GRACE: Why does God care?

By Pastor William Cunningham
Sunday July 9, 2006

Introduction

I often think of the scripture that asks basically why God cares about us.

Psalm 8:4-8 (NKJV) -- {4} What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? {5} For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. {6} You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, {7} All sheep and oxen— Even the beasts of the field, {8} The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas.

When you think of all that God is and all that he has done then you must wonder why we are given so much attention.  Think about it for a moment.  The entire Bible deals ultimately with the redemption of man, i.e., humans.  Why did God go through such great lengths just to take care of us?  Why does he care about us so much?

I consider the original sin in the Garden of Eden.  God could have punished Adam and Eve in such a way that the human race could have been ended.  He didn’t have to begin a path to redemption.  However, I must admit that I think that God had the plan implemented before the fall.  I don’t think that the fall was a surprise to God and because of that the entire human race had to go through the long process of redemption.  I call this the master plan of God to provide a way for mere man (human) to have a true relationship with him.

The Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  Therefore, there is no one that can claim that he or she deserves anything.  No one can say that he can approach God because of his own goodness.  We can only approach God because of God’s own grace.

So why does God care about us?  What is man that God is mindful of us and cares about us?  It is simply because of God’s grace and that is what we are going to talk about in this lesson.  The grace of God is why we are not all annihilated.  It is because of the grace of God that we have a chance to approach Him and have a personal and intimate relationship with Him.  It is the grace of God that enables us to truly live.

What is Grace?

The word “grace” in the English Bible comes from the Greek word charis, which means that which brings delight, joy, happiness, or good fortune.

The LXX (Septuagint) uses charis to translate the Hebrew root meaning favor

• Noah found favor before the Lord (Genesis 6:8)
• Jacob sought favor from Essau (Genesis 32:5)

The word grace has the following formal definitions.

1. Favor or kindness shown without regard to the worth or merit of the one who receives it and in spite of what that person deservers (Nelson’s Bible Dictionary)
2. Undeserved acceptance and love received from another (Holman Bible Dictionary)
3. God’s disposition to exercise goodwill towards undeserving humans (Tyndale Bible Dictionary)
4. A favorable disposition, or kind feeling; and especially love as exercised towards the inferior, dependent, or unworthy (Systematic Theology, 1872, Oak Harbor, WA)

 The word “favor” is closely related to grace because grace is showing favor without the object of the favor deserving it.

The word “favor” means good will, acceptance, and the benefits flowing from these.

Some important points about God’s grace are the following.

1. It is undeserved to who it is extended
2. It is unmerited (cannot be earned)
3. Fully dependant and available because of the will of God

Grace is the unmerited and undeserved love and expression of such bestowed upon humans.  We are the objects of God’s love and yet we have done nothing to deserve it or earn it.  All that we have is because of the grace of God.  The world is full of evil, but we must remember that if it were not for God and His love towards us and the bestowing of His grace then there would be total evil on the earth.  Things would be much worse if it were not for God’s grace.

As a matter of fact, if it were not for God’s grace then we would have no hope of an eternity with Him.  We would all be doomed to the bottomless pit and the lake of fire.  We would all be dead.  However, because of God’s grace demonstrated through the redemptive act of Jesus Christ we have hope of salvation and an eternity with Him.

Counterfeit Grace

There are some teachings in the church community that suggests that we could earn the grace of God.  These are but an illusion of true grace and are therefore counterfeit grace.  We cannot earn grace.  You cannot do something such that God would reward you with His grace in one way or another.

Some teachings would have us believe that there is a way that we could increase the grace of God in our lives.  These are illusions and far fro the truth about grace that we have already described.  Remember that grace implies that it is something we do not deserve.  God’s grace may be manifested in our lives in many ways and in each case we must look back and realize that we did nothing to earn God’s act of kindness in that situation.  I think of the disasters in the world today and find that if anything we truly deserve those more than any act of kindness that may come our way.  We deserve to be destroyed because we do not listen to God.  We find all kinds of ways to go against what God says and what He wants.

We are undeserving people of any goodwill that comes upon us and yet we are led to believe by some false prophets that we can somehow increase the grace of God on our lives.  We are given the seven steps to living in grace or the like thinking that we have something to do with the grace of God in our lives.  The only thing that we can do is to ask for God’s grace and in some respects expect it.

We can expect God’s grace in general because He is a gracious God and it is therefore His nature to be gracious to us.  Otherwise we would have no reason whatsoever to expect any kindness from Him because, as we have already established, we do not deserve anything from Him except punishment or abandonment.

So do not think that you can do anything to merit God’s favor and do not fall for the trap and think that you can do something to increase the grace of God in your life.  You cannot and doing so is contrary to the principle of grace anyway.

