Hearing the Music

Mistrusting Grace

Have you ever mistrusted grace? Sounds weird doesn't it, mistrusting grace. After all, we depend on grace. We are counting on grace to rescue us from our sins and failures. When we get to heaven's gate, grace is our ticket! But practically, grace is risky. Just ask Javert. The law is much safer. It is more solid. There are less twists and turns and more straight lines. Law is known. It can be counted on. But grace?

Author Gretchen Ronnevik reflects this uncertainty with respect to parenting with the following words, "If I give [my children] too much grace, it will ruin them. I would have never said it, but I felt it. I did not want to be a doormat. I did not want spoiled children. I wanted them prepared for the world. And in all that preparation, I had turned parenting into a pseudo-faith of putting my faith in God’s law in heavy doses, while doling out the gospel in teaspoons (with a little dash of shame for even needing it)." Unfortunately that has a little too much resonance. And it is not only parenting. It is friendships, work relationships, neighbors -- follow the law, keep the peace, don't step out of line; I am not sure that we can trust this thing called grace.

But this mistrust of grace has more to say about me than it does about grace or more particularly the God of grace. If I am honest my own tendency is not to need grace. To be better than others, to do enough to merit favor, to be put together; these are all much safer places to be than to be broken or messy. We want this kind of control for ourselves, we want it for our kids. I guess it is natural to want to protect our kids from experiencing or succumbing to brokenness and needing grace. But if it is natural is it of the Spirit? Do we really trust grace?

What would trusting grace look like? Ronnevik ends her article with some things she found herself saying to her kids as she was learning to lean on grace. Maybe some of these will gain a new kind of resonance with our hearts, not only with kids and grandkids, but with friends, spouses, co-workers, and neighbors.

“You don’t sound like yourself. It’s not like you to lash out. We’re going to call a thing what it is and sort the truth from lies. Because feelings are sometimes so big, it’s hard to tell the difference. Let’s talk it out”

“You sound stressed, and what you said hurt my feelings. That’s not ok. So here’s what we’re going to do. Sit and eat some food, take a timeout, relax, and then come back and let’s talk about it again once you’ve had a chance to catch your breath.”

“You’re shying away from telling the truth, and that’s a mistake. Because you’re afraid I won’t love you if I knew the truth, and I’m here to stubbornly show you that there is no truth that could stop me from loving you. Sometimes it takes courage to walk in truth. But it’s so good when you do—because that’s when relationships get deep and mean something. And I want that kind of relationship with you.”

God is inviting us to this kind of relationship. He is here to stubbornly show us that there is no truth that could ever stop him from loving us if we come to him broken and contrite (Ps. 147:3). After all he pursued us while we were still sinners (Rom. 5:8). He is here to show us not only that his grace is sufficient (2 Cor 12:9), but that we can trust that grace!

Raison D'Etre

rai·son d'ê·tre  /ˌrāzôn ˈdetrə/
noun

1. the most important reason or purpose for someone or something's existence.

Suppose someone asked you for your raison d'etre. What would your answer be?  

For millennia Jews have lived and died with these words on their lips and hearts, "Shema Israel ... Hear O Israel, the Lord is God. The Lord alone. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might (cf. Deut. 6:4). Jesus appended the statement by adding, "And love your neighbor as yourself." (Matt 22:37-40) Pretty good as far as mission statements go. Clear. Concise. Comprehensive. The main thing is the main thing. Not a bad thought to wake up to each day. We could benefit from savoring the words and phrases, letting them sink into our heart.

Obviously loving God above all is the source from which all life flows.  He is God alone. Nothing or nobody else is worthy of our worship: not a celebrity, a politician, our boss, our spouse, our kids, our jobs, our academics, sports or music. Yahweh is to be our first love. But, as Jesus clarified, when we love Yahweh above all, we will love our neighbor as ourselves. In other words, we will love those who bear his image. To Love God means that we will love others. Loving others is one of the ways in which we love God above all.  

I recently ran across a statement that made me wonder if I really understand the interrelation of loving God and others to the extent that I need to, particularly when it comes to the importance of loving others. Alan Noble, in his book On Getting Out of Bed, says this, "We almost never take the witness of our actions seriously enough. I suspect that’s because if we did, it would frighten us. It’s scary to realize that my every decision communicates to people around me something about the nature of God, the goodness of His creation and laws." Who I believe God to be is constantly on display, especially in how I interact with those around me. Loving God. Loving others as I love myself. This is my raison d'etre.

Photo by Tim Bish on Unsplash

The Gift of Community

In his classic work on Christian community, Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes this:

“The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer…It is easily forgotten that the community of Christians is a gift of grace from the kingdom of God, a gift that can be taken from us any day—that the time still separating us from the most profound loneliness may be brief indeed. Therefore, let those who until now have had the privilege of living a Christian life together with other Christians praise God’s grace from the bottom of their hearts. Let them thank God on their knees and realize: it is grace, nothing but grace, that we are still permitted to live in the community of Christians today.”

Many of us haven’t experienced the total isolation of imprisonment or the need to take our faith underground for fear of persecution like many Christians around the world today. However, we have likely all experienced both the richness of Christian community and the loneliness of feeling disconnected. And it often comes in seasons. God has blessed me with several seasons in my life of rich, daily Chrisitian community in the church, in college, and in my summers working at a Christian camp. I’ve also tasted seasons of loneliness where God has met my isolation and doubts with reminders of his constant presence. The seasons of plenty teach us what to long for during the seasons of want.

Whichever season you find yourself in, God calls us, as much as we’re able, to gather together with other believers around prayer and the Word, sharing our lives together and bearing each other’s burdens. We’re relational beings, after all, created in the image of a Triune God. Bonhoeffer goes on to explain the importance of Christ-centered community, what it looks like, how spending time alone with God fuels us for it, and how we can care for one another through things like listening to one another, praying for each other, encouraging each other with gospel truth, and actively looking for ways to meet each other’s physical needs. This type of community is hard. It takes work. It requires us to be vulnerable, even confessing our sins and failures to each other. And yet, it’s the very thing God created us for.

Why am I telling you all this? 3 reasons.

1. The most immediate avenue to practice all of these things is in C-Groups. These groups typically meet twice a month in homes or at the church. We eat together, share our lives together, pray for one another, and spend time applying God’s Word to our everyday lives, asking the hard questions and allowing space for wrestling and doubt. As we’re working to create new groups and more space in groups, we wanted to get a sense for how many people at Christ Church are not currently connected to a C-Group but would like to be. If that’s you, please fill out this short survey to help us plan for how to connect people to C-Groups this Fall.

2. I will also be teaching an Adult Institute class this Fall on Life Together that will help us more deeply appreciate and participate in Christian community. I encourage you to attend!

3. I want to encourage you, even now, that God sees you in your loneliness and will never leave you or forsake you. I’ll end where Bonhoeffer starts: Psalm 133:1 - “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!”

This Sunday as Pastor Andrew preaching on 1 Samuel 27-30 we’ll get to hear how God provided for David when he spent time away from Israel, living amongst the Philistines. We’ll see you Sunday!