“Grace upon Grace”

Have you ever given a gift, and then watched as the recipient fades with enthusiasm? Truth is, everyone who has been in a child and been in the presence of a child knows this reality.

First reaction: “Wow! Cool! How great! I can't believe it! Thank you! I can't wait to use it!” And so on. But a little while down the road, and there's not quite the fanfare. In fact, sometimes the gift gets practically forgotten.

Further more, we all know what it's like to be that child—to receive a gift and then have the mystery or the wonder of the gift fade over time.

The fact is that we experience that every Christmas and every Easter, here in the church. We have large crowds to celebrate and hear about the birth or the resurrection of Jesus, and within a week, it's often no big deal. Things, as we say, get back to normal.

Jennifer and I were at a funeral last Sunday in the afternoon, and as we caught up with some people we hadn't seen in awhile, we were struck at the frequency with which people commented on how glad they were that Christmas was over.

Now, don't get me wrong, I knew what they meant—that they were glad that all the running and traveling and the like was over, and things could slow down again.

But, I wonder if we haven't really missed what God has intended for us if we allow our lives to “return to normal” after Christmas. We're sort of like the child who receives a really cool Christmas gift, and can't for a few days, get enough of it. Only a few weeks down the road to find it stuffed into the closet next to the other old gifts which now lack any real luster or appeal.

If any of us think that there should be any returning to normal after Jesus has entered our lives, we are sorely mistaken, as I think we will have missed the point. For the gift of grace that comes to us in Jesus is gift that is meant to change us at our deepest level, so much so that people perceive a change.

Further more, there's a special responsibility that is given to Christians—to keep this gift of grace alive, so that it doesn't become like some other gifts and get stuck into the proverbial closet to collect dust, giving testimony that this gift is different. This gift is from God!

That is what the reading is all about from John this morning. “From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.

There's a pretty good acronym out there on the word GRACE:

G od's

R iches

A t

C hrist's

E xpense

In other words, the riches of forgiveness, love, eternal life, all granted to those who believe not at our expense, but at Christ's expense. His death on the cross to once and for all pay for our sins and gain us an unimaginable inheritance as children of the Almighty!

This passage from John speaks about the fact that this gift is different. The law was given to us through Moses, but grace has come through Christ.

Here's a way to think about these matters: Someone once said that the

Law gives us what we deserve;

Mercy doesn't give us what we deserve; but

Grace gives us what we don't deserve.

Ephesians 2:4-5 says:

But God's mercy is great, and he loved us very much. Though we were spiritually dead became of the things we did against God, he gave us new life with Christ. You have been saved by God's grace.

What is exactly is grace? And is it limited to Jesus' life and ministry? You may be surprised to know that Jesus never used the word itself. He just taught it and, equally important, lived it. Furthermore, the Bible never gives us a one-statement definition, though grace appears throughout its pages—not only the word itself but numerous demonstrations of it. Understanding what grace means requires our going back to an old Hebrew term that meant “to bend, to stoop.” By and by, it came to include the idea of “condescending favor.”

If you have traveled to London, you have perhaps seen royalty. If so, you must have noticed sophistication, aloofness, distance. On occasion, royalty in England will make the news because someone in the ranks of nobility will stop, kneel down and touch or bless a commoner. That is grace. There is nothing in the commoner that deserves being noticed (Princess Diana) or touched or blessed by the royal family. But because of grace in the heart of the queen, there is the desire at that moment to pause, to stoop, to touch, even to bless.

The late pastor and Bible scholar Donald Barnhouse perhaps said it best: “Love that goes upward is worship; love that goes outward is affection; love that stoops is grace.”

To show grace is to extend favor or kindness to one who doesn't deserve it and can never earn it. Receiving God's acceptance by grace always stands in sharp contrast to earning it on the basis of works. Every time the thought of grace appears, there is the idea of its being undeserved. In no way is the recipient getting what he or she deserves. Favor is being extended simply out of the goodness of the heart of the giver… [1]

Keeping the gift alive is understanding that this gift has a quliaty unlike so many other gifts, which you might characterize as external gifts—a new shirt, a toy, a new book. This gift goes right to our core. This gift of grace is a gift that changes our very essence—the core of our identity.

One of the biggest struggles that I see for Christians is the battle that goes on for our identity. And, this is ultimately a decision that everyone must make—what or who determines who I am at my deepest level. For most of us, to have God's grace tell us who we are is to tell us something new and different from what others tell us about who we are.

If you've grown up in a family that demands that you succeed or behave before you get any love, then the grace of Jesus will take while to get used to, because God loves you for His own reasons.

If you've grown up ever abused and constantly being torn down, God's grace will gently and firmly restore you as a valued and cherished person.

If you've been in relationships where the only thing you've really known is fear and bullying, then you will be deeply affected by the tenderness of love and mercy.

If you've been lied to, deceived, betrayed, or otherwise had to exist in some kind of what I call “crazy-making” relationship, then you will ultimately be refreshed by that fact that Jesus comes in truth and grace.

If you've felt that your life would never amount to anything because you've been told that you just don't measure up, then you well might be drawn to the powerful reality that in Jesus you will come to know the Father's heart.

“From his fullness we have all received grace upon grace,” Scripture says.

Grace—it's good news for our lives, but it demands this odd thing, that it not be treated like any other gift. It demands that it not be set aside. In fact, for the gift to really mean anything, it demands that it be used and cherished unceasingly.

What that means for our identity is we have to set aside all of the other ways of understanding ourselves and our values. If we've been taught that we have no value—we have to ignore those messages as lies in order to receive the truth of God's love for us as grace—a gift—that we all have supreme value.

If we've been told that we have to earn everything in life, including love and belonging and purpose, we have to dispose of that as blasphemy as being human teaching and not godly truth that we receive our ultimate value not of anything we do but because of who Christ is and what he has done. We are his, and his riches and honor is ours!

What is the grace of God? The grace of God says you serve God because you're saved, not in order to be saved. You're not trying to keep a legalistic system, you're responding to a system of love and peace.

What is grace? It's what someone gives us out of the goodness of their heart, not out of the perfection of ours. The story of grace is the good news that says that when we come, he gives. That's what grace is.

Grace is a pleasant surprise. Grace is a kind gesture. Grace is something you did not expect. It is something you certainly could never earn. But grace is something you'd never turn down.

You know what happens when someone sees the grace of God? When someone really tastes the forgiving and liberating grace of God? Someone who tastes God's grace is the hardest worker, the most morally pure individual, and the person most willing to forgive.

And, always remember that Jesus says, “My grace is deeper than your sins.” [2]

So, this gift of grace is for anyone who would receive Jesus, believe in his name, which means God saves, and then see themselves as children of God, part of God's family.

But that requires that you remember at your deepest identity, God has declared your value and your purpose, and that that is pure gift—all grace—nothing you can earn—only a gift for you to receive.

One more thing about grace. If you try to receive it or give it in a way that works like the old rules for life—it won't work. That is to say, if you're stuck on trying to earn God's favor, you've missed the point. If you say that you're a Christian and you continue to demand things out of the people in your life that God hasn't demanded from you, you've missed the point.

You need, simply, to stop and gently receive the gift again. But this time take it to heart. Because that's what it's intended for. Receiving grace means receiving Christ, and receiving Christ means coming close to the Father's heart. And that's the most precious gift you could ever receive. Amen.

[1] From The Grace Awakening by Charles Swindoll

[2] (From The Inspirational Bible, “Grace”)