God’s Grace—It Really is Amazing!
By William Sherman
Presented before the Eugene Church of Christ on May 28, 2006

Today, I am sharing with you what I consider to be one of the most important messages I have ever delivered. It is important because it cuts right to the heart of Christianity. The message of is drawn from a familiar and powerful story from the life of Jesus, John chapter 8:

Jesus went across to Mount Olives, but he was soon back in the Temple again. Swarms of people came to him. He sat down and taught them. The religion scholars and Pharisees led in a woman who had been caught in an act of adultery.

They stood her in plain sight of everyone and said, "Teacher, this woman was caught red-handed in the act of adultery. Moses, in the Law, gives orders to stone such persons. What do you say?" They were trying to trap him into saying something incriminating so they could bring charges against him.

Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger in the dirt. They kept at him, badgering him. He straightened up and said, "The sinless one among you, go first: Throw the stone." Bending down again, he wrote some more in the dirt.

Hearing that, they walked away, one after another, beginning with the oldest. The woman was left alone. Jesus stood up and spoke to her. "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?"

"No one, Master."

"Neither do I," said Jesus. "Go on your way. From now on, don't sin."

Jesus once again addressed them: "I am the world's Light. No one who follows me stumbles around in the darkness. I provide plenty of light to live in."

I wonder if we had been there, if we had been in this story, what role would we have played? Would we have been standing there with Jesus shielding the adulterous woman from flying stones? Would we have been in the background as curious onlookers, wondering what terrible thing she had committed to deserve such outrage? Or would we have been there, with rock grasped firmly in hand, ready to execute judgment against this hated woman?

We all know where Jesus stood. He stood by the side of the accused. He stood up against her attackers—who wanted nothing less than her blood. He showed her mercy and grace, despite who she was and what she shad done.

There is something about this story that just won’t go away. You can’t walk away, leave it in the pew and forget it. It’s powerful. And it resonates today in a world full of dissention, discord, and division. This vignette from the ministry of Jesus is included here in our Bibles, not simply to warm our hearts—it is here to teach us something important about the nature of God’s grace.

Grace—How Important is It?

I can remember when “grace” wasn’t such a hot topic for a preacher to be talking about. Talk too much about grace and you would risk being labeled as a liberal who believes that you can do just about anything and still be considered all right with God. It’s the “I’m OK, You’re OK” religion, and it still thrives in many congregations today. Well, let me assure you from the outset that I am not one of those ministers. I do not believe that grace gives us a permit to live in anyway we choose.

Yet as I read these powerful stories from the life of Jesus, as I tread through Paul’s inspired letters to the believers in Rome, Ephesus, and Galatia, I cannot escape the message of grace and be impressed as to how important this concept is to the Christian life. If we miss the message of grace, then we miss the entire thrust of the Gospel of Jesus. Nothing saddens me more than when I run across people who wear the name of Christ, but understand little about the reality of the Christ’s grace. “For the law was given through Moses,” writes John, “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

Did you know that the word “grace” is mentioned approximately 130 times New Testament in 24 of the 27 books? The concept of grace saturates the pages of the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. You simply cannot read the Bible without understanding that God is a God of Amazing Grace. In fact, for some of you, that is your favorite song:

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind, but now I see

But what exactly does that word “grace” mean? This grace that saves souls and opens blinded eyes—if you had to define it, what would you say it is? The Greek work is for grace is charis. In its most basic sense, it means “favor.” But the word is even richer with meaning. The Greek Lexicon says it is “God's divine, gracious, favor and blessing; [His] gracious care, help, goodwill, benefit, gift, goodness, benefaction and endowment.” Grace, simply put, is God’s favor bestowed on us through Jesus Christ. And did I mention that it is unmerited? That’s right. There’s not a thing we can do to earn or deserve it, because Jesus has earned it for us.

One author paints a very clear picture of what grace is all about: “When a person works an eight-hour day and receives a fair day's pay for his time, that is a wage. When a person competes with an opponent and receives a trophy for his performance, that is a prize. When a person receives appropriate recognition for his long service or high achievements, that is an award. But when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize, and deserves no award--yet receives such a gift anyway--that is a good picture of God's unmerited favor. This is what we mean when we talk about the grace of God.”1

Perhaps the greatest doctrinal statement about grace in the entire Bible is found in Ephesians chapter 2:

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do (vv 1-10).

Have you ever watched those infomercials, you know the one’s with the incredible before and after pictures. “I lost 150 pounds and instantly gained an incredible model’s physique with these incredible abs and biceps just by taking this tiny pill once a day and eating whatever I want!” Well, some things are too good to be true. But when it comes to God’s grace, it really is as remarkable as it sounds!

