Louie Giglio - Grace is God at Work
Grace and Glory. I want you to understand today that your story, our story, is a story of grace and glory. We’re going to see this, not just today, but in the weeks to come, and I hope you’ll be as excited about this as I am. We’re going to start on the very first page of Scripture and go to the very last page. We’re not going to stop at every page, but we will stop at many pages quickly, and you’ll be surprised to see grace on every single page.
You might think, «No, grace happened when Jesus came.» You might think, «Grace happened in the Gospels,» or «Grace happened when the New Testament church was born.» No, grace is there from the beginning and at the end. We’ll start by looking at the first page of glory and see the glory of God all the way through Scripture to the very last page because these are the themes of faith in Christ. Today, God is offering grace to anyone who needs it, amen? He’s offering grace today to anyone who needs it. Does anyone need grace today? Does anyone need grace in this gathering today? He’s offering grace to anyone who needs it.
Psalm 84, our church’s anchor text, gives us the idea of being door holders and not just volunteers. At the end of this Psalm, it says, «For the Lord God is a sun and a shield.» In other words, God lights the way and illuminates things for us, but He also covers and protects us. He is a sun and shield, and He gives—this is a key word today—He gives grace and He gives glory. We didn’t just pick this title out of thin air; we let the Word of God and the theme of the Word of God speak into the title. The Lord, Yahweh, is what this word is when you see «Lord» in the Old Testament. Yahweh gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity. He gives grace and glory; we don’t earn it, and we can’t achieve it. He gives it. And do you know who He gives it to? He gives it to those who know they need it.
So, a relationship with God is a relationship where we are self-aware. Hello? Looking around at some of the people in your family at Thanksgiving and thinking, «Man, these people need some self-awareness.» Thank you; we got one clap over there! Did anyone change their plans and leave a little earlier than they thought they would? «Oh, sorry, I just got a call from work; I have to go in today.» Self-awareness is one of the greatest gifts that God can give us, and when we are truly self-aware and realize what we need, then we become candidates for grace. When we realize, «I can’t do this,» we are in the right spot because the Lord Yahweh gives grace. He doesn’t force it; He gives it. And who does He give it to? He gives it to those who know they need it.
I’m telling you, you may agree or disagree today, but I think the church is full of people who are totally underusing the gift of grace, who are leaving so much grace on the table, while Yahweh is in a position where He loves to give grace, and He’s even willing to give glory. Now, it says in the Old Testament that He won’t give His glory to another or share any of His praise with idols, but that’s not the same idea. It means He won’t let someone steal His glory, but He is willing to share it. It says in the New Testament that when He appears, we will appear with Him in glory—not our glory; it will be His glory—but He is letting us come into His glory with Him. He gives grace and is ushering us into a glorious future with Him.
So, what is grace, and what is glory? Let’s just start with a couple of definitions today. This is the definition I’ve sort of landed on personally; you can work your way around to your definition of grace. Early on in life, it was the acronym—does anybody know the acronym? G.R.A.C.E.: God’s riches at Christ’s expense. That’s how we were taught the gospel of grace. But I think grace has a fuller meaning. For me, grace is God at work; in other words, grace is God doing something that I can’t do. So whenever grace is in the equation, that’s God moving, and at the end of grace, you say, «God did it.» That’s grace. If I did it, it’s not grace. If you did it, it’s not grace. If we can all collectively say somehow we are responsible for it, it’s not grace. Grace is God doing something that we can’t do.
So, what is glory? Glory is the weight and worth of God or God’s weight and worth. Grace: God at work. Glory: God’s weight and worth. And when we start with grace, we begin with saving grace, and everybody understands saving grace. We’ve looked at this text so many different times, but let’s read it again in Ephesians 2: «But because of His great love for us… God, who is rich in mercy» (verse 4), «made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.» That’s where we get the idea that God did it because dead people can’t do anything, so He made us alive; we didn’t make ourselves alive, and He made us alive when we were dead. So, that’s grace. That is God at work. We were dead in transgressions. It is by grace—can you say this with me? —"It is by grace you have been saved.»
So that’s saving grace. It’s God at work. I didn’t do it; He did it. I didn’t die for my sins; He died for my sins. I didn’t come to earth as the perfect Son of God; He did that. I wasn’t buried in my tomb; He was buried in my tomb. I wasn’t raised from the grave by the power of almighty God; He was. I didn’t ascend; He ascended. I didn’t come out of the tomb; He came out of the tomb, and He gave to me the power, the life, the victory that was His. When He did all that, «it is by grace you have been saved.» In other words, you didn’t do it. If you did it, you’re not saved because it is by grace you have been saved. There are no footnotes on grace. «He gave me grace, but I also did a pretty good job and was a pretty nice person. I did my best; I went to church; I read my Bible.» No footnotes on grace; He did it. It’s by grace that you have been saved! Praise God that the greatest thing that happens to a human being happens by grace!
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages, He might show the incomparable riches of His grace. In other words, this is not a one-time story. When I was 11, I put my faith in Jesus and by grace, I was saved—that’s what happened. No! He said there is an unfolding story of grace that will be seen in the coming ages. We are going to understand in heaven more of the grace of God than we understand right now. We’re going to see more of His kindness and grace than we understand right now. We’re just scratching the surface of grace, and it’s pretty fantastic, but we haven’t seen anything yet expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is here it comes again! Can you say it with me one more time? «It is by grace you have been saved through faith.»
So there’s an operational component here, and it is faith—not works but faith. Faith in the grace; He did it, and I put my faith in what He did. Someone should get saved today, by the way, because this is it right here! And if you’ve been wondering how to get saved, today might be your day! And this is not from yourselves. If it were from yourselves, it wouldn’t be grace. It is the gift of God. Why? Because Yahweh gives grace, and Yahweh gives glory. It is not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works. I want to make sure we see that today. It’s not just sitting back in the recliner of grace and doing nothing. No, we will do the things God prepared in advance for us to do, but we will see how we do those things God has prepared for us. It begins with grace.
It’s like realizing you have a flat tire. I was coming down the connector years ago, and suddenly I had an immediate flat—not one of those that you think is kind of going down. It’s like, «Oh my goodness, I’ve got to pull over right now!» I pulled over at the 17th Street exit. Fortunately, I’m off the connector by now, but the back tire is just done, totally flat. I’m self-aware in that moment, and I go, «Wow, this is not going to work.» I understand I have a problem, and I start going through all my options. I think, «I could call the care from my car company; they’ll send somebody.» But I’m also thinking about the trunk. Does anybody change their tire anymore? Do we just leave the car on the side of the road now and get another one? You thought about it, right? «You know, it’s not that great of a car anyway.»
And I’m thinking, «Okay, I know in the trunk when you lift up the thing, there’s stuff in there,» and it seems to have gotten more complicated as cars have gotten nicer. Somewhere in there is this thing. Have you ever seen this? Does anybody have one of these in your trunk? Somebody is like, «Yeah, I do!» You’ve got one of these. What you do is you get down on the ground beside the road and put it under the side of your car. Here’s the flat tire, and there’s a little place where this goes underneath. Then you get this stuff out of the little bag, and you’re like, «What am I supposed to do with this?» And you go, «Oh, okay! I do this like this, and I put this in here and that in there.» Then, watch this; this is crazy! I do this, or I can do this—it’s even better! Look at that!
Do you know what that is? Well, I mean, it is a jack, but more; it’s the lift! You’re getting warm now—it’s grace! Now you’re doing it! So it’s not total grace, it’s not God’s grace, but that’s grace. It’s lifting up several thousand pounds, and I brought this today because I want you to think about this all day, every day. So all of a sudden, I don’t really know how it happened, and I honestly don’t remember how this story all played out, but I’m sitting there realizing I have one of these in the back, but I hadn’t gotten it out. I really don’t want to get down in there, dig all that stuff out, and get on the side of the road. This car, true story, pulls up behind me. It’s not some emergency rescue guy; it’s just a guy. He opens his trunk, and in the trunk, he has a floor jack. This guy shoves it out. The handle comes out. He puts it in and rolls it over and says, «You need some help?» He just puts it right under where that other thing would have gone if I had gotten it out.
In about four of these, the car’s totally up in the air! I say, «Where did you get that?» He said, «I had it in my trunk.» A child—a small child—could do this! Look, I’m barely touching it; a pet could do this! That’s super grace—3,000 pounds' worth of lift. Grace that will hold your entire car in the air! And when you’re ready to get it down, you just turn the thing, and look at that! It happened so fast, most of you didn’t see it. I want you to think that when you were dead, you needed a lift, and there’s nobody who can hold up a car and do lug nuts with the other hand but God. When we were in the grip of death, super grace came and lifted us out by the resurrection power of God! He had it in the trunk, if you will, and God did it.
Unlike these things where I’m still doing something—not much; I mean that thing’s really doing everything. I’m just doing a little, and this thing does a little too. You’ve got to dig it out. I’m talking about the grace of God where He does all the work. Most of us, I think, in the building today are like, «That’s how I got saved. I put my faith in the grace and God at work. God did it. I put my faith in it.» So it’s by grace through faith—that’s how I got saved. But guess what? That’s also how God wants to invite you to live in the very same way! This is what he says in Colossians 2: Paul writes, «So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him.» The ESV translation says, «Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.»
