3 Ways The Church Has Emasculated Grace

Did you know that most churches in America actually discourage embracing the grace of God?

Most of them would absolutely deny this, stating that we are saved “by grace” alone. And that is true. But, that is also where most churches stop in teaching the incredible, immeasurable grace of God. And they go out of their way to temper what grace really means. I want to discuss here the most common ways that grace is emasculated.

As I mentioned, churches focus on the salvation aspect of grace. “Being saved” is an act of God toward us through Jesus on the cross, forgiving our sins. Grace has given us a clean slate. But there is a  problem with that idea. Yes, we have a clean slate, but then we are expected to keep it that way. Keep away from sin, and ask for forgiveness when we do sin. But the cross means more than past sins forgiven. It means that, through Jesus, ALL OUR SIN has already been forgiven. In fact, when we ask God to forgive us we are asking for something that has already been done. As believers, we do not have to ask God to forgive us. Rather, we go to the Father and tell Him that we are sorry for sinning, and thank Him that we are already forgiven. To seek forgiveness means grace, at the cross, was limited.

Secondly, it is important to obey, for if we don’t we will not experience the fellowship and blessing of God.  I was taught early in my Christian walk that if we sin, our fellowship/communication with God is cut off and He will not hear, nor answer our prayers, until we ask for forgiveness.  If that is true then we are responsible to maintain our connection with God. But since God dealt with our sin, we are always in relationship, always in touch. always blessed by God. His grace does that.

Lastly, it is expected, that all believers will at some point come to embrace the same traditions, unwritten rules, regulations and beliefs of what it means to be a true mature Christian. To deviate means that one is either a “backslider”, carnal, or not a “real Christian”. So Christianity becomes about conforming and uniformity rather than about the grace of God transforming us into who He designed each of us to be. Grace allows of diversity of thought and opinion on most things. It encourages freedom in the body of Christ to explore and become the unique creation God made each of us to be.

Let the grace of God embrace you. become all you were meant to be. It is what God wants.

Cheap Grace

Cheap grace…

took care of our past sins at the cross,
is available for people who try harder,
is useful for those who give up “besetting sin”,
covers church attenders, “venial sinners”, and conservative denominations,
generally is not available for:
drug users who keep drugging
drinkers who keep drinking
adulterers that keep adulterating
or any other “mortal sinner” that does not seem to take serious God’s demands.

GOD’S GRACE…

through the cross, has taken care of every sin we will ever commit,
is available for people who don’t try very hard at all,
is useful for those who fail at overcoming “besetting sin”,
covers all believers in every denomination, committing every “venial sin”,
generally is available in greater amounts for:
drug users who can’t stop drugging
drinkers who can’t stop drinking
adulterers that can’t stop adulterating
all sinners who can’t keep the demands of God

God’s grace is the most radical thing in the universe. It changes individuals, churches, and communities. It is time for the church to upgrade to the real thing.

Are There Sinners In Your Church?

Everyday on television,  the internet, and on the radio, Christian pastors and speakers pontificate about the sins committed in American society by people, they claim, have little regard for God. They rant against the unchurched embracing evil practices and how the country is going from bad to worse. These masters manipulators of the Bible dressed in Armani and Hugo Boss, prophesy about the coming wrath of God against America because of our countries lack of holiness and our disregard for the commands of Scripture.

Every Sunday in multitudes of American churches both big and small, congregations are cajoled, reprimanded, admonished, and berated into obedience, and submission to God according to this or that pastors interpretation of the Scripture. This obedience  can be measured and compared to how well you look and act toward church leadership and to others in the church.

Every day thousands of church attenders  either construct walls of denial, fear, pretending or lies in order to fit into their “church home’, or walk away from the church altogether because in their minds or in the minds of others in the church, they will never be able to live up to the holy expectations of God and the condemning looks and words of fellow believers.

Every moment of every day the Gospel message becomes a little less powerful and a little less effective in bringing freedom to people.

Why?

because we have forgotten about God’s grace…

…and our own everyday sinfulness.

Every second of every day Christians, sin in small and big ways. Whether by thought, word or deed we sin, most of the time without regard to our sin. We lie, we hate the “other”, we dehumanize those not like us, we judge those we pass on the street and those in the pew next to us, we manipulate to get our way at home, in school, at work, in politics, and in church. In our sin of arrogance and pride we tell others how bad they are and  claim authority to speak for God. We make God into our own image, a god who hates and judges what we hate. We ignore the needs of those in our communities but send millions of dollars to ministries that promise that god will bless us with big houses, big cars, and big bank accounts. we are greedy, selfish, self-centered, and rude. We lack self-control in our eating and in our spending. We think of ourselves as better than others, and love for self supersedes any command to love others. We are the “abominations” we call others.

