Grace - The Gospel of Grace

James Barron said this:  "He [Jesus] is able to save me because He always lives, not because I always live right."

At the end of this year, I will have been listening to, feeding upon, and growing spiritually because of the gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ for seven years.  Sadly, I have been a Christian for much longer than that; but you can't draw near to God through your own efforts (See Hebrews 7:19)—only through the New Covenant do you come close to God.  This gospel of grace is of such significance and causes such radical spiritual transformation and growth, that the Apostle Paul himself declared that in order to be able to finish the course of his life and ministry, he could do nothing other than to testify solemnly of it; it was this gospel of grace which he viewed of greatest importance and prayed that those to whom he ministered would understand fully.  (See Acts 20:24, 32; and Ephesians 1:17-18.)

After seven years, I am still finding myself in wonder of the intricacies of God's actions toward us.  The reason the vast majority of Christians are joyless and burning out, or at best, continuing on as "normal," is because instead of looking at this mystery of Christ in them and them in Christ, they are preoccupied by their own selves.  Christian-centered Christianity ultimately kills.  Christ-centered Christianity produces wonder, amazement, marvel, and joy.

After seven years, unfortunately, I've also seen people move away from the message of grace as they place their eyes back on themselves.  They grow bored and can no longer be enthralled by good news.  They believe that to grow further in the "Christian life" means to move on to other topics.  They leave Jesus, Who is grace, thinking more about "I" and "me."  But this grace, Who is our Life, is the basis for everything else we know and experience.  You can't move past Him.  You can't grow beyond Him.  You will never be able to rename Him as a doctrine.  You'll suffer if, to you, He is no longer of benefit and you check Him off – "Been there. Done that."  I'm not saying you lose your salvation; but you have lost true joy and cause to celebrate daily!

After seven years, however, I'm still seeing individuals' heads being lifted up to see the goodness of Christ.  They're discovering that they've believed lies about God and about themselves.  I'm still seeing them set free and experiencing peace and freedom, not to indulge in sin, but rather to be simply amazed at how good God has been to them all along.  The life the Spirit brings to them brings transformation, renewal, and the realization of hope thought dead.

There really is no gospel other than that of Jesus Christ.  It is His glory and it is based on His goodness; nothing about us made Him do what He did.  His love, his steadfast love alone, raised us from the dead with Him so we could walk in newness of life.  We move from trusting in our faith to trusting in His.  We have exchanged our glory for His.  Having redeemed us, He has returned us to be as we should:  in Him.

This message isn't boring and it doesn't encourage laziness or sinful deeds:  He blows us away with His love; He impresses us, and we can't help but talk about it.  If this is not the case for you, then you've probably taken your eyes off of Him and put them back on yourself.  Dive into this better hope that draws you (again, see Hebrews 7:19) to God and even joins you (eggizo) to Him.  Life such as this is like none other.  You won't be the same.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy