When 2 of my friends and I wanted to start a ministry right out of college, we thought of no better name than Grace Abounds. This name depicted the entirety of our message: that Jesus came to seek the lost – NO MATTER HOW LOST! We wanted to start a church that would reach out and take in the people who felt rejected and judged by the far majority of Christians. We wanted to spread the message that grace abounded to all people, and that nobody needed to first clean up and go to church, but rather go to church and naturally be cleaned by the grace of God. We once told people that if they were still drunk from the night before, they could still (and especially) be received as a beloved child instead of an outcast sinner. Jesus came to heal the sick, not the ones who already thought they were good enough (Matthew 9:12-13).
A lot of this theology (thoughts on God) carried over into the ideas for Arise Community Church. Although it is still in its planning stage, it is HEAVILY influenced on the ideas of Grace Abounds, and its major component – grace.
Imagine my humility when taking just a few days to focus on this idea, that God would overload my system with even more practical insights on the very aspect I thought I knew best. Here is what I have been learning:
#1 – Grace is the single most important gift in Christianity.
Without this gift we are all disconnected from God. We all deserve death, but the free gift of God, a gift we had nothing to do with earning or working for, is life with Him forever (Romans 6:23). It is hard to accept that we had absolutely NOTHING to do with this honor except to receive it thankfully. We live in a culture that disapproves mistakes so much that lives can be ruined in one small folly. With Jesus Christ, all of our follies are covered, and not one bit of this gift is deserved. What we do with this gift will determine our effect as a Church on the world.
#2 – Grace is the only exclusive idea of Christianity.
Love. Peace. Joy. Serving the poor. Patience. Kindness. Right conduct. All of these ideas are part of the Christians faith, yet all of them can also be seen outside of it (AND MOST OF THE TIME DONE BETTER – but that is for another discussion). Grace is the only quality that followers of Christ can say is theirs. Please do not confuse this with mercy, because that is in many other religions and ways of life. But grace – the underserved and unconditional forgiveness and love, the act of TRULY being let off the hook, is only applicable to people who have received that grace from God.
#3 – Grace cannot and does not have limits.
There is no point in which grace runs out. There is no “too far” for grace. There might be a line drawn for how much mercy a man can give out, but God has set the record straight – that ANYBODY who has done ANYTHING wrong can come to Him and receive grace, NO MATTER WHAT AND NO MATTER WHEN!
#4 – Grace is truly scandalous.
Grace is not fair. It does not play by the rules. It does not discriminate, and is therefore one of the hardest things to learn and understand. God’s grace is furious in its compassion because of the lengths it can go. As stated before, there is no “too far” for God. The second you seek forgiveness, He turns and RUNS TO YOU TO GIVE IT! In today’s culture this would be labeled as unreasonable, and therein lies the scandal.
#5 – You don’t get to choose who you give grace to.
This is the hardest pill to swallow. We don’t get to choose. We are called by God to give the same grace He gave to us. As the Church, we are told to be known as the people and place to run to when your life is a mess and no one else will take you in. Sadly, we have done the opposite as the Church. We are known as judgmental, hypocritical, and downright MEAN. The meanest people I have ever met are people who are ACTIVE MEMBERS IN THE CHURCH. If you don’t take anything else away from these last few paragraphs, take this home and pray about it: YOU ARE CALLED TO SHOW GRACE AND BE JESUS’ EXAMPLE TO THE WORLD – AND YOU DON’T GET TO PUT LIMITS ON THAT GRACE. When you put limits and conditions on the grace you offer, you send a message that Jesus does the same. Don’t continue to make a mockery of God’s grace by placing rules on the grace you offer, because then it isn't grace.
Be gracious because of the grace you have received.
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