YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)
Love is the Fulfilling of the Law
After listening to one of my favorite preachers on video this morning as he talked in his sermon on the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, I thought it good to share with you his take on this parable, at least his take today. His sermon was about Grace and whether Grace is fair and he used the parable in this context which brought out some ideas that we did not address when we discussed the parable in our post. His point on the parable is that with those who the householder hired at the first hour, he made an agreement, a contract in the preacher’s words, saying: “And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard“. For the rest of those he hired, at the third hour and even to the eleventh hour, the householder made no agreement but said that “and whatsoever is right I will give you” (Matthew 20:2, 4) so that those hired after the first hour did not know what they should expect and, by the grace of the householder, they received the same wages as those that worked all the day long. Of course, this angered those hired in the first hour because they felt that those hired later were not as deserving as they and should have received less. The preachers point is that those who came later in the day got more Grace from the householder and that Grace is confounded by the idea of deserving. If we believe that we deserve a thing then what we may get is no longer Grace by his thoughts on this word.
Now our point on this parable was quite different and was from a totally different perspective. We approached it as it is spoken by the Master, as a teaching regarding the Kingdom of God and that all are welcome, and equally so, no matter when they should decide to go in. In fact, our idea in some ways derided those who were hired in the first hour as they had that idea of deserving more because they had put in more time. We can add the point of the preachers story line to our idea and perhaps come away with a better understanding just by adding the idea of Grace to our equation and saying that it is through Grace that all are welcome into the Kingdom and equally so; no matter when the man chooses to arrive. We say this while maintaining that the arrival and entry is the reward for all. Grace is a word that is used only four times in the King James Version (KJV) gospels; once by Luke to tell of Jesus youth, how He was “filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him” (Luke 2:40) and three times by John who, speaking of Jesus in the prologue to his Gospel, twice combines Grace with Truth saying He was “full of grace and truth” and then again saying that “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:14, 17). John’s other reference to Grace is in saying that “And of his fulness have all we received , and grace for grace” (John 1:16) which seems to say that we share in the fullness and the Grace of Christ. Other uses of the Greek word appear in Luke but could not be translated into what we could consider to be Grace as it did not fit into the idea of the thought expressed, but is translated as favour. Jesus only uses this word only as a word meaning thanks. It is based on the use of the word by the Apostle Paul that the idea of Grace has become so powerful in the Christian church.
But what does this all mean? What is Grace? What is the mechanism and how does it work. Let us start, as we usually do, by defining the word as it appears in our various bible oriented sources. Starting with the Greek Lexicon where we find that the word Grace is translated from the Greek word charis which is also translated in the (KJV) as favour 6, thanks 4, thank 4, pleasure 2, miscellaneous 7**. Quite a range of meaning and I should add here that this morning’s preacher likens the Grace of God to His favour. The lexicon defines charis as: grace; that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech; good will, loving-kindness, favour; of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues; what is due to grace; the spiritual condition of one governed by the power of divine grace; the token or proof of grace, benefit; a gift of grace; benefit, bounty; thanks, (for benefits, services, favours), recompense, reward**. What in this listing matches the intent of the four scripture references above? Since there was no Christian faith when these words were spoken, it is unlikely that the ‘Christian’ part of the lexicon’s definition was the intent but from that sequence of ideas comes the only logical intent and that is of the merciful kindness by which God and we would add here does anything. An additional idea of the intent of Grace can be found in the word Goodwill which is also in the list above and of which Vincent says, apparently incidentally, that Grace is the substantial expression of goodwill****. For us the word GoodWill has special meaning; we call GoodWill Love in Action and so this Grace could be seen from our perspective as the Love of God in action in the world.
Continuing with our look at how to define Grace we come to Strong’s which says of charis: grace, the state of kindness and favor toward someone, often with a focus on a benefit given to the object; by extension: gift, benefit; credit; words of kindness and benefit: thanks, blessing***. Like the lexicon, there is little here that can give the ideas that come to us in thought of a phrase like “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” or in any idea of what we can call the Grace of God. Language and translations are so tricky when there are not words to express ideas clearly. The Catholic Encyclopedia says of Grace: a supernatural help of God for salutary acts granted in consideration of the merits of Christ*$* of which the idea of supernatural help of God can help our understanding. Combining this with GoodWill we can say that the Love of God is a supernatural Love exceeding all that we could ever think that the word Love can mean so that we can see in Grace the supernatural active Love of God at work in the world. Webster’s older dictionaries can help a bit as well defining Grace as: The exercise of love, kindness, mercy, favor; disposition to benefit or serve another; favor bestowed or privilege conferred*. Leaving off favor bestowed or privilege conferred. Is this not the same thing we are talking about as Grace being GoodWill and working out into our own understanding of the word Love. Can we see here that Grace is the Love of God from God and is GoodWill and our use of Love is the Love of Man from Man and is GoodWill as well. Webster’s goes further in our context to say that the theological definition of Grace is: The divine favor toward man; the mercy of God, as distinguished from His justice; also, any benefits His mercy imparts; divine love or pardon; a state of acceptance with God; enjoyment of the divine favor*. We are now coming to an understanding of Grace as it is commonly used in respect to an Aspect of God or of a Potency of the Christ and while the Greek word may mean favor as well, it is not the intent of its use in the Gospels of Luke or of John. Luke and John refer to that Love of God that is active in the world; a supernatural Love exceeding anything we can imagine; a love that is full of kindness, mercy and divine favor toward man.
