Grace for the Race

Storms are a fact of life on this side of glory:  sickness and disease . . . suffering and disappointment . . . loss of employment . . . financial reversal . . . loneliness . . . wayward children . . . marriage difficulties . . . shattered dreams . . . death.  And these are just a few of the storms we may face!

So how have you been doing at weathering the storms of life that you’ve been facing lately?  When was the last time you thought, “WHERE IS GOD?!” as the waves of challenge were crashing over you and the boat you had been smoothly sailing?

When [Jesus] got into the boat, his disciples followed him.  And behold! A severe storm arose in the sea, so that the boat was covered by the waves; but he himself was sleeping.  Then they went and woke him by saying, “Lord! Save us! We are perishing!  So he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”  After he got up, he rebuked the winds and the sea, and it became absolutely calm.  Then the men were astonished, saying, “What kind of a man is this One, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”  (Matthew 8:23-27)

Many of the disciples were professional fishermen; the Sea of Galilee was their workplace, and this certainly was not their first encounter with a sudden storm.  The Sea of Galilee was notorious for unexpected, violent storms, as winds swept down from the mountain elevations over the waters of the sea.  Yet the disciples were filled with great fear—that had to be a bad storm! And all the while, our Lord, exhausted from His works of ministry and the press of the crowds, lay sound asleep.

And what did the disciples do with their fear during this serious storm?  It is the most important lesson we need to learn in this life: they went to Jesus. 

This is the first thing we should do as children of the Most High God.  When the storm winds begin to blow, we must turn to Jesus.  We cry out to Jesus, just as the disciples did: “Lord! Save us! We are perishing!”  Indeed, the Lord invites us to, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me” (Psalm 50:15). 

I take great comfort in the fact that the disciples had to wake Jesus.  Our Lord was not stressed out, startled, or surprised by the storm that was blowing.  He was sound asleep, resting with complete confidence in His relationship with His Father in heaven, He who never slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:3-4).  What a tremendous picture of “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7) for us to remember when we find ourselves in the storms of life!

I want to point out something that might easily be overlooked.  Jesus was with His disciples in the middle of the storm.  He is with us too.  Regardless of whatever storm winds may be blowing, Jesus is with us.  Jesus is not some “fair-weather” friend, found only when the sky is blue and the clouds are fleecy.  He is right there with us in the middle of every storm.  He has promised us, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:18).  Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus! 

Jesus has been with you in every storm you have ever faced.  Every storm is used by God for His glory and for your good.  And yet we live in a fallen and broken world where some storms never fully pass.  Do you remember the story of the apostle Paul and his “thorn” storm? 

Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  (2 Corinthians 12:8-10)

God does not calm every storm, but He is in control of all of them.  God knew the thorn was best for Paul, and He knows what storms are best left blowing in our lives too.  And one day we will face the inevitable storm that comes to us all in the valley of the shadow of death.  And in this final storm we will ever face, Jesus will be with us and will deliver us from it.  When we breathe our last and are absent from this body, we will be present with our Lord. 

 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

”O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” . . .

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

(1 Corinthians 15:54-56, 58)

The Good News of the Gospel tells us that we are not only washed clean by the blood of the Lamb, but we have been purchased with that same precious blood.  Because we are His, we can face any storm wind that blows with the confident assurance that He is with us every step of the way.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

“I still have many things to say to you,” Jesus said to His disciples, “but you cannot bear them now” (John 16:12). Our Lord was not speaking solely for the benefit of those who were listening at that moment; He was teaching all of us a biblical truth: God is not finished with us yet!  Now, if you are anything like me (a great sinner in daily need of an even greater Savior), that is not only a source of unimaginable comfort, but of unbelievable freedom. 

Because God is not finished with you yet, you are in a continual state of process and progression—not perfection.  You don’t know everything you are going to know.  You don’t think everything you are going to think.  You don’t say everything you are going to say.  You don’t do everything you are going to do.  You are not everything you are going to be.  And because of the promised reality of what you will one day be—“conformed to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29)—you can rest in the reality of your freedom today.   

