Grace Has Arrived and Prevailed

This past Sunday, we reached the mid-point in our big winter Steps series called “Step In: Taking In the Message of Christ”. We talked about a BIG, BIG, BIG idea: grace. Grace is one of those big ideas that is so ‘everywhere’ in the bible – so ubiquitous – that it’s almost hard to define (and even harder to do in one short sermon!). Bouncing off of Romans 6:23, we heard that “What Went Right?” is that God has decided to restore us to a relationship with himself where we experience real Life – the life that we were created for but each of us forfeited through sin – which comes to us a free gift, which we can’t earn, deserve, or ever repay. 

That’s grace: the free gift of life with God.

And it’s not a ‘thing’ as much as it’s something that happened exclusively in and through Jesus. So much so that we are led to conclude that,

Jesus IS grace in person.

Look at how one of my favorite biblical scholars puts it in his commentary on the letter to the Romans:

“The Christ-gift, on the other hand, is grace incarnate: it means people are acquitted, made righteous or just, and filled with life now and in the future. There are many words for grace in this passage, but they all indicate one source of that grace, God the Father, and one manifestation of that grace, Christ the Son. Grace has arrived and prevailed.”

       – p. 161 in Romans: A Theological & Pastoral Commentary
        by Michael J. Gorman

Grace has arrived and prevailed. 

I love that line. Grace – the free gift that comes to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for us – has arrived without anything we did, and it has won the battle against everything that threatens us.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.  

If you’re curious what ‘the passage’ is that Gorman is referencing, it’s Romans 5:15-21 – read for yourself (if only we had a few hours for a VERY long Sunday sermon!):

15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. 16 And the gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the gift following many trespasses brings justification. 17 If, because of the one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
 
18 Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. 19 For just as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so through the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 But law came in, so that the trespass might increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so grace might also reign through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

That’s a lot to handle! If you’d like to talk more about grace, ask questions, learn more, and see more about what’s so amazing about grace – then come to Step In & Follow Up tonight at 7PM! 

Let’s thank God for his gracious gift today – and everyday – with our prayers, our words, and with the way we live our lives.