2 Peter 1 says, “Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness” (vs. 2-3).
We often think of grace as the fulfilment of God’s plan to remedy the problem of sin as expressed by Christ’s death on the cross. This is true. This is very true. None of us deserve to have someone divine die in our sin-infested place. But grace doesn’t stop there. Christ’s death and resurrection blasted open the door to what grace can do that living under an outward code of law could not do. Yes, it ultimately will bring you to heaven forever with your Lord. But grace has a lot of work to do within you before you reach Heaven’s gates.
The grace of God is more than salvation, but also everything we need for life and godliness. grace can be defined as “God’s life, power, and righteousness given to us by unmerited favour.” It is through grace that God works an effective change in our hearts and lives. Grace gives us a new life which is not condemned by God. Through God’s grace we are forgiven and transformed, resulting in the renewal of our mind and heart. Through grace we live the kind of life that God would like every one of His children to experience. Moreover, grace is the help God gives us to respond to our vocation of becoming his adopted sons. It introduces us into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life. The divine initiative in the work of grace precedes, prepares, and elicits the free response of man. Let’s consider in more detail what the grace of God does in us:
God’s grace saves us.
Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
It is important to see here that by God’s grace we have been saved. It is not by works. Salvation is done strictly on the basis of God’s grace. God’s gift of grace comes through the cross of Jesus, not our works, the cross makes it all possible.
God’s grace justifies us.
Romans 3:24, “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”
We may be considered to be right by God only because of His grace and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which is available to us because Jesus willingly lay down His life for us, paying the price we deserved for our rebellion against God. Our justification is not something we receive because of good works, but because of the payment, Jesus paid for us at the cross when he suffered and died.
God’s grace sanctifies us.
2 Thessalonians 2:13, “because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.”
Indeed, not only are we in right standing with God, but also our right living depends on grace. Sanctification is the process of being set aside, in our case being set aside for the purposes of God. 1 Corinthians 1:30 says, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.”
Grace blesses us.
R0mans 8:32 says, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
Jesus could have just died on the cross, rose from the dead, prepared heaven, and called it good. Instead, in his lavish love and mercy for us, He gives us so much every day that, let’s be honest, we do not deserve. Not one bit. We’re sinners, remember? Every one of us. We’ve rejected Him. We’ve tried to take life in our own hands. Our actions have told Him to His face that we don’t trust Him enough to get us through this thing called life. We whine and complain about the silliest of things, things that would rival the Israelites’ complaints in the desert. Yet, every morning we awake to a new set of mercies.
Grace transforms us.
Ezekiel 11:19 says, “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.”
You aren’t just forgiven. Through the process called the rest of your life, God changes you into His likeness. He gives you a new heart, a clean heart. Lucado calls this a spiritual heart transplant. Do you know someone whose life radically turned around when they became a Christian? Point proven. That’s what grace does.
Grace indwells us.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me
This is the one that I have a tough time wrapping my brain around. To me, it’s amazing that He blesses me, wants to walk with me, and is crazy in love with me. Beyond that, He chooses to live within me through His Spirit. Some believe this indwelling of the Holy Spirit gives them the power and freedom to worship God at a new level.
Because grace indwells within me, I don’t have to do this thing called the sanctified life on my own. God isn’t just helping me live righteously; He’s doing it through me. Paul said in Galatians 2:20, “Not I but Christ who lives within me.” Lucado says, “God expects us to change then gives us the power to pull it off.”
God’s grace empowers us to service.
1 Corinthians 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I laboured even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me”
God wants us to be so full of His grace in our lives that we can say with Paul- “But by the grace of God I am what I am.” The grace of God is not earned by works, but it produces work done in His service. Grace, which is God’s life, comes into us and works in us and through us so that we can be all and do all in His service. Philippians 2:13 says, “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. This means that whatever gifts and abilities God has given us by His grace; we should use them for His glory. God’s grace and blessings were not given simply for us to sit in church and feel good. Rather, they were given that we might not only be blessed, but also be a blessing.
In the light of all that has been said, it is clear that it would be difficult to overestimate the importance of God’s grace as far as our lives are concerned. Without grace we would not only be useless in God’s sight, but we would be lost. There is no work that man can do to make him “good enough for God.”
Everything that we do outside of God’s grace is worthless. Everything good that comes in us and through us is only by the grace of God. Grace saves us, justifies us, sanctifies us, and empowers us for His service. Grace-filled living is exercising the gifts that grace provides and spreads the gospel of grace to a hurting and dying world.
