"But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace" - Galatians 1:15
God's grace is the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced. It takes my breath away, every time, without fail. It's far deeper than anything I have ever experienced, to me it is like the ocean, whenever I dive in there are new depths to be explored. I am sure I will never reach the bottom but every dive widens my perceptions of his grace and enlarges my view of God.
I remember when I first caught a glimpse of his grace. I remember falling to the ground, tears streaming down my face into the carpet as I was floored by his grace, that God would love me, is unfathomable. And while I missed it at the time, I am still amazed at the grace of God that brought me to that moment, where through tear stained eyes, face buried in a carpet, I first glimpsed his grace. Louie Giglio once said "Every glimpse of God is a glimpse of grace". He is so wonderful and holy and I am so undeserving and wretched, that to allow me to see even a glimpse of God was preceded with more than just a glimpse of his grace. As a parent I am continually awed and humbled by new depths of his grace. I look at my kids and realize I want to give them every good thing and would do anything for them, and softly like a whisper, God humbles my heart. That I could ever think my father heart is even but a faint blurry reflection of the Father's heart that created me. And again I am awed by his grace, that he would feel that way for me, oh what grace.
I remember when I first caught a glimpse of his grace. I remember falling to the ground, tears streaming down my face into the carpet as I was floored by his grace, that God would love me, is unfathomable. And while I missed it at the time, I am still amazed at the grace of God that brought me to that moment, where through tear stained eyes, face buried in a carpet, I first glimpsed his grace. Louie Giglio once said "Every glimpse of God is a glimpse of grace". He is so wonderful and holy and I am so undeserving and wretched, that to allow me to see even a glimpse of God was preceded with more than just a glimpse of his grace. As a parent I am continually awed and humbled by new depths of his grace. I look at my kids and realize I want to give them every good thing and would do anything for them, and softly like a whisper, God humbles my heart. That I could ever think my father heart is even but a faint blurry reflection of the Father's heart that created me. And again I am awed by his grace, that he would feel that way for me, oh what grace.
I love God's grace. My daughter is named after it. My life is shaped by it. My heart is stirred by it, and my breath taken away by it. Yet like the Galatians, in my foolishness I try to add to it.
No-one can add to the grace of God, there is nothing short or incomplete in the work of the cross, yet so often, like the Galatians, we try and add something more. It's always subtle, it's nearly always well-intentioned... and its always ugly. That we could hope to add to the grace of God, when the best we bring is nothing but filthy rags compared to the beauty of his grace.
It took me a long time and a good amount of introspection, prayer and God's spirit working in me to see the subtleties of how I try to add to God's perfect grace.
"Man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart" - 1 Samuel 16:7
The standards we uphold
No-one can add to the grace of God, there is nothing short or incomplete in the work of the cross, yet so often, like the Galatians, we try and add something more. It's always subtle, it's nearly always well-intentioned... and its always ugly. That we could hope to add to the grace of God, when the best we bring is nothing but filthy rags compared to the beauty of his grace.
It took me a long time and a good amount of introspection, prayer and God's spirit working in me to see the subtleties of how I try to add to God's perfect grace.
"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace." - Galatians 5:4
The Galatians tried to add to the grace of God by adding back in the need for circumcision, and thus relying on the law instead of God's grace. In general I think most people in the west would feel they are more guilty of trying to wear out the grace of God, than add to it, and mostly I think they are right. I have needed to return to the grace of God so many times it amazes me that I am welcomed back, even though I know from his word that his grace is endless.
But there are pitfalls I have fallen into and I see others stumble on as well, where we unintentionally try to add to God's perfect grace. The more I know these pitfalls, the more I avoid them and instead fall rightly before the grace of God. So lets spend some time, looking at how to avoid trying to fruitlessly add to the grace of God...
But there are pitfalls I have fallen into and I see others stumble on as well, where we unintentionally try to add to God's perfect grace. The more I know these pitfalls, the more I avoid them and instead fall rightly before the grace of God. So lets spend some time, looking at how to avoid trying to fruitlessly add to the grace of God...
Our motivations
Last time in Galatians we looked at how our faith is meant to express itself though love, or as James put it, a faith without work is dead, as faith should produce works of love. But if we are honest sometimes our works are not produced by faith, sometimes it is not faith expressed through love, but works produced from our own sinful self. Sometimes it is guilt, or duty but the motivations of our heart are important to God.
"Man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart" - 1 Samuel 16:7
When we produce works it is the motivation of out hearts that God see's and shows if we are trying to add to the grace of God.
When you tithe, is it an act of duty? Or routine? Or compulsion? Or peer-pressure? Or religious tradition? Or sense of duty? Or is it as God asks for, a joyful heart, an outward pouring of a heart so in love with God, so filled with the spirit, that it eagerly gives, joyfully and generously? I want a heart like this but so often I know I fall short, and bring an offering that is not pleasing to my heavenly father, and again I find I need God's grace.