There is a point here and it is related to the sermon from this morning. Using the parable to establish the point of Grace going to those who are not thinking that they deserve it, the pastor was making his point that Grace comes from the ‘goodness of heart’ of God and this is right and true. He was also going towards what became for me a revelation regarding the idea in some of the Christian churches where works are negated in favor of Grace. Now I have always resisted the idea that it does not matter what you do, you cannot earn your way to heaven which is the basis of the teaching that Grace is a free gift from God through faith and not through works. And this is based on the writings of the Apostle Paul and especially this: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). It appears that, based upon this single statement, that the whole idea of Grace exists as it does in the church today. So where is the revelation? It is in the very words of the Apostle saying that it is by Grace that we have all heavenly things and not by what we may do and that this Grace of God is His gift to the world. Going on he says: “Not of works, lest any man should boast” which is the revelation. If we believe that whatever it is that we do in Life for the Kingdom of God makes us to deserve that Kingdom we are mistaken. It is really that simple. Paul does not say that we should do not works or desire to do works or even to know that the works we do bring us closer to the Lord! Paul does say that if we do works and not the other parts that we are only deluding ourselves; that we should not boast or as the lexicon says not to glory on account of a thing**.
How many people believe, because of the teaching based on this saying by the Apostle, that they need not do works, that they need not be righteous, that they need do nothing but have faith to get the Grace of God, when the reality should be that we already have the Grace of God and in that Grace it is our duty to do all that we can to further the Kingdom. The Apostle tells us in another place that no matter what gifts he has, and we see that Grace is a gift, and no matter what he does in righteousness that he is and has nothing if he has not Love. Love is the ever missing ingredient and Love is the commandment of the Lord. Jesus does not teach us on Grace; we are only told that He has Grace and that He brings Grace and Truth to the world and that He shares His Grace with us. What is this Grace? Yes it is the gift of God, it is His Love, His active Love for us all; it is a supernatural Love exceeding anything we can imagine; a love that is full of kindness, mercy and divine favor toward man. Having received this Grace we ought to do as the Master teaches us and that is to reveal it to the world and to exercise it in all we do. In a sentence Grace is the Love of God from God and is His GoodWill to us all and we should, having received this Grace, use it as our Love of man for all men and as GoodWill which is that Love in Action.
This brings us finally to our parable for the day and that is the Parable of the Servant’s Duty. This is not in all lists of the Parables of Jesus but it does go well with the discussion so far today; it goes thus: “But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready where with I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luke 17:7-10).
This is rather straightforward on the surface as the Master is telling us that in the ways of this world, a servant is a servant and should do as he is instructed and there is not need for thanks. In today’s economy the same is true of the worker in the factory or the field; he works for his wages and does as he is instructed to get them. He is deserving of naught else though he may get it; he may get a thank you or become employee of the month or even earn a bonus but none of this is because he deserves it and it should not be expected. The servant in the parable deserved his meals and rest and the worker of today deserves his agreed pay; nothing else. If a worker works harder or does more or even cares more that another it does not mean that he deserves any more; again, he may get more but should never expect more. Jesus tells us that it is the same with us in relation to Him and the Kingdom. When we have done all that we are commanded to do, and in this context He does mean all, we should still have that attitude of we are unprofitable servants we have done just what is enough; we did only our duty and our duty is what we find in His teachings. We Love our neighbor and we Love God, we seek the Kingdom and His righteousness, we treat every man as we would be treated and we treat every man as we would treat the Christ. This is, according to the Master, our duty and in doing it we should not think that we are deserving of anything from any one; we do it for the sake of doing and to reveal to the world the Grace of God that is in us.
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
GoodWill is Love in Action (World Goodwill)
Today’s Quote of the Day is a simple statement of the Love of God and His Grace It is also what we, as sons of God, should be examples of in all that we do.
- * Websters Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913
- ** New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- *** Strongest Strongs Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible – 2001
- **** Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
- *$* The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org
