In our series ‘Battles & Blessings’, we looked today at some of the blessings mentioned by Paul in Ephesians 3. In that chapter, Paul talks about the ‘administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you’ (Eph 3:2), about becoming a servant of the gospel by the ‘gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power’ (Eph 3:7), about the ‘boundless riches of Christ’ (Eph 3:8), about the manifold wisdom of God (Eph 3:10), about ‘the freedom and the confidence’ we have in approaching God (Eph 3:12) and about the sheer extravagance of God’s love (Eph 3:17-18). The theme of God’s lavish grace is very evident in al lhe writes, and in the Voice version, it says ‘I became a servant and preacher of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace as He exercised His amazing power over me. 8 I cannot think of anyone more unworthy to this cause than I, the least of the least of the saints. But here I am, a grace-made man, privileged to be an echo of His voice and a preacher to all the nations of the riches of the Anointed One, riches that no one ever imagined.’ (Eph 3:7-8, The Voice).
There’s nothing wrong with being self-made in the business world or working hard, but we have to understand the upside-down nature of the kingdom of God, where we are saved not by our hard work and effort but by faith through grace. (Eph 2:8-9) God’s ways of doing things are completely different to our ways of doing things. (Is 55:8-9). He has chosen to save us through the message of the cross, which seems like foolishness to us. (1 Cor 1:23) He has chosen ‘the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, the weak things of the world to shame the strong.’ (1 Cor 1:27) He is interested not simply in this world but in shaping us to become like Him throughout eternity. Ultimately, independence is not the goal in a life of faith; instead, we are to grow in grace and in a knowledge of Jesus, learning always to lean and depend on God. (2 Pet 3:18, Prov 3:5-6)
Grace is scandalous and outrageous, because it doesn’t seem ‘fair’ to a world where tit-for-tat and quid-pro-quo rule. Jesus told parables about grace which offended those who listened: the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), where a son who treated his father with contempt is welcomed back with open arms and lavish gifts, much to the dismay of the dutiful older son, and the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matt 20:8-16), where those who work for only an hour or so are paid the same as those who have worked all day! Philip Yancey talks about ‘the atrocious mathematics of the gospel’ (‘What’s So Amazing About Grace?’, P 59) where it makes no sense of a shepherd to leave his ninety-nine sheep to search for one missing sheep or to pour out perfume worth a month’s wages on washing Jesus’s feet… but these examples show us something of God’s extravagant, lavish love.
To be grace-made means to revel in the grace we receive from God, but we are called also to pass this grace on. That will impact our whole lives, for we are called to live, love, forgive, serve and give in ways that will reflect God’s nature to others (Matt 5:16) Grace-made people need to be gracious and graceful, so that a world starved of love and grace can learn something of the true nature of God.
