The Gift of Grace

By Dame Sidabutar

Bogor, Indonesia

Scriptures:

Ephesians 2:1-10

Titus 2:12-14

What is Happening to the World?

I have been a disciple for 24 years and have spent half of those years as a full-time minister in Indonesia. I have studied the Bible with so many women – married women, singles, campus students, and also teens. One thing I notice now is that the life stories that they share have become more and more horrid each time.

I would ask my husband again and again, what is wrong with this world? What is wrong with the people? Do they ever think about God? Do they ever fear God? So many questions come to my head. I am so grateful for the Bible, for the answers can always be found there.  

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

Ephesians 2:1-3

Sin is the Problem

Sin is what happened to the world. And to identify sin in people is easy. They are dead. They might look alive, travelling around the world, laughing and looking happy; but they are dead, spiritually dead. 

People will look at you, as if you are an alien when you talk about God and ask them to study the Bible. But when you talk about investments, music, and other things, their eyes light up.

Spiritual death produces a corpse. The world is filled with corpses. Just like corpses are cold, people can be the same now.  We can go to church singing or maybe serving, but there is no warmth there. It is just an activity, a routine, a checklist on Sunday. 

Corpses are prone – lying face down, not standing, sitting, or moving. Just lying there.  We can say we are a Christian, but maybe we are not growing either. We are still struggling with the same sin. We still focus on ourselves, reluctant to forgive, giving in to insecurity and selfishness.

Corpses have decay in them – corruption, and are soon perished. It is just like what the father said in the parable of the prodigal son. He said, “We need to celebrate because your brother was dead and is alive again.” How could the father have said that the son was dead? He had been busy partying and living it up. But God saw him as dead.  No wonder so many women didn’t really respond when we shared the good news about Jesus. They were dead.  

But why do we fall into sin so easily? Romans 3:23 says, "...for all have sinned…” Everybody who lives in this world has sinned. We sin because we want to be accepted. The fear of being different makes us follow the customs of the world. There is a craving in our flesh to gratify what we want, though we know it is sin. So we struggle when we see what is happening around us; but the struggle also comes from inside. That is why we deserve the wrath of God.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:23 

When I was small, whenever I knew I disobeyed my mom, I would feel so scared because I was afraid of her wrath. Now imagine the wrath of God! How fierce and fearsome it would be. Until Jesus came. The wrath of God – death – is not the only option that we have. We have hope. Sin doesn’t rule over us anymore.

The Best Gift is Grace… I’m Alive!

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 2:4-5

Just as sin produces spiritual death, now the love of God, the mercy that He showed, makes us alive. We will never deserve His mercy and love. That’s why the word “mercy” is used. Nothing we can do makes us able to claim, “I got mercy because I did this and that.” God is rich in mercy and He loves the undeserving one. We used to be corpses, but now we have the miracle of being alive! We start to listen to the word of God and start to talk to God, not so others can see, but because we have a relationship with Him.

And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:6-7

Not only are we alive, but we are now sitting with Him in the heavenly realms. My body is here in Indonesia, but my spirit is with Jesus in heaven. For I am already raised with Jesus. At the appointed time I will be given a new body. 

Faith…Accepting the Gift 

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

Grace means any good deeds that I have done will not save me, and the bad deeds I committed need not hinder me from being saved. Salvation is the GIFT OF GOD.  It’s God’s choice…His generosity. It might look unfair and offensive to some. But people who have arrived in heaven cannot say, “I made it here because of half of my good deeds or a quarter of my good deeds. There will be no boasting. No one is better than another. That’s why we say God’s grace is amazing. It saved a wretched woman like me.

God loves us so much that He is willing to save us. Salvation comes by God’s grace and through faith. We can only have the gift or present if we choose to receive it.  Many people can get financial help, but they refuse the help because it’s charity.  The only thing that I contribute to my salvation is stretching out my hand to receive the gift. It calls for faith to believe that Jesus gives the gift to me. But even faith is a gift from God, for we need to remember we are corpses. Corpses couldn’t have faith, but God made us alive and gave us the capacity to reach out and receive His grace.  

Grace Motivates Me

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

If we stop here, then many will have a wrong conclusion about grace. Since grace is a gift and none of my good deeds can save me, then I might think it doesn’t matter how I live. As long as I believe, then I will be saved. This is not what God intended.  For we are saved in mercy, by grace, through faith FOR GOOD WORKS. We are saved for good works. I do not do good deeds so I can go to heaven, but because I am going to heaven.

Believers do good deeds because they spring from the good deeds of God. God has done good works in me so I can do good deeds for others. I’ve got His grace. It motivates me to do good deeds. Unbelievers can do good deeds without changing  their lives, for they didn’t let the good deeds of God change them.  Believers will do good deeds that God already planned for them, which is sharing the good news about Jesus and salvation through Him. Grace should never just stop with us.  

Grace Enables Me 

For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 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.

Titus 2:11-12,14

Seeing and believing the grace of God makes us able to say “No” to sin and able to control ourselves from following the desires of the world. We are so overwhelmed by the love and mercy that God shows, that we just want to please HIM.  The gift of grace initiates the changing of our mindsets and our purpose in life.  

Questions for Reflection:

1. Am I still the same person with the same struggles I had before I became a believer? Why or why not?

2. Do I still see the grace of God as the greatest gift? What would be happening in my life if I really believed that?

3. How can I decide if the good deeds I have done come from the awareness that Jesus already saved me?

About the Author:

Dame was baptised in Bintaro, Indonesia, in 1999. She joined the singles ministry where she met her husband, Jhon Sinaga, and got married in 2010. God trusted her and her husband to start a church in Depok, one of the Jakarta satellite cities. After 11 years in Depok, the church grew from 16 disciples to 153 disciples. In 2019, John and Dame moved to lead the church in Bogor. Now they oversee the Depok and Ambon churches. They have two sons: Kia (13 yrs) and Deo (11 yrs).