Tag: grace

“O Lord, My Rock And My Redeemer” Cover – Genavieve Linkowski

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Originally from Sovereign Grace Music

LYRICS

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
Greatest treasure of my longing soul
My God, like You there is no other
True delight is found in You alone

Your grace, a well too deep to fathom
Your love exceeds the heaven’s reach
Your truth, a fount of perfect wisdom
My highest good and my unending need

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
Strong defender of my weary heart
My sword to fight the cruel deceiver
And my shield against his hateful darts

My song, when enemies surround me
My hope, when tides of sorrow rise
My joy, when trials are abounding
Your faithfulness, my refuge in the night

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
Gracious Savior of my ruined life
My guilt and cross laid on Your shoulders
In my place You suffered bled and died

You rose, the grave and death are conquered
You broke my bonds of sin and shame
You rose, the grave and death are conquered
You broke my bonds of sin and shame

O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer
May all my days bring glory to Your Name
May all my days bring glory to Your Name

Lent 2022 | 2nd Sunday in Lent: Celebrate!

Every Sunday in Lent gives us an opportunity to look back over where we have been in the previous week. Throughout this series, each Sunday will focus on a particular aspect of the grace of God. It can be easy for us to think about God’s grace, and think that we understand it. The truth is God’s grace is always more profound than we can imagine.

Therefore, each of the Sundays we’re striving to make sense of one characteristic of God’s grace. By focusing in this way maybe we can deepen our appreciation for what God has provided for us. The sacrifice of Jesus is more than just a “get out of hell free” card. The redemption purchased by the shed blood of Christ is the restoration of our relationship with God himself.

Today we’re going to focus on the wonder of God’s grace.

I think it’s helpful to take the time and ask: what does the word wonder mean?

The sacrifice of Jesus is more than just a “get out of hell free” card. The redemption purchased by the shed blood of Christ is the restoration of our relationship with God himself.

A cursory search for a definition of the word wonder provides this from Merriam-Webster’s dictionary.

  • 1. “A cause of astonishment or admiration: Marvel”; miracle.
  • 2. The quality of exciting amazed admiration.
  • 3. A. Rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one’s experience; B. A feeling of doubt or uncertainty.

These are interesting flavors of the word wonder. The one that stands out as being most closely described in Scripture is the second one. “The quality of exciting amazed admiration.”

When we think about God’s grace, it should elicit in us excitement, amazement, and admiration. Not in some sequential way but all at once. Like the crashing of a wave on the shore. Were sound and effect occur at the same time.

God’s grace is something that cannot be adequately defined. There are many who have tried. And at best those could be described as approximations of the truth. That is not to say those attempts have no value. As a matter of fact, they help us to get closer to what we should know and understand about God’s grace.

What I think is challenging when we try to define God’s grace is that we try to make a connection between what grace is and what we have learned through our experiences in life. And again, there is nothing inherently wrong with that. But these attempts only give us the impression that we know what God’s grace is.

In recent years, instead of trying to describe grace as something we can know, I’ve done my best to talk about it as something we must experience. It’s not something that can be simulated. It’s not something that can be shared with others through words or images. It’s not something that we can approximate.

The best we can do is invite them to journey with God just as we are doing. And to trust that God will remain faithful, not only to his word and promises but also to those who come to him honestly and with a genuine desire to find him.

The longer we live, the longer we walk with the Lord, the less concerned we should be with convincing others of the wonder of God’s grace. We should do all we can to live our lives according to what we claim to have experienced of God’s grace.

In this season of Lent let us rejoice not only in God’s grace but also in that he has been gracious to us.

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Lent 2022 | 1st Sunday in Lent: Celebrate!

Every Sunday in Lent is considered a mini Easter and is therefore not counted among the days of Lent. During this time we should pause to celebrate the goodness of God as he brings us closer to himself and into a deeper understanding of the work of Christ in our lives.

Today we’re going to celebrate the Grace of God.

There are many misunderstandings and misconceptions about what the grace of God is. And I will not try to dispel all of them in this post. What I would like to do is consider what the ministry of Christ means for us if we accept Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection as God’s plan for our redemption.

For those of us who claim the name of Christ and have become followers of him, the greatest realization we can accept and celebrate is that God has done something for us that we cannot do for ourselves.

