11/22/15---Grace: Means of Grace

Malachi 3:7. which is one of the verses that John Wesley focuses on in his sermon "The Means of Grace," says: "Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, “How shall we return?" The prophet goes on to answer the question by saying "do not rob God," referring to tithes and offerings, and "do not speak against God." The prophet encourages the listeners by saying that God will bless them. 

Wesley thinks about it a little differently, although he regarded giving as an essential piece of Christian living. In his sermon, he begins by asking a similar question that Malachi did: "But are there any ordinances now...? Are there any means ordained of God as the usual channels of his grace?"

Glad you asked, Mr. Wesley. Indeed, there are. Acts 2: 42, which may be regarded as the first Christian community (after the Pentecost experience and the first converts), says that "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." These believers were also just baptized. These are the means of grace, the ordinances of God, the channels of grace. These are the ways we experience God's love in our lives and in this world.

Embedded in these means of grace are different ways in which grace can be described. In our Methodist tradition, through the teachings of John Wesley, we know grace to exist in 3 forms: prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying.

Prevenient grace is, literally, "the grace that comes before." It is grace that precedes human decision. Methodists most commonly conceptualize of this form of grace through the ordinance of baptism. More specifically, infant baptism. We baptize babies before they even know about God's love for them because of prevenient grace. Further, it explains why God is graceful to us, even when we have done wrong. It does not matter what we do, grace is available to all.

Justifying grace is the grace that pardons us from our sins. It is the kind of grace in which we understand that we are saved. It is called the assurance of faith, the kind that does depend on what we believe. In a Word document, there is a "justify" feature where you are able to line things up the way you want. This form of grace is similar: as justifying text within a document puts all the words in line, justifying grace puts us "in line" with God. 

Sanctifying grace is our response to what God has done in our lives. Because of our assurance of faith, we want more and more of God's love; we desire holy living. Wesley would say that this is our "going on to perfection" in order to live more like Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. At this point in our journey with God, we have the assurance that God loves us. The idea of sanctifying grace, though, is that God loves us so much that God desires for us to be made new, not to stay the same. This leads to good works of faith and mercy in the world. 

What's incredible to me is that we know God's grace through our own story with God. Notice that these forms of grace are understood within your journey. So, live your story! 

See you Sunday!