We’ve been looking at the effects of sin on one’s life and its power of destruction, but now we will explore the role of grace.
If God does not hold you together, you wouldn’t be alive today. The more that we can understand what God has done for us, the easier it is for us to live for Him. We are aware of what it is to live under the grace of God.
Sin and grace are in opposition to one another. They are not to be taken as being hand in hand. Sin has one objective–to destroy. Sin brings you low and ruins you and everything around you. Grace, in contrast, is to raise you up, build you up, and restore you.
What is the most important thing that Christianity brings to the world that no other religion is able to contribute? Is it Jesus Christ? Is it the resurrection? C.S. Lewis provided insight that it is God’s grace that matters most. Without God’s grace, there would not be Jesus Christ. Without grace, there would be no resurrection. Without grace, there would not be a plan of salvation. All of these are the effects of God’s grace. Grace would have to be extended and afforded to us before Christ would do His work. Grace is God choosing to love you for who you are.
Ask yourself this question–Do you know what is good for you?
We may think we do, but we really don’t. God knows what is good for us, but often we don’t take His advice. The Word of God is His way to help us to be good. Disobedience is man’s way of saying that he knows what is best for himself and that God doesn’t know.
Ecclesiastes 6:12
For who knows what is good for man in life, in the few days of his futile life that he spends like a shadow? Who can tell man what will happen after him under the sun?
Man doesn’t really know what is good, but God does know, and He has a plan for us.
Psalm 144:3
Lord, what is man, that You care for him,
the son of man, that You think of him?
That is a profound question that was asked within the heavenly realm by angels. The ultimate answer is that God loves us, and is thinking of us and working and planning for us. All of God’s creation was not for God’s use…it’s for us.
Romans 5:20-21
The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
How does God reveal His care for us? Through His grace to us.
John 1:17
…for the law was given through Moses,
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
This is not to say that grace did not exist before the appearance of Christ on earth. In the Old Testament, we can find areas where God extended His grace. In the New Testament, we see the fullness of God’s grace in the person of Jesus Christ. What is important to note is that grace has measurements in the same way that you can measure quarts of water or inches on a ruler.
Genesis 39:21
But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him. He granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
Exodus 3:21
And I will give these people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that when you go, you will not go empty-handed.
The root word of grace (char) indicates something that produces “well-being.” The air that you breathe, for example, is the grace of God. Charis means “joy.” While sin robs your comfort and peace, grace gives peace to you. Chara means well-being presented to mankind. It is to experience or express well-being, and it applies even in the midst of heartache and difficulty. Charisma–grace from God to mankind.
God rains down His grace on the just and the unjust.
Matthew 5:45
…so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
It is the Christian who gains access into His grace.
Romans 5:2
We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
This allows for more grace as needed for daily living.
James 4:6
But He gives greater grace. Therefore He says:
God resists the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.
God gives us more grace as we are in need of it. Whatever the task is that He would have us to accomplish, He provides the necessary grace to complete it–in spite of our circumstances.
Do believers truly receive God’s grace?
We are the ones that decide if we will continue in God’s grace.
Acts 13:43
After the synagogue had been dismissed, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and persuading them to continue in the grace of God.
The work of the Holy Spirit in building us up is the result of the grace of God extended to us in its fullness through Jesus Christ. Knowing all of this, it is still our choice to walk in the will and way of God and to live a Christlike existence. We are to walk in the favor of God according to His grace. God’s blessings are a reflection of His favor for you.
The work is by the grace of God, not of the flesh or the will of man.
Acts 14:26
From there they (the disciples) sailed back to Antioch where they had been entrusted to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.
God does more than just call us to serve Him. He enables each of us, just as he enabled the disciples, with His favor, to complete His work. The work is done through the kindness and ability of God, and not our flesh.
It’s only by the grace of God that you do what you do. While sin’s purpose is misery and destruction, God’s grace overcomes sin and gives us the ability to rejoice and be glad in His presence.
We have the privilege of access of the fullness of His grace for us.
Akron Alliance Fellowship 