Hi Everyone,
I'm convinced that when someone hears the true Gospel of Grace, they are left with basically three options:
1. They believe what they're hearing is too good to be true and ultimately reject it as heresy. "It can't be *that* easy", they think to themselves. It sounds so foreign to what they've always heard, that they label it instantly as "impossible". Joy is short-lived and soon gives way to man's effort toward holiness: holiness being the idea that they must be on constant vigil to seek out sin in themselves. They continue striving toward holiness and righteousness, and pray and fast for revivals. The supernatural to them is mysterious and difficult. Other Christians are "Super"-Christians and produce signs, miracles, and wonders easily, while the rest of Christendom must work hard to be used by God. In their heart, Christ's effect has been supplanted, because they are experts at addition: Christ + Performance = Something that pleases God.
2. Those in the second option receive what they're hearing joyfully because they're tired of option one, and they continue to receive revelation of how good the Gospel is. "It all makes perfect sense" is something they commonly think to themselves. They see Christ and His benefit everywhere in the scriptures. They experience freedom for the first time and their freedom doesn't cause them to sin more; rather, because they experience God's love at levels never thought possible, sin and temptation simply fall away--they no longer have to exercise "self-discipline" to maintain their behavior. And when they do mess up, they begin to realize they did so because of a false belief, not a sinful nature. They can differentiate between behavior and identity and seek to change the way they think...to see themselves as fully equipped and fully righteous in Christ. They're enraptured with God's goodness and see Trust and Rest in Him as the greatest way to live. They cease to strive to be holy and righteous because they begin to understand that God has made them to sit with Christ in heavenly places (See Eph. 2:6, KJV). They have a great desire to share this Gospel of Grace and to them, nothing is impossible. They begin to move freely in spiritual gifts as they realize that Jesus in them can do anything. They have become "Revival" because they now see and experience the SOURCE OF LIFE IN them. (Webster's 1828 Dictionary: revival -- "recovery to life from death"). Condemnation and guilt manipulation no longer can be used against them to affect behavior change. Never again do they tithe to be blessed, but now they tithe because they are blessed and they trust God to provide more for them to continue to bless others. They've stopped twisting God's arm to beg for provision.
The those who fit into the third option concern me the most. Honestly, it's where I see most lives hurt in the most despicable way.
3. They are very similar to those in the second option and can even be described in the exact same way as those in option two, but for them, things begin to change. They experience persecution from those who've chosen option one. They're told to find and return to legitimacy in the customs and traditions they've always held. They go from having been released as a worker, to be a lover, and then to return to their work, because everyone else around them is working, too. And that's simply *how* it's done. They may even still struggle with a sinful habit; the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:13) tells them that Jesus is not enough, that they need to sweat and get back to effort and striving. They return to striving toward holiness and righteousness because they didn't fit into the established religious system after they heard and believed the Gospel of Grace as taught by Jesus and Paul; so, they return to the Gospel of Grace as taught by the Church. Because they begin to lose the joy and freedom they felt, they lose the desire to communicate the Gospel to others. This includes supernatural ministry. They begin to think that the power of God can no longer flow through them. Jesus, the Originator of the Gospel, the very One Whose ministry of grace produced supernatural healing in those who heard with faith, no longer finds a joyful, willing, partner. That person has listened to those in option one and has forgotten that he was never qualified in and of himself--it was Christ Who freely qualified him. (Second Corinthians 3:6 -- [It is He] Who has qualified us [making us to be fit and worthy and sufficient] as ministers and dispensers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ], not [ministers] of the letter (of legally written code) but of the Spirit; for the code [of the Law] kills, but the [Holy] Spirit makes alive.)
I know many people talk about the grace movement and are concerned about those who go "to far" with grace. I agree that there are those who have ignored clear scripture on precisely how we are saved, but my concern lies elsewhere: I am concerned about those who are in option 3. How they must hurt. The stifling they must feel. They've experienced freedom and wonder, but system of the world (christianity motivated by old covenant principles) has sought to bring them back into line and disqualify them from receiving freely. The institutional church and its far-reaching systematic authority puts hurdles in our paths and demands submission and obedience before any blessing may be pronounced. Those who were free have been brought back under "control", only to give in to the illusion of legitimacy. They now experience only a loveless marriage.
Simply put, I vote that we all select option two and stay there.
Grace=Peace,
Jeremy
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