Nothing, Everything (2)
Nothing, Everything — To us, who deserve nothing, our Father gives everything. Last week we learned five principles of grace. Everyone has a story. Everyone struggles with fear, fear of the exposure, judgment, and condemnation for our sins. The basis of grace is not the person in front of us, but the Father above us. Grace is always extravagant. Grace creates relationship and fellowship. God calls us, who have experienced grace and live in grace, to live out grace. He calls us to be like David, to be like Jesus. He calls us to give everything to the person before us who deserves nothing. We are channels of God’s grace. We give freely to others what we have received freely. That is a culture of grace. That is living out grace. But how do we do that? There are four steps we should take to become a culture of grace, four ways of living out grace.
1. Fix Our Eyes on the Father
First, we must fix our eyes on God our Father. When we come to faith in Jesus Christ our lives are changed. We enter into a new relationship and fellowship with God. As we abide in Christ through prayer, the study of his Word, practicing the spiritual disciplines, and practicing His presence daily, we grow in our faith and knowledge of God. We grow in our awareness and understanding of God’s holiness, majesty, and glory. Our awe of God grows, the “wow” factor increases. We fall down in worship. We glorify and praise God. “Lord, look at what You’ve done. Look who You are: Your majesty, Your strength, Your power, Your glory, Your eternal nature, Your love, Your amazing grace.”
At the same time, there is a growing awareness of our own sinfulness. We become deeply aware of our brokenness, our pride, our self-centeredness, our ego. We acknowledge that we are sinners. We are lost. We cannot save ourselves. We are deeply aware of the gap between God and us, between His holiness and our sinfulness.
We cry out, “Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” We look to the cross. Only the cross of Jesus Christ covers that gap, bridges that divide between God’s holiness and our sinfulness. And as we come to the cross, look at the cross, the cross gets bigger and bigger. The more we get to know God and His holiness, the more in awe we are of Jesus’ cross and what the cross means for us. It’s only the cross that brings us back to God, that makes us holy so that we can enter again into God’s holy presence. The cross is God’s amazing grace and love.
But, unfortunately, something else can also happen. When we do not abide in Christ daily, our focus begins to shift. Instead of fixing our eyes on God through Jesus Christ, we begin to focus on ourselves. We feel the need to perform. We must perform, do the right things, in order to impress and win the approval of God and others. We feel and think that we must earn our new life, our salvation instead of just receiving God’s grace and this new life. Do you see the problem? We are supposed to live the new kingdom life in joyful obedience and thanksgiving to Him.
But, instead, obedience becomes a duty, a heavy burden. That happens because our eyes are no longer fixed on God. They are fixed on ourselves and how well we are doing. “Am I following the rules? Am I obeying? Am I doing what I am supposed to be doing?” It’s no longer about God but about us. We fall into the trap of self-righteousness. We hide our sins because we want to perform well, impress others.
And when we do that, the cross of Christ becomes smaller and smaller in our lives. There is less place for Christ in my life because we do not face the truth about ourselves anymore. There is only room for what we can do and how we can do it better. We begin to think that we deserve to be saved. Just look at how good we are. We forget that we are nothing, deserve nothing. And so, we abide in Christ less and less. The cross becomes smaller and smaller. Grace becomes less and less in our lives. We live in grace less and less. And when we are not living in grace anymore, it is nearly impossible to live out grace and give out grace to others. We are so focused on ourselves, trying to deserve God’s grace that we don’t have time, place, patience, or grace to give to others.
We must fix our eyes on God the Father. We must begin our day with him, take up our crosses daily. We must abide in Christ every moment of the day. When we are focused on God, His holiness and His grace, His love, then we can respond to others from that grace-filled state of mind, from a grace-filled heart and we can love others. But when our eyes and thoughts are on the other person, we see only their sins and problems. We are thinking only about how that person has hurt us, or what they have done wrong. With our eyes on them and not on God, we tend to not respond with grace.
