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Stephen Ministry

Well, summer is officially over. Not because the weather’s turned cooler. Not because the Broncos are playing football again and in games that count. No, summer is officially over because we are back to our schedule of adult Christian Education at 9:00 before our 10:00 worship service. Consequently, it seemed an appropriate time to me for some basic work on the foundations of our faith—why we do all this stuff about learning and growing in our faith as well as worshiping the Lord God. So, today, Theology 101: Grace. Next week, Theology 201: Works.

Our Scripture reading for today is just two verses; Ephesians 2:8, 9.

A colleague of mine, a Presbyterian pastor at a church in Colorado, recently told our small group about some people who came to his door. They were Jehovah’s Witnesses and they were walking the neighborhood looking for opportunities to tell others about their faith. My friend engaged them in some conversation where, at some point, he asked them, "Why do you do this? I mean, you’re obviously committing a lot of time and effort to this, why do you do it?" And their answer surprised him. He expected them to say something about their passion for their faith, their calling to spread the news about their faith. Instead they said, "We’re earning our way to heaven." My friend was taken aback a bit by their statement, but recovered quickly and began to engage them in a conversation about some other verses in the Bible they hadn’t referred to in their initial presentation. Verses like our passage for today and other verses that speak of our salvation—our entrance into heaven—being based on grace and not works. After looking at a few passages, they responded, "We’ve never heard those verses before." Not surprising, because if your theology is based upon works—working your way toward God’s good favor and, thereby, passing God’s judgment and gaining entrance into eternal life with God—you would skirt around such passages in the Bible. But, the Bible teaches a salvation that comes not by our achievement of more good works than bad, but rather by grace—what’s been credited to us by what’s been done through Jesus Christ.

Grace. It’s a simple theology yet also very profound. Simple in its definition: unmerited favor. The result of something received by grace is not earned in any way. It is, simply, unmerited favor. And the theology of grace is also simple. We are saved by grace. We didn’t earn it. We don’t deserve it. It’s been given to us by the grace of God through Jesus Christ.

Yet grace is also a profound thing. Grace is rooted in God’s desire for a relationship with us. That in itself is a deeply profound thought—God, the creator of all things, desires a relationship with us human beings. But, we brought brokenness to that relationship by exercising our free will and choosing to disobey God, to sin. The Bible teaches that the consequence of that sin, the penalty of sin is death. Yet, God chose to pay that penalty for us through Jesus’ death on the cross. Jesus, guiltless and free of sin, did not deserve that penalty. He could not pay the penalty for us if he was also deserving of that penalty. But, without the guilt of sin in his life, he could pay the penalty for us. And he did. That’s grace.

There are various illustrations to try and show this theology of grace—all of them inadequate in some way, such if the profoundness of grace. One that comes close is the illustration of a judge hearing a case. As a judge, he must apply the law. The case results in a guilty verdict and the required penalty is a $250 fine. The judge then stands up, removes his robe, walks around the bench and writes out a check for the fine. The requirements of justice and the law are met, but the penalty is paid by one who didn’t deserve it. That’s grace. Unmerited favor.

We have difficulty coming to grips with grace because it seems, in our effort-reward world, there should be more to it. Nothing is free. And we like the image of rugged individualism, accomplishment and reward—John Houseman saying in that classic voice, "We earn it!" Well, not when it comes to salvation and a restored relationship with God. It is by grace we are saved and not by works.

The apostle Paul understood our inclination toward claiming some kind of merit in our standing with God. Did you catch the parenthetical comment in our passage for today? The point Paul wants to make is, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, not by works, so that no one can boast." That’s the point Paul is making. Yet, he pauses in that thought for a moment to add a parenthetical comment. Did you catch it? "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." Paul understands our effort-reward mentality and the likelihood that we would pridefully claim some credit somewhere along the way in terms of our restored relationship with God and salvation. Even the faith we’ve come to in Jesus Christ, understanding and accepting Jesus as our Savior, is a gift from God.

I imagine in my head the apostle Paul walking about dictating this letter to Ephesus while someone writes it down. As he comes to this key passage in the letter, he says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith," but before he concludes the thought another thought pops into his head. "I understand the human mentality and they’re going to take credit for the faith they have! Somewhere they’re going to try and claim credit!" And so he stops and adds his parenthetical thought. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast."

