Messy Grace

“And the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (1Tim 1:14).

Grace is messy. Wonderfully messy. Beautifully messy. My friends with OCD are cringing right now and looking for something to clean up this spectacular spill. Maybe you think it’s not like God to be sloppy. Isn’t cleanliness next to godliness? That’s in the Bible somewhere right? Nope. Sorry. As a matter of fact, Paul goes WAY out of his way to tell his buddy Timothy about how Jesus poured so much of His goodness into his broken life that it was running down the sides of the glass and all over the counter! “And the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (v14). You see Jesus isn’t shy when it comes to giving out His grace. It’s messy. Very messy. Wonderfully messy. Beautifully messy.

And why should it be anything else for Paul? His life before Jesus was a hot mess. He readily admits how “formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent” of the Rabbi/Carpenter from Galilee (1Tim 1:13). But one crazy day outside of Damascus, everything changed. Jesus drenches the man known then as Saul with a tidal wave of His grace. He radically transforms this enemy into His friend. Next thing you know, Saul the assassin becomes Paul the apostle. Murderer becomes missionary. This incredibly messy life is healed under the flow of God’s incredibly messy grace.

I’ve got a sneaking feeling that some of you are just having a hard time thinking Jesus is sloppy with His salvation. Christ may generous, but He’s not careless. What Paul wants us to know is that Jesus radically generous. He tells Tim how “the grace of our Lord overflowed for me” (v14). First of all, remember God’s grace is His descending one-way love that we did nothing to deserve. We do absolutely nothing to earn or gain God’s goodness (Rom 3:23-24; Eph 2:7-9). Zip. Zilch. The big fat zero. The great preacher Jonathan Edwards does say there is one particular item we provide. “You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.” Without our Savior, the only thing we’re generous with is our sin. Ouch. 

Despite bringing less than zero to the table, Paul describes how Jesus’ grace “overflowed” in his direction. In doing so, he uses a Greek word that only appears once in the New Testament: huperpleonazo. It’s compound verb which literally means “super (huper-) excess (-pleonazo).” Picture filling a glass to the point of overflowing. Receiving something to the point of ridiculous excess. God does not hold back when He delivers the incredible abundance of His goodness. Put away the measuring spoons. You’ll need more than a bucket. That dump truck is nowhere big enough. His grace is BEYOND measure and never-ending! The Amplified Bible pumps up the volume and reads “the grace (unmerited favor and blessing) of our Lord [actually] flowed out superabundantly and beyond measure for me” (v14 AMP). Jesus doesn’t just splash you once and move on. Picture yourself standing under a spectacular waterfall of His generosity. Ahhhh!

How do we know when we have some understanding of what God has done for us? The apostle says we overflow “with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (v14). His tsunami of grace opens my mind to trust in all that my Savior has done for me that I could never do for myself. He lived the perfect life while I drove it in the ditch. He died the death for my disobedience in my place. He rose to a new life when I did nothing to deserve it. You see, messy grace makes for messy faith. I trust in Jesus even when my life is a total dumpster fire. It’s about Him, not me. Messy grace makes for messy love. I love the people in my life when they are the most unlovable. ESPECIALLY when they are the most unlovable. It’s about them, not me. Remember, Christ loved you and me while we were still shanking our fists at heaven (Rom 5:8). You see that idea front and center in the New Living Translation. “Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that comes from Jesus Christ” (v14 NLT).

His waterfall of grace creates followers who become fire hydrants of faith in Him and love for others. Because of His incredibly messy grace, His church is a wonderful mess. Maybe you’ve bought the lie that church is filled with folks who’ve figured it out. People who are neat and clean. People that have their stuff in one bag with a twist tie. Wrong. The truth be known, the body of Christ is full of jacked up, messed up, and goofed up people. It’s less like a black tie formal at the country club than the freak show at the carnival. Messy grace. Messy faith. Messy love. 

That’s exactly what happens when Christ is radically generous with His grace. Dare I say promiscuously generous? Did he just say THAT word when talking about Jesus? You bet I did. And you can bet that He is!! His grace is spilling over into our lives. It’s bursting at the seams. His grace is flowing everywhere. When there’s a boatload of sin, you need boatload of grace. “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Rom 5:20). So put down the rag. Drop the mop. Don’t worry about cleaning it up. Instead, let it go an let it flow! Be messy with your faith in Christ. Be messy with your love for others. Grace is messy. Very messy. Wonderfully messy. Beautifully messy.