An Appointment with Christ: a Life of Grace (Luke 6:27), Part 2

We are here today because we want to share the beautiful Word of God with you, and in our previous meditation we began a study about the life of grace, the attitude of grace, and that is what we want to explore in these meditations. We are using as our foundation the passage found in the Gospel according to Saint Luke, chapter 6, beginning with verse 27. This passage has been called the Golden Rule, where the Lord tells us to do to others what we want others to do to us. That is the well-known Golden Rule. This passage also speaks to us about loving our enemies.

Luke 6:27 says: “...but to you who hear I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who slander you.”

Therein lies the essence of this attitude of grace that characterized and still characterizes the life of Jesus Christ, and that constitutes a call for us who identify with Jesus to live in a way similar to the way He lived. We cannot consider ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ if we do not adopt this conduct, this way of life.

In fact, later in Luke chapter 6, verse 40, the Lord Jesus Christ says: “...the disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” What does the Lord Jesus Christ mean by these words? Indeed, He means that if we want to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot expect to live differently from the way our Master lived. We must be like Him and live as He lives.

In our last message, we made it clear that this is the way God conducts Himself: God loves His enemies, God does good to those who hate Him, God blesses those who curse Him, and God certainly performs good works for those who slander Him. For there are many people who slander God, speak ill of God, and blame Him for things that simply are not His fault. Many times, people make terrible, disobedient, and sinful decisions, and when they reap the negative consequences of their actions, they then blame God and slander Him. And yet God still extends His hand of mercy and deals patiently with us. If we want to be like Christ, then we must adopt this attitude of grace toward others.

Let me take another moment to define what I mean by this attitude of grace. The word grace is a very profound word found in Scripture. Grace means giving something as a gift, giving someone something that person does not deserve, and showing mercy to someone instead of using the whip, the law, accusation, or judgment. To me, an attitude of grace is one that inclines us to treat others with benevolence, generosity, and kindness. The attitude of grace is one that forgives the offender. It is an attitude that assumes the best about others instead of assuming wickedness and ill will.

I sometimes compare the attitude of grace to a grandfather’s attitude toward his grandchildren. It is a merciful, benevolent, tolerant, and gentle attitude that, because of the profound love one has, forgives, bears with, tolerates, and is patient with others. That is the attitude of grace. It is an attitude that does not give people the bad things they deserve and that gives people the good things they do not deserve. God is a God of grace.

The Bible says that God could have destroyed us; He could have destroyed the human race because of its sin. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, and in His commandments the Lord clearly said that the soul who sins shall die. All of us were mired in sin, far from God, without mercy, without love, destroying and exploiting one another. But the Bible says that when humanity was mired and immersed in sin, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to take human form, live a life of suffering and affliction, and finally die undeservedly on a cross, and through His death give us peace and reconciliation with God. God gave us the reward of salvation when we were not even seeking it. We were not even capable of conceiving the desire to serve God, seek God, and repent. Yet Christ died for us. By His grace, God gave us something we did not deserve—namely, salvation. And He did not give us something we did deserve—namely, death and condemnation. That is grace.

God’s grace leads Him to be tolerant with us and to forgive our sins time and again when we confess them and repent of them. God’s grace leads Him to be patient with us and to take a long-term view instead of condemning us the moment we sin, because God sees what we will become, and God patiently leads us through a process of regeneration, sanctification, and perfection. While the time for us to become better is still coming, God is patient with us. God’s grace leads Him to see the good within us, not only the bad. God’s grace leads Him to remember that, as the Bible says, we are dust. The psalmist says in Psalm 103, “...for He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” That is God’s grace toward us, and we are supposed to extend that same kind of grace to the people around us: our friends, our enemies, our relatives, spouses, children, colleagues at work, the people in the church, those who harm us, those who mistreat us, those who harbor ill will toward us, those who speak ill of us, and those who exploit us. We must love as God loves. We must extend to those who treat us improperly the same grace and the same mercy that God showed us.

The first kind of grace—that is, God’s grace toward humanity—I call vertical grace, from above to below. The grace that we are supposed to extend toward our neighbor I call horizontal grace, from side to side.

You will not be able to receive the fullness of God’s grace until you extend grace to those around you. There is an intimate relationship between these two kinds of grace. If you want to receive grace, you must give grace, because God has already given grace to you first. That is very clear. The Lord says: If you do not forgive those who offend you for their trespasses, God will not forgive your trespasses. In other words, there is a relationship. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we say, “...and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” In other words, there is an intimate connection between God’s grace toward us and the grace we are supposed to show others.

And that is the Bible’s call. That is the mystery of this passage in which, in a sense, God tells us: Children, just as I behave, so must you behave. I give grace, I give freely, I am generous, I give of Myself, and I give continually without even expecting anything in return. And if you truly want to be My children, then you must display the works and nature of your Father.

If you want to be a follower of Jesus, if you truly want to be like God, if you want to be a child of God who expresses God’s nature, then ask God to make you a man or woman of grace. Ask God to make the attitude of grace a characteristic, defining part of your life.

Surrender your life to Jesus. Surrender your character, your temperament, and your way of acting and thinking to the Holy Spirit of God. As you enter into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, ask Christ: Lord, come into my life. Take control of my mind and my thoughts, and help me to love as You love and to be a man or woman of grace. May God bless you.