Grace – Grace Grace!!!
In one of the most memorable stories of my childhood was Mr Horrell who owned the Mobil Garage. Now 50 metres up the road from Mr Horrell’s was my Grandfather’s Garage. At Gran’s garage I could get stickers – the number of stickers on your schoolbag was a kind of important thing for kids in those days. I had lots of shell stickers but no Mobil ones. So I went to Mr Horrell’s garage after school one day and asked him for some stickers. I even said please ,I think. Mr Horrell was quite kind, but firm. Basically he said no – Well I lost my temper and my respect for Mr Horrell at that point and I let fly with my tongue. I don’t know what I said but it involved abuse and swearing. Then I ran away. The next day at school my conscience got hold of my. I thought of Mr Horrell and the fact that he could well tell my Grandfather who in turn would tell my parents. By the end of the day I was terrified knowing that I would be in for it. It was a very sorry me who dragged his feet to Mr Horrell’s garage after school that day. When he came out I told him I was sorry. I thought I would be in trouble.
Mr Horrell said “Wait there.” I had no idea what he would do. When he came back he had a pile of stickers for me and handed them to me and I was free to go. Forgiven and with stickers.!!!!!
The cloud of guilt and punishment evaporated from above me.
This was a serious lesson in grace for me – I have never forgotten it.
Later in life I read these words of Peter a man who himself knew forgiveness for his many excesses
1 Peter 2:24New International Version (NIV)
24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
This morning I would like to discus grace in relation to this passage
Firstly – He himself –Grace is personal.
24 “He himself bore our sins – On Thursday as part of our wedding anniversary Heather and I had breakfast at the South Seas hotel on Stewart Island. We were not thinking that we wanted a regular breakfast and didn’t really want to pay extra. But when we got there the waitress said – You can have anything you want off the menu it’s all paid for!!!!”
1. Actually I had already paid for this online I just didn’t realise it – But with Jesus – it is personal – He himself bore our sins.
2. He himself – It is personal. Jesus has paid the price. Grace is personal.
The Bible never allows for an impersonal God. I was on this plane with a woman talking to her about God – Well it was a small plane and there was no where to go. When I asked her to tell me about God she spoke of God as being some force out there but not personal – as I tried to lead the conversation towards Christ she shied away and began to talk about her life. It turned out that her life had been a mess. What I concluded was she had messed up her life and couldn’t believe that God could love her and forgive her. Thatis not the message of the bible. The Bible says He himself
This is the biggest cost ever the cost of your and my sins that produce death and here we find He himself bore our sins – Jesus paid the bill!
The big bills in our house cars – houses rates and insurance we pay ourselves.
But with the biggest debt of our lives – Jesus pays it – We deserve death – not at the hand of God but because we ourselves have cut ourselves off from God - but Jesus pays the bill.We are in debt to him but he carries the cost.
He himself means he - God has done it personally.
Bill Richardson – former head of the Richardson group was known to go and jump in one of the thousand plus trucks that Richardson’s owned in those days and go for a drive with the driver – The drivers couldn’t complain that much about the boss because – He himself would come down and get involved with their world. I was talking to his wife Shona and she commented that a new worker in Gore was warned look out for a fairheaded block in a red truck – because he is the gaffer.
In our case He himself God in the person of Jesus has come down and got involved personally in our world.
It is called Grace.
Dwight L. Moody loved to study the Bible topically, and it occurred to him one day that he had never studied the subject of grace. Setting aside a day, Moody gave himself to the study of God’s grace. But a second day was required. Even on the third day Moody had not finished his task.
By the late afternoon of the third day, however, Moody was so filled with his subject that he had to go out on the street and talk to somebody about it. Stopping a complete stranger, Moody said, “My friend, do you know anything about grace?”
Surprised at the question, the man replied, “Grace who?” “Why,” Moody responded, “the grace of God that brings salvation.” (Titus 2:11) Moody then left the stranger standing on the street wondering about the grace of God.
I think that is where most people are these days – standing on the street wondering about grace.
1 Peter 2:24New International Version (NIV)
24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
In His body When you think Grace is personal that advances our understanding of God – When you think our sins are forgiven that is amazing – But when you think it is in his body that akes sin up to a whole new level
What does grace look like?
The boy stood defiantly. “Go ahead, give it to me.”
The principal looked at the young rebel and asked, “How many times have you been here?”
The child sneered rebelliously, “Apparently not enough.”
“And you have been punished each time?” the principal responded.
“Yeah, I been punished, if that’s what you want to call it. Go ahead. I can take whatever you dish out. I always have.”
“And no thought of your punishment enters your head the next time you decide to break the rules does it?”
“Nope, I do whatever I want to do. Ain’t nothin’ you people gonna do to stop me either.”
The principal looked at the teacher who stood nearby. “What did he do this time?”
“Fighting. He shoved Tommy’s face into the sandbox.”
The principal looked at the boy, “What did Tommy do to you?”
“Nothin’, I didn’t like the way he was lookin’ at me.”
The teacher stiffened, but a quick look from the principal stopped him as he quietly said, “Today, is the day you learn about grace.”
“Grace? Isn’t that what you old people do before you sit down to eat? I don’t need none of your stinkin’ grace.”
“Oh but you do,” said the principal. The principal studied the young man’s face and whispered, “Oh yes, you truly do…” The boy continued to glare as the principal continued, “Grace, in its short definition is unmerited favor. You cannot earn it. It is a gift, and is always freely given. It means that you will not be getting what you so richly deserve.”
The boy looked puzzled. “You’re not gonna whup me? You just gonna let me walk?” The boy studied the face of the principal, “No punishment at all? Even though I socked Tommy and shoved his face into the sandbox?”
