Batman is my favorite superhero, but Batman is self-made. Bruce Wayne studied and trained for years, and he still studies and trains in order to be the Bat Man. So cool!
Captain America’s pretty cool, too. Steve Rogers was a nice guy who was just too small to join the army. But when he was injected with a serum that amplifies his innate goodness, he went off to help defeat the Nazis.
Spiderman’s cool also. A radioactive spider bite, which should have gone badly, made him into the wittiest kid in New York City. Superman’s got innate powers because his native sun was different from what ours is. Thor…well…Thor’s a god. He’s the son of Odin. (I tried his long hair look when I was in high school, but it didn’t work.)
I’m not like Thor, Superman, Spidey, Captain America, or Batman. While these guys made great stories and pretty good movies, the truth is I really can’t identify with any of them.
I am Tony Stark.
Tony Stark, a man with shrapnel embedded in his chest, working its way toward his heart, about to slice and dice him to death any minute now. That’s me. Except my shrapnel is sin. Sin is so deeply embedded in my flesh that it can’t be removed, not through surgery and not by therapy.
I am Tony Stark.
And Tony Stark’s a self-centered jerk. His morals are weak. He lies and he can’t commit to his girlfriend, Pepper. Truth be told, I’m a lot like that. I’m naturally self-centered and love myself more than anything else.
I am Tony Stark.
- Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me (Psalm 51:5, ESV).
- For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh (Romans 7:18, ESV).
- Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24, ESV).
But if you know Tony Stark’s story, then you know that even though he should be dead, he isn’t, and the fact that I’m writing this is proof that my sin hasn’t damned me even though it should have. For Tony Stark, it’s a device called a “magnetic field generator” or “arc reactor” embedded in his chest that has stopped the shrapnel’s movement.
For me it is grace. God’s grace has stopped sin in its tracks.
It is grace and grace alone. You can’t tamper with grace; you can’t add anything to it, not my past works or my future promises. Grace only works when it is grace alone—sola gratia.
Grace not only saves me, it empowers me. Even though I’m a sinful jerk by nature, grace empowers me to be kind and loving. Tony Stark becomes Iron Man. I’ve become God’s Own Child. Of course, it’s not me, but God’s grace He’s given to me.
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8, ESV).
By grace I’m saved and by grace I live. I wake and dress and serve my neighbor. An arc reactor saves Tony Stark’s life and makes him Iron Man. Grace alone saves me and makes me a child of God.
Reverend Tony Pittenger
Contributing Writer
Bethany Lutheran Church & School
Port Orchard, WA
Full Essay Link:
http://www.els.org/download/Sola-Gratia.pdf
