Want to know a great way to make religious people indignant? Esteem the grace of God as the freely bestowed, unconditionally secure and flamboyantly generous Divine welfare program that it is! For years, I have been on a journey of seeking to mine the depths of God's grace in pursuit of the reality that it is - and more and more I find that it is GRACE pursuing ME in the Person of Jesus.
Religious people across the spectrum get downright uneasy when grace is lifted high. Cultists will front-load the Gospel by insisting that there are requisites to receiving the grace of God - that one must do as much as they are able and then Jesus will "make up the rest". Hard-core Arminians and Hyper-Calvinists on the other end of the spectrum will rip James 2 out of context to defend the idea that the Gospel of grace must be back-loaded by "results" - or "proof" - that a person is genuinely in the grace of God.
These ideas go beyond what Scripture abundantly teaches. Any time our assurance of salvation is placed upon our performance rather than on Christ's promises, we are in for a dark religious experience. Few and far between are the clarion voices of those like Brennan Manning, Zane Hodges, Steve McVey or Andrew Farley - who dare to esteem the grace of God so high that persecution nearly ensues against them. Why is it that when we mention the utter gratuitous nature of God's grace, we are met by well-meaning voices that immediately want to "balance" the discussion with talk of Christ's Lordship or point us to Paul's words in Romans 6 about not using grace as a license to sin?
Paul said "Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more" (Romans 5). And YES, he cautioned us against using grace as a license to sin. Sin is hurtful to ourselves and to others and to the Kingdom of God in its current earthly manifestation. But the caution to flee from sin in no way NEGATES what Paul had previously established in Romans 5. If Christianity is the least bit unique from other religious claims, this uniqueness rises and falls on grace.
Either the Gospel was and is a free, no-strings-attached offer of pardon and freedom based on faith alone - or it is a bait-and-switch religious scheme promising unconditional favor which it cannot actually deliver. As someone whose conscience is naturally legalistic enough to condemn a small nation, I don't need to be reminded NOT to use God's grace as a license to sin. DUH! I need to be reminded to surrender to an expression of God's kindness that in Christ is so freely offered I have no other response than to lose myself in it. Then and only then will I escape the performance treadmill to which my inner Pharisee wants to enslave me - and instead allow Jesus to live through me.
This "try hard, fail, feel guilty, confess and try again" form of Christianity is not the Gospel Jesus and the Apostles came to proclaim. Jesus' command to "DIE" was given to His audience prior to the cross while still living under the Old Covenant. Under the New Covenant, Paul says we are to "reckon" ourselves dead to sin and alive to Christ. This means that no matter how we "feel" at any given moment - we are to accept this reality by faith. When the unconditionality of this identity in Christ becomes our sole source of hope, we begin to rest - and godly transformation is finally possible...
I will close by saying that if I were to post the words "Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more..." on Facebook, I guarantee that my posting would be met by several "Likes" and a few "Amens" and also several "Yeh, but don't forget about Romans 6 or James 2" comments. Why is this? Why can't we stop for even 30 seconds and lose ourselves in the reality of grace untainted by our desire to "balance" it out? By definition, grace IMBALANCES the equation in our favor. If grace were not open to the possibility of abuse, it would at that very moment cease to be grace...
Right on brother. May God continue to richly bless you and keep you. See you there!
ReplyDeleteI love it when one eddy dweller gets to beat up other eddy dwellers and thus demonstrate the GRACE that he so proudly proclaims. hehe. Sniff enough Zane Hodges and you'll be just as eddy bound as one who sniffs John Piper, just in a different eddy. Sniff the whole NT, not by prooftext and prooftext but book by book and context by context and you'll see that Jesus is not a "no strings attached" savior. He's the rope, the 5" cable that offers to lift us from our guilt, and to lift us from our sinfulness and to lift us from our shallow, narrow view of Him and His gospel. Kudos for posting what you believe, brother. But it may be bigger and better than you and Zane see it. Confessing one's sin is the Apostle John's idea, not some modern theologian. Repenting of one's sin is Jesus' idea, not some modern theologian. And they wrote/said these things to Christians.
ReplyDeleteYou should post that on FB.
ReplyDeleteDoug - praying for you bro...