How do I live in Him, and how do I walk in Him? This is the question everyone in the room is probably wrestling with. I know I’m saved, and I know God did that, but I’m struggling with my relationship right now! I’m struggling with the decisions I’m making! I’m struggling with this temptation! I’m struggling with this situation I’m walking through! How do I do this? I know how God did that, but how do I do this? Today, He tells us, «Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, or so walk in Him.» So how did you receive Christ as Lord? Back to Ephesians 2—how did we receive Him as Lord? You see it? Say it with me: «By grace through faith.» How did you receive Him? By grace through faith. So, now He is inviting you; the same way you received Him is the way you walk in Him! So, how do you walk in Him? How do you live in Him? All of a sudden, grace isn’t just a salvation event; grace is sustaining me again in this moment! Grace is not the day I got saved. It’s every moment that I know I’m self-aware that I have need—God at work! In the same way I received Him is the way I walk in Him. That means every step—there’s grace. In every situation, there is grace. In every moment, there is grace.
And here’s the thing about the sustaining grace of God: He does not give it to you before you need it. Don’t you wish we could just load it up and have it in a backpack? You know, put it all out on the counter and say, «Oh, that’s all the stuff I got! All right, now I’m ready to go!» He goes, «No. You’re going with Me and when we get there, I’m going to give you what you need. I am what you need! You’ll have the grace that you need in that moment. I’m not giving it to you before; I’m not giving you more than you need. I’m giving you what you need when you need it.» And maybe right now He’s not going to give me the grace for tomorrow, but He would give me the grace for today to trust Him that He’s going to give me the grace I need tomorrow, amen?
We’re over here all freaked out, «I need to know how it’s all going to go.» He’s like, «I’m going to be there, and I’m going to give you what you need, but I’m not going to give it to you today. I’m going to give it to you when we get there. But what I want to give you today is the ability to trust by faith that my grace is going to be sufficient so that you have peace today and not freak out today knowing that when we get there tomorrow, it’s going to be by grace through faith! I was using an example this morning, just kind of off the top of my head, because it’s in difficult situations that this plays out most. It should play out in the best of times and the worst of times, but I’m telling you, if you’ve been through hard times, you start to understand this mostly in the rearview mirror. But if we can remember the faithfulness of God, it changes things.
I was talking about a friend of mine whose father had died, and this friend lives in another state. He is a pastor. I’ve been in that situation before where you lose your dad, and your heart is crushed. As a son, you are in a puddle. But at the same time, you are a shepherd, and you have to lead. You have to rally people, and you have to speak hope and speak life. But what you really want to do is just mourn and grieve. Somehow, you’ve got to do two things at the same time. I said to my friend, „There’s a grace for that.“ I said, „You’ve never known it before. It’s not like any grace you’ve ever experienced in your life before, but you will experience it now, and it will be enough for you.“
Over the course of about seven days, via texts and phone calls, we had that same conversation multiple times. I remember the day he was going to the funeral home to see his dad’s body. I’ve been in that moment; lots of you have been in that moment. It is one of the most difficult moments of your life—not unlike going to the cemetery and putting your dad’s body in the ground and turning around and walking away and getting in the car and driving off. All these moments are some of the hardest. I kept saying to my friend, „I just want you to know there is a grace for going to the funeral home to see your dad. There’s a grace for that.“ How do you do that? You do it by grace through faith! You believe God and say, „I don’t know how this is going to go. I’ve never done this before and I’m never doing this again. This is a one-time deal, so I’m trusting there’s going to be one-time unique special grace for this moment.“
„I’m going in there by grace through faith! I’m going to stand up and preach the gospel. I’m going to point to Jesus. I’m going to rally and put my arms around my family, and I’m going to lead because that’s what God’s called me to do! But I’m also going to have a broken heart grieving the loss of my dad. I’m going to be a grieving son and a leading shepherd at the same time. You know why? Because there’s grace for that!“ And you only get it one time! You don’t get to practice it; you don’t get it again; you don’t get to learn the benefit of, „Oh, I’ve done that once before, and the next time I do that, I’ll understand how to do that better.“ That is a one-time moment for God to show off again that He can do it! Some of you are hours away from difficult things, and you’re stressed out. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be concerned; of course, you should be concerned! But there’s a grace for it! You’ve never been in the conversation you’re going to have tomorrow, but there’s a grace for it! You may never be in that conversation again after tomorrow, but there’s a grace for it!
