Can there be any other reaction when one has encountered the amazing grace of God, than an overwhelming eruption of emotional joy and praise towards God?
If so, then why do we see so few eruptions? Why are the volcanoes of our hearts not erupting with gratuitous affections and instead are often silent? Have we not met this very same grace?
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World Prayr is author of Energion title Walking in God’s Grace.
Category: Grace
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From World Prayr: Christmas Erupts
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Balance
If the history of Christianity teaches us anything, with all the divisions, doctrinal disputes, conflicts and even a few wars, it is that a correct understanding of God’s Word is not easily achieved. Of course, one could just take the position, as some Christians do, that it really is easy for them to read and understand God’s word, and as for those who do not accept their interpretation, well, they are just letting the things of the world cloud their understanding.
One problem is that while it is easy to see how others are letting things interfere with their understanding God’s word, it is usually correspondingly difficult to see how such things are getting in our way. This is why I believe that humility, dialogue, and a tolerance for those who disagree, working in a framework that stresses unity rather than division, are so important.
There is another problem as well. Even when there is an agreement on a biblical teaching there can still be disagreement on how this applies to real life situations. Thus, while I think I can confidently say that all of the authors posting on this board believe that based on God’s word, we have an obligation to the poor, there is considerable disagreement on the exact nature of this obligation and how it should be worked out.
Probably the most difficult problem is the question of balance. While many of the statements of Scripture are pretty clear, how they all fit together often is not. This is probably to be expected when dealing with nature of God. We do not really know how the statements that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are God fit together with the statements that there is only one God. But this problem goes beyond God’s nature. We do not really know how the statements that salvation is a choice we should accept fit in with the statements of God’s predestination of the elect.
As a result, as we seek to merge all these biblical statements into a unified whole, if we are not extremely careful, and historically it is clear the Church has not been careful, we create divisions in the body of Christ. For example, as some gave more weight to the verses that speak of our choice, others gave more weight to the verses that speak of our election. To disagree on this is one thing. To divide on it is another.
This is further exacerbated by our ability to reason, or perhaps rationalize. We reason what a biblical concept must mean, Sovereignty, Love, Grace, Righteousness, etc., and then interpret seemingly contrary passages to fit the our reasoning.
When you look at what are considered heretical views of the nature of God, they all try to rationalize God’s nature into something we can understand. Passages that teach contrary to the rationalization are then effectively ignored.
Again, while it is easy to see this process at work in the views of others, we all do this to some extent and in some places. God is a god of mercy. God is a god of justice. Those teachings are easy, but how we combined them is tough and thus we will tend to err to one side or the other, and examples of both errors are to be found in church history.
This is one place where discussion towards unity becomes so important. I have heard that when trying to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar, the best way is to have a large number of people guess and then take the average of their guesses. As we wrestle with these issues as a community, we will as a community reach better answers than we could individually.
Of course, one problem with this approach is when there are influences that effect everyone and the biggest of these is culture. How can these be counteracted? First, you must realize they are there. It is much easier to tell if you are being swept along by a current if you are on a river, than in the middle ocean. This is because the river bank is a fix point of reference.
The Bible is, or can be, such a fixed point of reference. If your understanding of the Bible is being updated to keep up with cultural changes, that should at least set off alarm bells. We are in this world, but our citizenship is not of this world. This is a world of sin that Jesus came to redeem, not imitate.
But again, it is always easier to pick out the flaws in others which is why, contrary to my normal pattern, I am not giving much in the way of examples. One hopefully safe example, is that it is much easier for us to see how our brothers and sisters, who lived during the Middle Ages, got some things wrong than it would be for us to see this in our brothers and sisters today, particularly those brothers and sisters who tend to agree with us. The sobering thing to realize is that our brothers and sisters from the Middle Ages would probably be equally adept at seeing how we are getting some things wrong.
Still, overall, I think the Church has learned from at least some of its mistakes and there has been some improvement over the last 2000 years. But I do not think the progression has been uniform or constant. As we have improved in one area, it has often come at the expense of others. Nor is this to be a surprise. To “get it right” we would essentially have to be God. Thus, I believe our efforts to balance out the seemingly conflicting aspects of God’s nature, to come to a better understanding of God’s will, and thereby God, will be a process that will last at least until Christ returns, and probably into eternity.
Elgin Hushbeck, Jr., Engineer, teacher, Christian apologist, and author of Preserving Democracy, What is Wrong with Social Justice?, A Short Critique of Climate Change, Christianity and Secularism, and Evidence for the Bible.
