The Fullness of Grace

And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John bare witness of him, and cried saying, This is he of whom I spake, He cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

And his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

John 1: 14-17

The Apostle John introduced his gospel with a very profound account about the beginning and origin of Jesus Christ. Instead of a chronology of events, John gets straight to the essence of who Christ is and his divine purpose for coming into the world. Jesus is the Word made flesh that the Father sent to be His sacrifice to take away the sins of a lost and dying world. The Father did this by sending him in the midst of a nation who sought Him through the keeping of the law and its many sacrifices and rituals.

Jesus did not come into the world to destroy the law. In fact in Matthew 5:17, He states,

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

How was He going to not destroy but fulfill the law? He would fulfill through “grace and truth.” Grace is more than the common religious definition of “God’s unmerited favor given to man.” While that is true, it really falls short of what grace is all about and the message that God wants to give to mankind. Grace is really God’s divine influence on man’s heart, and how that influence is reflected in a life.

Because of the emphasis of living by the law, the concept of grace in the Old Testament is highlighted relatively infrequently. In fact, the word ‘grace’ is only found in the King James Version of the Old Testament Bible 39 times. It is not that people were void of grace. And it is certainly not that God lacked the manifesting of his grace to His people. On the contrary, God consistently poured out his grace on a people that oftentimes was underserving.

By contrast, as the Gospel age opened and as Jesus came into the world, He personified ‘grace.’ His teachings were based in an understanding of the true law and how that law needed to be expressed or written on the tables of men’s (and women’s) hearts. Truth came in the form of wiping away man’s opinions and traditions concerning the law and helping individuals understand that they needed to get that “law” straight from the true “Lawgiver.” Our scripture references Moses as giving the law in his day as God gave it to him. However, once Jesus came, Moses’ law needed to come alive in the hearts of men in order for a true work of God to be done. Jesus, through his sacrifice, was and is the only one that could and can make that “law” come alive because he was and is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Jesus is the fulfillment of the law.

We live in a very similar time as in the day that Jesus walked the earth. There are many people who live under the tradition of religious law. It is estimated that there are as many as 30,000 Christian denominations in the world today. While the number of denominations are vastly higher than in Jesus’ or even Paul’s day, the idea of having diverse opinion and traditions is not different. Paul, himself, constantly fought against the opinions of the Jewish disciples who wanted to differentiate themselves from Gentile Christians by citing Jewish law, in particular, circumcision as the doctrine that set them apart. On the other hand, Paul had to constantly fight against Gentile disciples from bringing pagan worship practices into the assembly and to keep them from idols. Where was the balance: grace! God’s divine influence on the heart and the manifestation of the influence of grace in the life. Paul had to constantly deal with the heart condition of men before he could make any headway amongst the legalist (Jews) and the worldly (Gentiles).

That same battle happens today. The legalists want to hold onto doctrines, standards and worship practices that differentiate them from “others” and therefore lifting them to higher spiritual plane. Without grace, the legalist mindset comes across as harsh, hard and somewhat bitter. Truth in their minds is holding certain doctrines firm without sometimes knowing what is really behind those doctrines or where they came from. Oftentimes, if you get to the root of why certain doctrines are held so strongly, there is fear that is driving that mindset. Fear sometimes is directed from the pulpit in the form of “if you don’t hold this doctrine, you cannot be right with God.” It is preached as truth but it is delivered in fear. Those that receive it, oftentimes, fear that if they do not hold this certain doctrine or ‘truth’ firmly, they are letting down and not holding it for the next generation. The reality is that Jesus is the Truth. John also said:

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

1 John 4:18

God’s doctrines will last throughout the ages with or without us. We need to hold truth in our hearts. But just like the laws in Jesus’ day, we need to understand what God is writing on our individual hearts though the teaching of the Holy Spirit. God definitely uses men to deliver his word. However, it is the Spirit of God that writes that word on the heart. And don’t worry, If the Spirit is doing the writing, there will be little to no variances.

Opposite of the legalist, you have the worldly. They tend to not hold doctrines, standards and practices so tightly. However, they are “ruled” by emotions, feelings and sometimes trends in worship. In reality, many in this camp either knowingly or unknowingly want their own thoughts, desires and opinions to be preeminent instead of God’s. These individuals tend to shy away from judgement as if it were a sin. Paul said:

Do you know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

1 Corinthians 6: 2

This type of judgement is not a finger wagging condemnation of people who are not Christians. This is judgement that comes from holy and righteous living that being in the mere presence condemns those that are living to the contrary. Our lives, if we are living by God’s grace, should manifest a judgement that would draw men to Jesus Christ, not repel them.

Where is the middle ground between legalism and worldliness? In one word, grace! It is grace that will help those that are hard and harsh to show compassion on someone who may not be holding the doctrine as tight but they are yearning and striving for more of Christ. That grace will help to lift them up not turn them away. It is grace that will help someone who may not look or dress the “part” to respect the assembly enough to take some things by faith until their faith is “lost in sight.” It is grace that will help those delivering God’s word to not allow fear to dictate the motive of their message but to promote the message in love even when the truth may hurt. It is grace that will lead an individual to find the truth for themselves even though there are 30,000 iterations that are vying for their attention. Grace will promote the right type of judgement through righteous and holy living. Grace will not promote fear but promote love. Grace will allow for emotion to be manifested in the worship service, as the Spirit of God leads and not override of His Spirit. Grace will help us as individuals to seek God with our whole hearts without fear or favor of man.

Grace when fulfilled will not do away with the law. It will not do away with the Word. Grace fulfilled will embrace both the Lawgiver and the Word … for they are one and the same! Grace fulfilled is Jesus Christ.