In my second post for today I am going to deal with holiness through grace. This is where people misunderstand grace the most. Some people say that if you teach people grace then you are giving them a 'license to sin.' I don't know what your experience is, but I have noticed that most people do enough sinning without a 'license.' The Bible, however, teaches quite the opposite. You could never attain righteousness through your own works, likewise you can't attain holiness through your own works. It's funny how easy it is for us to get saved and then live in a way that we try to impress God through our own works.
The reality is that this 'works' message starts many times before salvation. How many people are told, "You are going to have to change if you want to become a Christian?" How many altar calls are nothing more than scare tactics? Thomas Hooker, the founder of the state of Connecticut, believed this way. One of his friends told him, "Mr. Hooker, you make good Christians before men are in Christ, as ever they are after would I were but as good a Christian now, as you make men while they are preparing for Christ." Wait!!!! I thought we become a new creation after accepting Christ?
This is a far cry from a story told about D.L. Moody ~ A young woman came to see him and she said, "I want to become a Christian, but I just love to dance, I tried to give up dancing to become a Christian, but I just can't." (She was most likely talking about partying, as we know not all dancing is wrong.)
D.L. Moody said to her, "Why, little lady, just give your heart to Jesus, and you can dance all you want to." That convinced her, so she gave her heart to the Lord and was born-again.
A number of days later this young lady met D.L. Moody on the street. She smiled and said, "Mr. Moody, I see what you mean now. The 'want to' is gone!"
What different approach. One was mans attempt to control the situation and force perfection onto a non-believer. The other was simple trust that God is big enough to complete the work He begins in us.
OK - To keep this blog short I am going to wrap with a couple of verses and small commentary.
The church grows and bears fruit when we TRULY understand God's grace.
Colossians 1:6 ~ "In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world—just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace."
Grace teaches us how to live right.
Titus 2:11-12 ~ "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age"
Grace gives us the ability to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
Hebrews 12:28 ~ "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear."
There are a lot of things we can do that outwardly have an appearance of holiness. The Pharisees where masters at this. However true holiness comes through grace. Maybe next time I will blog about how the Bible teaches us to walk this out.
Monday, August 8, 2011
THE SQUEAKY WHEEL GETS THE GREASE!
It has been a while since my last post, but I have been thinking about these particular posts for some time. If you have read any of my posts then you know that I have spent a lot of time on the subject of grace.
According to the Bible the Good News of the Gospel is that it is the "gospel of grace." We are no longer under the law. In fact in Galatians 2:21 the Bible says, "I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die."
However, this is a subject of controversy. No doubt we have all heard the phrase "sloppy Agape or GREASY GRACE." A while ago I sat down with a couple of men who are considered leaders of leaders and was sharing with them about grace and how much understanding it has changed our lives. The atmosphere in the room changed as I received a stern warning to watch out learning about grace. That the grace teaching could lead into all forms of error for example. . . Pluralism. When I left this meeting I felt genuinely sad that our adversary the devil has done such a good job of misleading God's children about one of the most important truths in the New Testament. Think about this. . . Before Azusa Street what kind of response would you have gotten talking to Christians about Speaking in tongues? Before the healing revival what would most believers think about healing? Before the Latter Rain Movement what would you have been told about laying on of hands and impartation? Before the Charismatic Movement who really taught about the gifts of the Spirit?
My point is this ~ This last one hundred years and more has been a time where God is rapidly restoring truth to His body. Grace is one of these truths!
PERSONAL TESTIMONY OF GRACE
Angela and I had been trying for a couple of years to have a baby. We had been prayed for by multiple people. We dealt with all the "What could be wrong questions." As you can imagine there were many well intentioned believers who had all kinds of reasons of why. In fact I can remember sitting with a lady who prophesied over Angie that the reason why she couldn't get pregnant was because she was not doing enough in ministry. How disheartening. . . This really effected Angela.
Around this time God began teaching us about grace, unearned and unmerited favor. We realized the foundation of our faith is grace. (Eph 2:8-9) "For by grace are you saved" It was during this time that we began to rest in the truth of His word. Within a couple of months she became pregnant with our first son. A little less than two years later she became pregnant with our second son.
We did everything we knew to do. It wasn't until we rested in Gods promises that we saw Him act. How often do we struggle in life trying to accomplish things in our own strength, when the reality is that His grace is sufficient?
According to the Bible the Good News of the Gospel is that it is the "gospel of grace." We are no longer under the law. In fact in Galatians 2:21 the Bible says, "I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die."
However, this is a subject of controversy. No doubt we have all heard the phrase "sloppy Agape or GREASY GRACE." A while ago I sat down with a couple of men who are considered leaders of leaders and was sharing with them about grace and how much understanding it has changed our lives. The atmosphere in the room changed as I received a stern warning to watch out learning about grace. That the grace teaching could lead into all forms of error for example. . . Pluralism. When I left this meeting I felt genuinely sad that our adversary the devil has done such a good job of misleading God's children about one of the most important truths in the New Testament. Think about this. . . Before Azusa Street what kind of response would you have gotten talking to Christians about Speaking in tongues? Before the healing revival what would most believers think about healing? Before the Latter Rain Movement what would you have been told about laying on of hands and impartation? Before the Charismatic Movement who really taught about the gifts of the Spirit?
My point is this ~ This last one hundred years and more has been a time where God is rapidly restoring truth to His body. Grace is one of these truths!
PERSONAL TESTIMONY OF GRACE
Angela and I had been trying for a couple of years to have a baby. We had been prayed for by multiple people. We dealt with all the "What could be wrong questions." As you can imagine there were many well intentioned believers who had all kinds of reasons of why. In fact I can remember sitting with a lady who prophesied over Angie that the reason why she couldn't get pregnant was because she was not doing enough in ministry. How disheartening. . . This really effected Angela.
Around this time God began teaching us about grace, unearned and unmerited favor. We realized the foundation of our faith is grace. (Eph 2:8-9) "For by grace are you saved" It was during this time that we began to rest in the truth of His word. Within a couple of months she became pregnant with our first son. A little less than two years later she became pregnant with our second son.
We did everything we knew to do. It wasn't until we rested in Gods promises that we saw Him act. How often do we struggle in life trying to accomplish things in our own strength, when the reality is that His grace is sufficient?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)