ReplyDeleteThat is great Jer, though I am unfamiliar with those authors, I was reading through part of the Belgic Confession last night, article 22 - 26 on justification through faith alone, etc. I would recommend it highly. Pelagianism, and it's stepchild arminianism or semi-pelagianism as it is called, is our default setting as fallen human beings. It is self righteous, it is do it yourself. It fills one with pride to feel as though your good works count for something. The grace of God humbles us, and clothes us in humility, it drags our cold dead body off the ocean floor and re-creates a dead heart by a miracle. God creating saving faith out of nothing is no different or less amazing than the creation of the world around us by His very Word. Fide ex nihilo Faith out of Nothing
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDoug - for a guy who bangs the "context" drum even louder than I already have and accuses others of proof-texting, you are on thin ice regarding your opinion of Romans 11:22. Whatever being "ungrafted" means - it does not insinuate a loss or even a "paradox" related to God's kindness or grace. The entire argument of the book of Romans holds high the unconditional promise of God's kindness toward those who stand in faith (Romans 1:17; 2:4; 5:9; 8:1, 37-39, etc.). These "Gentiles" (a term Paul frequently uses for unbelievers) are those who have been "grafted in" in the sense that salvation has come to them. However, they like the Jews mentioned elsewhere in the passage are not "saved" by merely their status as ethnic Gentiles. They must respond in faith to the Gospel. Those who stand in faith receive God's kindness. Those who reject His Gospel choose severity.
ReplyDeleteIn context, Paul says all Israel will be saved while at the same time not every individual Jew will be. This applies also to the generality that all Gentiles have been given the offer of being "grafted in" while at the same time some (many) individual Gentiles will reject this great salvation.
I am amazed at how the John MacArthurites will accuse people like myself of the offensive term "cheap grace" (first coined by Bonhoeffer) when the only thing that truly cheapens grace is the conditionality placed upon it by those very same people. I have not heard your views thoroughly enough to know for sure if you are one of them, but from what I've read you sound like you've swallowed that Kool-Aid.
Jesus certainly IS a no-strings attached Savior and I consider your accusation of my "narrow view" of the Gospel a compliment since that's exactly the word Jesus used to describe entrance into His Kingdom (Matthew 13-14). Whatever Romans 11:22 does mean, it does NOT mean that God is mad at, upset with, wrathful toward, or apt to punish those who by faith have been justified forever. We are not appointed to suffer wrath, but to receive salvation (Rom. 5:9; 1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9).
With regard to your insinuation that those who affirm a free grace Gospel are "beating up" other "eddy-dwellers" - if I recall, the only people Jesus "beat up" were those Pharisees who trampled His grace with conditionality which bound up burdens on the backs of people thereby making grace more complicated and conditional than it was (Matt. 23). I'll stick with Jesus on that one too.
Finally, with regard to your quoting the Apostle John on confession, I don't see the relevance since I do believe in confession of sin. And Jesus' use of repentance is throughout the Gospels as consistent reference to the Jews needing to "change their minds" about what they thought the Messiah would be like. Ironically, they thought He would be "severe" - coming to punish their enemies and establish Israel in the fullness of glory. They didn't want a meek, gentle man born to a no-name peasant girl from Nazareth. They wanted the very "severe" kind of Messiah that you seem to promote but does not exist toward those who stand in grace...
Chris - great insights. While there are elements of TULIP I still question, I stand with my Calvinist brothers and sisters in the reality of the unconditionality of grace in the life of the justified. We may vary in our understanding of the "order of events" related to election, regeneration, justification, sanctification, etc. but we agree that once a person stands in grace, they can never be "un-grafted" from that reality. God's keeping power (by His grace) is able to save to the uttermost those who belong to Him.
ReplyDeleteGood words, bro...!
thanks for taking the time to answer my question about the ungrafted. If I read you right, you're suggesting that Paul's "grafted in" refers to God offering to the Gentiles the salvation offered to the Jews, and that like the Jews who were "cut off" from being true Israel, the Gentiles might be cut off from being part of what might be called the "true gentiles"
ReplyDeleteTrue dialogue means that we listen to one another as much as we attempt to convince one another, and we ask what is meant rather than retort thoughtlessly to bash the guy who we felt like bashing. The real test of one's "Absolutely Free" theology, as well as one's "Don't waste your life" theology is this:
Do we grow more and more like the Jesus who saved us? Do we treat brothers (to their face and behind their back) like Jesus would? Do we debate theology with love, grace, and truth, or do we use fleshly tactics and devices to deride or corner our victims?
