GRACE AND TRUTH September 4th, 2013 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14 I thank God for grace. And I thank Him for truth. If it weren’t for His grace, the truth would condemn me. But if it weren’t for the truth, His grace would have no power to change me. But that’s not just true with me on a personal level. I think it should also dictate our approach to preaching and engaging people on a corporate level. If you look at how Jesus talked and interacted with people, it’s clear that he held the two in tension. What made Jesus so special was that he didn’t minimize God’s truth. But at the same time he was a friend of sinners who maximized the opportunity for anyone to find grace. The Church, on the other hand, often minimizes and maximizes one or the other. Many churches only emphasize grace. They never call people on their sin. They shy away from confrontation. They don’t take stands on tough issues. The result is that they miss the truth about grace. They forget that grace is power. It is power to save and to transform. To cover all of our sins and remove them from our lives. As I’ve said before, grace isn’t just a cheap perfume you splash on to cover the stench of your sins. It’s the power to change your life from the inside out. Other churches only emphasize truth. They will take stands, but take them on top of people rather than on God’s word and the cross. They will teach a 37-week series on grace, but forget to give any out to the people who need it the most. The result is that they strip grace from the truth. They forget that graceless truth might be the worst watered-down truth of all, because it has been neutered of its life-giving power. Truth isn’t meant to only be proclaimed; it’s also meant to be invited into. And that only happens when it is seasoned and saturated in grace. I want Elevation to be a church that’s all about grace and truth. I want that for every church. Let’s commit to get all up in our people’s business with truth. But let’s also commit to do it in a way that’s full of grace. Let’s be like Jesus.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 21:49:02 +0000
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