Transformed Through His Grace

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

Introduction

I consider this short hymn to the grace of God as one of the most beautiful summaries of the gospel in the New Testament. In a pastoral context that emphasizes the practical aspects of the Christian life, this text presents a firm theological foundation on the transforming power of God's grace, revealed in Christ. To those who could be tempted to believe that the behavior required from Christians depends on human will and efforts, Paul recalls that a transformed life is, first of all, the fruit of God's powerful grace. The theology of grace is a theology of change. The instructions given are just part of the transforming process in which the born again Christians are envolved.

I. GRACE AS UNDERSERVED FAVOR

a. The human condition and God's saving grace.

The Bible, and our own experience, prove clearly enough that when we human beings depart from God we depart from the source of life. But we still remain under the power and influence of all the other laws of the universe, including the law of sowing and harvest. We harvest the results of our acts. The laws acting on moral and spiritual fall can be compared with the law of gravity. Unless there is force to prevent from it, whatever is exposed to the force of gravity will fall all the way down. Similarly, only the power of grace can counteract the downward pull of the moral fall. We could say that sin and grace are the two main contrary forces of the universe in the spiritual and moral realm. Sin, like gravity, is a force pulling us down; grace is a force lifting us up.

After giving a list of instructions for different people in the Church Paul recalls that the theological basis for godly living is "the grace of God". Nothing more and nothing less. What does it mean? What is grace? Our theological dictionaries define "grace" as an "undeserved, unmerited favor," as a "concession that cannot be claimed as a right", but also as a "divine transforming, regenerating and inspiring influence". Undoubtedly "grace" is a one-word summary of God's saving plan to restore human beings in our fallen world.

1. Main teachings about grace

a. The source of grace: God

The entire program of redemption is rooted in "the grace of God", his free and merciful favor, his constant action toward needy sinners to justify, deliver and transform them. Grace is God's best gift to the fallen world, to counteract our tendencies to fall down, deeper and deeper.

Where can we find a power strong enough to produce the transformation needed? Only God can provide the needed power. And divine love is the sole source of grace.

The word "grace" applied to God's action reminds us that God's essence is love, and that "The love of God comes to us free of charge (...) There is nothing we can do to make God love us more. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less (...) Grace means that God already loves us as much as an infinite God can possibly love" (Philip Yancey, What's so amazing about grace? Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997, p. 70).

b. The nature of grace: bringing salvation

In our text the adjective soterios, found only here in the New Testament, defines grace as "saving". It recalls the main purpose of God's interventions in the world, which is to deliver us from the results of our fall and to transform our lives, according to His original purpose. The goal of grace is "to bring salvation", to restore fallen human beings to a new life of never ending communion and friendship with God.

c. The scope of grace: to all men

The grace of God, like the heavens around, embraces the wide world. Grace provides a free offer of salvation for all humanity. The sudden transition of the text from "all human beings" to just "us" does not imply a diminution of that universal scope to the few who have responded to God's invitation. Rather it is a reminder that the training of the few has in view the provision of salvation for the whole.

2. Christ as the Revelation of Grace

"Grace has appeared". The verb epephane conveys the image of grace suddenly breaking in our moral darkness, like a powerful light, even like the rising sun. Although the grace of God has been manifested in all His actions, "Grace" appeared personified in the revelation of Jesus Christ as God's best gift to humanity (John 1:17). If God is the source of grace, and salvation is its goal, Christ is the greatest agent of God's grace.

This "grace that has appeared" refers here to the totality of Christ's ministry, manifested from the incarnation to the cross, and through the resurrection, and his intercession until his glorious return (v. 13). Grace has been revealed in the person of Christ. Christ is at the heart of grace and grace is at the heart of the gospel (cf 1 Tim 1:2).

It is interesting to observe that, in the accounts of the four gospels, Jesus does not use the word "grace", but He always speaks of grace, He always acts with grace. His person, His whole life was grace in action. Through Christ we see God's grace welcoming, embracing, accepting, loving, and transforming.

From the first two disciples whom Jesus met in the Jordan valley at the very beginning of His ministry, until the thief who died beside him on another cross, Jesus spent His life revealing God's grace to those around him. His actions show that grace does not depend on what we do for God, but rather on what God does for us. The leper, the adulterous woman, Matthews, Zachaeus, all were accepted without conditions and transformed by His grace.

John and Andrews, as well as the Samaritan woman, and many others, all become successful missionaries, sharing the gospel with their relatives, neighbors and friends (John 1:35-42). Even the repentant criminal hung at the cross, surprised by grace, becomes a channel of grace for his colleague (Luke 23:39-43).

