“Their design is to replace the sheer grace of God with sheer license…” Jude 4 (The Message)
For some believers there are a series of subtle incremental steps that cause them to exchange the grace of God for a life of license and sensuality. Grace never promotes sin or makes one want to sin…so something has gone wrong — not with grace but with them. Here are six steps to be alert for in our lives to keep us from sliding down the slippery slope to license.
The first one is not a small step. It’s a leap—a fatal leap that makes it hard to stop and not continue taking the next steps. The leap to this first step is forgetting I still need to mature spiritually and that my sanctification requires effort on my part. I ignore my responsibility to be involved with the Spirit of God in my growth and solely focus on my justification.
My justification is an incomprehensible miracle. Jesus paid the penalty for all my sin. His obedience is imputed to me. God looks at me and sees the righteousness of Christ, not my sin, and declares me righteous. Incredible…but here is where my first step away from grace can begin. I am so convinced (and rightly so) that God sees me as perfect in Christ, I wrongly forget I am a spiritual babe that needs to grow. I forget that even though God sees me perfect in Christ, in my reality I still sin. And so I allow my justification to wrongly tell me that my perfection in Christ is the only thing that matters.
When I believe this then the inertia to the second step away from grace becomes unstoppable. If I think that God only sees my perfection, then I mistakenly conclude that He is unaware of my sin. Now the momentum increases.
Thirdly, if the only thing God sees is my positional perfection in Christ and He is not aware of my sin and need to mature in my reality, then my sin and immaturity is not an issue or concern to God. I can do anything I want and it will not bother God.
This quickly leads to the fourth step, that my sin does not affect God. My only belief is that God is looking at me through the righteousness of Christ and is pleased with me. And He is. I forget that my sin also grieves Him (Ephesians 4:30). He may be pleased with me, but He is not at all pleased with what I have done…and what it is doing to me.
I can now take the fifth step. If God is unaware of my sin, and it is not a concern to Him or bothers Him in any way, then there is no reason for the Spirit of God to convict me of my sin. I can stop feeling guilty. Wow – does this ever feel freeing. I interpret feeling guilty as a sign of my unbelief that God sees me as perfect.
Sixth – if God is unaware of my sin, is unconcerned about my behavior and I can do anything I want then I can stop asking for forgiveness. The confession I was taught in I John 1:9 to practice I now apply only to unbelievers.
And there it is. I have exchanged the best life I could ever have, designed for me from before the beginning of time, for a life filled with the deceitful lure and promises of sin. I think I am free…but I am deeply deceived. “Take heed…” (I Cor 10:12).
QUESTION: What are your stepping stones away from grace? Let’s have a conversation – leave a comment.
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Hi Bill!
Love your blog + look forward to what you post. A daily confession / sin is not only needed to keep a fresh clean slate in my relationship w Him, but it provides a clear conscience which powerfully keeps me at bay w the Enemy. As I grow in faith + my walk w Him, I want more + more of what He has in store for me—a fully devoted follower / Christ.
Blessings,
Mary Lee
Mary Lee – every time I am with you I see you living out more and more of what He has in store for you.
-bill
Right on, Bill. I like Galatians 5:1 in this issue.
Jack – thanks for adding Gal 5:1. I thought about including it as I wrote the blog but in an effort to keep it from being too long – I didn’t. Thanks for including it.
-bill
Great outline!
In the first step, you mention that “my santification requires effort on my part”
I know that the effort isn’t towards fixing my sin. So what does this effort look like? What is its focus?
Steve – really good question. I think we put our effort into living out of our new nature. We can do that. If we put effort into trying to change the flesh into something spiritual, that will not work. John 3:3 say that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is spirit is born of the spirit. I take this to mean the flesh will always stay the flesh – it is not transformed and cannot be transformed. So I put my effort into living out of the miracle of my regeneration. Grace is never opposed to effort, but it is opposed to earning.
-bill
What sins are you talking about? Only the big sins that would get you excommunicated from your church, like adultery? Or are you talking about Respectable Sins, like selfishness or impatience?
Jon – good to hear from you! As I wrote this I actually had no distinction in mind. So the answer to your questions as to what sins I was talking about is all of them! Sorry – no exclusions.
I’m still wondering about Stephen’s question. What does “effort” look like? Last week I applied effort in shoveling 29 inches of snow. That effort is clear.
But let’s take the last time you or I sinned. What effort was lacking while that sin was occurring?
God pointed out my selfishness very clearly three weeks ago. Fortunately, in the midst of my anger I was thinking ok Lord I get it. It turned into a sweet moment. But, what “effort” was missing that got me into that situation?
Did that sin occur because I forgot to apply effort in reviewing Phil 2,3,4? Did it occur because I didn’t apply effort toward having a quiet time that morning?
Lets do this one on the phone!!
So how does using performance driven Christian concepts to condemn performance driven concepts work? These 6 steps focus on “sin”…..not Jesus. Part of the performance-driven Christianity (PDC) ideas are a self-evaluation of our own misbehavior (sin). So we must “work” to avoid those 6 steps, meantime avoiding Guilt, and of course “sin”. Somehow Grace is called in (on a theoretical level one must suppose) to …..well…..”manage the sin?” And, of course, there is that problem over what is and is not “sin”. That grand implication behind all this, of course, is that if we cut down on “sin”, good things will happen to us. Failing that, “Grace” will cover it all. Really? Or is some of this concept as depicted, actually falling down the stairs?
Or is this just cultural Evangelicalism? Oh, I am not denying one can pick the Bible reference points depicted in this essay. I am just raising an eyebrow at how the dots are connected. For those whose life seems at least somewhat manageable and who believe that perhaps a little more effort will get them near perfection, this may make sense. But if one is strongly addicted, terminally stupid, mentally afflicted or looking for MERCY, this may be just an exercise in dogma. I don’t want Grace, I want MERCY as I seek that relationship with Jesus. The problem is that if I focus on Sin, I don’t seem to see Jesus, grace or no grace.
Hi Doug – so glad to have you a part of the comment community. Two responses; first, your last sentence is a great summary. Second – the reason I connected the dots in the order and sequence I did is to counter in my own words some very unbiblical teaching that is gaining a significant presence in the evangelical world, both in the U.S. and internationally. I am beginning to experience people who are descending these six steps because of the teaching they are hearing and the books they are reading. A very popular Christian book by a mainstream Christian publisher promotes these six steps…and it ranks very high on Amazon as a best seller. I think it is wise that once in a while we moisten our finger and put it in the air to sense which way the wind gusts are coming from. That’s what I was trying to do – help folks be aware of a theological gust may soon blow through their neighborhood.
Thanks again for helping all of us to think.
-bill