SINGLE SERMON SERIES
AMAZING GRACE
DR. JIM DIXON
EPHESIANS 2:1-10
JUNE 30, 1991
The June issue of Sports Illustrated had an advertisement in it for Converse tennis shoes. The advertisement showed a picture of Magic Johnson driving the lane in an NBA basketball game, soaring high above all the opposing players. The caption simply said, “Amazing Grace.” What I’d like to speak about this morning is the subject of amazing grace. The problem with grace and the English language is that it has so many different meanings. When we speak of grace, we may indeed be speaking of a certain style, a kind of poetry in motion, a kind of style exhibited by a ballerina who’s doing pirouettes on the dance floor, or an ice skater who is gliding over the ice, or an NBA all-star who is soaring through the air on his way to a slam dunk. At times when we use the word grace, we’re referring to a royal title. Dukes, duchesses, sovereigns and magistrates are sometimes called “your grace.” Sometimes when we use the word grace, we’re referring to a prayer before meals. Other times we’re referring to a person because the word grace can be a name.
The Bible uses the word grace in a very special way. The word “charis” is translated grace in the Bible. When the Bible speaks of grace, it is not referring primarily to style or poetry in motion, or a royal title or a prayer said before meals or a woman’s name. When the Bible speaks of grace, it is speaking of unmerited favor. We all want God to be favorable towards us. We know we do not merit or earn it. God expresses his grace to Christians in two particular ways, and I want to focus briefly on each of these.
First of all, God expresses his grace in forgiving us. Forgiveness is an expression of God’s grace. We don’t deserve to be forgiven. We have not earned it. Grace is unmerited and an expression of God’s favor. In our passage of scripture for today, we are told that though we were dead in our trespasses and sins, we have been saved by grace, the grace of God’s forgiveness. In Romans chapter five, we’re told that by one man, sin came into the world and through sin, death we’re told in that same passage that by another man, Jesus Christ, grace has come into the world and by grace life. So mercy is part of grace. Forgiveness is only possible by grace. Now we all need God’s forgiveness because we’ve all sinned and I’m reminded of that every day.
Bob and I, along with Harold Hadden, one of our elders, and all of our wives, just returned from Detroit. We were at the General Assembly, our denominational meeting of all the churches in the EPC denomination across America. General assemblies are not very exciting. I mean, there’s a lot of motions, counter motions, and seconds to the motion. There are overtures that are read. Some people are really excited by this stuff, but it’s not very exciting to us. In fact, general assembly to us on the fun scale would be somewhere between a root canal and a lower GI, particularly general assembly in Detroit.
I must say we did have some good moments and there were a lot of wonderful people, men and women who really love Christ and with whom it’s a privilege to serve alongside but we were really tired. Barb and I were tired because we’d just come back from vacation and then turned around to go to Detroit. One night in Detroit, we went to sleep at 4:00 AM, another night, 3:00 AM, and of course we had meetings. We were very tired when we got off the plane here in Denver. Bob, Allison, Harold, Margaret and I decided to get the luggage in the baggage claim. Barbara went to the United airline area to pick up Drew’s wallet, which was left on the airplane when we returned from vacation. Barb was going to come back and meet us at baggage claim.
After waiting for some time for Barb to return I began to wonder what was going on. I went through the terminal and started making my way to the other side of the airport to find Barb. I came to the lost and found at United and they told me Barb had been there and picked up the wallet. I said, I can’t find her. They shared that the money wasn’t in the wallet but in a safe upstairs where Barb was probably at to retrieve the money. I went upstairs and I was tired and a little grumpy. I saw Barb and she could tell I was a little irritable. I said, “What’s going on?” She said, “They can’t find anyone who can open the safe.” Being irritable I said, “I can’t believe the airlines can’t do any better. There ought to be a better way to run a lost and found than this.”
Suddenly, I heard a voice next to me saying, “Please don’t get mad. Don’t disappoint me. You’re my pastor.” I really didn’t even notice the voice at first. I turn, and there’s a guy there who is a member at Cherry Hills Community Church. He just graduated from medical school and was heading out to Los Angeles where he was going to do his residency in Watts. He was a really nice guy who obviously wanted me to be a nice guy too. I can promise you if you could follow me 24 hours a day, day after day, I would disappoint you often. I would disappoint you because I’m fallen and a sinner in need of grace. I think I can safely say that if any of us could follow any one of us 24 hours a day, day after day, we’d see the same thing. We’d all be disappointed, particularly if we could read one another’s thoughts.
