Grace from Beginning to End

The fourth sunday in lent

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

Ephesians 2:4-10

⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (NIV)

It might be among the most despised words in a child’s vocabulary that a parent ever has to hear.  Fingernails scraping across a blackboard would be music to one’s ears in comparison to having to hear this one three-letter word over and over and over.  This one little word, especially when repeated in quick succession in a conversation with a parent, can magically drain mom or dad of every ounce of patience in no time flat.  If I could strike one word from my children’s vocabulary, never to be spoken again throughout their toddler and adolescent years, it would easily be the word “but.”  “Clean up your toys and get ready to go.” “But…”  “Wash your hands; it’s time to eat.” “But dad…”  “Why is your brother/sister crying?  Did you hit him/her?”  “Well yes, but…”  “Get your pajamas on and get ready for bed.”  “But mom…”  “Get your socks and shoes on and get into the van.”  “But…”  When I hear it from my children’s mouths, it makes my blood pressure rise instantly and I cringe just thinking about it. 

How very different it is when we come across that word as the very first word in verse four of our Second Lesson from Ephesians.  In fact, one could make a very strong case for it being the most beautiful “but” in all of Scripture!  In order to fully appreciate it though, one has to be familiar with the words that precede it. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath” (v.1-3).  You were dead; a pale, chalky corpse, lifeless and powerless to do a thing about it.  That’s not good news, given that such dead bodies have only one thing coming: the full measure of God’s eternal wrath. 

That picture of God’s wrath hasn’t been lost on us, has it?  Consider what horrific tortures men have come up with to cause other men to suffer: impalement, the rack, being flayed alive, fed to wild animals, burned at the stake, being sawed in half, etc.  Those are just a few of the ideas men have come up with.  Now, if man’s wisdom/ingenuity is nothing more than God’s foolishness, then what kind of unimaginable suffering and wrath must hell truly involve when God himself – who established hell for the devil and his evil angels – warns us in Scripture of its horror?  One shutters to comprehend it, and yet even the least offensive of our sins condemn us to such wrath, to say nothing of the most wretched, unspeakable sins of which we’re also guilty.  We were dead in sin and “deserving of wrath,” wrath the likes of which we cannot imagine suffering.

I. Grace Saves

“But…,” Paul writes, as if to emphasize “this is what you were; here is what you deserved, but… all of that has changed.”  You were deader than dead, “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved” (v.4,5).  Just as impossible as it is to grasp the depths of the wrath we deserved, so also is it impossible to imagine the extent of God’s grace that forever changed our status; furthermore, it is impossible to imagine that grace apart from Christ, where it is shown most clearly!  Paul does his best in trying to explain that grace, and trying to underscore that such grace is completely one-sided; our being saved has everything to do with God.  He loved us with a great love.  He is the one who is filthy stinking rich in his mercy toward us.  He is the one responsible for giving us what Paul later refers to as a “gift.”  It is that great love, that rich mercy, that gift from God that saves.  It is, as Paul sums it up, grace that saves.

And to clarify that grace alone saves, Paul takes the time to rule out any human element in obtaining that grace.  Doesn’t he know the mind of man so well?  Aren’t we so inclined to take some measure of credit for ourselves whenever possible?  But Paul says there is no place for that here – none whatsoever.  Listen to how he so thoroughly rules out our taking any credit at all: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast” (v.8,9).  Not from yourselves, not by works, no one can boast – is there any wiggle room for us to slip in and take just a little bit of credit for our being saved?  No – nothing we do saves; only grace saves.

A drowning boy was struggling in the water. On the shore stood his mother in agony of fright and grief. By her side stood a strong man, seemingly indifferent to the boy’s fate. Again and again the suffering mother appealed to him to save her boy. But he made no move. By and by the desperate struggling began to abate. He was losing strength. Presently the boy rose to the surface, weak and helpless. At once the strong man leaped into the stream and brought the boy in safely to the shore. “Why did you not save my boy sooner?” cried the now grateful mother. “Madam, I could not save your boy as long as he struggled. He would have dragged us both to certain death. But when he grew weak and ceased to struggle, then it was easy to save him (James H. McConkey).

