The Gospel Is About the Righteousness of God, Not About Man's Sin

For in (the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." (Rom 1:17)

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. (Rom 3:21-22)

In the above two passages, Paul tells us that something is revealed in the gospel: The righteousness of God.

God's righteousness is what the gospel is about.  The gospel isn't about the attempts of people to earn or maintain righteousness through the things they do.  It's about the gift of God's very righteousness.  This gift is given freely to all who believe.

As you look in your Bible, you'll see that in between the two passages above, there are sixty-four verses that essentially tell us about the unrighteousness of man.  These verses are not what the gospel is about!  These sixty-four verses, from Romans 1:18 all the way to Romans 3:20, were written to show us the reason the gospel was needed.  That is, they were written to show us the reason the righteousness of God needed to be given to us as a gift, by grace through faith.  Paul writes about how the wrath of God was "revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men..."  He lists all kinds of ways in which the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men has been demonstrated.

As all of this continues into Chapter 2, Paul makes the case to his fellow Jews that it's not only the Gentiles (non-Jews) who have missed the mark, but they themselves are also transgressors of the very law of God that they make their boast in!  In other words, Paul points out that we're all in the same boat in regards to "the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men," so there's no room for anyone to judge or condemn anyone else!  All (both groups: Jews and Gentiles) have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  "For we have previously charged that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin." (Romans 3:9).  "There is no one righteous, not even one." (Romans 3:10).

The only thing the law of God had done was to reveal sin.  "BUT NOW," Paul writes in Romans 3:21, "the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed... even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe."  The law revealed sin, but could do nothing about it.  The gospel revealed God's righteousness, which we receive as a gift.

Can you see what Paul was doing, by first telling us in Romans 1:17 that the gospel revealed God's righteousness, and then spending quite a bit of time (64 verses) telling us about man's unrighteousness?  Sadly, many in the church have used a portion of those 64 verses to pronounce guilt, judgment and condemnation upon not only unbelievers, but also upon their fellow believers!  But that was never the reason those verses were written.  The reason Paul built this lengthy case for the unrighteousness of man was to show why righteousness could never be earned or attained by our performance.  Only God's perfect righteousness would ever do, and the only way anyone can attain it is to receive it freely as a gift!

Jesus became a curse for us and Jesus became sin for us

Abraham believed God and God accounted that to him as righteousness. That is the blessing of Abraham. Christ became a curse for us so that we might receive the blessing of Abraham. Also, Christ became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him! It's through nothing we've done... It's all what He has done! Your sins are not counted against you. You are not cursed. By faith, you are counted as righteous.

2 Cor 5:21
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Gal 3:5-14
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? — 6 just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed." 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." 11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith." 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by them."

13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

You are the righteousness of God

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor 5:21

Paul says in Romans 1:17 that in the gospel a certain righteousness is revealed. It's not man's righteousness. It's God's righteousness. The gospel reveals God's righteousness that is given to man as a gift. Paul spends the rest of Chapter 1, and then Chapter 2 and over half of Chapter 3, making the case for man's unrighteousness. He does this to show how ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Finally near the end of Chapter 3 he gets to what he was really leading up to: "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe."

The law and the prophets were witnesses to this righteousness, but it's made clear in the gospel that man's attempts at righteousness, no matter how "good" or how "bad," ended up falling way short. And so: the gift of righteousness.

A little bit later Paul writes, "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous" (Rom 5:19). You were not declared a sinner because you committed sinful acts. You were made a sinner "by one man's disobedience." Even when you did "good," you were still a sinner.

In the same way, you are not righteous because of any righteous act or acts you have ever done. You are now declared righteous because you've been raised up together with Jesus, through faith. In the same way that you previously inherited sin, you've now inherited righteousness. Even when you do "bad," you are still righteous.

It's been given to you as a gift, and you can't earn gifts! To earn a gift is not only oxymoronic, it's moronic! Many Christians walk in fear of "losing" this righteousness through sinning. But remember, it's a gift.