God can read our thoughts. He sees our attitudes in times of stress and in ease. He sees our actions. Time and again, God surely is disappointed because we’re sinful and sin permeates our being. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and we desperately need God’s grace and to experience God’s forgiveness. When we come to faith in Christ, we begin to experience his forgiveness and grace. That’s what we’re celebrating this morning as we come to this table. God’s grace.
“This is the message we’ve heard from the beginning. God is light and in him is no darkness at all. When we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not live according to the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We celebrate His grace this morning.
I’ve asked Marcia during the time of communion to sing amazing grace for us because God’s grace is amazing. It’s only when we understand our own sinfulness that we see how amazing his grace really is. The Greek word in the Bible for grace is the word “charis.” And that word is sometimes translated as a gift. The word charisma, which comes from the word “charis,” means gift. God’s the gift giver and his gifts are an expression of grace, unmerited favor. We don’t earn his gifts or blessings. It’s an unmerited favor. God not only forgives but he gives.
Queen Elizabeth I ruled England for 45 years. Those 45 years have been called the golden, Elizabethan age of England. During those years, Queen Elizabeth, elevated Protestantism in England, and England became a world power. She was the daughter of King Henry VII and Anne Berlin. She was a great queen. Queen Elizabeth had some enemies, some of them were angry Catholics or simply poor and bitter people. Before Queen Elizabeth would enter her bedchamber at night, the palace guards would check to see if there was anyone hiding that wanted to do harm to the queen.
On one occasion in the year 1581, as the palace guards went into the bed chamber of Queen Elizabeth I, they found a young woman hiding behind the curtain. She had a dagger in her hand and planned to kill the queen. This young woman was apprehended and brought before Queen Elizabeth. When she was brought before the queen, she humbled herself and fell to her knees and on her face. She begged that the queen would show her grace. She asked the queen to be gracious to her. The queen said, “What token, what offering do you have to show me that you’re going to change? What can you give me to show me that you will from this point on serve me?” The young woman said, “Grace that is purchased, that needs to be bought, to be earned is not grace at all.” The queen smiled. Historians tell us that the queen said “Very well, I pardon you freely by my grace.” Historians tell us that the woman became one of the most loyal followers of the queen in the kingdom.
That story was told by H.A. Ironside in the book called In the Heavenlies. H.A. Ironside was one of the great preachers in Christian history and used that story to illustrate grace. But I must say to you, it’s not an adequate illustration of grace. Why isn’t it an adequate illustration of grace? It’s not adequate because it only shows God as forgiving. It doesn’t show God as giving. We see the mercy of God, but we don’t see the full grace of God in that illustration. The Queen was forgiving towards this young woman, but not giving. See, if it was really grace, the Queen would’ve said to the young woman, “By my grace, I pardon you and I not only forgive you, but I got something here I’d like to give you.” That would be grace, full grace, not only forgiving, but giving. It would’ve been amazing if Queen Elizabeth had said to that young woman, not only do I pardon you, not only do I forgive you, but I’d like to give you something very special. I’d like to bring you into the royal family. I’d like to make you part of the royal household. I’d like you to serve by my side and reign with me. I’d like you to sit at my table. That would be amazing grace.
You see what God has offered you and given you as a Christian through Jesus Christ is amazing grace. He’s pardoned our sins and through faith in Jesus Christ, He’s forgiven us and then He’s brought us into the royal family. If you’re truly a Christian and you believe in Jesus Christ, you’re a son or daughter of God and you’re royalty. You’ve been brought into an eternal kingdom. You’re meant to serve that kingdom in this life and in the life beyond. You’ve been given heaven itself. This is amazing grace: forgiving and giving.
This morning, as we come to communion, we celebrate amazing grace. As you come to this table, you need to celebrate true grace and not what some have called cheap grace. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian and writer spoke of cheap grace. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness, without the call to repentance. Cheap grace would be inviting you to this communion without calling you to commitment. We want to celebrate real grace, God’s grace. Let’s have a word of prayer.