THE GOD-MAN – HIS MOTIVE AND MESSAGE

Why has God done all this for us? Why has the God-man endured so much for us?

John 1:14 NIV
[14] “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

He came to reveal grace and truth.

Grace! What is grace? A word difficult to define but packed full of meaning!

Some define grace by an acrostic…great riches at Christ’s expense. Others say that grace is God’s unmerited favour. These definitions may be true but they are completely inadequate to express anything like God’s grace.

Let’s try to explain rather than define grace. Grace is all of God’s divine attributes…goodness, kindness, mercy, truth, righteousness, justice, wisdom, power, sovereignty…woven together, encased in “chesed”, His covenant love, to form His divine DNA, the blueprint of His being.

Whatever God is, says, and does is because of grace and expresses itself in grace, His action towards us.

He saved us from our sin because of grace.

Ephesians 2:8 NIV
[8] “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…”

Grace brought Jesus to earth to rescue us from sin and death…

Romans 5:15 NIV
[15] But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!

Through Jesus’ death, we have a new position…a standing in grace… the very foundation of our relationship with God as sons and daughters.

Romans 5:1-2 NIV
[1] “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, [2] through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”

…and so we can go on. Everything we now are and receive is through and by God’s grace.

Grace is God in action, appearing on every page of Scripture, lighting up His interaction with humans with the glory of who He is. The God of…love, peace, righteousness, truth…and much more, are who He is. Grace stands tall as both the motive and the power behind and through which all His goodness comes to us.

1 Peter 5:10 NIV
[10] “And THE GOD OF ALL GRACE, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

Grace underpins everything God says and does for us. Grace energises every promise He has made to save, restore, and renew humankind.

Let’s examine just a few of the myriad things grace does because He is the God of all grace.

John 1:16 – 17 NIV
[16] “Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. [17] For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Jesus is the embodiment of God’s grace, the fullness of His revelation as the God-man. He is the messenger and the message of grace.

2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV
[9] “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

His gave us His riches and took our poverty!

The story of grace, at its most revealing and glorious, is the story of the God-man, stepping out of His supreme place in heaven beside the Father and the Spirit, down…a human baby, down…a servant, down…a condemned criminal, down…a dead body, for us. That’s grace…not just an idea, a philosophy, a teaching or even a title. Grace is motive and action. Grace drives the action and grace is the action that saved and saves us from or in every situation sin and our sinfulness has dumped on us.

Grace is woven into the story of God and humans. Grace is the power to rescue and to change impossible situations.

I have one such situation in mind that epitomises the awesome truth of grace.

The Apostle Paul was called, among all the facets of his ministry, to suffer…and suffer he did. The worst of his suffering was not physical. It was the pain inflicted on him when his own people rejected him, just as they had rejected his Master. They had murder on their minds. They hounded him from city to city, country to country, always looking for an opportunity to cancel him and his message.

In desperation, Paul cried out to the Lord for deliverance Perhaps his natural response was for God to cancel his enemies like they cancelled him, just as David had often prayed centuries before.

“They are a thorn in my side, Lord. Please remove them.”

God said, “No! I have a better plan.” Grace! You see, thorns are there to prick. Why? Pricking deflates the hot air bubble of pride…”I don’t need you, God.”

Grace changes hearts, not circumstances. Paul needed a new attitude, not “Take the thorn away, so that I can carry on with my life,” but, “Thank you for the thorn that constantly reminds me how weak I am and how much I need your grace.”

2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
[9] “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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

That’s what grace is and that’s what grace does.

So, the God-man came to us in our plight… cut off from God and doomed to eternal death. He came, fully equipped (Greek – “pleres” – complete or fully occupied) with grace and truth, to transform a hopeless situation into the hope of transformed lives and destiny… today, tomorrow, and forever.

Grace provides the motive and the means for the God-man to intervene for us, to become and to apply the message that God is for us not against us. God did something we can never do. He took away our sin and reconciled us to Himself. He reinstated us as sons and daughters of the Most High God. He transforms us into the image of His own Son, He puts muscle to His message…all because of grace and by grace.

This grace is all-sufficient. Grace can do anything and be anything we need for Him to complete His plan. All grace requires to come to our aid is a humble spirit, faith in His promises and “AMEN” in our need.

James 4:6 NIV
[6] “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

More grace? More than what? More than anything that stands in the way of our becoming who we are, submissive and obedient sons and daughters of God.

“… Full of grace and truth…” Grace and truth…God’s complete arsenal of weapons to defeat the enemy of our souls, to protect us from the rsvages of our sin nature, and to transform us into the likeness of the God-man, Jesus.

So, Peter cousels us… against the backdrop of the lies and deception from the systems of this world that assault and lure us to go it alone, be our own God, do our own thing…

2 Peter 3:17-18 NIV
[17] “Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. [18] But GROW IN THE GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”