Its like these "grace policemen" have a "special" revelation from God and only they know what real grace is...and unless you are preaching what they dictate that you preach you have will be mixing leaven into the loaf ... I guarantee you that had they been around in Paul's day they would have had an issue with some of things he preached...
Its actually quite hard to love when everybody else is wrong and you are right...I know, i used to be there.
....and now? well lets just say, that i have come to find that God is bigger than our revelation...I have read and listened to many grace believers around the world in the last few years...now, it would be easy to go "no that's not grace, OK that's grace, oh he's missing it there, OK he's got it now"... T-I-R-I-N-G at best, grace pharisee at worst!
One of these grace guys that i am listening to now, and just finished his book called "Living Grace", is a Senior Pastor of a Baptist church in America, a Baptist Church surely not? Yes a Baptist church...as i said, God is bigger than our revelation...God IS Grace, He is Gracious...(Personally, i think some "grace guys" need to learn how to be gracious) ...
A lot of "grace guys" are clearly in reaction to everything that IS church, from the finances, to the leadership, to the way things are done on a Sunday...I mean if you have a "church" that's meets on a Sunday BAM! YOU are an institution! You name it, they will have a problem with it...
They might say they are not in reaction but no one is as blind as those who refuse to see...
Paul said let your conversation be full of grace, for building others up, not tearing down...God is not in the business of tearing down, but building up...Some guys sense it is their duty to change the way the world sees the church, which is noble, but the problem is when you engage them, there is hardly any warmth, practically no heart and little love...just a lot of duty...and they want to accuse other sons of God of being "dutiful" toward the Father?...its like the pot calling the kettle black...did not Paul the apostle have some choice words for those kind of guys?
Hey, i am not perfect, i am still learning, still maturing, still becoming skilled in the word of righteousness, still in training, figuring out what is Good and what is evil, growing in grace...I don't have it all together, but personally i wont be bullied into having to question everything i do and preach by hurting brothers who themselves don't have it all together...C'mon lets be honest here, who has perfect revelation?
A wise man called Mike Ward once gave me something to read, it was called "Hurt people, hurt people" ... I wish I had paid more careful attention to it.
I don't like religion as much as any other guy out there, but i don't want to be looking for religion and law behind every bush...That's not freedom either!
I LOVE the grace message, I LOVE the fact that my righteousness is a gift, its by grace through faith...I love the fact that my sin is not counted against me anymore from the Father...that Jesus paid the price in FULL! As i said, i LOVE grace but it might not be exactly the way you see grace, but that's OK...remember, i might not be 100% wrong in my revelation, but i also might not be 100% right, and that goes for the "grace police" as well.
If you don't agree its fine, but if you do, then lets partner with God in seeing the church built into what she is destined to be, with each part doing its work....not tearing her down, but building her up.
Bless you all...
3 comments:
Great post Craig! I fully agree. Some peoples whole ministry is based on pointing out the hole in the donut rather than celebrating the actual donut! You look over those people's shoulder to see what they've done and you often just see a spirit of offense and a spirit of independence. These days I'm just listening less and less to those who don't value or help build the local church, no matter how 'wise' and 'authoritive' they sound or how many hits they have on their websites, and listening more and more to those who know how to honor and love and build up the local church, even with all her imperfections. I love the church I'm in and the people in the church and what God is doing with us. And there are so many other churches with great leaders doing great things and I celebrate that!
I thank Jesus that HE instituted the local church with elders who govern, that gathers corporately and privately and grows to great multitudes, that preaches the gospel, heals the sick, cares for the needy, lays money at the apostles feet, doesn't consider any of their possessions their own, is committed to fellowships, prayer and enjoys God and each other! Why on earth would anyone attack that?
Much grace and love
Ryan Rufus
That is what I am screamin brother... well said.
Bless! More Grace More Faith!
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