There are deep spiritual truths that seem to defy explanation. Every Christian father wants their child to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but if we can't define salvation for ourselves, we may find their faith destroyed by smooth talking secular humanists, or the wild eyed, buzzed arm chair philosophers that are their peers. There are terms we use as Christians that we assume every Christian understands, but when you try to get a believer to explain it, you come up empty. This is why we must never assume that our children are learning everything they need to know by osmosis. Simply dragging your children to Church every Sunday, and Wednesday, is not enough. Sending them to Church Camp every summer invigorates them, but the spiritual high leaves them in about a month. YOU have to be the one to instill the truth in them. I also believe that this fellowship should agree on that truth. For that reason, I've asked you to join with me in defining four of the most crucial aspects of our faith.
Thankfully we are blessed to be a fellowship of strong, stable believers who are actively seeking God, while raising our children to go beyond our spiritual growth. We have super teachers, and an awesome Pastor, but none of this will help your children learn what they need to know. ONLY YOU, can teach your children what God the Father is like. Only You have first access to their hearts, as well as their brains. You are their first and constant teacher. This is why Karl Marx railed against the nuclear family. In his mind, the nuclear paternal family perpetuated the religious capitalistic, free enterprise system. To continue to fight against Marxist Socialism we have to have children who are anchored in the truth of the gospel. We need parents who example, and teach the most basic truths we hold.
As I've said before, you have two ways to teach your child what God the Father is like. The first way is to talk about Godly things, to read to them from the Bible, and to give them spiritual counsel. Communication is the most crucial aspect of teaching a child. As crucial as talking with your child is though, there is a much more difficult, but far more impacting method of teaching, and that method is called teaching by EXAMPLE. OR, more simply; living the life.
Today, we're going to discuss how we teach GRACE. We use the word a lot, and we've even come up with cute little phrases to describe it, but we rarely teach it by example. We have hymns, anthems, and probably thousands of Christian songs that sing about it, but no one can really tell you what it is, let alone model it. The inability to model grace is because families are all about rules, boundaries, and limits, and those things by their very nature appear to speak against grace. Notice I said 'appear'.
Now, if you want to go full on basic, we all have the neat little descriptor 'unmerited favor,' but that isn't accurate, nor is it true. Just like 'unconditional love' has taken over our pulpits, so too has 'unmerited favor.' We invent definitions of grace that we hope will convey its power, but in turn make it harder to understand. To make matters worse we tie grace only to salvation, while ignoring its continuous work in our daily walk. The difficulty with living out grace in our daily walk is more to do with OUR lack of understanding.
The problem for most Christians is that we often confuse grace with mercy. This is because we have distilled the gospel down to this simple thought; Confessing the Lord Jesus as your savior is all you need to do to be saved. Somehow over the last couple of hundred years, we've allowed this lazy, and false statement to become the altar call for millions of people across the globe. It's not true! Salvation is 100% God, and 0% us. I know that seems to smack in the face of the whole confession thing, but please bear with me while I attempt to make my point.
God's grace exists outside of salvation. The salvation experience is simply a pathway to relationship. Holy Spirit calls a person to the Father by means of someone presenting Christ as Savior. (John 6:44). That calling, is an act of grace. Without someone to preach the gospel, no one knows it even exists. (Romans 10: 14-15) It isn't a specific choosing (predestination) but an existing state of grace that is revealed when the gospel is preached. (The sending, the message, and the faith to believe it are gifts.)
When you hear the gospel, God gives you the faith to believe what you heard. (Ephesians 2:8-9) Faith is an act of grace. Paul tells us that even that faith is not of ourselves, but is a gift of God. (What is one of the definitions of Grace?)
At this point we are told that we have to do one thing on our own that seems to come from ourselves, WE have to repent. Without repentance there can be no salvation. Repenting is not feeling sorry, but changing your mind about your existence. (Even repentance is a work of Grace, because you would never know to repent unless God revealed it to you.) This is all a mystery, but can be understood. Still, if we believe repentance comes from us, we make salvation something of ourselves. Ta da! I heard, I believed, I repented, therefore, I'm saved. Aren't I something?
NOPE!
Once you repent, then you must believe in YOUR heart that Jesus is Lord, and make that confession with your mouth. (See there it is, that confession thing was there all along.) AH! Now you're saved. Boy, am I glad that we got that all sorted out. Whew! I heard, I believed, I repented, I confessed, I'M SAVED, aren't I something?
NOPE!!! You've just been shown mercy. Every despicable act you've ever done is now forgiven because Christ gave Himself as a sacrifice for your sins. You are like a little child that's been caught stealing cookies, and your Dad decides to slap his own hand instead of yours. You may feel sorry, and you may even appreciate what he did, but the cornerstone of salvation isn't there. FORIVENESS \ IS NOT GRACE!
To prove that salvation is not by works, we make it clear that once your are saved, you are free to live a life of service to God, doing what He GUIDES you to do, living as He instructed you to live, but even this isn't what saves you. THIS IS NOT GRACE. You are reverting back to works. If grace relied upon your believing in Christ, it would not be grace. Grace is before salvation, in salvation, and will continue beyond this brief moment we live on the earth. Grace helps you to believe, helps you live the belief, and helps you to the final moment of your life on this vale.