3. Transformed Through Grace

The grace of God is often presented as an amazing divine disposition favorable towards humankind, manifested in a decisive and unique act of the past, and accepted by faith. When we speak of "transforming grace" we naturally think of a miracle worker. However Titus 2:11-14 describes grace in an uncommon and rather surprising way, as the permanent action of a committed teacher. Is there any common ground between a good educator and a miracle worker?

I have been working in education in old Europe for about forty years, and I have very often desired to be a miracle worker, able to transform the circumstances, if that were possible, or at least the lives of many of my pupils and students. Like many European educators I have enjoyed visiting the Italian town of Collodi in beautiful Tuscany. In this town visitors use to take pictures of a very unusual monument to a toy, the famous "Pinocchio," popular character for millions of children in Europe and elsewhere, "created" there by a quite particular educator. Carlo Collodi (pseudonym of Carlo Lorenzini, 1826-1890) was a creative writer who produced a kind of fairy tale for children entitled "Pinocchio's adventures" containing an important parable for adults on the ultimate goal of education. The tale speaks of a craftsman who made a very fine toy out of wood, called Pinocchio. He liked it so much that he dreamed of how amazing it would be if the wooden toy might become one day a real boy. In this story the dream comes true, and the toy is transformed in a wonderful real boy. Of course, we know that this is a parable, this is a dream, this is fiction.

However, there is no doubt that the best educators are miracle dreamers and miracle workers. Do you remember the story of Anne Sullivan, called precisely "The Miracle Worker" (1957)? This famous story tells the remarkable experience of a young teacher who helped a wild, deaf-blind child called Hellen Keller to become a famous and highly educated thinker, role model for million of people. What an amazing miracle!

Our text says that grace, this supreme miracle worker, "teaches us how to live". Paul describes grace here as a prodigious teacher engaged in the highly educative project of empowering, inspiring and helping us to grow. Grace has manifested itself actively, as a teacher who guides the converted into a new reality, continuously transforming the lives of those who receive it. The God, who gave us once for all the Savior Jesus Christ, continues to guide us through His grace on the way of salvation. The same grace produces the faith that saves, giving us eternal life in the hereafter, and the faith that helps us to live here and now.

Yes, the grace of Christ transforms our lives. The theology of grace is a theology of change. But not in a magical way, independently of ourselves. The verb paideuo used here means "to train, to instruct, to educate," embracing all that was involved in the best education. It refers to the entire empowering and upbringing process: persuasion, encouragement, correction and discipline. The converted life bring to us deliverance from the consequences of the fall, and includes the constant empowering and training of the whole being into a higher life. If the law had a pedagogical function of leading us to Christ (Gal 3:24), grace goes much further, producing a real new creation, acting in us from inside, "transformed by the renewing of the mind" (Rom. 12:2). "In the higher sense the work of education and the work of redemption are one" (EGW, Education, p. 30).

This transforming task of grace is described in our passage both in negative and positive terms:

a. First of all it produces a radical rejection of any wrong way of life, a decisive break with the past. The power of grace makes a converted life a liberated life. Conversion implies the renunciation of all that is ungodly and sinful in human behavior. For grace does not limit itself to teach us to renounce the evil; it gives us the power to live a victorious life.

b. Three adverbs are used to describe the positive transforming action of grace in three main dimensions of our existence: (1) grace working inward, to a right relationship to one's self (sophronos "soberly"); (2) grace working outward, to a right relationship with others (dikaios "righteously"); and (3) grace working upward, to a right relationship with God (eusebos "godly").

It is interesting to observe that these three changes produced by grace include the three most highly prized virtues in Greek education (self-control, justice and piety). This may be intended by Paul to convey, for the first Greek proselytes around Titus, the idea that the gospel fulfills the highest aspirations of the best ethics of this world. But contrary to the philosophy of education of Stoicism, for example, which was the most prized in that society, and which looked for power within the self, the ethics of the gospel look for power unto God. It is God's grace that secures the due regulation of individual life, mastering our passions, duly respecting our fellow-men and fully dedicating our lives to God "in this present world".

The new life is starting right now. (The Message). Grace acts in this present world, a world which is marred and transitory, in preparation for the glorious world to come. Grace thus, permeates all in human time, assuring us of complete, past redemption in Christ, transforming our present existence, and announcing the future glorification at the Lord's return.

4. Looking to the future

The third action of grace consists in uplifting our heart for a glorious future. Grace not only looks back to a historical event, to the manifestation of God's love in the ministry of Christ. Grace not only empowers a decisive transformation in our present lives. Grace also points the path to a greater transformation to come. In fact, a grace saved life is an "adventist" life, a life of hope, "constantly expecting" (present participle prosdechomenoi) the return of the Lord, and the final fulfillment of salvation.

