All Grace, Baby--April 16, 2026

All Grace, Baby--April 16, 2026

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3-5)

There is something beautiful--and honest--about the expression in English for how new lives come into the world.  Typically, we say that the new mother "gives birth" to her child, and it's that first half, the verb "give," that strikes me as I hear it in these words from First Peter that many of us heard back on Sunday in worship.  Giving, by definition, isn't something that requires earning--otherwise, it's not a gift.  To say that our mothers "gave birth" to us is a reminder that we did not earn or achieve our own existence, but could only receive our own lives as a gift. And to say as First Peter does that God, like a mother, has "given us a new birth" makes it clear that our lives in Christ are also wholly gifts of grace, not our accomplishments.

Framing things that way is a big deal, because it compels us to be honest about how we get into relationship with God, who does the action to bring us into that relationship, and what kind of assurance that gives us as well.  After all, most every other kind of relationship in our lives is conditional and at risk of being broken by our messing up.  If I'm an employee for a company, my employer will only keep me around as long as I'm earning my keep and doing enough to keep the first quarter profits up.  If I'm a member of a club, I belong only insofar as I pay my dues, and I can only get in if I'm deemed good enough or meet the criteria for membership.  If I want to make the team, I have to make it through try-outs to prove my ability and keep in good enough condition, scoring enough points and winning enough games, to hold my place on the roster.  But when a mother births a child, there's nothing the child can do to earn it.  And when you are brought into a family, whether through birth or adoption, your belonging is not dependent on worthiness, accomplishments, or even promises of what you WILL do when you grow up. It's all grace, baby, from beginning to end.

All of this makes the Christian story different from all the offers of "self-help" and the old narrative of "pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps" that are so prevalent in our culture.  The Gospel insists that our standing before God has never been up for debate, and it's never been the result of our earning, achieving, or even initiating.  God gives us the new birth into Christ--that is, God is the subject of the verb, and we are the object of the verb.  God does the birthing.  God does the giving.  God is the One to thank--not ourselves, our resumes, or our natural talent and charisma.  If our mortal lives are all the result of our mothers having sweated and suffered in labor for us, then our lives in Christ are also wholly God's labor, and we find ourselves as recipients of that gift.

So much of what passes for Respectable Religion in our culture is hung up on what WE have to DO in order to "get saved."  Sometimes it's framed as a matter of keeping the rules well enough, racking up enough good deeds on your permanent record, giving to the church, serving on mission teams, winning other souls, or believing the correct facts about God.  Sometimes it's described as a matter of taking the first step, praying the right prayer, asking Jesus into your heart (adequately, of course), having the proper spiritual experience, or joining a church.  But whatever the list of requirements that folks offer in the name of Respectable Religion, it misses the point--the Scriptures keep insisting that this is God's gift to us, God's action for us, and God's initiative moving toward us. Like a mother who gives her children their own lives before they've done a thing and hands them both their own existence and a relationship with her, God has done the labor and "given us new birth" into Christ, not only for this life but into resurrection life beyond death. All of it is a gift, and the most we can do with a gift is to receive it with grateful (empty) hands, allowing the gift to deepen our relationship with the Giver.

That's the Christian life--not a set of theological transactions in order to acquire a spot in heaven, not a self-help scheme for us to earn our way into God's approval, and not a tenuous, conditional deal that could fall apart at a moment's notice at the whim of a capricious would-be deal-maker, but a gift. And it's been a gift all along, from before we were even aware of its having been given, right up even though this very moment, like a mother giving birth to her child.

Yep.  It's all grace, baby.  It's all grace.

Lord God, we give you thanks, because that's all we can do, for having birthed us into new life in Christ as a gift.  Let our lives grow into the relationship you have already begun with us.