Receiving the Gift of Grace Romans 5:1-5

Perhaps receiving gifts has become so commonplace in our day and age that we actually have come to expect to receive gifts for just about any event or time in our lives.  After any holiday – but especially Christmas - one of the first things asked is: “What did you get?” The expectation is built in.

Expressing gratitude in the receiving of a gift is a wonderful thing but even more wonderful is expressing gratitude through the giving of a gift.   True gift giving is meant to be an expression of our desire to give something meaningful to another person.  You probably know someone who always seems to give gifts that really meet a need, gifts that do not end up at the exchange or return counter.  Often today we really struggle to know what to give one another when it seems we all have so much.  Perhaps the best gift we can really give is not something that comes from a store but from our heart.  I know that sounds like it should be on one of those expensive Hallmark Cards but perhaps we need to become less conditioned to constantly giving things and more conditioned to giving of ourselves.

More than anything, we need to spend time with one another, get to know who each other is and what is important to one another. We need to listen and not judge. We need to be supportive.  Every other gift gets used, wears out or breaks and eventually is no more but these gifts will stay with those who receive them for the rest of their lives.

We often speak of the gift of grace of God, but that grace is far more than that. Paul firmly believes that we need to be justified to be able to have access to the grace of God. Nowadays we understand that this means being brought into a right relationship with God.  And the only way that we are put right with God through faith – by trusting in the redemption of our lives by the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that faith gives us the assurance that we are in a right relationship with God through Jesus who brings us that peace that Christ declared to the disciples – not a peace as the world gives but the peace that can only come from God.

And so Paul says that we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand.    But the word is really mysterious to us because it has entered our vocabulary through the Latin gratia – which commonly meant favour or good will.  But the word that is found in the Greek “charis” and that was the equivalent of the Hebrew “chen” had a meaning that was broader than just favour or good will. To find favour in the eyes of God really meant to be the receiver of blessings from God, blessings that were being freely given and not in consideration of any claim or merit.

And what are the blessings we receive from God? We receive faith, we receive hope, we receive love, we receive forgiveness, and we receive mercy. To receive the grace of God is to be in a place where we actively experience the presence of God through the Holy Spirit working in and through us to guide us and help us to live as God’s people.  It is the daily active communication of divine blessings that awaken within our hearts gratitude and thankfulness for God’s presence in our lives.

For Christians, the grace of God in which we stand, the grace that we see as a gift of God is really a word that describes our state of being. As we centre our lives on God and Christ, we open ourselves to receive the blessings God desires us to receive. These blessings are given to us not through any merit of our own but through the redeeming love of God in Christ whose sacrifice overcame the power of death to hold us away from God and through which we have the assurance of forgiveness for our sins. This grace enables us to be free to accept the gifts of the Spirit and so seek to express our gratitude and thankfulness for the strength, wisdom, and guidance that we receive.

Today as we come to the Table of our Lord, let us remember that it is the grace in which we stand, the grace of God who seeks to bestow blessings on us – blessings that we know we have not earned or deserve – blessings freely given in love.

AMEN