The afternoon of February 14 my
mother passed into the presence of God. She was 83 years old. You may remember
that my father died the Thursday before last Easter.
As I reflect back over my years
under their leadership, I realize how blessed I am. In all of the years that I
knew them, not once did I ever hear them argue or raise their voices to one
another in anger. Mom submitted to Dad’s headship, and Dad treated Mom with
honor and respect.
In a way this is quite
extraordinary in that both Mom and Dad came from broken homes. I never knew
either of my grandfathers. A few years before Dad died, we were looking at some
old photos at their house and I ran across one of a man I didn’t recognize. I
asked Dad who it was, and he said he didn’t know. When I asked Mom, she said it
was my paternal grandfather. Evidently the hostility Dad felt for his father
was so great that he refused to even recognize his picture.
My brother, two sisters and I
were raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, a lovely home in a lovely area. The
folks built a summer home in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and as children we
spent each summer in these idyllic surroundings. They were wonderful years.
Probably because my parents were
so well ordered in their lives, they never communicated much interest in the
spiritual. If you would have asked them, they would have told you that they
were Christians. But prayer, Bible reading and church never played a role in
our family. They were heavily involved in the Masonic Lodge, and Dad once
commented that this was his religion. He was a good man, and he lived a good
life.
I remember when my son Walter died,
I had the one and only extensive opportunity to share my faith in Christ with
Dad. Before and since he would never allow me to discuss it with him. On this
occasion, after I had related my testimony of how I had found the Saviour, he
said, “Son, if I were as bad as you, I would probably need a Saviour, too.”
That was the end of the conversation. In one sense he was right. He was a
better man than I. His relative goodness, however, blinded him of his need of
the Lord.
When I came to Christ at age 19,
my parents saw it as a rejection of the way they had raised me. My acceptance
of Christ communicated that I felt their training of me was inadequate. Our
relationship after this was never the same. Mom and Dad were never the kind to
be effusive in expressions of love, nor were they prone to express confidence
and pride in us. But from the time of my conversion until they died, there
continued an undercurrent of hostility. The only softening that I saw was in
their love for my children.
I honor my father and mother and
thank God for the privilege of being their son. It wasn’t a perfect home, and I
wasn’t a perfect son. I hear so much about dysfunctional people from
dysfunctional homes. In one degree or another we are all dysfunctional. It is
the product of being fallen people in a fallen world. That is what the Cross is
all about. I was raised in what I feel was a better than average environment.
If it and I were perfect, I would have no need for Jesus. My relationship with
Him more than compensates for all the sin and imperfection of life. Our
Heavenly Father would have it no other way.
This is the introduction to a
new series on the Grace of God. Grace is the arch stone of our relationship
with Him. It is the basis of the Cross and our perpetual acceptance in His
sight. A lot of what will constitute these next issues will be review for you,
but hopefully a worthy reminder of how great our God is!
GRACE
Throughout history all men have
had in common that they hate the grace of God. For the Christian, this may
sound like heresy, but even for those of us who have experienced the grace of
God in the salvation offered by His Son, we only appreciate it in those areas
in which it has touched our lives.
Therefore, as we begin this
series on the grace of God, it may be good to explore exactly why people have
always had an antipathy towards His grace.
Grace can be defined as the
favor of God bestowed upon the undeserving without reference to reciprocity. We
will probe and dissect this definition in the coming months, but note that
there is nothing in the object of God’s grace that warrants His favor.
We see from this that our Lord’s
grace is bestowed upon people as a choice made wholly from within the counsel
of His own will. Some receive it, and some do not. There is no explanation for
this other than it is what God wants. To the degree that you conclude that
there was something in the object of His grace that caused God to be drawn
towards that person, it is no longer grace.
Man’s response to this is that
it is intrinsically unfair; for man, in his fallen state, concludes that “fair”
and “equal” are for all practical purposes synonyms. For example, when a
child’s mother gives each of the siblings one cookie, but for no reason singles
out one of them as special and gives that one two cookies, the others resent
it, feeling that it is unfair.
This is the main reason the ten
Sons of Jacob hated their brother Joseph. We tend to fault Jacob for showing
favoritism to Joseph, but that is what grace is all about. The reason the
Christian goes to heaven is God has singled him out from others and shown
favoritism towards him.
Probably the outstanding example
of God’s grace in history is His choice of Israel as His people. There is no
logical explanation for God selecting the Jewish people. He Himself, calls them
a nation of whores.
I remember a prominent Christian
leader saying in my presence, “I went to Israel and watched how they treat the
Arabs, and I can tell you, they are not the chosen people of God. God’s people
simply do not act that way!” Many Christians would agree with this leader.
One of the amazing things about
the Jewish people is their almost universal dislike by the rest of the human
race. Few, if any other groups have been so thoroughly loathed and persecuted.
It is easy to see why most of the church has concluded that Israel has been
replaced in the affections of God by the church.
The easiest area in which to see
the arbitrariness of God in the way He handles people is in His distribution
of gifts, abilities and circumstances. Why does God make some people
minorities? Why does He make some brilliant and others dull witted? Why do some
prosper and others suffer poverty? Why are some healthy and others filled with
pain? Why, why, why?
The non-Christian answers by
saying that it is the fickle finger of fate, but the believer is also at a loss
as to why, other than to say that for reasons known only to God this is how He
wanted it.
Because such things are outside
of human control, we tend to view them from a fatalistic perspective. “It is
just the way things are.” The Christian feels fortunate if his temporal
circumstances are to his liking and is quick to attribute them to the grace of
God. Those less fortunate are left wondering why God has not been gracious to
them.
It is interesting to note,
however, that God promises the believer that, although he may not understand
why his condition appears to be unfortunate, he can be assured that it will all
work out to his ultimate benefit. For example, Paul says in Romans 8:28:
“And we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to his purpose.
Thus God promises him that if he
will but respond properly to whatever the condition in which he finds himself,
he will be rewarded, if not in this life, certainly in the life to come. As a
matter of fact, although salvation is by grace, reward in heaven is not. The
believer’s reward is based on how he stewards the gifts, abilities and
circumstances God gives him.
The Christian tends to believe,
however, that his temporal blessings are the product of his own work, and the
rewards of heaven are the product of grace. In other words, he reverses the
divine order.
Amazed
by His grace,