Yet  in spite of our grand sinning and because of God’s unending grace in Jesus, he loves us anyway. He loves us with on unending love. he thinks fondly of us, and He blesses us in spite of our “badness” We are accepted, called His daughter/son, and we are free.

We need to remember where we have come from, who we are, and what we do, and what God has done for us. We need to see how far we have strayed from the Gospel of grace. It is the only message God has for the world, and we need to mirror that message to everyone around us. The people outside the church need to know and we inside the church need to remember, that God’s  grace is bigger then we can ever imagine and that every millisecond of every day His Love covers a multitude of our sins.

 

Guns Are My Stronghold and Deliverer

17 April 2013 will go down in history as the day the US Senate kissed the a**es of gun lobbyists and the NRA and IGNORED the wishes of 90% of their constituents. But it comes as no surprise the money trumps the will of the people every time. Here are a few statistics for you to ruminate over.

Since the Newtown shooting and the death of 20 children and six adults there has been…
3,513 shooting deaths
526 were women
179 were teenagers
62 of them were children.

Some were killed by legally owned firearms, some by illegally owned firearms. Some died as a result of domestic violence, accidental shooting, or illegal activity. 3,513 since December 14th 2012. That is 3,513 men, women, and children in four months.

According to the January 2013 New Yorker magazine there are an estimated 250-300 million guns owned by Americans. And a report in TheBlaze.com states “the U.S. has the best-armed civilian population in the world, with an estimated 270 million total guns. That’s an average of 89 firearms for every 100 residents…”

Now there is a reason for Americans to be proud!  

But this short post is not about stats per se, it is about the almost fanatical worship of guns and the Second amendment by followers of the Peace of Peace. And it leaves me with more questions than answers.

According to the Public Religion Research Institute 59% of white Evangelicals opposes stricter gun regulations.

What????

So the same faith that birthed the non-violent civil rights movement of Martin Luther King Jr, endorses an instrument of death (that ultimately ended King’s life) as a Christian “right” with no more oversight or regulation. How can individuals in a faith that they embodies love, forgiveness, mercy, and peace say with all seriousness that gun control is bad?

Can no one see the glaring hypocrisy?

Are we Christians in America so blinded by our misguided, unwavering commitment to political parties and a man-made, not God ordained, Constitution that we are willing to allow our fellow Americans to continue to be sacrificed on the altar to the god of inalienable rights for only gun owners?

What about the 3,513 men, women, and children created in the image of God, due to death, no longer have any rights?

 

 

Christ Follower…

So it took less than a day for some Christians to begin to point the finger at the “other”, blaming them for the Boston Marathon bombing. Here is one by “Christ Follower” , “Outspoken Conservative”(like Jesus, I guess), and very proud that she is blocked by several public figures (I can only imagine it has something to do with her loving people unconditionally, like Jesus)

Shannon Catoe ‏

@Anton_IIr  MA is one of the most Godless states in the Union. As a state, they tell God to get out. I’m afraid He complied.

Members of Westboro Baptist Church also considers themselves “Christ Followers”, and Bryan Fischer from American Family Association, who in the last week said that Christians are going to be forced to wear a patch like the Jews in Germany, so we can be identified as bigots. Benjamin Curell, the person mentioned in my last post, destroyer of a Planned Parenthood office is also a “Christ Follower”.

So, what does a Christ Follower look like.

If I were to combine the examples above, with other outspoken Christians in media and in politics, this would be the picture I would formulate…

A Christ Follower (thus mirroring the Jesus they claim to follow) is intolerant of and hateful toward Atheists, Muslims, Catholics, single  women, single pregnant women, women in general, people in the LGBT community, Native Americans. and other minority groups  They and therefore, their Jesus,  blame poverty on the poor trapped by it , and accuses those in poverty as being lazy, and parasitic, living off the money of the godly. This ‘Christ Followers” Jesus is apparently on the side of Republicans, against Democrats, and protects the assets of the wealthy and large corporations. He also has endowed His followers with the insight to read and know the hearts of people they hate, like the President, and the wisdom to interpret every natural and man-made disaster as a judgement of God against the godlessness of our culture. These Christ Followers have also been given a mandate to “take-back America” for God and in the process turn the nation into a Christian stronghold with all laws, regulations, and morality to be based on a their narrow (but right) interpretation of all Scripture.

This is the christ that these “Followers” show to the world.

But this christ is not Jesus.

 

It’s Not Our Fault!

