What exactly is grace? And is it limited to Jesus’ life and ministry? You may be surprised to know that Jesus never used the word itself. He just taught it and, equally important, He lived it. Furthermore, the Bible never gives us a one-statement definition, though grace appears throughout its pages . . . not only the word itself but numerous demonstrations of it. Understanding what grace means requires our going back to an old Hebrew term that meant “to bend, to stoop.” By and by, it came to include the idea of “condescending favor.” If you have travelled to London or perhaps heard or read about it, you know royalty – the most famous was the late Princess Diana. If so, you may have noticed sophistication, aloofness, distance.



Every time the thought of grace appears, there is the idea of its being undeserved.

On occasion, royalty in England will make the news because someone in the ranks of nobility will stop, kneel down, and touch or bless a common person. That is grace. There is nothing in the person that deserves being noticed or touched or blessed by the royal family. But because of grace in the heart of the queen or the princess, there is the desire at that moment to pause, to stoop, to touch, even to bless. Someone said it best: “Love that goes upward is worship; love that goes outward is affection; love that stoops is grace.” To show grace is to extend favor or kindness to one who doesn’t deserve it and can never earn it. Receiving God’s acceptance by grace always stands in sharp contrast to earning it on the basis of works. Every time the thought of grace appears, there is the idea of its being undeserved. In no way is the recipient getting what he or she deserves. Favor is being extended simply out of the goodness of the heart of the giver.

And the greatest demonstration of grace is the cross of Calvary. There the King of kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, stoop down to save us from our sins. Undeserving as we are we receive His love. What kind of love is that? It is a love that is more concerned about making the object of love feel loved, than it is in making the lover feel loved. The lover is willing to sacrifice, to make any sacrifice necessary just to make the object of love feel loved. That is what God did. It is the kind of love that does not regard itself, but unselfishly goes to the cross & sheds its blood, & gives its life so that there might be hope for those of us who are hopeless without it. That is “agape” love.



And the greatest demonstration of grace is the cross of Calvary…



So when the Bible says that “God is agape love” it means that God doesn’t love us with just a surface type of love, but He loves us with an all-sacrificing love. He gives Himself completely to express His love. And this we never deserve…it’s grace from beginning to end! As we come to the Lord’s table today, thank Him for His grace and love undeserved!