So it is with grace.  Struggle as we will, grace is not grace if we should attach our best efforts to it.  Only when we recognize the futility of our best efforts, our finest works, our noble intentions, only then can grace save.  Our efforts do not belong anywhere in the equation.  Once they are removed, then Christ steps in; then grace saves.

II. Grace Shows

Could you imagine God wanting to keep something so marvelous and unfathomable as grace to himself, wanting to keep it hidden so that it is never realized or discovered?  Perish the thought!  No, God wants nothing more than his grace in Christ Jesus to be known and seen in every place and every space all over the world.  “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus” (v.6,7).  Let there be no missing how God has made his grace shown in Christ Jesus.  Three times in these two verses Paul emphasizes Christ – there is no such thing as grace without Christ.  In fact, Christ Jesus is how God has chosen to show his grace.  So we can say not only that grace saves, but also that grace shows.  It is put on display for all to see in the life and righteousness of Jesus, revealed to all in the pages of Scripture.

Furthermore, we are also evidence of that grace, right now and in the future as well.  Grace shows itself in every Christian, having been brought from unbelief into a personal relationship with Jesus.  The product speaks for itself – grace works, and Christians are proof of it!  There is no explanation for how a person can come to the Father, but through the Son and his grace, so when we see believers, we also see God showing his grace.

And one day that grace will be even more clearly displayed.  Paul wrote, “God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”  Paul speaks in the past tense, as if this has already happened. Yet, how can this be if we’re still physically here on earth?  Think of it in terms of how a wedding reception is planned.  Typically, long before the day of the reception arrives, the seating arrangements have already been made.  Weeks, maybe even months beforehand, where each and every guest will sit has already been determined.  Though the day may be off in the distance, the engaged couple speaks in the present tense of this guest is sitting here, and that guest is seating over there.  The guests won’t be physically seated until the day of the reception, of course, but it’s only a matter of time before the present plans and the future reality mesh into one.  So it is with our seats at the banquet table in heaven – your seating arrangements have already been made, but only in the future when welcomed into the banquet halls of heaven will you actually be seated.  Grace shows itself right now in Christ and in each convert to Christianity, but grace will also be displayed and shown for all to see in heaven.

III. Grace Serves

Until that day comes, we recognize another purpose of grace in our lives while here on earth: it seeks to serve.  Grace goes to work in our lives as we carry out the service God has already planned for every last one of his children.  Paul explained it by writing, “For we are God’s workmanship (“handiwork” in the NIV 2011), created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (v.10).  We can – and should! – be unafraid to say that one of the significant reasons God’s grace has saved us is so that his grace might also serve through us.  God already pre-determined any and all good that you and I would do; now it is simply a matter of carrying those tasks out.  And since grace has saved us, grace can now continue to go to work through us.  Let us be unafraid to do good to each other, and in the world around us, always keeping in mind the important relationship between grace and works, that is, salvation is for works, not by works.

A little boy stood mesmerized, watching a caterpillar spinning its cocoon.  The minister approached him and said, “God has given that little caterpillar a task to carry out, and so he carries it out diligently until it is finished.  In the same way, God gives each of us good works to perform throughout our lives.  Yet, imagine what would happen to that caterpillar, if after finished spinning its cocoon, it were to remain inside.  Eventually, instead of a temporary home, it would become his tomb and he would die in there.  No, he doesn’t rest in what he’s done, but eventually forces his way through it, and as a newly-winged creature will enjoy the light and sunshine.  Impressive as his work of art is, he must leave behind his cocoon so that he can enjoy true freedom.  So it is with our works.  We carry them out faithfully and with diligence, but we must always leave them behind, for true freedom comes only through Christ and by his grace.”  Grace saves, grace shows, grace serves; it’s all grace, from start to finish, from beginning to end. May we never take that grace for granted. Amen.

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)