Merciless Mercy

Luke 20:18 describes what I call the 'Rock of Grace' "Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."

A recent discussion on the Grace of God reminded me of this passage in Luke. And since perhaps humans tend to the extremes and fearing a lean too far towards a libertine philosophy that seemed to rear its head, wise shepherd Ken Sweers on Kingdom Grace reflected on Paul:

“For we all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” -2 Corinthians 5:10, Paul writing to believers!

“Yes, God’s grace is indeed amazing. But it does not excuse humans for the choices we make in this life. There is much greater dimension to God’s ways than we can possibly imagine.”

I'd like to draw these two together a little and, though it be grace we reflect upon, let it be Him we seek. To that end I second Ken's statement on the dimensions of God's ways. All things here on earth, the actors and their acts so to speak, even the sets and subplots will come to fruition in heaven. All will find purpose in God’s grandeur. C.S. Lewis played with this idea a bit in the last of the Narnia stories. Almost neo-Platonist to the first time reader, all things merely shadow the reality that lies in the eternal Aslan, Lewis’ icon for Christ. The point was lost on many (which speaks volumes on the quality of modern education), but the point was that the Lord God will bring all things together for His purpose, and at the Last (which is the Beginning) we will see the accumulation of all we have known and done for all must appear before the Throne.

At that “time” I think it will be made clear that all good is God’s, none of it ours for the claiming. Even the consequences of our sins, which must be met, will be found to be made into an everlasting wonder. For those that believe and love God, though we are forgiven, God’s world is one of cause and effect and we are called to face it one day (did David, though forgiven, not bear the brunt of his sins with Bathsheba?). Elbert Hubbard once noted, “we are not punished for our sins so much as by them.” Perhaps he was right.

After all, we must be pruned. But the Father works the greatest miracles by pruning us, for that which is pruned burned, and that which is burned turned into fertilizer. God turns the worst evil to into good. Is that not the miracle that Christ proved; is this not the true power of God? God is Life itself and its source, He has given it to us freely, and indeed independently. Adam had a choice to follow or stray. He strayed (and we seem to run full out). When we stray (run) from Life all that is left us is death. Entropy. Death isn’t evil, its just the natural consequence for turning away from the Source of Life, from God. Death is the wage of Sin we are told. Evil is not exactly the opposite of good, it is the lack of it; it is the degenerate and decaying hole left in the absence of the life-giving goodness of God’s Breath.

And running away leaves us breathless.

But you see, though it is easy for mankind in our pride and arbitrary humanism to do evil - and we took all of Creation with us when we fell – it is within the power of God, and God alone, to turn evil into good, to reverse death. Christ’s resurrection gives new life to all of Creation, it puts Breath back into dry bones. Death where is thy sting?

God takes everything He has made and bends it to His will, yet still allows us the freedom of our own humanity. For those who are willing to accept God’s call, to accept His love, to live under His Kingship, though we find pain in death and in bearing our cross, He has parted that water and promises us passage through the river Styx and life on the other side.

Truly all things are made to His purpose – we can either bend willingly or be broken by His merciless Mercy. All will be dashed upon the Rock of Grace.


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SCIENCE! will continue next

Grace – what is it?

We’ve been getting a few enquiries lately about grace, and what it really means in laymen’s terms, so I thought I’d have a go at explaining it simply, and it seems to me that the best way to understand what grace is is to understand what it does, so let me detail that quickly.

As the author of Romans says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23), and the result of this sin is death, both physical and spiritual (Rom 6:23). Because of our crimes against God (our sins) we cannot be permitted into His presence, and so when we face judgement, we are found (rightfully) guilty and cast into the “darkness” (Matt 8: 12; 22;13; 25:30), what most know as hell. What exactly hell is like is a matter of some debate (and maybe another post), but what is not debatable is the absence of the presence of God. If we, in our sin, cannot be permitted to be in God’s holy presence, then our place of punishment must be far from Him. Imagine the pangs of loss we feel when loved one dies, but magnified infinitely! A terrible fate, to be sure!

Nothing we can do will make up for our crimes: no good deeds, no amount of giving to the poor, no level of love for our family or fellow man, nothing! The prophet Isaiah says it right when he says “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away” (Is 64:6). (Actually, a more literal translation of “filthy rags” is “menstrual rags”. Can you imagine standing before the all holy God clothed in nothing but filthy menstrual rags? Shrivel up like a leaf indeed!)

So what’s to be done, then? How can we be forgiven our sins and allowed into eternal fellowship with the Almighty God? Only through the sacrifice made by Jesus can our sins be covered. Only because Jesus took the punishment that was rightfully due us are we able to enter God’s presence. Only this gift makes that possible! But why did Jesus do that for us? What compelled Him to endure the worst, most excruciating death the ancient world had to offer? Was it something we deserved? Was it something He had to do? No and no. He did this of His own free will, because He loved us and He didn’t want us to be separated from Him for eternity. We were granted this favour, this unmerited favour, not because we deserved it, but because He wanted to give it! And that is grace! A gift beyond compare to people who did not deserve it, to people who He knew would frequently spit it back in His face! You want to know what grace is? Look to the cross. That is the best expression of grace you could ever see!