Paul paints a stunning before and after picture and it’s about us. We were once trapped in a vicious cycle of sin and selfishness before we met our Savior. Chapter 2, verse 12 says we were “without hope and without God in the world.” I can’t imagine a worse place to be. “But now,” verse 13, “you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.” Hallelujah! We have been saved by Jesus and we have been saved by his grace.

Grace, grace, God’s grace
Grace that is greater than all our sin
Grace, grace, God’s grace
Grace that can pardon and cleanse within

There was an advertisement on the side of a plumber’s van that said: “There is no place too deep, too dark, or too dirty for us to handle.” What a wonderful explanation of grace. God takes us with all filth and vileness, with all of our cracks and fissures, with all our faults and failings, with all our imperfections and quirks, and he forgives us, he cleans us up, and makes us brand-new people. We are now “accepted” by God and join a family of other accepted believers, where there “is neither Jew or Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ” (Galatians 4:28).

When we come to surrender our lives to Jesus, God credits to our account the righteousness of Jesus—that is, His redemptive work on the cross. God looks on Jesus and He judges our sin, fully and completely. And when God—the maker of heaven and earth, the king of the universe—judges it, let me tell you, it is gone, it is history. It is removed “as far as the east is from the west,” Psalm 107:3 says. How wonderful that is! That means that once we have received God’s grace, no one has the right to drag out our pasts and throw them in our faces. No one has the right to repeat our past life to others and hold it against us.

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8:31 asks. That’s a great question. The answer is no one! Not the angels, nor the devil himself. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all,” Paul continues, “how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:32-24). You are on God’s ball team. Jesus is on your side now—he’s batting for you. The chapter goes on to tell us that nothing and nobody can separate from the love of Christ now that we are his.

Now that we are saved, 1 John 1:7 promises us that “if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” Christians, we should be thanking and praising every day for this amazing phenomenon of grace. Verse 8 goes on to remind us, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

The Responsibility of Grace

We’re now back full circle to the story we began with. Let him who is without sin cast the first stone. You see, receiving God’s grace comes with the great responsibility of showing grace to others. And frankly, a lot of people in the Christian community don’t have the faintest idea of what that means. I know that sounds harsh, but it is an observation that comes from spending my entire life in the church and seeing religious people at their best and worst.

I once belonged to a church that suffered from a severe deficit in grace. It was the church I was baptized in, where I began my Christian walk. As I deepened myself in Scripture and started looking around me, I soon became aware that something was terribly wrong about this church. This was not a fellowship based on grace; it was a church led by a few self-righteous people who constantly stood in judgment over the rest. The congregation was very evangelistic, to be sure—and their evangelistic efforts were impressive. They canvassed neighborhoods on door-knocking campaigns several times a year, bringing many new people into the church, as a result. I don’t think I’ve seen so many baptisms within the course of a year.

Yet no sooner did they bring new people in that they began monitoring their every move, in legalistic fashion. And get this: if they missed more than two Sundays in a row, they announced from the pulpit that the church would be withdrawing fellowship from them. Imagine, as a brand-new believer trying to grow up as a Christian in a fellowship like that. It was a fellowship based on legalism, not grace. And I determined from that point forward that I never wanted to contribute to a destructive, graceless spirit in the church.

What Grace is Not

I learned a few things about grace during those early years, from what I saw, from what I heard as a new Christian. I learned that:

• Grace is not looking over someone’s shoulder to see how much they give in the collection plate, how big a bite they take out of the communion bread, whether they pray with their eyes open or their lips moving, or how big a smile they have at any given moment. In short, grace is not petty.

• Grace is not judging a person by what they did or who they were before coming to know Christ. This is crucial. It baffles me, the long lists of detailed records people keep about the past mistakes and failings of others. You know what I’ve said throughout the years when someone comes up to me and talks about someone else’s gritty past? Simply this: "I DON’T CARE." That may seem a little harsh to some, but when you come to appreciate how much God has forgiven you, you take great offense when someone tries maligning the reputation of another member of the saved community. The benefit to me, of course, is that no one comes around and shares idle gossip anymore! I’m usually the last to know about things. And the people who do come to me with their problems know that I’m going to keep them in the strictest confidence. They can trust me because they know I believe in the grace of God.

• Grace doesn’t go out and talk about other people’s dirty laundry. Do you know about so-and-so? Or how about this: I wonder what his situation is.... When we begin speculating about other people, where does our mind instantly go? Straight to the gutter. We sometimes fill in the gaps with the worst. Brothers and sisters—it’s wrong. Yes, it's human nature, but it’s wrong.

