The Three Pillars of Grace Pt. 1

There are three distinct pillars which grace is founded upon. In this series I am going to demonstrate these pillars and how they operate in your life. My approach to this is not going to be some typical sermon format with three points, scriptures sources backed with commentary spanning across the religious landscape, and then personal examples to anchor the moment, finally followed by action points for you to follow over the course of the next week or month. Been there done that, and now I have a T-shirt which claims the price I suffered because of that format.

Let me start from my vantage point in this matter. To get you to understand this material in the same manner as I do, let me begin with the fundamentals. I do not care what you have read about the subject; been told by your parents or grandparents; what a “man of the cloth” told you in an attempt to teach you a lesson, or anything else you have stumbled upon. Grace is your birthright, not a gift given only to sinners, or bestowed only on those who are holy enough to be in the realm of God. It belongs equally to you, as it does to me, as it does to everything in this, and every other galaxy. Take a moment to contemplate this. Don’t try to poke holes in it with some form of logical thinking. This is an eternal truth which has never changed – period.

In the book of Hebrews, the New Testament writer makes a scandalous proclamation that we are to “…boldly come to the throne of grace…” If you know anything about the protocol of functioning within the realm of a kingdom, any kingdom, no one EVER boldly approaches a sovereign sitting on the throne. Such actions always produce the last thing you want – the complete loss of access, either by censure, expulsion or death!

We, however, are encouraged to pursue this course of action! By what right can we be assured of success in our approach? The right of birth. In a kingdom only the royal family has the luxury of being able to boldly come before the sovereign sitting on the throne. This is the scandal of the proclamation: No one ever thinks of themselves of being family. We’ve been conditioned to think that if we do some thing “good” we will be accepted and able to approach the throne – but only as a pauper, meek and humble, just a little better than all the lowly creatures we associate ourselves with on a daily basis.

This sounds weird, right? Who even thinks like this in our day and age? This is the language of some far off, long forgotten ancestry. Kings, thrones, royal families – preposterous! Face it, today we believe everyone is equal, right? There is no hierarchy within the world population, right? Right? Sure, we’ve had our experiences with the grand political schemes of communism, socialism, even democracy, and while they offered the hope of equality of the masses, it didn’t always manifest in the light as we hoped it would. And surely, no one ever held onto the audacious notion that they could go to the seat of power and have unhindered access to the person in charge in any of these social experiments.

Let’s consider how it might be possible that the language of our ancient ancestry is the accurate depiction for a realm we all long to inhabit. What if our most recent adventures in communal organizational systems were crude attempts to construct a domain we intuitively knew existed in our heart but couldn’t see with our eyes? What if the flaw within each system we have attempted was simply the inability to recognize how all were, and are, of the same family with equal access granted by birth?

More than a chair.

When you sit in your car driving to some destination, have you ever thought how the driver seat today is merely an evolution of a throne? Consider how when you’re sitting behind that wheel, you are the king of the road, right? People need to get out of your way when you’re moving. Your actions take top priority and if you think someone is going too slow, you’re going to make sure that they either get over or you’re going to invade their space. You’re the sole person who is able to determine what is acceptable speed for your vehicle and for those who even dare pass you! There is an authority to sitting in that seat which you can’t even begin to properly communicate about – even to those teens who you have to train up into the sanctity of the kingdom of the road.

How many of your friends know it’s you when you drive up in your car? What happens when you approach them in a different vehicle? Do they first recognize you or the vehicle you’re driving? Have you ever just sat in your parked car and watched the reactions of your friends in the distance as you never moved out of the car? Have you ever pulled up behind a car that you thought was your friend’s, honked your horn to get their attention only to discover that it was a stranger? What did you perceive that made you to take those actions, even errant ones?

These questions are attempting to get you prepared for the throne of grace. We all know what a throne is – we use it almost once a day, right? However, that throne has a unique purpose and description which almost everyone understands. Walk into a house for the first time and everyone wants to know where the “throne room” is located. Applying the same sense of urgency, consider what the “throne of grace” represents.

Certainly, a throne is simply a chair. A place to sit, relax, enjoy…or not. A place to administrate, dictate, and be the sovereign, supreme ruler and owner of everything surrounding the throne. In appearance, its construction may be simple like three branches acting as legs mortised into a plank of wood, or it may be ornate in its fashion with gold and jewels inset among elaborate filigree carved out of exotic woods. However, despite how it looks, it truly is the person who sits upon the chair, and their actions, which makes its importance relevant.

A “throne of grace” is a description of what proceeds from the seat in thought and action rather than its construction. Just as your friends recognize you in your car, we are supposed to recognize God as He functions from His throne. Those who do, agree that all they witness is a spectacle of what grace is like. You must recognize grace – not as you’ve been told, but as it emanates from the throne. But how do you do this?

Jesus, our kingdom archetype, told us that the first thing we must do is seek the kingdom of God. He also instructed us not to pay any attention to those who claim that the kingdom is over here or over there. In other words, you are not going to be able to see it with you eyes in any place those eyes look. Fortunately, he told us the reason for this too. The kingdom of God is within you.

Okay, take a deep breath in and then release it slowly. Do it again. Once more.

I just unpacked a lot of truth for you. Some of you I recognize how this might seem like nothing revelatory, while others of you are dazed and confused. Understand that I am building up to something which will demonstrate the pillars of grace, however I need you to recognize that a foundation must be laid. Some will know how the foundation looks while others will wonder where all the dirt piled up on the site comes from.

Today, you just got a look at the plan which has been unfolding before the foundation of the world. Its specifications are written in a language which our heart recognizes long before our brains decipher it. As we proceed, my hope is that the writings will blossom within and declare a glory we have only imagined possible. I hope you will stay attuned.