the encounter

How is a person made right with God?  What does it take for the heart of a man to be changed and forever made clean and whole with his Creator.   How a person answers that question speaks volumes about how they see God, how they see themselves, how they relate to others, and how they live life, and where they find their joy.

Placing them in the wrong order will drive a person to frustration, emptiness, and despair.  The Bible gives a clear answer for which comes first and what happens next.  That answer that confounds the wisest of men because it is the opposite of everything that seems right and natural.

How would you arrange them?  In what order do they happen for someone to be made right with God?

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You would think you had just said you were a terrorist.  Instead you mentioned you that you celebrated grace.  For some the reaction is the same – fear, anger, attack, excommunication.  They say, “There is grace, but there is also responsibility.”  Immediately, many attach conditions.  ”If you believe in grace, then you will…”  and “We can’t let people feel too free with God or they’ll do whatever they want!”

They said the same thing to Jesus. “Who is this man who eats (shows favor) to sinners?”

Grace is frightening.  It is something greater than we will ever understand; it is what we will forever admire and adore in heaven; and it is the only thing that can only real desire in our hearts to love God.

Let’s be clear what grace is.  It is not overlooking sin.  That is a weak, diluted, and misunderstood view of grace.  Grace is the unparalleled  passion of God for man.  We see it as He gives His Son on the cross to become sin so that we can not just be free from our guilt, but so that we can enjoy His favor, intimacy, and right-ness.  That’s right – so that we can enjoy right-ness or righteousness with Him.  Not in the some day, or in “that” day, but in the moment we allow that grace to intersect the specific sin and guilt of our own life.

Grace is so overwhelming and freeing that when we do receive it, it ignites within us a desire to repent, love, serve, and worship the One who frees us!  Grace received ignites desire!  It is so overwhelming and freeing that it strips us of all control, ability to repay, and ability to claim any justification for receiving it.

All we can do is stand in awe.

There is something inside us that wants to work for it, earn it, pay it back, beat ourselves up about, fear that one sin could make it all go away, or that it is now our task to live in such a way to keep it flowing to us.

Then grace is no longer exciting, free, or overwhelming.

It becomes common, under my control, and something to manage.  I end up with fear, guilt, uncertainty, and with a list of rules connected to my grace.   I also pass that version of grace onto others.  Gone is the joy, awe, and freedom.

Welcome to Christianity in the 21st century – impotent, weak, rule-based, tradition-driven, condemning, and angry.

Which grace do you celebrate?  The one that puts my right-ness with God in my hands or the one that is rests squarely in Christ crucified and resurrected for our complete freedom, forgiveness, and favor?

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The greatest evidence of a life truly changed by God is the presence of DESIRE.   When a baby is born, he is filled with life.  We know he is alive because of his DESIRE.  He desires to breathe, eat, be held, and to move.  When a person has genuinely accepted the grace of God into his life he too is filled with DESIRE.  He longs to be close to God, to be humble, to be grateful, to obey, to know His ways, to know real life.

At the point of our spiritual birth, DESIRE that has been dead is resurrected.  DESIRE that was once numb, cut off, self-focused, and unfulfilled, now breathes with life from Christ.

This Sunday, we continue the series, “The Power of the Resurrection” at encounter with a closer look at the power of resurrected DESIRE.  The power of DESIRE is stronger than rules, laws, guilt, shame, and condemnation.  They only produce a form of godliness, but lack real power.   Join us for the truth that could change everything.

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Grace is an uncomfortable place.  In grace you let go of control.  You didn’t arrive in it by being good and you can’t stay in it by being good.  The untethered favor of God comes to you by the love of Jesus Christ and frees you from your past, your guilt, your regrets, and your shame.  And it is uncomfortably freeing – especially when you’ve held on tightly to so much in the past.

No more measuring yourself against others.  No more judging others.  No more comparison.  No more resentment.  No more evaluating your goodness based on your actions.

Uncomfortable freedom.  Its hard to take in.  We want to work for it, feel guilty for it, use the grace of God as a way of continuing our old habits of making ourselves righteous.

We even look for faith environments (what we call churches) that help us maintain some control and the ability to work for our goodness.  We want lists, boundaries, preaching that calls people out, a place that keeps us from those who don’t keep the rules.  Order, control, boundaries, lists, who’s in/who’s out, definable spirituality – ahh… much better.

They didn’t like this freedom in Jesus’ day or Paul’s day.  It upset the system.  It undermined authority.  It was too freeing.  It led to sinners hanging around.  It led to individual connection with God.  It led to passion, expression, and breaks with tradition.  It was wild and couldn’t be controlled.

Hang on to your guilt, regrets, fear, and bitterness.  Define your goodness by what you do and don’t do.   You’ll find yourself in a well-controlled environment of faith.  Everything will be in order and there will be no life, no desire, no power.

Or personally receive and experience Christ’s favor, grace, forgiveness, and release.  Let go of trying to manage you.  The next moments will be uncomfortably freeing.   Next set others free.  Let go of trying to define, control, and manage their lives –  something even more uncomfortably freeing.  There in that place your heart will come alive with desire, life, sincerity, and motivation.

Such is the uncomfortable place of grace.

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This week’s conversation brings the reality of Christ’s resurrection to life.   More than a historical event that happened to one person, the resurrection was meant to reach down through time and fill followers of Christ today with power, desire, and motivation.  Read it for yourself, use it as conversation with a friend, let it be what directs the dinner conversation.  You will be challenged, encouraged, and overwhelmed at the power of the resurrection!

Click on the page to download this week’s conversation.

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