God has entered into the human condition and walked among us experiencing the fullness of the human experience so that we might know he understands what it is like to be one of us. The miracle of the incarnation is not only that God became like us. That in and of itself is truly glorious. The miracle of the incarnation is that God truly understands what it means to live in a world that is broken and drifting away from him.

God’s grace, as it is seen in the life and presence of Jesus upon the earth, is the proof of God’s glorious love for us.

The weight of sin and the effects of spiritual brokenness upon men and women cannot always be fully understood. It is something we experience in unique ways because we are individual people. One of the challenges we face is recognizing that though we might experience similar events we do not always experience the same manifestation of emotions. What this means for us is we should not compare our experiences. We should just recognize how each experience shapes us into the people we are becoming.

Now, what does this have to do with God’s grace? That is a good question. And I would answer it in this way.

God’s grace, as it is seen in the life and presence of Jesus upon the earth, is the proof of God’s glorious love for us. That God would exit his perfect heaven and enter into our broken world so that we might have a relationship with him is worthy of celebration. The reality of God’s grace can sometimes escape us because we do not, or maybe we simply cannot fully appreciate the cost of Jesus entering into the world to God.

The Christian church has taught this idea, this doctrinal truth, from the very beginning. And so for those of us who have the benefit of centuries of theologians and divines speaking to it, Jesus’s entrance into the world feels as if this is something “normal”. But the truth of the matter is this is anything but normal. Anything God does is supernatural. And even though we accept as an axiom of faith the entrance of Jesus Christ into the world through the miracle of the incarnation, we should not lose sight of how truly glorious this reality is.

As we celebrate this first Sunday in Lent, I encourage you to take a moment, to pause and reflect on this wonderful reality that we have been gifted. In just a few short weeks we will remember the fullness of the sacrifice of Christ. But as we journey towards Resurrection Sunday, we should stop and rejoice at the goodness of God as it is seen in the grace of God.

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Lent 2020 | Day 31: “Innocent”

In the cross of Calvary, God’s judgment has fallen and the verdict has been given. The penalty of sin is death and Jesus has died for the guilty.

In the cross of Calvary, God’s judgment has fallen and the verdict has been given. The penalty of sin is death and Jesus has died for the guilty. The verdict was punishment and in the shedding of Christ’s blood, those who deserve damnation are adopted and given an inheritance.

This is the mystery of the Christian faith. The just God justifies the wicked and ungodly, declaring them innocent.

I can honestly say that even after all of my years as a Christian, when I think about this exchange is just doesn’t make sense. It is does not make sense for a holy God to do this. But then I remember he is also good.

The wrath of God is truly terrible. And yet, his grace is able to cover the sins of the entire world.

The perfect balance of all of these attributes within the Godhead is a mystery that cannot be properly understood. That none of these characteristics of God’s character are in conflict with each other is beyond comprehension.

Everyday I struggle to be consistent. To be even tempered, sober minded, kind, and gracious. And every single day I fail. Why? Because my sin nature is in competition with the new nature given to me by Jesus.

And still, God look at me through the filter of Jesus blood and does not condemn. God does not look at any of us and throw up his hands in disgust. The verdict has been given and God will not go back on his word.

We didn’t deserve, and we may even find reasons for why God should revoke his grace, but he never will. We have been declared innocent even though we were guilty as sin.

Hallelujah!

Lent 2019 | Day 25: Solemnity

Too often we do not want to remember the fact that we are still flawed and mending people.

Solemnity is not a word we use much anymore. I like words like this. It forces us to look it up and remember what it means. It is a word that speaks to being solemn; to be “grave, sober,” “serious or earnest.” While I would recommend we live in this state, there are times when solemnity is required.

As a Christian and more so as a minister of the Gospel, there is a balance I feel I must maintain. A balance between the exuberant joys of salvation and the humility inducing weight of repentance. You cannot have one without the other. Both of these are realities of the Christian experience. I would even say necessary realities.

One of the primary problems I see is, too often, we do not want to remember the fact that we are still flawed and mending people. Yes, we are broken, but if we believe the Gospel we are being healed every day from the wounds of sin, both our own and those of others. We are being restored back to the way we should have been before the fall. We are being conformed into the glorious image of Jesus Christ. We are flawed, but we should see ourselves being mended.

And at the very same time, we should never be so cavalier as to think that God’s grace should distort the ugliness of who we would be without him! Grace covers our sin, but it does not erase the memory of its effects. In fact, sin is still present in the world. It is all around us. So, just because we have personally experienced freedom in Christ, does not mean that we are not confronted with the damaging results of sin in the world in which we must live.

