Grace–Simple. Profound. Grace and the Gospel Sample

Grace is Free

Jesus paid it all. None of the sacrifices back then could ultimately forgive sin; all they did was delay the punishment. There was no messiah or perfect sacrifice until Jesus came. Paul says, “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement… to demonstrate his righteousness…as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” That is why Jesus and Paul say, “died once and for all…” For past, present, and future sins. By the way, this was not a new plan or something God came up with after Jesus. This had been planned from the very beginning.

If God had said “I know that blood of the animal isn’t perfect, so it can’t perfectly cover your sins, but let’s just say it’s perfect, we’ll sort of take that one off. We’ll sweep it under the rug a little bit, and it’ll be fine. I can do that.” But God couldn’t do that and maintain His character. There had to be an advocate who paid for everyone in order for God to still be just and to be able to justify those who have faith in Jesus. 

Even though this is a simple story of the gospel, there are still a lot of Christians who believe that it’s by works and that grace is earned. I want to speak very carefully and clearly: Jesus never says to earn this. It’s a gift received by faith and grace. 

So, if we aren’t justified by works, where do they fit in? Jesus and Paul would say just because we justify you freely by grace doesn’t mean you can live like you want. That’s a terrible idea. Works are important and critical to the life of the disciple, but they flow out of salvation in gratitude.  

The Japanese believe in Kintsukuroi, a philosophy of things that are broken. For hundreds of years, they take a dish that has been broken and instead of discarding it, they glue it back together with silver or gold dust, highlighting the brokenness. Then it becomes useful again and now has a story. They celebrate the cracks and brokenness as part of the story of that object. In the same beautiful and perfect way, God’s grace works in us. We are going to stand before Him with cracks in our hearts and our terrible sinful ways, yet He’s going to fill all of those cracks with a gold of grace. God accents your brokenness and makes you whole again. When we stand as trophies of God’s grace, we get to point at all of the scars and wounds that He put back together. Only people with brokenness see the beauty of His grace and depth of it. It’s the greatest gift you have been offered and has more to say than just rescuing you from sin. 

For more Grace – Simple. Profound. resources, podcasts with Scot Pollok, and a downloadable book – visit gsot.edu/simplegrace. The Grace Center for Spiritual Development at Grace School of Theology provides non-degree studies, live online bible study opportunities, and resources like this devotional.