thou Art Reforming

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CHRISTIANITY

Biblical Podcasts for the glory of God and joy of the church.

06/12/2021

Exodus 4• 11-06-2021 • Emmanuel & Charles - Exodus_For_you_Choma_Bible_Study

When I was a boy growing up in East Texas, we lived near some railroad tracks. In those days, homeless men (whom we called hoboes) often rode the rail cars from town to town. Occasionally, one of those men would show up at our front door and ask my mother for a meal. Without asking any questions, Mother would go to the kitchen and prepare a plate of food for him. She gave it freely, without requiring any "work for food" on his part. She didn't ask him to mow the grass, trim the hedges, or wash the windows. She gave freely without any consideration or conditions. Was my mother's kindness an act of grace? It was certainly a gracious, benevolent act, but it hardly qualified as an act of grace in the biblical sense. We often define grace as God's unmerited favor and set grace in opposition to works, as in "We are saved by grace, not by works." If we hold to the simple definition of unmerited favor, though, my mother's gift of a plate of a food would qualify as grace. The hobo did nothing to earn it. The food was entirely unmerited on his part. So why do I say that mother's kindness was not grace? To answer that question, let me take the story of my mother and the hobo into the realm of fiction. One day a hobo shows up at our front door, again asking for food. This time, however, mother recognizes him as the man who had robbed our home some weeks before. Instead of going to the phone to call the police, she again goes to the kitchen and prepares a plate of food. She gives it to him with no questions asked and no work required. You can readily see that a new element has been introduced into the story. Now there is not only the lack of merit but more importantly there is the presence of demerit. The hobo not only does not deserve the food, in the sense of having worked for it; he actually deserves to be apprehended and punished for his crime. Mother's gift of a plate of food in these circumstances moves us toward the real meaning of divine grace. God's grace addresses itself not merely to the absence of merit but to the presence of demerit. To understand divine grace, we must see it as more than unmerited favor. The idea of demerit is an essential element in the biblical meaning of grace. In our relationship with God, there is either merit for obedience or demerit for disobedience, but there is no such thing as "unmerit." There is either merit or demerit but no unmerit. Complete article here.

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