Exodus 34:6 (NKJV) -- {6} And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,

So remember that God’s acts of grace are not deserved.  We can do nothing to prompt God to be kind to us because He is already kind to us.  We can do nothing to increase God’s favor on us because He has already gone to great lengths to show His love towards us.

John 3:16 (NKJV) -- {16} For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Living in Grace

I mentioned earlier that we can expect God’s grace on our lives.  This is not because of us, but because of God’s nature.  We can only expect God to be gracious to us because He is gracious.  We can only expect God to be merciful because He is merciful.  However, I always come back to the original question.  Why does God care about us? 

Think of the millions of people that reject God, deny His existence, reject Jesus Christ, kill one another, do all kinds of evil against others, and much more.  Think of all of the times we have sinned and go against the Way of God even though we call ourselves Christian.  What if everyone did what God wanted?  Imagine how the world would be if everyone did what God wanted.  Well we don’t and yet we still find that God is gracious to us.  We are still blessed by God even though we don’t deserve it and as a matter of fact we for the most part deserve the opposite.

I believe that there are two primary aspects of living in grace.

1. Be grateful for what God has done for you even though you did not deserve it and couldn’t earn it.
2. Be gracious to others

We must be grateful to God or thankful to Him because we have to realize that all that we have and all that we have accomplished is because of God’s grace.  God could justifiably turn His back from the human race.  We should be thankful that abandoning us is not consistent with His nature.  We should be grateful that grace is His nature because the world and the human race would be in a whole different situation if His nature were more like our nature.

Living in grace means to live in gratitude and obedience.  By gratitude I mean to be thankful for what He has done and not become deceived into thinking that we have somehow accomplished anything because of our great knowledge or merit.  If God were to abandon us then all that we have and could hope to be would disintegrate in our faces.  All hope would be lost and all our possessions would fly away like dust in the wind.

We should be gracious to others as an expression of our appreciation of God’s graciousness towards us.  Jesus gave a parable demonstrating how we should be as God has been towards us.  Jesus gave a parable of how a servant should have been forgiving towards another person because his master had been forgiving to him.  However, instead of radiating that same forgiveness that he received, he instead was unforgiving and therefore was punished by his master for unforgiveness (See Matthew 18:22-35).

Are you extending to others the same grace that God has extended to you?  Are you gracious to others even though they don’t deserve it?  Living in grace means that you are gracious to others even if they didn’t deserve it.  Our world is ruled by the principle of reciprocation, i.e., I’ll do for you if you do for me.  We tend to do something for someone only if they have done something for us or at the very least we have an “I owe you one” with them such that we can expect a favor from him later because of our favor towards him now.  However, living in grace means that you give and don’t expect anything in return.  It means that you love even though you are not loved back.  It means that you are forgiving even though the person you forgave didn’t deserve it.

That is true living in grace.  We have to be weary of the teachings that suggest that living in grace means that we can acquire more gracious acts from God.  We should not believe for one moment that we can do anything to spawn God into a gracious act.  God is already gracious to us and He already does more for us than we could ever deserve.  We should show our appreciations of His graciousness by being gracious to others and of course by being thankful for the grace that God has extended towards us.

Foremost we should be grateful for the ultimate act of grace from God.  Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead so that we would be able to have an intimate relationship with the Father and so that the fellowship between God and His people would be restored.  There is no other gracious act that could be more important than that and we should not forget that we did not deserve it.

So be gracious to others and be thankful to God for His grace.  God’s gracious acts are not earned and we do not deserve them.  God is already gracious towards us so we should just take that and be thankful and we should be gracious to others as a way of showing our appreciation of God’s grace towards us.

Grace and Obedience

Grace is associated with obedience in that we can’t experience the affects of God’s grace if we live contrary to His ways or disobey Him.  According to Exodus 34:6, grace is associated with mercy, love, compassion, and patience (longsuffering).

Exodus 34:6 (NKJV) -- {6} And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,

It is rather absurd to think that we can enjoy the fruits of God’s grace on our lives and at the same time live any way that we want.  God is gracious, but that doesn’t mean that He has to extend it to us all of the time.  There is no reason that we should believe that God has to do for us.  Sure He cares for us, but that doesn’t mean that He is going to just give us whatever we want as if we were spoiled little brats.  We should obey Him else we suffer the consequences of disobedience.

Again let’s show our appreciation of God’s grace by living a life of grace.  Be gracious to others and live how God wants us to live.  Be what God wants you to be and realize that it is only because of His grace that you have anything and can be anything anyway.  Grace is therefore directly related to obedience.

We Have No Control of God’s Grace

I’ve said it previously and I will say it again.  We do not have any control over God’s grace.  We can do nothing to cause God to be gracious to us or to deserve a gracious act from God.  God is already gracious towards us and thinking that we could make Him be gracious or more gracious is nothing but an illusion and deception brought about by false teachings about grace.

