PAUL – SHATTERED BY GRACE

The one thing that escaped Paul on his murderous mission to Damascus was grace. The law of God was his passion. Since God’s law demanded “no other gods”, to worship a man, even Jesus who claimed to be the Son of God, was blasphemy of the worst kind. He must get rid of this threat quickly.

Then grace smashed head-on into him, knocking him, not only from his horse but also from his pedestal of self-righteousness.

Never had Paul tasted anything so sweet as God’s grace in Christ. When grace dawned in him, he realised that everything he had ever done to qualify him for favour with God was nothing more than “dung”, waste of the most revolting kind.

What had he made of Isaiah’s words…

Isaiah 64:6 NLT
[6] “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.”

…or Jeremiah’s conclusion…

Jeremiah 17:9 NLT
[9] “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”

Perhaps he simply ignored the searching truth and continued in his efforts to please God his way!
What a revelation when it finally dawned on him that all his self-effort was nothing but a futile waste of time. Worse than that, from God’s perspective, it was an affront and an insult to His holiness, to think that a mere man, and born sinful at that, could even try to be as righteous and holy as He is! What was Paul thinking!

Paul’s hypocritical “righteousness” was a denial of the very Tanach he was trying to obey. There was plenty of evidence in the Word he tried so hard to live by and protect, that made human righteousness a farce. Perhaps he thought that his efforts at “protecting God” by wiping out Jesus-followers, made up for his personal failures.

Although we don’t know how Paul processed all these aspects of his self-righteous arrogance, which included his religious background, upbringing, and training under Gamaliel, one thing is for sure…

… He met Jesus…

… And he went to Arabia…

… And he returned to civilisation a transformed man.

Grace became as precious to him after as his self-effort drove him before…

From that moment on, grace underpinned everything Paul was, did, and became.

Saved…

Ephesians 2:8 NLT
[8] “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.”

Called…

Galatians 1:15 NLT
[15] But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace….”

Made righteous…a standing in grace

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.

Delivered from the power of sin and death…

Romans 5:17 NLT
[17] “For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

Grace to overcome and to reach others…

2 Corinthians 4:11-12, 15 NLT
[11] Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. [12] So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you….
[15] All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.”

Grace, grace, and more grace. Everything God ever does and everything God ever gives is through His grace. He filters all His thoughts and deeds through grace because His love energises grace.

Grace punctured Paul’s hot air balloon, pulled him down to earth with a bump, set him on his feet right side up, and sent him on a mission to spread the message of grace to the whole world.

It’s all over, this desperate effort to gain God’s approval. It hasn’t worked..never will. Fortunately for Paul, he faced that one head-on and got the message.

For the rest of his life, Paul rode easily on God’s grace. No more trying…only trusting.

Philippians 3:3-9 NLT
[3] “For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, [4] though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! [5] I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. [6] I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. [7] I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. [8] Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ [9] and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.”

2 Corinthians 12:6-10 NLT
[6] “If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, [7] even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. [8] Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. [9] Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. [10] That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

What is grace? Grace is the unmerited favour God shows us from birth to death, despite what we are, sinners under judgment and deserving of death.

Grace intervened to rescue us from our own self-made destruction.

Grace provided a perfect solution to our guilt.

Grace gave us the gift of righteousness that allows us, access to Himself.

Grace provides the perfect answer to our weakness, GOD’S own presence in us, the Holy Spirit.

Grace empowers us to persevere to the end that we might be saved.

Grace provides an eternity of life in the presence of God.

You see, grace is the foundation of all that God has done through Jesus to reverse what happened in Eden and keep us on course until we fulfil His eternal purpose.

Grace is like the oil in a mighty machine that keeps all the parts of salvation running smoothly and efficiently.

How can we know God’s grace?

John summed up its source perfectly …

John 1:14-18 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. [15] (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ”) [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. [18] No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.”

Jesus is grace in a human, bringing all of God’s grace to us.