Embraced Embracers

Two years ago a handful of us gladly settled into thinking of ourselves as “Creeders,” that is, those who feel called to live out day-by-day the Jesus Creed of loving God with all we’ve got and loving our neighbor by seeking their welfare. That self-understanding and divine commission have become integral to who we are and how we function.

But this season, in light of what we’re learning about Embracing Grace, we’re expanding our sense of self-identity and community-calling. Now, being a “Creeder” is taken up and absorbed into what it means to be an “embraced Embracer.” Being embraced by Grace is the preface we need to being a successful Creeder. It’s the bedrock on which to build our Creeder lifestyle. How can we confidently and persistently reach out in love to others without first (and continually) experiencing the empowering love of God for us? His embrace is the prerequisite for becoming an active Embracer. Remember that concise and profound line from John? “We love [God and others] because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). We treat others in a way that reflects how God treats us. Like a mirror, we receive his light and reflect it onto those around us. This is how image-bearers of God operate.

We forgiven and Spirit-filled sinners (aka “cracked yet embraced Eikons,” as Scot will explain) must begin on the receiving end of Grace if we ever hope to participate in its extension through us to others. This may be why Paul’s prayers for the churches around ancient Ephesus (in what is now Turkey) focused on their experiential grasp of God’s commitment to them. Paul longed for them to know God’s love and to be empowered to respond. Listen: “May you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God…I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him…” (Ephesians 3:18; 1:18-19). Flooded with love, life, power, hope. Let’s follow Paul’s lead and pray this for our group. “Father, help us know your love; help us bank on it; empower us to share it. Make us embraced Embracers.”

Participating in the Cycle of Grace

Scot introduces this concept early in the book and I thought it worth rehearing, since it forms the main way that God works with people in the world. And if we want to become more involved in what God is doing, then we’ll need to immerse ourselves in the Cycle.

For those of us in Christ, in the process of being transformed, we are called to be his image-bearers, reflecting and disseminating God’s grace to those around us. It’s as simple as this: “Treat others with the same kind of grace, kindness, forgiveness, and love that God gives us.” As we extend his grace to others, God gives us more. There is a caution attached to this, however, for those who refuse to keep the Cycle going. Persistent failure to treat others as God treats us can result in the forfeiture of his grace. What good is a sprinkler system if instead of spraying the water it receives it caps its outflow valve so as to “hoard” the water for itself? God attempts to repair broken sprinklers, again and again. The whole Old Testament gives example after example of just this kind of mercy at work. Though his patience is protracted (far longer than ours ever would be), it is not endless. Eikons who persistently seek to drop themselves from the program will eventually have their way.  

The Cycle of Grace is prevalent throughout the Bible. We give here just three representative passages, taken, respectively, from Moses, Jesus, and Paul.

Moses

The first word comes from God to his newly-liberating people Israel. After coming out of Egypt, and through the Red Sea, God leads his people to Mount Sinai where he explains to them how he wants them to live as his representatives in the world, to be his love-sharing image-bearers, or "Eikons," as the Greek reads. Early into his instructions he gives a practical application of the cycle of grace. “You once were slaves and strangers in Egypt, where I treated you kindly and sought your welfare. So do the same with the strangers you encounter in your land.” But then he turns it around with a pointed warning. “If you refuse to treat others as I treated you, then you will reap what you sow. If you refuse to care for the widows and orphans, then you tragically will find your families counted among their ranks.”

Exodus 22:21-24. Don't abuse or take advantage of strangers; you, remember, were once strangers in Egypt. Don't mistreat widows or orphans. If you do and they cry out to me, you can be sure I'll take them most seriously; I'll show my anger and come raging among you with the sword, and your wives will end up widows and your children orphans.

Jesus

The next application of the Cycle of Grace is spoken by Jesus to his followers.

Luke 6:37-38. Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. Don't condemn those who are down; that hardness can boomerang. Be easy on people; you'll find life a lot easier. Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity.

Paul

The third example is from Paul to the Christ-followers in Rome.

Romans 15:7. So reach out and welcome one another to God's glory. Jesus did it to you; now you do it with others!

Simple, huh? You’ve received love and mercy. Share it. This is what it means to be transformed by the Spirit into the image of Christ, who himself accurately reflected the character and commitments of the Father.

The Expanding Spheres of the Gospel’s Reach

a. Me

Grace starts its work in the individual, bringing a process of transformation of heart and mind, and incorporating us into his family, which turns a “me mentality” into an…

b. Us

We then, as the people of God, learn to function as a community, as a family. We help express his love and wisdom in tangible ways to one another, but also to…

c. The World

God’s people, since the days of Abraham (circa 1900 BC!), have been both the recipients of blessing, and then the agents of blessing, in the world (see Gen 12:1-3). This world is a mess, and God uses his people to help spread justice, peace, truth, mercy, and ‘the embrace of grace’ is a sin-torn and fragmented world. God’s concern for his creation doesn’t stop with the people of the world, but extends to the entirety of…

d. The Universe

We anticipate the day when the Lord returns to renew all things, including the heavens and the earth, as well as our broken, decaying, disease-ridden bodies.