One of the most popular TV programs of the late 1950s was a show called "The Millionaire," in which a nameless, faceless multimillionaire found great joy in dispensing one million dollars each week to some unsuspecting soul.
I'm sure the reason the show was so popular was that everyone watching it wanted to receive so gracious a gift. The mysterious benefactor, who was only revealed by his voice and sometimes the back of his head, would authorize his agent, Michael Anthony, to dispense the million dollar check to the person who had been selected that week. Some of the people were poor, others were middle class, and a few were relatively wealthy already.
HOW WOULD THE RECIPIENT RESPOND TO THE GIFT? we all wondered. Some people rejected it all together, refusing to believe that anyone could possibly be so kind and generous. They simply continued life as usual, never benefitting from the benefactor's wealth. Others rejected it at first, but after Michael Anthony convinced them, their disbelief turned into great joy.
The rest of the show was devoted to answering the next obvious question: How will they spend their money? Some squandered the funds quickly; others invested them wisely. Some selfishly hoarded the money for themselves; some shared the gift with others. Some became dissatisfied with the amount (after all, 2 million would be even better), while others rejoiced at so liberal a gift.
Whatever the response, each weekly episode was filled with drama and excitement, laughter and tears, as Michael Anthony encountered a variety of situations and sometimes dangerous circumstances. At the end of the show Anthony would report back to the benefactor, telling him if the gift had been accepted. Regardless of the recipient's response, the multimillionaire was always willing to give again.
I find this a most accurate and appropriate illustration of the magnificent grace of God. Our wealthy, eternal Benefactor, who is transcendent (thus distinct from His creation), sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to bestow His spiritual wealth upon you and me -- sinful, undeserving men and women. And we respond to God's generous provision in a variety of ways. Some of us reject God's gift outright, while others reject it initially, then change their minds. Some cry when they accept it, others laugh.
Some change their lifestyles quickly, while others change much more gradually. Some express overwhelming gratitude to the eternal Benefactor's generosity by praising His Representative, Jesus Christ, while others receive Him with little thankfulness. Some who receive God's gift later squander it and have little to show for the provisions of God's grace. However, one thing is true of all these people. They have been provided a generous opportunity to become spiritual millionaires.
THE MAGNIFICENT GRACE OF GOD
The grace of God is best expressed as "getting God's absolute best when we deserve the absolute worst."
A hundred years ago when a person died, he would be buried rather crudely. The deceased would be placed in a wooden coffin, broad at the top and narrow at the bottom. He would be transported to the closest cemetery in a horse-drawn carriage and lowered into the ground by a rope, which was wrapped around the top and bottom of the box.
However, today when you die, you die in style. You are placed in a rather expensive casket, which is lined with linen. You get to rest your head on a satin pillow. You are dressed by professionals who manicure your nails, comb your hair, and fix your clothes (matter of fact, I've seen some people who looked better dead than they ever looked alive!) As you leave the funeral home for the burial grounds, you ride in a limousine, a lifelong dream of some of us. In fact, maybe one for the body and one for the family and you are lead by a police car thru red lights on your way to your final resting place. Finally, you are lowered into a vault, which is lower into the ground by a smooth, nickel-plated machine.
The bottom line, however, is still the same: Dead is dead. And that's God's verdict on all of humanity outside of Christ. The unregenerate are walking zombies entombed by this world order, the control of the devil, and the desires of their own flesh. They deserve God's wrath, not His grace. Not a very pretty picture but a necessary one if grace is to make sense.
Yet while we were weak, while we were dead in our trespasses and sins, God being rich in mercy, demonstrated His own love toward us. He did not spare His one-of-a-kind Son. He reconciled us to Himself. Then He made us alive with Him and seated us with Him in heavenly places.
Now that's a mouthful, and yet, it does not even come close to all that the Bible declares about the grace of God. We owe both our existence and our state of being to God and His marvelous place of redemption. (In fact, we did not even know that we were in need of salvation until God told us! God's grace rescued us from the eternal and hideous consequences of sin, while we were yet ignorant of our impending tragedy." Therefore, all boasting should be about the Lord and not about ourselves.
It's like the story told of an Indian who had become a Christian. As his brothers began to observe how different his lifestyle had become, they asked, "What has caused such a change?" The new Christian looked on the ground and found a worm; then he put it on some leaves and set them aflame. Just before the fire got to the worm, he reached down and took the worm out of the flames and held it before his friends. "Me -- worm", he said.
That is what God did for each of us. He reached down to sinful men, who deserved the fire of judgment, and just in the nick of time, delivered us up from the flames so we might live a life pleasing to Him. The apostle Paul told it all: "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Eph 2:4-7)
THE SUFFICIENCY OF CHRIST
We must understand that if we depend upon anything beyond Jesus for salvation, then we're really saying, "Jesus Christ alone is not enough."
The whole point of the Gospel is:
Jesus plus nothing equals salvation.
Jesus plus anything equals damnation.
After all, if God Himself could not get the job done on the cross, what other force in the universe could possibly hope to make a difference?
If I died right now and God asked me why He should admit me to heaven, I wouldn't bring up the fact that I was a preacher. I wouldn't point out that I had been faithful to my wife. I wouldn't mention that I did the best I could to live a good life. I wouldn't refer to my theological training, or to my generosity, my compassion, my charitable ventures. All would be equally irrelevant.
Nothing I can add, no contribution I might make, no service I can render would help my case on Judgment Day. The only question on the floor then is, "What have you done with Jesus Christ?"
Many people will not make it to God's heaven, even though Jesus has already affixed His signature on their pardon, because they will not personally receive it.
All of this is by grace, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." (Eph 2:8-9)
Our salvation is not based on who we are or what we have done but on Who God is and what he has done. In fact, any and all attempts to merit God's grace (for example, by works) are futile and nullify the very salvation we seek to attain.
A 250 pound High-school sophomore, who was a star football player, dove from a pontoon boat into Lake Wylie in South Carolina to retrieve a beach ball. The unanchored boat drifted away from him and as an inexperienced swimmer he panicked. A friend tried to save him, but was pulled down by the young man's violent efforts to save himself. The football player never gave up. Instead he drowned in the 34-foot deep waters.
Grace only saves you when you cease trying to save yourself and entrust yourself to Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross for your sins. Grace pulls you to shore so that your life can begin again.
WHAT WILL MAN DO WITH THE GIFT OF
GOD'S GRACE?
Grace is not static. It is the active energy of God that enables Christians to be all we were called to be when Christ saved us. Yet grace demands responsibility at the same time it rejects human merit. The pearls of grace are far to precious for God to dispense them to those who will not handle them responsibly.
The concept of proper works is clearly set forth in 1 Corinthians 15. Paul, explaining the impact of grace in his own life said, "by the grace of God I am what I am." Christianity's greatest biblical author, missionary, evangelist, theologian, Bible teacher, and church architect says in essence, "These achievements were made by grace."
However, these achievements were not made by Paul idly sitting back, doing nothing. He went on to say, "But I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (vs.10)
Note the tension. Paul labored and grace labored. Thus there is a dynamic cooperation between what grace provides and what we must do. Grace provides the soil out of which the fruit of the Spirit grows. This is why Paul was proud of the fact that the grace he had received from God was not given in vain. The grace of God in Paul's life and ministry reaped a full harvest and was not cut short, hindered, or limited. So it should be in the life of every Christian.
You are a spiritual millionaire. God has opened an account for you in the Bank of Grace. What are you going to do with God's gift to you? The choice is yours.