Also remember:

...When the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7

"According to His mercy" He saved us, washed us, regenerated us and renewed us. It's ALL about His kindness, His mercy, His abundant gift of righteousness! If we're mired down with a sin consciousness, worried about every little (or big) sin, worried that we'll somehow cross God (when His cross has taken care of it ALL!), then we're missing the point. A sin consciousness won't cause you to walk according to the gift of righteousness! (Hello?!!).

TRUST what God has done for us, and we won't have to worry about whether or not we're messing up His work. Good news: His work supersedes ours! God has made you RIGHTEOUS!

GIG 195 - The Purpose of the Law

Last week we asked the question, "Don't we need to commit ourselves to the laws of God?" This week we begin exploring that question by going back and talking briefly about what the gospel is (in short, we talk about God's righteousness that is given to us as a gift, apart from the Law) and we move on from there.

Was the Law given to help us live right and overcome sin? The Bible says that we've been set free from sin and that sin does not have dominion over us! Why? Does God's Law have anything to do with this? What is the Law's purpose? We'll talk about this and more on this week's episode of Growing in Grace.

gigcast.graceroots.org

Life in Christ isn't about "not sinning."

The other day, Lydia posted a couple of quotes from Ryan Rufus. I saw one quote on her Facebook profile:

"Living a holy life should never be defined as 'living without sin.' In fact sin has got nothing to do with holiness at all."

And another quote on this blog post:

"Holiness has got nothing to do with sinning or not sinning! If that is what we think, then we think WE are the cause of our holiness and I am telling you there is only ONE person who is the cause of our holiness and His name is Jesus Christ!!"

Great stuff! Being holy has nothing to do with "not sinning." We are holy because God has set us apart for Himself and has placed us in Himself - all based on the finished work of Jesus, not based upon what we do or don't do. For a long time in my Christian life, my focus seemed to be on "not sinning." If I sinned, or felt like I wasn't living righteously enough, my focus was on "not sinning." To be quite truthful, my focus was on "not sinning" quite often! My obsession was not my relationship with God. My obsession was how to overcome sin. I now realize that that obsession was fleshly and self-focused, not God-focused.

My life has forever been changed during the past decade and a half, ever since I realized that God is not obsessed with sin! He took care of the disease of sin on the cross, and His obsession (His passion) has always been me, not my sin!

Yes, it's true that "by the Spirit" we "put to death the deeds of the flesh." But that's not the essence of our lives in Christ! It's not the root of our lives in Christ, and it's not the daily obsession that we're to have. Jesus didn't come so that we would live with an ongoing focus on sin. He came so that we could be reconciled to God and have an ongoing obsession with HIM!

We all know how Jesus, in John 3:16, said that God gave Him so that people could have eternal life. And in John 17 He said that this is eternal life: That we may know God! Eternal life is NOW, and eternal life is knowing God! Let's stop making it about sin.

No struggle

As a sinner, I didn't have to struggle and strive to maintain my standing as a sinner. I was in Adam, and even when I did "good" things, my standing in Adam was maintained.

As a saint, I now don't have to struggle and strive to maintain my standing as a saint. I am in Christ, and even when I do "bad" things, my standing in Christ is maintained!

I was born in Adam.
Alive to sin, dead to God.
My very identity was a matter of sin and death.

I've been born again in Jesus.
Dead to sin, alive to God.
My very identity is a matter of righteousness and life!


Life in Christ isn't a matter of a bad person becoming a good person. It's a matter of a dead person becoming alive!

There is No Other Sacrifice for Sins

This is a continuation of the conversation from last week. We recap the previous week's discussion about how the one sacrifice of Jesus took away all our sin and we move on to discussing what we do when we sin, because after all, we do still sin! Looking at some more encouraging words from the book of Hebrews, we talk about how we don't need to live with a consciousness of sin, wallowing around in guilt and condemnation, but rather we can "hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful," resting in God's grace, knowing that where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more!