We should therefore beware of claims that suggest that we can somehow get God’s grace operating in our lives by something that we do (besides prayer).  We can walk in grace by walking in obedience.  The Bible shows us that God rewards those who are obedient.  Those who walk in the Way of God will benefit from God’s blessing.  Consider what David said, which is probably one of my favorite scriptures in regards to this topic.

Psalm 1:1-3 (NKJV) -- {1} Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; {2} But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. {3} He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

We prosper because we live according to God’s way.  We are blessed not because we earn it or deserve it, but because we obey God and God is gracious towards us.  We should not think for one minute that God has to do anything nice for us such as bless us in one way or another.  God has already made available to us the greatest blessing that could ever be.  He has sacrificed Jesus Christ for us so that we could have fellowship with Him for all eternity.

Effects of God’s Grace

God’s grace extends to you in regards to favor and what God has for you.  Some examples are as follows.

1. Things go your way even though you did nothing to promote them
2. People seem to work with you for no reason at all
3. Sales people and those in authority extend grace to you for no reason at all
4. You find favor in the people around you

We should keep in mind that God’s grace is already extended to us.  His grace is evident in salvation and it operates in our lives according to His purposes for us. 
The only thing we need do for grace to abound is to be with God.  After all, we deserve nothing we obtain from the Lord.  All that we have is because of grace.

We shouldn’t think that we have to earn God’s love or that we could never be loved by God because of our lifestyle.  True we should repent of those things that keep us from operating according to God’s way, but we should still keep in mind that God loves us and his grace abounds towards us.  He has made the first move for your deliverance.  He has already provided a way for you to be with Him.  He has given you His Holy Spirit so that you would be able to obey Him.

Live in grace by being joined to God through Jesus Christ.  Live in grace by submitting to God who extends grace to all.  Don’t treat God like a genie and think that you can persuade him to be gracious to you by giving you a new car, new clothes, a new house, or whatever.  That is not grace, but an attempt to manipulate the love of God.

Pray

We serve an gracious God.  I can tell you from my own experience that God does things for us that we know that we did not deserve.  However, a key component to living in grace is to pray.  God’s grace is extended to us in various ways.  He may provide a new home or a new car because of His grace.  You may get a raise on your job, which is truly due to His grace and care for you.  There are many ways that the grace of God may manifest in your life.  However, we have to realize that we still need to be sensitive and aware of God moving in our lives to truly realize these gracious acts.

We need to pray.  Prayer opens up a channel between you and God and it provides a way for us to hear from God and express our hearts.  Prayer is a way we can talk to our best friend so to speak.  It is a way that we can build our relationship with our heavenly Father.  Prayer and living a life of grace go hand in hand. 

Of course prayer is important to the life of a Christian overall and it should be something that we do regularly.  Prayer is important because it helps us to stay focused and aware of the things that we need to do in regards to God’s purpose for our lives.  Without prayer we would tend to drift and move to and fro without realizing where we are going.  We therefore lose focus and our track of purpose only to find that we have drifted way off course in regards to what God wants from us.  Therefore, pray and stay on the narrow way.

Illustrations of God’s Grace

Let’s look at a couple of illustrations of God’s grace from the Bible.

1. The deliverance of the Hebrew people from the Egyptians and establishment in the Promised Land is an example of God’s grace.  They didn’t deserve what God did as they were unrighteous (Deuteronomy 7:6-8; 9:4-6).
2. Jesus Christ is the embodiment of God’s grace. Salvation is a result of grace not merit (See Romans 4:4, Romans 5:8).
3. God’s grace was evident in the Garden of Eden after the fall.  He responded with the promise of salvation and care instead of abandonment and retribution.  I think about this quite often.  What would we do if we were betrayed the way Adam and Eve betrayed their God?  I could easily see us cutting them off and abandoning them or even wiping them off the face of the earth to perhaps start over.  We are grateful that God is not like that.
4. The call of Abraham is a great illustration of God’s grace (Genesis 17:4, 7; Romans 4:16).  Abraham did nothing to earn or deserve God’s call on him or the position he had in God’s plan to bless humans.  God chose him freely and by grace Abraham became the father of those who would be of faith.

Conclusion

Why does God care so much about us?  Why is God so gracious to us when we do not deserver it and there is nothing that we could ever do to deserve His acts of kindness?  It is God’s nature to be gracious and that is indeed why He continues to bless us even though we do not deserve it.  We should therefore be appreciative and grateful for God’s grace knowing that there is nothing that we could do or have done to earn it and we surely do not deserve it.  We should also live a life of grace to further show our appreciation of God’s grace on our lives.

So why don’t you begin to practice grace towards others.  Stop expecting favors every time you do favors for people.  Stop doing things merely to get something back.  Practice one-sided giving and truly live a life of grace.  Amen.