What is this Grace You Keep Talking About?

The “grace of God” is foundational to the Christian faith. So why is there so much confusion regarding its meaning? Here’s an exercise to prove my point. Ask ten of your friends, separately, what grace means to them. How many different answers did you get? How many come close to the Biblical definition?

If your experience is like mine, many of the answers you receive will be limited to some work of God. Most Christians in America equate God’s grace with Jesus’ death for their salvation. This is what they have been taught or allowed to believe.

From the Outline of Biblical Usage (https://www.blueletterbible.org), we find that the charis of God is “the merciful kindness [goodwill and favor] by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues.”

Did you get all that?

Grace is not an act of God, nor is it an event. Talking about grace in this way diminishes its meaning – and our understanding of God. Grace is a facet of God’s nature. God is gracious. Those that enter His presence are blessed by His gracious character.

I have heard someone say that grace is the disposition of God toward mankind. This sounds right to me. They go on to say that the grace of God produces things that are beneficial to man: justification, salvation, gifts, fruit, etc. It is important to remember that these benefits are not grace, but its products.

Furthermore, most have been taught or left to believe that grace and its benefits are free. This is wrong on two accounts. First, grace, as a nature of God, cannot be labeled as free (or costly). The Bible never speaks of grace in this way.

Some will acquiesce to this point, and move to argue that the benefits of grace are free. There are several passages they might reference. Let’s start with a couple from Romans.

Practical Steps for Counting the Cost

For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Luke 14:28-31

Counting the cost of following Jesus Christ has been lost by most of the church. If you have not been encouraged in this regard – or you have not been encouraging others – you will be blessed in reading our most recent lesson: The Lost Foundations – Counting the Cost… First.

Once you decide to count the cost (and/or encourage others to do the same), the following may help you get started.

1. I have found that the most profitable starting point is a simple conversation with our Heavenly Father (imagine that). Here are some good conversation starters:
   1. Father God, stir up the desire you have placed in my heart – to hear your voice regarding the cost of following your Son.
   2. Father God, stir up the desire you have placed in my heart – to invest in Your kingdom.
   3. Father God, give me the opportunity to begin the investment strategy Your Spirit reveals.
2. Keep in mind that a person’s perception of reality can be bent in one of two ways: Toward optimism, or pessimism. Both can be dangerous; pessimism, more so. Be wary of your mind’s leanings.
3. Counting the cost may reveal areas where we are still reigning – in charge of our investment decisions. There is a fine line between what we would like to have, and what we demand, to be satisfied in life. If God and Christ are truly reigning, then everything we have been entrusted with is subject to their investment decisions. Repentance regarding ownership may be in order.
4. Counting the cost may reveal areas where we are living in fear. Ask yourself: What do I fear losing? Remember, behind every fear is a lie, deal with the lie and the fear will fly. Ask God to identify the lie, and the truth that will overcome it. 
5. NOTE: Beyond this point, allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in determining which of these helps will best exercise your faith.
6. One way to test your counting is to consider a past commitment. For example, you may have promised Jesus that you would follow Him anywhere. Or, you may have commitment some amount of time to serve those less fortunate. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the commitments you have already made.
7. If you have not made a particular commitment, then allow the Holy Spirit to prompt your imagination for a particular kingdom investment opportunity. Be careful; our minds are tricky things. They have a tendency take what the Holy Spirit suggests out to something entirely farfetched; something to which we can easily say “no way”.
8. Jesus did not hide, nor soft pedal, the investment required to follow Him. The lesson mentioned above highlights a number of specific costs. The Parable of the Sheep and Goats, the Sermon on the Mount and the Great Commission are also helpful challenges for our counting. Incorporate those in your time with the Holy Spirit (in #2).
9. Our love of the LORD should be the primary motivator for counting the cost (and paying it). Ask yourself: Do I love Him so much that I would joyfully sacrifice my __________?

I trust and pray this will help you become a more active investor in the kingdom of our LORD. Please, let me know if I can help you further.

Humbly yours and forever His,