Key
Word Study: GRACE
Acts 15:1-11
Between the two
key words of Division and Unity (key words 22 and 25), there are two other key
words: Humility (key word 23) and this key word study of Grace.
What do we mean
by grace? In Acts 15:11, we see the word “grace” as is most commonly thought of
as far as theological terms go and that is our saving grace. “But we believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same
manner as they,” Peter boldly proclaimed to those who were wanting to put the
yoke and bondage of legalism on the new Gentile believers.
When we talk
about the church, we should definitely address Grace as a key word, as it has
several different applications to the word. We’ve already discussed earlier
about salvational grace and that is what is being addressed in verse 11. But
have your really paid much attention to the way that Paul starts off almost
every epistle he sent?
“Grace to You
and Peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Has a little familiar
ring to it, doesn’t it? It’s because in every letter, every epistle we have recorded
from the hands of Paul, we have this same formula of an impartation of a
blessing. Every letter? Yep. Look it up if you want to, I’ll be here when you
come back.
Okay, maybe not
the book of Hebrews, but many people do not necessarily ascribe that epistle to
Paul. But you have to admit, when you look up Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians
1:2; Galatians 1:3; Ephesians 1:2; Philippians 1:2; Colossians 1:2; 1 Thessalonians
1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:2; and Philemon 1:3, that does seem to be pretty
consistent, doesn’t it?
Okay, okay, now
in 1st and 2nd Timothy and in Titus, what we commonly call the pastoral epistles,
we see a slight variation with the inclusion of the word “mercy.” Maybe he knew
that pastors especially needed a little more inclusion of mercy, I know I do.
But still, grace and peace are there.
Now for the
record, Peter also imparts grace and peace in a slightly different form in 1 Peter
1:2; 2 Peter 1:2 and so does the Apostle John in 2 John 1:3, and again in Rev.
1:4.
So, you may ask,
now just what is so amazing about grace? (If you didn’t ask it, Philip Yancey
must have). Besides the fact that Amazing Grace is perhaps the most universally
known hymn, it would be good to define what grace is.
Grace has at its
very core the word which is frequently described as “unmerited favor.” Even
more simply it is “undeserved blessing.” It has been explained with the
acrostic “God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.” (Did you notice the little
acrostic there? No, I didn’t invent that, unless you’ve never seen that before,
in which case, every time you use that acrostic, I want you to say, “copyright:
Tim McKeown,” or at least post that on your Facebook or Twitter page and
attribute it to me. I did say it first at least to you.)
But aside from
that, how does the Bible explain grace? 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes
He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.” In that
passage, like Acts 15:11, grace is that unmerited favor which saves us. But
what about when Paul and Peter and John were all wishing “grace” on those to
whom they are writing? Weren’t they writing to churches which hopefully were
already saved? Of course. So let’s look more deeply in how the Bible also uses
the word grace in other ways than salvation and saving grace.
Types Of Grace:
Saving Grace is initialized at our salvation
Sustaining Grace is realized in our sanctification and
Supreme Grace is finalized at our glorification.
Saving Grace
First of all,
let’s look at saving grace. First, know that it is God who initiates salvation,
not us. God is the author of our salvation and thus he is the author of grace.
In Ephesians 2: 4-9, we see that grace works in our salvation. It is through
grace, God’s gift to us, that salvation begins.
1 And you He made
alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2 in which you once walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now
works in the sons of disobedience, 3
among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, just as the others. 4
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved
us, 5 even when we were dead
in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and
made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He
might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in
Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace
you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift
of God, 9 not of works, lest
anyone should boast.
At risk of
sounding like an elementary Sunday School lesson or Basic Christianity 101, we
need to say first of all that we are saved not by ourselves, but by God’s
blessing, God’s favor, His undeserved kindness and gift to us. As I mentioned
earlier, we know the word grace not only from the Bible but from the most
beloved hymn ever written, “Amazing Grace”. Let’s read the lines (okay, you can
hum the tune too).
Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav’d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev’d;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ’d!
Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
Grace in Greek
is charis. That’s right, the same
word used in the word charismatic. It’s also used in the word charm. It
literally means gift or gifted. Those who have some inbred charisma are naturally
gifted and people are naturally drawn to them.
So why would the
Apostle Paul in every letter impart a blessing of grace to those who are the
church, to those who are already believers? I believe it is in part because
Paul wants to convey saving grace to those who in the church may not yet be
saved.
But even more, I
think it is because within the vastness and the limitlessness and the infinite
grace of God, there is more than simply salvation and a gift of eternal life in
the word we call grace.
You see, God’s
grace, His riches, His blessings do not end at the Sinner’s prayer, oh no.
That’s just the beginning. His Amazing Grace does not cease or even diminish once
salvation is imparted. God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense is not culminated at
our regeneration. Grace is initialized at our salvation, but it is also
realized in our sanctification.
Sustaining Grace
It is in our
daily walk with Christ after salvation, that we see the need, the necessity,
the absolute centrality of God’s unmerited favor and undeserved blessing. And
not just in our daily walk, but every hour, every minute, every second, we are
kept, we are sustained and we are in need of and are the recipients of God’s sustaining
GRACE.
Now where in the
Bible do we see God’s sustaining grace? Virtually on every page and not just in
the New Testament but from the beginning do we see God’s favor upon His people.
For this study, let’s look at a few passages.
In Acts 14:26,
we see this gem of a verse: “From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had
been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed.” It
wasn’t salvation that was commended to Paul and the missionaries, but His
sustaining grace, His presence and power which enabled them to do the work.
Let’s look
somewhere else for God’s sustaining grace. 1 Corinthians 15:10 says, “But by
the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I
labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which
was with me.”
