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.
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