Jesus is grace

Luke 15    (click on the pic to listen to it)

11 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.

13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.

17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’

20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’

In his book, The Ragamuffin Gospel, Brennan Manning shared this true story:

“A story is told about Fiorello LaGuardia, who, when he was mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great Depression and all of WWII, was called by adoring New Yorkers ‘the Little Flower’ because he was only five foot four and always wore a carnation in his lapel. He was a colorful character who used to ride the New York City fire trucks, raid speakeasies with the police department, take entire orphanages to baseball games, and whenever the New York newspapers were on strike, he would go on the radio and read the Sunday funnies to the kids. One bitterly cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court that served the poorest ward of the city. LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself. 

Within a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread. She told LaGuardia that her daughter’s husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges. “It’s a real bad neighborhood, your Honor.” the man told the mayor. “She’s got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson.” LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said “I’ve got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions–ten dollars or ten days in jail.” But even as he pronounced sentence, the mayor was already reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous sombrero saying: “Here is the ten-dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Baliff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant.” So the following day the New York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren, fifty cents of that amount being contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner, while some seventy petty criminals, people with traffic violations, and New York City policemen, each of whom had just paid fifty cents for the privilege of doing so, gave the mayor a standing ovation.”

When we read the story of the prodigal son we compare ourselves to the son in regard to our sinfulness, our rebellion, and our desperation. We tend to focus on our waywardness and our need for God.  Romans 3:23 reminds us that all of us has fallen short of the glory of God.  It is true that we are lost without a relationship with God but that’s not the main message of the story. There is another similarity between the prodigal son and each of us that is harder to spot, and is much more dangerous. It’s the way he related to his father. It’s the tendency he had to measure his worth and his identity by his own good or bad deeds.

The prodigal son deserved to be punished. Disowned. Banished from his father presences forever.  He knew it and so did the crowd listening to the story. The people listening to Jesus’ story have been under the tyranny of legalism and law their whole life. The boy deserved to be punished! Instead, before he could reach his father,  his father runs to him! Filled with love and compassion, he ran to him! He ignores the constraints and constructs of society says is the right thing to do and hugs and kisses him …. A lot!! As you look at the passage, while the son is buried in his father’s arms, he remembers something.  He doesn’t deserve this. This is isn’t right. This is isn’t fair. This is what logic says, anyway. He tries to wiggle his way out of the embrace so he can give his speech. The son gets his speech out and the people listening are thinking, “Oh, I’ll take notes on that speech. That speech is going to work. You watch, he’s going to win his dad over with that one.”  But the speech is interrupted.  He ignores its logic. It’s flawed any way. Instead he honors his son with a party.

What did the son do to get the party? Nothing. He didn’t deserve it all! He didn’t do anything. It wasn’t about Him. It wasn’t about what he did or didn’t do.  It was about the grace of the father.  The wayward son simply had to accept the forgiveness the father offered him. He simply had to show up at the celebration. The father never stopped loving Him. They father never gave up on the relationship. The father patiently waited for the son’s return.

The story of the prodigal son serves as a beautiful picture of what grace looks like. He didn’t deserve the party, the sandals, the robe, and a new start. The people listening to the story for the first time would had been in shock that the father took him back. They knew what he deserved.  The prodigal son received grace!

What is grace?

Grace is not a get out of jail free card.

Grace is not a cover up of sin.

Grace is not a rug to sweep the nasty stuff under.

Grace is not a license to keep on sinning.

Romans 6 tells us: Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

There are people who abuse grace.

My dad owned a Christmas business. We (his workers)  each got paid by the number of wreathes we could produce. The more wreathes you made the more money you would get paid. Each day we (on the honor system) had to record the number of Christmas wreathes we made. My dad hired a guy who just got out of jail. He wanted to help and give him some money. After a couple of weeks, the man wrote down that he made a  100 wreathes on one particular day. The amazing thing is, he did it in 5 hours. Another amazing thing is, there has only been one guy who made a hundreds wreathes in a day and it took him over 14 hours. This guy had worked for my dad for over 10 years. When the man came in to get his pay my dad asked if he could come in the next day and show him how he made 100 wreathes in 5 hours. My dad told him that he wanted to train the other workers to do the same thing. My dad gave him the money but they guy never showed up again. My dad didn’t belittle him. My dad encouraged him and wanted to give him a chance to be truthful. My dad showed him grace, the man didn’t know what to do with it.

There are some people who abuse grace. They live like the devil and some still call themselves Christians. That is MIND-BOGGLING impossible.

There are people who do use grace as a “get out of jail free” card. There are people who use grace as a cover up for sin. There are people who use grace as a license to keep on sinning. People who do this don’t know what grace is. They don’t know what to do with the gift they have been given so they make it into something it isn’t. People who abuse grace make it tempting for us to qualify grace and hem it in with restrictions and rules so that people won’t abuse it.   If we put restrictions and rules on grace to keep people from abusing it we will invalidate the very truths that would set people free.

If you remember the story about LaGuardia,  the grandmother who stole the bread. She was guilty.  It was a crime and there was a fine to be paid. The woman accepted the 47.50 and let him pay the fine.  How do you think that woman felt when she left the court room?

What grace is:

Grace is more than a principle that can be taught.

Grace is more than a good idea.

Grace is more than a doctrine or dogma.

Grace is more than a cover up for sin.

Grace is a person.   Jesus is grace!

Look at John 1:14-17

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

These verses say that Jesus was “full of grace and truth,” and that from that fullness we have received “grace upon grace.” In other words, he embodied grace. He oozed grace. He was grace. After people met Jesus, they probably said things like, “this man is different. That man has grace all over him.” Jesus gave people a picture of grace. They watched him and listened to him, and for the rest of their lives, they didn’t have to wonder what grace looked like. Anyone who met Jesus  knew what grace looks like.

Watch this clip. It will give you a beautiful picture of grace. (click here)

Isn’t that a beautiful picture of grace?

Judah Smith, who wrote the book, Jesus is ____________,  says this, “When you realize that grace is a person and not a principal to be lived out and possibly abused, abusing grace is no longer an option.  It is easy to abuse a principle, to manipulate system, or to excuse away a doctrine but is it much harder to abuse a person or violate a relationship.”

Let’s think about this for a moment. If you have a best friend, or you are married, or you have a significant other in your life right now, would you abuse the relationship? Of course not.  Why not? Because you don’t have a relationship with a principle or an idea – you have a relationship with a person.

You don’t commit to loving the idea of marriage – you commit to loving the person.

You don’t commit to the idea of a friendship – you commit to being that person’s friend.

You don’t commit to the idea of having a significant other – you commit to being their significant other.  

If you are committed to him or her – there is no way you would abuse the relationship.

Grace is a person and Jesus is grace! When you meet him – you meet grace.

Grace was nailed to a tree. Grace was abused, ridiculed, mocked, beaten, and suffered because he believes having a relationship with you is the most important thing in the world. He didn’t die to solve the issues of the world. He didn’t die to make the world perfect. He didn’t die to condemn the world. He died to save the through world.

It is only because of grace that we can be in a relationship with God

Look at these scriptures:

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT)

⁸ God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. ⁹ Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

Acts 15:11 (NLT)

¹¹ We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”

Romans 11:6 (NLT)

⁶ And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved.

When you understand and feel his relentless love for you (like the prodigal son did) it will not motivate you to sin, it will motivate you to righteousness. It will motivate you to do the right thing.

Do you know him? Not do you know about Him. There are a lot of people who know about Him. Do you know Him?

Like the father, He is waiting for you to come home and experience his grace and throw a party on your behalf.