Living by grace. Part 2

September 13, 2007 by Pastor Dan.

Recently I wrote a post for this blog about grace that went beyond what it means to be “saved by grace.” We are redeemed for God’s sake, so we can “live by grace.” I made a few suggestions what that might means for us, but I’ve been reflecting on it ever since.

To live by God’s grace we need to imagine the world which grace creates, and inhabit that world.

The whole basis of Christian ethics in the first centuries was to encourage Christians to live nobly – to live as redeemed people who are worthy of the gift they have received through the Cross. “Worthiness” was not a proof of merit by which they earned Gods’ love, but an indication that the gift of the Spirit as alive in them and working through them to transform the world.

We “live into” the future that God promises – not constantly deferring our vision of God’s redemptive power to the “next world” or an after-life or heavenly place that few people really believe anymore. “Heaven” may turn out to be only a metaphor, or it may well come to pass in God’s time. But we are called to live the redemption that is offered us, as disciples. (For St. John, eternal life means the life which begins when we call Jesus Lord, and that life is not even interrupted by death, but goes on.)

In the pious words of a beloved hymn (modernized text): “Rise up, O saints of God, from vain ambitions turn; Christ rose triumphant that your hearts with nobler zeal might burn.” The writer goes on to say Christians must offer hope to a world engulfed in despair, redress the consequences of sin through justice, help the weak, and heal the creation. You decide where you fit in, and what you can accomplish. But it is your mission to rise up, set aside the petty, and live out God’s redemption.

A similar theme was in a recent Gospel passage form Luke 14 “Take up your cross,” Jesus said, “and follow me.” But in order to have our hands free (!), we need to lay down the baggage that we clutch so tight. In order to follow Christ, we have to actually put down the remote control, get off the sofa and move.

What Jesus has in mind is that we scuttle our attachments to the world’s goods. Materialism holds us back from living nobly, or from living for any purpose except to collect more and more stuff in life (with a period adjustment by holding garage sales!).

It is difficult to comprehend how different the world was when he spoke. The average person today in 21^st Century America must have 1000 times the possessions which they did. How can we lay these down — how can we insist that the world’s 1 billion Christians (at least nominally) should lay down their goods, take up the cross and follow? It would trigger a world-wide depression of apocalyptic proportions!

Yet laying down baggage is fundamental to a change of heart, to spiritual awakening, and to living by grace. If the world’s Christians would take seriously the call to follow, and take seriously the promise of God’s grace, we could trigger a world-wide spiritual renewal of unimaginable proportions.

Some wise person once said, “The biggest battles we ever fight are inside our own heads.” I know that is the battleground for me. Nothing else in my inert life ever budges if I don’t get it thought through in my head.

So says St. Paul, ”For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”  (Romans 6:14).

The primary front in my personal war is the struggle to trust the promises of God and to live with the confidence (read: faith) that they are true and powerful and effective. If all Christians truly sought to live out God’s promises, we would have the power, in the Spirit, to redeem the world. If only we can put down the remote control, set aside “vain ambitions” and move out. If you believe God’s promises are true, then you decide where you fit into this holy work. It’s your inner battle.

—Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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