• You are free to enjoy.
• You are free to explore.
• You are free to risk.
• You are free to relax.
• You are free to dream.
• You are free to desire.
• You are free to love.
• You are free to laugh.
• You are free to sing.
• You are free to sorrow.
• You are free to forgive.
• You are free to fail.

That’s right!  You are even free to fail.  This must be true if we are not yet perfected.  Perfection is the only state where there is no failure, and since we are not yet perfected, we will fail.  Do you remember when Jesus told Peter he was free to fail?  You might be thinking, “I don’t remember any story in the Bible where Jesus told anyone he was free to fail.”  Well, stay with me for just a minute, and you may be surprised!  Just hours before he was betrayed and arrested, Jesus was speaking to His disciples. Suddenly, he turned and spoke directly to Peter:

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.”

Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”  (Luke 22:31-34)

When Jesus told Peter he was going to deny Him three times that night, He was telling Peter he was free to fail . . . and fail he did!  After promising to die to keep from failing his Lord, Peter did fail Jesus three times, but the story of his failure doesn’t end there.  Jesus didn’t forget about Peter, and Jesus didn’t forsake him.  After the resurrection, Jesus restored, recommissioned, and resent Peter to advance the cause of His Kingdom. 

The freedom we experience in the Gospel is hard to believe.  And let me say this; if it’s not hard to believe, it’s not the freedom of the Gospel!  Because Jesus came to set the captives free, everyone who belongs to Jesus is free.  And in that freedom, there is even freedom to fail.  Regardless of where this finds you, whether you are coming out of a failure or getting ready to stumble into another one, fear not!  And when you fail, remember that Jesus is waiting to do the same to you that he did for Peter—to forgive you, restore you, recommission you, and resend you—time and time again!

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

The online encyclopedia Wikipedia defines the “good life” as a philosophical term, originally associated with Aristotle, for the life that one would like to live.  The world of marketing and advertising has many definitions for the “good life,” all of which revolve around the stuff of this world:

• Expensive new car
• Expansive home in a nice neighborhood
• Fancy clothes
• Fantastic marriage
• Trouble-free children
• Well-paying job with room to climb
• Influential social circle
• Enough money not to work
• Lying on the beach sipping a cool drink

I’m sure you could add to the list of all the “more” that the world tells us we need in order to live “the good life.”  The challenge with looking for this good life, as the world defines it, is that when and if you find it, it never delivers what it promised.  As a pastor, I get to work with a lot of men.  Many of them have achieved what the world would call the “good life,” yet many of them are still not satisfied.

Pastor Tullian has just begun a series on “Ecclesiastes.”  The author, whom many scholars believe was King Solomon, had amassed great wealth and possessions . . . everything he could possibly imagine under the sun that would comprise “the good life.”

I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces . . . I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem . . . And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:7-11)

Here is a question to consider: When you get everything you want and you are still not satisfied, now what? Our beloved pastor has been teaching us the answer to that question for some time now: “Jesus plus nothing equals everything; everything minus Jesus equals nothing at all!”

How would you define the good life?  What would make for a satisfying life, one marked by meaning, significance, and purpose?  Let me suggest that a change in vocabulary would be profitable for all of us.  Instead of focusing on the proverbial “good life,” we should be focusing on the “grace life” that naturally flows out of our intimate, personal relationship with Jesus.  You see, the grace of the Gospel changes our perspective about the “good life.”  Gospel grace opens us up to understanding the truth that the Giver is more important than the gifts He gives. 

Now, I know there are countless gifts the Giver gives to those who are His children and they are indeed good gifts.  He loves to give good gifts to His children; what good father doesn’t?  But God never intended for His children to find more meaning . . . more pleasure . . . more happiness . . . more satisfaction . . . more life in the gifts that were given, rather than in the Giver who so graciously gave them.      

We need to remember that the greatest gift Jesus has given is Jesus!  To be sure, there are great rewards to being in Christ, but none of them are better than Christ Himself.  Christ brings great change in the life of everyone He saves.  Wounds get healed.  Alcoholics get sober.  Drug addicts get clean.  Angry people get calm.  Pharisees get grace.  I could go on.  Yet if we focus more on the change than we do the Changer, we miss the greatest portion of what Jesus gave us: HIMSELF!  If Jesus is your definition of the “good life,” pursue Him will all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

No one is immune from the pain of this life.  Of everyone born, all die!  And along the way to glory, we face countless sources of sorrow and pain.  But for every child born of grace, pain is to be kept in its proper perspective.

