A Tale of Two Kingdoms (7)

Surprised by Grace

In A Tale of Two Kingdoms (5) I told you about my encounter with God’s power twice in one day. On both occasions I was made a mediator for the display of His power. No words can sufficiently describe my joy at being used by the Lord in such a manner. But really, normal Christian life should be like that. Through it all I could recognize His love for the individuals concerned that cause Him to demonstrate this power. Just as I literally could sense His power, I literally could feel His love.

The episode concerning my non-Christian colleague should teach us one thing or two about His Kingdom. It is a perfect example of the demonstration of the grace of God. Grace simply means favor. Because of His love God is predisposed to show us favor. Favor is not favor if it’s deserved or earned. One simply receives favor from another as a gift, not doing anything to deserve it.  My colleague certainly did not do anything to deserve this particular favor from God. In fact the Bible says that anyone who does not have Jesus is in enmity with God! He was pleasantly surprised. Think about it, if I were your friend you might want to do me a favor, but what if I was your enemy? Such is the grace of God. And it is a common commodity in His Kingdom.

What about the sister who also received healing on the same day? Did she earn it? Do Christians need to earn their blessings? The idea sounds like words from a familiar song, You better be good … Santa’s coming. I remember years ago when I was very active in church ministry works, well-meaning brothers and sisters, even leaders and pastors, would tell me that God will bless me a lot because I served Him fervently. I had hoped that it’s true and worked even harder. But for a period of time following that I struggled financially. Then I contemplated spending less time “serving” God and more time on my career. Some suggested then that the Lord would withhold His blessings. Well, I thought, there’s not much He could withhold anyway. But deep inside I didn’t believe that my God is like that. True enough, as I “served” Him less and went about my own life I saw His favor increased. I was greatly blessed.      

I am not telling anyone to stop serving in church, nor am I suggesting that how much we serve God should be determined by how much blessing we can derive out of it. But I am saying that the notion that Christians ought to serve God in order to be blessed is wrong. You cannot earn God’s blessings. They come because of His favor. In fact, His blessings may not come when we try to earn it because we are joining ourselves to a different system – the Babylonian system, in which self-effort is the rule. We have to join ourselves to His Kingdom. Grace permeates the atmosphere of His Kingdom.

So my dear sister certainly did not earn her blessing. Do not be mistaken, she is a committed Christian. Still, she didn’t earn her blessing. The Lord simply wanted to demonstrate to her His love and power, just like He did to my non-Christian colleague. But there are Christians who try to earn God’s blessings. They thought by their effort at serving Him and at righteous living they could somehow deserve His blessings. They are sincere and honest, but unfortunately they have lived their life under a mixture of law and grace. It’s a human system, not of God.   

Jesus despises the mixture of Law and Grace. He told us so in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, didn’t He?