Kingdom Currency (7)
And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. John 1.16
A world turned rightside-up
The early Christians were described by their unbelieving neighbors as having turned the existing world order upside-down (Acts 17.1-9). They stood the world of Roman military power, political corruption, economic oppression, spiritual darkness, and moral depravity right on its ear. They ushered in a new order of the ages, a new Kingdom with a new and altogether sovereign King, advancing a new economy, and they overwhelmed all those who opposed them to establish the known world on a new foundation of grace and truth.
Within a few generations after the resurrection of Jesus Christ, He was acknowledged and worshiped everywhere throughout the Roman world as Savior and Lord and King.
How in the world did such an amazing thing come to be?
A tsunami of grace
The coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh was but the first tremor of a spiritual earthquake which, following the first Christian Pentecost, unleashed a tsunami of grace across the Roman world.
Jesus Christ is the fullness of God’s grace. He lived it, preached it, showed it in His miracles and His teaching, demonstrated it in His power over devils, diseases, and death, and promised His followers that they could know such grace for themselves. The works He did, Jesus promised those who believed in Him, they would do even more (Jn. 14.12). Jesus came to give men eternal life, and eternal life is nothing other than a relationship with God and Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 17.3). They who have eternal life are grafted into Him Who is the very fullness of grace, and He supplies them with wave after unrelenting wave of grace, as they look to Him and trust in Him day by day.
Grace in our lives is like the waves that lap a rocky shore. Relentlessly, persistently, little by little they wear down all resistance and carve a coastline that resembles the rhythm of their constant flow and motion. This is the way grace works in our hearts, through our words and deeds, on the people and places of our Personal Mission Fields, and on the course of human history and culture.
Grace is like the dew of the morning that refreshes a parched and worn-out day. Grace is like spring rain, a summer breeze, the lightest falling of a gentle winter snow. Grace flows through the followers of Jesus Christ in good works and edifying words, in deeds small and great, steadily, unfailingly, in all directions and to all people. Grace can be like a hammer on an anvil when it wells up in those who know it to quench raging fires of injustice, slake the desperate thirst of the oppressed and needy, and refashion broken structures and bent forms.
Grace changes everything, just like the grace of the first Christians turned their broken and corrupt world rightside-up for the grace and glory of God.
Waves upon waves of grace
The grace that flows from Jesus Christ, the fullness of God’s grace, is without bottom and without end. It is always there to renew and transform us, whenever we line up to exchange our old ways for His new ones. Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ inhabits a Personal Mission Field. Believers are like a point in the middle of a pool of water, with potential for impact in all directions. The larger the drop of water which falls upon them, and the more consistently it falls, the stronger and more far-reaching will be the ripples and waves that issue from the center in all directions.
And so it is with the grace of the Lord. You are the center of a network of people, places, and things, all of which God loves so much that He gave His Son in order to make His grace known there. The more you receive of the grace of Christ, the greater the draughts of Christ’s grace you imbibe, and the more consistent you are in so doing, the stronger, more constant, and more effective will be the ripples and waves of grace that flow from you, bringing the reality of the Kingdom into every area of your life, all the time of your life, and all the work you’ve been given to do.
What do you want to see happen in your life? Are you content merely to receive the grace of God, but not to live in it? Do you want to know real joy and fullness of pleasure?
Come to the Fount of Every Blessing and let Him slake your thirst by His grace. Then go forth to allow that river of living water to ripple and wave out through you, day by day, moment by moment, lapping against every person in every situation, until, together, we turn our sad and weary world into a pool of grace and glory for the Lord.
For reflection
1. Meditate on Acts 17.1-9. In what ways did the first Christians turn their world rightside-up?
2. Can we really expect grace to become a river of living water through our everyday lives? Why or why not?
3. What do we mean by a Personal Mission Field? Who are the people in yours? Are you a channel of grace to them?
Next steps—Demonstration: Find a soul friend who will join you in praying about living as a means of grace upon grace in your Personal Mission Field. Meet regularly to share and encourage one another in this effort.
T. M. Moore
We need grace for all our times of need, and all the time of our lives is time of need. How can we make sure we have the grace we need? Our book Grace for Your Time of Need, can help you develop the discipline of drawing on God’s grace for all your time. It’s also available as a free PDF.
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Other columns of interest this week: In our Read Moore column this week, we continue readings from the book, Such a Great Salvation. Our Crosfigell series on Brendan of Clonfert finds him heading out over the Atlantic again, seeking the Promised Land of the Saints. You can subscribe to Read Moore and Crosfigell and receive them in your email regularly. Use the Subscriptions box at the bottom of the page to update your subscriptions. All subscriptions are free. Click the Articles tab on the home page to see all the selections available to you.
And please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe with your prayers and gifts. You can contribute online, via PayPal or Anedot, or by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, P. O. Box 8213, Essex, VT 05451.
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
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