For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.  (2 Corinthians 4:17)

Let me make something perfectly clear: Paul is not portraying pain as painless!  Nor is he saying that pain is irrelevant, insignificant, or inconsequential, even when regarded in light of eternity.  Paul’s goal, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is to provide every believer with the proper perspective for pain.

1^st – SLIGHT

In light of what awaits the believer in glory, affliction and pain are to be considered slight.  John Piper writes, “When Paul says his afflictions are light, he does not mean easy or painless.  He means that compared to what is coming they are as nothing.  Compared to the weight of glory coming, they are like feathers on the scale.”  This in no way is meant to minimize the reality of suffering, pain, sorrow, and loss.  It is intended to help the believer keep it in its proper perspective.   

2^nd – MOMENTARY

After the apostle Paul compares and contrasts our “slight” affliction against the “weight of glory,” he goes on to compare and contrast our “momentary” affliction against the “eternal weight of glory.”  Paul is encouraging every believer to keep pain in its proper perspective.  Whatever wave of challenge we are currently facing in this life is but a drop of water in the vast ocean of eternity.  

3^rd – PREPARATORY

Speaking from personal experience, it is hard to see pain as preparatory.  When I find myself in the middle of some kind of pain, I find it hard to focus on anything past the pain!  Is it not the same for you?  That is why we need to keep the Gospel before us daily.  Paul is telling us that our pain is preparing us for our promised reward. 

Only the power of the Gospel can lift the believer to the place where pain, suffering, and loss can be received as slight, momentary, and preparatory.  Whatever we are going through right now, we are going through it.  We will get to the other side, and on that other side is something so incredible—so incomprehensible, our words can produce only a vague shadow of the supernatural substance we will one day walk into with the One who has prepared all of it for us.  As Scripture reminds us, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9 NKJV).

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

We are, by nature, restless.  We are restless in our relationships; we are restless in our work; we are restless in our station in life; we are restless in our success; we are restless in our failure.  Restlessness is as much a part of our mental makeup as our desire for food and shelter. And make no mistake; even after Jesus shows up and turns our lives upside-down, we are still restless. 

He will quiet you by his love.  (Zephaniah 3:17)

Here God confirms two very important things.  First, He acknowledges the fact that we are restless.  And second, He promises to give us rest.  “Come to me,” our Lord invites, “all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).  What a word of comfort that is to me!  I pray that you, too, will draw great comfort today from the promise of God.  Even we who are His adopted children are not immune to restlessness.  And do you know why?  It is because we forget who God is and what He has done for us. 

Some of God’s children are restless because they simply cannot get past their past.  Gnawing guilt has a death grip on them.  Instead of resting in the righteousness of Christ, glorying with Paul that they do not have “a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ” (Philippians 3:19), they are restless in their own righteousness—the flimsy fig leaves of self-righteousness which have failed them time and time again.  They promised to do more and try harder, but with each passing promise, they realized just how far short they continue to fall of God’s intended mark. 

Others find themselves restless because they are fearful about their future.  Uncertainty about unsettling providences, which began as a minor infection, has turned into a raging disease.  Instead of resting in the certainty of Jesus, they are restless in the uncertainty of life.  They count on created things, which can never provide them with the rest that only Jesus can give.   

Yet in all of our restlessness, Jesus has promised us rest.  As children of God, we have a past that has been perfected and a future that has been promised.  We no longer have to be afraid of judgment because Jesus took all God’s wrath and nailed it to that dirty tree.  He took the cup of God’s judgment and drank it down, draining every last drop!  ”There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).  We can live at peace with God, because God is at perfect peace with us, thanks to the finished work of Christ on our behalf.  Even when we are confronted with heartbreaking news, we can turn to the One whose heart beats for us and find rest in Him.         

The Gospel also tells us we no longer have to attempt the role of personal deliverer, redeemer, or savior.  Jesus has paid it all! He has done it all for us.  God is not angry with us.  God is not disappointed with us.  God is not frustrated with us.  And do you know why?  Because God is well pleased with the sacrifice of His perfect, precious, and beloved Son. 

