Amazing Grace Part 1
I haven't written on here in a long time. Does it sound obnoxious to say we were so busy living life that I had no time to write about it? Probably just a little.
JJ and I just got back from attending a family wedding in New York as well as taking in the sights of NYC! On the plane ride home I started reading The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. Usually, I dive into a new book and devour it within a few days. After reading the preface, I knew I would need to approach this book differently. I’m only on chapter 2, and I already believe that anyone in church leadership should make this required reading for themselves and their congregations. As I read each sentence, I feel unburdened, yet nauseous at the same time. It almost feels like being forced to eat the most delicious meal you could ever imagine, but you are nervously waiting for the waiter to come and pull it away and say, “This dish wasn’t meant for you” or “You can’t really afford this, so you will be joining the kitchen staff this evening in attempt to earn your dinner.”
On Sunday we talked about what makes Christians/Christ followers different from the world. Before I continue I want to explain that I will be using Christian and Christ follower interchangeably. I will save you from a long tangent, and simply say they are synonyms. We have become too obsessed with separating the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46). That job is for God, the only One who can discern a man and woman’s heart. Please fellow brothers and sisters-in-Christ, I say this in love, let’s get over ourselves. The teaching on Sunday covered some great biblical points about how we as Christians are called to live and think differently from the world, and how we have a different value system than the rest of the world. It got me thinking about what I believe and what makes me different as a Christ follower.
To be honest I have met many non-Christians that have a similar value system to me. They desire to serve the poor, and many of them have taught in inner-city schools or have traveled across continents to reach those in desperate need of basic life necessities. I have encountered people that don’t live a promiscuous sexual lifestyle before marriage and have happy, healthy marriages filled with love and compassion. As someone that struggles with OCD and a past sufferer of panic attacks, I have met non-Christians that have less anxiety and fear than I personally do. Many people of other religions and faiths think about things from an eternal perspective. Wikipedia had this to say about Buddhism, “Nirvana is the highest aim of the Theravada-tradition. In the Mahayana tradition, the highest goal is Buddhahood, in which there is no abiding in Nirvana, but a Buddha re-enters the world to work for the salvation of all sentient beings.” You don’t have to be a Christian to care about the world or desire to save others from paths of loneliness and hopelessness.
So what makes Christianity so different from every other religion on the planet? Every other faith in the world requires you to work and toil to earn redemption. A lot of people think Christianity requires that too. How many people have heard that as long as you are good enough you will be welcomed warmly into the pearly gates? But the problem is what is good enough? None of us can achieve absolute perfection. We blew it in our "No" phase at 2 years old. This is where being a Christ follower is drastically different. Jesus Christ did what no Buddha could do. He laid down His perfect, blameless life and offered Himself in our places. He was successful at taking on the sins of the world! He paid the ultimate cost for each person to be united with their Creator. That is what makes Christianity different. Grace.
Yet, for some reason we have made it something different. We have turned into an insane competition. Eagerly, we all do our best to impress God. We conceal our mistakes and failings, and put on our best presentation for God as if anything we could do could ever truly impress Him. I'm a terrible artist and I draw the same way I did in first grade. One of my teachers commented on how beautifully I drew eyes (for my age), and after that I felt I achieved my highest potential for sketching. Even on my best day of Pictionary, my etchings would look ridiculous next to a Rembrandt or a Van Gogh. Even the best artists in the world could not outdo a sunrise or sunset created by God. Their renditions are merely copies. The only one impressive and worthy of adoration, out of me (or anyone else) and God, is God. Anything I bring to the table He freely bestowed on me first.
We have misinterpreted the gospel of grace and made it made in our own image rather than the image of the Almighty God. Brennan Manning says, “Our huffing and puffing to impress God, our scrambling for brownie points, our thrashing about trying to fix ourselves while hiding our pettiness and wallowing in guilt are nauseating to God and are a flat denial of the gospel of grace.” Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound! How can it be sweet if it just means we earn our own salvation? How is that different from anything seen in the world?
In recent days the church has made it their “marketing” strategy to seek out the messy, the imperfect, the sinful. First off, every single one of us is covered in filth. One kind of dirt isn't better than another kind of dirt unless you are growing vegetables or fruit. I am messy, imperfect, and sinful. That’s why I need Jesus. That’s why the good news is so good. It declares that I never could never pay the cost for my freedom and salvation, so Jesus paid my ransom for me. He did the setting free, so I could live unreservedly in Him. My good deeds aren’t what makes me a Christian. Anything good I do is a result from the love and gift of life that has been freely given to me by Christ.
Christianity was never meant to be a pull up your bootstraps and do it on your own. That belief says we outgrow our need for Jesus. We never outgrow our need for a Savior, even after we welcome Jesus into our hearts. Why would Paul have made this declaration if we were meant to become self-sufficient soldiers? “But {The Lord} said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). I hope this encourages and challenges you as much as this fresh outpouring of the gospel of grace has done for me.