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Ron Higdon: Grace and the Correction of the Sinner
by Dr. Ronald Higdon, retired pastor and author of All I Need To Know I’m Still Learning at 80, In Changing Times: A Guide for Reflection and Conversation and Surviving a Son’s Suicide.
We have so much trouble with the word grace because it is such a wild and unpredictable word. Defined as “God’s unmerited favor” it seems simple enough – until in the divine economy it is put into practice.
The book of Jonah concludes with our hero sulking under a withered bush angry over God’s failing to unleash his wrath on the city of Nineveh. Jonah, by way of a great fish side trip, finally preached his mandated prophetic message of judgment and was taken aback by repentance on the part of the king and his people. God’s grace won the day and the city was spared. But Jonah knew they didn’t deserve to be spared.
When Jesus tells the parable of the workers hired at various times throughout the day to work in a vineyard, all goes well until compensation is dispensed. Those who worked only one hour all receive a full day’s pay. Those who worked all day expected a bonus but each simply received the agreed upon daily wage. They were furious. Those who had worked so much less didn’t deserve what the owner had given them. The parable ends with the question: “Are you envious because I am so generous.”
The parable of the Waiting Father (we usually call it the parable of the Prodigal Son) has the surprise ending of a O’Henry short story. The younger son is welcomed home with the full benefits of sonship restored. The older dutiful son confronts his father about how unjust this is. His brother does not deserve the party that has been thrown in honor of his return. The parable ends with the father pleading for the older son to join the festivities but he remains outside the door because he knows his wayward brother has not earned what he is receiving.
We might summarize these biblical accounts as a violation of what deep down too many of us really believe: grace should not go to the wrong people. It should not go to people who do not deserve it. Of course, we have made the decision about who should be on the receiving end of God’s favor and forgiveness. We unconsciously have drawn boundaries around God’s grace and only include deserving people – like ourselves. The biblical stories we cited are all illustrations of grace gone too far.
The irony of this kind of thinking is that it belies the very meaning of grace. Grace is that which cannot be merited, earned, bargained for, or deserved in any sense of the word. And it doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to God who seems determined to keep coloring outside the lines of our religious thinking. In his hometown of Nazareth, Jesus’ first (and perhaps only) sermon ended in a riot with the towns people attempting to throw Jesus off a cliff. His heresy? He made heroes of the wrong kind of people.
In the life and ministry of Jesus, God’s grace had no restrictions and no limits. No one was every told, “It’s not for you. Your kind won’t fit into the Kingdom.” From the scandalous theological conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well to the unheard of boldness in inviting himself to be a guest in the home of the tax collector Zacchaeus, Jesus just never seemed to be able to find anyone who shouldn’t be graced.
Jesus must never have heard of “hate the sin but love the sinner” because he never began any of his encounters with the “undeserving” by condemnation. Even in the disputed encounter with the woman taken in the act of adultery, his words to her were the first like it she had ever heard: “Neither do I condemn you.” It seems to be he came at “correction” through the avenue of acceptance and grace.
Almost all surveys of “outsiders” about what words they would use to describe Christians usually begin with the word judgmental. They never associate that word with Jesus. He never appears to have been afraid that people would believe he was “soft on sin.” Too often that seems to be the fear of those who want to be careful about how far grace and acceptance go. Jesus seemed to have the opposite worry: that God’s people would be too judgmental, too exclusive, too certain about who was in and who was out, too certain that they were the special ones who were God’s chosen and they could spot the unchosen a mile away.
I have always believed that what will make heaven truly heaven is that no one will believe for a moment they deserve to be there. All will confess they are there by the grace of God. It is easy to say an “amen” to All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and forget the important word all. None of us has any claim on God’s grace or forgiveness. They are his gifts to us for the receiving. And once they are received they are for the sharing. Everyone’s favorite verse, John 3:16, should spill over and include the rest of the thought in John 3:17: God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. To follow that model, we can never begin with condemnation or correction.
Does a word of correction never come? It seems to me that all of Jesus’ encounters with those deemed as needing correction, always began with their being graced by his presence and by his words. From that grace came salvation and healing and redirection of life. We can never do the correcting we feel necessary in another’s life. (Think how difficult it is for us to deal with those things that need correcting in our own lives.) Grace is always the necessary environment in which people find the place to begin the changes they know they need to make.
Those who were heavy on condemnation, judgment, and correction never receive commendation from Jesus. I believe that when we are the bearers and sharers of the grace we have received, we will discover that correction finds it proper time and place. We remember: grace can never go too far. We are grateful every day that it went far enough to include each of us – and that was pretty far.
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