The Extravagance of God’s Grace

Once, a snooty, high society lady looked down her nose at another lady and asked, “Where are your jewels?”

The woman called her sons over and pronounced, “These are my jewels!”

That’s how I feel about my family. I’ll be glad to show you pictures anytime. That’s how God feels about believers. We are His jewels. 

In writing about Ephesians 2, one Bible commentator used the phrase “trophies of His grace.” Have you ever considered yourself a trophy of God’s grace?

In Ephesians 2, Paul referred to “the exceeding riches of (God’s) grace” (2:7). The word exceeding means to extraordinarily exceed the usual mark, to be surpassing. Elaborating on God’s making us alive in Christ because of His grace, Paul states “that God may show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (7). 

“Shows” means to show forth, to display, to cause to be made known. In other words, God loves to show off the results of His extravagant grace. 

How does God show off His grace?

First, by gifting salvation. In verses 5 and 8, Paul writes, “By grace you have been saved.” The word saved points to rescuing one from great peril, to deliver. In His rich grace, God rescues us from our lostness, helplessness, and hopelessness and gives us salvation. 

Recently, a New Smyrna, Florida, off-duty firefighter was in the right place at the right time to rescue a senior adult couple who crashed on I-95 in Volusia County on June 12. Rosalee Rositer had left her shift when she travelled upon a crashed, burning car in the trees by the interstate. She pulled over and sprang into action. 

She and several others removed an elderly couple from the vehicle before the flames reached the cabin. The driver may have suffered a medical emergency, but both were removed and taken to a nearby hospital. God delivers us from eternal damnation when we come to Christ.

Second, by making us alive. Paul opens his chapter with bad news. We may be alive physically, but if we’re lost, we are dead spiritually. Like the cable television series, we are literally the walking dead. 

Pastor Warren Wiersbe said, “The unbeliever is not sick; he is dead. He does not need resuscitation but resurrection!” 

Thankfully, God intervened (4) and did what man cannot do for himself. Because of His great love, even when we were dead in trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ (5). 

Third, by showing kindness (7) toward us in Christ Jesus. Kindness is God’s beneficial provision. God, who is rich in mercy, shows the exceeding riches of His grace in the sphere of His kindness, all through Jesus Christ. The stream of His matchless, surpassing grace flows through the person of Jesus Christ.

Fourth, by gifting us salvation (8). Paul makes it clear that salvation is a gift to be received, not a benefit to be earned. His gift is totally not of man’s doing. There is nothing we can do to merit the gift of salvation. We cannot work for it nor earn it in any way. God gives salvation when we by faith receive Jesus Christ as Savior (8). That’s why grace is often defined as God’s unmerited favor on undeserving persons.  

Fifth, by His creative workmanship. WE are His workmanship. When God saves us, He not only delivers us from hell, but creates us to serve Him by doing good works that bring glory to Him. In other words, God gives salvation for a purpose, and that purpose is a life of serving Him.

The word workmanship comes from a Greek word that gives us the English word “poem.” We are each God’s creative work. And God loves to show us off as works of His exceedingly extravagant grace. 

F. B. Meyer wrote, “That He could love us when we were dead like Lazarus, in trespasses and sins; that He has linked us in the bonds of indissoluble union with His Son; that we, the poor children of earth and sin, should be admitted to the inner circle of His Deity, this will be, to all eternity, the mightiest proof of the exceeding riches of His grace.” 

Thank you, God, for your extravagant, extraordinary, surpassing grace!

(David L. Chancey lives in Fayetteville, GA, and serves as transitional pastor of Griffin Church, Griffin, GA. See more of his writings, including his books, at www.davidchancey.com).