There is nothing we can do to take away our own sins. There has only been one sacrifice for all sins, once and for all, and it was sufficient! Our conversation this week ends up with a look at how all this relates to a misunderstood verse that so very often gets taken out of context:

Heb 10:26 "For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins..."

We hope you'll be encouraged as we look at this in the context of the previous chapters - taking into account all of what the writer of Hebrews has previously said about the "sacrifice for sins."

gigcast.graceroots.org

ALL Your Sin Taken Away Through ONE Sacrifice

Latest Growing in Grace program is up. One sacrifice for sin... once and for all. This week Mike and Joel take a look at the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus. Is there anything we need to do when we sin to make up for our sin, or to atone for it or cover it? Is there anything we can do? Is something else needed? How many of our sins were taken away through the blood of Jesus? ALL of them! It was a one-time sacrifice. Is there anything we can add to that!? And what about Jesus? If His one time sacrifice wasn't enough for each and every sin, wouldn't He have to keep on coming back over and over again? The good news can't be repeated enough: ONE sacrifice took away all your sin!

gigcast.graceroots.org

Feelings of Guilt and Condemnation are Not from God

Latest Growing in Grace program is ready for downloading/listening. A continuation of the chat from last week. If you're feeling guilty and condemned for your sins, it's not from God! In Christ He has taken away your sin completely - which removes all guilt and condemnation. "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (see Romans 8:1). The law made people guilty before God (Romans 3:19), but those in Christ "have been set free from sin" (Romans 6:22) and have been "made free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2). The only thing that has made this possible is the Blood of Jesus. We can't add anything to what Christ has already done! His sacrifice was a one time sacrifice, sufficient for all of our sins - past, present and future!

gigcast.graceroots.org

There's no 'Space In Between Us'

I've embedded a video here by the group Building 429. I like the group, but I admit that I'm actually posting this because of the lyrics in this particular song that I don't like. It's not my intention at all to put down the writers or performers of the song. My purpose here is to make a point about how some well-meaning teachings in the church - even teachings that include some grace in it (the song speaks of grace) - can actually represent a deficient version of the gospel that keeps Christians from understanding and walking in the fullness of Christ's life and God's grace. Please - again - I'm not trying to put anyone down here. This popular song (on Christian radio) is simply useful to me in illustrating a point.

The chorus of the song goes:

All I really want to do is to fall into
The emptiness that is
The space in between us
To break this division
All I really want to do is to fall into
The emptiness that is
The space in between us
Erase it and bring us together again

Why would I say that words like these represent a deficient gospel? Well, let me ask you, what space is there - really - between you and God? What division? What emptiness? Are you really apart from God and need to be brought back together with Him again? Is that what the New Covenant scriptures really tell us about ourselves?

Ephesians 2:13 says that we have been brought near to God by the blood of Christ. Hebrews 10:19-23 says that it's by His blood that we have boldness to "enter the Most Holy Place" and that we can experientially "draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith." 1 Corinthians 6:17 says that we have been made one spirit with Him.

The gospel - the good news - is that we have become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! (Romans 1:16-17, 2 Cor 5:21). Were we made righteous by our own good works? Were we brought near to God by our own works? Of course not! Therefore, if we sin, can those works make us unrighteous again, or keep us away from God? Of course not! It's all by the blood of Jesus, and not by how well or poorly we've performed. Think about it - when you've sinned, which is bigger - your sin or God's grace? Grace always wins, friends!

We sell ourselves short - our new-creation spirits - when we think anything we do separates us from God. Worse than that, we sell God's very gospel itself short. Is His gospel what He says it is, or isn't it!

There is a very important reason why I always want to always help people become established in all of this. If we, as Christians who have been brought near to God by the blood of Jesus, think there's a space or a gulf or a gap in between us and God, then we'll live as if there's a space or a gulf or a gap in between us and God. Instead of living as who we truly are - accepted in the Beloved (Eph 1:6), having peace with God (Rom 5:1) - we'll live as if we're separated from Him and as if He's angry with us or is waiting for US to do something to get ourselves "right with Him" - when it was never up to us in the first place (!), and, more importantly, when we never lost our right standing and our union with Him anyway!

