— Book Reviews —
Published Date: December 16, 2024
By Jerry Long, Minister of Pastoral Care
Grace is a rich English word because of its wide range of meanings. Grace can be something we say before we eat or the charm and winsomeness a young woman possesses. Grace can be an attitude we adopt while managing or accomplishing a task under stress or personal attack, or it can also be cutting an individual some slack when he doesn’t meet a deadline or underachieves in some way.
None of these meanings, however, comes close to the depth and riches of biblical grace. Biblical grace involves the extension of great favor, benevolence, and mercy to a person who has done nothing to deserve it. One theologian defines it as ‘’undeserved favor lavished on an inferior by a superior.’’ Another defines it, “Grace is doing good for someone when there is no compelling reason to do so and every reason not to.”1
And that’s exactly what Christmas is all about – grace. That’s what the angel on the hillside outside Bethlehem meant when he said to the shepherds, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12 ESV) Grace, in the form of a tiny baby boy named Jesus, was alive on earth in the flesh, initiating the greatest act of grace that would ever be known to man.
Christmas is that moment in time when grace became flesh and dwelt among us – when God provided mankind a Savior. Christmas is that moment in time when God initiated His plan to reclaim mankind from the eternal separation from Him which sin had already caused. It’s that moment in time when God initiated His plan to restore mankind from the consequences of brokenness that sin had already caused – and would continue to cause. It’s that moment in time when God initiated His plan to extend great favor, benevolence, and mercy to those who had done nothing to deserve it – when there was no compelling reason to do so and every reason not to.
As I have written previously, the truths I just shared became very real to me twenty-four years ago during Christmas 2000 while serving as a Senior Pastor in Landrum, SC. One night around midnight I walked out of the emergency room of a nearby hospital. I had just visited a church member not expected to live through the night. Earlier in the evening I had been in another hospital visiting a church member who had just learned there was nothing his doctors could do except make him comfortable as death approached. Lying in yet another hospital was a third church member also at death’s door.
As I drove out of the hospital parking lot, my heart could not have been heavier as I contemplated the collective weight of those three near-death situations – especially since they were occurring that close to Christmas. As I emerged from the hospital’s tree-lined driveway I saw it – a large lighted cross high up on a nearby North Carolina mountain that was lit every Christmas and Easter. What a timely reminder that cross was to me that Christmas and Easter are forever linked. Both were acts of God’s grace in the flesh. Both were necessary for Jesus to prove Himself to be the “Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Seeing that lighted cross was a great reminder that because of both Christmas and Easter, death had lost its sting and had been conquered for all eternity.
As we celebrate the birth of Jesus this Christmas, let’s remember that God’s grace in the flesh did not cease to exist on earth once Jesus returned to heaven. Before He ascended, Jesus delegated to His followers His ministry of grace. That is an amazing thought considering His followers still make messes despite the redeeming work He has done in them. Writer Paul David Tripp expresses that thought well, “Even though you and I have not outgrown our own need for God’s grace, he calls us to be tools of grace in the lives of others. He has given us the honor of visibly representing his grace to others who need that grace.” 2
However, as we consider our high calling as agents of God’s grace, we should heed Tripp’s warning, “This high calling is also a hard calling. People who need God’s rescuing grace are often messy, angry, proud, demanding, accusatory, self-righteous, and blind. You cannot be an instrument of God’s grace unless you are willing to step into another’s mess and get your hands dirty. You cannot demand a comfortable life and be a tool of grace in God’s hands.”3
If you have never received God’s gift of grace through faith, I urge you to do so today before it is eternally too late. Only then will you truly be able to experience God’s peace in your heart. If you have received that gift, I urge you to be an agent of grace this Christmas and beyond in the lives of those who have not.
Merry Christmas 2024
1 Steve Brown, “What is Amazing Grace”, Keylife.org/grace-of-God.
2 Paul David Tripp, Everyday Gospel, (Crossway: Wheaton, IL, 2024), p. 398-399.
3 ibid
Note: More ponderings are available in Jerry’s book, Ponderings of a Pastor
