Can Grace Be Seen?

Many years ago, while serving as the Assistant Pastor of Lena Baptist Church, Lena Illinois, I worked fifty hours a week at a local cheese factory. The name of the factory was Torkelson’s Cheese Company. They were, at the time, producers of the famous Munster Cheese primarily. It was a small company produced but they supplied for some rather large companies. It was small enough that often the owners worked right beside the employees. I will always be grateful to them for giving me work while I served Christ in the church. God taught me many things in the brief time I worked for the Torkelson family. 

While it was a growth experience for me there, some of the growth was not apparent at the time. There were a few employees who made everyday hard for me. I was the newest employee, a southerner, a Christian, a preacher, and a Baptist. These facts did not sit well with them. One fellow was rarely had a kind word to me. Usually, he talked about things that made me consider him to be a lost person. It never entered my mind that he would even consider being a Christian. 

One day, I was assigned to work with this man. He and I worked together for a few hours, I said almost nothing trying to keep the peace and not make my day worse. Suddenly, he looks at me and said that he had been reading a book by Chuck Swindoll, I believe it was! I was stunned! This guy began talking as if he were a Christian! Where had this faith been? Was it genuine? Of course, it is not up to me to determine, but I can say this, that if he were on trial for being a believer in Jesus Christ, there would not have been enough evidence to convict him. 

Is there evidence of God’s grace in us? Can we know if someone is a believer? Perhaps, more importantly, can we discern our own hearts? 

As we consider this passage this morning, let us observe and apply God’s Word to our lives. Paul gives thanks to God because he has witnessed the grace of God working in these people.