What God says about Grace

 

CHILDRENS’ STORY

 

The Cracked Pot

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck.

One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of  the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master’s house.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made.

But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you."

"Why?" asked the bearer. "What are you ashamed of?"

"I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load
because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house.

Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts," the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, "As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the
sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some.

But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on
your side of your path, but not on the other pot’s side?

That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it.

I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them.

For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table.

Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."

Each of us has our own unique flaws. We’re all cracked pots.
But if we will allow it, the Lord will use our flaws to grace His Father’s
table.

 

Matthew 18:15-22

¹⁵ “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.  ¹⁶ But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’  ¹⁷ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

¹⁸ “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

¹⁹ “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.  ²⁰ For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”

²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

 

John 21:15-19
¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

¹⁶ Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

¹⁷ The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.  ¹⁸ I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”  ¹⁹ Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

 

I was trained as an economist not as a theologian.I spent nearly twenty five years analysing the ins and outs of the world, making judgements over the balance of payments, political statements and fiscal policy.

Then I was called by God into the ordained ministry.

The call was so urgent that I didn=t want to waste time on endless debate over God and why and how He has chosen to work in particular ways.

So I studied just enough theology to get from economist to pastor because the denomination requires it.

And I am petrified every time that I get up to preach and to speak about the ways of God.

As an economist I did my fair share of analysing things over which I had no control other than theory - and I found, that like the weatherman, it was easy to be wrong.

 

I have found it much easier to forget the analysing and to simply get on with the living in a trust wholly based on the Word of God - understanding that He was always with me before I came to Him,

that in Christ He has saved me

and that by the Holy Spirit He will always be with me as Comforter and Counsellor.

 

I say that I am petrified to stand here to share about what God says about Grace. And I am ...

And Apetrified@ is a good word to describe how I feel because it reminds me of Simon Peter.

A man trained to be a fisherman not a theologian.

But a man called by Jesus to be an apostle.

A man who learned his theology by saying and doing the wrong things all the time: sudden rushes of blood to the head at the Mount of Transfiguration, running away at the least threat, hiding back at the fishing boats on Galilee in shame.

 

Simon and I have a lot in common when it comes to this.

Yet despite everything that he has done and failed to do, Jesus still calls him APeter@ - the rock. For the Lord gives Him that strength, the Lord gives Him that empowerment.

After the resurrection, you see, the Lord makes a point of coming back to the failed and despondent Peter to encourage him in the mission of love that He gives him.

And Jesus calls him by the name the world gives him, “Simon son of John”, but encourages him with the word that can only come from God.

ASimon, do you truly love me more than these ....feed my lambs@

ASimon, do you truly love me ... take care of my sheep.@

ASimon, do you love me ... feed my sheep...... And follow me!@

 

Simon’s story is like the account of the boy who was shooting rocks with a catty. He could never hit his target. He was in his Grandma’s backyard one day and he spied her pet duck. On impulse he took aim and let fly. The stone hit, and the duck was dead. “The boy panicked and hid the bird in the woodpile, only to look up and se his sister watching. After lunch that day, Grandma told Sally to help with the dishes. Sally responded, “Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen today. Didn’t you Johnny?” And she whispered to him, “Remember the duck!” So, Johnny did the dishes. What choice did he have? For the next several weeks he was at the sink often. Sometimes for his duty, sometimes for his sin. “Remember the duck,” Sally’d whisper when he objected. So weary of the chore, he decided that any punishment would be better than washing more dishes, so he confessed to killing duck. "I know, Johnny," his Grandma said, giving him a hug. "I was standing at the window and saw the whole thing. Because I love you, I forgave you. I wondered how long you would let Sally make a slave out of you.” He’d been pardoned, but he thought he was guilty. Why? He had listened to the words of his accuser.

 

Simon Peter had listened to the words of the accuser in his own head pointing out his sin and failure until Jesus came to him. The very One he had sinned against came to him – forgave him and restored him. That’s Grace!

 

Today I want to speak about Grace but how do you do that?

How do you explain something that comes fully from God? In which you have no part.

How do you tell what God does in you when you don=t understand it yourself?

 

....You come to God ... the One who sanctifies.

The One who strengthens and empowers.

The One who turns you into what He wants you to be.

And that my friends, is grace! Grace is always an act of restoration but it costs. It comes when we recognise who we are and are prepared to receive restoration from the One whom we hurt. And the One we hurt loves us so much that He sees beyond our failure into the person we were meant to be.

 

God=s original purpose for us is that we should be like Himself.

God said, ALet us make man in our image, after our likeness ... and God created man in His own image.@ (Genesis 1:26-27)

But something happened: sin entered human nature

And thereby God=s purpose was apparently defeated - man ceased to be in the true moral likeness of God.

