Freedom, the Masterpiece of Grace

Do you enjoy getting snail mail?  Isn’t it delightful when someone actually take the time in this electronic age to get a piece of paper out and practice their penmanship?  Getting my own letter in the mail was a highlight of many ordinary days as a child.  The Holy Spirit of God has made many passages come alive to me in a special way and I want to share God’s Masterpiece Portrait of Grace with you.

            The Apostle Paul’s purpose in chapter five of the letter to the Galatians was to illustrate the difference between freedom under the law and freedom under grace.  Under the law freedom could only be obtained through excruciating human effort in performance of religious duties.  In order to understand freedom you have to understand the nature of slavery. 

The Israelites were God’s easel for the masterpiece of grace that he painted for the universe to admire. He put a frame around the picture that included the Ten Commandments and all of the various ceremonies and laws that supported the religious system that was set up.  Then he painted a dark background of stiff penalties for lawbreakers.  In the darkness there were jagged rocks that stood in opposition to progress in the system.  The Israelites would journey towards the destiny of righteousness and peace but would constantly trip over the slippery and sharp rocks that would cut their efforts in pieces. Their desire to establish their own righteousness led them to multiple encounters with the power of sin.  They were left defeated and humiliated in battles from Aaron’s Golden Calf to the Great Chasm that swallowed Korah and his followers.

The whole point in this picture was to illustrate man’s need for the grace of God.  Jesus made the journey through the darkness and over the sharp and slippery rocks and planted a tree of life.  Through the power of grace he made the ultimate sacrifice of himself on that tree so that the power of sin could be defeated.  At his resurrection the light of grace dispelled the darkness and that light illuminated a trail of blood and tears. God had completed his magnificent painting and by grace we can be painted in to it.  God used contrast to show us that the path to righteousness was not a path of self-justification.  The path of righteousness is paved by grace and is accessed by faith.  When you get painted in to the picture it is no longer a picture that you look at from the outside in.  It is a reality that you live from the inside out! 

God went through the heart-breaking ordeal of painting the picture so that sin would become utterly sinful.  The slaves of sin who were attempting to establish their own self-righteousness could not learn that there was a better way without the jagged and slippery rocks of the law to cut their efforts in pieces!  The slaves had to see the opportunities of grace otherwise they would continue to increase their bondage through their efforts to set themselves free.  The more they vowed to keep the law the more they broke it! 

Paul had made this journey personally and had been painted in to the picture that he was describing to the Galatians. He had made the attempt at self-righteousness and self-justification and had learned first hand that he could not defeat the power of sin.  He was confronted by the glorious grace of Christ on the Damascus road and came face to face with his persecution of Jesus.

Every time that you or I make an attempt to justify ourselves or establish our own righteousness we are persecuting Jesus just as Paul did.  Paul was clear that the way we fall from grace is to attempt to establish our own righteousness.  We cannot begin our journey towards the destination of righteousness on the path of grace and then change course towards a path of the law.  You may say “I’m not under the law” but yet as soon as you attempt to justify your own righteousness you put yourself under the law again.  The only way to finish the journey of righteousness is to continue in the grace of God.  This pathway of grace is lit up by faith and is marked by the blood of Jesus.  This grace will defeat the power of sin every time that you are tempted or distracted as long as you don’t take the tasty bait of self-justification.  Do you get the picture? It is a masterpiece of Grace!