“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV)
“Being a Christian is the most important thing in my life… The gospel in four words is Jesus took my place. Three words is him for me. Two words is substitutionary atonement. One word is grace.”
Charlie could make a hard idea small enough to carry. Speaking to students and parents at Legacy Church, he took the whole of the gospel and shrank it, a word at a time, until it fit in one: grace.
He started with justice, because everyone understands justice. You break into a store, you get what you deserve. Then mercy: the judge looks at you and gives you a week instead of a month. Most of us would be grateful for mercy. Most of us think that is the best we can hope for.
“Christianity, unlike any others, all the other religions is you trying to get closer to God. Christianity is God who came to you.”
“Grace is that when you die, and you face your creator, and they have a list of everything wrong you've ever done, ever… And a judgment is about to be given. And instead of mercy, instead of justice, all of a sudden someone steps up and says, hold on. I know him. I know her. I'll serve that prison sentence. You can go live free. That is grace, and only Jesus Christ can give you that.”
Grace is something else entirely. Grace is the moment the list is read, every wrong thing, public and private, and someone stands up and takes the sentence for you. Not a lighter sentence. Your sentence, served by someone else, so that you can walk out free.
That is what Paul means when he writes that God made Christ "to be sin for us, who knew no sin." It is the trade at the center of the faith: his life for yours. Charlie called it him for me.
And it is why he insisted Christianity is different. Every other way up the mountain asks you to climb. The gospel says God came down. You don't earn grace by trying harder. You receive it, and then you spend the rest of your life living like someone who has been set free.
Living it today
Say it today in four words, out loud or in your head, before you start your work: Jesus took my place. Then treat one person with the grace you were given, without waiting for them to earn it.
A prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for standing in my place. I could never pay what I owed, and you paid it. Help me live free today, and give that same grace to the people around me. Amen.