When you talk to someone about God, when you speak up and acknowledge you are a Christian in the workplace, is it because you know you should? Or is it because the weight of failing to speak up in the past has reached a tipping point and you feel you must? Is it because you feel desperately resigned to the fact that if you don't no-one else will? Or is it simply because you learned in church you should? Or is it as Paul talks about in Galatians, faith expressing itself through love, does it come from a heart moved by the spirit, moved by God's love for people who need the grace and the cross of Christ in their life? I want to have a heart that burns with love for people who don't know God, who have yet to dive in to the ocean of his grace, that I cannot remain silent. But too often I speak out, trying to boldly proclaim in love but often mumbling through, out of duty, and again I find I need God's grace.
When you tithe, is it an act of duty? Or routine? Or compulsion? Or peer-pressure? Or religious tradition? Or sense of duty? Or is it as God asks for, a joyful heart, an outward pouring of a heart so in love with God, so filled with the spirit, that it eagerly gives, joyfully and generously? I want a heart like this but so often I know I fall short, and bring an offering that is not pleasing to my heavenly father, and again I find I need God's grace.
When you talk to someone about God, when you speak up and acknowledge you are a Christian in the workplace, is it because you know you should? Or is it because the weight of failing to speak up in the past has reached a tipping point and you feel you must? Is it because you feel desperately resigned to the fact that if you don't no-one else will? Or is it simply because you learned in church you should? Or is it as Paul talks about in Galatians, faith expressing itself through love, does it come from a heart moved by the spirit, moved by God's love for people who need the grace and the cross of Christ in their life? I want to have a heart that burns with love for people who don't know God, who have yet to dive in to the ocean of his grace, that I cannot remain silent. But too often I speak out, trying to boldly proclaim in love but often mumbling through, out of duty, and again I find I need God's grace.
In Galatians, Paul issues the church a direct challenge about the out-pouring of their hearts towards him, it is one of the verses that struck me most as I spent some time in Galatians for this series...
"Surely you remember that I was sick when I first brought you the Good News. But even though my condition tempted you to reject me, you did not despise me or turn me away. No, you took me in and cared for me as though I were an angel from God or even Christ Jesus himself. Where is that joyful and grateful spirit you felt then? I am sure you would have taken out your own eyes and given them to me if it had been possible. Have I now become your enemy because I am telling you the truth?" - Galatians 4:13-16
Wow. I want to have faith that expresses itself through love like the Galatians once did. That my pitiful, man-made, duty driven works could ever be more than dirty rags compared to the grace-driven, faith expressed through love that Paul talks about here. Father give me a joyful and grateful spirit, that I never try and add my man-made works to your grace again.
Religious Traditions
Religious Traditions
Another area the church in particular can be guilty of trying to add to God's grace is religious traditions. In particular there are two specific area's where I worry we have turned essential heart-driven responses to God into overly religious, duty driven traditions, where we are in danger of falling into the trap of doing them because it is the "christian thing to do" and not out of faith expressed in love. Where we are in danger of trying to add to God's grace, worthless traditions, where he desires, spirit-filled hearts yearning for him.
The first, is communion.
Most churches do communion. We turn down the lights, slow-down the music and try and produce an emotional response to what we are meant to be doing, but when I look at scripture I can't but help think we have missed something. The act of communion as we see it in the new testament was remembering Christ's sacrifice for us, the bread, his body broken for us and the wine, his blood shed for us.
But can an act of remembrance really only meant to be done in church, when the minister reminds us and leads us to. I understand the reasoning behind doing it in church, the desire to take that special command and keep it special, brought out only on Sunday, or every other Sunday. I understand the good intentions behind it, and the scriptural warning that led to it becoming a tradition. Paul did warn the church in Corinth not to to cheapen it, reminding them to "examine themselves" and that those who "eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgement on themselves" and that anyone taking the bread and cup of the Lord "unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord"(1 Cor 11:27-29). I am grateful for the good intentions and the desire to keep people from the danger presented by Paul here but I feel somewhere we went too far, and locked it away behind a wall of religious tradition and service. We tried to give it the weight it deserved but instead added the extra weight of a religious experience, a manufactured "holy-factor", when in fact we just need faith expressed though love. We made it service driven not spirit driven and when I look at the scriptures and see how it poured out of the lives of the believers in the early church, I long to reclaim communion as an act of faith expressing itself in love, and not simply part of a Sunday service.
Most churches do communion. We turn down the lights, slow-down the music and try and produce an emotional response to what we are meant to be doing, but when I look at scripture I can't but help think we have missed something. The act of communion as we see it in the new testament was remembering Christ's sacrifice for us, the bread, his body broken for us and the wine, his blood shed for us.
But can an act of remembrance really only meant to be done in church, when the minister reminds us and leads us to. I understand the reasoning behind doing it in church, the desire to take that special command and keep it special, brought out only on Sunday, or every other Sunday. I understand the good intentions behind it, and the scriptural warning that led to it becoming a tradition. Paul did warn the church in Corinth not to to cheapen it, reminding them to "examine themselves" and that those who "eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgement on themselves" and that anyone taking the bread and cup of the Lord "unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord"(1 Cor 11:27-29). I am grateful for the good intentions and the desire to keep people from the danger presented by Paul here but I feel somewhere we went too far, and locked it away behind a wall of religious tradition and service. We tried to give it the weight it deserved but instead added the extra weight of a religious experience, a manufactured "holy-factor", when in fact we just need faith expressed though love. We made it service driven not spirit driven and when I look at the scriptures and see how it poured out of the lives of the believers in the early church, I long to reclaim communion as an act of faith expressing itself in love, and not simply part of a Sunday service.