It is God’s
Saving Grace that raises us
from the mire of
sin and shame,
It is God Sustaining Grace that
restrains us
from returning to that from
whence we came.
It is God’s
Saving Grace that He bestows upon us
without cost,
requirement or price
It is God’s Sustaining Grace that
beckons us
to labor in love for our merciful
Christ.
It is God’s
Saving Grace that grants us faith
to have the
promise to walk in heaven above
And it is God’s Sustaining Grace
that gives us cause
to spread on earth His Saving
Grace, Peace and Love.
God’s grace was
not just to save you from the penalty of sin, grace is also freely given so
that we can be delivered from the very power of sin. Paul says if you see
anything good in me, it is not I who do it but it is God’s grace which makes me
who I am. His grace wasn’t a one-time shot, nor was it in vain but his grace
compels me to labor all the harder, all the more abundantly for He not only
saved me, He sustains me. To underscore the power of grace versus the power of
sin, Paul concludes chapter 15 to the Corinthians with this great word in verse
, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.”
For one more
example of God’s sustaining grace, look at Acts 20:32, “So now, brethren, I commend
you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give
you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.”
Look at what not
only grace does to the believer but what the word of His grace does. The word
of grace builds us up (sustaining grace) and gives us an inheritance (supreme
grace). Some people say that we are saved by grace but we are kept saved by our
works. Just think about that for a moment and you will see how ridiculous that
is. Why would God save us by grace if He did not intent to keep us saved by His
grace. It would be like a child receiving a gift at Christmas and the giver saying,
“Now, son, this here toy is a gift and it is yours because I gave it to you.
But now, if you want to play with it, or if you want to keep it, you are going
to have to pay me for it each and every day.”
“Now wait a
minute,” some may say, “My phone company gave me a gift of a I-phone, and it
was free, but in order to use it, I have to pay a monthly charge.” If that is
the case, that phone is not free, nor is it a gift, it is a shrewd motivation
that hooks you into a contract of paying for that phone through monthly
installments. Manufacturers of “free” and low cost printers do the same thing
and then recover the cost of the gift by sticking you with super expensive
printer cartridges. Buy one, get one free, is not “free” and neither is it
truly a free salvation if you receive it by grace but keep salvation by works.
When Peter explained
to the others in Acts 15 that those who received salvation by grace did not
have to put on themselves the yoke of legalism and works that they could not
bear, he was addressing the issue of circumcision. It was “no small dissension”
among them and I should say so. We have people in our church who won’t join
because they won’t get baptized by immersion—I cannot imagine how many men we
would lose if we put the yoke of circumcision on them, let alone keeping the
other elements of the law.
Grace doesn’t
bind us to the law, grace builds us up in liberty from sin. If it weren’t for
grace, we could not keep ourselves saved. We would not grow in respect to our
salvation. I always want to know from people who believe saving grace is free,
but sustaining grace is somehow merited or kept by works and could actually be
lost, what make them think that supreme grace is eternal and everlasting. As
Acts 20:32 says, we who are being sanctified by the word of grace also have an
inheritance of eternal life by grace.
Supreme Grace
If saving grace
keeps us from the penalty of sin and sustaining grace keeps us from the power
of sin, supreme grace keeps us from the presence of sin. It is the finalization
of our salvation. Supreme grace is the ultimate in our three parts of
salvation, also seen as justification (saving grace), sanctification
(sustaining grace) and glorification (supreme grace).
Years ago, I dreamed
I went to heaven (no, I am not going to break into a song thanking you for
giving to the Lord and no, I am not going to write a best-selling book about my
dream) and in that dream I wanted to see if I was really in heaven. So I tried
to do something that you are not supposed to be able to do in heaven: I made
myself have a bad thought. In my dream, I was disappointed that I could still
sin in heaven. I actually woke up very glad that I had not actually gone to
heaven because if we could sin in heaven, heaven would not be heaven.
Speaking of the
gates of heaven, John wrote in Revelation 21:27 that “there shall by no means
enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only
those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.”
Eternal life is
God’s gift to us. Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death, but the gift
(charisma) of God is eternal life.” It is in this context of Acts 15:11 which
Peter puts our salvation in the future result of God’s grace, “But we believe
that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved
in the same manner as they.”
This concept of
three aspects of grace is seen in Jesus’ words as well. We are in the world and
yet not of the world (John 17:11, 16). Also in John 5:24, Jesus describes the
three aspects of salvation as having “passed from death to life” (past tense), “has
everlasting life” (present tense), and “shall not come into judgment” (future
tense).
A particularly
difficult passage in the book of Revelation (shocking I know to think that some
parts of Revelation would be hard to understand) is Revelation 22:11. Here, the
angel who is explaining things to John is telling of the final state of the
unrighteous and the righteous, “He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he
who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be
righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.” Radio commentator J.
Vernon McGee said this verse is perhaps the scariest verse of all of the book
of Revelation for those who are condemned. But I also see it as perhaps the
most reassuring verse for those of us who are going to experience God’s supreme
grace. In eternity, we are going to grow and increase in our righteousness and
holiness.
The fallen angels
lost their place in heaven and could never regain it. They are reserved for
judgment (Jude 6). Fallen humanity who receive salvation will gain the holiness
of heaven by God’s grace and we shall never lose it. Peter who spoke in Acts 15
about our inheritance must have truly longed for this supreme aspect of grace,
because he again spoke about being heirs together of the grace of life in 1 Peter
3:7. He spoke of “the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of
Jesus Christ” in 1 Peter 1:13. And he concludes his letter with this great and
blessed hope, “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory
by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish,
strengthen, and settle you” (1 Peter 5:10).
There are no
better words than these to conclude this study on the key word of grace to the
church!