I've written nothing about "cheap grace" and have said nothing about John Mac. Please don't put labels on me then treat me like one who wears that label, when I don't quote or exalt them. When I quote Paul, feel free to offer better insight about what he means in my quote. As I will feel free to offer you the same, and will refrain from name calling and labeling.
You and I both know that the scripture is filled with instructions for believers. They are clear. They are specific. and they are from Jesus. When you say "backload conditions" are you suggesting that the instructions from Paul, Peter, James, and from Jesus himself are somehow "backloaded" into faith improperly?
It might clarify if I say it this way. The condition that I must fulfill to be saved is faith alone. But the salvation I collect because of my faith includes a calling to allow Jesus to grow me away from and out of my sinfulness. And that growth is urged by the new testament authors.
In my confession and repentance comments, I was referring to your previous comment ("try hard, fail, feel guilty, confess and try again") that somehow maligned people for promoting a faith that included trying, guilt, confession, and repentance. If you or I sin today, are we guilty of sinning? Not in the sense of "did we give Jesus enough reason to kick us out yet?" but in the sense that as responsible children of God, did we live less than our calling, and did we muddle the name of God? If so, are we guilty of it? Yes, the guilt is washed in the blood of our gracious savior. But when we confess that sin, are we not to have "a godly sorrow that produces repentance?" Are we not to try tomorrow to not lose our temper, or not give in to the lust, or?
To you, what does "ought" mean when Peter wrote "seeing that we've received such a salvation, what sort of people ought we be?"
We "ought" to be filled with gratitude for what Christ has done for us.
ReplyDeleteDoug - Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to clarify. Yes, your assessment of my position on Romans 11:22 and surrounding is correct. With regard to what we "ought" to be according to 1 Peter 3:11, we ought to live holy lives in anticipation of Christ's return - and I agree with Chris that a major aspect of this holiness should be gratitude.
ReplyDeleteWith regard to your questions about whether we should try tomorrow NOT to lose our temper, be lustful, etc., I do not believe this is the NT pattern. Elsewhere we are told to "walk by the Spirit (so that) we will not gratify the desires of the flesh." The only victorious way out of sinful patterns is to reckon ourselves dead to sin and REST (not try harder) in our identity in Christ. This is how we allow the Spirit to live the life of Christ through us - Who IS our very life.
The pattern I was criticizing is the all-too-common pattern of sin management among Christians. Christ did not come to make creepy people nicer or more well behaved. He came to make dead people alive in Him. When the focus of my life is on trying harder to overcome sin, I am inevitably plagued by doubt, insecurity, feelings of failure and ultimately despair - the fruit of religion. However, when my daily focus is the finished work of Christ and my irreversible righteousness in Him, I am able to "reckon" myself dead to sin and alive to God. Rather than trying NOT to sin, I am focused on loving God and neighbor as myself as the outflow of Christ in me - the hope of glory. Does this make sense? If not, I can try to clarify some other way... :)
Hi Jeremy!
ReplyDeleteI love grace! Great Blog!
I just wanted to comment two things...
1. Even though I have a difficult testimony, I often believe it was for me. I went 7 years saved without following Christ. There was no evidence in my life that I was saved except that I was increasingly uncomfortable with my lifestyle and that I KNEW I was saved. I believe that God was truely showing me that it was HIM in my life that made the difference and not anything I could do on my own. Although, life is much nicer when I do follow him, not problem free, but definatly with hope. The more closely I follow, the better. (I guess I'm not completely convinced that it is relevent, but it certainly came to mind as I was reading the blog).
and...
2. in writing my first comment...I forgot my second! =) so I will share the acronym for grace you all know...
God's Riches At Christ's Expense.....
also known as GRACE.
Hey Gayle - great post and praise God for His patience love as He gently guides us into greater levels of surrender! Thanks for sharing your thoughts...
ReplyDelete