The Grace Of The Lord Jesus (Acts 15:11)

 


Thursday, July 3, 2025


Psalm 9

1 Samuel 23:19-24:7

Acts 15:1-11


Observance: Thomas, apostle and martyr [if not observed on December 21]


The Grace Of The Lord Jesus (Acts 15:11)


[Peter said] “But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”


We say it all the time – but what do we mean when we talk about “grace”?


We could mean it in the usual way, such as when someone is elegant we might say they hold themselves with a graceful deportment. This I like, because I think it adds an extra dimension to our understanding of the Lord, who is full of grace.


The more usual way we use the word when considering the things of God is to describe an unmerited and free gift. This would seem more appropriate the specific text in front us from Acts, where St Peter speaks about the circumcisers as wanting to place a yoke on people’s neck that they themselves cannot bear. If a perfect life according to God’s law is what is needed to receive the Holy Spirit, then no one would get there. But it is the grace of the Lord Jesus of which the apostle speaks. And looking at the fact that so many people have received the Holy Spirit without being circumcised, one would have to conclude that St Peter is correct. It is the grace of the Lord Jesus, the free gift of his giving the Holy Spirit, in which we place our trust.


But it is also a graceful thing that the Lord does, graceful in the common sense of the word. A wealthy person is admired not for how wealthy they are, but how freely they give their wealth away. Who is more graceful: the villain who gets out of his car and marches directly into the casino, or James Bond, who takes the time to tip his valet? The boss who groans when you ask for leave, or the one who actively seeks you out to make sure you have booked your holidays?


In the same way, when we were wicked, sick and even dead in our sins, God did not raise us to a place where we could do well enough to earn our way into his heaven. Rather, in the elegance of his grace, he raised us himself, justified us himself, and brought us into his heaven. He opened his hand for us without asking for anything in return.


Not only is the generosity of the grace of God worthy of our thankfulness, the elegant beauty of his grace is worthy of our admiration. And since our God is most clearly revealed in the incarnation of Jesus, we can “incarnate” a little of that elegance in our own little acts of grace towards others.


What do you have that you can afford to be generous with? How could that generosity be elegant and beautiful?


Gracious Lord, whose free gift of your Son on the cross is the height of your elegant love for us: teach us how to be truly gracious to others, that your world may be elegant in your image through the outpouring of your grace.

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