“Oh, there has to be punishment. What you did was wrong, and there are always consequences to our actions. There will be punishment. Grace is not an excuse for doing wrong.”
“I knew it,” sneered the boy as he held out his hands. “Let’s get on with it.”
The principal nodded toward the teacher. “Bring me the belt.” The teacher presented the belt to the principal. He carefully folded it in two, and then handed it back to the teacher. He looked at the child and said, “I want you to count the blows.” The principal walked over to stand directly in front of the young man. He gently reached out and folded the child’s outstretched, expectant hands together and then turned to face the teacher with his own hands outstretched. One quiet word came forth from his mouth. “Begin.” The belt whipped down on the outstretched hands of the principal. Crack!
The young man jumped. Shock registered across his face, “One,” he whispered. Crack! “Two.” His voice raised an octave. Crack! “Three.” He couldn’t believe this. Crack! “Four.” Big tears welled up in the eyes of the rebel. “OK stop! That’s enough. Stop!” Crack! came the belt down on the hands of the principal. Crack! The child flinched with each blow, tears beginning to stream down his face. Crack! Crack!
“No, please,” the former rebel begged. “Stop, I did it, I’m the one who deserves it. Stop! Please. Stop…” Still the blows came. Crack! Crack! One after another.
Finally it was over. The principal stood with sweat glistening across his forehead and beads trickling down his face. Slowly he knelt down. He studied the young man for a second and then his swollen hands reached out to cradle the face of the weeping child and said, “Grace…”
Our Daily Bread, Sept.-Nov. 1997, page for October 31
In his body Jesus took it on himself. Oh we franchise Jesus death in paintings and fancy words – stained glass and icons that run the risk of turning into idols but this passage says
“in his body on the cross”
GRACE IS EVERYTHING FOR NOTHING TO THOSE WHO DON'T DESERVE ANYTHING
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship, Christianity Today, February 7, 1994, p. 39
Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, communion without confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Costly grace...is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
“by his wounds you have been healed.”
No one can really understand the pain the suffering that Grace involves – As Peter Marshall says in his famous sermon – Were you there when they crucified my Lord. Asks were you there he said when you consider it we were all there!!!
Every human being was represented on Calvary. 1900 years have passed away
Pardon for them all was in the blood that was shed
The rains of the centuries and their coloured tears have not yet washed away the blood from a rotting cross – and you and I erect the cross again and again every time we sin!
We crucify him again and again and again – Were you there when the crucified my Lord I was were you?
WE have almost done with this passage apart from 11 words So that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.
3.So that !
24 “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”
You can’t live for righteousness unless you have been born again. Before you launch out into a life of Good works I want to say the entrance point is vital. Recently I was witnessing to some people who told me they have been a Christian ever since they were born – but Jesus says in John chapter 3 You must be born again – There is only one way into the Kingdom of god and that is through Jesus Christ – Jesus says in John chapter 10 No one comes to the Father but through Jesus.
Only through Jesus = I think what can often happen in the Christian faith is that people come to faith in jesus genuine enough but after a while their faith becomes about church processes and rosters and stuff we lose sight of the door this passage encourages us to push the refresh button for our faith.
In 2001 Nasa invented a special innovation for the Mir Space station – it was a door which took you from the world of the space station into outer space itself.
Prior to that the Station had to wait for the Space shuttle to arrive before they could venture into outer space and walk out there. It is a complex process and the right procedures needed to be followed before the Astronauts could venture into outer space it took time and special processes for the Astronaut to venture safely into space. Although the Joint Airlock Module is only 20 feet (6.1 meters) long, getting from one end to the other can be a slow process as astronauts prepare for their EVAs.
Even before they enter the airlock, astronauts must first spend time exercising on a stationary bicycle while breathing pure oxygen from a mask. The goal is to drive out nitrogen gas dissolved in their blood.
Like scuba divers who surface too rapidly, astronauts can suffer from the bends. Shuttle astronaut and veteran spacewalker Mike Gernhardt is a former commercial diver who helped develop the bends-beating exercise procedure for EVA's.
Next, spacewalkers float into the Equipment Lock where the ambient pressure is gradually lowered to 10.2 psi (703 mbar) -- which helps prepare their bodies for the even-lower pressures they will encounter inside their spacesuits. After another 60 minutes of breathing pure oxygen inside the suit, they move into the cramped quarters of the Crewlock.
The final act in this hours-long drama is opening the hatch. All hatches on the ISS operate manually, so EVA-bound astronauts must open the door themselves before they carefully make their way out into space.
Left: Astronauts say spacewalking is one of the most thrilling experiences of space exploration. But you can't venture outside without a door!
Jesus makes it clear that you cannot enter the Kingdom of God without going through the correct door. And like the door on the space station it must be opened manually.
Jesus makes it clear that there is only one gate or door into the Kingdom of God – Here he describes himself as the door.
So that we might die to sins and live for righteousness is only achieved through what we read in John chapter 3 verse 16 to a good man called Nicodemus – You must be born again. That rebirth that causes a spiritual explosion in the hardest of souls is the only way that you can live for righteousness.
In the current election all kinds of parties are lobbying for votes and experts aresaying they have the answer for society but no answer will be found through politics education or philosophy without Christ and his absolute presence in the ways of men.
Don’t go out there today on this passage and make inner vows that will be broken by Wednesday – instead open up your heart allow the power of calvary to flood in and transform you by his mighty grace and love and allow the train of the Holy spirit that swiftly follows dedication to Christ to so swamp your soul that you will go out and live for him who is righteousness and Godly morality Godly behaviour and Godly courage will follow.