Because we are in Christ, we are in!  We are part of God’s eternal plan and purpose, a plan that was determined before the ages began. We are objects of God’s grace and favor and love.  We are recipients of God’s mercy.  We are adopted into God’s family and receive His care. The Lord said to Moses—and He says to us today—“My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest” (Exodus 33:14).   

Because of the gargantuan grace of the gospel, resting is the order of the day . . . not restlessness. 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Did you know that when God looks at you He sees Jesus?  That’s right!  You are clothed in the righteousness of Christ . . . “found in [Christ], not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:9).  So, you see, in God’s eyes you are perfect in every way.

However, you are not yet what you will one day become!  God sees that too, because He is in the process of setting it up. 

The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.  (Judges 6:12)

 When these words were spoken to Gideon by the angel of the Lord, Gideon was a laborer who was threshing wheat . . . not a mighty warrior doing battle with the Midianites.  However, in the sight of God, Gideon was more than he had currently become, and God was about to show him just how much more.  God was in the process of making Gideon a great warrior and leader, and the way God would arrange it, there could be no doubt who would be responsible for the victory and therefore who would get the glory.   

Gideon started with 32,000 men who said they were ready for battle.  However, when the Lord completed the winnowing of Gideon’s army, only 300 men remained.  Just one problem there: Gideon’s company of 300 men was dwarfed by the 100,000-plus Midianite army they would be facing.  But what Gideon didn’t yet fully understand was that the strength of His army was not to be found in the size of his troops, but rather in the size of his God.  God kept less than one percent of Gideon’s original force in order to make it clear to everyone that victory would come as a result of God’s power and strength, not man’s.  As the Lord of hosts has declared, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6).  For the first time in his life, Gideon would have to trust fully and completely in God—not in himself—to become what God was calling him to become.

So . . . where in your life right now is God calling you to trust Him fully and completely? Where is He working to grow you into more than you’ve become?  God may not be calling you to be a mighty warrior on a battlefield; perhaps He wants to make you a mighty spouse . . . a mighty servant . . . a mighty minister of the Gospel. 

You see, the Gospel frees you to walk by faith and not by sight.  God doesn’t care what your opposition looks like to you.  He is the One who is going to fight your battle and He is the One who will win the victory.  God is in the business of showing Himself supernaturally strong through the unbelievably weak . . . if we will but trust Him. 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

How would you describe your walk with Jesus currently?  Hot?  Cold?  Lukewarm?  Jesus warned that it would be better to be cold in our faith than lukewarm!  “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16).

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to find out what getting spit out of His mouth might be like!  “For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:30-31).  So with the understanding that living above the level of lukewarm is a matter of more than casual interest, let’s take a look at what a lukewarm Christian looks like and ask a question: How do we bring the pot to a boil?

Lukewarm Christians look pretty good on the surface of their salvation.  They attend church regularly . . . unless they receive an offer for a day on the water or a round of golf or a trip to the stadium.  They give their tithe to their church and even additional money to charities . . . just as long as it doesn’t hurt their lifestyle in any way.  They understand the truths of Scripture and the call to be different from the world . . . but when forced to choose, they would rather blend in with the world than stand out for Christ.  

The lukewarm are engaged in service to God, but their motivation is rooted in what others think and say about them.  They absolutely love the stories of sold-out Christians who have impacted the world for Christ, but they are not willing to move outside of their pre-determined zones of comfort and security to do the same. 

• The lukewarm call “sold-out” what Jesus calls service.
• The lukewarm call “radical” what Jesus calls responsibility.
• The lukewarm call “drastic” what Jesus calls duty.
• The lukewarm call “fanatical” what Jesus calls faith.

With or without Jesus, life looks about the same for the lukewarm Christian because they are not doing anything that requires faith.

But this is not for you!  To be sure, we all lapse into “lukewarm” in our walk with Jesus from time to time. I did not write this to evoke feelings of guilt and fear in you; guilt and fear never raise our temperature for any sustained period.  Sure, we may run hot for a time when we are feeling guilty about our past or fearful about our future.  But not for long . . . and not in a way that pleases God.  Remember, God does not look on the outward appearance, but at our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7).  As David beautifully captured the heart that pleases our Lord in Psalm 51:17-17.

