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Pastor Jay's Blog

Grace: Master Teacher and Fearless Leader

There are times in a person’s life and in the life of a nation when everything is changed. Perhaps someone has a new baby. Perhaps a nation suffers a terrible event like 9/11 or a natural disaster. When these kinds of events happen, everything is affected and many things will change. Things have to change because there are new realities that are so in-your-face that to ignore them is the height of negligence. Amazingly, lots of people ignore these “game changers.” These massive realties are all around them, but all they can concentrate on is making sure the DVR records their favorite program correctly.

There is a watershed moment in the life of every Christian as well. At the moment of new birth everything changes. They have been united with Christ, forgiven, freed from sin, and on and on the list goes. This reality is their new identity and nothing can remain the same. And yet, due to unchecked negligence or left to drift in churches unwilling to confront and disciple, new believers unwittingly stunt their spiritual growth as they pursue God-replacements.

Why does all of this happen? The massive realities of our new birth in Christ are not mulled over, discussed, analyzed, and celebrated with thanksgiving. The good news gets shuffled into the rest of the daily news until it falls out of view. Given enough time, mixed with enough distraction, almost anything can be neglected.

Why am I talking about all of this? Because there are two powerful descriptions of grace used in Scripture that tell us what grace does.

Romans 2:4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?

Titus 2:11–12 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, 12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,

These verses speak about grace in a way that almost personifies it. Paul doesn’t quite give it human-like qualities, but he does speak of it operating in our lives with such active language that grace cannot be considered an abstract idea reserved for theological discussions.

So what does it mean that grace leads us and grace instructs us? I believe it all has to do with what happens when a person thinks deeply about grace. Romans 2:4 actually tips us off in this direction. Verse 3 speaks of “supposing” what judgment means for a person, and again in verse 4 about “thinking lightly” and “not knowing.” It means that grace is so radical, so dramatic in its implications, so powerful as a change agent, that nothing can remain the same when it is understood. All you have to do is think about grace and the implications are going to lead you. Mediate on the undeserved favor of God and you will be instructed about what to do with ungodliness, worldly desires, and how to live in the world.

Let’s try this kind of meditation and see what happens. When you think about the grace of God’s kindness toward us you realize you should be in hell with no opportunities for repentance at all. You realize that all the pleasures God gives in this world make God the truest pleasure behind all the others; and your idolizing of them really is treasonous. You realize that God has endured your rebellion for so long and He truly must desire your repentance to put up with you. The more we mediate on this, the more ways we are going to see what God has done in grace and this will lead us more and more to repentance.

 

Let’s think about how grace instructs us and see what lessons we learn. Meditating on grace begins to open up all that God freely gives those who trust him; things like wisdom, maturity, rewards, a full life, etc. We see the protection God provides in controlling every temptation so it is not beyond our ability to handle. We learn of the good designs God is accomplishing even in the trials and temptations. We find all the resources available to those who will put sin to death: a body of other believers, a sufficient Word, and the indwelling Spirit. This is the tip of the iceberg of all that grace can teach us about why sin is not what we should pursue.

All of this means that the church needs to be constantly calling the people of God to go deep in all that grace means for us. We must be a people who meditate on these matters. We must fight distraction and worldly thinking. We must be the pillar and support of the truth, whereby people see grace in fresh ways and be led and instructed once again. Grace is the new reality that we stand in and it changes everything. Think deeply about it and you will be led and instructed.