Beautiful, Beautiful Grace

On Tuesdays I get together with a group of guys to talk about theology. Yes, we're theology nerds. No, not all of us have beards, although maybe we should. The last couple of weeks we have ventured into some of the finer points of the theological category known as "soteriology". Soteriology is the study of (ology) salvation (soter).

After talking about some of these beautiful doctrines of grace I leave with my heart full and my "affections" aroused as Edwards would say. I drive home, my spirit alive with a sense of worship and gratitude.

One of my favorite passages in all the Scriptures is from Ephesians 1 (I particularly like how it's rendered in the Message by Eugene Peterson):

How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!) He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we’re a free people—free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.

I love that God loved us before we would have ever cared about him. I love that he doesn't sit back and wait for us to get our stuff together or for us to figure out how beautiful he is before he pursues us and draws us to himself. I love that Jesus death on the cross brought about the effect that he wanted it to. He actually accomplished salvation.

And God does all this in spite of the fact that we start out unlovable. He does all of this even though we turn our backs on his loving pursuit. Paul, the guy who wrote that beautiful passage above, also wrote that it is "God's kindness that leads us to repentance." This is outstanding! It is not wrath like in other religions, it is through kindness.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA-ZKDOoBnk