You will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

So what is the antidote to living above the level of lukewarm?  The Gospel, of course!

The Gospel is the fuel that ignites the flame of faith and keeps it burning hot, regardless of the cost or circumstance.  The Gospel reminds us what Jesus has done on our behalf, and the love of Christ begins to compel us, replacing guilt and fear.  The Gospel turns obligation into opportunity, which is a fragrant offering in the sight of God.  The Gospel is the only force that can lift us above the level of lukewarm and keep us there. 

So if you feel yourself running a little less than hot for Jesus, the solution is not to “do more” or “try harder.”  And it certainly is not to make resolutions to “do better next time,” only to find yourself falling woefully short of the intended mark . . . again.  The solution is found in your Savior and in your Savior alone.  See His sacrifice for you.  Feel His forgiveness for you.  Hear His victory cry, “It is finished!” uttered for you.  And hear His decree of power in your life: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6).

This is the only way to consistently live above the level of lukewarm.  “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Many in the church mistakenly think their greatest problem is out there somewhere.  They think it is the environment . . . the culture . . . the government . . . the neighbors . . . the boss at the office . . . the list could go on and on.  I counsel many married men and women who are convinced that their greatest problem is located on the other side of the bed.  But the Bible has something altogether different to say about our enemy, and until we understand what is going on inside of us, there will be no measurable change outside of us. 

For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.  (Galatians 5:17)

The Bible makes it crystal clear that our enemy is not out there somewhere.  It lies within us, as the old man (the desires of the flesh) wages war with the new man (the desires of the Spirit).  Before Jesus showed up, we were content to honor the desires of the flesh, living to satisfy our sin nature.  But after Jesus showed up, the war began between the old nature and the new nature.  The enemy is not “out there.”  It is deep inside of us!  Our Lord warned:

What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person.  For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.  These are what defile a person.

(Matthew 15:18-20)

Jesus provided a penetrating and profound diagnosis of the root problem that lies deep within the soil of every one of us.  Years ago, a newspaper article invited readers all over the globe to answer the age-old question: “What’s wrong with the world?”  G.K. Chesterton, the great British writer and thinker responded succinctly, “I AM!”

He got it!  Do we?

It’s important to remember sin’s goal in this battle: to separate us from God.  We cannot be taken out of His loving hand (John 10:28-30), but we can be tipped over and buried under the weight of our sins.  Satan wants to do to us what he did to Adam and Eve—to make us believe that God cannot be trusted.  The devil brought Adam and Eve to an utterly insane conclusion: that God—the One who created them . . . sustained them . . . gave them everything good . . . walked with them in the cool of the day . . . their loving Creator and Friend—could not be trusted. 

The devil tries to make us believe the same thing each day.  “Has God really said . . .?”  Every time we sin and give in to the desires of the flesh, we prove we doubt the goodness of our great God.  That is why we need to keep the Gospel before us moment by moment.  The truths of the Gospel give us the necessary motivation to keep getting up every time we stumble and fall, because we know we are secure in Jesus.

Ultimately the victory has already been won for us on Golgotha’s Hill.  Now go out and walk in that victory!  

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

The truth that is to follow is to be a great source of comfort for you today.  Nobody knew this better than the apostle Paul.

I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.  Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 3:12-14)

Paul had every reason to believe he could earn the favor and blessing of God.  He was part of the “in” crowd at the Temple.  He was a Pharisee of Pharisee’s and lived his life to the letter of the law.  Yet in spite of all of his performing, Jesus showed up and made it clear that Paul was never going to be able to earn his way into God’s favor, no matter how hard he tried.  In fact, his focus on earning and performing was only driving him further away from God . . . not closer. 

What a comfort for those of us who are straining to keep running on the performance treadmill of life!  We do not have to perform our way into relationship with God.  And we do not have to maintain, increase, or improve on our performance to remain there.  It we were not good enough to get in, we certainly not good enough to stay in.  It is a prize that is to be won, not earned; and it has been won by Jesus.