He ceased to have fellowship with God. He hid from Him. He was ashamed before Him.

 

But God was not defeated ...... His purpose remained.

He set out once more to make man like Himself.

He devised a way whereby the effects of sin and failure in our life might be nullified.

And He set in motion a process of making men like Himself -

and we call this grace.

 

In Grace, we see God at work in us before we even come to know Him.

In Grace, we see God bringing salvation to us through the work of Jesus on the Cross.

In Grace, we see God working in us through the Holy Spirit so that we might become all that God made us to be in Jesus Christ.

It is the work of restoration, of transformation, of shaping and moulding.

It is the work of enabling and equipping so that we might reach our full potential as the children of God.

In Jeremiah 18, God took the prophet down to the Potter=s House and there the prophet saw how the Lord works this wonder of transformation. When the pot is marred - not what it should be - the potter begins again, reforming and remaking until the vessel is as he requires.

So also with God ... through the process of sanctifying us by His grace, He reforms us and transforms us from what we have become to what we can be as a perfect vessel of His purpose.

When we are saved ... when we come to Jesus as the Saviour, we are marred vessels. He justifies us by the forgiveness of our sin through His death on the Cross.

But we still struggle, don=t we?

The influence of past sin and the consequence of living in a sinful world implies that though we are saved, we are not yet perfect (as Jesus commands in Matthew 5:48) - not yet what the Lord wants us to be.

Paul says to us in Romans 8, Athat we have an obligation not to live according to the sinful nature ... but to live by the Spirit of sonship ... as heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.@

This makes us radically different to what we used to be .. So different that it depends entirely on God rather than on ourselves.

Yes, we can contribute but we can never do the transforming.

 

It was not by firm resolution of his impetuous nature that a once shamed Peter could stand up on the day of Pentecost to preach with boldness the call to repentance and baptism.

 

It is not by skill nor by good learning that brings a has-been economist to speak of the glory of God ...

They say of economists, who are always dilly dallying on the one hand and then the other, that if you laid them all down end to end, they=d never reach a conclusion.

Well, this economist reached a conclusion that Jesus is God ...

But he also realised Athat He who began a good work in him would carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus@. (Philippians 1:6)

God is never finished with us and so Grace is the ongoing process in our lives.

The Holy Spirit works within us all the time to rid us of the sin that is rampant in our lives.

 

He is continually working out the sin as a patient gardener works out the weeds that continually spring up in our flower beds. Seeds that have lain dormant for years but which suddenly spring up when the conditions are right, seeds that are brought in by the birds and the winds just yesterday, seeds that we will never be rid of until we finally stand before the throne of grace.

We have a beautiful garden at our home. It was painstakingly planted and tended over a period of some 30 years. The owner left that house to the church. We have been living in it for a number of years now and I now appreciate just how much work has to go into that garden. If it is left for just one week, it takes a month to get rid of all the weeds and overgrowth and get it right again.

And so the Holy Spirit is continually working in us to keep us on the road to glory.

 

One way of understanding this continuous work in us is through Jesus= allegory of the Vine in John 15..

AMy Father is the Gardener, I am the Vine and we are the branches,@ He says.

And the work of the Holy Spirit is to bring us into relationship with Jesus as the fruitful branches on the Vine. Through that which the theologians call Asanctifying grace@ He brings us to abide in Jesus the True Vine.

Abiding means that we draw our life and our strength from Him in order to bear fruit in our lives. But we also see that when parts of our life are unfruitful, they will be pruned - this is the same process as Jeremiah=s Potter.

It is cutting away the mars in our life and encouraging the fruitful branches.

 

The Holy Spirit convinces us that we are truly forgiven in Jesus even when we don=t believe it ourselves.

He appoints us who were formerly hopelessly lost to be servants and witnesses of Jesus. (Acts 16:26)

He calls us to the holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. (2 Timothy 1:9)

 

This is the Grace of God.

 

And the Holy Spirit gives us power to resist temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13 : No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.)

He gives us peace in the midst of our turmoil (John 14:27 : My peace I give unto you. Do not let your hearts be troubled).

He delivers us from the grip that sin has over our lives.

And He makes us a new creation.

 

By the Grace of God we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and empowered by Him to live the life that will make us truly whole and complete.

 

As he deals with the sin in our lives,

convinces us of our pardon,

frees us to serve Him and to love our enemies, the Holy Spirit is transforming us into the likeness of Jesus.

 

From glory to glory He=s changing me, changing me, changing me

His likeness and image to perfect in me

the love of God shown to the world

For He=s changing, changing me

From earthly things to the heavenly

His likeness and image to perfect in me

The love of God shown to the world.

 

This is the Grace of G<