Pastors should take an oath when they step into the pulpit, the one requiring them to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God! When we get partial truth we walk away vulnerable not knowing “the rest of the story”. Oh, it was true enough but partial truth is very dangerous and deceptive. We end up being dragged in the water to our heavenly port while missing out on blessings we never knew we had.
Being born again in Christ is like being rescued at sea by a huge ship. Our life line is the umbilical cord of Jesus’ blood thrown out to us. We individually accept the provisions of His life or try to survive on our own. Within our grasp is a life preserver to pull over our head so we can rest inside its flotation and be safe. Its a grace connection providing comfort and relief. The boat is under power so we can hold on and know we are going to be saved.
This is the pulpit message often heard and is true enough. We have taken the life line and we are being pulled into port against the pull of the worldly system around us. Others in the water around us have life preservers and are holding on too! But there are a few who are actually pulling themselves in closer to the ship fighting the pull of the water as the ship continues to make headway toward the unseen distant port.
These few are working at getting out of the water and investigating life on board ship. They expend extra energy pulling themselves closer, hand over hand on the wet slippery rope, pulling themselves through the rough sea closer to the side of the moving ship. The difficulty reaching the dangling rope ladder while trying, at the same time, to a keep grasp on the tow rope with one hand … switching to and climbing up the single knotted rope on the convex side of the ship seems an impossible task.
Not many see the point. It is so much easier resting in the life preserver and letting the ship do the work. The saved people being pulled in the preservers don’t realize the value and eternal impact of fellowshipping in the body of saved people on board the kingdom ship. There is actually a grace culture operating on board unseen by those in the water.
Welcome signs and encouragements abound like billboards on the sides of the ship, announcements offering showers, food and comfort but you had to choose to come onboard or you can just hang on for the ride ‘till the ship docks in port.
Once the people in the preservers arrive at port they are going to be processed, giving an account for their time in the water rather than taking advantage of all the benefits paid for by the death of God’s Son.
It is one thing to have a grace connection but quite another to understand God’s culture of grace. We can’t learn our spiritual culture while we stay in the water. The only way to get out of the water is to “Drill Down”, i.e., get to know the Captain of our salvation, recognize His voice and open our heart to His word, Revelation 3:20. We are urged to engage His life and use Him to put to death what is natural in our self. But it is much easier staying in the water waiting for our permanent port of call.
It is true, grace is God’s unmerited favor to undeserving mankind but when we “Drill Down” grace, we find it is a relationship. Grace is a relationship, unmerited, yes, but our sovereign Lord God has lifted it up to relationship status!
Grace is one of the most frequently used words in the Christian community. Most people understand Webster’s 11 definitions in my College 4th edition. In fact, it is likely you will find Webster’s theological definition in you local Sunday Class, “the unmerited love and favor of God toward mankind”. This comes close to a definition I learned in Doctrine 51 at defunct San Francisco Baptist College many years ago. “The unmerited favor of God toward man” is a definition you will hear from today’s seminary graduates.
Grace is the operating culture governed by our sovereign God between His Body and other created beings. It is an unseen reality acting upon life in the believer according to God’s purpose sourced in eternal, righteous holiness.
Grace flows from God independent of human influence as an expression of αγάπη love but … it is also a function of faith (a human influence)! Yes, faith is a gift and a response to grace but … God’s mercy grants participation in grace through human will after new birth. We become, by His mercy, an exalting factor of Himself placing us in His grace process.
Our participation in God’s glory through His created life in us vaults Himself to unreachable heights. He exalts Himself beyond what life is!
Jazz singer Abbey Lincoln sings “Love Walked right in and drove the shadows away”. This is the kind of connection our carnal self yearns to make. “One magic moment and my heart seemed to know that love said hello, though not a word was spoken”. A human love connection is the measure of our carnal expectation. It is our natural romantic hope. We are frail, vulnerable and constantly looking for one connection that will fill our longing. This natural desire and hope is indeed part of the natural self we bring into our life in Christ. It remains part of our “want to” after we become born again in Christ. It is not sin but it can turn into sin as it continually wars on us because we have been created new in Christ.
The grace connection God provides is outside the scope of human radar. It can easily be trumped when spiritually starved while competing natural interests are fed by human desires.
Man by nature is self reliant and to go outside of what is “reasonable” appears to be avoiding responsibility. It is a step lower than being on the government dole, although it is more acceptable today than a few years ago. Mankind wants to be in control and manage his connections.
Submission to God is the antithesis of being in control. “God made me with the ability to do it myself and that is what I want to do.” It often takes a long time to get our “want to” fixed. A crises or catastrophe may shake us out of our selfness. But even then, it may take a long time for a man to honestly face self deception, arrogance and sin. It becomes more apparent as we age but we also become hardened with time and change is much more difficult.
While thousands of men and women are processing the depths of their own souls against the constant tick of God’s clock, God has already provided an out for man’s ultimate judgment and death. God has reconciled man to Himself as He patiently waits for reality to become visible across the big screen in man’s own heart.
If Jesus, the second Adam, had not left His rightful place beside the Father, clothed Himself in man’s human flesh, lived within the polluted contamination of sin without sin, we would not have access to a grace connection. Jesus, the second Adam, handled Satan’s temptation flawlessly, making possible resurrection power available to us within grace.
There is a way which seems right to men. It is the reasonable, the tangible and logical approach. God’s way is totally different, it is higher, wiser and holy, a righteous way. God did not spare His own Son but gave Him up so that we would have access to His Holy Self. Jesus said it best, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”, John 14:6.
There are hundreds, even thousands of connections men can make and enjoy within God’s born again life which are not of faith. We need to make decisions upon the expectation of God’s promises if we want to live by faith. But faith is a challenge to our “want to” and a difficult barrier to penetrate even with God’s grace.
Just as we are not able to reach God on our own, we are not able to live the Christian life on our own. It takes the resurrection power of Jesus Himself for us to be able to live the life He lived. A grace connection is required, yes, but faith is required to move us from a grace connection to God’s culture of grace. It is only by grace we are saved and it is only by grace we can live His life while in this flesh. It is a relationship of grace and faith.
Exercise your grace connection in Christ and test God’s relationship with you. Exploit the culture of Jesus Christ and possess the mind of Christ. Change your grace connection into the full culture of God’s grace. Be who you are in Christ, take possession of your land and increase your boundaries. It is the only way to know the riches in Christ available to you because Jesus became the Son of Man. He knew you before you were born. Now is the time for you to know Him who gave His life for you … before you see Him face to face. Your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life! Find out what that means before you meet your savior face to face, not after!!
You are saved by grace alone but the power of Jesus’ life in your life requires your faith.
In Christ every believer inhales grace with every breath he breaths. Try exhaling faith.
Vic Moran