Throughout the Bible, language of family and friendship is used to talk about our relationship with God. Our relationship is spoken about using the language of marriage, using the language of friendship, and using the language of parents and children. Close relationships like these are always covenantal. A covenant is a relationship built on promises.

Our relationship to God is a covenantal relationship too. He makes promises to us: to love us, to forgive our sins, to give us the gift of salvation, to help us unpack our baggage, to be with us always, to give us eternal life. And, as is the case with any good and healthy relationship, it’s a two-way street. We make promises to Him too. We promise to take our relationship – our life- with Jesus seriously.

That’s how it is with our relationship with God. God has made promises to us, and God is always faithful to those promises. We make promises to God, too. We promise to talk with God – prayer – to listen to God through prayer and scripture, to love God through worship, to help God by helping others.

We make our promises. And, if we don’t act on our promises, if we don’t live into our promises, our relationship with God doesn’t grow, our life with God doesn’t deepen. Allowing Jesus access to our lives is what we call the Means of Grace.

The Means of Grace are simply ways we live out our promises to God. These Means of Grace include what John Wesley called Acts of Piety: praying, reading the Bible, coming to church, and giving. And they include what Wesley called Acts of Mercy: helping others in need, standing up against oppression in whatever forms it may take. The language of Acts of Mercy and Acts of Piety is really just theological talk for the kinds of things that are important to every good and healthy, loving relationship.

When we do the stuff of our covenant, God meets us in our acts of covenant faithfulness, and gives us grace, growing us up in the faith, healing our wounds, alleviating our burden. So here are three simple acts of covenant faithfulness that every one of us can do. Three ways to put our faith in action, and in the process, giving God something to work with as He continues the work of growing us up in faith.

Each day, make the decision to do something for for someone else. Be intentional and specific about it.

Each day, choose one word you would like to focus on in scripture, then look up scriptures that are about that word, such as grace or faithfulness.

Each day, think of five things you are grateful for. And, when you think of your list of things you are grateful for, say a prayer thanking God for those things, offering praise, thanksgiving, and adoration for all that God has done for you.

Three simple practices: doing good, reading scripture, and expressing gratitude through prayer. Three simple practices that help us be more aware of God’s presence, and help us make a meaningful difference in the lives of others. And, grace upon grace, giving God something to work with as God meets us in our covenant faithfulness and grows us up until that glorious day when our lives are no longer defined by the things of this world, but by the extravagant, all encompassing, never ending love of God. Grace upon grace upon grace.

Andrew Devereaux is the pastor of St. John’s United Methodist Church.

The post The means of grace first appeared on The Standard Newspaper Online.

Houston, we have a problem. You all remember when and why those words were spoken. But in all seriousness, we have a problem. We who inhabit the Earth have a problem. And that problem is sin. We live in a world defined by brokenness and sin. We don’t like to admit it, but it’ the truth. We are all sinners. We are all too familiar with what brokenness feels like.

Paul, in many of his writings, gives lists of sins people commit, so let’s go through the list and see where we end up. Now, everyone at home, do me a favor and stand up, and stay standing until directed otherwise.

If you have murdered someone, go ahead and sit down. If you have ever committed adultery, have a seat. By now, probably most of us are still standing. What about coveting? Have you ever looked across the street to see the neighbor’s new sports car, or perfect landscaping, or scrolled through Facebook and seen all the things certain friends have going on in their life and thought, “Gee, I wish I had that”? Go ahead and have a seat.

Have you ever told a white lie? Or said something hurtful to someone else? Or talked back to your parents? What about gossip? You’re out.

But the point is, we all fall short of the glory of God, there are no exceptions. We all have a problem.

But there is good news! You see, there is a solution to our problem. The solution to the problem of sin is grace. It’s grace, for it is by grace alone we are saved. Yes, the grace of God is the one force in our lives more powerful than sin, with the power to overcome sin and even death itself. And we see this grace that solves the problem in the death of Jesus Christ. As Christ was hoisted up on that old rugged cross, the one who was blameless, the one who was without sin, took the sins of the world upon himself. And, in doing so, Jesus did what righteousness required and overcame sin’s power over us along with all the consequences of our sin. And we have access to this grace shown to us on the cross by faith, by believing.

That brings us to justifying grace. Justifying grace is the forgiveness that comes to us when we accept Christ as our Savior, when we say yes to Jesus, yes to salvation. I’m reminded of the story of Nicodemus found in John Chapter 3. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and came to meet with Jesus in the middle of the night. But he come by night in part because he was afraid. He feared the consequence he might face among his peers if he were to be seen with Jesus. You see, in John’s gospel, light represents the realm of belief and darkness the realm of disbelief. So, when Jesus says to Nicodemus, “This is the judgment, that the light has come into world and people loved darkness more than the light,” these words send us back to the beginning of Chapter 3. Jesus’ words are aimed directly at Nicodemus: “Will you continue in darkness or will you come to the light?”

The moment of judgment, the moment of crisis, and, in fact, the moment of decision for Nicodemus, and for us, is in the encounter with Jesus. This is Jesus extending justifying grace to Nicodemus.

Andrew Devereaux is the pastor of St. John’s United Methodist Church in Kingman, AZ.

The post Justifying grace first appeared on The Standard Newspaper Online.

Lent has begun, and we’re going to talk about grace. Prevenient, justifying, and sanctifying grace. But first, let’s turn our attention to the reading and understanding of scripture:

“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, while we wait for the blessed hope – the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 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: 11-14).

Grace is the unmerited, undeserved love and favor of God, that is freely given for all people. Now, let’s talk Wesley. As many of you know, John Wesley is looked to by Methodists around the world as the founder of the Methodist movement that lead to the existence of Methodism as a denomination. He was one of the great theologians and intellectuals of his time in the second half of the 18th century in England.

It came to be on John Wesley’s heart that the faith of many Christian people was a dead faith. Meaning that many Christians were simply going through the motions of going to church on Sundays, but they weren’t really living out the faith we as Christians are called to. So, along with his brother, Charles Wesley, and a few friends at Oxford, they developed a “method” to living the Christian life. And central to this way of living the Christian life was John Wesley’s understanding of grace.

John Wesley put it this way: “It was free grace that ‘formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into him a living soul, and stamped on that soul the image of God, and put all things under his feet. For there is nothing we are, or have, or do, which can deserve the least thing at God’s hand.’”

In other words, it was not because the gift of life is something we deserve, but rather that it is a gift given out of God’s grace, God’s unmerited favor for us. It’s the Methodist understanding that it’s by grace we have life because God didn’t have to create us. It’s by grace we are made in God’s own image, by grace we have what we need in life. All that we are, and have, and do begins and ends with God’s grace.

Andrew Devereaux is the pastor of St. John’s United Methodist Church in Kingman, AZ.

The post The grace of God, freely given for all people first appeared on The Standard Newspaper Online.