And even today I met a brother and sister who don’t go to this church. One of them lives in another state, and the reason they are in Atlanta together is that their dad died a few days ago. One of them said to me, „I am not a church attender, but we came today.“ I said, „Well, that must have been pretty encouraging for you to sit there and hear God basically say to you, 'I see you! I love you! ' And you’re not a church attender, but I’m attending to you.“ They both just got huge tears in their eyes and said, „How did you know to talk about that particular illustration today?“ There is a grace for showing up at church as a non-church attender a few days after your dad passed away when you’re going home after this to plan the funeral. That’s God saying, „Nobody can do this but I can, and I’m going to because there is grace for that!“
There’s grace for that work situation you’re in. There’s grace for every moment. There’s grace for every mountain, every valley, every kind of grief, every season of grief, every temperature of grief—there is grace for it all! And how do you walk in Him? In the same way you received Him. It’s like the manna on the ground every single morning. Yes, it saves you, His grace, but it also sustains you. We leave so much of it on the table. We say, „I’ve got to go in here and have this conversation. I’ve got to go in here and work this out. I’ve got to go in here and suck it up. I’ve got to go in here and somehow make this thing work. I’ve got to get through all of this!“ And He says, „Yahweh gives grace, and Yahweh gives glory! Do you need it? If you need it, put your hands out and open your mouth and say, 'I’m desperate for you to do what only you can do. Come through and get glory in my life! '“
Paul, I’ll close with this, had a thorn in his flesh; he called it a messenger of Satan. Anybody have one of those? It was tormenting him. Hello? Anybody got a thorn? So, he did what you and I would do; he asked the Lord three times. He pleaded with the Lord! This is Paul! He got bitten by a snake and said, „Get off me!“ This guy was beaten up, put in prison, and he said, „Praise God! I’m going to write an epistle to the church.“ He pleaded with God three times, and right here in the middle of this—this is in 2 Corinthians 12, verse 9, right in the middle of him telling all of this—he says, „But he said to me“ (and then it’s in red after that—Jesus interjecting), „My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.“ So I’m not taking your thorn away. You know why? Because there’s grace for that, and it’s going to keep you close. It’s going to keep you humble, but it’s also going to give you the opportunity to show my glory because my power is going to be made perfect in weakness.
So, Paul goes on and says, „Therefore, I’ll boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses.“ Watch the text carefully here. He says, „I’ll boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that"—this is the most important little phrase in this passage—"so that Christ’s power may rest on me.» This power that is made perfect in weakness—I want it to be made perfect in my weakness! In other words, I’m not going to hide my weakness. When he says, «I’m going to boast in it,» it doesn’t mean he’s going to go, «Yay, my weakness!» He just wants you to know, «I’m weak, but I want you to see that I’m weak! Because if I let you see that I’m weak, you’re going to truly understand that God did it when I’m strong.» That’s why, «for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions and difficulties.» For when I am weak, then I am strong! Why? Because when I’m weak, His power rests on me! That’s grace—that is sufficient! It’s enough! It works if you can be self-aware enough to say, «I need it!» Yahweh gives it, and it’s sufficient even for the thorn that feels like a messenger from Satan that’s tormenting you. He says, «There’s grace for that, and when it comes, it’s going to make you strong! But it’s not going to be your strength.»
People will understand that you weren’t strong; it will be evident that it’s His strength in you. I pray that our generation will get this because I believe what the enemy wants to do is tweak us a little bit, and he wants us to give the glory to the thorn. «Oh, the grace is real, but man, if you listen to me talk, I’m just giving all the glory to the thorn!» God is saying today, «No! The thorn is real, but the grace gets all the glory! Don’t hide the thorn. It’s real, but make sure the grace gets all the glory!» Hello! This is deliverance! This is salvation! This is freedom! This is the gospel at work—not just on the day to get me to heaven. This is the gospel to get me out of the grip of things that want to take me out! In our generation, in our culture, there’s so much glory going to the thorn, and His grace is sufficient! Even though you’re weak—hello! I’m just reading the text—you can be strong.
Because you are weak, you can be strong if you believe that by grace through faith you can walk through it! Do you believe that? It is amazing how much more confident we are that God catapulted us out of the depths into glory than that He can give us what we need to take four solid steps and live to tell the story! The thorn is real, but the grace gets the glory!
We’ve got a whole new standing—a whole new position! We are in a whole new place! We’re whole new people! We are new creatures! We have a new name! We are not beggars showing other beggars where to find crumbs; we are seated with access to divine power to break every stronghold and to tear down every thought that opposes the will, purposes, and plans of God! We are righteous in Him; we are restored in Him! We have peace with God and the mind of Christ. We are filled with the Holy Spirit of the living God, and Yahweh is our Father! So we call the Almighty God of heaven «Heavenly Father,» and He hears us, and we hear Him! He knows His sheep, and we know His voice! We are of the light and the truth, the truth and the way! The thorn is real, but the grace gets the glory! We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ! We are sealed in a future that is glorious beyond our wildest imagination—all because of grace!