Found some interesting stuff in an article called "Our Problem With Grace," by Michael Spencer. Spencer tackles several questions such as "Don't we hafta...?" and "What about church discipline?" This question then arises: "Who has a problem with grace?" Spencer lists 6 categories of people who, in his opinion, have a problem with grace:
Christians who feel responsible for the "growth" of other Christians
Pastors who want people to _____________ (fill in the blank with dozens of major church projects)
Parents who want their kids to be Christians, and also look and act like it.....whatever that means
Christians who equate grace with weakness, permissiveness and excessive leniency
Christian young people, who have been brought up in the battle for the moral high ground in our culture wars
Anyone in a Christian bookstore
Each of these thoughts includes a paragraph or two to explain further. For me, as one who loves to write, my favorite one was the last one, "Anyone in a Christian bookstore." Here's the summary (highlights mine):
"What you can do, not what God has done, is the great theme of most of what is published and recorded in the evangelical world. Grace writers and poets stand out like lighthouses in a sea of mediocre legalism and do-it-yourself religion. Grace is an endangered species, and we all need to celebrate and promote any writer who truly, passionately communicates grace. This isn't a matter of theological labels. We can quibble about the footnotes some other time. No matter who they are, when they wrote or where you find them, applaud, buy and give away the grace writers and artists. The beauty of what they are saying needs to be heard in a church choking on legalism, moralism and timidity about the Gospel."
All I can say is "Amen!"
Working in a Christian bookstore and selling a lot of the irrelevant stuff out there .... I know that when I come across a good read, one based on Grace and Truth....it is faced out and I try to bring more in, and recommend it, that's why I am there....I don't own the store....just work there...and being in the store is a great way to share Him (Grace in the purest form), with those who are seeking just that.
ReplyDeleteIn Him
Do you why pastors and authors do not preach or write Grace and freedom in Christ? I think it is because they don't know how to teach to handle freedom. They fear if people don't know how to handle freedom it will be a chaos. So they put them under this bondage called 'legalism'
ReplyDeleteVanessa, I think that's one reason I was at a Christian radio station for a while, too. I was able to "face out" some of the songs, so to speak, draw attention to them, as well as to speak about the pure gospel of grace.
ReplyDeleteBino, I totally agree. And to add to it, it also seems that many preachers and teachers see grace as simply a 'method' by which we are able to keep the rules and regulations!
ReplyDeleteShine on, grace writers... Shine on!