The Cross, In Light Of The Law Of Grace

I get into a lot of theological discussions. Some of them are more fun loving and light-hearted; some not so much. Something I was thinking about last night and discussed it with a couple of my friends is the Law of Grace in regards to the cross of Jesus and His suffering and how we should then live. Something important to consider is how do we ride the straight and narrow without going to extremes on issues.

A term that gets thrown around jokingly at times is "Greasy Grace." Basically meaning you can do basically whatever you want and there will always be grace there... just repent and get on with life. The word 'repent' alone seems somewhat a taboo topic. You dare not say that to someone or you might be judging them! :: Gasp:: "Oh no brother, we believe in grace around here. You don't dare mention repent because it might offend someone.." Let me say this: as far as I know, the gospel message is going to be perhaps the most offensive message to some out there.

If you look at the law of Grace, it holds you to a higher standard than the Ten Commandments! It's saying "ok, there is something going on in your heart here that needs to be dealt with." It addresses the root cause moreso rather than just telling you not to do something. Hate your brother? In your heart, you already have done something wrong to him. Looked at someone of the opposite gender with a lustful thought? Guess what... no good there.

It's amazing what happens if you preached repentance in certain churches and/or groups nowadays... "oh my goodness, your a legalist!" "No, actually, I'm just following what the Bible says." Look at the woman caught in adultery in John 8. "Let him who has never sinned cast the first stone." Everyone leaves and then Jesus says "Go and sin no more." He didn't condone the sin but He said "sin no more." I've heard stories from friends of mine who minister in prisons that the harder you rail against sin in prisons, the more whoops and hollers of agreement you get. But it seems like a taboo thing to do in churches across America... that seems a little strange to me....

So what about discipline and grace? Let me put it really simply here: It shouldn't be "I can't go see that movie or participate in the event" but it should be more like "no, I don't want to because I wouldn't enjoy it." It goes from "can't" to "don't want to." Why is that? I think it has to do partly with its about a relationship that you have with someone. And you don't want to do something to that person that will hinder your relationship with them. I believe there is an awesome balance between the reverence of God and His grace. As a matter of fact, I think those two work hand in hand! When you live by grace, you're going to want to be reverent in His presence. That's not to say you always have to be stone cold serious, but in your heart you want to be careful when your in God's presence. You won't want to do something to grieve His Holy Spirit.

It's Been Awhile...

I know, it's been a long time since I've posted anything here. I just haven't been in the mood I guess to post... to take the time and do it just doesn't always happen. And it's not like I don't have anything to say. I have tons to say, but just sometimes putting it into words and then you get to deal w/ the fact that it's sometimes just too painful to think about the stuff... I mean, I could just always post just nice stuff... tickle peoples ears and do all that... but that just wouldn't be me.

Lately, a friend of mine and I have been discussing the possibility of starting up a Bible study w/ a few folks. There is a desperate need for it and people have questions. Primarily, I see a lot of youth that need to be challenged and trained up... I'm not sure what's going on w/ local ministries, but it just doesn't seem to be happening (I told you, its not always the pleasant stuff that I get to write about. If your looking for that, you picked the wrong blog to read...) So, as we continue to pray about it and see if its the timing to do something. My heart soo yearns to see people equipped. I get asked questions a lot and I seem to have fairly decent answers, I guess. Hey, i'm just reading the Bible and seeking God's heart. And He just keeps using me... its not that hard.

Just this past Saturday, our church and other local churches came together to do an outreach to the homosexual community down in Charlotte. We called it God Has A Better Way. Our goal was to reach out and resist. To show the homosexual community that we love them as God does, but we don't love the sin that they're living in (the lifestyle). But we understand that they're struggling and we want to be able to help.

One of my big interests is politics. I realized that my life is involved with probably two of the most controversial topics: religion and politics. Not religion OR politics, but religion AND politics. The last couple weeks at church we were having night classes. We called it the School of Cultural Engagement. We had speakers like Dr. John Rankin, Joe Dallas, Dr. Brown, Frank Turek, Joseph Infranco and Pat Mahoney. Each speaker took a different week and spoke on the topics that they were best at. I plan on buying all six weeks because they were just soo meaty and power-packed, so life enriching. I tried to get notes with each week, but I'm not soo good at taking notes. It's not my strong point.

God is doing something in this 'hour' that is just awesome. He is turning the hearts of His children to Him. There is a holy roar that is breaking out and people are getting hungry for the things of the Lord. They realize that government isn't going to solve the problems and that even the church isn't really providing many answers. But God is and Jesus loves them. So luckily, they're turning to Him.

Moving right along...

I moved down to Concord, NC in 2003 to attend FIRE School of Ministry. The school has a, what i might call, very specific apostolic and prophetic mandate from God. They're not just a school to fill your head with all sorts of theology and have you go out and start a nice little church somewhere. But their mandate is specific and training people up and sending them out to start a revolution of some sort. More specifically, a Jesus Revolution.

When i first started FIRE in September of 2003, it was very upbeat. The music was very upbeat and to jump around during the music was most certainly encouraged. Over the past few years, i've noticed that it has taken a bit of a twist.... a very good kind of twist.

FIRE is still all about sending people out into the world and making a change. Over the past few years, we as FIRE have been focusing more on maintaining the intimacy with God the Father and understanding what it means to be a son of the Most High God. At first, i was a little hesitant to go with this. I was all about taking charge and just going for it. By life or by death... charge...! You know, the school is all about revolution. come on now!

But over time, i've come to understand to maintaining intimacy is a revolutionary idea. There is a balance between being more demonstrative and settling back and soaking in the presence of God.

My life was dramatically touched and changed by very direct and in your face preaching. A "no holds bar" approach to preaching the gospel. So naturally i followed through with that. And there is a time to simply lay down the law on people and just present the gospel as it is. And then there's the time to gently love and encourage someone and realize that we all go through hard times. I used to have very little tolerance for weak faith. My idea was was just to get over the offense and get on with life. Quit being such a baby that so and so said something about you. And to a degree, at times, i'm still like that. But over time i've learned to apply tact to that. To simmer down a little bit and be more sensitive to peoples feelings.

I'm still very direct at times, but i've learned to not always be soo serious and uptight. Learn to chill a bit. Learn to sit and listen to someone and perhaps just say something like "i'm sorry.. i hurt when you hurt.." And simply just putting an arm around someone or sending an email or something. Let someone know that you care about their feelings. I'm still very bold and direct if and when need be. I've been cussed out before for various things. Most of which really didn't have much effect on me. But when you learn to care about the feelings of others, you have an amazing inroad into their life and your really able to minister and encourage them and lead them in a certain way.

I've most certainly done my fair share of saying stupid things in the past and looking back, deeply regretting it. Later on thinking "man, i was a jerk!" Especially being someone who is in a position of leadership and/or someone who is looked up to, its essential for me to learn to be sensitive to others feelings.

All in all, developing and maintaining intimacy with God is most certainly the most important thing. How can i expect to walk in the power of God if i can't first walk in the love of God? And that love comes from an intimacy in prayer and reading the Word and getting to know the Father's Heart for His children. Through prayer and relationship with God, you become to understand your sonship (daughtership for girls) in God. And you begin to understand who you are exactly in the sight of God.

He doesn't like that you sin and do stupid things, but there is forgiveness of that sin through Jesus Christ.