GRACE AND PEACE IN CHRIST

“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  (Philippians 1:2 NIV)

Grace (charis) was hard for ancients and is hard for moderns to believe. We want to earn our respectability. Or we feel we have rights entitlement. Because we do not understand the depth of our self-centeredness, the brokenness of our relationship with God, we cannot comprehend the impossibility of our saving ourselves by our own actions. Grace is God’s work in Christ Jesus to give to us the undeserved favor of God. Grace puts things right; grace is love’s unmerited initiative that frees us to love God in return.

We do not phantom peace until we shudder before wrath. When things are not in line with what God wants, nothing is right. By the act of God in Christ Jesus, wrath is replaced by a healthy, right relationship. Peace is rightness with God, in which inner tranquility is matched by outer harmony. To live “in Christ” is to live in undeserved favor, in harmony and accord with God’s plan of rightness and compassion. 

-- Richard and Julia Wilke in “DISCIPLE: Remember Who You Are”

#5308

UNMERITED, UNCONDITIONAL, UNENDING

“God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”  (Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT)

Salvation cannot be earned. There's no behavior, no matter how holy or righteous, by which we can achieve salvation. Rather, it's the gift of a gracious God.

“By grace” we mean God's extraordinary love for us. In most of life we're accustomed to earning approval from others. This is true at school, at work, in society, even at home -- to a degree. We may feel that we have to act "just so" to be liked or loved. But God's love, or grace, is given without any regard for our goodness. It's unmerited, unconditional, and unending love.

As we come to accept this love, to entrust ourselves to it, and to ground our lives in it, we discover the wholeness that God has promised. This trust is called faith. God takes the initiative in grace; but only as we respond through faith is the change wrought in us.

This is the great theme of the Protestant Reformers, as well as John Wesley and the Methodists who followed: We're saved by grace alone through faith alone. We're made whole and reconciled by the love of God as we receive it and trust in it.

-- George Koehler in “United Methodist Member's Handbook, Revised” (Discipleship Resources, 2006) 

#4560

JESUS CHRIST IS THE DEFINITION OF GRACE

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 3:23 NLT)

Without question, grace is at the core of the Christian faith. The word ‘grace’ is one of the most profound words in the New Testament. It is full of meaning and message. Interestingly, the New Testament does not define grace, but rather simply points to Jesus as the embodiment and demonstration of God’s grace in our world. The Gospel of John proclaims; “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14 RSV) One preacher called grace the shorthand word for the whole gospel. It captures the essence of God’s attitude and relationship with us.

The word translated ‘grace’ in the Greek is ‘charis’, from which we get the word ‘charity’, but it literally means ‘favor.’ Grace is the unmerited, unearned, and underserved favor of God. The gospel message is that God gives His grace through Jesus Christ to persons of every age, time, and station, who have done nothing to deserve it. It is a gift and can only be accepted.

-- James W. Moore and Bob J. Moore in “Lord, Give Me Patience!... And Give It to Me Right Now!”

#4366