Means of grace – God’s Word

Photo: Pexels – Posawee Suwannaphati

I love being reminded of the miracle Jesus performed at a wedding in Cana, recounted in John 2:1-11. The wine has run out, and Jesus’s mother asks him to help. Though initially he seems reluctant, in the end Jesus acts: He tells the servants to fill 6 large water jars with water. Then he tells them to draw some liquid out of one of the jars and to serve it to the master of the banquet. Famously, when he drinks it he exclaims “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.” Jesus has taken the water provided by the servants, and has turned it into the most exquisite wine that provides abundantly for the wedding guests.

This true story helpfully illustrates to us the working of the means of grace. This is the second post in a series considering the means of grace. In the first post we considered the big picture: Our destination as Christians, and the journey we’re on now to get to that destination. In this post we’ll consider how the means of grace help us on the journey, as well as introducing the first means of grace: Bible Reading.

Introducing means of grace

The means of grace are what God gives us for the journey. If we’re going on holiday – if that’s our destination – we need certain things for the journey: for example fuel, food, a map (or satnav) and so on. And the means of grace are what God gives us for the Christian journey. But actually, he gives us more than things like food and fuel. As we saw in the first post God is drawing us into his life: That’s what heaven, our destination is – enjoying God’s life of love and being taken up into it. And so what God gives us now is himself. As we’ve seen in a previous post, one way of thinking about grace is that it’s ‘God giving himself to us.’ So the means of grace are the ways on the journey that God gives himself to us, and draws us into his life. So when you read ‘means of grace’ you can also think ‘relationship with God.’

What’s this got to do with Jesus turning water into wine? Jonathan Edwards used this true story as an illustration for how God works in us by his Holy Spirit. As we read the Bible – or use one of the other means of grace – we’re like the servants: Jesus tells us to fill the jars with water; so we do. We read the Bible, we pray, we come to church. But those things in themselves are just human activities – like filling jars with water.

God’s work by his Spirit

But God, in his loving generous grace, chooses to turn the water into wine. He takes our reading the Bible, he takes our going to church – and he works through them by his Holy Spirit. So for example, he shows us something about himself; he shows us his love; he changes us to be more like him; he draws us into his life of love. He makes them alive; he turns them into wine.

He doesn’t always do it. Sometimes we read the Bible and it’s just a book. Sometimes we come to church and we feel nothing. But we keep putting ourselves in a position where God can minister to us. We say “Father – please reveal yourself to me today; show me Jesus Christ in the power of your Holy Spirit.” And then we read the Bible, then we come to church – and wait to see what God does.

Or imagine there’s a river of grace – God giving himself – flowing past us. (I automatically think of the mighty River Humber, with the Humber Bridge, which is just down the road from me.) When we use the means of grace – when we read the Bible, when we pray, when we go to church – it’s the equivalent of getting into the river. We put ourselves in the stream of God’s grace, and we trust him to give us what we need by his Holy Spirit.

Changing how we might have thought

It may be that this understanding of the purpose of reading the Bible and the other means of grace is very different from what you’ve heard over the years. Perhaps you’ve been told that you have to read the Bible each day – and it’s become a ‘good work’ for you. By nature we human beings try to justify ourselves; we try to do things to please God and we find it so easy to turn good things like reading the Bible or praying or going to church into good works – things to do to please God. So we feel guilty when we don’t go to church or when we don’t pray.

But we can’t please God any more by doing these things. And we don’t need to please God – he’s already pleased with us through our being united to Christ through faith. Rather, the means of grace are for our blessing. In fact they’re no less than means of bringing us into the loving life of God here and now. And when I think of them in that way, I find they’re no longer a burden. Rather they are my life; they are my joy, my delight. In fact I find there is nothing more wonderful than by his Spirit meeting God, being brought up into his life in prayer, in Bible reading, in meeting with God’s people, and so on.

Means of grace 1: Bible reading

On to our first means of grace – Bible reading. Jonathan Edwards wrote:

The chief of the means of grace is the Word of God: that standing revelation of the mind and the will of God that he gives the world.

Jonathan Edwards

According to Edwards, God’s Word the Bible is the most important of all the means of grace, because it’s supremely in the Bible that we know God’s mind – what he thinks and loves and desires. Think about a good friend or your spouse. To really get to know them you need to listen to them – what they love, what they desire. And it’s the same with God. We need to listen to God to grow in our relationship with him.

Let’s see how this might work, from Psalm 119:9-24:

⁹ How can a young person stay on the path of purity?
    By living according to your word.
¹⁰ I seek you with all my heart;
    do not let me stray from your commands.
¹¹ I have hidden your word in my heart
    that I might not sin against you.
¹² Praise be to you, Lord;
    teach me your decrees.
¹³ With my lips I recount
    all the laws that come from your mouth.
¹⁴ I rejoice in following your statutes
    as one rejoices in great riches.
¹⁵ I meditate on your precepts
    and consider your ways.

¹⁶ I delight in your decrees;
    I will not neglect your word.¹⁷ Be good to your servant while I live,
    that I may obey your word.
¹⁸ Open my eyes that I may see
    wonderful things in your law.
¹⁹ I am a stranger on earth;
    do not hide your commands from me.
²⁰ My soul is consumed with longing
    for your laws at all times.
²¹ You rebuke the arrogant, who are accursed,
    those who stray from your commands.
²² Remove from me their scorn and contempt,
    for I keep your statutes.

²³ Though rulers sit together and slander me,
    your servant will meditate on your decrees.
²⁴ Your statutes are my delight;
    they are my counsellors.

Psalm 119

Learning from the Psalm

Notice a few things from these wonderful words:

• The Bible is described as ‘God’s words.’ This really is God speaking to you today, in the power of his Spirit!
• The Psalmist treats God’s words as supremely precious and life-giving – to be preserved and savoured. “I have hidden your word in my heart.” “My soul is consumed with longing for your laws.” “Your statutes are my delight.”
• Therefore the Psalmist devotes himself to studying and meditating on God’s words: “I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.” “I delight in your decrees, I will not neglect your word.”
• The Psalmist sees his response to God’s word the Bible as his response to God himself: “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

The writer of the Psalm wants to relate to God; and he does it by listening to God’s Word the Bible.  His response to the Bible is his response to God. And he loves God, and therefore he loves God’s Word – because God is relating to him through it. Thinking back to our destination – someone has written that in the Bible we learn heaven’s language, so we can ‘hear’ about God everywhere we look. And this gives us great strength and wisdom for life now as well.

We might also think of the Bible as a map for life; as fuel for the journey; as part of a conversation with our Father; as a love letter from God to his beloved people.

How can the Bible have this effect on us?

How can we ‘put out the jars of water’ and ask God to turn them into wine? How can we get into the river of grace so God can cover us? How can we give ourselves the best opportunity of meeting with God in the Bible?

By reading it! By taking time each day on our own to read a part of the Bible for ourselves – maybe a Psalm, or using some bible reading notes. If you live in a family – take time at a meal to read part of the Bible or a Christian book and talk about it together. Join a small group at church. And meet with God’s people on a Sunday to hear him speaking.

And combine each of those things with prayer – “Father – please speak to me in the power of the Holy Spirit through the Bible. I want to hear you! I want to relate to you!”

Don’t see these things as a chore – see them as a chance to encounter, to meet, the living God, and to know him better, to know his love for you better, to know how to live in relationship with him – which you’ll be doing forever.

Taking it further

Formed for the glory of God – Kyle Strobel