the encounter

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?

Share your thoughts :: Comments: 0

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.

Share your thoughts :: Comment: 1

One of the most humbling things we can ever do is genuinely accept the complete forgiveness and acceptance of God. Something within fights against it. We want to work for it, say we don’t deserve it, or think we’ve done far too much to ever be forgiven. That kind of forgiveness, acceptance, and love is too great, too overwhelming. And so it was meant to be. It was meant to astound, overwhelm, and amaze us.

As part of a communion experience at encounter recently, each person received a letter, written as though God were expressing His love, grace, acceptance, and complete forgiveness. As it did with many, may it overwhelm you with His unbelievable love.

Share your thoughts :: Comments: 0

What do you communicate to people? What is it they sense when they are around you? The stranger. The neighbor. Your children. Your spouse. What do they take away from being with you?

How we relate to others has everything to do with how we see God relating to us!

In the New Testament a man named Paul was at one time a very religious man. He was obsessed with religion. He kept all the rules, became a leader in his religion, and taught others how to be religious.

Religion did not help him in his relationships.

It only made things worse. Paul was religious because he thought the way to God was through keeping the rules and making everyone else keep the rules as well. He chased it with every fiber in his being. And it was destroying him. His rules and religion took him so far as to stand guard over a man who was being stoned because he refused to follow the religious rules. Really? Killing a man because he won’t keep the rules?

Paul, one day came face to face with God and it forever changed him.

In the encounter with God, Paul was blinded and forced to be dependent on others for life. He learned the value of grace. He saw the love of Christ. He saw how much God loved Him. He understood he was accepted, cherished, and forgiven. He learned to be humble and Paul was never the same.

He became a man of great significance to the people and churches of the New Testament. He had been a man known for condemnation, anger, harshness, and bitterness. He became a man known for compassion, love, and hope.

In particular, he became known for one phrase – a phrase that would sum up the essence of who he now was. He would include this phrase in the openings of his letters, the closings of his letters, and throughout whenever he spoke. What was the phrase that characterized this new man’s life?

Grace to you…

Romans 1:7, 2 Corinthians 1:2, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians 4:23, Colossians 1:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:28, 2 Thessalonians 3:18, Titus 3:15, Philemon 1:3

Share your thoughts :: Comments: 0

What if you are trying to show acceptance, forgiveness, love, and grace to someone and they won’t accept it? that was the subject of the discussion at encounter recently.

God in His infinite wisdom allows something that man often does not – freedom. He gives man the freedom to respond to grace or refuse it. While we may never understand the depths of why God would allow such. We can know one thing. God is longing for a heart to respond out of gratefulness and love. He gets no joy from a heart that responds out of duty, routine, or obligation.

Join us for the video discussion at live.encounterthis.com.

Download the screen notes here. what if they REFUSE grace

Share your thoughts :: Comments: 0