Wreckless Grace

Listening to another Andrew Farley sermon, he mentioned something that made me laugh.
It made me laugh is because I have seen it myself and it has frustrated me, but I have never taken the time to write about it or talk about it with anyone else.

The majority of modern American Churches like to describe the grace of God as being free to dress casually on Sunday mornings, play contemporary Christian music, wear earrings and have a beer while watching football.

I think this gives people a very meager understanding of grace and freedom.

The grace of God is the insane belief that we no longer need to evaluate our performance. We no longer need to examine ourselves, our works or our motives. We can worship God without first examining ourselves. Just discern the body of Jesus Christ broken for you. His Blood was spilled for you, child of God.

We are freely loved by God because Jesus Christ himself merited it for us. He performed in our stead and He gave us the right the become children of God. God has lavished his grace on us through Jesus, his Son. We don't need to do anything but rest from our works as He did from his. Your "work" is just to believe; to rest.

"Strive to enter into that rest."

We are absolutely free from the law of God, and that includes the big 10. Jesus fulfilled it. He performed, he merited, he earned, he saved. You rest and do nothing but believe. Take a load off and enjoy this great salvation.

I am free to worship God without ever evaluating how good I'm behaving. We're free from looking at ourselves!

"Blessed riddance" indeed!

This is what you heard at the beginning. All I'm doing is reaffirming what you heard from the beginning because this Gospel is by faith from first to last. You do not mature into works, but you grow in grace.

"And he (Paul) urged them to continue in the grace of God"