Grace (The Controversy) #2 / #38

Summary:

There are many Christians who question true grace, because they think there is not enough restraint to keep “grace people” from going off the rails. Actually, it works just the oppositely. When you have a real experience with God’s grace, you want to start doing the things that please the Father. If you experience grace like the prodigal son did, you won’t want to go out and sin more, you will sin much less.

Show Notes:

• In the prodigal son story, the father probably knew that his son would return at some point. He could have had a list of things to be angry at him about, but instead, seeing him from far off, ran to him and accepted him back with no questions. That is the true picture of God’s grace.

• In this story, Jesus used every example of things that went against Jewish tradition. That’s because the Jews lived so much by the law, Jesus used this story to push all of their buttons, and tried to show them what true grace really is.

Quotes:

• Grace is one of those essential characteristics of the nature of God. You can’t separate God from grace because it’s not just something He does or has, it’s Who He is.

• The discipline that we receive from the Father is also an example of His grace. The chastening of the Lord is God loving us like sons, because that’s how He wants us to relate to Him. If He’s Father, then we’re sons.

• The highest form of life that we can possibly live is a delicate balance between liberty and responsibility. As sons of God, we have a responsibility not to get too far over into the ditch of liberty.

• We’re not under the law, but when they say you can just go out there and do anything that you want to do, you actually can. There is forgiveness, but at the same time, there are consequences for that. The Father will discipline us for those things, not for our harm, but for our good. That is grace.

References:

Luke 15:11

Takeaways:

The discipline of the Lord is not for punishment for our wrong doings. It’s God’s tremendous love and grace to help us mature into true son ship. God wants genuine sons and daughters to relate to, not immature Christians who don’t have an understanding of what His grace is all about.