Grace, the blood of Jesus, the NEW covenant, the NEW life we received in Christ - all of this changed EVERYTHING! There's no more separation from God. There's no more walking on eggshells, trying to keep ourselves in right standing with God. There's no more fear of Him hiding His face from us. His grace has accomplished everything that is needed. As we grow in our understanding of who we truly are in Him by grace alone through faith, we can trust more and more that God's grace and our daily renewing of our minds to all the wonderful truth of the Good News of the New Covenant - will continuously be at work in us, keeping us securely in Him.

Don't hope for what you already have! And don't wish for some space to be filled when there's no space there in the first place!

Related post: Jesus will never take you back

Brought Near - We Are In The Light

Latest Growing in Grace program is ready for downloading/listening. Christ came to take away sin (John 1:29), and we have been brought near to God by His blood (Eph 2:13), not by our works (Titus 3:5). He has taken us out of darkness and we are in the light! Does that fact change when we sin, or when we waste our lives in prodigal living? This week Mike and Joel continue talking about the parable of the prodigal son, his older brother and his father (Luke 15:11-32), and we discuss which one of the three had the proper perspective about both sons’ standing with the father. Sometimes our thoughts, emotions, actions, behavior, etc, may cause us to feel as if we’re not in the light, but we always need to remember that it’s God’s grace that has brought us into the light and keeps us there! With the proper perspective, we’ll grow more and more into who we truly are as children of the light (Eph 5:8-10).

gigcast.graceroots.org

No Longer Identified By Sin

[No Longer Identified By Sin]

In the second of twenty articles that I wrote for Heartland Vineyard Church between 2005 and 2007, I decided to "introduce" myself to the rather large congregation. However, while I did mention some details about me and the activities in my life at the time, the main purpose was not to talk about "me," but to point to the Christian's identity as "saint" and not "sinner." (Note: I fully understand the difference in opinion among my friends here of the interpretation of the Apostle Paul's words about "sin that dwells in me." That's all right, and it's not the focus of this article).

----------
Hi, I’m Joel Brueseke. It has been no less than a wonderful, joyful experience for the past 5 years for my wife and I to worship with and connect with the various parts of Christ’s body who call the Vineyard their home, as we do. Along with our two children, Jared and Noelle, we thank God daily in our prayers for extending our family by a couple of thousand people! I work part time at Covenant Medical Center as a Courier and I work part time at the New 89.1-The Spirit (aka KWOF-850AM in Waterloo). You might know me as Joel Sommers on the radio, and if you do know me in that capacity, my sincerest apologies!

As I share a little bit more about myself, I’ll use someone else’s words to describe my thoughts:

“I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Paul, in Galatians 2:19-21, The Message)

My friend Mike Kapler (also with KWOF and this church) has often brought up that we humans tend to identify ourselves by what we “do.” You find out what other people “do” and you tell them what you “do.” “I’m a salesman.” “I’m a hairdresser.” “I do construction work.” “I work in radio.” “I race cars.” “I’m a pastor.” “I work in a factory.” In introducing myself above, I first told you what I “do.” But because what I do is generally the fruit of who I am, or even the fruit of who I perceive I am, I first want to grow in and be grounded in who I am.

The Bible says that my identity – who I am – is not “me” anymore! When I was born, I was identified with Adam and unfortunately it was a life which didn’t quite cut the mustard when it came to being right with God. So, as an act of His great love for us, God made a way for all of us who were born in Adam to be “born again” into Christ. But in order become this “New Creation,” as Paul phrases it in II Cor. 5:17 and Gal. 6:15, it was necessary for the old “me” to die. So, that identity was crucified with Christ. It is dead and buried, expired, six feet under, bereft of life, pushing up daisies. It’s rung down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. It’s stone dead. (Thanks to a Monty Python skit for those synonyms for DEAD!) My new identity (who I really, actually am) is identified by the very life of Christ in me.