For me, the idea of solemnity takes shape in a two-fold concern. First, I am concerned with my own heart. Do I rejoice in God’s grace because I recognize what that grace has saved me from? Or do I just enjoy God’s grace without any lingering sense of what it cost to obtain it? The first is gospel-focused. The latter is inconsistent with the Gospel.

Second, I am concerned with the world in which I must continue and finish my race. The grace I have received should motivate me to become one of those Jesus spoke about in Luke 10.

1After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. 2And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Luke 10:1-2 ESV, emphasis added)

I am one of the laborers. Any and every person who has heard the Gospel of Jesus and believed is a laborer. We may not all do the same work, but the harvest is bigger and present in more places than we could ever imagine.

But, it will take a degree of solemnity to see it and be moved to act. I pray we will do better at participating in the harvest Jesus said is waiting to be gathered.

 

Lent 2019 | Day 9: The Power of Grace

Only God had the requisite authority and power to forgive sinners and restore our fellowship with him.

God’s grace is an incredibly difficult concept to describe. The main reason is that as recipients of this grace we are not in a position to fully appreciate the cost of it. We are the experiencers of grace and not the dispensers of it. God extends and applies his grace to us and we can rejoice in its effects in and on our lives.

The world does not always understand why the Church speaks of grace as often as it does. The world does not rightly understand why we talk about God’s grace in the way we do (or should!). The reason for this failure is that until you experience God’s grace it is difficult, if not impossible, to make any sense of what God has done for us.

The power of God’s grace is that we are no longer lost and separated from God. Only God had the requisite authority and power to forgive sinners and restore our fellowship with him. There is nothing that we can do or say that would convince God to accept us. The reason is that there is nothing that we can offer to God that he would find acceptable. God, by the power of his grace, transforms us from what who we were born as to these new creations in Christ’s image.

Grace is powerful because the one who offers it and applies has the power to accomplish what he purposes. For this I give thanks. And for this I am grateful.

Lent 2019 | Day 8: The Patience of Grace

God’s loving-kindness is better than we realize, when we realize what could have been!

There is a quality of God’s grace that is often overlooked. Grace is a multifaceted diamond. Each face reveals a new wonder of God and the grace he gives to us. There are a couple of passages that highlight this attribute and expose a beauty in God that we do not rejoice in enough. I know that I don’t.

Let’s look at them both. The first is Paul’s letter to the Church in Rome.

21But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26 ESV, emphasis added)

The second is found in the books of Acts.

30The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31 ESV, emphasis added)

What makes both of these passages so remarkable is that it explicitly makes the claim that God “passed over” and “overlooked” the sins of fallen men and women because it was not yet time to judge them. Now, I know that this time of overlooking culminated in Jesus. That the reason God did not execute justice on sinners was because God was waiting until he could unleash his wrath for all sin, for all time at the cross. So, I am not trying to split a hair or make a theological point contrary to the implications of the text.

My hope is to highlight that God has revealed that, in his grace, he does not smite sinners instantaneously for their sin so that they might come to know repentance and might have an opportunity for a restored relationship with God the Father. That God’s loving-kindness is better than we realize, when we realize what could have been!

As each day draws us closer to the celebration of God’s miraculous salvation of lost souls in Jesus, I hope we spend a little more time thinking about how good God’s grace really is.

Lent 2019 | Day 7: The Heart of Grace

The heart of God is on full display in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

The God of all the things. The one who spoke the universe into existence and who sustains the worlds in their orbits. This God has shown his love for sinners in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

There is nothing that can capture the magnitude of this kind of love. How could there be? Even as a father, my love for our children pales in comparison to the love of God for those he sent Jesus to save.

We see grace in Christ, but what drives this grace to express itself in our fallen and sin-sick world? It is the heart of God to redeem and to save. The heart of God is on full display in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The heart of God is heard in the simple proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus.

A holy God has stepped out of heaven and called all sinners to repentance. And, if we put our faith, hope, and trust in Jesus, the Messiah of God, we will be adopted and saved from the just penalty of our sin! Our trajectory will have been diverted from hello and eternal separation from God and set toward heaven and eternal joy in God.

I will probably never know what motivates the God described in the Scriptures. But I have no doubts about his love. I have no doubts about his mercy. I have no doubts about his grace. I have seen too much. Experienced too much. Learned too much to turn my back on him.

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