GRACE, not hinged on works

“And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace” Romans 11:6

A short prayer:
“Lord, I thank you for your grace that is not hinged on my works, lest I should blow my own horn; lest I should boast that I’m the most skillful; less I should show off my eloquence or ability to win debates; lest I should brag about my knowledge of your word more than my peers or that I should say “Ye, I’m a perfect being.” I’m far from perfection, though I do not underestimate the power that your spirit in me possesses. A workman has every right to demand for his wages at the end of the day, but what can a man do to obtain your grace? “By strength shall no man prevail.” Lord, teach me your ways that I may experience your grace even in my imperfect state. My faith is little, but strong enough to move mountains. I believe, and then I doubt, help my unbelief. As you search my heart, you’ll come across that part of me that sincerely yearns for you and appreciates you; a part of me that wants to live a righteous life. In humble adoration, I say, Lord, I decrease that you might increase in Me. Thank you for your grace…even when I don’t merit it”

In case you forgot, it’s meant to be a prayer, so read it again. Now make it a word of prayer…….

Grace is an unmerited favour. It is freely given. Taking it from the point of salvation, “Once, you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds, because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation – IF you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.” Col 1:21-23b. A lot of us believe that there’s nothing we did/do to attract God’s grace. True. But there’s something we need to do to make His grace remain functional in our lives – we need to have Faith! The Christian walk is by faith. Our ability to make promises like “I’ll see you next week” not knowing if we’ll live to see the following week, is also by faith. Your being alive today…my being alive today…is because of God’s permissive will…it’s because of His grace.

When God wanted to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham approached God saying “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Will you treat the righteous and the wicked alike? What If there are ten righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare it for the sake of the ten righteous people in it?” God replied “If I find ten righteous people in the city, I will not destroy it” (The scriptures have been given to us to learn from - for correction, for rebuke and instruction in righteousness). Abraham stood as a mediator between God and the people of Sodom. But despite Abraham’s plea, not one righteous man was found in that city. God was willing to have mercy upon them, but they weren’t ready to turn away from their wicked ways.

Aren’t we just glad that Christ came?

In our case, the mediator between us and God is Jesus. God looked upon the innocent blood of His son and redeemed us. I can imagine Jesus saying to God “I went to die for those people. Father, look upon my blood that was shed and do not wipe them away. Okay, just let the gospel of salvation at least get to the uttermost parts of the earth. Let more people surrender their lives. Please, daddy!”

And so God is constantly overlooking our shortcomings and the sins we commit on a daily basis, because of His son. He has made his grace and His mercy available to us, because of His son. Now Paul speaking said “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid” You and I have found mercy and grace in the sight of God, despite our inadequacies, our disobedience and unbelief. Are we really going to throw all that away and continue to glory in ourselves and our abilities to survive without Him – taking His grace for granted?

Thank God for those who are so committed to working in His vineyard; thank God for those who pay their tithes regularly; thank God for those who feed the poor and forgive their debtors of their debts. But all these are not enough to purchase God’s grace, even if it were for sale. So don’t come here saying “After all the tithes I paid; and my donations to Church projects and community development projects?” What do you do after dropping that tithe? What do you do after spending several hours at cell meetings and bible studies?
Now we are going somewhere.

If it is really by works, then we would not all be equal before God. Jesus tells a parable of two men praying – a Pharisee and a tax collector. “The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself. ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men – robbers, evil doers, adulterers – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Luke 18:10-14.

If we will not give God glory for everything, He will take it anyways. He said if we will not praise Him, He’s going to raise stones in our place. Nothing we do is by our power. We don’t prosper because we work hard, if it were, one day we’ll run out of supply; inflation and recession will swallow us up. But if our sufficiency is in Him, will He not provide more than our storehouses can contain?

“If, in fact Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God.” Romans 4:2. “

“Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.” Romans 4:4. Is God obligated to grant us grace? Nope!

Now go back to the top of this post, and take the prayer again.

Let’s acknowledge God in all we do; let’s acknowledge Him for His grace that pardons…His grace that is not hinged on our works.