Christian hope is called here emphatically, in a quite unique phrase, "the blessed hope", for the hope of Christ's second coming in glory is the source of joy, strength and comfort of every Christian soul. The life of grace is a life of blessed expectation, in two main senses: first because it is related to the great promises of God for the future; but second, it may be also called a blessed hope, because of all the blessings it brings already to the believer in this present existence.

"The blessed hope and glorious appearing," are in our text two subjects under one single article, because they refer both to the same event viewed from two sides. For believers the second coming of Christ is especially beloved, as the consummation of our hope (1 Tim 1:1). For Christ himself, this awaited appearing is especially glorious because it will culminate his salvation mission, bringing eternal glory for the redeemed (Col 1:27).

The following phrase also links together with the same article some of the most important titles given to Christ, namely "the great God and Savior Jesus Christ", a challenging statement, very much debated, which is also unique in the Bible. Whatever might be the translation preferred, it is clear that God and Savior are treated as a unit, joining inseparably together in the same being divine salvation and incarnate grace.

5. The fruits of Grace

The transforming action of grace is encompassed here as a process from grace to glory, from redemption to sanctification, from the past (v. 12) to the future (v.13).

The phrase "who gave himself for us" alludes to Christ's sacrifice and ministry (Heb 9:11-14), expressing both representation and solidarity. Christ Himself is indeed the best of all gifts to humankind. It is amazing that the "great God and Savior" gave himself for us!

What are the expected effects of Christ's self-giving? How is the transforming grace displayed in the life of the world church? From the ministry of Christ on our behalf three main actions are mentioned: "to redeem" us from all evil, to "purify" us from sin and " to qualify and motivate" us for good works. The basic results of the covenant with God, from the Exodus to the end of times, are always the same: redemption, purification and constitution of a new partnership with God (Ezekiel 37:23).

a. "To redeem from all iniquity" makes explicit that the effect of grace is not merely deliverance from the penalty of sin, but also from its power and consequences. God has always desired to rescue his people from all their enemies.

b. "To purify" indicates that the goal of grace is spiritual restoration of the believers, to God's likeness, to his friendship, and to his service. God intends the "the purification of a peculiar people for himself", for his own possession as his most precious treasure (only here in the New Testament, but frequent in the Old Testament, cf. Ex 19:5; Deut 7:6; 14:2; Eze 36:25-28; 37:23).

God liberates his people so He can be their God (Ex 6:6). Saving, justifying grace, leads to sanctifying grace. The grace of God is the true ground of all sanctification. Salvation always moves from redemption to sanctification. There is no true conversion that does not include discipleship.

c. The expected result is a "chosen, special, dedicated people" (periousios), "zealous of good works". It is to say, eager to do good, eager to put into practice God's will in their mission. The remnant people of God are not only a privileged people, they are a committed people who combine watching and doing. The blessed hope makes them to watch as they work, until the Lord comes. A transformed life is the visible mark of God's people, the inseparable fruit of the work accomplished by grace (1 Tim 2:10).

In fact, it is divine grace expressed in the quality of all our human relationships that will be the most effective witness of the church to the character of God's saving purpose. Dispensing grace was the central mission of Jesus. Dispensing grace is the central mission of the church.

"Jesus presents the truth before his children that they may look upon it, and by beholding it, may become changed, being transformed by his grace from transgression to obedience, from impurity to purity, from sin to heart-holiness and righteousness of life" (Review and Herald, December 22, 1891).

This means that God's salvific grace teaches us that theology and ethics belong together. A correct understanding of God's will produces a coherent obedience to his commandments. The right credo leads to the right life-style. Proper behavior stems from proper belief. If religion is morality in principle, morality is religion in practice. There is an inseparable connection between conviction and conduct, between faith and facts, between belief and behavior.

The case of Youri Gilg

As could most of you here, I could make my point with many stories of transforming grace. I have chosen, on purpose, a story related with the transforming power of grace through education. A story that happened not long ago in France. A story of amazing grace, able to transform not only "a wretch like me", but also a handsome and healthy athlete like Youri.

When Youri was only 17 years old he was already an outstanding athlete. He was especially good in acrobatic skiing, in what we now call "moguls free style". This gifted boy came from a family of champions in this difficult sport. His sister Candice was twice world's champion. And Youri was member of the Olympic team of France, the best in the world at that time.

By the age of 18, Youri had just one goal in life: to be a world champion. All the hours of the day were needed for training himself to become a champion. This was extremely hard and demanding. But he was young, he did not mind. He was very proud of belonging to a world-class elite, and his personal and national pride pushed him to look down on others. Although he was not a believer in the God of Heaven, in fact he was serving a very demanding god -- a god called "Ski," promising him glory and fame, but demanding from him the sacrifice of everything else. Youri made this god first is his life, and to him the young athlete consecrated all his energies, all his time, his resources, his entire attention.

