This short sermon was preached at the midweek service on 29 October 2025.
Incongruous Grace
Ephesians 2:1–10 and Luke 18:9–14
This morning we continue to reflect on that precious Reformation theme: the grace of God. Last Sunday we celebrated that very truth, and it is worth lingering over again, because grace is something we often talk about yet never fully grasp. It is richer, deeper and more surprising than we tend to imagine.
One of the clearest voices helping the church today recover the radical meaning of grace is Professor John Barclay of Durham University. In his major study Paul and the Gift, he examines what gift-giving looked like in the ancient world. He reminds us that the Greek word for grace is simply the word for gift. So when Paul says that salvation is by grace, he is saying it is God’s gift.
Now here is the surprising part that Barclay highlights. In the ancient world, people gave gifts, but gifts were never disconnected from the worth of the person receiving the gift. You gave to someone because they belonged to the right family, or had social standing, or could return the favour. Gifts often reinforced status and relationships. They were free, but never incongruous. There was always some basis of worth that explained the gift.
This is why God’s grace is so shocking. Paul says in Ephesians 2 that we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Dead. Lifeless. No spiritual worth at all. Certainly no merit. If God based his giving on our value, we would have received nothing. We deserved the opposite of grace. Yet Paul says that God, rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ. By grace you have been saved. The gift is not simply free. It is given to those who are completely unworthy of it. That is the incongruity of grace.
Jesus illustrates this in our Gospel reading. Two men come to the temple. The Pharisee believes he has earned God’s favour. He lists his worthiness. The tax collector has nothing to offer. He can only say, God be merciful to me, a sinner. And Jesus says it is the tax collector who goes home justified. God gives righteousness to the one who has no righteousness. That is grace.
This is the heart of the Reformation rediscovery. Martin Luther and others saw again what Scripture says. Our relationship with God is not based on our goodness. Not based on moral progress or religious record. God gives His saving gift purely because He is gracious. Grace alone. Christ alone. Faith alone.
And that means something very personal for us today. No matter how flawed, how weak, how invisible we may feel, God’s grace qualifies us. It does not wait for us to improve. It does not ask for proof. It comes to the undeserving, and brings us to life.
In a few minutes we will come to this holy table. We will come as we always do, with open hands. Empty hands. Nothing to offer but ourselves. That posture says everything about grace. We are the tax collector. We are the ones made alive by a gift we did not deserve. Each of us receives the same grace, because God in Christ delights to give.
Thanks be to God, who gives abundantly and without regard to our worth. May that incongruous grace fill our hearts with humble joy as we remember the Lord who gave Himself for us.
Let us pray.
Gracious God,
we thank You that while we were unworthy, You loved us,
and while we were dead in our sins, You made us alive in Christ.
Humble our hearts like the tax collector,
and teach us to trust Your mercy alone.
As we come to Your table with empty hands,
fill us again with the gift of Your grace,
that we may rise to walk in the newness of life You give.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
