the encounter

We relate to people in our lives based on how we have been related to.  If we have experienced forgiveness we will have a greater capacity to forgive.  If we have been genuinely loved, then we will have a greater capacity to love.  The opposites are true as well.  If we have found little acceptance in life, we will have a greater tendency to not give acceptance.  If we have been treated harshly, we will have a greater tendency to treat others harshly.

These are true of how others have related to us.  They are also true of how we believe God relates to us.  Those who see God has demanding, will often be demanding of others.  Those who see Him as hard to please will often pass that on to others.

The opposite is also true.  Those who have experienced the reality of His grace, acceptance, and love in their lives, will have a greater capacity to relate to others with that same kind of grace, acceptance, and love.  Those who have been served by Him will have a greater capacity of serving others.

This Sunday at encounter, we dive into what it means to love and serve others – not out of duty or command; not out of force or manipulation.  We’ll discover how to serve out of humility and love.  We’ll see how to give away what we have received.

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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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Struggling with anger, resentment, frustration, emptiness, and broken relationships?  Not seeing others influenced by what you thought was Good News from you?  Finding that your approaches to making others feel guilty and reminding them of “the rules” to follow God not working?

Just as guilt, shame, condemnation, and rule-keeping only end in lifeless pool of frustration for ourselves; Scripture reveals they don’t work for helping others change either.

Unless genuine desire is ignited in the heart of another person to seek after God, any other efforts through pressure, laws, and rules fall flat.  There is only one way for desire to be ignited in another person’s heart – through grace.

To show that grace our hearts have to be resurrected and filled with a new kind of desire and love.  That resurrected love has the power to infuse life and desire into others.  It also has the power to free me from the pressure to have to make others conform and obey when I say.

The power of the resurrection is far greater a power than any of us have ever tapped into or understood.  In this series at encounter we cry out with the apostle Paul when he said, “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection!”

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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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