The Irresistible Attractiveness of Grace in Christianity

Grace is what we crave most when our guilt is exposed, right? You come home late. Your parents are sitting there. They've got the stuff on the table. They know it's yours. There's no excuses, there's no loopholes. There's no point in saying, It's my sister's. I don't know, you know that. We found it in your room. I mean, you are just, you are so busted and in that moment, you're thinking about all the things they could take away and should take away. And in that moment, what you crave is you don't know, you didn't know the word maybe in high school or middle school or college but it was grace. [00:03:13]

Grace is what we're hesitant to extend when confronted with the guilt of other people, especially when they've hurt me or even more so, when they've hurt someone I love. And therein lies the tension. That grace, when we're on the receiving end, is extraordinarily refreshing. But grace, when it's required of us, is extraordinarily disturbing. It is in fact, as we're gonna see, as you think about how this settles in on your relationships, your good ones and your bad ones and the ones that you're trying to repair or the relationship that someone's trying to repair with you, that grace really is the unsettling solution for just about everything. [00:04:16]

It's simply undeserved, unearned, unearnable favor. It's someone leaning in your direction when they should lean away. It's someone that you know you should pursue because you've hurt them and they actually initiate the conversation. But grace is strange. You can no more deserve grace than you can plan your own surprise party, right? I mean, if you plan your own surprise party, the fact that you planned it voids the surprise. And the moment you think you deserve grace, you've actually voided the grace. [00:05:05]

We can't recognize or receive grace for what it actually is until we're convinced we don't deserve it. You can't even recognize or experience grace for what it is until you come to the place and I come to the place that I actually don't deserve it. It can only be experienced within the context of a relationship. Grace is purely relational. It's always tied to a relationship. It can only be experienced in the context of a relationship, ready for this? Where there is an imbalance and you are on the negative side of the ledger because of your behavior. [00:06:14]

This is what makes Christianity so unique. This is what makes the story and the narrative of Christianity and the arc of the story of Christianity so unique and so attractive. This is the reason that even if you never get to the place intellectually where you can believe it's true, this is why everybody should want it to be true. And this is why God had to show up. Because grace is 100% relational and you can't experience or understand grace apart from a relationship. [00:07:10]

Jesus was full on grace and full on truth. Jesus brought, Jesus brought a full dose of grace and truth. This is so powerful because you're on one side or the other of the ledger. Some of you who are truth people, some of you who are grace people, this is why two people have to get married because we need some grace and truth or our kids will be crazy. This is why some of you are crazy 'cause both of your parents were grace or both of them were truth. We need a little grace. We need a little truth. [00:10:29]

He called sin sin. He called sinners sinners and then He laid down His life for the sinners and paid for their sin. He was all grace, all truth all the time and John saw this and he saw this with people. And it's what led John, as an old man, to finally pen these words or dictate these words that would change Western civilization. That would shape the way that just about everybody in the world views God. [00:11:28]

Over and over, Jesus leaned in toward pre-repentant, guilty people and invited them to follow Him. Over and over, He leaned into people who had not acknowledged their sin and initiated relationship and said, Follow Me. And then John was there at the very end. We know he was there at the very end because at the very end of Jesus' life He says to John who brought us so much of this. He said, John, My mother, Mary, is like your mother. [00:22:57]

The good news that Jesus referred to is embodied in a person, Jesus. And the good news is summarized in a word and it's our word. It's the word grace. And grace is an invitation. It's an invitation very much like the invitation that Jesus extended to Matthew. It's an invitation that goes like this. I know all about you, the good and the bad and I want you to follow Me. But be warned. If you follow Me, I will lead you away from your sin. [00:35:59]

I remember all of it and I love you anyway. Now come, follow Me. [00:36:16]

Because like life, grace is not fair. Like life, grace is not fair. It is better than fair. It is disturbingly better than fair. It is unsettlingly better than fair. I mean, Jesus will continue this. After His resurrection, this is unbelievable if you know the narrative. After the resurrection, Jesus pulls Peter aside and Peter is overcome with shame and guilt. I mean, when Jesus was arrested, Peter fled. [00:30:10]

This was Jesus' way of saying over and over and over that I am the person who brings grace and truth, not in half measure. Not the mix of, not the blend of. Full on grace, full on truth. I'm all grace and all truth all the time because that's what love is and I am love personified. [00:32:57]