We are at part two of the three-part series on how grace works, as understood and described by John Wesley, the founder and spiritual mentor of the Methodist movement. Last week we talked about Prevenient Grace, the gift of God already working in us before we even are aware of it, preparing us to make our decisions. In particular, in making the conscious decision about accepting and living in God’s grace that loves us, forgives us, and sustains us. Next week we’ll talk about Sanctifying Grace—how we live out the rest of our lives from the moment of that decision.
This week is about Justifying Grace—when we acknowledge for ourselves that we really do need God, and that we need to make a conscious choice about how to receive the gift of grace that God continuously offers.
I think the 12-Step groups get it—those anonymous groups that help people manage addiction (that interestingly borrow the way Wesley structured his “class meetings”). The first three steps (and I’ll use AA as the example) acknowledge the human condition, and how to address its complications: 1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Justifying grace is acknowledging these same things even if we don’t have an identified addiction. None of us has power over the “things” in our lives that cause us difficulty—our anger, ou greed, our sense of self-worth (whether it’s too much or too little), our self-centeredness, our prejudices, our difficulties with forgiving (others or ourselves), struggles to be caring, our struggles to be too needy—this list is certainly not exhaustive. But the Power greater than ourselves—God, particularly God’s grace and love shown in Jesus’ life and teachings and death on the cross and resurrection—can restore us to sanity. And we MAKE A DECISION to turn our will and our life over to the care of God as we understood Him—and the Christian faith says that we understand God best in Jesus, who we believe in as God come in human form, God-with-us.
Justifying grace is the grace of God that is active as we make that decision—to use traditional Christian language, to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior—not just to save us, but to be the one whose approach to life guides our own approach to life. (More on that part of it next week.) And this happens because of grace, God’s offering of this gift to us.
NEW TESTAMENT Romans 5:1-8, 15-17, 20b-21
1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us
15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. 16 And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgement following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. 17 If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
20b [W]here sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, just as sin exercised dominion in death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.