God has been deeply challenging my concept of Grace, the cross, where I stand as a result, and how difficult it can be to fully embrace the reality of Gods Grace as it directly challenges what we would call common sense.
The Cross is the way of Mercy. Mercy is the doorway to Grace. Grace is a position, and a continuous state of being that comes from outside of ourselves. I am increasingly, and utterly astonished at what it means to be in a state of Gods Grace. I was writing back and forth with a friend on facebook and posted this....
"I still try to argue with Jesus that the Cross wasnt good enough.
Ive been listening to something over and over lately...
"Between the judgement on Calvary, where Jesus was fully,and completely judged for the sins of this world, past present and future, and the Day of Judgement at the end of all time, there is no room for judgement in this life. This is a prophetic season of Grace. There is no middle ground in Grace. You cannot preach the Gospel of Grace, and have any room in your heart for legalism, pharasie-ism, or even anger. If this is not true, then the Cross is meaningless. Either the Father poured out ALL wrath and anger on Jesus or He didnt. There is no middle ground in Grace.
It is not our job to rail against sin. It is our job to promote the Gospel of Grace to such an extent that the world is changed by it. It is the Kindness and the Goodness of God that leads us to repentance."
It never ceases to amaze me how counter intuitive the Gospel can be. At least to me. Its lunacy to the wisdom of man. To think that freedom from the consequence of sin is the very thing that frees me from it. Its humbling beyond belief, and opens hope to me in a way that is to good to be true...
but somehow still is. God is Amazing."
Grace frees us from fear. Religion tries to lead us back in. I am amazed at my reoccuring desire to pull my own efforts back into the righteousness that comes by faith. I dont think we can really handle the truth of Grace. Especially when we struggle with the same thing for a long time. We want so badly to alter the gospel to be more fair in our own eyes. When we sin, we want to punish ourselves to make sure we understand how serious it is, and emotionally flog ourselves to make sure we dont forget. Make ourselves less likely to repeat it. To think that we can continue to get away with the same things over and over is lunacy to us.
In my own life, I will think things like " It makes a mockery of the Cross when I sin." It sounds loyal doesnt it. Pious. Accurate.
But really, its a load of crap. Invented in the pits of hell to reduce the power of the cross.
I know in my own heart, when I try to reposition myself into grace after making poor choices, I hear Romans 6 echoing in my thoughts.
"Shall we continue in sin so that Grace may increase? May it never be."
But really, Im using that verse to appeal to self effort... not as it was intended.
In order to understand the power of that statement in Romans 6, we have to comprenhend the entirety of what Paul was trying to convey with the whole letter of Romans....that we cannont be justified by the law. Or by trying to avoid a specific list of things we consider sinful. Righteousness only comes by recieving it by faith.
When I say " I try to reposition myself in Grace" i betray a mis-understanding in the truth of the Gospel of Grace. I NEVER leave a state of Grace. From here to eternity, that state is a reality. The only way I can actually step out of Grace is by choosing to try to be justified by my own strength...when I no longer trust that the Provision of the Father and the sacrifice of Jesus to be enough from here to eternity.
And here is the hardest truth to face.....the one that makes our "common sense" want to run for the door, or even call it heresy....Romans 6 is ONLY meaningful once you understand that your state is no longer dependent on your contuct. EVER. Let me say it even a harder way. You can never escape a completed work. It is finished. You cant undo it. If you can, it wasnt finished to begin with.
I am personally beginging to believe that the only way to be free from the things that bind us, it to have the reality of Grace sink all the way in until we live in it every day. To be transformed by the Love of the Father.
There is alot of public resistance to the truth of Grace lately. Alot of misrepresentation of the Gospel. A whole lot of misrepresentation of who God is. "God hates ******" everywhere. Using the name of the Gracious one to justify our own hate. Many attack the Gospel of Grace trying to bring it under the law... calling the Gospel of Grace "licenteousness" . Paul mentions them in Romans 3:8
8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
I find it interesting that Paul speaks so strongly against those who resist the Gospel of Grace, and try to discredit those who preach it. He seems to have really understood that it is impossible to enter into the rest of Jesus without fully understanding at the begining that a behavior modification Gospel is an affront to the Cross. That Gospel suggests "Jesus Crucified, and my own effort." Which is NOT faith. or Resting in a completed work.
So by the Grace that comes through the completed work of Jesus, the Spirit is opening my eyes to see what I have been missing.... That He is the foundation. The completed work. And it is not that I approach by faith, then move to self effort and behavior modification....as it says in Col. 2:6-8
6 as you recieved Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,(by faith)
7 being rooted and built up in him, and confirmed in the faith, as ye were taught--abounding in it in thanksgiving.(gratitude that comes from understading Grace)
8 See that no one shall be carrying you away as spoil through the philosophy and vain deceit, according to the deliverance of men, according to the rudiments of the world, and not according to Christ,
So Im feeling like the Spirit is reminding me of the foundation again. The basics. Since NOTHING can be built on something that has a foundation out of alignment. The goal being Hebrews 6:1...
1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on to perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
The Gospel of Grace is a foundation. The key. If we miss this, the WHOLE of our understanding of the Bible and Christian life will be off. And the further it goes, the worse it will be.. as a 1/8 inch mistake in a foundation can be a 6 foot gap by floor 5.
If we miss this perfect truth, we are off....
8 For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.
We are His workmanship. Period. Not our own. The statements that i hear alot lately that sound like "Well we are saved by Grace, but we need to be Holy" or "Well there is a difference between Salvation and Sanctification" are all rooted in our desire for self effort. It is refusing to close the door on religion, and fully trust the righteousness that comes by faith. The funny thing is, even if you choose to live your life in guilt cycles of self effort and failure, God will still love and accept you. You are after all His child bought by the blood, and living in a completed state of Grace. You might miss the experience of reveling in the overwhelming kindness of God, and seeing your identity emerge from the place of eternally greatful relationship, but you will still be His child and fully loved.
My prayer is that God would help me. That Jesus would be patient with me. That the Spirit would help me to see the truth...that I am saved by Grace through Faith from beginging to end.
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