Got this in-box from a very good friend....thought i should share.... (and yes,I agree its long,but that will make for good reading)...... In The Defense of the Radical Gospel Of Grace. Grace cannot be balanced! is one of the most intriguing statements that grace preachers always say. It is indeed true and real, if you can balance grace then, it is not grace anymore. You can be either in the law or in the Spirit and you cannot mix the two. Joseph Prince once said, What the people say balance, the Bible says Mixture. Grace is Gods unconditional, unbreakable and unprecedented love, a love that is immeasurable, intense and intimate to the people like us. It is the most powerful and liberating truth that anyone can understand and experience. Grace liberates not just the unbelievers nor ordinary believers but even the pastors of well experienced and age. It is so true that even sometimes is treated as Too good to be true and I agree that it is so and it is indeed really true. There are many accusations that other pastors and ministries had thrown to the Grace Message and they are using different perspectives and experiences and worst, even quotes some verses from the Bible in order for them to attack the very message of Gods Radical Grace. There are in my experience, a lot of accusations that they say about the Message of Grace, yet I will only give three things here in this article: First, Grace brings License to sin or licentiousness or lasciviousness, second, Grace brings Laziness and third, Grace brings Liberalism or independence from the local authority both in the community and in the Church. First, Grace as Licentiousness to Sin The Apostle Paul himself was accused of this particular accusation that grace leads people to sin and we can read this in his letter to the Roman believers, In Romans 3:8 says, “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” – It had been erroneously spread about that Paul was encouraging Christians to sin so that grace would come in. He must have been preaching a lot of grace! And also in Romans 6:1 says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” – Answering to his message of abundant grace only two verses prior (5:20), Paul knows that people might take his message of abundant grace and think that sin will naturally follow. “How can it be?” he asks. We are dead to sin, so continuing to practice sin is not even an option, and in Romans 6:15 says, “What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” Why bring this issue up again if it is not being said of the Apostle Paul? He was obviously facing a day-to-day battle with those who were against his radical stand on God’s grace. In this instance, he shoots down the idea that since we are not under law, we should just go ahead and sin. Perhaps this is what the Jewish world that clung to works and law was accusing Paul the most. Wwe can also read in Jude 4, it says, For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. The reason that a constant defense of God’s grace was needed in Paul and Judes day, and is still needed today is that the enemy knows the mighty power of God’s redemptive grace. He does not care whether or not the believer fails or falls into sin, for even Satan knows the power of God’s love and favor. Instead, he wants you to believe that God is angry with you or is somehow displeased. If Satan can keep the believer working to achieve goodness and grace then they will always be bound by their flawed performance instead of freed by Jesus’ perfect performance. Grace empowers us to live a life of holiness and righteousness, in Titus 2:11-12 says, For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, Grace indeed empowers us to say no to ungodliness because it imparts unto us the righteousness of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). Second, Grace as Laziness Some would say that grace leads to laziness, why do we need to serve God if nothing we can do that we can make Him love us more or love us less. Grace even declares that we do not work for God but God works in us and through us. This statements are being misused, misinterpreted and even misunderstood by many believers. Grace does not lead and bring laziness, it actually imparts the exact opposite, grace makes us serve and love God more, we love because He first loved us (1 John 4:18). Grace empowers and energizes us to serve, love and worship God more, in Colossians 1:29 says, For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me. Paul says that the mystery of Christ in us energizes us to labor and strive all the more according to His power, which mightily works within him. Grace energizes us to labor and strive more according to His power that is mightily working in us and through us. The Apostle Paul , of all the apostles and disciples had worked, strived and labored more and heavily compare with all of them, He wrote 14 books in the New Testament (Including the debatable book of Hebrews) and he has planted many churches, preached to different places, went and taught in the Synagogue, yet in 1 Corinthians 15:9-11 says, For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. He worked harder compare to all of them yet it wasnt him but the grace of God that was with him. Yes, it is indeed true that grace is not affected whether we labor, work or serve God or not, yet it is also clear that grace doesnt encourages laziness because it actually empowers, enables and energizes us to labor all the more, to serve all the more and to work all the more, yet, not us but the grace of God that is with all of us. Third, Grace as Liberalism or Liberation There are also some accusations that grace encourages the believers not to be in submission to spiritual authority anymore and only follows the leading of the Holy Spirit and its impression even though I believe in the leading and impression of the Holy Spirit, yet, I also believe that the Holy Spirit will never lead and impress any form of rebellion to the authority specially spiritual authority. They say that we are against the law anymore and we do not uphold and give importance to any law. It is a misconception; we are never against the law. We are always for the law and honor them on the purpose of why it was given. Galatians 2:24 says, Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. The law is our schoolmaster that brings all of us unto Christ. Obedience is a fruit and not a root, under law we have to obey in order for God to bless us and under grace God blesses us everything in Christ and those blessings empower us to obey. We are all for holiness and for obedience, yet obedience is the fruit and not the root of blessings. Grace empowers us to obey the law, our leaders and every person in the authority. It does not make us independent not autonomous, it actually makes us more dependent to God and His finished work, nothing of selves and all of Him. We are instructed in Ephesians chapters 4 and 5 and even in Romans 13 to honor and respect all the authorities and obey them with all love and gladness and that is actually what grace does in our lives. Grace imparts in us hearts that love to obey and follow authorities. Even in Timothy 2 that talks about being a disciple of Jesus Christ that we must endure hardship as a good soldier (v. 3) and a competitive athlete who competes according to the rules (v. 6) and be a hardworking farmer (v.7). Yet, we must consider that we can do all of these things by understanding the context and the very secret in the very first verse, it says, You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Being strong in the grace of God produces all of the things that were mentioned above. Grace empowers us to endure as a good soldier, as a competitive athlete an a hardworking farmer and more so to be a submissive and obedient disciples, verse 2 says, And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Grace brings empowerment and enablement that make us say no to ungodliness and yes to godliness and it also energizes us to labor all the more, and grace imparts in us the right motivation of loving God above all and it also makes us see obedience as a fruit and not the root of Gods blessings in our lives.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 04:37:22 +0000
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