Plainly put, before coming to Christ we were identified as “sinners.” Now, after coming to Christ by faith, we have a new identity as saints! As Bill Gillham writes in his book, “What God Wishes Christians Knew About Christianity,” and as our pastor has often said, we are not “sinners saved by grace.” It is grace alone which has saved us, but now in addition to having been forgiven of our sins, we have been made holy, blameless and righteous - saints! That is actually, factually what God has made us to be! He doesn’t just “see” us as holy and righteous. We are holy and righteous.

We do contain the capacity to sin, and the reason is that sin dwells “in” us (see Rom. 7:17,20). The good news is that we are not identified by what is in us but rather by who we actually are! When you have a virus “in” you, you don’t say “I am a virus” or “I am a runny nose and swollen tonsils.” What is in you might temporarily have power over your bodily functions, but it does not define who you are. In Christ, sin doesn’t define us. We are defined as a saints. Nothing we “do” can change that identity, just as nothing we did created that identity in the first place. It was all the work of God and it will always continue to be the work of God. The prodigal son didn’t lose his identity as a son, even when he went off and squandered his inheritance.

The book mentioned above says, “Believe you are a ‘sinner saved by grace’ and you’ll act like one; believe you are a holy, purified saint who admittedly sins at times, but who hates that life-style, and you’ll be highly motivated to act like such a saint.” Our new life in Christ is lived by trusting and resting in what God has already done, and in His very life which is in union with ours!

The answer is always B - 11/18/08 - Decrease or Increase

What's the correct wording of Romans 5:20?

A. The law was added so that sin might decrease. Because where sin is increased, law is needed all the more.

B. The law was added so that sin might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.*

C. "Increase your giving to ma ministray and I will surely be blessed." - The Extra Very Reverend J. Slick Breeze.

----------
*Bonus addendum to "B." I like the way The Message words it: All that passing laws against sin did was produce more lawbreakers. But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down.

Can Sin Hinder Your Fellowship With God?

Latest GIGCast is up. Can sin hinder your fellowship with God? We take a look at who we are in Christ (the righteousness of God) and we also begin to look at the different perspectives of the three "characters" in the Luke 15 parable commonly known as "The Prodigal Son." In addition to the prodigal son, there are two other people in the story - the older son and the father. Which one of these people had the proper perspective of the whole situation? There's so much good news in the scriptures to dig into! We talk about how sin can truly affect our circumstances, and even our fellowship with one another as human beings - but does that mean it affects our fellowship with God?

gigcast.graceroots.org

More on the Exchanged Life

Latest Growing in Grace program is available for download. Our life exchanged for His life. Our sin exchanged for His righteousness. Christ in you, the hope of glory!

gigcast.graceroots.org

Exchanged Life - Christ's Life In Us

Latest Growing in Grace program is available for download. Our life exchanged for His life. Our sin exchanged for His righteousness. Christ in you, the hope of glory!

gigcast.graceroots.org

Convicted of Righteousness

Latest Growing in Grace program is available for download. In Christ, we have a brand new identity. The Bible says that in Him we've been perfected, and we are holy, righteous and complete in Him. This week Mike and Joel talk about how the unbelieving world had to be convicted of sin (see John 16:8-11, Romans 3:19-20) in order to come to Christ, but now that we're in Christ we're convicted of righteousness - because that's who we are! When we sin, we are simply not being who we (already truly) are, and the more we're convinced, and convicted, of our true identity as the righteousness of God, the more we'll live as who we really are. All of this is based upon the finished work of Jesus and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It's all Him, not us!

gigcast.graceroots.org

What sin?

Jesus has taken away my sin!

Isa 53:6
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

2 Cor 5:21
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

John 1:29
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Heb 10:15-18
The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says, "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." Then he adds, "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more."
Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

Matt 26:27-28
Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Ps 103:12
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Moral police

Are Christians the moral police of the world?

Ok, I'll admit I was going to simply post that sentence and let anyone answer in whatever way they wanted. I still want anyone to answer it, if anyone wants to, but I'm going to go ahead and add my own thoughts here.

