Grace Grinding

Thanks, Scot, for those sentiments. Your post reminded me of a beautiful passage in Isaiah that identifies God's holiness with His grace; it says, "For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite." The cross demonstrates that God is not the angry abusive Father many people think He is. Richard Bauckham's little book, God Crucified along with Gorman's Cruciformity were really helpful for me in this regard.

And Gorman's.

It is such a magnet of human nature to default to a religious (works) system of salvation, even if we communicate under the guise of grace. It seems when we feel that we have done something to earn our own salvation we cannot accept God’s grace for others (the older son).

I too appreciate your blog.

Scot, you wrote about the grace grinders, "... they can’t preach love without showing holiness is behind it all..." I've come across these types, too, and it's almost a "bait and switch" gospel and Christian life they live. And for all their efforts, they don't seem joyful and free. Thanks for being passionate about it; it's the closest to a "rant" that I've seen from you. (That's a good thing.)

Wow, nicely done. You're on a roll today - "CNN" and the "Grace Grinders" all in one day!

Seriously, I seem to run into this kind of preaching and thinking a lot in my reformed circles. I'm sure it's not peculiar to us, but when anyone makes a statement that really focuses on God loving us/liking us, and delighting in us...it seems like everyone gets real uncomfortable. I'm thankful for a few friends who have really challenged me in this area...and it has been SO FREEING!

This may be my favorite post of all time on your site!

GRACE, and peace!
Fr'nklin

I recently spoke on Eph. 2. Paul uses an interesting word συγκαθίζω (SUGKAQIZW) 'seated with'. I admit I have a somewhat novel approach to the text, but hear me out. I told the people this doesn't refer to our sitting on a really big lap on a really big throne. But (keeping to the context), that it refers to our sitting in a large board room with Jesus at the head of the table--we're seated with him. He's the project manager and he has a project to do--"so that ... He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us...". And we've been supplied by God's benevolence with everything we need for this project. Paul goes on to say "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." He hands out specific tasks to each of us.

We've been graced for work. "Grace grinding" preaching only looks backward; there's a whole forward looking view, too that says we're fully equiped.

Now, why do I bring that up? Because "grace grinding" preaching seeks to subvert the very project God is accomplishing. It subverts the forward looking perspective.

Thanks Scot. Good word.

Scot:

A couple years, I had the chance to ask Mike Yaconelli about grace, and what he said stuck with me ever since. I'm going to paste in his answer, if you don't mind the length. (The quote is from the December 2003 Covenant Companion)

Here’s the reality—we do not believe in grace. We are scared to death of grace. We are worried that it is going to be abused or misused. And of course, we only worry about that after we are in. And then we decide to help God by becoming grace monitors and grace police and by sort of saying, “God’s really busy and he has got a lot to do, so we will make sure that nobody else gets in.”

We make all of these rules, just like the Pharisees did, that determine whether or not you are functioning in grace.

Our secular pagan culture doesn’t make us get drunk, it makes us dull. It robs us of our creativity. We don’t sit around thinking, how can I redeem this situation? We have lost the power of the tiny, of the small, of the little thoughtful things that we can do for each other that will make all the difference in the world. That’s what happens in a pagan culture.

It’s not that we run around doing these horrible sins. It’s that we don’t run around doing these little acts of grace that we ought to be doing. We have lost the power of the tiny, of the small, of the little thoughtful things that we can do for each other that will make all the difference in the world.

John,
Good story; don't all pastors have people like this in their congretation? And isn't it often the case that many don't listen to them? Until later. Gilead is like that lady.

John,
Sorry to hear that.

So true!

Those folks who respond to What's so Amazing about Grace and Messy Spirituality by saying, "Yeah, but.." trouble me. How they can even speak is beyond me.

As a former "Grace Grinder" myself, it took some serious hardship in my life to open my eyes and heart to this "thing" called Grace. What a wonderful God we serve. Many thanks Scot, preach it bro!

Im not sure if I am a grace grinder or not, maybe Im just not understanding properly or dont have my theology 100% down. I do believe that the absoloute bottom line is one of grace but (and theres the but) is there not a place to address issues of what Bonhoeffer calls cheap grace or the abuse of grace? This is something I have wrestled with for a while and need help! Where does the responsibility and the decision of the individual come into play? To do "our part"or co-labour?. Ive heard many people say "I just dont have the grace or the grace lifted" when things get tough. Maybe this is exactly when grace is needed and appropriated, "when things get tough". Maybe I just havent faced the cross honestly enough? Has anybody written anything about grace and holiness? Is there a book or paper you can reccomend? HELP!

scot, i heard you were stirring up the blogosphere with this post so i had to stick my head in. Hope you werent kicking your dog or destroying your living room when you wrote that.

well written! Reminds me of "Grace Awakening" by charles swindoll

thanks.

i could see yac's fingerprints on this one - he was the man who finally helped crack the door for me on this. he truly understood and lived grace. love your new term - grace grinders - so very visual. great post!