My Grace: Amazing Gift: Power Made Perfect in Weakness
The Greek word here is χάρις meaning favor. It is the root for “charismatic” and dynamically reflects goodness and favor. Here, St. Paul* quotes the Lord as using it the only time He does.
*indicates that person has a short biography in SPIRITUAL LIVES
My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9
But the word is applied to Him by Luke and John*, Luke telling us that the grace of God was upon Him as a child, and John that He was full of grace and truth.
John goes further, explaining Out of the fullness of his grace he has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another. God gave the Law through Moses,* but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.* –John 1:16-17
This is a key observation of the unfolding of the Gospel and Jesus’ purpose of extending God’s grace beyond its historic place among His people in the Old Testament.
The first time we see grace named is with Noah* and it is not because of anything Noah did, but because God’s goodness and favor flowed to those whom He had chosen. We notice that Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD before he began his work on the ark.
Grace is not given for something someone has done, but out of God’s goodness and favor, out of His character and love for all.
The unmerited aspect of grace is evident in the case of Lot, who had chosen to dwell among the wicked people of Sodom whom God had determined to destroy. Lot recognizes God’s grace and reluctantly accepts it but insists on having his own way instead of embracing His will.
The grace we see from here on in the Old Testament is best defined as “favor” and is sought and found in other people, like Esau*, Hanor, Potiphar, Pharaoh, and Joseph*, all people with power/favor to give.
In each of these cases, grace is sought, not freely bestowed. Perhaps this plays a part in why people of royalty, nobility, or position are called “your Grace.”
The LORD extends grace to Moses* who recognizes that grace as His presence:
For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us? so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.---Exodus 33:16
This is evidence of the LORD’s grace, His presence, hence this dialogue: My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. And he said unto Him, If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence. 14-15 What more wonderful blessing can God’s grace bring than this statement of intimacy?
thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. verse 17.
God gave the Law through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. – John 1:16-17
God’s grace is a part of His character and inseparable from His person. Adam* and Eve* enjoyed it in the Garden of Eden where it reigned supreme. They walked with the Lord and lived in His grace until they sinned and were driven from paradise on earth. Even so, they lived under His grace still and God blessed them with children.
Cain* and Abel* too enjoyed the Lord’s grace as they learned to worship Him, but when Cain murdered Abel he stepped away from God’s grace and refused to repent.
And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. Genesis 4:16 Sin is a grace-killer, not that God’s grace is not abundantly available to all, but that sin kills our willingness to seek Him and ask.
The whole world enjoyed the grace of God in the beginning, it was created by Him and called “very good.” When Cain left the presence of God, he rejected His grace and opened the door to sin and corruption that spread through the whole world, like a metastasized cancer that had to be destroyed.
Abel, like Adam, followed God’s commandment and lived in His grace. But over time, his descendants intermarried with Cain’s and eventually only one family lived in God’s grace, the family of Noah, through whom the world was saved.
The only other person mentioned in the Old Testament to have found grace with God was Moses* through whom God’s grace extended to His people, the children of Israel. As He had chosen Noah for a specific mission, so had he chosen Moses to give the LAW to His people.
The purpose of the Law was to make God’s people aware of sin. St. Paul says Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. – Galatians 3:24-25
Moses was the first great mediator between God and man, and his mediation provided first, the Law documenting the Lord’s commandments, and second, the sacrificial system of atoning for sins through the blood of lambs.
God’s grace is greater than all our sins, but His presence and grace will not tolerate sin. Because of this, we are called unto holiness “without which no man shall see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14
Holy people first saw the Lord upon His presentation in the Temple, Anna and Simeon, who saw this infant full of grace and truth. He was to grow still more, gracefully under Joseph* and Mary,* and be subject to them and enjoy favor with God and man. In Him was the embodiment of grace that was only seen from afar in the Old Testament.
John and the other disciples saw that grace in its fulness His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
St. Paul tells us
For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell. – Colossians 1:19 and For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. -Colossians 2:9
John explains how that fullness has been diffused in the world, Out of the fullness of His grace he has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another. – John 1:17
The Gospels narrate Jesus’ life and miracles filled with power and grace culminating at Calvary where He willingly went to die for our sins gracefully, lovingly, and purposefully. Amazing Grace that saved a wretch like me!
He rose in triumph from the grave and extended His grace to His brothers who carried on His work with the apostles when He ascended into heaven. His grace covered the disciples and manifested itself more when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost:
And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. – Acts 3:33
Barnabas was witness to an outpouring of grace in Antioch:
Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. -Acts 11:23
Seven times more in Acts Luke narrates the power of grace in ministering first to the Jews and later the Gentiles through the missionary journeys of Paul, Barnabas, Silas, and their fellow laborers. Paul testifies to the Corinthians about the role grace played in his life:
But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. – 1 Corinthians 15:10
It was Paul who explained most fully the pivotal role of grace in the Gospel:
For by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:8-10
God uses grace to build us and His church:
And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: - 2 Corinthians 9:8
Paul had occasion to see the reality of this in his own life when he asked the Lord to deliver him from an infirmity, what he called a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me.
He asked three times, and the Lord said My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9
It is in the limitlessness of grace that weakness is overcome.
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase,
To added affliction He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men,
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half-done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father's full giving is only begun.
Annie Johnson Flint, 1866-1932
But God’s Grace is not just for Christians. It is for the whole world, especially for sinners:
listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je22nSpTZVQ
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary's mount out-poured–
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.
Refrain:
Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!
2 Sin and despair, like the sea-waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater– yes, grace untold–
Points to the Refuge, the mighty Cross. [Refrain]
3 Marvelous, infinite, matchless grace,
Freely bestowed on all who believe!
All who are longing to see His face,
Will you this moment His grace receive? [Refrain
Jesus came into this world to save sinners. That is His purpose and greatest desire and joy. His all-sufficient grace is available to you!
All you need to do is ask, believe, and open your heart to receive Him, full of Grace and Truth!