Two years later, in 1988, when he was 19, Youri visited with his grand-father, who was a Seventh-day-Adventist pastor. He also read the Bible. And Youri began a desperate struggle between the ski god and the living God.

Reading the passage on the encounter between Jesus and the young rich man, Youri felt that Jesus was also telling to him "Follow me". And he understood that, in order to be able to follow God's call he had to give to God the first place in his life, this first place that was occupied by sports. He could not serve at the same time true God and Mammon Ski, even if this lesser god was indeed giving to him glory and fame.

When Youri felt the call of his Heavenly Father, he prayed: "Yes Lord, I am hearing your call to surrender to you, but I cannot...I love ski god too much; he gives me so much popularity, fame and glory."

Winter 1992. Youri is 22. He is the leader of the French team in the Olympic games of Albertville (1992). Five times champion of France, third in the World Championship at Lake Placid (USA). He is now one of the three top world champions.

But the grace of God was still working in his heart. God wanted to transform his life, and Youri felt very uncomfortable about his way of handling his extremely demanding sportive life, and his spiritual needs. He had special problems because he could not respect the Sabbath.

He was in top athletic form. But even though he was the favorite, he finished up the Olympic Albertville contest a disappointing 8^th. Youri did not understand what is happening to him.

Later, during the World Cup in Austria, he finished first in the first round. But again, in the last performance he was unexpectedly defeated.

He searched frantically in his Bible for an answer. Was there any way for him to feel free and happy?

And he was suddenly struck by Romans 6:6, a verse that seemed to address his personal situation: Our old self was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should not longer be slaves to sin.

"No longer being a slave?". And if it was true? If this was true, that meant that at the cross Youri's own old self had been crucified with Jesus, and that he was not urged to abandon something very dear to him: he was given the possibility of being liberated from a terrible master! God was not exactly asking him a big sacrifice. He was promising to him a great liberation. God's was not a painful request: it was an offer of grace... "And if it was true that he needed that type of liberation?" And while Youri was asking God to give him the strength to do God's will, Youri realized that the promise had become true. He felt that the miracle had happened. He was being transformed through God's grace. All of his struggles, all the mistakes, all the wounds, all the failures, were gone in Christ. He could begin again a new life at the cross. He felt free, really free for the first time in his young life. Free from sin, free from guilt, free in Christ. The ski god was a tyrannical master, but the living God is the God of new beginnings, who not only wants to give us eternal life, but who wants also to make our life on earth as happy as possible. Youri discovered that "Rescue is God's business" (Philip Yancey, Rumors of Another World, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003, p. 156).

Two days later, in May 1992, Youri was calling our seminary in Collonges. Three months later, in early September, Youri was arrived at Collonges on registration day. I was the dean, and I can never forget my first impression when I saw this committed young athlete requesting admission in the theology department, even though he was not yet baptized.

He explained to me that "instead of investing all his efforts in improving his own performances," he had decided "to invest his life in the grace of God." Although he later realized that God was not calling him for the pastoral ministry, Youri Gilg surrendered to God's grace in Collonges, and during that very same school year, in May 1993, he was baptized by his grand-father.

While Youri was at the seminary, he still entered into world-class competition. And this time he finally won. Skiing had taken its rightful place in Youri's life. The ski god was no longer his master. Instead, athletics was just a servant, a useful tool for something else.

"The grace of God," he told me, "rescued my life from the race for glory. It had taught me to put my life at the service of others. I felt transformed by God's grace".

Today, more than ten years later, Youri is a happy and successful athletic coach, at Collonges academy, the very place where he gave his life to Jesus. He is experiencing in his own ministry the amazing privilege of helping young people to give their lives to God and to be transformed by His grace.

He likes to teach his students that the results of the fall -- sin, guilt, condemnation, fear, anger, and a multitude of negative, self-centered emotions -- destroy the beautiful person we really are. And that the transforming power of God's grace makes of us finally the wonderful people we were made to be. (Mark Finley, Solid Ground, 329). Through Christ, transformed by his grace, our future is bright.

Conclusion

I would like to conclude these reflections with a comment made in by E. G. White, in one of her last camp-meeting sermons:

"Christ (...) gave his precious life that men and women might be redeemed from the power of Satan. I beseech my brethren, as the ambassadors of Christ, to labor earnestly for the salvation of souls. Leave no means untried that will bring the truth before the people, that they may become cleansed in heart and refined in character. Teach the repenting one to come in faith to the One who has given his life for all mankind. Labor for them until they come to the place where they will say, "(...) I give my life to him who gave his life for me. By obedience to the will of God I will reveal that I am transformed by his grace" (EGW, R&H, 12 September 1907).

January 4, 2005