The more Paul dug deep into this truth, the more he could focus on pursuing and finding pleasure in God, rather than performing for God.  Because of what Jesus had already done for Paul, he could live out practically what he already was positionally: a possession of the Prince of Peace.  Paul knew it was Jesus who took hold of him. and not the other way around.  When we understand this Gospel-saturated truth, we are free to be what we have been called by God to be.

This truth empowered Paul to rise even above a past that was littered with sin, even the wickedness of his involvement in the death of Stephen, the first Christian martyr.  A past like Paul’s would have paralyzed him if he was still stuck on a performance-based religion—the need to earn eternal life and God’s blessings in everyday life.  Guilt would have ground him into the ashes of defeat.  But Jesus freed him from that, and now Paul was indeed free to focus on the faith that had been won by Jesus on the cross. 

So for all of you recovering Pharisees (and believe me, I am the chief of them), let us rest in the truth that Jesus has done everything that needs to be done for us to have a relationship with Him.  We cannot damage that relationship or destroy it, no matter how badly we perform.  Resting in the truth that we are covered in the righteousness of Christ is reason to celebrate, and the more we celebrate this truth the more we will consistently live a life that is pleasing to God and beneficial to others.  As J.I. Packer rightly observed, “No need in Christendom is more urgent than the need for a renewed awareness of what the grace of God really is.” 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!

Because we are all made in the image of God, everyone matters.  Both believer and unbeliever alike are valuable, important, and needed in the kingdom of God.  Because God doesn’t make junk, every person has meaning and significance.  And that is why we should look at people—all people—as part of a “holy humanity,” created in the image of our Holy God.  To be sure, sin has twisted and corrupted this image, but the image still remains.  Every person bears the image of God, regardless of where they live, how they look, and what they have learned.   

Think about the people Jesus hung around with.  In the eyes of the “good” and “valuable” and “important” people like the Pharisees, Jesus hung around with the wrong crowd.  He spent time with the dregs of society: prostitutes, tax collectors, criminals, the marginalized, and the outcasts of society.  He would have lived a far more comfortable and convenient life if He had invested His time in the socially acceptable and politically correct.  But He did not!  He was here for the down and out, not the up and in, and He would not let the opinions of others keep Him from helping the hurting reconnect and recapture their true humanity as image bearers of the Most High God!

Only the power of the Gospel enables us to tear down walls of self-focus and self-protection, freeing us to see the image of God in every person we meet.  This is what empowers us to live beyond the borders of our own lives.  We begin living for the glory of God and the good of others . . . all others.  We begin caring about people and for people who in no way can care about and for us.  Certainly they are in no position to benefit our lives.  Fredrick Buechner hits this proverbial “nail” squarely on the head in The Magnificent Defeat…

The love for equals is a human thing—of friend for friend, brother for brother.  It is to love what is loving and lovely.  The world smiles.  The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing—the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely.  This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world.  The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing—to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man.  The world is always bewildered by its saints.  And then there is the love for the enemy—love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain.  The tortured’s love for the torturer.  This is God’s love.  It conquers the world. 

We love because we have been loved and we serve because we have been served by the One who purchased us with His precious blood.  As Jesus told His disciples, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).  And don’t miss this: Jesus knew we could never pay Him back in any way for all that He did for us.  For this reason …

• Our purpose is built upon His will
• Our passion is structured upon His mission
• Our potential is connected to His power. 

At this level of living, every person matters to us because every person matters to God.  God is in the process of making all things new, and in that process He has called us to live for something bigger than ourselves.  Everything we have belongs to God; therefore we are to be using it all for the expansion of His kingdom, not our own.  When we care more about what God cares about, we will care more about other people.  Mercy and love will be the distinctives of our lives, and all those we touch will see a God who is both merciful and loving.  We make our God attractive when we look for and acknowledge the image of God in the “holy humanity” God brings into our lives. 

When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.  Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteousness.  (Luke 14:12-14)

I know this all sounds so radical and counterintuitive . . . but what would you expect from such a radical Savior who profoundly talked and personally walked such a counterintuitive message? 

This is the Gospel.  This is grace for your race.  NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!