"They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts."- Acts 2: 42-46
I want to be a church where believers meet up, often, in their homes to break bread together, to remember the death and the resurrection together, to remember Christ's love for us on the cross, as an outpouring of love coming from faith. I fear that we have turned it in to a religious experience where we come out of duty, oblivious to the true holiness of what we are doing, as we try and add to the grace of God, through our religious act of communion.
The second, is baptism.
I will say less on this, I think baptism is sometimes handled well in the church, but other times it is handled horribly. It is a much disputed and hot topic that deserves it's own study if not series, but I do worry that it can and for many has become a religious tradition. I worry that similar to communion, sometimes it has been well-intentioned actions that have turned it into a religious experience or tradition, and that so often the motivations behind it are off. I worry for some, it is a desperate attempt to try and add to God's grace, when in fact they are really being washed clean by it.
I will say less on this, I think baptism is sometimes handled well in the church, but other times it is handled horribly. It is a much disputed and hot topic that deserves it's own study if not series, but I do worry that it can and for many has become a religious tradition. I worry that similar to communion, sometimes it has been well-intentioned actions that have turned it into a religious experience or tradition, and that so often the motivations behind it are off. I worry for some, it is a desperate attempt to try and add to God's grace, when in fact they are really being washed clean by it.
The standards we uphold
In Galatians, Paul tells of his need to rebuke Peter because out of fear of criticism, Peter started shunning those who were not circumcised, and I think sometimes we can do this in subtle ways, where our own standards, mindsets, actions or expectations try to limit the grace of God. In this example Peter was shunning fellow Christians because they were not circumcised, and within the church we must be careful not to do the same. The grace of God does not fall short for those who believe and have faith in the cross of Christ, but sometimes our projections of grace fall short of God's grace and we end up dividing ourselves based on societal standards and lifestyle norms, when in fact we are all under the grace of God.
Sometimes I think we also sell the grace of God short in our thoughts. Have you ever met someone and without meaning to, you just didn't see them accepting Christ and almost wrote them off in your mind. When I first started work out of uni, I was assigned a mentor in the company, and he was a lovely chap, friendly and helpful but he was also an emphatic God-hating atheist, and I remember catching myself thinking, "Good luck saving that one". What a foolish thought. As if the grace of God could meet someone it would even remotely struggle to save. Did I somehow think that the grace of God would need extra help or to be in TURBO mode to break through to him more than it did to me? God really humbled me in this experience and again I found myself in need of his grace. Do you ever pre-judge how far God's grace might go, do you have strategic thoughts about who is the best target for evangelism, as if the grace of God needs our human tactics or analysis of who it might best reach.
And sometimes we simply just maintain standards that differ from God's standards. Maybe you impose these standards on yourself, always trying to reach worldly goals or standards of success. Or maybe you measure others by these standards, measuring them up against an earthly standard of success, or even subconsciously weighing their worth by the weights of the world.
I am in love with God's grace, and I need it more than I know. But I am tired of trying to add to it or limit it. I want to live in the spirit by the grace of God. I want to be guided by the holy spirit, in the ocean of his grace, to explore it's depths, and to lead others to it. I want to baptize others through his grace, in to his holy spirit.
Sometimes I think we also sell the grace of God short in our thoughts. Have you ever met someone and without meaning to, you just didn't see them accepting Christ and almost wrote them off in your mind. When I first started work out of uni, I was assigned a mentor in the company, and he was a lovely chap, friendly and helpful but he was also an emphatic God-hating atheist, and I remember catching myself thinking, "Good luck saving that one". What a foolish thought. As if the grace of God could meet someone it would even remotely struggle to save. Did I somehow think that the grace of God would need extra help or to be in TURBO mode to break through to him more than it did to me? God really humbled me in this experience and again I found myself in need of his grace. Do you ever pre-judge how far God's grace might go, do you have strategic thoughts about who is the best target for evangelism, as if the grace of God needs our human tactics or analysis of who it might best reach.
And sometimes we simply just maintain standards that differ from God's standards. Maybe you impose these standards on yourself, always trying to reach worldly goals or standards of success. Or maybe you measure others by these standards, measuring them up against an earthly standard of success, or even subconsciously weighing their worth by the weights of the world.
When we strive to maintain, uphold or measure with standards that are not God's standards, we put value in something that is not what God put's value in. We put value in something that is in addition to the grace of God.
I am in love with God's grace, and I need it more than I know. But I am tired of trying to add to it or limit it. I want to live in the spirit by the grace of God. I want to be guided by the holy spirit, in the ocean of his grace, to explore it's depths, and to lead others to it. I want to baptize others through his grace, in to his holy spirit.
"Dear bothers and sisters, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen" - Galatians 6:18
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