If you could change one thing about yourself what would it be? Just take a minute to think about it. Maybe it would be cosmetic; get rid of the grey hairs, or the double chin, or that scar from when you were a child, or perhaps the removal of a few wrinkles. Or maybe the change you would make would be to do with your character and outlook; to be more self assured and assertive, or to be an optimist rather than a pessimist. Or perhaps it would be a change in your abilities; I’d like to be cleverer, or better at sport or able to do Su Doku puzzles or whatever.

But what about if we changed the question, what if you could change one thing in the world? What would that be? Perhaps it would be to destroy all guns - would that end conflict and the tragedy of youngsters murdered? Or maybe it would be to end global selfishness, so that the haves would share with the have nots bringing an end to poverty.

The world we live in is obsessed with progress and change on a personal level but we see so little of it on a national or global level.

The passage that we had read to us is all about change too. Change for the better, change that alters the world one life at a time. A change that makes the lost found, that saves those who were in danger, that brings the dead to life, and that change is accomplished by grace alone.

1. Do I need grace?
Some dangers are obvious aren’t they? Ignoring the barriers and lights at a level crossing is obviously dangerous. To walk into the cage of an unfed predator ignoring the warning signs is dangerous. To go as an away fan to Elland Road to watch your team play Leeds is dangerous.

But some dangers are harder to spot. The danger this letter talks about is one of those dangers. (1-3) It tells us of a problem that we have; we are dead in our rebellion and our sins, it is the penalty of our decision to ignore God and live life our own way, and it leaves us facing God’s judgement for our rejection of him. It may be hard to spot but the signs are all around us. Suffering and death, if we haven’t become numb to them, make us feel that something is wrong; suffering leads us so often to challenge God. It has been said that suffering is God’s megaphone.

I’ve never met someone who has leprosy but I’ve seen pictures. The problem with leprosy is that the nerves die and that means you can’t feel pain. Pain in our bodies functions as a warning sign, when we pick up the hot baking tray without any oven gloves on the pain functions as a warning to let go. When we injure ourselves playing sport the pain is a way of telling us to stop, that something is wrong. But not if you have leprosy, there is no pain to tell you to stop or put it down. Pain is a warning sign that something is wrong.

So it is with suffering and death, they tell us something is wrong, and they are right. God’s intention when he made the world was a perfect world, with a people who loved each other and enjoyed a right relationship with him. When that was ruined by our rejection of him the knock on affects are the damaged world we see around us, that function as a warning to us.

Much of that damaged world is the result of personal actions; actions that we feel require justice. Society at large may say there are no absolutes as regards truth but we don’t live that way do we? When something happens we don’t stand and argue whether it was right or wrong we cry out for justice. The killer of Rhys Jones what does he or she deserves, for the pain and suffering they have caused? Or how about the person or people who know what has happened to Madeline McCann - what do they deserve? What about the teenagers who’s teasing causes the 13 year old to commit suicide? What do they deserve?

We want justice for wrong. But what about my actions that cause suffering for others - what do they deserve? They may be on a different magnitude but surely God can’t just ignore them.

Those actions are symptomatic of our rejection of God and rejection leaves us in danger, in danger of exactly what this passage tells us; danger and facing justice and it means we need grace.

2. What is grace?
a. It is not about what I do. (8-9)
I don’t know about you but I’m pretty good at remembering my achievements, I can tell you all about the great goal I scored this season where as the ball came over my head I took it down with the outside of my right foot beating the defender before lashing it on the half volley into the bottom left hand corner of the goal. I can tell you about other goals I scored years ago; I can recount exam successes, tell you about students I helped teach and succeed. I guess we are all the same, we remember our achievements, our failures well the vast majority get forgotten.

But this passage tells us that the grace we need is nothing to do with us, it is not something that I can achieve, and that there is absolutely nothing I can do to make myself right with God. The passage makes the point three times; "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."

It’s an idea that is total alien to our independent, problem solving, performance related culture. It is quite shocking, it says that we are helpless that there is nothing we can do about it; no matter how good we are it just doesn’t cut it.

There is an episode in ‘Friends’ where Joey says that there is no such thing as a selfless good deed, Phoebe then spends the episode trying to prove him wrong and find a totally selfless good deed. But she repeatdly fails to do so, every thing she does makes either her feel good, or it is to prove Joey wrong, the premise being there is no such thing as a selfless good deed.

Our problem when it comes to making ourselves right with God is not just our selfishness it is our inability to attain to God’s standard. We can’t love our neighbour as ourselves - especially not when that definition of neighbour is shown by Jesus to be anyone, let alone love God with all our heart soul mind and strength. Not only can we not make the grade but we can’t fix the relationship ourself. We can’t do it ourselves, but the great news of grace is that we do not have to.

What is grace?
b. God in love and mercy gives us what we don’t deserve (4-5, 8-10)
Watch clip from Les Miserables.

What did Valjean deserve? Punishment, arrest, trial, jail. But the bishop shows him mercy. Not only that but the bishop shows him grace when he gives him a totally undeserved gift when he deserves the exact opposite. That is grace - treating someone with undeserved love and generosity.

We are just like Valjean - caught red handed, guilty, deserving of judgement, yet God in his amazing grace offers us forgiveness through Jesus death and resurrection as a "gift of God" (8). When we recognise that we are dependent upon him and come with nothing to give but everything to receive.

Why would God do that? (4)"because of his great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we dead in our transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved."

There is a great snapshot of grace in action in Luke’s account of Jesus life. Jesus is hanging on the cross innocent yet sentenced to die and the two criminals either side of him heap abuse on him, until eventually something one of the criminals sees leads him to change his mind and he rebukes the other, defending Jesus’ innocence and recognising him as the Messiah. What do expect Jesus to say to this convicted criminal as he asks "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

Here is a man who has been convicted of serious crimes; you weren’t just crucified for misdemeanours, here is a man who is guilty, who is dying as a rebel against God, who has definitely not loved his neighbour let alone God, who has obviously not lived a good life, asking to be allowed into heaven. He can’t then go and live differently, build an orphanage, or give to charity, or volunteer at the soup kitchen, or any of the other things we like to think get us in God’s good books, his future holds only death. What does he deserve?

The shock of what Jesus says has been lost to us because we are so familiar with it, but Jesus amazingly says to this convicted felon "Today, you will be with me in paradise." "For it is by grace you are saved through faith."

Jesus is that guilty mans substitute, the innocent willingly taking the punishment of the guilty. The criminal is not just experiencing mercy - not getting what he does deserve, God’s judgement - but getting what he doesn’t deserve forgiveness and a future.

Do you see what grace is? Grace is scandalous. It is when God in love sent his Son to die in our place, taking our punishment so that we are credited with what he deserves and what we don’t - forgiveness, a heavenly Father, and a future all by faith in Jesus.

This outrageous grace frees us from guilt, it saves us from God’s righteous judgement, and it frees us from trying to reach that unattainable standard. It means that I have nothing to prove to God and that I am free to forgive others.

Grace is that change we need, and it is a gift of God who loves us. Grace tells is that we are more wicked than we ever realised but more love than we ever dreamed.

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