So we talked about grace at the Launch yesterday. If you missed it, here it is in one simple sentence:
When you do a bunch of stuff thinking it will earn you favor in God's eyes, your good actions are really nothing more than a big pile of garbage, so why not quit trying to do that and just sit still in the knowledge that God loves you in spite of yourself, which means you are actually completely free to do good things, not because you "OUGHT TO", but because you want to, just as a way of saying thanks to God.
Simple as that.
One interesting point came up: it's possible to hear this conversation about GRACE and to think, "if even my best deeds are just worthless garbage to God, then why try?"
Fair enough. Interestingly, the entire 6th chapter of Romans is written to answer that very question. I'll just let you read that yourself.
But I ran across this great quote as I prepared for the sermon yesterday. The truest test of whether or not you are preaching the truth about grace is if some people misunderstand it and think they should can just keep on sinning.
Which reminds me of another great quote. I think this one was Martin Luther. He (or somebody like him) said, "if you're going to sin, sin boldly". I think his point was, don't minimize the depth of God's grace by pretending that your petty little sins won't need as much grace. Your little white lie is as bad as the grossest sin you can imagine. They both require nails in the hand of Jesus. So if you are going to sin, sin boldly so that you'll know how much it cost God to reconcile you to himself.
What do you think of that?
I just read Romans 6. I'm sure I've read that before, but it was like I was reading it for the first time. Wow! That's powerful.
ReplyDelete