restored to grace

Death ruled from the time of Adam to the time of Moses. Death ruled even over those who did not sin as Adam did. He broke God’s command. But he also became a pattern of the One who was going to come.

God’s gift is different from Adam’s sin. Many people died because of the sin of that one man. But it was even more sure that God’s grace would also come through one man. That man is Jesus Christ. God’s gift of grace was more than enough for the whole world.

I’ve found it painstakingly difficult to articulate the concept of grace. There’s an absurd kind of beauty that rests within. Absurd, because it cannot be reconciled with prevailing wisdom regarding how the world works. Beautiful, because it is the life-giving fountain that in itself is the very fabric of all we were designed for.

Christ is grace. When the Father sought to rescue humanity, he saw no other avenue than the undeserved gift of God in Man. Emmanuel—God with us.

But why? Why pay that kind of price? Why send your Heart into a world that would reject it?

Because of love.

Grace—this gift of life given to those least deserving of it—is the natural outflow of unbridled, passionate love.

Especially when the object of that love is broken, hurting, and wallowing in self-destruction.

Love for that kind of object means rescue, sacrifice, restoration.

It means grace.

It means Jesus.

This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
~1 John 4.10 (The Message)

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All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

The world is broken. It’s pretty clear that something isn’t right. But God doesn’t intend to leave things in shambles. His heart’s cry is for all of creation to be restored to him. That’s how much he loves us.

He provided a way for us to be restored to him. Pastor Tim often says this: “The cross is a symbol that God uses to tell us, ‘this is how much I love you. I would rather die than live without you.’”

It’s the greatest kind of love.

In John 13, Christ said, “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”

In his second letter to the church in Corinth, Paul wrote that God has made us agents of restoration. His appeal of “Come back to me!” is made through us.

As Christ gave of himself to restore us to God, so we must give of ourselves to restore our brothers and sisters to him.

I will restore them because of my compassion.
It will be as though I had never rejected them,
for I am the Lord their God, who will hear their cries.

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Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
“Hosanna in the highest!”

The word Hosanna is a call to rescue. It can be translated as “Save!” or “Save us now!”

Even though the people who were shouting “Hosanna!” would end up murdering Christ just a week later, they had some special insight into something about his nature.

He is strong enough to save.

But beyond possessing the strength to save us, he also, by his very nature, strengthens us.

There is immense power in the name of Jesus. It’s glorious. Powerful. Magnificent.

And it is the very definition of glory, power, and magnificence.

Jesus is strength. When you have none left, go to him.

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

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“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

It’s the defining feature of the Christ-follower. Or at least it should be. But we’ve gotten caught up in debates over every little detail of our doctrines. Or we’ve turned Christianity into a closed-off community of “Churchianity.”

We’ve forgotten what it means to love. Yet it’s the very thing that sets us apart from everyone else. It’s the very thing that sets us apart to Jesus.

Jesus came to earth to show us something new, something earth-shattering, something so devastating to prevailing wisdom of how the world works.

He came to show us true love.

The overwhelming love that unified the Trinity was on its way to humanity.

Jesus told his followers once that there is no love greater than the kind that would sacrifice his life for others.

Christians are often misled to believe that the most powerful sermons come from the pulpit. They’ve missed the point. The greatest sermons come from a life given over to others in sacrificial love.

Jesus came to show us that kind of love.

He came to be that kind of love.

Christ is love. . . Are we?

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

~1 John 4.7-8 (NLT)

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Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

It’s interesting that Christ would add the disclaimer: “not as the world gives.” What’s he trying to get across?

Imagine yourself in the middle of a hurricane. The winds whip around you at breakneck speeds. The torrent of rain slams against you like sheets of water being blown at your body. Debris is flying everywhere. In the midst of this storm a massive boulder rests unshaken by the hurricane. You fight your way to the monstrous rock and grab hold, knowing that it can anchor you to the ground. Or you rest against its side, trusting that it will shield you from the howling winds that threaten to tear you from the ground.

That rock doesn’t provide the kind of peace you probably think of when you consider the word peace. But it offers a kind of peace that is desperately needed in this world.

The world pretends to offer peace and comfort. But its efforts at creating peace are nothing more than an illusion. A diversion designed to make you believe that there is no storm. But there is, and if you deny the storm’s existence, you’ll be swept up in it.

So run to Christ. He is our Peace in the midst the storm.

I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.

~John 16.33 (The Message)

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God has chosen to make known. . . the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

There are so many words that we’ve cheapened. Hope is one of them.

“I hope I win first place.”

“I hope she says yes.”

“I hope I don’t fail the exam.”

But hope is so much more than wishful thinking. True hope is far more powerful than that.

Hope is trusting that the unseen is better than we can possibly imagine. Hope is knowing that, even in the midst of darkness, our worst pain has a glorious purpose.

The New Living Translation turns the word “hope” into “assurance.” Christ gives us true hope—an assurance—that this life is merely a shadow. There is something glorious that has yet to be revealed.

But beyond just giving us hope, Christ is that hope—that assurance.

As I close in on post #100, I want to take time reflecting on what Christ is.

So, for post #93, Christ is hope.

We have been made right with God because of our faith. Now we have peace with him because of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through faith in Jesus we have received God’s grace. In that grace we stand. We are full of joy because we expect to share in God’s glory.

And that’s not all. We are full of joy even when we suffer. We know that our suffering gives us the strength to go on. The strength to go on produces character. Character produces hope. And hope will never let us down.

~Romans 5.1-5 (NIrV)

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