What's So Amazing About Grace?

Reflection:  What a contrast we see in the readings for today. In the Psalm and Job, the writers reflect on the inevitably of the grave.  The psalmist reasons that the wise and foolish alike will spend their eternity in tombs that will remain their houses.  The psalmist says no one can redeem the life of another, or make a payment that will stave off death.  Interesting, especially in light of what Jesus will do when he comes and becomes our ransom payment.  At the end of Psalm 49 the psalmist concludes, “We are like beasts that perish”.  Pretty depressing huh! 

Job reflects similarly the grave awaits us all, and who else will put up the pledge or security God demands.  Job too is talking about the accounting we all have before God.  Job sums up his hopeless situation like this,

11 My days have passed, my plans are shattered.

    Yet the desires of my heart

12 turn night into day;

    in the face of the darkness light is near.

13 If the only home I hope for is the grave,

    if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,

14 if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’

    and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’

15 where then is my hope—

    who can see any hope for me?

Fortunately we have the testimony of the New Testament, or we will feel as hopeless as Job.  Paul begins his letter to the church in Corinth, “Grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ!”  Grace is a word we all need in light of these first two passages.  Grace is getting something we don’t deserve! Some call it “unmerited favor”.  Paul goes on to describe this grace as something he is thankful for, as he sees it in the Corinthians’ lives.  That’s right you can see grace. 

You can see grace in a life that has been transformed by the free gift of God in Christ Jesus.  When someone experiences God’s amazing grace in Jesus Christ, their life is transformed one day at a time.  Part of this gift, is the gift of the Holy Spirit, which also imparts spiritual gifts to live out this life in the body of Christ.  Paul tells the church at Corinth that they do not lack any spiritual gift as they await the second coming of the Lord Jesus.  Meaning God has given them everything they will need to live out their lives by faith and by grace serving God! 

And then Paul makes another tremendous promise in relationship to these gifts of grace.  He says, “And he will keep you blameless until the day of Christ Jesus.  God is the one who is faithful and has called you into relationship with Him in Christ!”  God starts the relationship with us, and God empowers the relationship, and God keeps the relationship until the day Jesus comes back.  The whole Christian life starts and ends with grace, which keeps us firm until the end.  It is the gift that keeps on giving.  Have you experienced God’s amazing grace? 

Many people never really get grace or receive it.  They have been so conditioned by life in the world that they think they have do something to get something, even from God.  But the essence of Christianity is this grace Paul is talking about and it is as free today as it was to that first church in Corinth!! 

Psalm 49:1-12

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

1 Hear this, all you peoples;

    listen, all who live in this world,

2 both low and high,

    rich and poor alike:

3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom;

    the meditation of my heart will give you understanding.

4 I will turn my ear to a proverb;

    with the harp I will expound my riddle:

5 Why should I fear when evil days come,

    when wicked deceivers surround me—

6 those who trust in their wealth

    and boast of their great riches?

7 No one can redeem the life of another

    or give to God a ransom for them—

8 the ransom for a life is costly,

    no payment is ever enough—

9 so that they should live on forever

    and not see decay.

10 For all can see that the wise die,

    that the foolish and the senseless also perish,

    leaving their wealth to others.

11 Their tombs will remain their houses forever,

    their dwellings for endless generations,

    though they had named lands after themselves.

12 People, despite their wealth, do not endure;

    they are like the beasts that perish.

Job 17, 18

17 1 My spirit is broken,

    my days are cut short,

    the grave awaits me.

2 Surely mockers surround me;

    my eyes must dwell on their hostility.

3 “Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.

    Who else will put up security for me?

4 You have closed their minds to understanding;

    therefore you will not let them triumph.

5 If anyone denounces their friends for reward,

    the eyes of their children will fail.

6 “God has made me a byword to everyone,

    a man in whose face people spit.

7 My eyes have grown dim with grief;

    my whole frame is but a shadow.

8 The upright are appalled at this;

    the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.

9 Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,

    and those with clean hands will grow stronger.

10 “But come on, all of you, try again!

    I will not find a wise man among you.

11 My days have passed, my plans are shattered.

    Yet the desires of my heart

12 turn night into day;

    in the face of the darkness light is near.

13 If the only home I hope for is the grave,

    if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,

14 if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’

    and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’

15 where then is my hope—

    who can see any hope for me?

16 Will it go down to the gates of death?

    Will we descend together into the dust?”

Bildad

18 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2 “When will you end these speeches?

    Be sensible, and then we can talk.

3 Why are we regarded as cattle

    and considered stupid in your sight?

4 You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger,

    is the earth to be abandoned for your sake?

    Or must the rocks be moved from their place?

5 “The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out;

    the flame of his fire stops burning.

6 The light in his tent becomes dark;

    the lamp beside him goes out.

7 The vigor of his step is weakened;

    his own schemes throw him down.

8 His feet thrust him into a net;

    he wanders into its mesh.

9 A trap seizes him by the heel;

    a snare holds him fast.

10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground;

    a trap lies in his path.

11 Terrors startle him on every side

    and dog his every step.

12 Calamity is hungry for him;

    disaster is ready for him when he falls.

13 It eats away parts of his skin;

    death’s firstborn devours his limbs.

14 He is torn from the security of his tent

    and marched off to the king of terrors.

15 Fire resides in his tent;

    burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.

16 His roots dry up below

    and his branches wither above.

17 The memory of him perishes from the earth;

    he has no name in the land.

18 He is driven from light into the realm of darkness

    and is banished from the world.

19 He has no offspring or descendants among his people,

    no survivor where once he lived.

20 People of the west are appalled at his fate;

    those of the east are seized with horror.

21 Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man;

    such is the place of one who does not know God.”

Romans 16:21-1 Corinthians 1:1-9

21 Timothy, my co-worker, sends his greetings to you, as do Lucius, Jason and Sosipater, my fellow Jews. 22 I, Tertius, who wrote down this letter, greet you in the Lord. 23 Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings. Erastus, who is the city’s director of public works, and our brother Quartus send you their greetings. [24]  25 Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith— 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen.

1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours: 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

4 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— 6 God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Love the Lord, all you his saints. Psalm 31:23

Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 1 Corinthians 13:6

Father, kindle within our hearts and lives your love which is not sentimental but instructive, redemptive, and meant to be shared boldly with others. May love challenge and form our faith and our relationships, and not be merely tacked on at the end. Amen.