“How often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” (Mt. 18:21; NASB)
One South African home owner might have paraphrased that question, “how often shall I rescue a man who sins against me?”
It seems that the man come home one evening to find nine men robbing his home — eight escaped, but the owner was able to shove one thief into his backyard swimming pool. When the man began to flail and thrash, the owner realized he couldn’t swim, so he jumped in to rescue the man. And when the wet thief got his feet back under him on the deck, he called for his friends to return and pulled a knife and threatened his robbery target and rescuer.
“We were standing near the pool, and when I saw the knife I just threw him back in,” the owner recounted. “But he was grasping for air and was drowning. So I rescued him again. I thought he had a cheek trying to stab me after I had just saved his life.”
I wonder how many times he would have continued to rescue this felon if threats and attacks had continued to be made. In other words, just how much would grace have done? Three times? Seven? Are you kidding??!!
Yet this is the very essence of the grace of God — those who deserve His eternal wrath, those who have earned and merit his wrath yet are the recipients not only of his rescue, but also the recipients of infinite and eternal gifts.
It is not difficult for us to comprehend the judgment that the thief in the story is worthy of receiving. Yet, we are reticent to acknowlege that an infinite number of sins more against the holy God somehow does not deserve a corresponding eternal judgment. It does. Moreover, we (in the American evangelical church) are likewise duped into thinking that while perhaps we sinners might be worthy of some measure of wrath there is still merit and worth to our actions and that while we need God, we need God simply to make up the difference between our worth and His standard. We’ve saved a few dollars, if you will, and we just need “Daddy” to make up the difference so that we can purchase the shiny new red bicycle.
Such thinking overestimates the worth of a man’s accomplishments and diminishes the work of Christ.
On the cross, Christ did not die to make up any difference between us and the Father. He died because we should have and He provided all we needed to be counted as righteous. We contributed nothing but sin. We were nothing but dead. We had not even an inclination to move to Him. We were haters of Him. His eternal enemies.
And He loved us still.
This is grace — the bestowal of an infinite amount of good and righteousness to those who deserve an infinite amount of wrath. Grace is completely the loving, kind, and eternal work of God to whose who completely deserve the eternal condemnation from God. Grace is not leniency toward sin; it is the offer of forgiveness of sin and the bestowal of treasures to hardened thieves and robbers.
Amazement over grace is compounded when we understand the depth of the unworthiness of the sinner who receives grace. Yes, redeemed men deserved nothing but God’s wrath; but also yes, God’s eternal, unmerited gift of grace has placed redeemed men in Christ as beloved sons of God. Give thanks for God’s grace.
Words of Grace 