited or undeserved favor, but that definition never really satisfies me.  In simple terms, I think of grace as God’s reaching down to meet us at the point of our pain and despair and giving us the strength to endure and the hope to survive.

Take a hymnbook, preferably an older one, and check out some of the words of the old hymns that describe grace. I suggest an older hymnbook because it seems that a few generations ago, people better understood the grace of God than we do today with our quick fixes and instant solutions.

In the eighteenth-century Charles Wesley wrote of it, saying, “O for a thousand tongues to sing/ My great Redeemer’s praise. / The glories of my God and King, / The triumphs of His grace.”

When Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he spoke of God’s grace which brings salvation.  He wrote, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…” (Eph. 2:8), and thousands of hymns and songs have been written talking about the saving grace of God, such as John Newton’s hymn which goes, “Amazing Grace–how sweet the sound, / That saved a wretch like me! / I once was lost but now am found, / Was blind but now I see.”

The grace of God, though, is like a multi-faceted diamond, and another facet of grace is the help that allows us to endure when bad things happen.  It is God’s grace which touches your life and lets you smile when the clouds are rather dark and gloomy, and brings a measure of cheerfulness when you are in deep waters financially and wonder where you next meal is coming from.  When things that are unexpected happen–often things that could well be described as “bad”–God’s grace provides strength and help that you could otherwise never know.

Paul had a lot of experience when it comes to bad things happening.  Let me share a few lines from his letter to the Corinthians and see if you can relate to his distress.  He said, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (II Cor. 4:8,9).  Today we would say he was down but not out, and what is it that makes the difference?  The grace factor that brings comfort and help. Paul then added, “Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). Paul described this grace, saying, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles…” (2 Corinthians 1:3,4).

If you are waiting for me to give you four or five simple guidelines, as I often do, which will help you connect your need and God’s grace, forget it.  It doesn’t work that way.  Frankly, there is no simple formula, no rhyme nor reason to it, but grace is there, and it’s powerful.

This book, known as Second Corinthians, from which I have quoted rather freely today, is described as the heart of Paul.  He tells how he despaired and cried out for God’s help, and the answer was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power [or strength] is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9a).  He also said, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).

To describe grace simply as God’s help would minimize it, but to understand that grace – which we do not deserve but is freely given brings the answer to our great needs – connects us with the loving care of God.  It’s a discovery well worth making.

Resource reading: 2 Corinthians 12.

Topics: ,