My question comes from a place of frustration. Well, perhaps not frustration. I guess I've seen so much of the Christian moral police brigade in my lifetime that it doesn't surprise me or frustrate me anymore.

If a Christian thinks his or her duty is to reward those who do good and to boycott all those who do evil in this world, then I think they've missed the point, just a little, perhaps?

In the past I've already shared my thoughts about how the last half of Romans chapter 1 is not meant as a "list of sins Christians should avoid." Indeed, they're all sins and we don't want to participate in any of them, but that's not the reason Paul listed them! He listed them in the midst of making an overall point that the whole world, apart from Christ, is guilty of sin. If a self-righteous person were to think they were righteous before God because of their own works, they could take a look at the list and hopefully be humbled to the point of realizing they were guilty just like everyone else. Paul builds up to a very telling "therefore" at the beginning of chapter 2:

"Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself..."

Anyway, even though Romans 1 isn't meant (according to how I understand it) as a list of sins for Christians to look at and be convicted of sin, if a Christian does indeed go around with a mindset that they need to police the world, or judge the sin of others, or boycott and avoid people and companies because of their sinful practices or because of the sinful things they support, then according to their own mindset I'd like them to take a look at Romans 1 and see where THEY stand, if they're really going to begin pointing fingers at the actions of others!

Do we really take care of the problems of the world by boycotting or avoiding people who sin?

What would you say...

...to a divorced woman who was living with her boyfriend?

Let's just say you work with this woman, or she's the cash register worker at the grocery store, or you stopped to help her change a flat tire... or in some other way you came across this woman and talked with her.

Think of what would go through your mind, or even think of ways in which you've encountered situations such as this, or of ways in which you've seen other Christians handle situations such as this.

I'm going to generalize here, but in my history in Christianity, what I've generally seen is that people (including myself in the past) zero in on the woman's sin. The thought processes and the ways of interacting with the woman all focus around ways in which to tell the woman that she is living in sin and that she needs to get out of her situation. People might invite her to church, hoping that she'll hear the "salvation message" and that she'll then feel convicted and she'll move out or kick her boyfriend out. In some cases people might even tell her to get out of her situation and then come to church. I can think of other scenarios and I'm sure you can too.

I was listening to the story of the woman at the well (John 4:1-42) recently. The normal applications that I hear from this story revolve around "worship in Spirit and in truth," and what that means, or "Jesus is the living water." Those are great applications of this story, and there are other great applications too, but I'm not so sure I've ever heard anyone teach or preach about this: Although Jesus knew that this woman had had five husbands, and that the man she was now with was not her husband, He gave her absolutely no directives in regards to getting out of her sinful lifestyle.

Am I saying Jesus condoned her sin? Of course not! Am I saying He was happy to have her go on as normal? Not at all. But in dealing with this woman (and by the way, she didn't tell Him her situation; He told her), Jesus' focus seemed far off from what I generally see in the church today.

The focus in the church today seems to be "stop sinning!" We go around like the moral police of the world, trying to get everyone "cleaned up." But tell me if you see something different here, but as we look at what happened with this woman, it's not as if the message she got from Jesus when He told her her own life story was "clean yourself up and stop sinning." The message she seemed to get from Him was "He told me everything I ever did! How amazing!" And from this, many people came to believe. And the people asked Jesus to stay (He had only been passing through), and Jesus stayed with them for another two days, "and many more believed because of His own word." And get this - Jesus didn't stick around and start a church or some hierarchical system to make sure all these new believers were discipled and stayed out of sin.

Much more is coming to my mind about what Jesus didn't say or do. I'm sure you see other things as well. The main thing that has struck me from this story since having come to see it from a perspective of grace is that Jesus didn't seem to approach sinners from a viewpoint of "How can I get them to stop sinning and start doing what's right?" but rather from a viewpoint of "I am the way, the truth and the life."

"Come to Me."

"I will fill your hunger and thirst."

"You're weary and heavy burdened? I'll give you rest."

Any thoughts?