A little after 4:00 AM Thursday morning Benjamin Curell hacked his way into the local Planned Parenthood in Bloomington, Indiana. He caused thousands of dollars in damage by smashing windows and chopping up computers and other items with an ax and throwing red paint on walls and doors. When arrested in the lobby of the building he said he did it because they kill and murder babies and also because of his religious convictions. He is a deacon at Clearnote Church in Bloomington. His church responded today with this…

STATEMENT REGARDING THE ARREST OF BENJAMIN CURELL

Yesterday morning the pastors and elders of Clearnote Church learned that Ben Curell, a deacon of the church, had been arrested for vandalizing Planned Parenthood. No one in the church knew about his plans. We are convinced Ben’s actions were not justifiable civil disobedience. The elders and pastors have met with Ben and admonished him.

Throughout history faithful Christians have confessed that from conception children bear the image of God. Therefore, we at Clearnote Church have encouraged and will continue to encourage Christians to peacefully and lawfully witness against the great evil of abortion.

We have counseled Ben to repent and submit to the civil authority that God has placed over us for our good. This authority reflects and points to the judgment of God before Whom we all one day must give an account.

Released Friday, April 12, 2013
Bloomington, Indiana

In other words, “it’s not our fault Deacon Ben went off the deep end.”

So here are my thoughts and my questions.

It is no surprise that most Christians either oppose abortion outright, or take a dim view of the procedure. And even with those Christians that would claim to be pro-choice most would like to see the number of abortions reduced through more comprehensive sex education, and better access to contraception.  And the majority in all camps would be opposed to blowing up or chopping up clinics. But how we address this issue is critical. And it boils down to words.

Here is a link to the Clearnote pastor’s (and his brother’s) blog  http://baylyblog.com/blog/2013/03/baby-slaughter-and-speaking-truth-love . What I want to you notice are the words the pastor uses in referring to abortion and the people who provide/or support the service. And this is just one issue. If you look through the rest of the blog there are many words used to vilify others. But there is a problem with that approach. (And let me just state that Clearnote Church is only one of many churches, radio, and television programs that use the following technique)

If a church leader(s) consistently demonize organizations or a particular people groups, and on top of that link them to destruction of “Christian America” , I have a hard time understanding why those leaders are surprised when one of their own decides to be the hand of God in bringing judgement and destruction to a building or to a person’s life.

Let me ask you Pastor, when you decide to call someone a baby killer,  murderer, evil, vile, godless, enemy of God, or a sodomite, an abomination, or faggot, and on top of that tell your people those sinners are anti-American, anti Christian, bent on destroying the family, corrupting your children, and the causing of God’s judgement through terrorist attack or natural disaster, how would you logically expect individuals in your congregation to react?

In Love and Grace?

In Mercy?

In Forgiveness?

Really?

I would surmise that the reaction of your people would be closer to revulsion, (unrighteous) anger, hatred and fear of others. And in some cases striking out with violence. So in reality, the destruction wrought by Benjamin Curell toward Planned Parenthood was the harvest of bitter fruit planted in his heart and fertilized by words of anger, and hatred.

 

Hiding

Why do we hide?

I find it extremely interesting that the people that seem the most honest with themselves and with others are those who are in, or have been in a drug/recovery program. One of my favorites is author Augusten Burroughs. His story “Running With Scissors” and “Dry” along with all his other memoirs take a brutally honest look at his worst times and his best times.  But having also worked with people in recovery, I would have to say that at least a good two thirds of the individuals I have known are open and honest about themselves.

So why do we hide?

I am talking here about us, the church people.  Why do we hide?

We freely acknowledge that we were “once sinners”, and we say that Jesus died for out sins. But as soon as many of us come into the church we begin to pretend. We pretend we don’t sin that much anymore, or at least not like those in the world. We build a facade  of cheery Christian verbiage that hides the pain, and failure, and weakness, and yes, sin just behind the impenetrable wall. Fear of rejection, and being seen as carnal or a heretic hold together, like mortar, this facade.

So every day we lie to each other.  Every day we act as if we  ”growing in Christ” because if not, others would look down on us. So we use churchspeak to describe our lives to others. Examples?

How about…

I am gaining victory over…
I am struggling with…
I fell into…..
I have been battling satan lately over…

Each of these phrases give the hearer the illusion that I am fighting the good fight, I was doing well but then caught off guard, or someone (satan) is trying to get me off track.

But what if we were honest. What if we admitted that we sin, sometimes very badly, most of the time? And if we could honestly say that sometimes we actually enjoy our sin? Or what if we stopped towing the party line and admitted to others that we do not believe that some things the church condemns as sin are actually sin, like drinking, smoking (even smoking marijuana), gambling, or using birth control or being gay/lesbian/transgender.

Then what if we admitted that we will never have it all together and we need the love and support of our spiritual brothers and sisters to get through life?

What if love and grace, forgiveness and mercy was offered and received over and over again.

What would happen would be a transformation  There would be no need to hide. There would be no need for fear. There would be no need for walls to hide behind. And each of us would begin to change and grow and become more of who we were created to be because we would no longer have to fear being exposed.

And most importantly the world would see Jesus.