Advent: The Grace of God
Understanding God's Grace Through Advent
During Advent, Church at the Cross has explored the themes of hope, peace, and joy that flow from God's grace revealed in Christ. The third week of Advent traditionally marks a shift from longing to "an expectant joy that we have as we look to Christ" (The Grace that Hopes, 1:14). This joy is not merely seasonal but represents the transformative power of grace that has appeared and will appear again.
The Two Appearances of Grace
Pastor Scott Barry taught that grace is not merely a concept but is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ (The Grace that Hopes, 30:49). In Titus 2:11-14, Paul reveals two critical appearances of grace:
The First Appearing
The grace of God "appeared bringing salvation for all people" (Titus 2:11). Christmas celebrates this first appearing - the Incarnation when grace took on human flesh. As Barry explained, "Grace came down and put on Humanity" (The Grace that Hopes, 31:06).
The shepherds came to see "Grace In the Flesh," the wise men followed a star to find Grace, and even Herod's attempts to kill the Christ child were attempts against Grace itself (The Grace that Hopes, 31:23).
The Second Appearing
Christians wait for "our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13). This second appearing will be fundamentally different. While the first appearance was to suffer and die for redemption, "Grace is coming again and Grace is not coming to suffer and die but to Reign and to rule forever" (The Grace that Hopes, 38:42).
The Personal Impact of Grace
A Testimony of Transformation
One church member shared how grace transformed his life from despair to hope. After years of depression, isolation, and substance abuse, he encountered grace through Alpha. "Once I started to understand okay like God is real and he has a real plan for my life I started to feel like Joy was really possible" (The Grace that Hopes, 12:14).
The Nature of Christian Joy
This testimony illustrates that Christians "have this gigantic wonderful secret and the result of it is Joy they know what's really going on they know what's behind the scenes" (The Grace that Hopes, 12:53). The knowledge that "there's a real God who really cares about us and really wants good things for us" provides believers with "this inexhaustible Fountain of joy" (The Grace that Hopes, 13:14).
Living Between the Appearances
The grace that has appeared now "training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled upright and godly lives in the present age" (Titus 2:12). This training occurs as believers live between Christ's first and second appearances.
Barry emphasized that Paul "frames the imperatives of the Christian Life in light of the indicatives of the Gospel of Jesus" because "we don't follow a list of rules we follow a person we follow the lord Jesus" (The Grace that Hopes, 29:32). Christians don't do works to earn anything; they do works "because Jesus already earned us everything" (The Grace that Hopes, 29:40).
The Promise Fulfilled and Future Hope
The Old Testament prophecy of Isaiah 9:6-7 promised both that "a child is born" and that "the government shall be upon his shoulders." This is "not a prophecy of two different Messiahs" but rather "the same Messiah two different appearances" (The Grace that Hopes, 34:15).
Through the narrative arc of Scripture, from the broken covenant in Chronicles to the genealogy of Matthew, we see God's faithfulness in providing the promised King. Christ came first as the suffering servant, died and rose again, and "ascended into heaven but the king is coming again and this time it will be different" (The Grace that Hopes, 38:34).
The Foundation of Advent Joy
The joy of Advent rests on this grace that has appeared and will appear again. As believers wait for Christ's return, they can access constant truth "and the goodness of God to being able to see the goodness of God in the land of the living" (The Grace that Hopes, 14:06). This hope transforms present circumstances because believers know that difficult feelings are "small in comparison to like the infinite goodness of God" (The Grace that Hopes, 13:47).
The grace of God revealed in Christ provides both the historical foundation and future hope that fills Advent with genuine joy - not mere seasonal sentiment, but the deep satisfaction that comes from knowing Grace himself.