Skip to main content

Grace and Truth


Dr. Henry Cloud has written a book called "Changes That Heal" that highlights the two natures of God that people tend to embrace. The problem is that people in Church either decide to be disciples of Christ's Grace or disciples of  Christ's Truth. Those who are Grace disciples often fail to walk in Truth, and confront evil; which fosters a faith where sin is not confronted and it slithers into rest of the Body of Christ . The other polar extreme is to be disciples of Truth to the point that people become rigid, legalistic, and judgmental. As Dr. Cloud says, "Grace and Truth apart harm, but together they bring wholeness." As Christians we need to walk in God's Grace and Truth, one cannot be separated from the others. In order to appreciate God's grace (free gift of mercy, unmerited favor and acceptance) through Christ's sacrifice you have to believe the Truth that you are weak, and sinner in need of His grace descending from the cross.

Walking in Grace and Truth is difficult. As aforementioned, people tend to join one or the other. Churches either become Grace Churches or Truth Churches. Grace Churches are seeker friendly churches that say, "come as you are, we accept you as you are, the church isn't a club for saints, but a hospital for sinners." The problem with this view is that sin and bad choices are allowed to incubate in the assembly of Immanuel's Disciples and just as the Apostle Paul quoting King Solomon said, "bad company corrupts good character," (1 Corinthians 15:33); slowly people will begin to become more accepting of vices and antichrist behaviors if they are not addressed (confronted). The Truth Churches are opposite, they tend to be Bible Churches and they condemn anything that conflicts with Scripture in people's behavior. While their vigilance is to be commended, they tend to become judgmental and cruel towards people who are recovering and in process of having their lives redeemed.

Jesus Christ said, "worship in spirit and truth," (John 4:23-24, paraphrase). Paul mentions, "the spirit of law gives life, but the letter of law kills." (2 Corinthians 3:6, paraphrase). There is tension between Grace and Truth that must be kept in perfect balance. Too much grace and you get lawlessness, habitual sin, presumptuous sin, and corruption of the church. Too much truth and you get legalism, hatred if sinners, perfectionism, and cruelty in the church. Only Jesus Christ can balance Grace and Truth because they both flow from Him! "For the law came from Moses, but Grace and Truth came from Jesus Christ." (John 1:17). Jesus is the "Way, the Truth, and the Life," (John 14:6). It is by His "Grace that we have been saved, not of our own merit lest we should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9). In order to keep the church from swinging in either pendulum, the church must focus on Christ.

It is Jesus who by His Grace saved us from Hell and Death if we believei n Him (John 3:16, Romans 10:9). It is Jesus who is the Truth an shall one day "judge the quick and dead," at the Last Day. We must as Christians seek in our relationship with Christ Jesus the answer to balancing Grace and Truth. As believers we need to ask Jesus to teach us how to best be gracious and truthful with people. We have to tell people the Truth in love, but also be gracious and "bear one another burdens," (Galatians 6:2). In this new year, let us learn from the Master Jesus how to combine Grace and Truth which are in Him in our daily lives and with others. Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Potrait of Jesus: What Christ Looked Like

What was Jesus’s appearance? Pseudo-historians at National Geographic and other publications argue that Jesus’ humanity was of Arab or African descent. This is impossible because Jesus our God was Son of David according to His flesh, “He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, regarding His Son, who was a descendant of David according to the flesh, and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord (God),” (Romans 1:2-4), and King David was described as the following, “So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy [red, ruddy, from the word admowniy {ad-mo-nee'}; from 'adam ; reddish of the hair or the complexion red, ruddy], with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is he. So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came ...
4 comments
Read more

Dispensationalism

John Nelson Darby (1800-1882) was a man who did two things, he took 70th week of the Book of Daniel and stretched out to the End Times, and he was the father of  Dispensationalism , a belief system that God dispenses different peoples with separate blessings and covenants. According to Darb'ys doctrine of Dispensationalism, God dispenses different covenants. There are total of seven dispensations that divide the history of man: I. Dispensation of Innocence (prior to the Fall, "Do not east of the Fruit of Good and Eve, Eden), II. Dispensation of Conscience ( You must assuage guilt and sin with blood sacrifices.) III. Dispensation of Human Government (Multiply and Subdue the world, example the Tower of Babel Gen 11:1-9, and Genesis 1:28). IV. Dispensation of the Promise (Dwell in Canaan, Jerusalem) V. Dispensation of the Law ("Obey the Law of Moses and the Prophets"). VI. Dispensation of Grace (The Church, Jesus Christ has come...
Post a Comment
Read more

Orthodox Christianity and Messianic Judaism

There is a divide between the two sides of Christianity. One is lined by a rosary, the other with tallit (prayer shawl). In the west we tend to come from a Greco-Roman understanding of The Bible and Jesus Christ. We are saturated with images of the Crucifixion and see through the red lens of Calvary. Now The Messianic or Jewish perspective is becoming more prevalent as people begin to study the roots of the Christian faith. After all, Jesus was a Jew and his Twelve Disciples were all Jews of different sects and positions in society. By studying the Jewish roots of Jesus we come to understand the ancient customs, practices, rites, and traditions that are featured in the Old and New Testaments. We learn in Jewish tradition that a Rabbi had to be ordained by two rabbis and that when Jesus was asked, "by who's authority do you say these things?, (Luke 20:2)" the Pharisees were asking who had ordained Jesus and where he got his yoke (teachings), and Jesus responds, "wh...
Post a Comment
Read more