The Paradigm of Grace

Pastor Michael Wise

A paradigm is a pattern, model, concept, set of assumptions, values, and practices. In essence, it is how we view reality.

Is it possible that the paradigm many Christians have of grace needs changing? That they need a new paradigm of grace?

Paul wrote to the young pastor, Timothy, and said: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: ² For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ⁴ traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, …   2 Timothy 3:1-5 

Know, you may be thinking of the world around you thinking, yep, that’s our world today. But did you consider that as Paul describes the conditions that will exist in the hearts of mankind near the end of time, he is talking about Christians?

Notice how he closes with this thought about those he is describing: “⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power.”

Doesn’t this sound like he is describing Christians, church members, would-be/pretend/convenience Christians….?

What a sad description, especially when, by God’s grace, the work could have been finished and the saints in heaven before now, if we had used our time better.

Perhaps you have heard that old saying: “But for God’s grace, there go I” ?

And speaking of time…. Notice this statement of the Bible:
Ephesians 5:15-16  “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, ¹⁶ redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

Paul admonishes the Ephesians, and us, to redeem the time.

My favorite non-Bible author, Mrs. White, also talks of redeeming time in her book called “Christ Object Lessons”:

“We are admonished to redeem the time. But time squandered can never be recovered. We cannot call back even one moment. The only way in which we can redeem our time is by making the most of that which remains, by being co-workers with God in His great plan of redemption.”  Christ Object Lessons 342.4

“In him who does this, a transformation of character takes place. He becomes a son of God, a member of the royal family, a child of the heavenly King. He is fitted to be the companion of the angels.”  COL 342.5

I love that thought, a son of God and member of His family J

By grace we can redeem the time!

By grace we are save through faith!

Ephesians 2:8-9  “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

But what is grace?

Some Christians define grace as “unmerited favor” or “forgiveness”, and while I would not disagree, I would say there is more to consider to have the correct paradigm.

Without a proper understanding of grace, Christians will fall into one of two ditches:

The ditch of liberalism, where some might think: “If it is only undeserved favor / forgiveness, than it doesn’t matter if I go on sinning, after all it doesn’t matter, I’m ‘under grace’.”

The opposite extreme is the ditch of legalism, where a person might think: “well, I was given forgiveness the first time, now I have to work hard to earn it after falling again, or to maintain/ earn God’s continued favor / forgiveness.”

Perhaps we need a new, correct paradigm of grace!

It might be better to illustrate a paradigm change than to describe it.

Illus: The “Pig” story:  A deputy, almost at the end of his shift, was driving back to base. As he was approaching a sharp bend in the road, an oncoming car quickly came around the corner, right towards him in his lane!  As the driver swerved back into her lane just in time, the deputy could see her fist pumping the air outside her window. He heard her as she cried “Pig!” at the top of her lungs and sped past him. In the split second it took for his mind to process whether he should turn around and chase after her, his squad car rounded the corner. And right in the center of the road he saw it …… a pig.

Now may I ask, did your thoughts change during the story, did your perception of the other driver change at the end?

If so, that is what is called a paradigm shift. With fuller, correct information our thoughts, ideas, and perceptions of reality can change. That works for Bible truth too.

I’d like to share two stories that can teach us some lessons of grace. The first one comes from the gospel of Mark. It involves a woman who had a 12 yr health issue dealing with blood. Let’s read it: Mark 5:24-30  (Luke 8:43-46) ²⁴ So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him. ²⁵ Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, ²⁶ and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. ²⁷ When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. ²⁸ For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” ²⁹ Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. ³⁰ And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?” ³¹ But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ” ³² And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. ³³ But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. ³⁴ And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

This woman had struggled with her illness for 12 years. She had visited many healers spending everything she had. The result was that she suffered worse from the many human remedies available. Those healers and their remedies didn’t just fail her, she was in a worse condition than she had started!  And now she was also destitute.

But she had heard of Jesus; she was about to encounter Jesus, His grace, His mercy, His power. Without drawing attention to herself, she simply reached out and touched the hem of His garment. But she did it in faith that she would be healed!

Jesus had been walking amidst a jostling crowd, but they hadn’t touched Him with a faith filled purpose. Immediately Jesus knew that power, also translated virtue in some Bibles, had gone out from Him. The Greek word is dunamis – from this word is derived the word dynamite – explosive power indeed!

This woman experienced God’s grace when she received God’s power!

There is another story from the gospel of luke: Luke 5:17-24  “Now it happened on a certain day, as He was teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them. ¹⁸ Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. ¹⁹ And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. ²⁰ When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ²² But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? ²⁴ But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” ²⁵ Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house,  glorifying God. ²⁶ And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”

Did you notice that God’s power was present to heal them…. The Pharisees and scribes? But they weren’t the recipients of His grace a paralyzed man was. As a result of the faith of his friends. What amazing grace! God’s power was sufficient to forgive him and heal him!

Are you  noticing the correlation between God’s grace, His power, and our faith?

Depending on your paradigm of grace, there are ditches Christians can fall into:   

Some Christians define Grace as unmerited favor. That definition isn’t all wrong, but it is incomplete. If God’s grace was only involving unmerited favor then we would remain forever trapped in sin or in “cheap grace” – the idea that one doesn’t have to worry about sinning because you can’t overcome and we are already forgiven.

Notice what John wrote in 1 John 1:9   “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

God’s power forgives AND cleanses! It is sufficient for victory over sin! That is the beauty of God’s grace!

And certainly, Christians do need to be careful not to fall into the ditch of legalism – thinking they can overcome in their own strength or that they can earn salvation, or merits with God, by their works.

Why do we so desperately need God’s grace?

Because the wages of sin is death  (Romans 6:23a)  

Romans 3:21-24  “²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”

We have all sinned, and we can all be justified by God’s grace J

Romans 5:20  “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more”

Notice how when the apostles received God’s grace they received power:

Acts 4:33  “And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.”

The gospel story of Jesus Christ, that story of grace, is the power of God enabling our salvation, our victory over besetting sins! If we put our trust in Jesus Christ. If we reach out in faith and grasp Him, and stay abiding in Him.

Paul said the gospel is God’s power that can enable anyone, everyone who repents and receives Jesus to experience salvation.

Romans 1:16  “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.”

John 1:12  “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right (in some translations the word “right” is translated “power”) to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”

Paul also wrote that God has a purpose in giving us grace and power. It is so we can live victorious, no longer slaves to sin, but serving God in the holy manner He has called us to.

2 Timothy 1:8-9  “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, ⁹ who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began”

Titus 2:11-13  “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, ¹² teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, ¹³ looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”

Jesus is coming soon, God’s grace and power enables us to be ready and influence and help others to be ready.

God’s grace: His power to redeem us and make us overcomers is not new or just a New Testament truth:

Genesis 6:8  “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”

Jeremiah 31:2  “Thus says the Lord: “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness—Israel, when I went to give him rest.”

Friends, may I appeal to you to embrace Jesus and embrace  the Bible’s paradigm of grace?

Will you, in faith, embrace God’s free grace that He so wants you to accept?

If you will, you can say, like Paul: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” Romans 1:16 

May your heart, mind, and life be filed with the gospel of Jesus, God’s power to salvation. Amen!