March 1, 2024

Gleanings

Great Grace

Gerald R. Chester, Ph.D.

All humans are created by God and placed in his universe to serve his purpose. There is no other reason for existence. There is no other way to achieve meaningful success, satisfaction, security, and contentment. This means that every person and organization exists to serve God’s purpose. To this point, the psalmist spoke these words about the importance of living aligned with the sovereign Creator:

Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. (Psalm 127:1 ESV)

Under the Old Covenant, mankind’s ability to align with God was impaired by an innate bias to sin against the Creator. Through the divine gift of common grace, mankind has human potency to survive in the universe while in rebellion against God. But in the fallen state, mankind is impotent to remedy its fallen condition. A major lesson of Old Testament scripture is revelation of this human impotency and, therefore, the inability of humans to attain right standing with the holy Creator. However, there is a divine solution to mankind’s condition.

Under the New Covenant, God empowers mankind through regeneration and the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit as promised in Scripture (Ezekiel 36:27; Romans 8:11). Now in the New Covenant era, for the first time since the fall of man (Genesis 3), mankind can begin to obey the Creation Mandate (Genesis 1:26–28) better than was possible in the Old Covenant era.

One of the markers of a person or organization that lives in this empowered state is Christ-centric living. In Acts 2, some of the events associated with the formation of the New Testament ekklesia (church) and some of its early practices are revealed. This is the first glimpse after Jesus began to build his ekklesia of how to live Christ-centric empowered lives.

Further revelation is found in the next chapter, Acts 3. The apostles Peter and John were used as divine agents to heal a crippled man who begged daily. On this occasion, the man received something better than money, something he didn’t even ask for—he was able to walk for the first time in his life. His reaction was to jump in glee, which drew the attention of others who knew the man as a crippled beggar. Suddenly he was able to walk! The crowd wondered in amazement and sought an explanation. Peter responded:

Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. (Acts 3:12–13 ESV)

The Jews present in the Temple that day had crucified Jesus by pressuring the Roman authorities who reluctantly capitulated to their will. Peter explained to the same Jews that the resurrected Jesus had healed this crippled man. Peter and John were not the healers; they were simply serving as Jesus’ representatives.

The crowd’s commotion drew the attention of the Jewish leaders, and they had Peter and John arrested. The next day, the leaders demanded to know by what authority Peter and John healed the crippled man. Luke recorded their response:

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:8–12 ESV)

The jealous Jewish leaders were confronted with the unequivocal fact that a crippled man who for decades had begged daily at the Temple had suddenly been healed.

The leaders were confounded. They wanted to silence Peter and John who testified of the resurrected Jesus. But how? The fact of the healing was undeniable, and all the people were praising God. The leaders warned Peter and John charging them:

“not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” But Peter and John answered them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:18–20 ESV)

Peter and John responded to the charge saying they could only speak the truth.So, the leaders, finding no way to punish them, threatened and released them. Peter and John returned to their fellow disciples to report what happened. The whole community lifted their voices in prayer (Acts 4:24−30), asking for more boldness. Their request was granted.

The divine response was great grace (Acts 4:33). Interestingly, this is the singular occurrence of this phrase in Scripture and it was manifested by unity, wise stewardship, and more empowerment. Even Jesus’ original apostles, who were assigned the specific task of bearing witness to the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus, were more fruitful.

Great grace appeared to be enhanced power of the ekklesia for Christ-centric living. If you are holistic and, therefore, believe that Jesus is both Lord and Christ, then this example from the first ekklesia has relevance for you.

Accordingly, a takeaway is the divine response to standing unwaveringly on truth. When the people of God stand on truth, regardless of the opposition, this pleases the Lord who responds with great grace that is manifested by traits such as:

• unity of heart and soul (unity occurs when there are no competing agendas—the only objective is God’s will, ways, timing, and glory);

• resources stewarded correctly to serve God’s purpose (all real needs [as defined by God] were met); and

• increased power so that individuals (and by implication organizations) can fulfill their callings (the specific calling of the original apostles was to serve as eyewitnesses of the resurrection of Jesus [Acts 1:8]).

Sadly, the ekklesia of the past two hundred plus years has missed the mark in standing for truth. Most notably this began in the nineteenth century when advocates of secularization attacked education. Soon the attack spread to economics, law, and public policy followed by social norms. During this time, the ekklesia failed to stand strong on truth. Consequently, the world is worse off; it is declining into judgment.

The failure to stand strong on truth is rooted in the denial of the lordship of Christ, which is part of the dualistic mindset. Dualism limits the application of truth, as demonstrated by the anemic fight by the ekklesia against secularists since the nineteenth century. During this time, there was (and still is) little consideration about how the patterns of the early ekklesia could be an example of how to stand firmly in truth. This failure to stand on truth sabotages holistic Christianity and denigrates the name of Christ.

Living in great grace is living in truth regardless of the obstacles. This is a high standard, but it is the right standard. It is the way to live aligned with God’s purpose. It is the only way to meaningful success. May we all, through the power of the Holy Spirit, be enabled to stand firmly on truth and, therefore, experience the blessings of living in great grace!