Remember, grace is based upon the Father and what He has done, not on the person before us. So, when our eyes are fixed on God the Father, the more aware we are of the work God still has to do in us, and the less critical we are of the work God still has to do with the other person. Because I experience grace for my stuff, I can give you grace for your stuff.
This is the question — Is the cross getting bigger or smaller in our lives? Are we becoming more aware of how much God’s grace and mercy mean to us? Or is the cross getting smaller and smaller in our rearview mirror?
2. Remember The Depth of His Forgiveness
Are we aware of what and how much we have been forgiven? This brings us to the second step in becoming a culture of grace. We should remember the depth of our Father’s forgiveness. This does not mean that we must wallow in our sin and drown ourselves in self-pity. No, remembering the depth of his forgiveness is the healthy awe and wonder over the fact that God loves us, that He would even choose to forgive us. This is the amazing grace we see in Luke 7:36-50 where Jesus forgave a sinful woman.
When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said. “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
That is where grace comes from in our lives. We do not live out grace to others because we are so gracious, or try really hard to be gracious. We live out grace to others because we remember what Jesus has done for us, what, and how much He had forgiven us because we remember what He taught and showed us about forgiveness. Remember where and what you were before Jesus.
Many say, “It’s so hard and difficult to live out grace to others.” Yes, it is because we try to do it in our own power and by ourselves. It’s easy when we give over that burden to Jesus. Trying harder is not going to work. But abiding in Christ, living in the power of the Holy Spirit, that empowers us to live out grace. Remembering the depth of his forgiveness, remembering how wide and long and high and deep his love is, making sure that the cross becomes bigger in our lives, that enables us to live out grace. Christ abiding in us, enables us. When God’s grace is fully given and truly received, our lives are changed, and we are able to give freely what we have received freely.
3. Actively Seek Opportunities To Pass On His Grace
The third way to live out grace is to actively seek opportunities to pass on God’s grace. We should not passively wait for people to come to us for grace. Remember David? He was proactive. “Is there anyone to whom I can show kindness?” We, in our own lives and as a church, must ask God, “Is there anyone to whom we could show kindness, because I’ve experienced Your kindness?” Who is broken, hurting now? Who is experiencing a broken home, marriage, or relationship now? Who is caught up in addiction? Who is lost? Who has hurt you? Who needs your forgiveness?
We can begin to live out grace within our own families, within our church family, in our community, our workplaces, at school. Pray and ask God who you could show kindness, grace, and love to. He is faithful and He will show you. Then go, actively seek that person out, and give them love and grace.
4. Invite Others to the Father’s Table
But remember, we are not living out grace to impress people and win their approval. The ultimate grace is not giving them our kindness. The ultimate grace would be for them to experience God’s love and grace, and say, “Look at what God has done for me.” So, we must be very clear to tell them why we are doing what we are doing. We must give credit where credit is due. Share with them, “I am giving you all this because of what God has given to me. Because of His grace and love in my life, I cannot help but give it to you. Would you like to hear more about His love and grace?”
We invite them to the Father’s table by inviting them to come as they are, sinners, broken, hurting. We invite them to the Father’s table through our deeds and words, through living out grace. And there, at the Father’s table, they will discover that they are loved, that God sees them, knows all, but covers all, forgives them, and gives them new life. They discover and learn that they belong, that they have a seat at the Father’s table. This will change their lives, not because of us or our grace, but because of God’s grace. Who can you invite? Pray, ask God to show you. When was the last time you invited someone to the Father’s Table?
We are channels of God’s love and grace. Living out grace to the person before us may be the only opportunity they will have to come to know Jesus and join the Father’s table. Therefore, don’t hesitate. Actively live out grace. Invite others to the Father’s table. We who deserve nothing have received everything from the Father. Now, let us go, and give freely everything to others. Let us give freely what we have received freely, God’s love and grace.