Mixed Up About Grace

Fitchburg Nazarene Church

February 5, 2017

by

Rev. Charles W. Pendleton, Jr.

(These are the Pastor’s notes. He may have said more which is not noted here. He could have ignored certain portions of these notes in our actual service.)

READ:

Ephesians 2:1-10

1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,2in 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.3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our fleshaand following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9not by works, so that no one can boast.10For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Key Verse: v8

8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

I did a paper during Bible College on a“man-on-the-streets’” understanding of what grace is.

Here was my question, and their answers.

What does the word "Grace" mean?

  1. When you pray
  2. Saying thanks to Jesus
  3. Spiritual peace
  4. To give thanks
  5. Being good – everything going well
  6. Thanksgiving – you say thanks
  7. You’re graceful
  8. Forgiveness
  9. Having a certain poise
  10. Humility
  11. Forgiveness/patience
  12. Serving a part of God

I’ve got to tell you. I was quite a bit surprised at the answers. Not one got anywhere near what we might say when defining “grace.”

So I’m going to go out on a limb this morning and ask you what you think GRACE is.

I don’t expect deeply theological explanations – I simply want us to begin to deal with this word.

Only one answer per person, so don’t just blurt out the first thing that pops into your mind – think about your answer.

USE DRY-ERASE BOARD

Write peoples answers.

What does the word “grace” mean?

Let’s look at what…

The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon

has to say about grace.

Strong's Number:5485 / Browse Lexicon
Original Word / Word Origin
cariß / from (5463)
Transliterated Word / TDNTEntry
Charis / 9:372,1298
Phonetic Spelling / Parts of Speech
khar'-ece / Noun Feminine
Definition
  1. grace
  2. that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: i.e. grace of speech
  1. good will, loving-kindness, favor
  1. of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues
  1. what is due to grace
  2. the spiritual condition of one governed by the power of divine grace
  3. the token or proof of grace, benefit
  4. a gift of grace
  5. benefit, bounty
  1. thanks,
(for benefits, services, favors)
recompense, reward
NAS Word Usage - Total:156
blessing 1, concession 1, credit 3, favor 11, gift 1, grace 122, gracious 2, gracious work 3, gratitude 1, thank 3, thankfulness 2, thanks 6

The word "grace" like many other words used in biblical jargon –

wordslike forgiveness, repentance,

regeneration, and salvation

–mean something as broad as describing the whole of God's activity toward man or as narrow as describing one segment of that activity.

An accurate, common definition describes grace as:

“the unmerited favor of

God toward man.”

Old Testament use of the word “GRACE”

et·y·mol·o·gy

ˌedəˈmäləjē/

noun

  1. the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history.
  2. the origin of a word and the historical development of its meaning.

Genesis 6:8(NIV)

8But Noah found favor in the eyes of theLord.

(KJV)

8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

(NKJV)

8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.

As we digest this verse it becomes obvious that if Noah received “grace” from God, then there was nothing in and of Noah’s own person, which deserved God’s favor to be shown to Noah.

And yet, in His mercy; “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

Abraham

Genesis 18:3(NIV)

3He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord,do not pass your servant by.

(KJV)

3And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:

(NKJV)

3And said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in your sight, pass not away, I pray you, from your servant:

Lot w/angels

Genesis 19:19b(NIV)

19bYourservant has found favor in youreyes, and youhave shown great kindness to me in sparing my life.

(KJV)

19bBehold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life;

(NKJV)

19bBehold now, your servant has found grace in your sight, and you have magnified your mercy, which you have showed unto me in saving my life;

One last OT example of this…

(NIV)

Genesis 47:29a

29When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt,

(KJV)

29And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:

(NKJV)

29And the time drew near that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in your sight, put, I pray you, your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray you, in Egypt:

So, based on these OT verses; what one observation can we make about “GRACE?”

Yes, there is an element of “FAVOR” involved in grace.

In the 3rd Century the Old Testament (OT) Hebrew was translated into the Greek language by a bunch of Jewish scholars, at the bequest of Ptolemy II of Egypt (that means he paid the bill for the work).

“GRACE” is the English translation of the Greek word they used meaning concretely…

“that which brings delight, joy, happiness, or good fortune.”

Grace in classical Greek applied to art, persons, speech, or athletics, as well as to the good fortune, kindness, and power bestowed by the gods upon divine men, moving them to miraculous deeds.

(Bible Dictionary – Harper Collins. 1996. p.386)

What if we used the old acrostic the Church has been using for quite some time – and use it in recognition of this “FAVOR” of God.

G – R – A – C – E

God’s

Righteousness

At

Christ’s

Expense

Of course, an acrostic can only approximate a partial meaning of a word, but it is a starting point.

“God’s righteousness at Christ’s expense” signifies that the favor of God is expressed in the lives of those who turn to faith in God (the LORD – Jehovah) through Christ Jesus.

Inherent inthat “FAVOR” is the understanding that “without this favor, people would be in huge jeopardy.

Scripture expresses the extent of that jeopardy in many places, and in every one of them, it doesn’t work out well for those who disdain or reject His grace.

An example of this came right out of our text this morning.

Ephesians 2:1

1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

Our sins killed us, just like God warned Adam and Eve in the garden – not instant death, but death of the spirit – separated from the Imago Dei that He created us to live with.

But Paul doesn’t let it stay at that. He goes on to explain about the grace that makes the difference. The grace that saves!

v 4-6

4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Grace was necessary – then, and now.

Without His precious gift, we would be headed for ‘the death’ that Paul spoke of in verse 1.

You were dead while you were living.

Here are two similar pictures for us to look at in these few verses.

DEAD while LIVING (verses 1 and 2)

RAISED UP WITH CHRIST AND SEATED IN THE HEAVENLY REALMS

while STILL LIVING HERE, NOW.

(verses 6 and 10)

Raised up – a picture of the certainty of our salvation through Christ’s sacrifice; and yet

“created in Christ Jesus to do good works” – that’s here and now – in this life.

There are so many examples of Gods grace – God’s favor, in both the OT and the NT.

We will be taking an extended look at grace in the month ahead – even Pastor Patty will be preaching on GRACE in the next month.

So there is no rush here to put it all into one sermon.

MEMORY VERSES

Ephesians 2:8-9

8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9not by works, so that no one can boast.

Some of you don’t think you can memorize scriptures, but I know that’s not entirely true – you memorized a much larger portion of scripture last year.

Do you remember it still?

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

"Since meditation on the Scriptures, prayer, and intercession are a service we owe and because the grace of God is found in this service, we should train ourselves to set apart a regular hour for it, as we do for every other service we perform.

This is not ‘legalism’; it is orderliness and fidelity.

For most people the early morning will prove to be the best time. We have a right to this time, even prior to the claims of other people, and we may insist upon having it as a completely undisturbed quiet time despite all external difficulties.

For the pastor it is an indispensable duty and his whole ministry will depend on it. Who can really be faithful in great things if he has not learned to be faithful in the things of daily life?"
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer in "Life Together"