What is the True Nature of Grace?
Good Morning Friends,
I was reading a depression era story about the Mayor of New York, Fiorello LaGuardia. This five foot tall man understood immigration issues of the day and its effects on people. He was an amazing advocate for justice and the transformation of New York, though a bit authoritarian by today’s standards. According to Try and Stop Me by Bennett Cerf, La Guardia often officiated in the municipal court. He handled routine misdemeanor cases, including, according to Cerf, that of a woman who had stolen a loaf of bread for her starving family. Cerf states that he insisted on levying a fine of ten dollars, then said “I’m fining everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a city where a person has to steal bread in order to eat!” He passed a hat and gave the fines to the defendant, who left the court with $47.50. There is, however, no convincing proof of this anecdote. Still it is a great story that makes us think. So, ask yourself, as the grocer, if you would give the woman a job if you discovered the person sealing the bread. Ask yourself if you deserve grace or a blessing. Then ask, What is the True Nature of Grace?
Scripture: Let us . . . approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16 (NRSV)
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.
Matthew 20:1-14 (NRSV)
Message: In today’s parable, Jesus tells us what the kingdom of heaven is like. He compares it to a landowner…to people working….to getting paid….something that is on the mind of most of us. The work is never done. There is a lot of responsibility to keep things running. In today’s text we learn about a structure that is not a country or a corporation but a kingdom, and a Kingdom work that is about grace. And that brings us to today’s question regarding the nature of grace. And as I ponder it I would have to say that grace is at the very heart, indeed, the very foundation of true Christianity. It is extremely important to think more precisely and have a better grasp of this important word and its truth. For grace is more than just unearned favor. Grace is that which God does for mankind through His Son, which mankind cannot earn, does not deserve, and will never merit. It is Jesus. Still grace is alien to most of us. It is scandalous. It is hard to accept, hard to believe and hard to receive. Grace as Jesus shocks us in what he offers and it frightens us with what it does for sinners. It boggles the mind to reconcile justice in this world with a, not of this world, grace in the Kingdom. We do so want to control our own fate and that of others as we work out our own salvation. But that is not the nature of the rewards of the kingdom. All who believe are welcomed at the table and those who suffered most for this I think would have it no other way for it is for the least, last and lost that grace shines brightest. Of course we want to earn it but that is not the nature of Grace. Grace is about mercy, not fairness. Grace is free but is not what we deserve. Take comfort for when it comes to grace it can show up anytime. Grace glorifies God because it reveals God’s person. That is the nature of Grace.
Pray we rejoice when we are working. Pray we realize that hard work pays off. Pray we are never jealous of others success especially when we don’t think they have earned it. Pray we realize that the only reason any of us will enjoy the kingdom is because of the compassion and grace of a God who is slow to anger and is abounding in love. Pray with thanksgiving that He does not treat us as our sins deserve. Pray that we all embrace God’s saving grace allowing us to experience the Kingdom even as it changes our lives. Pray that God alone gets the glory. Pray that when we wonder why Christians suffer, we ask with new eyes and discover that perhaps Christians suffer because they are the only ones who can take it. Pray that we accept the invitation to work for His Kingdom purposes now. Pray that we understand that our debts are forgiven in measure to the debts we have forgiven. Pray we do not fear. Pray we believe that grace is greater than our sins. Pray we be desperate enough to receive it. Pray God gives us a job to do and we work until our days are done. Pray we do not go away disappointed from an encounter with Jesus. Pray we are blessed to accept grace. Pray we are enabled with spiritual power to live the Christian life. Pray we are blessed with a job in the Kingdom. Pray we are blessed to receive an eternal inheritance in the security, good conscience, direction and supply of God’s peace.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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