• Grace does not make assumptions based on limited information or hearsay. It’s wrong to speculate about other people, making assumptions about them without having all the facts. In my mind, you should be trying to make friends with that person, get to know the person that he or she is. That’s grace in action. That’s Christianity! That’s the positive spirit that is going to make this church grow. Grace always, always gives the benefit of the doubt.

• Grace does not bully others into believing my opinions. Romans 14 gives us a clear scriptural right to disagree on many issues and still worship together as one body, as long as those issues do not violate a clear fundamental of the Christian faith. We can agree to disagree on many matters of opinion and still be brothers.

• Grace is not shunning another person simply because you dislike something about him or her. That’s not grace, it's hate—let’s be honest and call it what it is.

• Grace does not react to sin by rejecting the sinner. When we see a brother or sister in sin, there are two things we do not know. First, we do not know how hard he or she tried not to sin. And second, we do not know the power of the forces that assailed him or her. We also do not know what we would have done in the same circumstances. The Bible says that we need to be trying to restore that person in a spirit of love and grace. “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted” (Galatians 6:1).

I found this the other day and it was so good I had to share. It is a fictional report from a preacher’s search committee.

“We do not have a happy report to give,” it says. “We've not been able to find a suitable candidate for this church, though we have one promising prospect still. We do appreciate all the suggestions from the church members, and we've followed up each one with interviews or calling at least three references. The following is our confidential report on the present candidates:

• Adam: Good man but problems with his wife. Also one reference told of how he and his wife enjoy walking nude in the woods.
• Noah: Preached for 120 years with no converts. Prone to unrealistic building projects.
• Moses: A modest and meek man, but poor communicator, even stuttering at times. Sometimes blows his stack and acts rashly. Some say he left an earlier church over a murder charge.
• David: The most promising leader of all until we discovered the affair he had with his neighbor's wife.
• Solomon: Great preacher but our parsonage would never hold all those wives.
• Elijah: Prone to depression - collapses under pressure.
• Elisha: Reported to have lived with a single widow while at his former church.
• Hosea: A tender and loving pastor but our people could never deal with his wife’s profession.
• Jeremiah: Emotionally unstable, alarmist, negative, always lamenting things, and is frequently in trouble with the government.
• Isaiah: On the fringe? Claims to have seen angels in church. Has trouble with his language.
• Jonah: Refused God's call into ministry until he was forced to obey by getting swallowed up by a great fish. He told us the fish later spit him out on the shore near here. We hung up.
• John: Calls himself the “Baptist” but sure doesn’t dress like one. Has a weird lifestyle that makes others uncomfortable—sleeping outdoors for months on end, eats bugs, and upsets the status quo.
• Peter: Too blue collar. Has a bad temper -- even has been known to curse. Reportedly denied Jesus when times got tough. Had a big run-in with Paul in Antioch. Aggressive, but a loose cannon.
• Timothy: Too young
• Judas: His references are solid. A steady plodder. Conservative. Good connections. Knows how to handle money. We're inviting him to preach this Sunday. Possibilities here.

But wait...it gets better. Would you hire this man?

"Gentlemen: Understanding your pulpit is vacant, I should like to apply for the position. I have many qualifications. I've been a preacher with much success and also have had some success as a writer. Some say I'm a good organizer. I've been a leader most places I've been."

"I'm over 50 years of age. I have never preached in one place for more than three years. In some places, I have left town after my work caused riots and disturbances. I must admit I have been in jail three or four times, but not because of any real wrongdoing."

"My health is not too good, though I still get a great deal done. The churches I have preached in have been small."

"I've not gotten along well with religious leaders in towns where I have preached. In fact, some have threatened me and even attacked me physically. I am not too good at keeping records. I have been known to forget whom I baptized."

"However, if you can use me, I shall do my best for you."

The board member asked, "Well, shall we call him?"
The committee was aghast. Call an unhealthy, trouble-making, absentminded, ex-jailbird? Who signed such an application?

The board member eyed them all keenly before he answered,
"It's signed, 'the Apostle Paul.'"

That’s always a humorous story to show, but let me be deadly serious for a moment. We all got very upset at the blasphemous cartoon about Jesus that was published in the student newspaper at a university a week or so ago. Suppose one of the members of this church were to befriend the student responsible for publishing that hateful cartoon. And suppose, furthermore, that this student were to be invited to worship with us. Knowing who he was and what he did, how would he be received? How would he be treated? Would it be with anger, or would it be with grace? Tough, tough questions.

What Grace is Really All About

I think I’ve made my point today, at least I hope. So how do we live as people saved by the amazing grace of God? Listen to what the Bible tells us:

• We have to let God’s grace change us. Romans 6:1-2: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Grace is not a license to sin. Grace gives us the desire and the power to do God’s will out of incredible gratitude for what Jesus did on the cross.

• We have to abound in God’s grace. 2 Corinthians 9:8, “And God [is] able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all [things], may have an abundance for every good work.” When you abound in something, it means that it’s everywhere, right? You have more of it. Is grace everywhere in your life? Do you find that the longer you walk with Christ the more of it you have and give?

• We have to be strong in God’s grace. 2 Timothy 2:1-2, “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Being strong in grace means we don’t compromise it. It means we treat everyone with the same amazing grace that Jesus shows to us.

• We have to grow in God's grace. Believers are to grow in God's grace: 2 Peter 3:18, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him [be] the glory both now and forever. Amen.” Let’s face it, we haven’t arrived. God wants us to grow in grace and the way we grow in grace is by first receiving God’s grace, and then claiming His grace on a daily basis—and it’s always there for us—and then we need to go out and give that grace away to others. That’s how we grow to be beautiful, grace-filled Christians.

• We have to speak with grace. Ephesians 4:29, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” Oh, boy is this important. One word spoken out of turn can drive a person away from the church for good. That’s how serious it is, folks. We have to guard our tongues. We have to watch about the things we say and the rumors we repeat. We have to keep the gossip we hear, in check. We must speak with grace—the Scriptures command us to do that.

We can sum all this up by simply by stating that we need to follow in the steps of Jesus and treat people the way he treated them. Right? That’s the Golden Rule. When you follow the ministry of Jesus, who do you see him embracing? Who do you see him having lunch with? Who do you see him having conversations with? The social outcasts, the unlovable, the hated. Everyone from Zacchaeus and Mary Magdalene, to the demon possessed, beggars, prostitutes, the hated Romans, and the Samaritans. And how do you see Jesus treating them? With maximum grace.

I’m not sure how well Jesus would fit in with some Christian circles today because of his tendency to reach out and befriend “those people.” Jesus might be perceived as too soft-hearted and tolerant. We know he didn’t fit in well with his own religious circle. The Pharisee’s and teachers of the law were fighting mad because he broke bread with tax collectors and people who had been publicly branded as “sinners.”

To follow the life of Jesus as he went from village to village, touching person to person is to witness a series of amazing acts of grace.

Having said all of that, let me also say that I have often failed miserably when it comes to living a life of grace. I used to be a very self-righteous Christian. And by self-righteous, I don’t mean that I believed in something and that I stood for something. I mean that I judged other Christians who didn’t live up to my standards of holiness, who didn’t agree with my opinions—opinions that went well beyond the fundamentals of the faith.

It was ok that they were saved, sure. It was great that they were baptized. But they hadn’t arrived yet because they weren’t adopting my points of view. And I used to openly criticize them. I used to shake my head and say, “Why can’t so-and-so get his act together?” But never once did I approach the situation with compassion. Never once did I come along side and befriend them and show genuine interest in their lives. I was blinded to how unlike Jesus Christ that was, until one day I found myself in the place of needing grace.

I ask you to look around you and ask, “Who do you need to show grace, mercy, and compassion to.” And when you are done looking there, I ask you to think about those in your family, your place of business, your neighborhood. Are there people who—without even being fully aware—you have misjudged, placed in a box, stereotyped?

I challenge you to pray for them. Not in a condescending way, as the Pharisee did (Luke 18:9-14). Pray that God will teach you to love them. Pray that God will change your heart in response to them. Pray that God will make you a man or woman of grace.

We are instruments of God’s grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, and peace. But if we are broken vessels, if we are leaking vessels, if we aren’t effectively carrying the grace of God to others by our words and actions, then how will they ever know that God is for real? How will they ever come to understand the reality of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus? And if they can’t come here to find a new start, where can they go, brothers and sisters, where can they go?

Now, let’s go forth as God’s people, as new creations in Christ, as those who have been redeemed, regenerated, and restored by the grace of Christ. Let’s go forth and live out God’s grace and share this amazing grace with everyone we come in contact with—both the lovable and the unlovable. As the apostle Paul and every Christian since him can testify—you never know who God can change through you!

© Copyright 2006, by William J. Sherman. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to print and distribute this message in its entirety, provided no changes to the content are made.

1 G.W. Knight, Clip-Art Features for Church Newsletters, p. 53