That is the foundation of Christian faith. Theology 101. We are saved by grace, not by works.

I’ve said before that all other faiths, including the faith of those who knocked on my colleague’s door, is spelled D-O. What must I do to earn God’s favor? And Christianity is spelled D-O-N-E. It’s been done in Jesus Christ.

A while back the Today Show ran a series on different faiths and their answer to the question, How do I get to heaven? I taped it and as an illustration to what I mean about do versus done, works versus grace, I wanted to show some of that segment this morning. My purpose is not to belittle other faiths, but rather, to illustrate from their own words the theology of works and its uncertainty toward salvation over against the certainty of grace.

First is the Jewish perspective. "Heaven is about life, not about death…so you gotta get to it." I learned something in that segment. I didn’t know before that Jewish theology says introducing three couples who get married is a ticket to heaven. The next segment on the Jewish perspective states something fairly shocking. "…great secret of Judaism, you don’t have to believe in God to get into heaven…what you do matters." Perhaps that is the great weakness of works theology. God becomes irrelevant. It’s all about what you do, not about God.

Next is the Muslim perspective. Listen in these segments for the emphasis on what you must do. "To believe in the oneness of God…you have to exercise it." You can’t just believe it. You have to exercise it. "To please God and to fulfill His injunctions…has faith in God and does righteous deeds." Muslims require belief in God, unlike the "Jewish secret," but their theology also requires righteous deeds to satisfy God’s judgment. This final segment on the Muslim perspective begins with an Islamic theologian addressing a variety of myths in Muslim faith, this particular one being that heaven is only for Muslims. "Myth. The Koran talks of God as…no surprises in the afterlife." So, Muslim theology allows for the salvation of all who lead a righteous life, and then, hopefully, there "will be no surprises in the afterlife." Another great weakness of works theology. There is absolutely no assurance of your salvation. It all depends on how the scales of God’s justice weighs out in evaluating what you did with your life.

The final perspective is on the Eastern religions of Hinduism and Buddhism. They are very similar—Buddhism sprang out of Hinduism—with one distinct difference which we’ll see in a moment. "There are many heavens in the Buddhist faith…more about becoming enlightened." The focus is on what you do in this life. And finally, "The Buddhist wheel of life...find heaven right here on earth."

All of that is spelled D-O. What must I do to be saved? No assurance. The possibility of "surprises" at the moment of judgment. Heaven based upon what you do on earth.

Contrast that with the D-O-N-E of Christian faith. I’m not showing you the segment done on Christianity, although it was well done, but the answers from the Christian theologians interviewed to the question, what must I do to be saved, were the same answer Paul and Silas give to the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:30. "What must I do to be saved, asks the jailer. And Paul responds, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." Because our salvation has been accomplished through Jesus Christ. Not in what I do, but through what Christ has done.

Oftentimes, the initial response to the answer, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, is met with incredulity. There must be more to it than that! It can’t be that simple. Yet, it is. That simple…and that profound.

I close with the words of that great Christian theologian, Bono, the lead singer for U-2. He is a Christian you know. In an interview with Michka Assaya, Bono said this:

I think that Bono is using the word "karma" there as another word for works—the Buddhist concept of karma and whether you build good or bad karma through what you did in life. Bono goes on to say,

"What you put out comes back to you: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or in physics—in physical laws—every action is met by an equal or an opposite one. It’s clear to me that karma is at the very heart of the universe. I’m absolutely sure of it. And yet, along comes this idea called grace to upend all that ‘as you reap, so you will sow’ stuff. Grace defies reason and logic. Love interrupts, if you like, the consequences of your actions, which in my case is very good news indeed, because I’ve done a lot of stupid stuff. It doesn’t excuse my mistakes, but I’m holding out for grace. I’m holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don’t have to depend on my own religiosity."

That, my friends, is grace. We don’t have to depend on our own religiosity. Rather, we depend upon Jesus Christ. And in that, we can have assurance of our salvation. No surprises in the afterlife. The great strength of grace is assurance of our salvation.

There is a great weakness to grace, however. And that is thinking it doesn’t matter what we do. What we do in life is very important. Our salvation doesn’t depend upon it, but God cares very much about what we do in life. And that is our topic for next week. Good works should flow out of gratitude to God for grace. That is Theology 201 next week. But the starting place is grace. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast."