1 Timothy 1:12-17

What is Grace? We talk about it. We sing about it. We say it's amazing! We even name our churches and our children for it. In 2003 & 2004 it was the 13th most popular name for baby girls. Grace is one of the most popular names for Methodist Churches. But what is it?

Once there was this little boy and the preacher was visiting his mother. She had known the preacher was coming and had made some cookies for them to eat while he was there. Of course that made the little boy very happy and he was eating away at those cookies while the grown-ups talked. Then he came to the last cookie but as he was getting ready to put it in his mouth he dropped it. Well he was not going to let a perfectly good cookie go to waste so he picked it up and was going to eat it, but his mother stopped him and said, "Don't eat that it has germs on it." And the little boy in frustration stomped his feet at said, "Germs and Jesus, Germs and Jesus, that's all I ever hear and I ain't never seen a one of them."

If we are going to talk about it then we need a good working definition - we should know what it looks like. The dictionary definition of grace is "unmerited Divine assistance given for justification, regeneration or sanctification." That says a lot. It is free gift that is not earned or purchased. It is from God. And it enables us to be saved and to grow in faith. That definition is fine a good, but what does that look like in real life?

Paul is a living example of Grace. Paul the Great Apostle to the Gentiles, the writer of half the New Testament, was not always the servant of Jesus he became. The first time we meet Paul in the Bible he is participating in the stoning of Stephen. Stephen's crime was that he declared that Jesus was the Messiah. He was the first Christian martyr. Later Paul gets indictments to imprison any believers in Jesus that he can find.

One day Paul was on his way to the city of Damascus to arrest the Christians there. Then suddenly Jesus appeared to him on the road. In a light from heaven Jesus said, "Why do you persecute me." He was struck blind but after a few days God sent a Christian to Paul to open his eyes and to tell him the Good news of Jesus Christ. It was only after this life changing experience that Paul became the champion of the Gospel that we know him as today.

God could have given up on Paul. Jesus had every right to take Paul's life just as Stephen's life had been taken. Jesus could have left Paul imprisoned by his blindness just as Paul had imprisoned Christians. But graciously Paul was allowed to live and to see. In fact God's grace went even farther. Paul was called to be the one to take the Good News of Jesus Christ beyond Israel and to the nations of the world. He was empowered by the Spirit to lead thousands to Christians to start churches and to write letters that still inspire Christians today.

That's what Paul is talking about in our lesson today. He says, "though I formerly blasphemed and persecuted and insulted him; but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 1:13-14) Paul is a living example of Grace. By Grace he was saved from a life of hatred. He was set free to love. He was given more than a second chance. Paul was given an opportunity to make up for all the persecuting he had done.

When I was a teenager we had an old car. It was a 1970 falcon. My sister and I shared it. My Jr. Year of High School I would drive it to school and back. One day I was driving home from band practice and I was giving a friend a ride home. It was drizzling a little I was going a little "too fast for conditions" and I lost control of the car and ended up hitting a telephone pole.

The car was totaled. Don't worry no one was hurt. The car was old so a new bumper and radiator was enough to total the car. No one was hurt and the car was fixable, but I was devastated.

Friday rolled around and I needed to get to the stadium for the football game. I put on my uniform and got my horn and went out to the living room. My sister was sitting on the couch reading a book, my Father was in his chair watching the news and my mother was in the kitchen cleaning up from dinner. I announced, "It's time to go to the game. Who's going to drive me?" There was a moment of silence and then my dad said, "I'm not going anywhere you can take my car."

That's what grace is like. God gave us this life. But we go and wreck it. God could have said, "I give you life and you go and use it to do selfish things. You go and wreck it! Well I am just going to take it back. You don't deserve to have a life anymore."

God gave each of us a soul that was beautiful. But we go and make a mess of it. God could have said, "You made your mess now live with it. You messed up what I gave you by sinning. You don't deserve to have a righteous soul."

But instead God said, "Here is a new life." Instead of denying us the righteousness we need, Jesus said, "Here is my righteousness, you can have it." Then he died on a cross for our sins. We didn't deserve it. We had made a mess of what God had given us before. But God gives us new life!

John Newton is a living example of grace. John Newton was the captain of a slave ship. A lot of people are not aware of the horrors of the slave trade. The crossing from Africa was perhaps the most deadly part of the slave trade. The newly enslaved Africans were treated like cargo. They were packed in as closely as possible. Many died and their bodies were unceremoniously thrown overboard. The shipping company considered them acceptable losses. When John Newton realized his sin, he saw himself as he really was. He was a man with the blood of thousands on his hands. And he lived in an age when many had these same blood stains on their hands.

But God forgave him. By the blood of Christ he was washed clean. He didn't deserve it but God gave him that forgiveness by grace. In praise to God he write a song, perhaps you have heard it?

God's grace is amazing. It took wretch like John Newton and used him to write a song to inspire many. It took a murder like Paul and used him to lead a world of sinner to salvation. And it has taken us, sinners and wretches that we are, and given us new life. That is my definition of "grace!" What's yours?

Is God Fair? Think about it. Life isn't fair. The events of this past week prove that. When so many innocent people and even people who were risking their lives for other die; that's not fair! The people who masterminded this kind of crime should die while the brave firefighters and police officers. If life isn't fair and God is the author of life, then is God Fair? I say, "No, God is not fair."

That answer may surprise you, but think. Fair means to give people what they are due; what they deserve. A fair judge sentences people according to the severity of their crimes: the worse the crime the more severe the punishment. A fair referee calls the same fouls against both teams and does not show favor to one team over the other.

Based on that definition of "fair" God is not fair. God doesn't sentence us according the severity of our crimes. If God did, we would all be damned to hell. There would be no human race. God would have wiped us off the pages of history long ago. If God were fair God would call all the fouls against us. And perhaps God calls the fouls but then God picks up the flag. If we but accept, Christ God forgives. Instead of exacting a penalty for infractions of the rules of life, God gives us yardage. Is God fair? No! God is not fair because God is merciful and gracious.

God is not fair and God's Son Jesus is not fair. Jesus got into a lot of trouble for not being fair. The religious people, the ones who had tried to follow all the rules got mad at Jesus. He was spending all his time and working miracles and wonders with sinners. The church people cried, "That's not fair! We've done the right thing all our lives. We've gone to church and paid our dues. We have tried to do right and what does this prophet do? He goes and hangs around with prostitutes and publicans, thieves and sinners. He heals them and what about us!"

But Jesus told them a parable. Jesus said, "Which of you having 100 sheep and losing one does not leave the 99 and look for the one that is lost?" Now I'm no shepherd, but frankly if I had 100 sheep and just one was lost I would keep my eye on the 99 and make sure none of them got lost too. I would count my losses and take care of the sheep that had not wandered off. After all it was that sheep's fault for wandering away. But Jesus says that a good shepherd would leave the 99 and go find the lost sheep. Then the shepherd would rejoice. In the same way all heaven rejoices more over the salvation of one sinner than over 99 righteous people.

But just in case they missed the point Jesus told another parable. What widow having ten silver coins and losing one does not turn the house upside down looking for it? I would say, "It's in the house and will turn up sooner or later." But the point is that God does not have the same attitude about people as I have about coins. God diligently seeks to find the lost.

And that's not fair! Unlike sheep and coins, people wander away of their own free will. It's their fault for getting lost in the first place. They shouldn't have gotten messed up with the wrong people or doing the wrong thing. Is it fair for God to spend so much effort on the lost?

God was not fair to Paul. Paul himself writes to Timothy that he had been a blasphemer. You all know the story, but let me remind you. Paul had been a Pharisee. And as a young man he had persecuted the Christians. He had been there and watched over the first martyr Stephen as he was stoned to death and the Bible says he approved of the killing.

Yet we know Paul as the Apostle to the Gentiles and the inspired author of over half the New Testament. That's not fair. Here was one who had persecuted Christ, a murderer by his own admission. And yet God blessed him and gave him an important task to perform in spreading the Gospel.

Is that fair? Such people ought to be made examples of; not rewarded. Yet Paul says that God did make an example of him. He says that God made of him an example of God's grace and mercy.

God was not fair to John Newton either. John Newton was a slave ship captain. He personally supervised the shipping of thousands maybe tens of thousands of Africans in chains. Death was a common part of the passage from Africa to North America. Slaves were packed in so tight that many died. These deaths were written off as acceptable losses in a trading venture.

John Newton was personally responsible for the deaths of thousands of people. He was also an instrument in the enslavement of even more. What is the just punishment for such people? Perhaps special torments should be devised for them to experience in Hell. Maybe he should be made to spend eternity in the hold of a slave ship.

But John Newton repented and gave his life to Christ. Believe it or not, God forgave John Newton! He bear witness to this in the epitaph that he wrote for himself. He wrote of himself:

I fully expect to see him in heaven. John Newton was made an example of God's grace. He wrote a poem about it. Maybe you have heard it: "Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost and now am found was blind but now I see."

God is not fair. I praise God for not being fair. If God were fair we would all be in trouble. But God is not fair because God is merciful. God is not fair because God graciously shows favor to all who put their faith in Christ.

But you know, most people forget to praise God. Jesus pointed out that all heaven praises God when one sinner is unfairly forgiven. Paul said he thanked God for unfairly forgiving him and making him an apostle. And we can all see the depth of John Newton's gratitude to God for saving him.

Is God fair? Praise God, no! Since God is not fair, let's make our lives an example of praise and thankfulness to God. Let us, like the angels and Paul and John Newton, have an attitude of gratitude. Life is not fair and God is not fair. But, in times like this, it is important to remember that while life is hard God is Good!

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