Grace holds the door of salvation open, and then leads you on the path to your eternal home. The forgiveness through Jesus death, the eternal life through His resurrection, are all God's mercy made available by His grace. SOooooo, what is grace? Let me give you my childlike idea of grace.
Let's just say that little Davey was just given the greatest toy car ever made. I love my little car, and play with it for hours till it is time to go to bed. The next day, I invite my best friend over to play with my toys, because he's my best friend. He immediately spots my new toy car and wants to play with it. It's hard for me to let go of it, but I let him play with it. (That would be considered 'common' grace.) As the day wears on, we play and have a good time, but then he has to go home. Later on, I realize that my toy car isn't in my toy box. I tear up the room, look under the bed, in the closet, on the windows sills, and on my dresser. No toy car.
At this point it becomes clear that my friend must have took it. I like him, he's a good friend. It breaks my heart that he stole my toy car, still amazingly I want him to still be my friend.
Later that day I walk over to my friend's house and I ask him if he has my toy car. At first he denies it, but then his mother comes in and asks him if he has my car. My friend tearfully admits he took it because it was the coolest thing he'd ever seen, and that he's sorry for taking it. He runs upstairs gets the car and hands it back to me.
It isn't easy, but I hand the car back to him. "It's okay," I tell him. "Here, you keep it, I'll play with it when you bring it over to play." THAT IS GRACE!!!!
Mercy was given when I didn't beat him up. Grace was giving him what he wanted to steal, as well as keeping my friendship with him. I gave him the assurance that I wanted to be his friend more than I wanted him to be punished. (Isaiah 1:18) The problem often arises when we try to make up for our sins by trying to do things to atone for them. Which makes a mockery of the term 'Atonement'. (The word is actually a derivative of the term 'to set at one'. Atonement is that moment when we lay every injury aside for relationship. (This is the topic of another lesson.) Sadly, we are a quantitative, qualitative, species. There hast to be a ledger! We'll even say it about others when they've done us wrong; "They have to pay!" we cry out as we look down the ledger of their misdeeds toward us. Some of us have even tried to help God out in the 'justice' department.
God did away with the ledger on the cross. Even the worst among us has equal opportunity for salvation. Grace removes atonement, and replaces it with relationship. The injury was paid for by the injured party (Jesus), and we once again have access to God's grace. This is when you have the power to succeed. Grace is access to relationship with the Father through faith in Jesus Christ. You aren't constantly starting over! You own what you hoped to steal, and more than that, God wants you to keep it. The carnal reaction would be to say; Won't people take advantage of God? God wants us to take advantage of Him. There is nothing you can steal from Him, because He already gives it to us freely. Do you want to commit sin? No!! Do you want relationship? YES! Once you fully grasp God's grace, you live in His freedom. The most free and liberated people are those who walk in God's grace, without fear, and without condemnation.
With God's grace, you don't have to earn His trust, He gives it freely. You're not working on your salvation, you're being His child, and His friend. I hope you get the point of this, because I hate it when people confuse grace with mercy. Mercy can only be given by someone who has the power to punish. The Gospel is WAY MORE than atonement, and deeper than mercy. Grace exists before our sin, in our sin, and after mercy. As a last example, let me quickly use the Apostle Paul as my adult explanation. Jesus met Paul in the midst of Paul's self-righteousness. Jesus sought Paul first! Once Paul knows it is Jesus, he is convicted of his sin. He professes Christ as his Lord, and then without his knowledge, is given grace to serve the Lord. The access to Christ is sufficient for anything that would come Paul's way, and boy did Paul have a bunch of stuff come his way.
The reaction of the disciples was what most people would have done, including me. "isn't he the same man who caused such devastation among Jesus' followers in Jerusalem? " The human reaction is to 'make them pay.' Yet, God gave Paul grace (power) beyond saving grace. God empowered Paul to preach the Gospel to the gentiles, and in this grace was the revelation that it would come with great suffering. Within God's grace is the power to do what God has called you to do, but it always costs you your will. Grace is the attitude of God, the purpose of God, and eternal life. Grace is Jesus Christ. Grace can't be comprehended by the carnal man. That is why salvation is 100% God, and isn't based on anything I bring to the table. I know it is hard to explain, but your children need to know it before the world gets a hold on them. When your child understands the difference between grace and mercy, they will be able to defeat a major portion of the humanistic arguments against God.
So how do you model grace to youngsters? You embrace the grace he's given you, and treat others as He has treated you. When you favor one child over another, you don't have to apologize, even God did that. You have to let the 'unfavored' child know why they aren't experiencing your favor. THEN, you have to show FAVOR to the least deserving child anyway. WOW! Can you do that? (Think prodigal son.) Another way to model grace is in how you treat your friends with grace. We'll discuss that one next week.
Yes, Grace is the power to succeed, but it is so much more. Grace! So much Grace! The older I get the more it amazes me.
